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HEADLINE:
No easy hands in poker
Body:
With an ace-high straight, George Austin was sitting pretty, a
poker rookie with the best hand at a table full of veterans in
a $1.3 million tournament.
One hour into a four-day event, a made-for-TV story line was
developing: Retired electrician stuns the pros and winds up playing
for big money.
But instead of betting aggressively with an unbeatable hand,
the 61-year-old Massachusetts man pretended to be weak in hopes
of tricking his opponent into placing a fatally big bet.
It was an amateur move. It gave his opponent a free card, a card
that immediately sent Austin home.
Moments later, Austin was in an empty hallway, rubbing his forehead
and staring at his polished black shoes as the Foxwoods Poker
Classic continued without him.
"I wasn't even thinking about a flush," Austin said
again and again.
Austin is one of thousands of hopefuls each year who learn that
the transition from home games, weekend events and Internet sites
to high-stakes tournament
poker is harder than it looks.
Buoyed by stories of amateurs who win millions, tournament registration
has soared in recent years. The World Series of Poker, which attracted
fewer than 200 players with a $755,000 top prize a decade ago,
drew 5,600 entries last year and the payday was $7.5 million.
But while tournaments across the country get richer and more
crowded, the final tables where fortunes are won aren't getting
any bigger. That means more people than ever are entering with
high hopes - and leaving with nothing.
Perhaps the most famous newbie-turned-millionaire story is Chris
Moneymaker, a 27-year-old accountant who learned to play
online, bought into the 2003 World Series for $40 and walked
away as its $2.5 million champion.
"This means anyone in their home can become a poker player,"
tournament spokesman Nolan Dalla declared.
Not so fast, experts say. True, poker is a game of chance, but
it also requires an ability to read people and calculate odds.
Those skills are easy to fake in home games, but the gap between
good players and great players widens over a lengthy tournament.
"It's like a lottery, and we get more tickets," said
Erik Seidel, a tournament pro and World Series of Poker champion
who has been playing high-stakes games for two decades.
Bill Thompson, a professor with the Center for Gaming Research
at UNLV, compares it to college basketball. If the NCAA expanded
its tournament from 64 teams to 128, he asked, would it really
give dozens of new teams a chance to win?
Internet qualifying tournaments and inexpensive satellite events
make the path affordable for those, such as Austin, who beat a
crowded field for a seat at the main event.
While the rare amateur who wins big gets star treatment, cameras
rarely capture the ambitious novice who finds himself overwhelmed
and outmatched.
After dropping out of the University of Massachusetts to pursue
a career in poker, Jean-Claude Moussa became a regular on Internet
gaming sites, often playing six games at once. He made more than
$160,000 last year, he said, but doesn't play many live tournaments
because they're much slower and he loses focus.
Of the more than 400 people who registered for the Foxwoods tournament,
Moussa said many didn't stand a chance. Tournament poker is a
bad idea for amateurs, he said, because the professionals usually
win.
Moussa, who paid $10,000 to enter the Foxwoods tournament, was
gone by the end of the first day.
Heading into the fourth day, the field was whittled to one table
and a handful of players, including some part-timers. In the end,
the tournament's $1.3 million top prize went to Annand Ramdi,
a professional and a regular on the tournament circuit.
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