Monday, July 2, 2007
For two nights each week, the billiard tables at The Pool Room are neglected. The action moves instead to a cluster of four poker tables in a wood-paneled corner of the bar, located at 925 Iowa St.
Poker enthusiasts filled each of the 32 seats — eight per table — Wednesday night. The group that plans the events is The Poker Pub, a Lawrence-based company that organizes free poker leagues in the community.
Melissa Nagy, Lawrence Area Poker Pub Manager and 2004 University of Kansas graduate, said that the turnout is smallest in the summer due to the absence of students.
The company, which was started in 2004 by Nagy’s fiancé, Leo Magsalin, has grown in the last few years from one franchise in Lawrence to several others in such cities as St. Louis, Kansas City and Phoenix. Although the Poker Pub in Lawrence usually only has one tournament per night, while Kansas City runs three or four, the operation in Lawrence is significant, Nagy said.
“Lawrence holds a special place in the Poker Pub’s heart,” she said. “Even though our numbers are a little smaller, we try to keep it going.”
One possible reason for the company’s subsistence is the attractiveness of the prizes offered.
Nagy said that winners used to receive chip sets. Now they earn points that can be used toward a variety of items, such as iPods and laptops. Once a year, winners from the various franchises compete in a tournament in Las Vegas. The champion of that contest earns a seat at the World Series of Poker tournament. Considering the normal cost of a seat is $10,000, there is a huge incentive to winning.
Tamera Stanley, a Provo, Utah, graduate student, wanted a barbecue pit. Stanley said she has won about eight tournaments in Lawrence since she participated in her first event last November and was saving up her points for a barbecue pit. She also said the action is livelier during the fall and spring because of student participation.
“A lot of the students really get into it,” she said. “They’re really competitive.”
Others, however, are drawn to the games for different reasons.
“I do it for the social environment,” said Lawrence resident David Wiglesworth.
Wiglesworth said he is one of the many people who have been swept up in poker’s recent popularity.
“I prefer to participate rather than watch,” Wiglesworth said.
— Edited by Ben Smith
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