Looking for the Small-Town Hero

In just about every nook and cranny in the United States and abroad, in fire halls and social halls, the backs of bars, and even in church halls, people are playing tournament poker, and that's a good thing.

That's because, for the most part, the proceeds from these tournaments, which rarely have a buy-in higher than $120, go to local charities.

Soon, in cities and towns all across the world, even more charity tournaments will be played as the Small-Town Poker Tour (STPT) prepares to begin filming its first season early next year.

"It's the American Idol for people who can't sing," says Mark Fracalossi, the show's executive producer. "We want to give everybody that big-time feel."

The STPT is just about to reach a television deal and, once that happens, it will start to produce the shows that aim to discover the best amateur player in America. It will also release the schedule and locations where it will be making stops.

Fracalossi and the rest of his production company want to make a show that not only shows great poker play, but also features real people from these towns and their stories.

"Our show, even though it does feature poker, features the backgrounds of the people," Fracalossi says.

A few months ago, STPT put the word out that it wanted to hear from the public about everything from great poker plays and horrendous bad-beat stories to stories about love found around the poker table. They also asked people and charities to get in touch with them to start planning where in the United States it will be heading next year.

The best stories and characters will be featured on the STPT. And before it visits a town, the STPT people will rent a hall at a tournament, buy local radio spots, and then hope that people will come on down and play.

Fracalossi believes there are plenty of very good players out there, players who might be good as anyone you see on TV who never got their break or never had enough money to take their shot at the big time. Fracalossi wants to shine a spotlight on these folks.

He also wants to show one of the reasons why he thinks poker is such a great game.

"We just thought it's a sport that everyone could play," he says. "You could take a banker and a guy who works at the car wash, sit them down next to each other and everything's even."

The STPT isn't letting any of the oceans stop it, either. It's searching for games in both Europe and Asia, and plans on launching seasons on those continents, as well.

Here's a strange note. Emails have been pouring in from all over Europe, but Fracalossi says the people of Denmark have been particularly enthusiastic about the tour. Almost as many emails have been sent by the people of Denmark as by Americans. The United States has about 58 times as many people as Denmark.

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