Poker goes mainstream?

With a casino table game on the way and unparalleled TV coverage, has Texas Hold'Em jumped the shark? An awful lot of people seem to by jumping on the bandwagon. Take for example this article, from the Washington Monthly:

Before this year, my only experience with poker was at basketball camp when I was 12. We played during rest periods with Skittles for chips and about seven different wild cards per hand. Although fun, the game paled by comparison to other leisure pursuits, such as sleeping, and I never gave it much thought after that. Yet during the past year, I have unexpectedly changed my tune. I've joined a weekly card game. I waste hours surfing online poker sites. I try to drop poker phrases like "bad beat" and "the nuts" into casual conversation. When I won $140 at the table in February, I spent weeks regaling everybody I knew with chapter and verse of my victory. Most reacted with raised eyebrows and condescension, but similarly afflicted friends of mine understood, greeting the story with measured awe, as if I were Amarillo Slim.

These days poker--specifically Texas hold 'em, the best version of the venerable game--is enjoying an unexpected renaissance among Americans in general, and twenty-somethings in particular. It is newly ubiquitous on television: The World Series of Poker, a single event which took place last May, is replayed on ESPN with obsessive frequency 10 months after it ended. The World Poker Tour, another set of tournaments located in casinos around the country, got picked up by the Travel Channel last year. In the fall, Bravo introduced its heavily promoted "Celebrity Poker Showdown" program, betting on viewers being riveted by a fifth-street showdown between Timothy Busfield and Coolio. But perhaps anecdotal evidence speaks louder: Three years ago, when I was a sophomore at Cornell University, there wasn't a game to be had. By the time I graduated, I could choose from several different games every night of the week.
"Jack of Smarts" by Justin Peters

I guess that with an influx of young players, the old pros will have more fish to eat. It's hard for me to imagine the hubris it takes to sit down at a table with someone whose been a championship player since before you were born and actually expect to win. I guess that's the genius of the Internet: everyone thinks they are a world-beater.

Ironically, even though I don't play poker, I'm thinking of doing this:

On May 21, Harrahıs Entertainment and Binionıs Horseshoe will be hosting a charity tournament for media professionals and Las Vegas-area celebrities. Itıs your chance to pit your no-limit Texas Hold OEm skills against those of your colleagues and competitors in the media. Youıll also get the chance to compete against some notable Las Vegans, including Penn & Teller and Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman.

I got an invitation, and there's no entry fee. I figure that the worst that happens is that I get cleaned out quickly. At the very least, it will be something to talk about. I am sure of two things: I will not wear sunglasses, and I will not play with my chips.
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posted by Dave at 2:29 PM

Anti-gambling editorial

In the midst of the debate over the expansion of gaming in California, everyone seems to be trying to get the biggest piece of the pie. If the pie expands, more people, theoretically, can be happy. But this piece from the San Francisco Chronicle argues that the state has enough gambling:

GOV. ARNOLD Schwarzenegger wants to worsen a bad bet. Facing a $14 billion budget deficit, the governor is nearing a $1 billion deal with the Indian gambling industry that will give away what few controls the state has over a booming business.

The outlined agreement would represent a continuing distortion of tribal gambling's origin as an opportunity to allow modest-scale casinos at rural reservations where few economic opportunities exist.

California is at a crossroads. Its response to the pressure to allow greater proliferation of gambling -- either by lifting the barriers on the scale of tribal operations or letting racetracks and card rooms into the game -- will determine whether this state will surpass Nevada as the nation's gaming mecca.

It's time to say no.

Read more: EDITORIAL: Governor, don't expand gambling

With so many people interested in expansion and so few in the status quo, combined with the pressing budget needs, it is difficult to imagine that many Californians will heed the call to halt gaming expansion this year.
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posted by Dave at 4:47 PM

Virtual wealth

An article on the economies of virtual online realms by Clive Thompson has no real connection to gambling (although one conversation takes place in a Caesars Palace Lounge) but it is interesting nonetheless. If we have virtual wealth and property, why not virtual gambling? As I recall, it is possible to gamble on items in Diablo and Diablo II. Might "virutal gambling" be a way to bring legal wagering over the Internet to America? If the entire transaction takes place in a virtual realm, does that mean that it skirts the provisions of the Wire Act?
I might develop this into a paper or something. If you've got any thoughts, please let me know.
The Walrus Magazine | Game Theories
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posted by Dave at 9:16 AM

Of sleaze and goldmines

As regular readers know, it is important to keep up on international perceptions of the gaming industry, which are often quite different from those of the US. Americans are used to spin doctors planing the edges off of pretty much everything. Not so in the foreign press. Take, for example, this article from the Manila Times:

The Philippines and the rest of Asia belief that casinos are underground crime and sleaze is preventing casino operators from turning the region into a potential gold mine, a conference on the industry was told on Tuesday.

Japan and Thailand are just two nations moving to make casinos legal in the next two to four years while others are expanding current legalized operations as they hope to cash in on rising personal incomes and a projected tourism boom sparked by low-cost air travel, the experts said.

Legalizing casinos would also allow governments in the region to grab a share of the lucrative underground gambling industry, estimated at $13 billion a year.

The Philippines is pushing for legislation that would allow joint ventures with foreign casino operators, while South Korea hopes to expand the number of casinos where locals are allowed to enter from only one currently.

Legalization is expected in Thailand, Japan and Taiwan before 2008; Singapore is studying the possibility of setting up a casino on one of its islets.

But one of the key challenges is overcoming a deeply rooted perception among Asians that casinos are synonymous with mobsters and prostitution, the experts told an Asian Gaming conference and exhibit organized by Dutch bank ABN-Amro.

The Manila Times Internet Edition | TOP STORIES > Casinos have image problem

So Asian governments have to choose between embracing an industry linked to "underground and sleaze" in order to tap into the goldmine. Articles like this make everything seem so blissfully uncomplicated.

Speaking of image problems...

The New York Times Magazine published an article about IGT's hold on the slot machine-playing public. You can get a feel for the tenor of Gary Rivlin's take on slots from the opening paragraphs:

When Anthony Baerlocher makes his monthly visit to the Atlantis Casino Resort in Reno, Nev., he always starts with a ritual he calls ''taking inventory,'' walking several laps around the casino's sprawling 32,000-square-foot gambling floor and noting which machines sit unloved, vainly burping out their come-hither sounds, and which machines have captured players' attention. The Atlantis is home to more than 1,400 slot machines, but so vivid is the mental snapshot that Baerlocher, 35, carries in his head that he immediately registers the presence of a new machine on the floor. Although Baerlocher is a trained mathematician, his interest is far from academic. He is the chief game designer for the country's largest maker of slot machines, International Game Technology of Reno. At the first sign of a new slot machine from a competitor, he goes into action. ''Give me 30 minutes and $60,'' he says, ''and I can tell you pretty much anything you want to know about another company's machine.''

At 8 p.m. on a warm midsummer's night, Baerlocher watched a woman dressed in green polyester pants and a yellow-and-white-striped short-sleeved top play a slot machine he designed called ''The Price Is Right.'' At first, the woman's body language was noncommittal: she stood half-turned from the game, as if no more than mildly curious about the outcome of her wager. ''Price'' is what slot pros call ''a cherry dribbler,'' a machine that dispenses lots of small payouts while it nibbles at your stash rather than biting off large chunks of it. ''You want to give the newbie lots of positive reinforcement -- to keep 'em playing,'' Baerlocher told me. As if on cue, the woman hit a couple of small jackpots and took a seat. ''Gotcha,'' Baerlocher said softly under his breath.

The Tug of the Newfangled Slot Machines(registration required)

It's a solidly written piece, and definitely worthy of your time. You also might want to take a peek at the forum discussion on America's Gambling Culture.
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posted by Dave at 4:28 PM

Monorail!

That's a reference to the Simpsons parody of The Music Man, when that guy sold Springfield on the monorail. The great Las Vegas Monorail is months behind schedule, but still promises great things. From USA Today:

The opening, originally scheduled for Jan. 20, was postponed to March — and then to sometime this summer. The delays came after a drive shaft fell off a train during testing in January and technicians detected a glitch in a computer control system in February.

"It's not going to open until it's reliable and able to provide an efficient and safe mode of transportation," said Cam Walker, president and CEO of Transit Systems Management, the private company that will operate the monorail for the nonprofit Las Vegas Monorail Co.

The drive shaft was fixed. But Walker said the software problem has proved more daunting: The control system is designed to keep a safe distance between trains running at up to 50 mph on the 3.9-mile track.

Once the system can handle seven trains at a time, it must run for 30 days before passenger service can begin. So far, up to five trains at a time were being tested, Walker said.

The delay is costing Canadian transportation company Bombardier Transportation and project partner Granite Construction Co. of Watsonville, Calif., about $85,000 a day in construction penalties, Walker said.

Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn approved funding for the rail system as a member of the state Board of Finance. A total of $644.3 million in tax-exempt bonds were sold — to be repaid over 40 years with money made on fares and advertising.

Some Nevada lawmakers are concerned the state could be left holding the bag.

"I still think you need more oversight when the state's bond rating is on the line, and there have obviously been problems," said Democratic state Sen. Dina Titus.

But Guinn and other state officials say if the project fails, the monorail company's insurer, not the state, will have to pay.

The company has sold ad space on four of the trains as moving billboards at $1 million each a year, and advertising rights at the Convention Center station to Nextel for $2 million annually.

With 35 million visitors a year to Las Vegas, Walker anticipates no trouble selling 19.1 million tickets a year with automated ticketing at seven stations and remote terminals at hotels.


USATODAY.com - Vegas monorail system delayed by setbacks

All I know is that when I do my training runs and pass underneath the monorail, I now look up in mortal terror that pieces of the train will come raining down.
As far as the projections for ticket sales, I would hazard a guess that it may have been even more profitable to just run the monorail straight from the Convention Center to the strip clubs.
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posted by Dave at 8:07 PM