Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
The City Council will soon consider whether to allow poker tournaments in local bars.
The council’s Public Safety Committee heard a request on Nov. 14 by Sweet Home resident Daniel Simonson to allow him to begin hosting local tournaments.
Under the business model proposed by Simonson, he would work for bars for pay, like bands do, and will then organize the tournaments. He would take entry fees, hold money, make rulings during the tournaments and disburse prize money. The tournaments would be limited to participants ages 21 and older.
It costs $30 to get into one of Simonson’s tournaments, he said. That buys $500 in chips. Another $25 buys another $500 in chips if a player runs out. At halftime, players can spend another $25 for another $500 chips for a maximum buy-in cost of $80. The average player will spend $55.
Players compete for first-place pots ranging from $200 to $400 and smaller awards for second and third, and sometimes fourth place. The size of the pot depends on the number of players and how much they spend on chips.
Simonson told committee members Jim Bean, Jim Gourley and Rich Rowley that he does not have a job lined up in Sweet Home yet. He said he wanted to get a green light from the city first.
He said he runs a similar tournament in Springfield.
The council considered another request to allow poker tournaments in early 2005. Frank Chau, owner of T&M Pizza, made that request. The council turned the request down, primarily out of concern about the law enforcement problems the tournaments might generate.
“What is different about this proposal than the last proposal?” Gourley asked.
Police Chief Bob Burford said the difference he sees is that this is an outside contractor who’s offering his services to businesses.
“Before, you had the license holder saying, ‘I’m going to provide this service.’ I suppose (the previous proposal was) a bit more fuzzy as to the money exchange. This is a 90-degree turn from what we looked at a year ago.”
Simonson has no stake in the tournaments, he said. And no one touches the cards except the players, and that changes.
He said he is paid for drawing customers to a venue where they will spend money drinking and eating.
Simonson also said he is as concerned about tournaments getting rowdy as anyone.
“As the person putting it on, it’s my reputation at stake,” he said.
He has had few problems with his tournaments, he said. He recalled only one situation, and he was able to defuse it with no police involvement.
If participants are drinking, Rowley wanted to know how they would get home following the tournament.
That is the customer’s responsibility, “just like any time you go to a bar,” Simonson said, noting that he doesn’t usually see his players get “slovenly drunk” because they don’t want to impair their game.
The councilmen asked Burford to look into Springfield’s and Eugene’s rules on poker tournaments and find out more and then return to the committee.
“I’m not really in a rush,” Simonson said. “I’m just trying to get this done right.”