By Mathias Baden

So it’s come down to this: Five players all of whom are assured they will win some money. And the kid.

Patient and studious, Dalton Reed is the young man who took last year’s Texas Hold ‘Em tournament at Heimatfest, the city festival in Jordan. All of the players at the final table were younger than Reed.

He’ll be a marked man if he returns for this year’s tournament, scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 6, at Lagoon Park, near the intersection of Varner Street and Park Drive in Jordan. Registration begins at 3 p.m., and the tournament will be limited to the first 40 players to sign up.

But anyone who wants to pay the $5 buy-in can play, said organizer Kevin Adamek. “It’s just a universal-type game. It’s like blackjack – everyone can play it.”
Texas Hold ‘Em is a variation of poker officially recognized by the Texas Legislature as being born in Robstown, Texas, in the early 1900s.

The community card game was introduced to Las Vegas in 1967. Propelled by its use in the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour, its popularity surged in the 2000s.

“Texas Hold ‘Em took off like crazy,” Adamek said.

Small-time tournaments and basement quarter games picked up on the popularity. In 2005, the Heimatfest committee incorporated a Texas Hold ‘Em tournament into its annual celebration.

“That was when it was huge, and it was on TV all the time,” said Ryan Beckius, one of a group of Jordan residents who started the tourney. “We got them off on the right foot.”

As Reed and those he beat last year well know, Texas Hold ‘Em is a game that so-called underdogs can win.
“The young guys like to play it,” said Adamek, who first played the game years ago in Las Vegas, “and now we’re finding that it’s not just the young guys – it’s older people and men and women. It’s everybody.”

Mathias Baden is the editor of the Jordan Independent. He can be reached at editor@jordannews.com.

More Heimatfest Highlights
Heimatfest is Jordan’s annual city festival. It is located in Lagoon Park, near the intersection of Varner Street and Park Drive.
Friday, Sept. 5, the Jordan Classic Car and Cycle Cruise begins at 6:45 p.m. in downtown Jordan.
Friday, the band the Castaways (of “Liar, Liar” fame) plays in downtown Jordan.
Saturday, the Run/Walk of the Mill starts early at Jordan Middle School.
Saturday, teams with players grades 4-12 from Jordan and elsewhere can compete in a three-on-three basketball tournament.
On Saturday, there will be a keg toss.