Poker in the pubs

Poker tip: If you find yourself in a game with Christie Mettel, consider calling her bluff. "I do a lot of bluffing," reveals Mettel, a player in the National Pub Poker League, which began holding regular tournaments at Tucson bars and restaurants last month.

"I know people who don't bluff at all and others who bluff right to the end," Mettel says. "It makes the game interesting."

Mettel is one of some 450 Tucson poker players who've joined the free league for play at more than a dozen establishments around town.

The official game in league tournaments is Texas Hold'em. The pot is poker chips - not money - and players accumulate points, which are recorded on a club Web site. ( See the accom-panying "Deal Me In" box for the Web address.)

"It's a whole lot of fun, and you have nothing to lose because you're just playing for points," says Damian Luna, Tucson manager for the club. "We're in 13 states right now and growing." Luna says bar owners pay the club to host poker action one or more nights a week."We provide everything - tables, cards, chips, a dealer, the works," says Luna, who declines to specify how much bar owners pay for the service. "The only thing the bar needs to provide is a bartender to serve drinks."

In the popular Texas Hold'em game, a dealer gives each player two cards that are unseen by other players - and then deals out five "community cards" facing up. After rounds of betting during the dealing, each player makes the best five-card hand possible from the two down cards and the five community cards.

"It's captivating because the rules and regulations are like being in a casino," says Jos? Ayala, who tried pub play recently at Fender Skirts, 140 S. Kolb Road. "The dealer even had a bow tie.

"It's a non-threatening environment because you're not playing for anything," Ayala says. "It gives you an opportunity to hone your skills because you're playing by the same rules as the games you see on TV and in a casino."

Another attraction, as Ayala sees it: "It gives you an opportunity to meet other people."

Player Mettel sees that point - and raises it.

"One of my friends dragged me along one night for poker at Buffalo Wild Wings," at 68 N. Harrison Road, Mettel says. "In that night I met 15 people and had a great night laughing and having fun."

Mettel says the league also serves as a training ground for other poker outings.

"It's a great way to practice for going to the casinos," she says.

Luna, the league manager in Tucson, says the popularity of the league apparently stems from a recent surge of interest in poker.

"I guess it's partly because of the way TV has blown it up," he says. "This gives you a chance to be like your favorite poker player on TV without taking any of the risks."

By Doug Kreutz
ARIZONA DAILY STAR

News Added: 17 March, 2005

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