Flip around the TV with your remote and there’s
a good chance you’ll catch a Texas Holdem poker
tournament.
ESPN aired
(and continues to repeat) multiple tournaments
from the World Series of Poker. The Travel
Channel is home to the World Poker Tour. Bravo
airs Celebrity Poker. Fox Sports has the Poker
Superstars Invitational Tournaments and Late
Night Poker, a series of tournaments from the
United Kingdom.
Now, thanks to Goodson’s on Garrison, local card
players can quit watching poker on TV and start
playing tonight at 6:30 p.m.
And, yes, it’s perfectly legal.
“We cleared it with the prosecuting attorney and
the Fort Smith police,” Mark Goodson said.
“Since it’s free to enter, it’s technically not
gambling.”
While there is no buy-in and no entry fee,
players will have a chance to win a nice prize.
Each night, the top eight players will be
awarded points based on how they finish. At the
end of the month, the top 24 or so players will
be invited to play for the monthly prize of a
two-night trip to Tunica. The Goodsons will also
pay the entry fee into one of the regular poker
tournaments for the monthly winner.
“Our goal is to send 12 people per year to play
in tournaments in Tunica,” Goodson said. “And if
this really takes off, we can eventually get to
the point to where we’re giving away a trip to
Las Vegas and an entry into the ($10,000 per
entry) World Series.”
The restaurant has been preparing for the
kickoff of the Tuesday tournaments by hosting
practice rounds over the past six weeks. Up to
30 people have been playing for fun, with
nothing more than bragging rights on the line,
during that time.
“We learned a few things during those weeks,”
Goodson said. “Some minor problems came up and
that allowed us to work through them. We wanted
to crawl for a few weeks before we tried to
stand up and walk.”
Goodson said a major beer company is putting
together an amateur
Texas
Holdem
poker series designed to be held in bars and
restaurants across the nation. Goodson hopes his
restaurant will be one of the sites chosen to
host one of the preliminary events.
Across the nation, bars and restaurants have
begun hosting poker tournaments to cash in on
the craze. Some require a minimal cash buy-in,
while others are free to enter. A restaurant in
Fayetteville has hosted a weekly $25 buy-in
tournament for more than a year now. Most do it
on slow nights as a way to attract more
business. Goodson admits that’s part of the
reason behind his restaurant’s tournament. In
Springfield, Mo., four bars host a total of 24
tournaments per week.
“Really, we’re more interested in getting to
meet some of our customers and having fun with
this,” Goodson said. “Nobody is required to
spend a dime in the restaurant to play. We hope
they will, but mainly we’re just out to have a
fun Tuesday night.”
Goodson added that having fun is the No. 1 rule
of the
Texas
Holdem
tournament.
But if you’re going to play at Goodson’s,
remember one unwritten rule — you’re not going
to be on TV, so leave your sunglasses at home.
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