In Lumberton, poker taking taverns by storm

By MICHAEL JAENICKE

The big attraction these days at the local tavern isn't karaoke night, a mechanical bull, pool tournaments, tight Levis, jumpin' to the jive of the jukebox or $1 brews.

Brace yourself parents, the newest craze is tournament poker, Texas Hold 'Em style.

And with a luck and a bluff, you could win a spot in the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. It's an all-expense-paid trip with 10,000 greenbacks to wager against the best card sharks from ocean to ocean.

Scooby's is hosting World Tavern Poker Tournaments every Wednesday. The overall winner of the tournament - which uses points and chips, not real money - will advance to Raleigh for the state finals. There someone will earn a spot at the high roller's table in Vegas.

Place winners each night collect points toward seasonal standings, which are recorded on the Internet.

Not everyone playing Texas Hold 'Em is looking to rub shoulders with Chris Moneymaker and Annie Duke on ESPN. Some do it for recreational and therapeutic purposes.

"I lost four grand fast," said Ken Tyner, who was at Scooby's this past Wednesday. "Those boys over there are good. But really, this is all about good, clean fun. Losing and winning is all in the game."

Joyce Wilcox also made a quick exit.

"It was my first time, but I thoroughly enjoyed it," she said. "I'm definitely coming back.

"I've watched it on TV before, so I knew a little about it. It cost me a couple of beers, but what the heck."

Playing in the poker tournament is free, but players must register in advance at www.worldtavernpoker.com. Anyone under the age of 18 is prohibited.

"I spoke with the ALE (North Carolina's Alcohol Law Enforcement Agency) folks and the people from the district attorney's office here to make sure everything was legal," said Scooby's owner Sherri Bridgeman, who has operated the bar since 2000.

Scooby's, which was previously closed on Wednesdays, has seen business pick up during the past three weeks it has offered poker. It has games beginning at 7 and 10 p.m. Forty people showed up to play the second week after an opening night crowd of eight. Twenty-five came last Wednesday, slower than usual, according to Bridgeman, probably because of the Duke-North Carolina basketball game. "I'm been very surprised by the amount of people interested in playing," Bridgeman said. "I would have never thought it would be this popular."

Tavern poker is exploding into small markets after getting established in larger cities like Raleigh, Durham and Charlotte.

Three students - Chad Carlile, Jon Coley and Richard Innis - from The University of North Carolina at Pembroke pushed Bridgeman to bring poker to Scooby's, even though it meant putting up almost $2,000 to register and for cards, chips and tables.

"They were playing almost every night somewhere, be it at houses in Raleigh, Charlotte or back at the university," Bridgeman said. "I've thrown away a lot more money than that on things that didn't work."

Carlile eventually forced the hand of Bridgeman.

"He called up the poker organization, which ended up calling me several times before I agreed to go through with it," Bridgeman said. "While wanting them to have a place to play, I had to put the whole cost of it into perspective. In the end I was convinced it was the right thing to do the second night we had poker here."

Carlile played a strong hand.

"The big pitch to her and the poker people was that we have hundreds of people playing at school," said Carlile, a junior education major at UNCP. "We needed a place closer to home. We were tired of traveling just to play poker. We're young people, so we have time."

Innis, a sophomore math major from Raleigh, didn't do so well with the odds on this night, running out of chips after about 13 minutes.

"These guys know my style," he said. "It's the first time I've ever lost at a World Tavern event. That's the way it goes. You win some, you lose some."

Mike Matsinger, founder of World Tavern Poker, said more than 200 bars in eight states have poker tournaments. There are more than 7,000 registered players, and he expects it to keep growing. He calls the game "the biggest thing to hit the entertainment industry in the past 30 years."

"I just don't see a cap to it, especially with what's happened the past three months," Matsinger said. "In a way, it doesn't surprise me. What does surprise me is the community that's grown up around it. Go somewhere to watch and you'll see a big-tattooed man sitting next to a black woman sitting next to an Asian who is beside a Jewish kid. They knock each other all over the place during the game and then get up and hug one another."

In the opinion of Matsinger, poker involves about 75 percent skill and about 25 percent luck.

"It's about reading and pushing players and using your skill," he said. "But of course, I've had hands I played perfectly and lost. Our feeling is it's on the forefront of becoming a great American-type of game for the whole family."

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Information from: The Robesonian,