HOW WORLD TAVERN POKER CAME TO BE

July 11, 2023

Save yourself the trouble of reading and watch The DRUNK History of World Tavern Poker.

19 years ago I got a call from my good friend Joe Hatch who owned Woody’s Sports Bar in Chapel Hill, NC. He was looking for ideas to get more people into the bar and asked me to come down, have a few drinks, and brainstorm.

Joe and I were not only neighbors, but we were also in love with poker!

So, I went down on that Tuesday night and sat with Joe and another friend of ours, Newt Heilman. There were only a few customers in the bar, and all the TVs had on the MLB ALL STAR GAME except for one – the other TV was showing Greg Raymer playing Heads Up in the 2004 WSOP MAIN EVENT.

And I noticed that ALL THE EYES WERE ON POKER – NOT ON BASEBALL!

As we started brainstorming – I said “Hey, why don’t we have a poker night”. Joe thought I was crazy, and while the story is much longer (watch the Drunk History above), just a few months later we hosted the first ever Poker Tournament with more than 75 people showing up to play.

And as they say, the rest is history….

The truly amazing news however, is that after 19 years, I still get up every morning (at 5am) LOVING WHAT I DO. You know what they say, “Find something you love and you’ll never work a day in your life”.

And I couldn’t keep doing it if it wasn’t for all of our Bars, Players, TDs, and Team (past and present).

THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU!