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Poker's new popularity flush with legal problems
Published: 2005-01-01
 Poker's new popularity flush with legal problems
Chicago Sun-Times, January, 2005 by BRIAN BAKST
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- David Bischoff thinks he got a raw deal last year when state gambling regulators raided his bowling alley, shut down his weekly Texas Hold 'em poker tournament and confiscated his cards and chips.
For months afterward, the threat of criminal charges hung over Bischoff -- and his card tables sat vacant -- until prosecutors concluded that Minnesota's laws against poker were too vague to enforce.
Minnesota is now one of several states where legislators are looking to clarify laws dealing with card games at a time when poker is becoming an all-out craze.
TV inspires players
"These are just people who have been watching poker on TV and they want to come out and play and be like the people on TV," said Bischoff, whose tournaments are back. "It's not about spending money and winning money. It's just about the competition and seeing who can be the best."
The game at the center of the poker mania is Texas Hold 'em, in which players are dealt two cards each and can use five community cards flipped over in the middle of the table to make the best hand. Players can risk everything on a single turn of a card.
As the popularity of the game has grown, so have problems for gambling regulators.
In Iowa, a couple of American Legion posts heeded warnings and halted their regular tournaments rather than jeopardize their charitable gaming licenses. A similar concern led a firehouse outside of Pittsburgh to call off its games.
Police in Wyoming started breaking up Texas Hold 'em tournaments in bars, and the state's attorney general advised that the events were probably illegal. In Texas itself -- where the game thrived in smoky back rooms before becoming a smash hit on cable TV -- prosecutors are questioning whether bars are improperly profiting from tournaments.
Just hats and T-shirts
"The popularity of the poker shows has created a whole new beast for us as far as regulations," said David Werning of Iowa's Department of Inspections and Appeals. Inquiries about poker became so common that the agency recently compiled a fact sheet on poker laws.
Minnesota law allows card tournaments at businesses as long as the hosts do not directly profit from the play and players do not gamble with real money. Bischoff said he complied with those rules by charging no entry fees and limiting awards to hats and T-shirts.
His situation drew the attention of state Sen. Dave Kleis, who introduced legislation that would define Texas Hold 'em as a "social skill game" and lump it with cribbage and rummy -- games in which players are allowed to win money in Minnesota. Kleis' bill would explicitly permit poker tournaments as long as the prizes do not exceed $200. AP
Copyright The Chicago Sun-Times, Inc.
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.
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Deal me out: ESPN poker drama `Tilt' comes up
Published: 2005-01-01
 TELEVISION REVIEW; Deal me out: ESPN poker drama `Tilt' comes up
Boston Herald, January, 2005 by John Ruch
"Tilt."
Series premiere tonight at 9 on ESPN.
Two stars (out of four)
"Tilt," ESPN's new pinball - er, poker - drama, aims to be hard- boiled but never gets deeper than attitude.
Still, props to ESPN for taking a shot at another fictional expose series after its 2003 pro football series "Playmakers" debacle and for wisely choosing a game that lacks an industry bully such as the NFL to kill the show.
The Las Vegas-set "Tilt" is about a gaggle of cutie-pie card players who seek to bring down the world's greatest, dirtiest poker player, Don "The Matador" Everest (played by Michael "Mickey Rourke Was Out Buying Hair Grease" Madsen).
The series was created by the guys who wrote the 1998 Matt Damon poker thriller "Rounders" and has the same basic idea. You can't go completely wrong with the theme of gambling and the details of its subculture.
Structurally, the writing is interesting. It's a continuing story line that unfolds the histories between the characters slowly while drawing parallels between them. At least we know HBO's "The Wire" is a good influence.
But the debut episode spends more time on its perfect-cheekbone leads exchanging trash talk than on anything intriguing or original.
These sexpots look and act as if they could barely count their toes, let alone count cards. Especially lead hunk Eddie Cibrian of "Third Watch," who seems like a Coleman lantern that somehow sprouted a three-day beard. (He plays a character helpfully named Eddie so he won't get confused.)
The story twists and turns, but follows very familiar road maps in doing so. From Des Moines rubes to crooked cops, every film noir plot ever penned seems destined to be rousted from bed to work this one.
There's a character named Miami. The dialogue - such as "This ain't America, kid. This is Vegas." - could almost make you wish Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler were never born. Madsen lurches around saying goofy things about card hands being like mackerel in the moonlight. (It will be worth watching to see whether there will be more flashbacks showing him wearing a cheesy fake mustache.)
"Tilt" would be good for a laugh if there wasn't a sense that something more meaty was going to waste.
The show plays on TV's influence on the newly popular world of poker tournaments. But the show itself is so overcooked and cliched, it embodies the issue more than exploring it.
And while it delves into the sordid politics of the macho poker world, it's clearly more interested in glamorizing it as a fantasy for the 20-something demographic. With its cute cast, flashy duds and ubiquitous strippers, it's like a long-form beer commercial.
Eventually, the between-scenes filler shots of pros handling cards becomes the most interesting bit. Viewers will decide whether they're being dealt a joker or a knave.
Copyright 2005
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.
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