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High rollers attend New Yorker festival
Published: 2005-09-24
 CONNOR ENNIS
Associated Press
NEW YORK - Doyle Brunson can remember when being a professional poker player meant being an embarrassment.
The 72-year-old Texan recalls old friends crossing to the other side of the street when they saw him coming, and pulling out of the finals of a televised high-stakes tournament in 1972 because he didn't want to shame his family by advertising what he did for a living.
All of which made Brunson's situation on Friday night that much more interesting. With his trademark cowboy hat and his drawl as thick as Texas heat, he was the esteemed elder statesman at the "High Rollers Steak Dinner," one of the opening night events at this year's New Yorker Festival.
More than 100 people paid $200 a plate to sit in a dark, wood-paneled room at Gallagher's steakhouse and listen - and sometimes loudly react - to tales about the suddenly trendy world of poker from Brunson and fellow players Phil Hellmuth, Howard Lederer and David Williams.
"There's no life like the life I've lived," Brunson, a 10-time World Series of Poker champion, said. "You're free like a cloud floating up in the sky."
The festival, in its sixth year, is three days of interviews, panel discussions, readings and musical performances. Writers such as Stephen King, Pulitzer winners Michael Chabon, Jhumpa Lahiri and Edward P. Jones, musicians Ric Ocasek and Ani DiFranco, dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov and many others are among those scheduled to appear before it wraps up on Sunday. The weekend event also features actor Steve Martin leading a banjo concert and a benefit for hurricane victims.
With the influx of players who have honed their game on the Internet and the proliferation of poker shows on television, professional poker has changed dramatically in the last few years and many of the world's top players have become minor celebrities. Tournament players are at record numbers, making winning a more difficult goal for longtime pros.
"It's like hitting the lottery," Brunson said. "We've got more tickets than everybody, but you've still got to hit."
The democratic feel of poker, a game that combines skill with luck, was evident during the panel discussion. Many comments made by the players, especially Hellmuth - with his reputation as the game's "brat" - were met either with applause or open derision from the crowd. The atmosphere might have been heightened by the fact that there was an open bar before the discussion began.
At one point when Hellmuth was explaining how he thought poker helped with social skills in teenagers and young adults, a man in the audience yelled out, "That's insulting."
"I'll debate you any time, baby," the nine-time World Series of Poker winner replied with a grin.
For Williams, who made more than $4 million playing poker while still in college and finished second at the 2004 World Series of Poker championship at the age of 23 after qualifying online, the emergence of poker into the national consciousness is both good and bad.
"It's so popular, which is great, but people don't see the bad side to poker," he said, talking about how he receives e-mails from kids who are ready to drop out of school and risk all the money they have to try for a win in a high-stakes tournament.
And all agreed that longevity is the one true way to measure a great champion. In that category, almost no one can match Brunson.
Now, however, there is plenty of money to be made away from the table. Book deals, advertising deals with online casinos and marketing deals for different apparel worn at the table - sunglasses, caps, etc. - have made the actual tournaments and big-cash games seem at least temporarily secondary to some of the world's most accomplished players.
"I feel like this is the time to take care of some of the business opportunities," Lederer, winner of two World Series of Poker bracelets, said in response to a question about why he didn't play in the big-money cash game at the Bellagio casino in Las Vegas.
Meanwhile, Brunson delivered the definitive line about the gambler's mentality.
"Money's just a tool to the real gambler," he said. "It doesn't have any value, except for what you can buy and you don't even miss it until you run out."
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Study your poker foes
Published: 2005-09-25
 Knowing the tendencies of opponents puts players on top
By Steve Rosenbloom
Chicago Tribune
Because poker is more about people than cards and chips, it's imperative that you pay attention to your opponents all the time. Determine whether the player is aggressive or passive, tight or loose.
And sometimes, even that isn't enough. Because in tournaments, tables get broken and players get moved, so there isn't always enough time to get an accurate idea of the kind of player you're facing.
With 13 players remaining in the World Poker Tour's World Poker Finals at Foxwoods Casino Resort last November, Annie Duke drew A-J of hearts after a player newly moved to her table opened the pot for $50,000. Duke raised it to $200,000.
"I knew that his hand wasn't huge," Duke said, "and if I know his hand isn't huge and I have A-J of hearts, I'm going to come over the top of him because even against a lot of hands that call, I'm going to be even money.
"Given that I thought his hand wasn't that big, I assumed I would raise and pick up the money that's lying out there, and that's great.
"Since he was so timid all the time he was at the table, I said he's someone who'll lay down hands if he's weak."
Then again, maybe not. Duke's opponent held pocket 8s and moved all in, calling the $200,000 and pushing in another $80,000.
"There was no fold for me," Duke said.
"Mathematically, I got a huge price because I was even money and I was getting great odds (better than 5-1 in a hand where she was almost 50-50 with two overcards)."
The flop came J-8-6.
"The first card was a jack, and I said, 'Yes,' " Duke said. "Then an 8 came right behind it."
The turn came a 3. The river came a 6. Duke's seemingly timid opponent made a full house and doubled up.
"Erik Seidel was at the other table, and I went over there and told him about the hand," Duke said. "He goes, 'Why would you do that to him? Obviously he's not going to lay a hand down.' Erik had played with him the whole second day. So, he knew. I didn't know.
"It's interesting, because as you're making judgments about people, sometimes you make a judgment where they're just getting a weird distribution of cards.
"Pay attention to what's going on, and then understand that's not necessarily what's going on."
If Duke had known that her opponent was someone who wouldn't lay down a hand once he got involved, she would've mucked the A-J and waited to trap him with a big hand because the way to counter a tight-aggressive player is to raise with strong hands instead of draws.
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