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Mark Mika wins All-in Free Poker season-ender
Mark Mika of Coral Springs won the quarterly All in Free Poker league tournament earlier this month.
The tournament was July 13 and 15 at the Isle in Pompano Beach. Bill Scott of Fort Lauderdale finished second, and Joe Catalano of Coral Springs was third.
All-in Free Poker conducts four "season-ending" tournaments a year, with players from its 25 or so bars, bowling centers and such gathering to play for larger prizes.
Mika won a $4,200 package, including a $1,100 entry into a poker tournament, and a $999 cruise package for two on the All in Free Poker cruise Jan. 12-16 (details on their site). Scott, a dealer in the league normally, and Catalano won cruise packages.
(I play a little bit, mainly at AMF Lanes in Davie, and actually had a good tournament, but not good enough to cash. It was the first multi-table experience for me at the Isle, and for a stiff like me, I gotta admit it was exciting.)
For those of you unfamiliar with bar poker: you play for free at a bar. (Bars like it because it builds business.) You earn points for playing, and more for winning. The bar poker company, in this case All in Free Poker, often will have a season-ending tournament, with sponsors providing prizes. Your chip count is based on how many points you earned.
No cash, nothing to lose, and you learn the game. Although most people tip the dealer $5 a tournament.
All in Free Poker awarded prizes to the top 20, mostly Marlins tickets for the bottom players, but still... for free you can't beat it.
NICK SORTAL began playing 3-card "gut" and "Indian poker" on high school band trips, early training for his...
