Disclaimer: Nowhere in this blog will there be dicussions pertaining to Lute Olson, pgymy owls, road construction or knitting. For those of you who haven’t been turned away already, please read on.

This little corner of cyberspace is reserved for any and all information pertaining to the world of poker, the greatest card game (other than War) ever invented.

This game — I really wish I could call it a sport, using the justification that coverage of it is a staple on ESPN, but we’ve all seen what some of the world’s top players look like — has so many wonderful things to offer.

It involves intense strategy, which requires you to come up with new and innovative ways to outwit your opponents. There are amazing psychological aspects, like trying to figure out when someone is totally bluffing or when it’s so obvious what cards they’re holding it’s like they just got a tattoo of those pocket aces on their forehead.

There’s even the opportunity to do math in your head! What’s cooler than that?

And, of course, there’s the chance to win money. And lots of it. But playing poker just to win money shouldn’t be your main motivation. Otherwise, you’re liable to end up broke.

To make poker fun for me, I treat it like a competition. It’s my bowling league, just with the potential to be a LOT more lucrative. If you do really well you can make some nice coin on the side, but to really do it for a living you’d probably have to move to Las Vegas or Los Angeles, or at least to Phoenix. There’s just not enough money in Tucson.

That’s not to say there aren’t plenty of playing options around here. On the surface, Tucson wouldn’t be what anyone would consider a hotbed for poker action, but you’d be surprised.

First and foremost, there are the poker rooms at Desert Diamond Casino and Casino del Sol, both of which offer cash games and tournaments. There’s almost always at least one table running at both places at any hour of the day or night, and combined the two rooms have at least a dozen tournaments per week with buy-ins ranging between $10 and $135.

These casinos occasionally have larger-scale tournaments with much bigger payouts. Casino del Sol just wrapped up a series of qualifiers for the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, while Desert Diamond is getting set to host its May Days tourney May 4-6. That event will cost $150 to enter and will include $25,000 of house-added funds into the prize pool.

There is also a series of home-based tournaments run by the Tucson Poker Club, which holds its Monthly Poker Tour events at various houses throughout the Tucson area. These tourneys cost $110 each and can ultimately qualify you for the main event of the WSOP. For more info on the MPT, which still has two tourneys left this season, go to www.tucsonpokerclub.com.

Of course, technically you don’t even have to leave your house to play poker in Tucson. Just hop online and go to one of the hundreds of Internet poker sites that offer round-the-clock cash games and tournaments. It’s the way to go if you just want to hang on the couch in your boxers.

All of the options I’ve listed so far cost money, which might scare off people who are thinking about getting into poker for the first time. If that sounds like you, fear not, for nearly every online poker site also offers free games where you only wager play money. You can play at any time with no risk involved, and after a while of going about it this way maybe then you’ll feel bold enough to try playing for money.

Another great learning tool for the novice poker player are pub tournaments, which have gotten very popular the last few years. Dozens of local watering holes hold free events several times a week, though instead of cash the prizes at stake are in the form of T-shirts, hats and other promotional items given out by sponsors such as Canadian Club Whiskey.

The bottom line is, if you live in the Tucson area and want to play poker, you’ll be able to find a game somewhere. How good you (think you) are and whether or not you want to lay some money on that belief should determine where to go.

That’s all for now, poker lovers! — BJP

Today’s poker quote:

“If there weren’t luck involved, I would win every time.” — 10-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Phil “The Poker Brat” Hellmuth