Sunday, November 09, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

POKER IN LAS VEGAS: Full House

Televised tournaments, online games fuel hot growth for Las Vegas poker

Players ring a poker table Tuesday in Bellagio's card room. A gambling expert says television and Internet poker have helped fuel the growth of card-room business in Las Vegas by reducing players' fear of sitting down at a poker table for the first time. Photo by Clint Karlsen. Chris Moneymaker of Spring Hill, Tenn., plays the final hand of the World Series of Poker on May 24 at Binion's Horseshoe. Photo by Associated Press The final table of the inaugural World Poker Tour Championship at the Bellagio appears here in April. The winner won more than $1 million in the $25,000 buy-in event, poker's richest buy-in. Photo by Jeff Scheid.

Poker in Las Vegas is red hot, and the reasons are simple, industry insiders say.

Televised poker tournaments and Internet poker sites together have fueled explosive growth in the number of players, and Las Vegas poker bosses see the results in their card rooms.

Since the Travel Channel began broadcasting World Poker Tour events last year on Wednesday nights, the contests have been the channel's top-rated series, and ESPN has been similarly pleased by the healthy ratings garnered by its oft-repeated World Series of Poker episodes.

"It's absolutely incredible," said Doug Dalton, MGM Mirage's poker operations director. "The surge in interest is unbelievable. It's boosting play on Internet sites, but also in live card rooms and especially in tournaments."

Poker in Las Vegas exists year-round, with big card rooms at Bellagio, The Orleans, The Mirage and Binion's Horseshoe garnering much of the action.

Many other Strip casinos have smaller poker rooms, including Mandalay Bay, Luxor, Excalibur, Circus Circus, Monte Carlo, Flamingo, Sahara and Stardust.

And smaller rooms at Sam's Town, Boulder Station, Sunset Station, Arizona Charlie's Decatur and the Cannery draw locals from the edges of the valley.

Many executives say the most recent World Series of Poker champion is one of the big reasons poker is exploding in popularity.

Tennessee amateur Chris Moneymaker won the $2.5 million championship in May's final event of the World Series of Poker while competing in his first casino tournament.

He had previously played only in online tournaments.

Moneymaker's first-time success has inspired other novices or Internet-only poker players to take a shot in brick-and-mortar casinos, experts said.

"People have aspirations of seeing themselves on TV, winning the tournament," Las Vegas Advisor Publisher Anthony Curtis said.

But the biggest reason TV and Internet poker have driven extra cardroom business in Las Vegas is because the new venues reduce the fear of sitting down at a poker table for the first time, Curtis said.

"Slots are bigger than blackjack because people know they won't be embarrassed to play if they make a mistake," Curtis said. "If they're afraid at blackjack, poker's even worse."

By watching the play of the games on TV, and then practicing at low-stakes or free games on the Internet, players have been able to learn enough to venture into formerly foreboding card rooms, Curtis said.

"They're not as afraid," Curtis said. "They're not absolute virgins. The poker rooms get a double bang. The new players learn by watching TV, and practice in anonymity online."

And the chance to play like the TV poker stars, with less risk of embarrassment, have combined to drive business to Las Vegas poker rooms, experts said.

For example, The Orleans has for years held poker tournaments daily at noon and at 7 p.m., but over the past half-year, record turnouts forced the casinos to change registration procedures.

No-limit hold'em tournaments on Monday often draw upward of 180 entrants, and have occasionally topped 200, Orleans executives said.

Last year those numbers were barely above 100.

At Bellagio, home of the city's most expensive weekly tournament, a $540 no-limit event held every Friday at 5 p.m., entries have jumped from about 30 to almost 100, Bellagio poker tournament boss Jack McClelland said.

Event winners used to collect about $6,000, now they get about $20,000, McClelland said.

Wednesday and Sunday night no-limit hold'em tourneys at the Sahara have also reported big increases in entrants.

Curtis said another TV-related factor driving business is the popularity of the poker shows.

"TV is huge for anything, but these shows are popular," Curtis said. "Poker's now in vogue; it's the cool thing. The power of the tube is incredible. I'm hearing about these (poker shows on TV) from novices and from poker insiders."

McClelland said the new exposure, particularly the World Poker Tour events, has resurrected what was a shrinking business.

"The poker players kept getting older, and the young ones weren't replacing 'em as fast as the old ones were dying," McClelland said. "Your group of players kept getting smaller and smaller, with no fresh blood, no fresh money."

Now with TV coverage and Internet play, the younger players in their 20s and 30s are turning out like never before, inspired by televised victories by Moneymaker and World Poker Tour two-time winner Gus Hansen, both in their 20s, he said.

McClelland expects the turnout at the first Bellagio event during the World Poker Tour's second season, the Five Diamond Poker Classic, to jump dramatically.

Last year, 146 players paid the $10,000 entry fee to the no-limit hold'em event; this year McClelland expects at least 300 to enter the Dec. 15-18 event.

World Poker Tour owner Lakes Entertainment expects the tour's total prize pool to jump from $10 million during last year's inaugural season to about $30 million this year.

"The World Poker Tour is bringing a new awareness to the excitement and popularity of a card game that is played by more people than any other sport in the country," Lakes Chairman and world-class poker player Lyle Berman said in a statement. "The number of tournament poker participants is continuing to escalate, creating prize pools the magnitude of which has never before been seen in poker rooms nationally or in other individual sporting events. Anyone and everyone can and does play poker. You don't have to be a pro to compete in a tournament so new enthusiasts are flooding into the sport."

World Poker Tournament Chief Executive Officer Steve Lipscomb said the tour has been a big plus for poker.

"For us at the World Poker Tour, it is truly gratifying to see the impact that our innovative show has had on raising the boat for the entire poker world," Lipscomb said.