Tom Brzoska had only a pair of eights among his cards, but he was pushing every last one of his $1,175 worth of poker chips into the pot.
Of course, he wasn't really throwing away all that cash because the money in this game at T.T. Reynolds in Fairfax City was fake. Still, there was a quiver of excitement in his voice when Brzoska said those magical words that all Texas Hold 'Em players love to hear: "I'm all in."
Nancy Everly, top right, reacts to winning yet another hand during a Texas Hold 'Em tournament at a Fairfax City bar. Virginia officials say such events are legal as long as they remain free.
(Jonathan Ernst For The Washington Post)
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Brzoska, 52, of Fairfax City promptly lost his chips. But the bar was definitely cashing in. More than 60 players showed up on a recent Sunday evening for a free Texas Hold 'Em tournament on what is normally a slow night. Sales of food and drinks tripled.
"As far as a Sunday night in Fairfax, it was phenomenal," Josh Porter, a manager at T.T. Reynolds, said later. "We are definitely going to be holding [the tournament] every Sunday night. We are in this for the long haul."
Better learn when to fold 'em and when to hold 'em. Poker is coming in a big way to the Washington region.
Fast-growing firms are bringing free Texas Hold 'Em tournaments to bars, pubs and restaurants. The games have started in Northern Virginia, and by the end of the month, they will be in Maryland and the District, as well.
Although the tournaments feel as real as games being played in casinos and participants can win prizes such as a motorcycle or a trip to Las Vegas, the games skirt gambling laws by not requiring players to pay to join in. Virginia and Maryland officials said the tournaments are legal as long as they remain free.
In other states, police and liquor commissions have imposed fines and even arrested bar owners and patrons for participating.
But the games have been a boon to local establishments, which pay poker companies hundreds of dollars a night for the tournaments.
The explosive growth of these free tournaments illustrates the wild popularity -- some say frenzy -- over Texas Hold 'Em, which was invented in the 1960s in Las Vegas casinos and has exploded as poker's signature game.
The phenomenon took off about three years ago, largely thanks to poker games on the Internet and endless replays on TV such as ESPN's "World Series of Poker," Bravo's "Celebrity Poker Showdown," and the Travel Channel's "World Poker Tour."
Schoolchildren as young as 11 are learning the game at sleepovers. News reports have profiled young professionals who quit their jobs to play online and in tournaments full time, which also was the plot of "Rounders," a 1998 movie about Texas Hold 'Em. Riding the craze, the Virginia Lottery recently added a Texas Hold 'Em scratch game.
"It's popular now at all levels," said Becky Gettings, director of public affairs for the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. "They are playing in high school, playing in colleges. Even Hecht's and Kmart sell the fancy kits with the nice poker chips."
In Texas Hold 'Em, each player is dealt two cards facedown. Then five shared cards are dealt faceup in between rounds of betting. The player with the best five-card poker hand -- or the last one left in the game -- wins. Industry officials say the format's heavy emphasis on strategic betting, luck and bluffing has moved it out of backrooms and kitchen tables and into the national consciousness.
