LEWISTON – Roughly 120 people who showed up for a Texas Hold ‘Em poker tournament at the Eagles Club on Sabattus Street on Sunday were expecting high-stakes drama. Then a pair of state officials stepped in to explain the laws of gambling, and the mood changed.
“They said, This is how you’re going to have to do it, and we’re going to stick around to watch you,'” said game organizer Joe Levasseur of the inspectors. “We couldn’t play the game the way it’s meant to be played.”
There were no charges in connection with the tournament.
By state law, a player is only allowed to place $1 worth of bets per hand. At a tournament like the one on Sunday, that means a player could only place two chips into the pot as opposed to a bigger bet or the whole heap of chips.
After about two hours of small-time gambling, Levasseur offered to refund the $60 entry fee the players had submitted for a chance to try their luck at the card tables.
“A whole flock of people just got up,” said 27-year-old Megan Griffey, one of more than a dozen dealers working the card tables. “They just wanted their money back. It was horrible.”
Levasseur had advertised the Texas Hold ‘Em tournament days in advance. The state caught wind of the game and sent two inspectors over. When the doors opened at 8 a.m., the officers identified themselves and began to explain the laws.
“We didn’t tell them how to play the game. We just told them what the laws are,” said Maine State Police Lt. Patrick Fleming. “We have a specific betting limit in Maine.”
Fleming acknowledged that the law somewhat defeats the purpose of Texas Hold Em poker. Unable to make the big bets, the players are not compelled to take risks and rely on guile to outwit opponents. Not with a $1 limit, anyway.
“The nature of the game is that you exceed that limit,” Fleming said.
Two hours into the game, most of the players had given up, and Levasseur refunded their money. The inspectors lingered, while the remaining poker players grumbled.
Levasseur, however, had more to worry about than the stakes of the game.
“We got stuck with food bill, the cost of the license, the advertising and all that stuff,” he said. “I got shafted there.”
Levasseur said he had planned to give 10 percent of the proceeds from the game to charity.
While millions of dollars are often at stake in big-time Texas Hold Em tournaments around the country, Levasseur said the top player at Sunday’s game probably would have walked away with about $1,000.
“I see it as much less of a gamble than say, bingo,” said Eric Griffey, one of the players at the tournament. “The most you can lose is your entry fee.”
Griffey, Levasseur and about eight other players moved the game to a nearby home. By law, gambling at a private residence is legal as long as the house doesn’t take in or make a profit.
Gamblers from Sunday’s tournament, though, say it shouldn’t come to that.
“These are antiquated laws,” Griffey said. “Back when they created them, people weren’t playing these kinds of tournaments around here.”
Televised poker matches have made the game far more popular duiring the past decade, Griffey pointed out. More people want to put a little money on the line and maybe take home some winnings.
“The laws have not been changed to allow for that,” Griffey said. “The laws in place stunt any sort of big-stakes game. This state, and I suspect, a lot of states, are struggling to deal with that.”
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