My OperaPoker*
Thursday, July 23, 2009 3:13:12 PM
Poker, at least the "free" kind, is reappearing in the neighborhood. It will be upstairs at the "The EFN Lounge and The Motley Bar" at 1318 Ninth Street. There will be two sessions, at 4:00pm and 7:00pm on Saturdays, beginning August 8.
It is run by the "Stars-n-Bars" group, whose Maryland/DC locations are listed here. The main page for Stars-n-Bars is here.
There are several poker leagues in the area, of which Stars-n-Bars is one. The editor and wife play in that league, but many of the players also play games in another league, especially in the Frederick area. There are also some bar leagues in DC.
A measure of the activity of the Stars-n-Bars offerings is the regional points totals about a month and half into this quarter. Points are 25 for playing but not making the "final table", which is to say the last 10 in the tournament. (Stars-n-Bars uses 10-player tables.) There is a schedule of points awarded by finish in the top 10, with adjustments for how many players started the game. You will note that many players on the points list have a ton of points. They are mostly from the Frederick area, where there is Stars-n-Bars poker seven nights a week and midday on weekends. Some people like it a lot, obviously. Also, the Frederick players seem to dominate the quarterly and annual tournaments (if not always getting first place). Wonder why. There are prizes for winning, or getting a ton of points, such as entry in the quarterly regional tournament. The prize for the annual tournament is a buyin for the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.
If you enjoy poker, give it a try. It's "free" although the reason a bar hosts the tournaments is to make money by the players buying food and drink. Some of the evening games up-country sound like they make their bars a lot of money, and the food and drink there is not expensive.
The other reason for playing, besides simple fun, is that if you want to go to Atlantic City and play at the 1-2 or 3-6 tables, you had better (1) be used to all of the protocols and (2) be pretty good. These "free" tournaments are very good for both. Or, you can use the experience to go to the volunteer fire department cash tournaments in Charles County and come out ahead.
(*) Texas Holdem, of course. In the tournament format, it moves very quickly.
It is run by the "Stars-n-Bars" group, whose Maryland/DC locations are listed here. The main page for Stars-n-Bars is here.
There are several poker leagues in the area, of which Stars-n-Bars is one. The editor and wife play in that league, but many of the players also play games in another league, especially in the Frederick area. There are also some bar leagues in DC.
A measure of the activity of the Stars-n-Bars offerings is the regional points totals about a month and half into this quarter. Points are 25 for playing but not making the "final table", which is to say the last 10 in the tournament. (Stars-n-Bars uses 10-player tables.) There is a schedule of points awarded by finish in the top 10, with adjustments for how many players started the game. You will note that many players on the points list have a ton of points. They are mostly from the Frederick area, where there is Stars-n-Bars poker seven nights a week and midday on weekends. Some people like it a lot, obviously. Also, the Frederick players seem to dominate the quarterly and annual tournaments (if not always getting first place). Wonder why. There are prizes for winning, or getting a ton of points, such as entry in the quarterly regional tournament. The prize for the annual tournament is a buyin for the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.
If you enjoy poker, give it a try. It's "free" although the reason a bar hosts the tournaments is to make money by the players buying food and drink. Some of the evening games up-country sound like they make their bars a lot of money, and the food and drink there is not expensive.
The other reason for playing, besides simple fun, is that if you want to go to Atlantic City and play at the 1-2 or 3-6 tables, you had better (1) be used to all of the protocols and (2) be pretty good. These "free" tournaments are very good for both. Or, you can use the experience to go to the volunteer fire department cash tournaments in Charles County and come out ahead.
(*) Texas Holdem, of course. In the tournament format, it moves very quickly.
