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YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV, the former world No 1 tennis player, had his first major win at his new game of choice - poker - at the Russian Open in Moscow last week
Published: 2004-10-01
 POKER
Independent, The (London), October, 2004 by Nic Szeremeta
YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV, the former world No 1 tennis player, had his first major win at his new game of choice - poker - at the Russian Open in Moscow last week.
His prize for outlasting a field of 52 in the $300 Omaha hi-lo competition was just over $10,000.
This did not add much to the fortune he has earnt as one of the world's top tennis players for a decade, but he was so happy you would have thought he had won Wimbledon.
How he got into poker is interesting. He began having a flutter on the roulette tables when there was a casino near one of the tennis tournaments he happened to be taking part in.
Then he saw poker being played and, being a sensible kind of guy, realised there was more to the game than pure luck.
First he tried his hand at seven-card-stud in the German casinos, then learned hold'em and Omaha.
Now, however, his game of choice is the more complex Omaha hi-lo.
This form of poker is popular with many professionals as there is a lot of "dead money" in the game.
"Dead money" is poker-speak for players with plenty of cash who are very unlikely to win.
And here is the reason why.
In the hi-lo form of poker, the pot is divided between the player with the highest hand and the player with the lowest hand.
In order for the low hand to qualify it must consist of an eight low or better - for example, A-2-4-7-8.
If no player at the table has an eight low or less, the whole pot goes to the holder of the best high hand.
But even if there is a qualifying low hand, the same player can take both pots by using different cards for each hand.
For example, a player might have pocket cards (four in Omaha) of A4-2!- 4!-64 and the board, the five common cards used by all players, might show K4-82-5#-34-24.
This would give the holder an unbeatable ace high flush using the aces and the sixes, and a low hand of A-2-3-5-8, which may be good enough to win the low also.
Newcomers to hi-lo often get drawn into pots on the basis that they can win either the high hand or the low. They are chasing half the money in the middle.
The experts know better. They will not even contest a pot unless they have starting cards that might enable them to win both ways. And the beginners wonder why they lose money.
Copyright 2004 Independent Newspapers UK Limited
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.
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POKER'S FACE
Published: 2004-10-01
 POKER'S FACE
Daily Breeze, October, 2004 by COREY LEVITAN STAFF WRITER
Phil Gordon is creaming me at poker, which is no surprise. The professional card player has taken $1.2 million in tournament prizes and is one of only four multiple World Poker Tour winners. I've played one other game in my life.
I'm at Hollywood's Mondrian Hotel to interview Gordon about his new book, Poker: The Real Deal, and his third season co-hosting "Celebrity Poker Showdown" on Bravo. But not before a hand of No Limit Texas Hold 'Em. I brought the deck and chips.
On a table downstairs at the Skybar, I push in my entire chip stack to back my queen and ace of spades. Gordon calls my all-in bet with two 4s -- spades and clubs. The community cards we receive are a 3 and king of clubs plus a 3 and jack of spades.
With one card to come and Gordon with two pair to my one, he's a 68 percent favorite to win. (Gordon calculates the odds, not me; I need someone else to even know how badly I'm doing.)
By the way, I'm wearing a motorcycle helmet with the visor down so Gordon can't see my eyes. (Some people wear sunglasses to conceal their tells. Some people wear bigger sunglasses than others. I have a lot of tells.)
Asking your subject to do what he's famous for is not the best way to begin an interview. I've basically handed Slash a guitar and requested "Sweet Child O' Mine." But I had a feeling Gordon would agree. At 6-foot-9, he comes across as a gentle giant on TV, polite and considerate to a fault. Plus, he's not as famous as Slash yet.
"Bravo's still cable," Gordon says. "It's not like we're on NBC or something."
Not yet, but "Celebrity Poker Showdown" is the hottest show on cable. Gordon provides the play-by-play as stars as big as Ben Affleck, Matthew Perry and Martin Sheen try desperately to make "keep your day job" not apply to them.
Combining America's brand new poker obsession with its tired old celebrity obsession is a stroke of genius that's paying off in spades.
"You can watch someone do an interview on David Letterman and pimp whatever they're pimping," Gordon says. "You can watch them walk the red carpet at the Emmy Awards. But you never get to see them interacting in an environment that brings out their true personality."
Gordon offers the player three hours of private coaching prior to taping each show at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas, his adopted hometown. Some take it, some don't. His book comprises his most essential tips -- along with pointers such as how to host a home game (i.e., have people announce their departure at least an hour before).
Some "Showdown" players could use three weeks of coaching. The cast of "West Wing" yelled "check" more often than diners in a poorly staffed Denny's. Gordon rates Creed singer Scott Stapp and actor Sean Astin as possibly the worst players ever.
"They're equally bad," he says. "Oh my God, Scott Stapp is so bad. I'd never seen poker played that way before."
Celebrity game quality is on the upswing, however.
"I've finally got them playing more aggressively," he says. "If you check and call, there's only one way to win -- having the best hand. But when you're the bettor or the raiser, you have two ways to win -- having the best hand or making your opponent fold."
Gordon knows many of the show's celebs from the Hollywood Hills games they invite him into. (As a poker pro, he's a celebrity to them.) It was at Hank Azaria's that Gordon was asked to try out for role of the poker expert in a show Josh Malina ("The West Wing") was creating.
"I'm like, 'How much do I have to pay to do that?' " Gordon says.
"Celebrity Poker Showdown" debuted last year with Gordon on color and actor Kevin Pollak emceeing. Commitment to a Bruce Willis movie forced Pollak to fold before the second season. His replacement is comedian Dave Foley ("NewsRadio," "Kids in the Hall"), who actually works out better, since he and Gordon strike the same expert/ goofball chemistry that makes the syndicated radio show "Loveline" pop.
"We talked about their interaction and how we wanted to not mimic it, but that's the vibe we're going for," Gordon says. "Dave gets to be the crack-up and make the dirty jokes. And I'm the straight guy, but every once in a while I get to throw something in there to make people laugh."
Before poker, Gordon was one of the computer geeks who co-founded Netsys. After the Northern California software company sold for $95 million to Cisco Systems in 1997, Gordon backpacked the world for five years, seeing 50 countries on six continents. Then he settled into the only career that retirement and an insanely fat bankroll seemed to suggest.
"My great-aunt taught me to play poker," he says. "I would rake leaves on the lawn in the afternoons and she paid me a dollar, which she took from me at the poker table at night.
"Poker is a great game," he continues. "You can't find a game that better combines the artfulness of reading your opponents with the science of mathematics."
Gordon turns over the last card, or river. His blue eyes expand like supernovae.
"(Expletive) 10 of spades on the river?!" he screams.
I've made an unbelievable nut straight, sending the great Phil Gordon to the loser's lounge. Me!
"There's a big luck component to poker, too," Gordon says.ROBERT CASILLAS/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Copyright Copley Press Inc. 2004
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.
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