Museum of Gaming History An Educational Project of The Casino Collectibles Association, Inc. An IRS approved 501 (c) (3) Tax Exempt Not-For-Profit Organization
ChipGuide - A Catalog of Casino Chips and Collectibles
The Amateur Poker League, headquartered in Wichita, KS, originally started in Kansas by setting up four regions of players in Kansas -- Shawnee is in region 262-- and has regions in Missouri, Illinois, Texas, Florida and California. Since inception, the WPTAL organization moved into Colorado and the upper East Coast. Eventually, it spread to all 50 states.
In the venue games, no money exchanged or any money on the table, since the restaurants (venues) don't have gambling licenses. Winners usually get a prize, such as concert tickets or gift certificates, but what the hard-core players are really playing for are points and advancing to the bigger tournaments usually held regionally like Louisiana, Florida, Oklahoma, etc.
Get enough points to make it to a regional tournament, held every two to three weeks, and you could get a cruise or a trip to Las Vegas for winning.
Win a national tournament, and the Amateur Poker League awarded a seat to a World Poker Tour National Championship in Las Vegas.
Today, WPTAL is now called WPT League -- runs a daily schedule of games on-line and at local ventures as described above. It's free poker that results in great rewards if a players uses both on-line and live events in their local area.
In the beginning, each player who registered to play
WPTAL received a chip with their national registration number on it.
Over time, I qualified for three World Championships in Las Vegas through playing local venues in Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana.