Bars use poker tournaments to draw crowds

Colorado -- Every Tuesday night, the distinctive sounds of shuffling decks of cards and chips being tossed into the pot can be heard coming from the pool hall of at CooperSmith's Pub & Brewing in Old Town Fort Collins.

Every Tuesday night, the distinctive sounds of shuffling decks of cards and chips being tossed into the pot can be heard coming from the pool hall of at CooperSmith's Pub & Brewing in Old Town Fort Collins.

Players sit at pool tables converted into card tables for the night, dealing hands of Texas Hold 'Em, the now ubiquitous poker game played on television. While virtual fortunes are lost and won, players order drinks and food.

And, just as in Vegas, the house always wins.

With poker now a "sport" and its players becoming celebrities, bars in Fort Collins have cashed in on the fad by hosting poker tournaments.

Will Thomas, an assistant manager at CooperSmith's, said he got the idea to host a tournament at the bar about two and half years ago.

"It was on TV a lot. People were watching the World Series of Poker on ESPN," Thomas said. "It was springing up and seemed to be something becoming more popular with the general public, so I thought it would be a good idea to host a tournament to draw people in and it did."

Thomas said between 40 and 50 people show up to play every Tuesday, a typical slow night for bars and taverns.

"It's not usually a busy time but having 50 people come in and play is a win for us," Williams said.

There is some cost in hosting these tournaments, such as equipment, paying for a host and a prize for the winner. The top player at CooperSmith's wins $100. Thomas said the bar writes it off as a promotional expense.

Other bars that host these tournaments either offer cash prizes or tabs.

Since starting the tournament more than two years ago, Thomas said he has seen the idea spin off with other establishments.

"When I brought it up, there were bars in Denver (hosting card tournaments) but nothing in Fort Collins yet," he said. "When we acted on it, it picked up."

There is hardly a night in town when a tournament isn't being hosted, from Sunday night at Jackson's Sports Grill to CooperSmith's on Tuesday and the Sundance on Fridays.

Though CooperSmith's runs its own tournaments, other establishments opt to pay for a company to run it for them.

One of those companies is the Denver Poker Tour, which runs tournaments for several bars in Fort Collins.

Typically, the establishments will charge the company to come set up the games.

"Generally speaking, on any given night, we will bring in 30 to 100 people to a bar who will come and play, spend from two to five hours in the bar and eat and drink," said Harry Steinberg, director of the Denver Poker tour. "And usually, as many as 80 or 90 percent wouldn't go to that bar otherwise. Those are new faces. For a bar trying to build traffic, that is something we do for the bar. That is why they are willing to do this."

The company offers a grand prize of a seat at the main event of the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, a prize worth more than $10,000.
The Tribune

News Added: 24 September, 2007

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