Sunday, Sept. 10, 2006

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Kansas city course teaches Texas Hold'em

By Sarah Polson

The Parks and Recreation Department in Lawrence, Kan., is offering to teach people how to play Texas Hold'em with classes starting Tuesday. The community course costs $45 for five, two-hour sessions.

The class, which is limited to players age 21 and older, will focus on low-limit Texas Hold'em including hands-on demonstrations using cards and chips. Besides the basics of the game, the class will delve into poker slang terms, Internet poker, casino poker, home games, and reading players.

Some concerns have been raised about the city providing a class that teaches people how to gamble, but Jo Ellis, the city's recreation program supervisor, said games during the class won't involve any money and not all poker games are about gambling.

Ellis said they decided to add the class because poker is very popular right now and many card parties among friends now focus on poker instead of other card games.

Lawrence isn't the first city to offer Texas Hold'em classes to its citizens either. Ellis reported that the parks and recreations department in Shawnee, Kan., as well as several cities in Missouri, were offering similar classes.

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