In many towns and cities across North America, bars and restaurants hold mini tournaments, usually with a $100 buy-in, and offer as a grand prize entrance into the World Series of Poker tournament held annually in Las Vegas. This tournament requires a $10,000 buy in and, in 2004, offered a grand prize of $1,259,600. It is expected that next year's tournament will offer over $7,000,000 in total prize money.

If you are not up to forking over $10,000 for entry into the most sought after poker game in the world, check out your local tavern. Many local establishments offer weekly or monthly games where the buy in is as little as $10 to as much as $1,000 with a 100% payout guarantee. Not all of these games are registered with the state, so it is advisable to ask the proprietor of your favorite watering hole about any games in private so as not to cause him/her any undue problems.

Many organizations such as The Eagles Club, The Elks Club, The Moose Club, the VFW, and Knights of Columbus also offer weekly games with minimal buy-ins. These groups usually consist of an older crowd who enjoy gathering for card playing and the prize money is secondary whereas the bar games tend to be much more competitive and aggressive.

If you are new to the game, there are numerous books available at just about every book store which will help give you guidelines to strategy and technique. There are also numerous online sites that offer online tutorials and free games. (A Google search using the keywords TEXAS HOLD EM FREE resulted in 9.72 million hits)

These sites are a great place to while away hours of time and to learn the game. These are great ways to practice before you start betting for money and enjoying the profits that come from using proven gambling systems.