Are you dying to join the Texas Hold’Em craze that has been sweeping the world over the past few years but don’t know your flops from your rivers?

If so, the Fairmont Southampton Hotel may have the solution for you.

The resort is teaming up with World Poker Tour Events to hold a Poker in Paradise weekend next month.

‘World Poker Tour’ host Mike Sexton, a man known as “the ambassador of poker”, should be able to show you a few tricks over the course of the three-day event which he will host.

Mr. Sexton’s show airs on the Travel Channel on Wednesdays at 10 p.m. Bermuda time. He is also a European poker champion and a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner who is in the top ten for all-time money finishes at the WSOP. His tournament winnings total over $3 million.

The February 8 to 11 event is being held at the Fairmont Southampton and in conjunction with the World Poker Tour Events, which is the events division of the World Poker Tour.

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts product development manager for Bermuda Elizabeth Gadosky told The Royal Gazette that this will be the first time that World Poker Tour Events has partnered with a hotel on such a programme.

While Ms Gadosky admitted she is not much of a poker player, she thinks the event will be a winner for the hotel.

“I tried to play and I learned a couple of weeks ago and I lost all my money,” she said. “We were playing with fake chips, but it was really upsetting, because I thought — ‘I am terrible at this game!’

“I think I can play regular poker, but Texas Hold’Em for some reason it just baffles me.

“It’s this hot thing and I have friends that are playing in this poker league and they are doing it like, once a week, but clearly I am not skilled to play it.

“But it is really a hot trend right now and we have been speaking with World Poker Tour Events ... and they typically do corporate events and I was talking to them about how we would like to do a poker tournament and so we have partnered with them.”

Bermuda’s gambling laws prevent a World Poker Tour tournament being held here but WPT and the hotel found a way to offer a fun and law-abiding alternative instead.

“We wanted to host our own poker tour at Fairmont Bermuda and so we developed a programme in conjunction with World Poker Tour Events that would allow us to do that, and at the same time adhere to Bermuda’s laws about gambling,” Ms Gadosky said.

“Texas Hold’em is extremely popular right now and we’re excited that Mr. Sexton will be hosting the event here on the Island and we can offer participants the opportunity to learn from a real pro!

“We invite locals to join in the fun for two or three days of poker tutorials and friendly competition.”

There will also be a bourbon tasting with the Woodford Reserve Distillery and a golf clinic over the course of the event.

“We were mentioned on the Today show in a segment called ‘Man-cations’ — the travel agent’s phrase for men’s getaways,” Ms Gadosky added.

“And they featured ours. I rolled out of bed one morning and I heard ‘Poker in Paradise’ and I was like, ‘that’s my event’.

“I think this one is going to be a good one — we’ve had Sexton mentioned already in the UK. We are selling it through several different wholesalers in America, Canada and the UK and so far the response has been great.”

At present in Bermuda, one can play poker at several pubs and bars and organisers of the Bermuda Poker Tour had a special tutorial at The Robin Hood Pub in November to get more women involved in the game.

Asked whether there many women playing, as poker is sometimes seen as a “man’s game”, contrary to popular belief, Ms Gadosky said: “From what I have heard from the World Poker Tour people, the ratios are 60 percent men and 40 percent women. So a lot more women are playing than people think. Women are just as competitive.”

The Poker in Paradise with WPT Events getaway package includes two or three nights accommodation and most meals, including a welcome reception and dinner with Mr. Sexton, she said.

“Guests receive a poker tutorial with Mr. Sexton, one three-hour session of Pick up Poker and other games are an option, and a No Limit Texas Hold’Em Tournament .

“A final evening ‘Player Buffet’ will take place from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. All the games are played for prizes and not for money.”

The prizes will take winners to other Fairmont destinations. “The lucky winner of the tournament will receive a grand prize of a seven-night stay, plus roundtrip air for two, at The Fairmont Monte Carlo nestled in the heart of Monaco and home to the Sun Casino,” she said.

“Second place is a five-night stay, plus roundtrip air for two, in a luxurious Casita at The Fairmont Scottsdale Princess. And third place is a five-night stay, plus roundtrip air for two, at The Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa in Sonoma Valley, which is one of California’s premier wine country destinations.”

Packages start at $849 per person, double occupancy, and also include taxes, gratuities and programme fees. Alcohol is not included. For an extra fee, daily spa treatments can be included.

For additional information on the Poker in Paradise with WPT Events package or for reservations ( 238-8000.