Texas Hold'em Article
Can't beat Hold 'Em
Texas Hold 'Em Poker takes hold in region
By Ryan Bakken
Herald Staff Writer
Poker is hot in the Harlow house.
And with Lori and Mike Harlow's family and friends.
The Drayton, N.D., group is not alone. The game has become the
recreational rage in the past year in the United States, including
the Red River Valley. Everyone credits - or blames - the same thing,
the Texas Hold 'Em games on television.
That's where it happened for Lori Harlow, who never had played
poker of any variety before The World Series of Poker telecasts
on ESPN, the World Poker Tour on the Travel Channel and Celebrity
Poker on Bravo began flooding cable television.
Also contributing to the popularity is the movie "Rounders,"
starring Matt Damon as a top poker player.
Lori fell in love with the game, and husband Mike noticed. So,
this Valentine's Day, Lori received poker chips from him.
While poker chips might not seem to rank with chocolates, flowers
or diamonds as a romantic gift to many, Lori was ecstatic. "It
was a nice gift. It was perfect," she said.
"Lori got the bug first, watching TV," Mike said. "It
is catchy."
The Harlows play Hold 'Em with friends at homes or on camping trips.
They also played online. But never for money.
Until June 12, that is. That's when they competed in the Hold 'Em
tournament, sponsored by the Mayville (N.D.) Comets Athletics charity,
in the Sodbuster Saloon in Mayville.
Two tournaments in the Sodbuster attracted a total of 123 entrants
paying $30 apiece. Ten percent of the entry fees - or "buy-ins"
in poker language - goes to the charity. The rest, with the exception
of expenses, is returned to the players in prize money.
Mike was the first player eliminated, but Lori made it to the final
table of 10 before being ousted. After six hours of play, Jamie
Wong of Grand Forks was the winner, pocketing $450 and bragging
rights among the handful of friends who accompanied him there.
While about half of the participants were in their first tournament,
it was Wong's 10th event and second win. Be-
cause of the physical likeness and his constant banter, Wong quickly
acquired the nickname of "Scotty Nguyen," a well-known
and flashy poker pro.
"You have to talk because you want to get in your opponents'
heads," Wong said. "But I also like to keep the table
loose, so if I beat them, they don't feel so bad and still have
a good time."
Happy losers
Most of those eliminated left the table with smiles on their faces.
"I got $30 worth of entertainment here easily," said Tim
Olson of Larimore, N.D., whose shamrock shirt didn't bring him luck.
That's the same attitude Ken Colligan sees in the poker room in
the Shooting Star Casino in Mahnomen, Minn.
"Poker is a very social game where everyone seems to get along,
unlike blackjack," said Colligan, the poker room floor manager.
"If things go wrong in blackjack, the player is looking for
someone to blame - the dealer, the fellow players, his luck. But
in poker, the only one to blame is yourself because you make the
decisions whether to bet, stay in or fold."
The explosion
The exploding popularity nationally is shown by the number of entries
in the World Series of Poker, which is annually held in Las Vegas.
In 2003, about 800 people paid the $10,000 entry fee, with the winner
taking home $2.5 million. This year's tournament had more than 2,500
entries and a first-place prize of $5 million.
Estimates for 2005 are 6,000 entrants and a $60 million prize pool.
Local tournament
That craze is apparent locally, too.
Development Homes Inc. of Grand Forks has held six tournaments
since 2002. The first four attracted fewer than 45 entrants; the
fifth one last fall had 66, and the one in February filled up with
100 paying the $100 buy-in. He had to turn others away, said Brent
Brooks, the DHI gaming director.
With its 10 percent cut, it meant a $1,000 take for the charity.
Plus, Brooks said, it developed so much traffic that its blackjack
play was more than double the average. "And it keeps the (Rumors)
bar happy," he said.
Since each charity is limited to two events per fiscal year, the
next round of tournaments will probably be in the fall.
"The losers walk away thanking you for running it and want
to know when the next one is," Brooks said. "Our blackjack
dealers get asked every day when the next one is because the players
want to sign up right away."
While DHI was the first in the game, at least five other Grand
Forks charities have held $100 buy-in tournaments in the past nine
months. They've grown popular in the small-town bars in the area,
too, such as Mayville, Larimore, Clifford, Hope and Finley, N.D.
Asking for more
The Charity Gaming Association of North Dakota will be asking the
2005 Legislature to increase the number of tournaments allowed per
year, said Sharon Weber, the organization's president.
"Since people can play in area casinos, it would be nice to
be able to compete," Weber said.
Gary Fournier, gaming director for the Greater Grand Forks Convention
and Visitors Bureau, ran a two-day tournament with a purse of $4,100.
He said the game's popularity is being taken home, too.
"Home poker used to be dealer's choice," Fournier said.
"Nowadays, just about everyone throws in 10 or 20 bucks, and
they play Hold 'Em for the pot. When that game gets done, they play
another one. And they do that all night long."
Colligan has seen the same soaring interest in Shooting Star.
"A year ago, we couldn't get one game of Texas Hold 'Em going,"
he said. "Now, we can't get a game of Seven-Card Stud going
because everyone wants to play Hold 'Em. On Fridays and Saturdays,
we have four tables going all the time. We have tournaments just
about every day.
"Blackjack used to be our biggest game. Now, we have more
playing poker than blackjack."
Colligan said the casino is looking at expanding its poker room.
One reason is interest; the other reason is that the casino makes
money on every hand because it "rakes" a percentage of
each pot.
"In blackjack, the house can lose money," he said. "In
poker, it can't lose."
Colligan offers the "Bad Beat Jackpot" as an example
of poker's growth. It's a progressive jackpot that is awarded to
a strong hand that loses a pot.
"We take a dollar out of every pot over $30 to contribute
to the jackpot," he said. "Eight months ago, there was
$5,000 in it. Now there's $36,000."
Home games
When Wong won the tournament in Mayville, he went to sleep at 7:30
a.m. that day. That's because he was playing Texas Hold 'Em with
his friends after his job as a blackjack dealer ended about 1 a.m.
"We play at least once a week in my garage," he said.
"We play $20 buy-ins, and when the game's over, we do it again.
"The way I hear it, there's a lot of that going on around
town."
While at-home gambling is technically illegal, there is no penalty
for stakes the size of Wong's game. So says Keith Lauer, director
of the gaming division with the state attorney general's office.
"While the constitution says it's illegal to gamble on private
premises, there is no penalty unless the bet per hand, game or event
exceeds $25," Lauer said. "When he was attorney general,
Nick Spaeth basically decriminalized private gambling."
But any form of gambling in public places - unless with approved
charities - is illegal. Technically, that means shaking dice to
see who buys coffee in restaurants is illegal, Lauer said.
A moneymaker
"I got a few more butterflies because I was playing for money,"
Mike Harlow said of the Mayville tournament. "But it was a
good one to start with since the buy-in was only $30. They have
one in Drayton later this summer with a $100 buy-in, so that will
be a tougher decision whether to play."
But when he talks about how the aptly-named Chris Moneymaker won
the 2003 World Series, it sounds as if his early elimination won't
deter him from future tournaments. Moneymaker was a virtual unknown
in the poker world.
"Here's a guy investing $40 in a satellite game online and
ends up making $2.5 million," Mike said. "That lets you
know the little guy can win. There's maybe some skill but a lot
of luck, too."
But it's less about the dream than it is about the fun.
"I lasted only 50 minutes, and I still had a good time,"
he said. "It's an easy game to learn and, obviously, an easy
game to lose at."
Bakken is a columnist and senior writer at the Herald. Reach him
at 780-1125, (800) 477-6572, extension 125; or rbakken@gfherald.com
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