Sunday, July 11, 2004
Buffalo News - Putting on a poker facePutting on a poker face
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Card games enter the mainstream through television exposure and growth in online sites and live poker rooms
By TIM GRAHAM
NEWS SPORTS REPORTER
7/11/2004
Dave Bevaqua
Dan Soda, right, won his World Series of Poker seat in an online event.
James P. McCoy/Buffalo News
"You've had casinos in recent years close their poker rooms to install slot machines. Now they're taking the machines out and putting the poker rooms back." Mike Gainey, director of poker operations for Seneca Niagara
Dan Soda peeled away the corners of his cards from the green felt to glimpse a king of hearts and a jack of clubs. Pretty cards, to be sure, but not the coupling upon which he could stake his life on the first day of the 2004 World Series of Poker.
The North Tonawanda graduate called an aggressive opponent's $1,500 bet to see the next three cards: 4, 5, 6 of multiple suits - garbage. The bully flashed $2,000 with authority.
Soda decided to toss away his cards, but first he stalled, a ploy to let the other players think he might be mucking a good hand. He fingered his chips. He studied his foe for any mannerisms that could help on a later hand.
Then Soda noticed something to change his mind. He said it "looked like a cartoon" when he saw the bully's jugular vein throb harder and faster with every passing second. In a moment, Soda went from folding his hand to going for the kill.
"I raised him a huge part of my stack," Soda said. "The feeling that I had inside of me once he threw his cards away was indescribable. It was a huge relief.
"When that happens it's such a huge release, and you feel like The Man. If you can get one of those a day, it's just great."
It was the type of moment for which poker players live, the sort of drama that has helped poker become an explosive phenomenon, enticing millions to watch on television and several million more to play online or in live poker rooms such as the one in the Seneca Niagara Casino in Niagara Falls.
Poker has emerged from backrooms and basements to the sporting mainstream. The timeless game, particularly a version known as no-limit Texas hold 'em, is virtually everywhere thanks to a convergence of inviting television technology and easy Internet access.
This year's World Series of Poker, which ran April 22-May 28, featured 2,576 entrants competing for a $5 million grand prize, a purse that surpasses the aggregate championship payouts of the Masters, Indianapolis 500, Kentucky Derby and Wimbledon.
Connecticut-based patent attorney Greg Raymer won the prestigious tournament at the Horseshoe Casino in Las Vegas. David Williams, a junior economics major at Southern Methodist University, finished second to win $3.5 million.
Soda finished in the money at 218th, good enough for $10,000.
The World Series of Poker grew so substantially from last year to this that the top payout doubled the record $2.5 million the aptly named Chris Moneymaker, an accountant from Tennessee, collected for winning in 2003.
By comparison, poker legend Johnny Moss picked up $30,000 when he won the World Series of Poker in 1971.
"A year ago, I don't know that anybody could have predicted poker would be the next big thing," said Mike Antinoro, executive producer for ESPN Original Entertainment. "It's really incredible how it's taken over."
Poker is one of the hottest programs on TV networks of all kinds. "The World Poker Tour" has become the signature series of the Travel Channel. Bravo has "Celebrity Poker Showdown." NBC uses poker to compete against the Super Bowl.
Fox Sports Net has two series - "Late Night Poker" and "Championship Poker at the Plaza" - and will present the first live poker broadcast with a $1 million tournament Wednesday at Turning Stone Resort and Casino near Syracuse.
But no network has embraced the poker craze like the self-acclaimed "worldwide leader in sports." ESPN's second World Series of Poker season began Tuesday night and will run through mid-September. The network last month dedicated an incredible 22 hours of a 24-hour span to air reruns of last year's World Series of Poker.
ESPN also signed a multiyear deal with the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City to air the U.S. Poker Championship in January and February.
"We're getting behind it because it does well and our audience wants it," Antinoro said. "It's gained its own attention. We're just riding the wave, and we're going to promote it."
The NHL would love to have ratings similar to ESPN's 2003 World Series of Poker, which was shown on seven tape-delay installments yet steadily gained viewers as the series progressed. The finale - shown months after it occurred - scored a 1.94 rating. Live NHL games on ESPN hovered around a 0.5 rating.
ESPN, with backing from corporate heavyweights in the brewing, automotive and pharmaceutical industries, expanded this year's World Series of Poker to 22 episodes.
The first 13 episodes will show a variety of poker disciplines, such as seven-card stud, razz and Omaha, while the final nine episodes will feature the standard: no-limit Texas hold 'em.
Mike Gainey is intimately familiar with the game's television boom.
The director of poker operations for Seneca Niagara's properties in Niagara Falls, Salamanca and Irving has spent 30 years in the poker business and staged the most lucrative World Poker Tour event while running poker operations for the Reno Hilton.
"I think it's just going to continue to grow," Gainey said. "You've had casinos in recent years close their poker rooms to install slot machines. Now they're taking the machines out and putting the poker rooms back.
"If they maintain the television exposure and don't try to move too fast, then it will continue to grow. People will keep getting hooked."
The key to poker's television success has been the implementation of a small camera that allows viewers to see a player's otherwise-private cards.
"Seeing the hole cards is like knowing what play the football coach is calling in the huddle," said Jeff Shulman, president of leading poker magazine Card Player.
"Hold 'em is a much bigger bluffing game, and bluffs are exciting. That's what's selling poker on TV. You used to know bluffs were going on, but now you're seeing it."
Hold 'em is thrilling to play, but without those voyeuristic cameras it was rather dull to watch on TV whenever networks tried in the past.
A quick introduction to hold 'em:
• Each player receives and bets on the two "hole cards" only he or she can use.
• Three community cards (also known as "the flop") are revealed, followed by another round of betting.
• A fourth community card ("the turn") precedes more betting action.
• After the fifth community card ("the river") is flipped over, final bets are made and players show their hands, using the best five cards of the seven available.
Hold 'em becomes even more riveting when it's played no-limit. There's no maximum bet, meaning a player can push all of his money into the pot at anytime.
The ability to go "all-in" creates the biggest drama because, as Soda said, "The bluff is so important in poker. Without the bluff it would just be pinochle or euchre or any other card game."
Soda dropped out of the University of Rochester and enjoyed brief success as a pro bowler before getting into the computer industry and moving to Southern California. He started playing poker in the legal card rooms there but soon found himself making enough money at Internet poker to quit his job.
The 29-year-old, who has since moved back to the City of Tonawanda, said he made $48,000 last year playing poker online. Two weeks ago, he won a cyber-tournament that paid him $3,600 for a couple of hours' work. He won his World Series of Poker seat after investing $300 and placing in an online event.
Soda is able to make Internet poker profitable because so many others are playing - for real money and for pretend chips - on sites such as PartyPoker.com, PokerStars.com, ParadisePoker.com and UltimateBet.com.
"You have all these people learning how to play hold 'em poker online," Shulman said. "It used to be the only way to play it was at a couple tournaments a year and at the few casinos in the world that offered it. Now you can play it right in your own home."
In one 24-hour period Monday, $101 million was wagered in online poker rooms, according to PokerPulse.com, a site that monitors the industry.
Local poker enthusiasts can get the latest information or discuss the game in open forums at BuffaloPoker.com.
"America's in love with poker, but it will never be as good as it is right now," Soda said. "Once enough people exercise their right to play a little bit, they'll lose what they can afford and then they'll realize, "Hey, I can't afford to keep doing this.' "
Others not only disagree, they're also banking on poker's continued growth.
"I don't think it's slowing down," Antinoro said. "It's bringing people back to the game again. People are following it. More and more people know more and more of these players. The personalities are there.
"The pots keep getting bigger and bigger."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Card games enter the mainstream through television exposure and growth in online sites and live poker rooms
By TIM GRAHAM
NEWS SPORTS REPORTER
7/11/2004
Dave Bevaqua
Dan Soda, right, won his World Series of Poker seat in an online event.
James P. McCoy/Buffalo News
"You've had casinos in recent years close their poker rooms to install slot machines. Now they're taking the machines out and putting the poker rooms back." Mike Gainey, director of poker operations for Seneca Niagara
Dan Soda peeled away the corners of his cards from the green felt to glimpse a king of hearts and a jack of clubs. Pretty cards, to be sure, but not the coupling upon which he could stake his life on the first day of the 2004 World Series of Poker.
The North Tonawanda graduate called an aggressive opponent's $1,500 bet to see the next three cards: 4, 5, 6 of multiple suits - garbage. The bully flashed $2,000 with authority.
Soda decided to toss away his cards, but first he stalled, a ploy to let the other players think he might be mucking a good hand. He fingered his chips. He studied his foe for any mannerisms that could help on a later hand.
Then Soda noticed something to change his mind. He said it "looked like a cartoon" when he saw the bully's jugular vein throb harder and faster with every passing second. In a moment, Soda went from folding his hand to going for the kill.
"I raised him a huge part of my stack," Soda said. "The feeling that I had inside of me once he threw his cards away was indescribable. It was a huge relief.
"When that happens it's such a huge release, and you feel like The Man. If you can get one of those a day, it's just great."
It was the type of moment for which poker players live, the sort of drama that has helped poker become an explosive phenomenon, enticing millions to watch on television and several million more to play online or in live poker rooms such as the one in the Seneca Niagara Casino in Niagara Falls.
Poker has emerged from backrooms and basements to the sporting mainstream. The timeless game, particularly a version known as no-limit Texas hold 'em, is virtually everywhere thanks to a convergence of inviting television technology and easy Internet access.
This year's World Series of Poker, which ran April 22-May 28, featured 2,576 entrants competing for a $5 million grand prize, a purse that surpasses the aggregate championship payouts of the Masters, Indianapolis 500, Kentucky Derby and Wimbledon.
Connecticut-based patent attorney Greg Raymer won the prestigious tournament at the Horseshoe Casino in Las Vegas. David Williams, a junior economics major at Southern Methodist University, finished second to win $3.5 million.
Soda finished in the money at 218th, good enough for $10,000.
The World Series of Poker grew so substantially from last year to this that the top payout doubled the record $2.5 million the aptly named Chris Moneymaker, an accountant from Tennessee, collected for winning in 2003.
By comparison, poker legend Johnny Moss picked up $30,000 when he won the World Series of Poker in 1971.
"A year ago, I don't know that anybody could have predicted poker would be the next big thing," said Mike Antinoro, executive producer for ESPN Original Entertainment. "It's really incredible how it's taken over."
Poker is one of the hottest programs on TV networks of all kinds. "The World Poker Tour" has become the signature series of the Travel Channel. Bravo has "Celebrity Poker Showdown." NBC uses poker to compete against the Super Bowl.
Fox Sports Net has two series - "Late Night Poker" and "Championship Poker at the Plaza" - and will present the first live poker broadcast with a $1 million tournament Wednesday at Turning Stone Resort and Casino near Syracuse.
But no network has embraced the poker craze like the self-acclaimed "worldwide leader in sports." ESPN's second World Series of Poker season began Tuesday night and will run through mid-September. The network last month dedicated an incredible 22 hours of a 24-hour span to air reruns of last year's World Series of Poker.
ESPN also signed a multiyear deal with the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City to air the U.S. Poker Championship in January and February.
"We're getting behind it because it does well and our audience wants it," Antinoro said. "It's gained its own attention. We're just riding the wave, and we're going to promote it."
The NHL would love to have ratings similar to ESPN's 2003 World Series of Poker, which was shown on seven tape-delay installments yet steadily gained viewers as the series progressed. The finale - shown months after it occurred - scored a 1.94 rating. Live NHL games on ESPN hovered around a 0.5 rating.
ESPN, with backing from corporate heavyweights in the brewing, automotive and pharmaceutical industries, expanded this year's World Series of Poker to 22 episodes.
The first 13 episodes will show a variety of poker disciplines, such as seven-card stud, razz and Omaha, while the final nine episodes will feature the standard: no-limit Texas hold 'em.
Mike Gainey is intimately familiar with the game's television boom.
The director of poker operations for Seneca Niagara's properties in Niagara Falls, Salamanca and Irving has spent 30 years in the poker business and staged the most lucrative World Poker Tour event while running poker operations for the Reno Hilton.
"I think it's just going to continue to grow," Gainey said. "You've had casinos in recent years close their poker rooms to install slot machines. Now they're taking the machines out and putting the poker rooms back.
"If they maintain the television exposure and don't try to move too fast, then it will continue to grow. People will keep getting hooked."
The key to poker's television success has been the implementation of a small camera that allows viewers to see a player's otherwise-private cards.
"Seeing the hole cards is like knowing what play the football coach is calling in the huddle," said Jeff Shulman, president of leading poker magazine Card Player.
"Hold 'em is a much bigger bluffing game, and bluffs are exciting. That's what's selling poker on TV. You used to know bluffs were going on, but now you're seeing it."
Hold 'em is thrilling to play, but without those voyeuristic cameras it was rather dull to watch on TV whenever networks tried in the past.
A quick introduction to hold 'em:
• Each player receives and bets on the two "hole cards" only he or she can use.
• Three community cards (also known as "the flop") are revealed, followed by another round of betting.
• A fourth community card ("the turn") precedes more betting action.
• After the fifth community card ("the river") is flipped over, final bets are made and players show their hands, using the best five cards of the seven available.
Hold 'em becomes even more riveting when it's played no-limit. There's no maximum bet, meaning a player can push all of his money into the pot at anytime.
The ability to go "all-in" creates the biggest drama because, as Soda said, "The bluff is so important in poker. Without the bluff it would just be pinochle or euchre or any other card game."
Soda dropped out of the University of Rochester and enjoyed brief success as a pro bowler before getting into the computer industry and moving to Southern California. He started playing poker in the legal card rooms there but soon found himself making enough money at Internet poker to quit his job.
The 29-year-old, who has since moved back to the City of Tonawanda, said he made $48,000 last year playing poker online. Two weeks ago, he won a cyber-tournament that paid him $3,600 for a couple of hours' work. He won his World Series of Poker seat after investing $300 and placing in an online event.
Soda is able to make Internet poker profitable because so many others are playing - for real money and for pretend chips - on sites such as PartyPoker.com, PokerStars.com, ParadisePoker.com and UltimateBet.com.
"You have all these people learning how to play hold 'em poker online," Shulman said. "It used to be the only way to play it was at a couple tournaments a year and at the few casinos in the world that offered it. Now you can play it right in your own home."
In one 24-hour period Monday, $101 million was wagered in online poker rooms, according to PokerPulse.com, a site that monitors the industry.
Local poker enthusiasts can get the latest information or discuss the game in open forums at BuffaloPoker.com.
"America's in love with poker, but it will never be as good as it is right now," Soda said. "Once enough people exercise their right to play a little bit, they'll lose what they can afford and then they'll realize, "Hey, I can't afford to keep doing this.' "
Others not only disagree, they're also banking on poker's continued growth.
"I don't think it's slowing down," Antinoro said. "It's bringing people back to the game again. People are following it. More and more people know more and more of these players. The personalities are there.
"The pots keep getting bigger and bigger."
reviewjournal.com -- Associated Press NewsShaq OKs Trade From Lakers to Heat
By MIKE BRANOM
Associated Press Writer
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- Shaquille O'Neal would be happy to be traded to the Miami Heat. That word came Saturday from O'Neal's agent, Perry Rogers, who told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that O'Neal has given his blessing to a deal that would send him to Miami. "We've said that we would agree to a trade," Rogers said in a story posted Saturday night on the newspaper's Web site. "I think that's going to happen. I'd be very surprised if it didn't happen."
The Los Angeles Times, citing team and league sources, reported on its Web site Saturday night that the Lakers have in agreed in principle to trade O'Neal to the Heat for Lamar Odom, Caron Butler, Brian Grant and a first-round pick. The newspaper said the Lakers declined to comment on the trade.
A deal cannot be completed until Wednesday when a two-week leaguewide moratorium on trades and free agent signings expires.
"It's very serious. I think it's very close to getting done," said Grant's agent, Mark Bartelstein.
Greeted by reporters as he was leaving a gym near his Orlando mansion, O'Neal said he had not yet met with Heat president Pat Riley and declined to comment on a possible trade.
"I can't say anything about that today," said O'Neal, flashing a big smile.
But ESPN, the Sun-Sentinel and the Times reported that O'Neal joined his representatives for a three-hour meeting that included Riley and Heat general manager Randy Pfund.
O'Neal's contract runs for two more seasons with a combined salary of almost $59 million, and he was angered earlier this season when the Lakers refused to offer him an extension.
Rogers said the Heat had not discussed a new contract with O'Neal.
"No extension was agreed upon. That was never a condition for Shaquille," Rogers said. "He wanted to go to an environment that was a team environment. We feel confident that that's what Pat Riley and (owner) Micky Arison have created as a culture. This is the type of place that Shaquille would love to finish his career."
In Los Angeles, the formal announcement of Rudy Tomjanovich's hiring as the Lakers' new coach was partially overshadowed by the O'Neal trade talk and Kobe Bryant's free agency.
Bryant is free to sign with any NBA team as of July 14, and reports in Los Angeles have said he is giving serious consideration to signing with the Clippers. A trade of O'Neal, combined with coach Phil Jackson's departure, would appear to indicate the Lakers are doing all they can to placate Bryant in the hopes that he'll re-sign.
When O'Neal declared that he wanted out of Los Angeles just days after the Lakers lost the NBA finals to Detroit, he listed Miami as one of his preferred destinations.
Riley and Pfund did not attend the Heat's summer league game in Orlando on Saturday as they had done all week. A Heat spokesman said the team could not comment, because O'Neal was under contract with the Lakers.
Tomjanovich said he spoke with O'Neal, but declined to divulge any details. "I just hope all those things turn out well," he said.
Los Angeles general manager Mitch Kupchak said there was nothing new to report on O'Neal.
"I don't know how this is going to play out, I really don't," he said. "When there is something to report, we'll report it."
Kupchak said that he had not spoken with O'Neal or his representatives, but added: "Shaquille has a unique way of letting me know information I should know."
Last year, O'Neal averaged a career-low 21.5 points with 11.5 rebounds and 2.48 blocks.
O'Neal began his NBA career with Orlando, leading the Magic to the NBA Finals in 1995. He signed with the Lakers as a free agent after the 1995-96 season and won three NBA titles in Los Angeles, though he has maintained a residence in South Florida.
In 12 seasons, he has averaged 27.1 points, 12.1 rebounds and 2.6 blocks.
By MIKE BRANOM
Associated Press Writer
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- Shaquille O'Neal would be happy to be traded to the Miami Heat. That word came Saturday from O'Neal's agent, Perry Rogers, who told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that O'Neal has given his blessing to a deal that would send him to Miami. "We've said that we would agree to a trade," Rogers said in a story posted Saturday night on the newspaper's Web site. "I think that's going to happen. I'd be very surprised if it didn't happen."
The Los Angeles Times, citing team and league sources, reported on its Web site Saturday night that the Lakers have in agreed in principle to trade O'Neal to the Heat for Lamar Odom, Caron Butler, Brian Grant and a first-round pick. The newspaper said the Lakers declined to comment on the trade.
A deal cannot be completed until Wednesday when a two-week leaguewide moratorium on trades and free agent signings expires.
"It's very serious. I think it's very close to getting done," said Grant's agent, Mark Bartelstein.
Greeted by reporters as he was leaving a gym near his Orlando mansion, O'Neal said he had not yet met with Heat president Pat Riley and declined to comment on a possible trade.
"I can't say anything about that today," said O'Neal, flashing a big smile.
But ESPN, the Sun-Sentinel and the Times reported that O'Neal joined his representatives for a three-hour meeting that included Riley and Heat general manager Randy Pfund.
O'Neal's contract runs for two more seasons with a combined salary of almost $59 million, and he was angered earlier this season when the Lakers refused to offer him an extension.
Rogers said the Heat had not discussed a new contract with O'Neal.
"No extension was agreed upon. That was never a condition for Shaquille," Rogers said. "He wanted to go to an environment that was a team environment. We feel confident that that's what Pat Riley and (owner) Micky Arison have created as a culture. This is the type of place that Shaquille would love to finish his career."
In Los Angeles, the formal announcement of Rudy Tomjanovich's hiring as the Lakers' new coach was partially overshadowed by the O'Neal trade talk and Kobe Bryant's free agency.
Bryant is free to sign with any NBA team as of July 14, and reports in Los Angeles have said he is giving serious consideration to signing with the Clippers. A trade of O'Neal, combined with coach Phil Jackson's departure, would appear to indicate the Lakers are doing all they can to placate Bryant in the hopes that he'll re-sign.
When O'Neal declared that he wanted out of Los Angeles just days after the Lakers lost the NBA finals to Detroit, he listed Miami as one of his preferred destinations.
Riley and Pfund did not attend the Heat's summer league game in Orlando on Saturday as they had done all week. A Heat spokesman said the team could not comment, because O'Neal was under contract with the Lakers.
Tomjanovich said he spoke with O'Neal, but declined to divulge any details. "I just hope all those things turn out well," he said.
Los Angeles general manager Mitch Kupchak said there was nothing new to report on O'Neal.
"I don't know how this is going to play out, I really don't," he said. "When there is something to report, we'll report it."
Kupchak said that he had not spoken with O'Neal or his representatives, but added: "Shaquille has a unique way of letting me know information I should know."
Last year, O'Neal averaged a career-low 21.5 points with 11.5 rebounds and 2.48 blocks.
O'Neal began his NBA career with Orlando, leading the Magic to the NBA Finals in 1995. He signed with the Lakers as a free agent after the 1995-96 season and won three NBA titles in Los Angeles, though he has maintained a residence in South Florida.
In 12 seasons, he has averaged 27.1 points, 12.1 rebounds and 2.6 blocks.
