All in

Poker picking up popularity

By CASEY RESSLER

Valley Life editor

"I had the gutshot straight draw, but I didn't realize he had the nut flush."

Sounds like a foreign language, right? Not really, say a growing number of people who are quickly bringing poker come out of smoky backrooms and into their living rooms as a popular home game.

Poker's popularity is soaring across the country, including here in the Valley, as home games are being organized constantly, and one local business is cashing in on the boom by offering a Texas Hold 'Em tournament.

"It's good, clean fun," said Jack Graff, a Wasilla resident who said he usually plays about twice a month with a group of his buddies. "We started playing about a year ago, and it's nothing major - a couple of bucks - but it's a lot of fun."

Poker's popularity can be traced to two things - ESPN and Chris Moneymaker. For years, the World Series of Poker has been broadcast on ESPN, but in the last several years, the coverage has increased dramatically. The event features a $5 million payout to the winner, and is considered the most prestigious event, attracting thousands of players. Combined with technology that allows viewers to see the "hole cards" while the game is being played, the increased exposure gave novices the chance to understand the game better.

Moneymaker is the 2003 World Series of Poker champion. He qualified for the event by playing online for a small fee. He gave rise to the idea that a beginner actually could win the biggest title in poker, akin to a guy buying a new car at his local Dodge dealership and then winning the Daytona 500 a few weeks later.

"I don't think I'm going to be playing in the World Series of Poker anytime soon, but yeah, it makes you think you would have a chance, because he did it," said Geoff Thomas, one of Graff's poker buddies. "You never know."

More and more people are playing the game online, at such sites as PartyPoker.com, and PokerStars.com. At PokerStars.com, for instance, it's not unusual to find a player from Palmer or Wasilla in some of the free tournaments they offer.

"I play online a lot, but it's not nearly as fun as our regular games," Graff said. "For me, part of the fun is getting the guys together to play some cards."

But it's not just the guys who are playing poker - more and more women are starting to pick up the game. In fact, while the "boys" are playing their game, at least one group of women are playing their own. Thomas' wife, Marlene, said she got a group of wives together recently to learn how to play Texas Hold 'Em, while her husband was playing poker at a friend's house.

"I wanted to know what it was all about, and a couple of the other wives did too," Marlene Thomas said. "I love to gamble - we go to Vegas every couple of years - but I never played cards. We're planning on having a couple more of the girls' nights, and then I think we'll be ready to beat the guys at their game."

Geoff Thomas scoffs at the notion, but admits that in poker, anything can happen.

"It's not like sports - anybody can play cards. We've got about seven regulars, and one guy is in his 60s and another kid is in his 20s. I think that's what makes it popular," Thomas said. "You can learn how to play in a couple of minutes, and it doesn't take a lot to get started."