Mahjong and Poker: The Face-Off

London is set to host one of the most exciting events in recent times. Poker players from across the UK and beyond are raring to go with the 5th Annual Poker in the Park. This series of contests will see two giant poker domes being set up for players to game at. But the hidden treasure lies not in poker, but in Mahjong.

Mahjong is an ancient Chinese skill-based game. Not dissimilar to poker which requires significant card, people and mathematical skills to succeed at, Mahjong is equally skill based. The 5th Annual Poker in the Park festival will reveal 2 domes - one for Mahjong and one for Poker. The former will be showcased in Hanover (across from Oxford Circus) on the 2nd/3rd of September 2011. The folks in London are hoping that this contest will set a record for the biggest Mahjong tourney outside of China.

Organizers of this exciting challenge are hoping to reel in as many Chinese Mahjong players as possible. That, together with the massive interest in poker gaming, promises to set the stage for an exciting skill-based games showdown.

More about Mahjong

Mahjong gaming goes way back to the times of Confucius in around 500 B.C. The game is quite similar to other western-style games like Rummy. In Mahjong, players are obligated to form sets of tiles in order to score points. Some folks are of the opinion that this exciting game was actually based on another card game named Mǎdiào. If that is correct, it means that Mahjong goes back to the times of the Ming Dynasty.