Poker enthusiasts gather for 'no stakes' games in bars

Texas Hold 'Em poker, a game that has spread in popularity worldwide, is now being played regularly at two local bars in Mountain Home, Charlie's Place and The Stockyard.

The games in each bar are, as Charlie's owner Butch Boatwright points out, "100 percent free play" games (due to illegal gambling laws) and run under a points system. No money changes hands.

Charlie's and The Stockyard began playing Texas Hold 'Em by taking part in an Idaho Hold 'Em League, which included other bars from Boise, until both bars decided to have the games independently.

"We have the games here based on popular demand and the fact that it's the hottest game in the country right now," said Boatwright.

Players at Charlie's earn points for signing up and for finishing in the top ten during weekly games, with bar tabs going to the first- and second-place finisher. Once a player earns enough points, he or she would qualify for a quarterly tournament, held once every 12-13 weeks.

In the quarterly tournament, players who finish in the top ten can win from a prize pool of gift cards, poker goods and other prizes, worth in total about $1,000.

Charlie's holds their weekly games every Sunday starting at 6 p.m. and every Monday and Tuesday at 7 p.m. On Wednesday, Charlie's holds Buzztime (video poker) in-house tournaments.

"I think it's fun to play here, until the tournament comes around, then it's pretty cutthroat," said Boatwright on playing at Charlie's.

The Stockyard also runs it's games using a points system, but the system is different from the one used at Charlie's. The players qualify for its tournaments based on the attendance during the weekly games.

The Stockyard does hold other tournaments for pool and darts (skill tip and soft tip), but as owner Raymond Bartausky points out, Texas Hold 'Em is "a regular game and can be played all the time."

"It's a fun, laid back atmosphere for everybody, so they could relax and have a good time," said owner Raymond Bartausky on games at The Stockyard.

For the winners of the weekly games, the Stockyard awards a $20 bar tab for first place and a $10 bar tab for second place. In total, out of bar tabs and other prizes, the Stockyard gives out about $1,000 a month in prizes, which does not include the quarterly and annual tournaments where the top finishers could win from a prize pool of gift cards and other merchandise totalling roughly another $1,000.

"We would love to have more people come out. The more people that come, the more money we pay out," said Bartausky.

Texas Hold 'Em is a game that got its start in the early 1900s in Robstown, Texas. Following its invention, the game was introduced to Las Vegas in 1967 by a group of Texas gamblers, Crandell Addington, Amarillo Slim and "Texas Dolly" Doyle Brunson.

The game now is featured in the annual World Series of Poker, a series of poker games where championship bracelets go to the winner.

The notable event of the World Series of Poker is the Main Event, a game where greats such as Brunson, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Johnny Chan and the "Poker Brat" Phil Hellmuth have won the top honor.

In 2003, when ESPN covered the World Series, the Main Event victory by poker novice Chris Moneymaker sparked a surge of interest for rookies who felt that if Moneymaker could be a world champion, they could be a world champion as well.

Following Moneymaker's victory were fellow novice players such as Greg "Fossilman" Raymer who won in 2004, Joseph Hachem who won in 2005, Jamie Gold (who has won the largest prize to date in the WSOP, $12 million) in 2006, and Jerry Yang, who took top honors in last year's Main Event.

Other than the WSOP, several other television programs, such as the World Poker Tour, High Stakes Poker and Poker After Dark have also aided in increasing the game's popularity.

The game has earned pop culture notoriety by being featured in the 1998 Matt Damon film "Rounders, and in the 2006 James Bond remake of "Casino Royale," where Hold 'Em replaced baccarat, the game that was featured in the original story.