Anybody
who watches ESPN probably already knows the story: A man named Chris Moneymaker
wins a $40 Texas Hold 'Em poker tournament on the Internet, qualifies to play
in the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, then outlasts a colorful cast of characters
to win $2.5 million.
"When the World
Poker Tour got into television and used technology to show the hole cards, it
sparked enormous interest in poker," said Gary Thompson, spokesman for Harrah's
Entertainment in Las Vegas. "Americans are very competitive people. You can't
compete with Tiger Woods on a golf course or a heavyweight boxer in the ring,
but you can compete at a poker table and knock out a world champion."
Harrah's
rode the wave of popularity, buying Binion's Horseshoe Casino in Las Vegas earlier
this year, and with it, the rights to the World Series of Poker. Thompson said
Harrah's, which owns 28 casinos nationwide, recently opened poker rooms at three
of its Midwestern casinos. It plans to adds four more at other casinos.
Harrah's
has capitalized on Moneymaker's star status by giving poker players around the
nation a chance to compete against the former world champion. Moneymaker recently
played at a similar event at the Harrah's in St. Louis.
"Even
after I won the tournament, I didn't believe it would do what it's done,"
said Moneymaker, who four months ago quit his accounting job and made poker his
profession. "I had several people tell me I'm going to change the face of
poker."
He did more than that: He
became the face of poker.
Several Harrah's billboards near interstate highways in Kansas City feature up-close
pictures of Moneymaker during the penultimate moments of the 2003 tournament.
Harrah's
Kansas City casino opened a poker
room on July 15, two weeks after the Isle of Capri opened one at its Kansas
City property.
Both casinos had poker
rooms when they opened a decade ago, but Harrah's shut its live poker tables down
in June 1998, and Isle of Capri closed its room in 2000.
"In
Kansas City, the poker
room is packed on weekends, with 100 to 150 people playing, and on a typical
weeknight, we have upward of 80 to 100 people," said Tracy Owens, spokesman
for Ameristar Casinos, which operates a casino in Kansas City.
A
Wichita, Kan., company earlier this year created the Amateur Poker League, which
provides cards, poker chips, table tops and a uniform scoring system to bars for
about $225 a night. Participants get the same amount of chips — for free
— and play until one person wins them all.
Shawn
Riley, one of the owners of the Amateur Poker League, said there are about 14,000
registered APL players at 150 locations in Kansas, Missouri, Texas, Chicago and
California. He said about 150 to 200 new members are added each day.
"We
were a little concerned about how this would take off in casino towns like Kansas
City," Riley said. "But it's doing very well. It's a good place to practice,
and you don't lose your rent."
The
bars make more money from increased food and drink sales on poker nights.
Similar
types of games in other states, though, have faced legal problems.
In
Minnesota, games at a bowling alley were found to be illegal because organizers
profited from increased food and drink sales. Bar owners in South Dakota, Connecticut
and Wisconsin also were warned that hosting poker games violated state laws.
In
all of those cases, businesses were offering the games in response to demand from
customers.
"There's a whole new
generation of poker players out there," said Phil Maggio, a pit manager at
Harrah's in Kansas City. "A lot of them only know about no-limit hold 'em
because that's what they see on TV."
Dave
Folks, 55, of Kansas City, who was playing an afternoon game of Texas Hold 'Em
recently at Harrah's, said he welcomes the new players who think they can win
at the casino after watching the game on television.
"Anybody who watches
poker on TV and tries to copy how they play is extremely
misled," said Folks. "They don't realize
that you probably fold 70 percent of your hands
if you're a good player."
Good
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