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Deal me in
Published: 2006-04-26
 Here is all the good stuff you need to hold 'em while the chips are down
The color of money
Green felt 48-inch poker tabletop lends a casino feel. The Texas Hold 'em side reverses to blackjack. Removable trays for players' chips, $99 at Boardroom Games, 1045 Broad Ripple Ave. Libbey 15-ounce cooler glassware with card motif, $30 for six at L.S. Ayres.
Barware
Mix up a full house of cocktails, the drink of the moment. You can give drinks the right flair with a cocktail shaker -- whether for shaken-not-stirred martinis or old fashioneds. Theme glasses carry on the card-playing mood. Luminarc playing card glass cocktail shaker, $15. Card embossed old-fashioned tumblers, $15 for four, at L.S. Ayres.
Poker chips and more
Professional-style poker chips lend weight to your game, whether it's for fun or money. Cards come in various finishes to make them easier to deal, shuffle and hold. To settle arguments and learn the basics, consider buying a poker rulebook. Sterling poker chips, $40 for 200 chips; two decks of cards, $5; "Official Rules of Card Games," $7.99; "Poker's Official Rules and Games," $5. All at Boardroom Games, 1045 Broad Ripple Ave.
Serving dishes
Prepare plenty of hors d'oeuvres to accompany the cocktails. Make sure they're truly finger foods so they're not too messy for your card-playing guests. Or schedule a break between hands to refuel. Spin your snacks on a roulette platter from Luminarc, $15, and serve chips in a hearts-red bowl from Waechtersbach, $26 at L.S. Ayres.
The do's and don'ts of planning ahead
You may need one space for playing cards and one for eating. If there are non-poker-playing guests, plan somewhere for them to enjoy themselves too, and observe the action if they choose. If you don't have an existing bar, plan where drinks will be served. Stock both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. Make or buy ice cubes. Plan a few simple, non-messy snacks. Make in advance if possible.
Set up
• Arrange chairs around the card table, and set out poker chips and cards. If available, leave rulebook on a coffee table.
• Place glassware, ice, napkins and drinks at bar area.
• Before guests are to arrive, cook foods that are to be served warm. Remove others that are to be room temperature from the refrigerator and place at the serving area.
Guest etiquette
• Don't argue about the rules of poker. Read a rulebook or agree on rules with fellow players before the hand is dealt.
• Respect others' wishes, especially regarding "novelty" games with lots of wild cards.
• Be an honest player -- if you want to be invited back.
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http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_446551.html
Published: 2006-04-23
 By Jill King Greenwood
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, April 23, 2006
In basements, bingo halls and kitchens across America, people gather daily to play Texas Hold 'Em, a popular poker game that has spawned the Texas holdup, complete with masked bandits.
In December, three masked men armed with guns invaded a high-stakes game along Steuben Street in the West End and made off with an undetermined amount of money, said Pittsburgh police robbery Sgt. Aaron Beatty. No one has been arrested and Beatty said the victims and witnesses are not cooperating.
"There could be more of these that we never knew about, because the players are afraid they'll get arrested for having these poker games and gambling in private homes," said Pittsburgh police Cmdr. Thomas Stangrecki.
A game in East Hempfield, Lancaster County, was robbed Sept. 11, 2004, when five masked men burst in and stole the pot and jewelry from about 10 card players.
Two masked men, at least one of them carrying a semiautomatic handgun, charged into a game in a Manassas, Va., electrical shop in January and ordered the players inside to the ground. It's not known how much money the robbers got.
On Nov. 20, two masked men took about $5,000, watches, cell phones and car keys from players at a Texas Hold 'Em tournament at a home in Fairfax, Va.
Sometimes robbers target individual players.
On Dec. 20, two men jumped Greg Raymer, ESPN's 2004 World Series of Poker champion, in the Las Vegas Bellagio hotel and casino after he finished playing Texas Hold 'Em. The men told Raymer they wanted the money he'd just won, according to police.
No one tracks the number of poker game heists because most are either recorded simply as robberies and others go unreported because the players fear they'll face charges for gambling, Stangrecki said.
Johnstown-based Comicon, the company hosting a three-day Texas Hold 'Em Charity Poker Tournament that ends today at the Pittsburgh ExpoMart in Monroeville, hired extra security since 98 players each paid $130 to enter, for a total of $12,740, said promoter Michael George.
"It's necessary because people who might rob you know there will be money there," George said. "But the games at private homes are more dangerous, because most don't have any security. If it's the same group of guys playing on the same night, in the same place, every week, it's easy to spot that pattern. You can see the cars all lining up on the street on the same night, and you know what's going on. That leaves you pretty vulnerable."
The game steadily has gained popularity in recent years, with 24-hour coverage of tournaments on cable networks. Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas recently opened a $12 million, 8,500-square-foot poker room.
Dave Pilarksi, 32, of Shaler, plays a few times a month with neighborhood friends and in another Texas Hold 'Em game on Tuesday nights in Kennedy.
He doesn't bring much money with him to the games -- a few hundred dollars at most -- and said the threat of robbery doesn't worry him too much.
"We restrict our games to the people we know, and everyone has to be pre-approved," said Pilarski, a player for about three years. "You see a lot of the same people cycling through different games around here so there aren't too many new faces or new blood."
George said the game's appeal is that "anyone can play cards. Eighty-year-old women play Texas Hold 'Em, and so do 20-year-old college guys."
The game works like this: The dealer gives each player two cards face down and then there's a round of betting. Five cards are dealt into the center of the table for all the players to share, and there is betting after the third, fourth and fifth card. The player with the best five-card hand wins the pot.
But the game's wide appeal also makes it attractive to thieves, said Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling.
"Crime has always been a problem in illegal gambling, and people prey on those gamblers because they know most of them won't go to the police if they get robbed," Whyte said. "Gambling involves cash, and that tends to attract criminals."
Robberies aren't the only problem cropping up with the Texas Hold 'Em craze. The Pennsylvania State Police Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement cited several Pittsburgh-area bars recently for holding illegal poker games, said enforcement officer Steven Brison.
"The poker and Texas Hold 'Em games are everywhere, from basements to bars," Brison said. "It doesn't seem like they're going away, and the problems that come with them aren't either."
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