The
Latin Hammer'' checks his cards and ponders his options.
So
far tonight, his luck in this tournament-style Texas
HoldEm poker game has mostly run cold.
''The Hammer'' picked up a small pot in the early going.
Later, however, he got slammed when an ace trumped his
nine when he and an opponent both had a pair of kings.
Now,
he's down to his last $120 in chips and he's locked in a
showdown with Gaby Black. Everyone else has folded.
Black looks nervous. She repeatedly curls up the
facedown corners of her two ''hole cards,'' glancing at
them as if they might have changed over the last couple
of seconds.
''The Hammer's'' face shows no expression. It's his turn
to check or raise. Suddenly, he reaches his hands toward
the green felt table, the rolled-up sleeves of his black
shirt revealing a stainless steel Rolex watch on his
wrist. He pushes all of his chips forward.
''All in,'' he says, leaning back in his chair.
''The Hammer'' is going for broke.
The
world of poker doesn't have a governing body with a
dues-paying membership and demographic statistics, but
people in the gambling industry think its popularity may
be at an all-time high.
An
estimated 50 million people in the United States and 50
million more in the rest of the world play poker, mostly
in friendly, low-stakes games.
This
year's version of the World Series of Poker, arguably
the game's biggest event, attracted 2,576 players from
across the globe, more than three times the number who
competed in 2003. Greg ''Fossilman'' Raymer won $5
million for first prize this year, twice as much as the
aptly-named Chris Moneymaker took home the year before.
Worldwide interest in poker has gotten so keen that the
ubiquitous ''Complete Idiot's Guide'' series plans to
roll out a manual on the game in September.
''The growth of poker has been phenomenal,'' says Jeff
Shulman, the CEO of Card Player Magazine, a
60,000-circulation, biweekly publication that is poker's
closest thing to a professional journal. ''All the
events are double and triple what they were last year.''
Shulman says television and the Internet have helped
fuel poker's explosive growth.
TV
programs such as Bravo's ''Celebrity Poker Showdown''
and the Travel Channel's ''World Poker Tour'' give
viewers the chance to watch games while listening to
commentary on poker hands and strategy. Tiny cameras in
front of each player reveal facedown cards to TV
audiences while keeping them secret from opponents at
the table.
''Now you can see what the pros are doing and what their
thinking is,'' Shulman says. ''It's like in football,
hearing what the players plan to do beforehand. It adds
a whole different dimension to the game.''
Cyberspace casinos on dozens of Web sites provide places
where players can pit their skills against opponents on
the other side of the planet without ever leaving home.
Many
online poker rooms offer free play options. Games played
for real money include satellite tournaments that serve
as qualifying rounds to some of poker's premier events,
including the World Series of Poker. Many players opt to
go straight to the big show in Las Vegas by plunking
down a $10,000 entry fee. But Moneymaker reached poker's
pinnacle in 2003 by starting at the bottom in a
satellite game he paid just $40 to join.
This
isn't your father's poker game. It's grown up since the
days of penny-ante high school games, where wild cards
often included ''aces, deuces and one-eyed jacks.''
Although traditional five-card and seven-card stud
remain popular options in casinos and countless Thursday
night poker games, a version called ''Texas HoldEm'' has
taken control of most of the tables where poker is
played.
Each
player gets two cards, facedown. Five other cards,
shared with other players, are dealt face up. The best
five-card combination of facedown and face up cards
wins. Many big tournaments, including the World Series
of Poker, are strictly Texas HoldEm venues.
''The Latin Hammer,'' an insurance salesman better known
as Mark Menendez, plays poker every Thursday night with
a bunch of friends at a buddy's apartment in San
Antonio.
They
play tournament-style, just like the World Series of
Poker, with one big difference: Each player pays only
$25 for an equal share of chips. Similar to the event in
Las Vegas, the player who ends up with all of the chips
gets the lion's share of the pot. Second place also
takes a cut. The third place finisher gets his or her
$25 back.
On
this evening, the jacks come Menendez's way late in the
tournament. Down to his last $120 in chips, he draws a
pair with his first two cards, a round dealt face-down
known as ''pocket cards'' in poker.
Feeling powerful, ''The Hammer'' squares off against
Gaby Black, who has had a career night to this point and
a big pile of chips to show for it. Going for broke,
Menendez goes ''all in.''
Black doesn't balk. With her big stack of chips, she can
afford to lose this hand. She calls Menendez's bet.
''You've got pockets,'' Menendez tells her, shaking his
head.
It's
time for the last card. The dealer, turns over a nine of
clubs. It doesn't help Menendez. And what about Black?
''She's so not sweating me,'' Menendez tells no one in
particular, grinning nervously now.
Gaby
smiles and shows her pocket cards: A pair of queens.
Menendez's jacks have fallen short. Everyone hoots and
cheers.
''Hey, Gaby, way to go!'' '''The Hammer' is dead!''
