TEXAS HOLDEM ONLINE POKER

Smoke rises, beer bottles perspire and anticipation builds this evening at CrossRoads Sports Bar & Billiards. People file in and mingle and playfully size each other up.

It's 30 minutes till game time. The bar on Ramsey Street has hosted poker nights on Thursdays and Sundays since May 5.

At 7 p.m. the bustle peaks as three dozen Texas Holdem poker players and on-lookers seat themselves at three felt-covered tables on the right half of the bar. The left half is busy with APA league pool players. High energy '80s rock music rains from ceiling speakers and overlaps nervous chatter.

This is not an Old West saloon or dark "hole-in-the-wall." There are no shady dealings in some back room. They are young and old, male and female. They are all shapes, hairstyles and ethnicities.

Heavy equipment operator Mark Shannon goes to different bars several times a week, wherever he can find a game. The 38-year-old has only played Texas Holdem poker for a month and goes by the alias RedskinsFan tonight.

"I stumbled across it on ESPN one night when I was bored. I guess I got bitten by the bug," he said.

They clink their chips together, continue to trash talk, smoke, chew sunflower seeds, and examine each other for facial twitches that reveal the strength of their poker hand.

One tries to twirl a chip gracefully between his fingers like he sees the pros do on television.

"I like Daniel Negreneu," says Michael Timal, a 23-year-old student.
"Kid Poker," snaps Jonathan Wisenbaker, a 22-year-old soldier from Kansas, who is proud to be a Texas Holdem poker player "before the craze."
They are waiting for Shannon to make a move.
He peers at his cards: Queen and four of clubs. He flicks them forward in disgust.

CrossRoads is one of at least 16 local bars and restaurants that participate in a local online-based poker tour and owner Flea Weatherly said it has been great way to attract new customers. World Bar-Tavern-Restaurant Poker (www.WorldBTRPoker.com) and World Tavern Poker (www.WorldTavernPoker.com) are locally owned businesses that sell their services to Cape Fear area bars and restaurants that want to add poker nights to their lineup. Players sign up online an hour prior to a game and accumulate points towards rankings and a seat to a World Series of Poker event.

The poker of choice is Texas Holdem, which involves each player being dealt two cards, face down, and five community cards face up, with the player with the best combination of five cards winning the hand. The game is "no limit" which means you can go "all in" and bet all of your chips at any time.
Each player has their own strategies that will carry them "all the way" to a seat at a nationally televised event.

Captain Rob Abbey, 37th Signal Battalion, said many players don't count the number of "outs" they have and make foolish decisions. His strategy is to win a big hand immediately and then sit back and play "tight" until few players remain.

Paratrooper Joe Plewniak said cash games are a lot more interesting but playing for fun at local bars is good practice. "You get to pick up tells," he said, referring to unconscious movements players make that indicate a bluff or a genuinely good hand. He said people play more cautiously when real money is at stake. "Here, nobody respects a raise, nobody respects an all-in. You get people coming here thinking they are king s---, and it is fun when they bust out."

Of the three dozen players and on-lookers, males heavily outnumber females. Student Timal has a theory: "It's because enough women haven't been introduced to it yet. When they do, they become sharks."

A sliver of sunlight slices across green table felt as the sun set outside. As the game progresses, the remaining males vocalize their suspicions of the females, suggesting the females are better players and are more experienced than they claim to be.

Firefighter Jackie Voisard has an opposite perspective: "Guys are d---s until you get them off the table."

So who's the best player in the group?
"That's our resident Phil Ivey," the players agree.
They point to 39-year-old Bryan Nelson, a "self-employed" local star who plays online regularly. His nickname is that of professional poker player Phil Ivey, known as the Tiger Woods of poker.

Adding a poker night can be a hit or miss endeavor for an establishment, and an over saturation of these nights may already exist. Most host a combination of two - Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays are the most popular nights. Many of the players at CrossRoads were at Drifters in Spring Lake the night before.

Drifters manager Monnie Spicer has mixed feelings towards the game's ability to draw a crowd. He said business has increased a little bit but similar interactive offerings exist that are less expensive to host.

"Some take it seriously and are really intense," said Spicer. "Some just want to socialize and they don't care because there is no money involved. We cater to them and have our bouncer serving them drinks like he's a waiter, but sometimes they are not really appreciative and become overbearing because they don't want to be bothered while they are playing."

Matthew Lane, 23, plays online and in person at Jester's Pub, Big Harry's Tavern, Drifters and CrossRoads.

How does he have time for work? "I do nothing. I got out of the Army a few weeks ago," he said.

At 11 p.m., nearby Ruby Tuesday isn't taking To Go orders anymore. Players refuse food and bathroom breaks. For a while no one speaks and faces are solemn. By midnight, the jukebox is silent. The bar is empty and most of the pool players have gone home.

At least a dozen local bars are considering the addition of a poker night, realizing it could mean more business or just something new. Right now a belief exists that if you host it, they will come.