Monday, February 27, 2012

The Last Page?

Two weeks ago we quoted a tournament director as saying new "league" rules would mean the end of poker nights at The Sports Page.  Tonight we returned there, to see if he was right.

This time we used our half-price coupon more smartly -- eating a filling ribeye steak dinner.  But this time, there indeed wasn't much in the way of poker.  Only about 15 players were on hand -- apparently moved to a side room because the main bar featured the Daytona 500 stock car race.

But remember the explanation two weeks ago that players still could play for free, without being eligible for prize money?  That was different tonight as well.  We couldn't even join a table without playing five dollars.  Or as one man put it: "Nobody's playing for fun."

That's too bad.  We brought spare money to tip our server, but we didn't come prepared to "pay to play."  In a casino or poker room, buy-ins obviously are expected.  But at a sports bar on a local circuit known for "free poker," it stung a bit.

So our plan to play poker while watching our alma mater play basketball didn't quite turn out as we planned tonight.  The "poker ministry" wound up being an explanation to our server about how we are not good -- only God the Father is.  Are you familiar with that part of the Bible?  Try to find it, and we'll have an explanation in a future post.

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