Poker grows in popularity, becomes big game in Siouxland
By Julie Weeder, Journal staff writer | Posted: Sunday, July 04, 2004
Jennifer Rempe is among poker players at Casino Omaha. The game has caught on quickly in Siouxland. (Staff photo by Jim Lee)
All-in.
The phrase used to describe a player who has bet all of his or her chips could also describe Siouxlanders when it comes to the latest entertainment fad -- poker.
Poker, particularly Texas Hold 'Em, has hit an all-time popularity high around the world, thanks in part to televised poker tournaments, the boom of online casinos and the belief that any player can make it from rags to riches.
Take Chris Moneymaker, for example. The 27-year-old amateur poker player from Tennessee paid $40 to enter a Texas Hold 'Em qualifying tournament on the Internet. He won that tournament, earning him a seat at the World Series of Poker. The first-time live tournament player went on to win the 2003 World Series of Poker and $2.5 million.
Moneymaker's Cinderella story has solidified the belief that with enough work, anyone can become a poker champion, poker players said.
"A lot of people think this guy (Moneymaker) got lucky," said Steve Badger, a 1999 World Series of Poker winner and Web master of playwinningpoker.com. "The fact is, he is a tremendous player. He was able to go out and play at the absolute top level of the game."
Anybody can make money playing poker in a relatively short period of time, said Badger of Sherman Oaks, Calif.
"But one thing required is the desire to get better," said Badger, whose most successful game is Omaha Hi/Lo poker. "If I started from scratch today, played a few games and started reading and researching, I could become better and better. A person can eventually play at the top level.
The Cinderella stories are happening locally too. Doug Hutcheson of Council Bluffs, Iowa, who after playing poker for only two months, won the title in the no-limit Texas Hold 'Em event of the Northwest Iowa Poker Championships last month at WinnaVegas Casino in Sloan, Iowa. He outlasted 175 other players and walked away with $14,200.
Finishing second to Hutcheson was 29-year-old Chris Hartung of Laurel, Neb. Hartung, who had only been playing Texas Hold 'Em for six months and had never before played in a tournament, won $8,000.
Sioux Cityan Chris Parsley, 26, won the title in the pot-limit Texas Hold 'Em/Omaha tournament at the Northwest Iowa Poker Championships. His first-place finish netted $3,700. The next day, he finished ninth in the limit Texas Hold 'Em event and won $520. Not bad for a guy who became a professional poker player in September after being laid off from his job.
Parsley, who has been a "steady" poker player for eight years, said he likes tournaments because any player could be a future World Poker Tour player.
"It doesn't matter who you are," Parsley said. "Basically, poker is the all-American game because it is a great melting pot of everyone."
The melting pot has bubbled over in the last two years since the Travel Channel debuted its hit series, "World Poker Tour." The increased interest in poker became clearly evident at the 2004 World Series of Poker championshp event in May, where 2,576 players entered the tournament despite the $10,000 entry fee. That was three times as many players compared to 2003, making it the biggest brick-and-mortar poker tournament in poker history.
That isn't the only place player numbers are up. Online poker rooms and local casinos have seen an influx in poker players, especially for Texas Hold 'Em poker, the game featured on the World Poker Tour. Hold 'Em has become the most popular casino poker game, Badger said.
"(Hold 'Em) is very simple and very fast," he said. "It has the highest amount of short-term luck, but it also has a huge amount of long-term skill. You have to constantly be thinking and being on the edge of your seat."
Online poker sites like partypoker.com and pokerstars.com commonly attract 40,000 or more players at a time. People just getting their feet wet can play free games, then move to penny games and eventually dollar games.
"You can become an adequate player a lot faster now," Badger said. "If you spend a little time in free games, you can get a basic understanding of the game. As you move up, the learning curve is much faster. You're learning odds and gaining experience before you enter a casino. People like games that challenge them mentally. Poker does that."
At CasinOmaha in Onawa, Iowa, the first casino in western Iowa to introduce Texas Hold 'Em, the poker tables are full again. Carol White, poker room supervisor, said she sees more women and younger people playing poker.
"It's seems they've figured out that not everyone who played poker in a casino poker room is a professional," White said. "Here, it's more like kitchen table poker."
On a recent Friday afternoon, the seven women and men sitting around the seven-card stud table were chatting up the weather, a recent trip to Las Vegas and who's the bigger bluffer.
"It's a good pastime for me since I lost my husband," said veteran poker player Judy Hogancamp of Onawa.
Hogancamp, like the others around the table, agrees that poker has advantages over other casino games.
"Poker is a challenge really. It's something you can judge well," she said.
Poker players like the strategy they can use to play, something a casino player doesn't have control of at the slots.
"Something about poker, you don't play against the house. You're playing against other people," said Bob Ewing, who travels to Onawa from Omaha once every week or two to play poker. "Most of us like to win, but no one is a major loser either."
Terry and Betty Geith of Pisgah, Iowa, and their son, Brian, all sat around the poker table. Terry said he'd rather play poker than go to a movie.
"It's entertainment. It's fun as long as you don't go overboard and lose the house," he said.
No one is throwing down the deed to their homestead at these poker tables. White said she tries to keep the bet minimums low, allowing customers to play longer and more often. Even the tournaments, which in the past year and a half have grown to five per week, are relatively cheap. Most are $5 or $10 to get in with a choice to buy more chips if needed for another $5 or $10.
WinnaVegas has similar tournaments four times a week. With 30 to 40 players, the total prize pay-outs can easily reach $1,000 for each tournament. Both casinos attract poker players from a 100-mile radius and sometimes farther.
Julie Weeder may be reached at (712) 293-4228 or julieweeder@siouxcityjournal.com
The phrase used to describe a player who has bet all of his or her chips could also describe Siouxlanders when it comes to the latest entertainment fad -- poker.
Poker, particularly Texas Hold 'Em, has hit an all-time popularity high around the world, thanks in part to televised poker tournaments, the boom of online casinos and the belief that any player can make it from rags to riches.
Take Chris Moneymaker, for example. The 27-year-old amateur poker player from Tennessee paid $40 to enter a Texas Hold 'Em qualifying tournament on the Internet. He won that tournament, earning him a seat at the World Series of Poker. The first-time live tournament player went on to win the 2003 World Series of Poker and $2.5 million.
Moneymaker's Cinderella story has solidified the belief that with enough work, anyone can become a poker champion, poker players said.
"A lot of people think this guy (Moneymaker) got lucky," said Steve Badger, a 1999 World Series of Poker winner and Web master of playwinningpoker.com. "The fact is, he is a tremendous player. He was able to go out and play at the absolute top level of the game."
Anybody can make money playing poker in a relatively short period of time, said Badger of Sherman Oaks, Calif.
"But one thing required is the desire to get better," said Badger, whose most successful game is Omaha Hi/Lo poker. "If I started from scratch today, played a few games and started reading and researching, I could become better and better. A person can eventually play at the top level.
The Cinderella stories are happening locally too. Doug Hutcheson of Council Bluffs, Iowa, who after playing poker for only two months, won the title in the no-limit Texas Hold 'Em event of the Northwest Iowa Poker Championships last month at WinnaVegas Casino in Sloan, Iowa. He outlasted 175 other players and walked away with $14,200.
Finishing second to Hutcheson was 29-year-old Chris Hartung of Laurel, Neb. Hartung, who had only been playing Texas Hold 'Em for six months and had never before played in a tournament, won $8,000.
Sioux Cityan Chris Parsley, 26, won the title in the pot-limit Texas Hold 'Em/Omaha tournament at the Northwest Iowa Poker Championships. His first-place finish netted $3,700. The next day, he finished ninth in the limit Texas Hold 'Em event and won $520. Not bad for a guy who became a professional poker player in September after being laid off from his job.
Parsley, who has been a "steady" poker player for eight years, said he likes tournaments because any player could be a future World Poker Tour player.
"It doesn't matter who you are," Parsley said. "Basically, poker is the all-American game because it is a great melting pot of everyone."
The melting pot has bubbled over in the last two years since the Travel Channel debuted its hit series, "World Poker Tour." The increased interest in poker became clearly evident at the 2004 World Series of Poker championshp event in May, where 2,576 players entered the tournament despite the $10,000 entry fee. That was three times as many players compared to 2003, making it the biggest brick-and-mortar poker tournament in poker history.
That isn't the only place player numbers are up. Online poker rooms and local casinos have seen an influx in poker players, especially for Texas Hold 'Em poker, the game featured on the World Poker Tour. Hold 'Em has become the most popular casino poker game, Badger said.
"(Hold 'Em) is very simple and very fast," he said. "It has the highest amount of short-term luck, but it also has a huge amount of long-term skill. You have to constantly be thinking and being on the edge of your seat."
Online poker sites like partypoker.com and pokerstars.com commonly attract 40,000 or more players at a time. People just getting their feet wet can play free games, then move to penny games and eventually dollar games.
"You can become an adequate player a lot faster now," Badger said. "If you spend a little time in free games, you can get a basic understanding of the game. As you move up, the learning curve is much faster. You're learning odds and gaining experience before you enter a casino. People like games that challenge them mentally. Poker does that."
At CasinOmaha in Onawa, Iowa, the first casino in western Iowa to introduce Texas Hold 'Em, the poker tables are full again. Carol White, poker room supervisor, said she sees more women and younger people playing poker.
"It's seems they've figured out that not everyone who played poker in a casino poker room is a professional," White said. "Here, it's more like kitchen table poker."
On a recent Friday afternoon, the seven women and men sitting around the seven-card stud table were chatting up the weather, a recent trip to Las Vegas and who's the bigger bluffer.
"It's a good pastime for me since I lost my husband," said veteran poker player Judy Hogancamp of Onawa.
Hogancamp, like the others around the table, agrees that poker has advantages over other casino games.
"Poker is a challenge really. It's something you can judge well," she said.
Poker players like the strategy they can use to play, something a casino player doesn't have control of at the slots.
"Something about poker, you don't play against the house. You're playing against other people," said Bob Ewing, who travels to Onawa from Omaha once every week or two to play poker. "Most of us like to win, but no one is a major loser either."
Terry and Betty Geith of Pisgah, Iowa, and their son, Brian, all sat around the poker table. Terry said he'd rather play poker than go to a movie.
"It's entertainment. It's fun as long as you don't go overboard and lose the house," he said.
No one is throwing down the deed to their homestead at these poker tables. White said she tries to keep the bet minimums low, allowing customers to play longer and more often. Even the tournaments, which in the past year and a half have grown to five per week, are relatively cheap. Most are $5 or $10 to get in with a choice to buy more chips if needed for another $5 or $10.
WinnaVegas has similar tournaments four times a week. With 30 to 40 players, the total prize pay-outs can easily reach $1,000 for each tournament. Both casinos attract poker players from a 100-mile radius and sometimes farther.
Julie Weeder may be reached at (712) 293-4228 or julieweeder@siouxcityjournal.com
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