Anteing up

Published in The Post-Star (D1)
2/23/06

Got some paint in your hand? A big slick? Or are you bluffing and hoping something good comes down the river?

If you're scratching your head right now, odds are that your hobbies don't include a card table. Poker is the hottest card game in the nation right now, with an estimated 50 million Americans playing everything from free home games to high-stakes casino tournaments. There's even a World Series of Poker on ESPN.

The advent of online gaming and televised poker have raised the game's profile higher than ever in recent years, although it looks like the surge in new players is finally being checked.

"I think the trend is tapering off beyond the big spike of the last couple of years, but if you look at it historically, this is the continuation of a 30-year growth trend," said Dan Michalski, a freelance journalist who writes a poker blog (pokerati.com).

Michalski lives in Dallas, and -- not surprisingly -- his favorite poker game is Texas Hold 'Em. He said it might sound silly, but he sees it as a metaphor for life, or even a religion.

"Everyone has their own two unique cards, plus the community cards that everyone's sharing, and you have to do the best you can with what you have," he said. "And even when you do everything right, you can still get screwed."

For local players like Rich Cavak, 33, there's nothing quite so mystical about the game.

"For me, it's mostly a way of getting together with friends, and meeting new people," he said. He plays one night a week with about six other players at a friend's house in Glens Falls.

"It definitely brings out the emotions in people. You see people get really happy, or mad," he said. "We're competing, but in the end, we're all friends."

The social aspect of poker is what drew 31-year-old Toby Leah Bochan to become more serious about the game a few years ago, after breaking up with her fiancee.

It turned out to be more than a fleeting attraction, however -- she's now an online poker expert for About.com, and author of the book, "The Badass Girl's Guide to Poker." Bochan lives in New York City, where she plays poker for fun at least twice a week, and gives lessons to women who want to get in on the action.

She recommends that potential players learn the basic ranking of poker hands before playing. Developing strategy takes more time, and sometimes, luck beats brains.

"There's a saying -- it's better to be lucky than good, but it's best to be both," she said.

Michalski said new players should try out a few free online games to get their feet wet before playing for money.

Wait a minute -- there's money involved? Is that legal?

Bochan said in New York state, it's perfectly legal to play poker with real money, as long as the host of the game isn't making a penny of profit (apart from any winnings).

"The law is that it's illegal to profit from gambling," she said.

What that means is that if there's a "buy-in" (i.e. $20 to join a game), all of that money should go straight to the winning players and/or to pay a dealer if one was hired. Cover charges on top of that may not be legal.

In Texas, said Michalski, a newly formed political action committee is pushing to legalize all forms of poker gambling.

"The entire country is struggling to figure out what's legal and what's not right now, because the gambling laws were written way before poker was played the way it is today," he explained.

Cavak's game in Glens Falls involves a $10 buy-in, which means every player pays $10 to receive an equal number of chips at the beginning of a game, and the winnings are split between the top three players at the end.

"Of course no one's going to get upset about $10," he said. "I wouldn't say it's about the money, although it's certainly nice to win."

THE LINGO:
Ante: Mandatory small bet that each player must place to participate in a game.
Big Slick: An Ace-King hand.
Blinds: Mandatory initial bets made by the player(s) on the left of the dealer at the beginning of a hand, sometimes used in place of the ante.
Call: To match the amount of money bet by other players in a round (the minimum necessary to stay in).
Check: To bet zero (only possible if other players do the same).
Doyle Brunson: A 10-2 hand, named after the famous poker player who won the World Series twice with these traditionally lousy cards.
Flop: The first three community cards dealt simultaneously in Texas Hold 'Em. After a round of betting, a fourth card is dealt, called "the turn." The fifth and final card makes "the river."
Paint: Face cards (Jack through Ace).
Raise: To bet more than other players in a round, forcing them to put more money in the pot to stay in.

TO LEARN MORE:
For beginners: "The Badass Girl's Guide to Poker," by Toby Leah Bochan; "The Smarter Bet Guide to Poker," by Basil Nestor; "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Poker," by Andrew Glazer; "Thursday Night Poker," by Peter Steiner.
For more advanced players: "The Theory of Poker," by David Sklansky; "Doyle Brunson's Super System," by Doyle Brunson; "Phil Gordon's Little Green Book," by Phil Gordon.

LOGGING ON:
Play online at pokerstars.com, fulltilt.net, pokerroom.com and partypoker.com.
Read up on the game at poker.about.com and pokerati.com. Seek out fellow players on meetup.com.
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