Sunday, March 29, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
Tens of millions of Americans play poker every year and so it comes as no surprise that the game fits nicely within our cultural mainstream. But with poker facing so many legal and political challenges the last few years it’s always good to be reminded that people play poker, people love poker, and people are fascinated by poker, across just about every demographic line you care to draw.
This past week The New Yorker featured an article by Alec Wilkinson about poker, one that focused primarily on Chris Ferguson but also discussed the UIGEA and the legal issues surrounding the game (you need to register to read the full article). That the pre-eminent literary magazine in the land published a positive article about poker doesn’t mean the UIGEA will repealed this afternoon (there are members of Congress who probably balk at reading so much as the back of a cereal box) but it adds to the groundswell of support poker has received in the media the last year or so.
The New Yorker has actually published a number of major articles about poker in the past, most notably two pieces by the English poet/critic A. Alvarez that he later expanded into The Biggest Game in Town, one of the leading works in the poker canon. If you haven’t read Alvarez’s articles, or The Biggest Game in Town, and you consider yourself a poker fan, shame on you.
Alvarez wrote those articles (and the book) in 1983. In 1994 he returned to World Series and wrote about fulfilling a lifelong dream–playing in the Main Event. These days it almost seems quaint that taking a seat in the Main Event would seem like such an ambitious gamble, but this was long before you had online qualifiers swelling the field into the thousands. That year there were 268 entrants and many of the players Alvarez writes about (Chan, Ungar, Hellmuth) are still well-known in the poker world today.
Alvarez wrote that article a bit less than fifteen years ago, a fact that hit me broadsides because reading that piece planted the seeds of my later love affair with the game. I actually clipped that article out of the magazine and kept it in a folder with other poker stories I came across over the years. And it was eight years later, in 2002, that I read an article that transformed my interest in poker into something akin to an obsession. Joseph Epstein reviewed Andy Bellin’s Poker Nation, Epstein first writing about his own experience playing poker while growing up in Chicago before turning to Bellin’s examination of underground New York card clubs and the current poker universe.
I devoured Poker Nation (several times, actually) and later that year something called the World Poker Tour debuted on the Travel Channel. As I watched the WPT from week-to-week I learned that thousands of folks were playing poker online, and as I considered dipping my toe into that vast aquarium some guy named Chris Moneymaker won the Main Event and $2.5 million. Poker may have suffered some legislative and political bad beats the last few years, but I think the perfect storm of the WPT, the advent of the digital world, and the Moneymaker Effect rather makes up for that. Should the UIGEA be repealed (and allegedly Barney Frank will be introducing just such a bill in early April) it might not usher in a new Golden Age of Poker…it might just help perpetuate the one we’re in right now. Five (or fifteen) years from now some budding poker player may read Wilkinson’s article and find all this UIGEA hullaballo rather silly. Let’s hope so.
Tags: a. alvarez, al alvarez, alec wilkinson, andy bellin, biggest game in town, Chris Ferguson, moneymaker effect, new yorker poker, poker nation, Poker Poker Poker, the new yorker, the new yorker poker, uigea, World Poker Tour
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Sunday, December 21, 2008 - Gene Bromberg
Christmas is just around the corner and if you haven’t finished your shopping yet, you’ve got problems. Even with the economy…sputtering a bit, the malls are still crowded and the good parking spots taken before you even stagger out of bed. About ten years ago everyone in my family decided that what we wanted for Christmas…was not having to shop. Once we reached that consensus the holidays became SO much more festive. Not having to decide if my Mom would rather throw away a pair of too-small slippers or a too-big sweater dramatically increases my jollity at this stressful time of year.
But this is the Season of Giving, as years of ruthless indoctrination have instructed us, and at some point you may be forced to to exchange gifts with your fellow man. If your fellow man happens to be a poker player I have a few gift ideas to pass along that will delight even the Scroogiest:
- Just about every serious player has a few poker books on the shelf, but chances are these are instructional tomes that, useful as they might be, aren’t especially entertaining. But there are a number of fantastic books out there that every player should read, starting with The Biggest Game in Town by A. Alvarez and Big Deal by Anthony Holden. Written by two British literary lions, these books describe the poker world as it was in prehistoric times (twenty-five years ago), populated by leatherassed cowboys and smooth-talking hucksters plying their trade in smoky rooms on the bad part of town. Holden returned to the WSOP in 2005 and wrote Bigger Deal, about how the game has changed since those romantic times. Romance can, of course, have a darker tinge, and if you think that might appeal then add to your list One of a Kind, Nolan Dalla and Peter Alson’s biography of the ill-fated savant Stu Unger. Or if you think dollar signs will get your target’s attention, then The Professor, the Banker and the Suicide King, Michael Craig’s book about the biggest poker game of all time, would be an excellent choice.
- There are times when you have to break the bank and splash some cash. Maybe the person you’re buying for once pulled you out of a burning building. Or they’ve just (or are about to) become your father-in-law and you need to impress. If you don’t mind dipping into your savings and the lucky duck you’re buying for plays a lot of live poker, then I heartily recommend Bose noise-canceling headphones. Your typical cardroom is filled with distracting background noise–the clatter of chips, muffled chatter coming from the rail, televisions bleating away–and noise-canceling headphones gently erases all that racket. You’ll still be able to hear the talk at your table, but you’ll feel like you’re wrapped in a cocoon of blissful silence. It’s amazing how much mental energy you exert dealing with superfluous noise, your head jerking around and eyes darting to identify odd shouts and thuds and crashes. Your focus will remain where it should–on your table and on your opponents. And the next time that person flies somewhere, upon their return you will be showered with thanks as they describes how delightful air travel is without listening to the maddenling drone of jet engines. You will be a superstar. And that’s the true meaning of Christmas, right?
- It’s become perfectly acceptable to give gift cards as Christmas presents but forking over cash is still verboten. People want to see that you’ve made SOME effort at getting them a gift, and standing in line at Old Navy for ten minutes is several notches higher on the Grinchometer than reaching in your wallet and handing over a couple of crumpled twenties. But if you’re considering a gift for a poker player, cash is an EXCELLENT gift. Remember, to the poker player money is just a tool, it’s the equipment we need to ply our trade. You wouldn’t feel funny giving a friend interested in carpentry a really nice hammer, would you? Of course not. So giving a poker player some ammunition can be a most welcome gift. If handing over a fistful of dollars still seems a bit crass, why not transfer some money to his online account? Or present a gift card that’s good for a tournament buy-in at your local casino? Maybe even get a big group of friends/family together to chip in for a $1,500 WSOP seat? Often the best Christmas presents are those that the person really wants, but would never buy for themself. Fulfilling someone’s lifelong dream to play in the World Series of Poker could make it a Christmas they’ll never forget. Just make sure you keep a piece of the action.
Poker used to be a part of my family’s Christmas Eve celebration, once we’d eaten dinner and the dishes were cleared my dad and granfather and uncles would gather around the dining room table and play a bit, with me and my cousins peeking at the cards and staring at amazement at all those nickels and dimes. We don’t play at Christmas anymore, it seems like everyone has to run all over creation to visit other relatives, but Christmas Eve we’re going to hash out the details for our next family poker game. It doesn’t always take the holidays to get the family together. Sometimes all it takes is a poker game.
Tags: a. alvarez, al alvarez, anthony holden, big deal, bigger deal, bose, bose headphones, christmas poker, grinch, grinchometer, michael craig, nolan dalla, one of a kind, peter alson, poker books, poker gifts, Poker Poker Poker, stu ungar, the biggest game in town, the professor the banker and the suicide king, tony holden, world series of poker, WSOP
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