In Virginia they just have poker clubs who usually play at bars. There is no
real money involved, so it is pretty much like
freerolls. The one I play in has 2 tournaments a night at each bar at 7:30 and than 10:00. They have 2-3 different bars hosting them each night, so you can chose whichever is closest to drive to. They give 1st place a 25$ gift certificate to the bar or to Walmart or 711 in the first game, and a $10 prize to first (also a certificate) in the second game. They have a points leaderboard that runs each month, and the top 75 or 100 on the leaderboard get invited to a monthly "Main Event", where they give out $500 in prizes(not cash but they give
visa or American Express cash cards). 1st gets $100, 2nd $75, etc. AND whoever has over 1750 points or so gets a $50 or $75 cash card, and each person who has the most points from the different venues(bars), gets a card protector that says Venue champion on it and has the leagues name and month you won venue champ. Some of the bars even run their own leaderboard on the side and give you gift certificates/t-shirts etc. in addition to the actual leagues LB. There is also a 6 or 7 month leaderboard where if you are in the top 100 or so in that you get invited to a
wsop sattelite tournament where 1st gets a $1 or $1.5k wsop buyin or you can take a Cash card instead if you chose.. ALSO the person who has the most points over the 7 months automatically gets a $1.5k wsop buying or cash card.
This is in South-Eastern Virginia tho, not Southwestern where Roanoke is.. BUT I know they have these type of poker leagues all across VA, they even have more than one here in Hampton Roads(SE VA), but I only play in the one.
http://eastcoastpokerleague.com/ < that's the website.. I'm sure the one in Roanoke is probably very similar.
They used to have "charity" poker rooms in Portsmouth, VA.. but they got shut down, as
gambling and taking a rake is illegal in VA.. the DA just decided to chance his mind a few months ago(without comment) that poker was gambling after years of saying poker is a skill game and not considered gambling and allowing these poker rooms to run a long as they donated some of the rake to charity..
Hope this helps some and GL at the felt!