| |
Poker's royal resurgence is the real deal
Published: 2005-07-15
 Poker's royal resurgence is the real deal
Friday, July 15, 2005
By ED BEESON
HERALD NEWS
Keith Reinhert, 29, of Ringwood, was lazing around with some buddies from high school on New Year's Day last year when one friend decided to break out his Christmas present, a poker chip set.
A deck of cards later and this group of seven was on its way to organizing a weekly home poker tournament, an increasingly popular pastime in North Jersey and beyond.
Soon, their ranks swelled to 18, the maximum Reinhert can fit at the two poker tables his friends built in his basement. At first, he had to turn away strangers who learned about the club online. Then he had to place his friends on a waiting list.
Poker's popularity began to surge two years ago, and the public seems nowhere near its saturation point with the sport. Even with rising concerns about gambling addictions, poker seems to be weaving its way into the fabric of American life.
Take, for example, the 36th Annual World Series of Poker, a nine-day tournament in Las Vegas that is scheduled to end tonight. After last year's number of entrants smashed the 2003 record, 2,576 to 839, more than twice that number, 5,619 people, entered the 2005 WSOP. Each player ponied up $10,000 to compete for the $7.5 million top prize at this tournament.
"The growth rate is extraordinary," said WSOP spokesman Dave Curley.
Televised tournaments like ESPN's WSOP and the World Poker Tour and a playing style called No Limit Texas Hold 'Em are all elements.
But it was amateurs like Chris Moneymaker, the man who beat seasoned professionals to win the $2.5 million top prize at the 2003 WSOP, who turned poker into a metaphor for an American dream: anyone can win, so long as they play their cards right.
"It's rampant proliferation all over TV makes it hard NOT to watch," wrote Allyson Leonard, 25, of Bloomfield, in an e-mail Thursday. She described the poker craze as a "viral social activity." About 50 million people in the United States play poker at least once a month, according to poker industry officials like World Poker Tour founder Steve Lipscomb, although the source of their data is unclear.
"I learned because all my male friends were playing and figured, heck, I should learn just so I know what's going on here," Leonard wrote. Like other poker players, Leonard said that the real reward is more social than financial.
"Even when I sit in class, I hear the students talk about their own games," said Matt Biehl, 28, of Wanaque, a senior in sociology at William Paterson University. "You can't escape it. Even at the supermarket, I hear people talk about poker hands."
Biehl, a poker player for the past 12 years, helped organize the weekly tournaments in Reinert's house. Their setup is sophisticated. Reinert, a computer network administrator, developed a ranking system that statistically tracks each player's ranking. He then built a Web site, at www.northjerseypoker.com, where he posts each player's quarterly average and the player of the month.
His tournament starts at 8 p.m. every Thursday and lasts until about 12:30 a.m. "It's a school night," Reinert explained. Each player chips in $20 to a communal pot, from which the final four players win cash. The top prize is $160, a modest pot compared to other home tournaments.
"We weren't concerned about money," Reinert said, just "bragging rights.
"Remember, we're old high school friends. You got to rub it in."
Poker is a hobby, he said, and not one he wants to pursue professionally, like so many entrants to the WSOP.
"I briefly entertained (the idea), but I don't think it's my lifestyle," Reinert said. "I have a full-time job and I'm happy with it."
His friend, Biehl, once gave it a shot. He moved to Las Vegas in 1998 to try his hand at professional poker. "Oh, it was very short career," he said. "I lost everything pretty quick."
Realities like that give others pause. Despite how it seems on TV, the odds of winning big in poker are slim and the risk is potentially high. Of the 5,619 competitors in the 2005 WSOP, only the top 560 contestants win $12,500 or more. Only the top nine entrants win $1 million or more. The remaining 5,059 people walk away $10,000 poorer.
"It's a great thing for ESPN; it's a bad thing for society," said Karl Sloezen,the owner of the Brentwood Billiard Club in Wayne. "And you're talking to a professional gambler."
Not only does poker take players away from billiards, said Sloezen, but he worries that its popularity among college-age students will spark an epidemic of gambling addictions.
"It'll create a whole new generation of degenerates," he said, "and no one needs any more of those."
Reach Ed Beeson at (973) 569-7042 or beeson@northjersey.com.
| |
Ness gains fame at the turn of a card
Published: 2005-07-15
 Ness gains fame at the turn of a card
Friday, July 15, 2005
By MARC SCHWARZ
STAFF WRITER
LAS VEGAS - The 2005 edition of Erin Ness already has been anointed, and in the coming months will be a highlight of ESPN's coverage of the World Series of Poker.
That player - male or female, but most likely a nice-looking under-30 woman - will have caught the camera's eye and instantly will be moved from one of 5,000-plus obscure players to her (or his) 15 minutes of fame.
And what advice does the original Erin Ness of North Caldwell have for the newbie?
"That's a hard question because I don't know if I did it completely correctly," Ness said Saturday, the day after being eliminated from the main event at the WSOP.
Last year, the Montclair Kimberly Academy graduate was the second-to-last woman eliminated in the event, finishing 207th overall after earning the $10,000 seat by winning an in-house tournament at Maxim magazine, where she had been working for only a few months as a photo assistant. ESPN fell in love with her story and her looks and she was featured prominently during last year's coverage.
What followed was a year that changed the 26-year-old's life.
"It's not even remotely the same. I've been able to travel, I've been able to meet these people I truly, truly admire and idolize," she said. "But, at the same time, I'm still the same person. It hasn't changed who I am.
"Yes, people come up to me and ask for my autograph, and yes, I get fan mail, but that is such fun for me. I don't place stock in it. It could all go away tomorrow."
The turn of a card can do more than win a pot or even a great deal of money. Because of the power of TV, it can make even a novice a celebrity.
Ness is a prime example. Last year's World Series was her first tournament and she had never even played online until after the WSOP. Now she's a member of Team Poker Stars, a group of players affiliated with the popular online poker site; Poker Stars paid Ness' entrance fee into four WSOP events this year.
In addition, she played in the Game Show Network's "Poker Royale: Young Bloods," and won $10,000 for finishing second to David Williams, who was the runner-up at last year's main event.
She's the subject of poker blogs and chat rooms, and her picture can be downloaded from a variety of sites.
"It's strange to read about yourself," the Georgetown graduate said. "I'll sit there and read People and US Weekly and I'll gossip about who's who. ... When I look on the Internet and see people talking about me, it's just so strange."
The dilemma for Ness: What to do with her fame? Should she drop everything and try to make poker a career?
"Right now I'm not willing to give up my day job," said Ness, who's now a photo coordinator for Maxim. In fact, she left Vegas on Sunday and was back in the office Monday.
She's also the first to admit she has a lot to learn. "The challenge is, I have a 9-to-5 job and I live in New York. So I have two hurdles to overcome," she said. While she has made a few trips to play the poker rooms in Atlantic City, most of her playing the past year has been online.
She didn't make money in any of the WSOP events she played this year, but saw progress. She "bubbled" in the highly competitive $5,000 No Limit event, finishing in 46th place, one spot out of the money.
"The irony is I didn't go as far this year, but I'm much more proud of the way I played and that's the way it goes in poker," she said.
Now with the WSOP behind her and ESPN coverage of this year's events set to begin, she knows her 15 minutes may be winding down.
"I'll be convinced it's over, that the ride is finished and then I'll come in and there'll be an e-mail from somebody wanting me to be a part of something else."
So Erin Ness, what advice do you have for the Erin Ness of 2005?
"Maybe someone who is dead set on becoming a poker player, maybe they're more aggressive about it. Maybe they quit their day job, maybe they take their notoriety and run with it," she said.
"I'm still going to work on Monday morning. I just think for me, it's about balance. Poker's future is bright now, but who's to say it's going to be true a year from now? Make sure you have a balance in your life.
"The media drives this ... There's a reason they profiled me and you realize what a powerful tool the media is in changing people's lives for better or worse."
E-mail: schwarz@northjersey.com
| | |
English
Deutsch
Español
Français
Italiano
Nederlands
Pусский
Svenska