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On any given night somewhere in the Black Hills, the next Chris Moneymaker — or someone whose dream is to become
the next Chris Moneymaker — is sitting at a poker table, cards in hand, sizing up the other players and deciding whether
to hold, fold or go all in. 
Moneymaker is a poker legend, an amateur everyman who went to the 2003 World
Series of Poker in Las Vegas and walked away with $2.3 million in winnings.
Tournament poker, it seems, has become
both a local and a national obsession. Cable TV networks such as ESPN regularly air Texas Hold ’Em tournaments. Although
it hardly seems like a spectator sport, viewers apparently love to watch people play cards on TV.
And in the Black
Hills, tournament poker is becoming a pastime for an increasing number of players. The Black Hills Poker Tour is a running
series of about 20 weekly tournaments in a dozen bars and restaurants. Since Jan, when the current season began,
about 500 players have played in the tour, operated by No-Limit Entertainment of Rapid City.
Some players sit in
on a couple of tournaments and drop out, or play only occasionally. But a lot of players travel the circuit, playing nearly
every night. It is possible to play in a different poker tournament every night of the week.
The Black Hills
Poker Tour currently plays in four circuits. The Rapid City Circuit plays at venues such as the Reunion Lounge at
the Quality Inn and Cheers Lounge. The I-90 Circuit includes the Sacora Station, The Waiting Room in Summerset,
McKee's in Black Hawk, and the Elk Creek Steakhouse in Piedmont.
Some players, such as Mike Troastle
of Rapid City, take poker seriously. He’s played in other tournament venues as well. Over the years, his poker
playing has won him three free trips to Las Vegas.
Retired from the Air Force, he’s also played poker for
cash in venues such as Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Biloxi, Miss., and Deadwood. But these days, he prefers tournament poker.
“I don’t really like Deadwood,” he said. “There are too many ranchers with deep pockets; you
can’t push them out.”
For a number of players, poker tournaments are pure entertainment. Other players
use the tournaments to learn the game and build up confidence to play for cash in Deadwood.
Fred Neville of Rapid
City, said he plays in poker tournaments just about every night. “Sometimes twice a day,” he said, laughing. “I’m
retired, so it’s something to do,” he said.
For Keith and Dorla Brink, tournament poker is mostly a
social activity. Keith said he plays about once a week, just for fun. “Through poker, I’ve met a lot of people
who I consider my friends.” Asked where he is in the point standings, he said, “I have no idea.”
No-Limit Entertainment began in the spring of 2006. Hartl bought the business in June 2007. He then sold the business to
Jim Rigdon and Mark Wilkinson in 2008. No-Limit also stages Las Vegas night events for company Christmas parties, charitable
fundraisers and other one-time events.
Is tournament poker legal? Yes, because nobody is actually gambling. There
is no money on the table, no participation fees and no side bets allowed. It’s simply entertainment, he said.
Players can win prizes such as dinners or free gasoline. More importantly, they can earn points, which will get them into
the season finale. And the one person who wins at the regional level wins good prizes such as a free trip to Las Vegas.
Two talents are required for a good poker player.
One is analytical — you have to be able to know
the hands, know the odds and estimate your relative strength against what you can see of the other players’ cards.
The other is psychological, the so-called poker face. You have to be a good liar and deceiver. With the right mix
of blase and bluster, you could find yourself on a plane to Vegas.
“A politician once said poker is the only
place you can lie and get away with it,”
Article from July 22nd's Rapid City Journal
Say you’re sitting
across the felt at the World Series of Poker from former champion Greg Raymer, wearing his lizard-eye sunglasses, who raises
you some obscene amount. What would you do? Twenty-three-year old Cody Hartl
of Spearfish got the chance to find out recently after winning a seat to one of the 54 events at the annual poker championships
in Las Vegas.
“I had a really bad hand, but he had on his glasses and he was just staring me down. I kind
of took my time and acted like I was thinking about it. I ended up folding, but it was pretty cool sitting at the same table
with him,” Hartl said.
Hartl, an accounting major at Black Hills State University, won an end of season 150
person tournament sponsored by the Black Hills Poker Tour to earn a seat in event No. 2 at the World Series, a $1,500 buy
in, no-limit Texas Hold’em tournament that had 4,300 people entered.
Though he finished roughly 800 spots
from first, Hartl said he probably played the best poker he has ever played.
“I was so patient. The blinds
were an hour long so you could just sit there and look at a lot of hands for free. I played really tight,” he said.
“Obviously, you kind of get a feel of the table and how everybody’s playing and you can pick your spots to be
aggressive.”
Hartl said it is nerve-wracking when you sit down in a tournament field of 4,300, but after
awhile you settle down and begin to play.
“It’s just poker. It really is,” he said.
Along with Hartl, Rapid City residents Keith Brink and Stan and Kelly Scheurer also participated in World Series events.
All four play in local tournaments sponsored by the Black Hills Poker Tour. Kelly Scheurer won a seat in event No. 52, a $1,500
no-limit Hold‘em tournament. Her husband, Stan, played in a $125 buy-in satellite tournament in Las Vegas and earned
a seat in the same event Kelly was entered in.
Kelly was knocked out after nearly six hours of play and finished
872nd out of 2,700. Stan finished in about 1,300.
“I was really upset when I lost,” Kelly said with
a laugh. “I had Ace-Jack suited. The antes were $300, and the blinds were getting quite expensive and I was going to
be in the big blind next. The player who called me had Kings and they held.”
Kelly started playing poker
about three years ago. It was her first time to go to the World Series and she definitely wants to do it again next year.
“A lot of people think it’s luck, and to an extent it is, but there’s also skill involved. Even
if you have nothing, sometimes you have to represent you have something if you’ve got quite a bit of money invested
in the pot,” she said.
Another big hand for Scheurer came when she held King-Queen suited. Another player
made a big bet, she went all in, and he called her with pocket Aces. An Ace on the flop gave the man three of a kind but a
Jack and a 10 on the turn and river gave her the suck-out straight.
“He was a little upset about that. But
that’s poker,” she said.
Kelly Scheurer said she saw quite a few poker professionals such as
Jennifer Tilly and boyfriend Phil “The Unabomber” Laak, Chris Ferguson and Umberto Brenes.
After getting
sent to the rail, Stan Scheurer ran into two-time main event winner Johnny Chan, fresh from winning $1.9 million in the HORSE
tourney.
“What a nice guy. We got to visit a little bit,” Stan Scheurer said.
Scheurer was
eliminated when his full house ran up against a bigger full house, but he said he enjoyed the experience. He said seeing 270
tables in two rooms and poker players as far as he could see was quite a sight.
“Everybody played pretty
tight. There was very little bluffing going on, at least at my table. The people who were playing a little loose, they didn’t
last very long,” he said.
Hartl said at one point he was at the same table with both Greg Raymer and
another professional, Hoyt Corkins, and outlasted them both. He said he busted out with pocket fives after going all in against
a woman who limped into the pot holding pocket Aces.
Like many people, Hartl began playing penny-ante type poker
with friends when he was a kid. He started playing more seriously in high school and only in the past year started playing
in local poker tour events.
Heading into the World Series, Hartl even had thoughts of turning pro himself one day.
But that idea changed after spending 10 hours straight at the table.
“I realized that’s just something
I can’t do. It’s gruesome,” he said. “I can do it once, maybe twice, but I could never do it for a
living, that’s for sure. It kind of takes out the fun if you do it all the time, and you’re not really enjoying
it.”
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