Poker Table Spotlight: Atlanta, GA, USA

Y’all ever seen grits, ribs, beer, and poker all in the same place? Well let me tell you my friend, as a former Hotlanta resident, the amateur poker circuit in Atlanta is second to none. This city has poker table tournaments every night of the week, all across the city. Hard to believe for a place where gambling is illegal and you cannot buy alcohol on Sundays. Atlanta plays poker, and they play for keeps.

You may be thinking just how do they do it? Atlanta Bar Games host a variety of bar room entertainment events ranging from Trivia to Texas Hold Em poker table tournaments to Arcade gaming (for all you Golden Tee fans). The best events are by far the custom poker table tournaments. It is FREE to join, and they usually payout to the Top 3. First prize is generally $50, 2nd place $25, and 3rd place $15. The tournaments fields range from 40 to 100. And from the many events that I have attended the players are a real treat. You have the wild childs, tight wads, bluffers, and drunks. It’s unpredictable and fantastic practice all the while have a few beers and meet new people. Stay sober enough to make the final table and you will have played for about 4 hours. Stay awake long enough to cash a prize and get part of your tab paid for.

Here’s the folks in action!

The tournaments run in sets of 8, 10 or 16 weeks and this is followed by a series final poker tables tournament where an overall winner is decided. Usually the Grand Prize is a trip for two to Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Biloxi Mississippi or other luxurious gambling cities. You get some spending cash as well, not too bad for a free tournament entry.

My favorite venue is Laseters in Vinings. Known to the locals as Lasters, and if you have lasted you have won. The crowd is a mix of hicks, businessmen, and retired sharks. The competition is stiff. They have great food here and good beer selection. Come early, play well, go home late. A taxi ride home at 2am means you’ve played really well on about 6 Bud Lights, or just made some really good drinking buddies. I can say I’ve done both and it’s a real Southern experience. Or try Moondogs on Tuesdays, free food and college crowd. Not associated with Atlanta Bar Games, not enough winnings to buy a cheap folding poker table even, but seriously good crowd.

One final tip for poker game tables tournaments in Atlanta is the Shriner’s organization often holds charity benefit tournaments for the needy kids of Atlanta. If there is a series like Shriner’s ongoing, trust me it will not take long for you to hear about it at an Atlanta Bar Game poker table tournament. These tournaments have buy-in’s around $50 but by winning an event you receive at least that money back and an exemption into the final table tournament. The Grand Prize is a trip to the next WSOP in Las Vegas including airfare, hotel, and the monster $10,000 entry fee. What a story if you go from playing the poker table felt in a bar in Atlanta to the 2009 WSOP winner? $0 to $9.1 million.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 4th, 2008 at 7:45 am and is filed under Poker News, Poker Tables. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.