Following the increasing popularity of Texas Hold’em games all over the world, the National Poker League of Australia has decided to start offering tournaments of this poker variant in South Australian pubs from the end of June. Texas Hold’em championships have already taken place in Western Australia, Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and Tasmania.

Tournaments are open to both amateur and professional players, who will play with “non-value” chips instead of cash. Winners will accrue points that can be exchanged for prizes including cars and overseas trips. More than 80 poker clubs have already showed interest in the tournaments and the number is expected to continue increasing.

“About 10,000 people could soon be playing at more than 100 tournaments each week across Adelaide,” National Poker League Director Garry Nicholson said. “The poker phenomenon has swept the world over the last two or three years, particularly in Australia since (Melbourne man) Joe Hachem won the World Series of Poker.”

Nicholson also explained that these poker tournaments are aimed to be social and non-competitive in order to create a fun environment. “People just go down to their local pub and play a game . . . it's a very cheap night out,” he said.