A group of 35 people hanging about in Flanagan's, beers in hand, cheering, oohing, aahing, clapping and nail-biting is pretty commonplace.

Sport brings people together like nothing else but on this occasion it was 3.am. and the only TV on in the bar was showing new California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's acceptance speech

So why the crowds? Why the excitement? What was creating the tension? And why were they cheering?

It was a simple case of appreciating the brilliance of pre-flop strategy, cheering the appearance of the river and getting frustrated at the small blind.

This is poker, sunglasses, fat cigars, silly hats, outrageous bluffs et al.

After a pain-stakingly comprehensive examination of gambling regulations, Flanagan's manager San Bezant was able to organise the "perfectly legal" event this week, with 60 keen card-players taking their places at tables for a night of hot poker action.

With the Bermuda Bicycle Association a charitable recipient, prizes offered only in voucher form and no actual money being used on the tables, the Front Street bar and restaurant had its bases covered and eventually had to turn away punters after the initial places were filled days before the event kicked off.

The dealers were trained, the tables were brought in, the sandwiches were made, $1,100 dollars worth of chips were bought and poker came to Bermuda - and it looks like it will be staying.

The full gamut of players were here, from your seasoned pros (wearing a poker website's promotional t-shirt is a give-away), to your naive amateurs ("is it my turn?" rang out all too often in the opening hour of play), to the cruise ship casino workers, with the strong accents and overwhelming, if not ultimately unsuccessful, poker knowledge and ability to count piles of chips with unerring speed.

Just after 7p.m., with the $230 entry fees paid to buy a place a seat at the tables, the fun started.

Six tables of ten players battled it out in the No Limit Texas Hold 'Em form of the game, which has recently exploded on American TV screens.

The obsession with copying participants in TV-land led to a disproportionate number of sunglasses on display, with the odd Stetson, plenty of gold jewellery and some fat cigars the order of the day for far too many.

The cigars, in particular, seemed a little over the top given that smoking was banned from tables leaving far too much tobacco being chewed rather than smoked during the eight hours of poker.

The card game has long been popular on the Island, it seems, with many of the night's combatants revealing that poker had been played in their, and their friends', houses for the past few years.

And it was obvious from the start who had, and hadn't, played the 'sport' before and who was, and wasn't, taking it seriously.

Every player had his own style. There were the talkers, the silent players, the excitable, the calm, the show-offs and even a man receiving near-permanent shoulder massages from an attentive wife throughout the evening.

As the night wore on, players lost their chips and had to leave the tables - although most stayed on to watch the remaining action - and the number of tables was slowly whittled down.

The aim was to get down to a final ten and this was done by upping the ante, the obligatory bets for the two players to the immediate left of the dealer, to ensure larger and larger stakes were being played for and fewer players could keep up.

At times there could have been as much as 10,000 worth of chips on a single hand, although with the betting units having only a nominal value, and no cash one, the excitement of winning, and the frustration at losing, was severely tempered meaning no over-aggression at defeat.

The highest tension came with 11 players left in the game, five on one table, six on another, with no player wanting to be the one that misses out on a place on the final table - and a guaranteed prize.

But at 2a.m. it happened, the flop knocked out an unlucky 11th and the crowds surrounded just the one table.

For what is just a game of cards at the end of the day, this form of poker can generate a startling amount of intrigue with various strategies, techniques and the many untimely interruptions of Lady Luck ensuring genuine viewing pleasure for the crowd and enormous tension for the players.

A pair of 8s knocked out our first man after four minutes and the cull continued through to 3.25a.m. when John Doucette, an American who works in re-insurance, scooping more than $3,500 worth of vouchers and the top prize.

The night was an incredible success, with no Police raids, no trouble, a lot of bluffing, risking, anxiety and courage ensuring that Bermuda's first serious poker night was a serious success.

A ten-week winter tournament is planned with potential players already scrambling to sign up for a chance to don their poker faces, steel their nerves, go for the gamble and win big - without breaking the bank or the law.