Parker: World Poker pro to share secrets of game with a lucky few
If poker players are indeed the newest rock stars, Howard Lederer must be Bruce Springsteen.
Passionate poker people tell me Lederer is Texas hold 'em's version of The Boss. And the poker pro is coming to Colorado to share secrets, take on local gamers and host a tournament.
Lederer, a two-time 2003 World Poker Tour winner, and poker pal Matt Savage, tournament director of the World Series of Poker seen on ESPN, will hold a weekend's worth of events Jan. 28-29.
The big ticket ($1,495) includes drinks, dinner and dessert in a private room at Del Frisco's with Lederer, Savage and local sports figures from 7 to 11 p.m. Jan. 28.
After dinner, Lederer and Savage will break out the cards and serve up a friendly game of poker along with tips from the pros.
The ticket also includes the Jan. 29 lineup, starting with a Texas hold 'em seminar led by Lederer and Savage (2 to 4 p.m.), followed by dinner (4 to 5:30 p.m.) and a seat in a charity poker game at the Wildlife Experience in Lone Tree.
A $350 ticket gets you into all of the Jan. 29 events, or you can pay $100 for the seminar alone. Prizes will be awarded to the top 20 finishers at the Saturday tournament.
Local lawyer Marc Schtul (organizing the event along with sportster Les Shapiro) said he hopes to get plenty of participation from women.
"In poker, gender doesn't matter," he said. "I know there are a lot of good women poker players out there."
Tickets and more info: www.colopok erseries.com.
SOMEONE'S IN THE KITCHEN: Based on last year's dining success (at least there were no known reports of food poisoning), James Morgese, president and general manager of Rocky Mountain PBS, will again cook lunch today for nearly 100 KRMA employees.
Senior management members will serve lunch and help clean up after the meal.
Sticking to his Italian roots, Morgese will make lasagna, salad and garlic bread.
"This was such a hit last year that we decided to do it again," he said.
"I really enjoy the family-like aspect of this event, and the staff says it's great fun to get together and mangia, mangia some Italian chow."
GOING TO THE CHAPEL: The irony wasn't lost on local lovely Karen Hullinger on Wednesday night when a dozen gal pals opted to throw her bachelorette party at Elway's Steakhouse.
Hullinger dated the Hall of Famer before she met and fell in love with Mike Long, COO of Arrow Electronics. On Saturday, Hullinger and Long will tie the knot at the Colorado Community Church.
The couple will be blending families (each have two kids) in their Glenmoor home.
"It's the best thing that's ever happened to me," Hullinger said about her impending nuptials.
The gal gaggle gathered in a private room in the Cherry Creek eatery for sipping, steak eating and girl gabbing.
THE SEEN: Super singer Chris Isaak taking a lunch break at Wolfgang Puck's on Wednesday after autographing his new Christmas album downstairs at Virgin Records.
Also at Puck's: former Rocky Mountain News dining critic and world traveler Thom Wise, sporting his signature red shoes, presiding at the front of the house through next week before he heads to parts west and south.
EAVESDROPPING on two women at the Breckenridge Brewery: "My husband is not going to be very happy tonight. We're having leftover TV dinners for dinner."
If you go
• What: The Inaugural Colorado Poker Series®Event
• When: Saturday, Jan. 29
• Where: The Great Hall at the Wildlife Experience, 10035 S. Peoria St., Lone Tree • Highlights: Two-time 2003 World Poker Tour winner Howard Lederer will teach the basics of playing No-Limit Hold 'Em and discuss how to spot an opponent's "tells." Participants also will learn how not to be dominated, when to fold and how to figure hand "outs."
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Frenzy for Official WPT Merchandise Reaches Mania Status
Every Christmas, there is one thing that everyone wants, and this year it is the World Poker Tour Merchandise that shoppers are going mad for.Internet search engine Lycos lists poker items as its No. 1 researched topic on its annual list of 'Top 10 Most-Researched Toys of 2004,' upending video games from 2003. In issuing the list, Lycos cited, 'The popularity of poker gifts has been fuelled by the global phenomenon of the World Poker Tour, which continues to average a 'millionaire a month' in its 16-tournament season.' Scott Kling, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for U.S. Playing Card Company which makes the merchandise said 'The minute the stores put it out, it's gone.' The 'Official World Poker Tour(TM)' (WPT) Poker Setin a handmade wood case with a suggested retail price of $199.99. It features 400 11.5-gram heavyweight, professional quality clay-filled poker chips (125 blue, 100 red and 75 black). The 11.5-gram chip, known as the 'true' poker player's chip, is similar to those used by the top casinos on the WPT tour. An exclusive WPT spade design and casino stripes are moulded into the chip using two colours. USPC WPT chips are easier to shuffle and manipulate than other poker chips in the market because they have specially designed rounded edges and a rough clay surface. Two colourful decks of casino quality WPT cards are included, along with Texas Hold 'Em instructions.In a Honolulu Advertiser article, Hawaii Costco store manager Robert Loomis said of the poker sets with heavy clay chips, 'If we could have the quantities, it would easily be our No. 1-selling non-food item in the store. No one expected them to be selling the way they are.' The frenzy shows that poker is fast becoming the most popular gamble you can make.
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Taking chances
Although gambling may seem like innocuous entertainment or even an escape, more women are finding themselves on the losing end when it spins out of control
By Amy Eagle
Special to the Tribune
Published December 15, 2004
Pam Carson wasn't sure why her boss at the credit union where she worked called her into his office one afternoon last year.
When she got there, though, "the auditor was there, the human resources guy was there, the assistant vice president was there," she said recently, recalling the events. "My boss looked at me and he said, 'What are you doing?' "
What she had been doing was using her position in the credit card department to raise her personal credit limit repeatedly so she could use cash advances to support her gambling habit.
Her boss and the others in the room called Carson's actions embezzlement. At the time, she was assistant vice president of operations for a West Virginia credit union. Her actions were the same as if she had walked into the vault and carried out $34,000, she said they told her.
She had spent the money on slot machines. "I would sit down at the machines in the evening time and I wouldn't leave until they turned them off on me automatically at 3 o'clock in the morning," she said.
Carson, 42, now is completing five months of house arrest, three years' court supervision and restitution payments to the credit union. She spent five months in federal prison for embezzlement.
Although Carson's case is an extreme example, gambling addiction is becoming more common among women, said Keith Whyte, executive director of the Washing-ton, D.C.-based National Council on Problem Gambling, which made women and problem gambling the focus of its annual conference this past June.
More than 11 million people in the U.S. are problem gamblers and nearly half are believed to be women, said Jon Grant, assistant professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown Medical School and Butler Hospital in Providence, R.I. And of those calling the Illinois Casino Gaming Commission's gambling help line last year, 51 percent were women.
Researchers used to believe that men were twice as likely as women to develop gambling addictions, Grant said, but new data indicate women are at equal risk.
"Unfortunately, we really don't have absolute numbers," Grant said, mainly because research into women and problem gambling is in the preliminary stages.
Most studies of gambling addiction, like most medical studies, have been done by men on men, Whyte noted.
But it is a fact that "there have been so many changes in women's participation in gambling," Whyte said. "Women now basically gamble as much as men ... which is an enormous change from even 20 years ago, when the proportion of male-to-female gamblers was roughly 80 to 20."
There are several reasons for this.
Although women have been gambling for centuries, only recently have they been allowed to do so openly, Ira Gilbert, a certified gambling counselor in Gurnee and former president of the Illinois Council on Problem Gambling, pointed out. "Women of my generation stayed home and played canasta," Gilbert, 71, said. "Now it's OK for women to go to the casino."
They can even make a living at it, like professional poker player Annie Duke, who won the 2004 World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions.
Women who prefer not to go to a casino can gamble over the Internet, and apparently they are. According to Sue Schneider, publisher of Interactive Gaming News, based in St. Charles, Mo., women make up 53 percent of online gamblers in the U.S.
"Certainly the expansion of gaming across the nation has increased the availability," Whyte said. "Another factor is clearly that women have more economic freedom and buying power."
As more women have exercised that freedom by gambling, there has been a correlating increase in women becoming addicted.
Late starters
In general, men start gambling at around 18 to 20 years old and can take up to six years to develop an addiction, Grant said.
Women often do not start gambling until after age 30, but they generally become addicted quicker--within six months to one year, he said. This phenomenon is not necessarily seen in postmenopausal women, leading researchers to believe that hormones could play a role. Studies have yet to reveal what, if any, that role may be.
The games women choose to play and their reasons for playing tend to differ from those of men, too.
Women generally like to gamble on non-strategic games, like slot machines or lotteries, as opposed to games like poker or sports betting, where a particular strategy is believed to influence the outcome, said Marc Potenza, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine, where he directs the Problem Gambling Clinic and the Women and Addictive Disorders Core of Women's Health Research. He is co-editor, with Grant, of the recently released book, "Pathological Gambling: A Clinical Guide to Treatment" (American Psychiatric Publishing).
"It may be that an element of competitive risk-taking is more appealing to men than it is to women. It could be biological, in terms of biological or sex-hormone differences. It could be due to socialization and environmental influences," he said.
Women also are widely seen by addiction experts to be "escape gamblers," gambling to escape from their problems, as opposed to "action gamblers," who are seeking thrills. "Action gamblers are there to get juiced up," said Whyte of NCPG. "[Escape gamblers] are using gambling to do the exact opposite. They tend to sort of go into a trance, or trancelike state, with a decreased awareness of time. Traditionally, that's been associated with ... games that are more socially isolating and are less adversarial."
Slot machines are popular with escape gamblers. Technological advances in gaming have made other games equally isolating. Video terminals enable people to play poker and bingo alone. Using the Internet, they can do so without even leaving their homes.
Diane Peters, 46, of Elgin, stopped gambling three years ago after realizing she had a problem. Peters' game of choice was craps, which she liked to play, she said, because "you could think and no one would bother you." She would spend up to eight hours a night at the Hollywood Casino in Aurora, using gambling to distract herself from her divorce and the responsibilities of running her own business and raising her children. She recalled the sense of euphoria she had while gambling. "There's no pain in the casino," she said.
Feminine gaming parlors
Some casino owners are capitalizing on women's gambling preferences by designing gambling outlets with features that appeal to women. In Carson's home state of West Virginia, gambling parlors sport feminine names--Mimi's, Paula's, Patty's, Sophia's. The parlors are nicely decorated, with curtains that conceal video lottery machines on which patrons can play slots or video poker in near-total solitude.
It was in one such parlor that Carson hit bottom. Free on bond while awaiting sentencing on her embezzlement conviction, she stopped into a gambling parlor on a whim. She had not gambled in 10 months, since her arrest. At the time, said Carson, "I'm thinking, I've got this under control. I can walk in there now and play like a normal human being. I ended up going through our whole savings account."
She is not even sure how much money she lost.
"All I know is, I wanted to play, and it was taking me away again from having to worry about everything."
Carson encourages anyone who feels she needs help to seek it out. "I'm just hoping and praying that if there's anyone, anyone out there that can see any of the signs [of addiction], that they can catch themselves and say, I need help."
Programs spot, stop trouble
Many casinos are working to detect and deter problem gamblers. Certified gambling counselor Ira Gilbert said participation in gambling addiction programs is a licensing requirement for Illinois casinos. The Illinois Gaming Board, which regulates riverboat gambling in the state, operates a voluntary self-exclusion program. Illinois casinos will not admit people who register themselves as problem gamblers under this program.
Trinidad-based Casino Fortune (www.casinofortune.com), the third-largest online casino, uses software designed to recognize known patterns of problem gambling, said senior vice president Dennis Rose. The program flags and shuts down the accounts of gamblers who play too fast, skip from game to game in a reckless manner, or play hours into the night.
Those whose accounts are flagged are contacted within 24 hours by a recovering gambling addict known as "Miss Hope," who has worked with Casino Fortune since 2002. If they wish, she refers them to a counselor or Gambler's Anonymous meeting in their area.
Amy Eagle
10 questions to check behavior
If you or someone you know answers Yes to any of these questions, consider seeking assistance from a professional.
1. You have often gambled longer than planned.
2. You have often gambled until your last dollar was gone.
3. Thoughts of gambling have caused you to lose sleep.
4. You have used your income or savings to gamble while letting bills go unpaid.
5. You have made repeated, unsuccessful attempts to stop gambling.
6. You have broken the law or considered breaking the law to finance your gambling.
7. You have borrowed money to finance gambling.
8. You have felt depressed or suicidal because of your gambling losses.
9. You have been remorseful after gambling.
10. You have gambled to get money to meet your financial obligations.
National Council on Problem Gambling
Where to get help
Gamblers Anonymous: G.A. is a 12-step program for problem gamblers. A meeting directory and information about gambling addiction are available on the organization's Web site (www.gamblersanonymous.org) or by calling 213-386-8789.
National Council on Problem Gambling: The NCPG Web site (www.ncpgambling.org) has information on problem and compulsive gambling, including a list of certified gambling counselors. The group also operates a 24-hour toll-free, confidential national help line at 800-522-4700.
Illinois Casino Gaming Association counseling help line: Counselors are available 24 hours a day at 800-GAMBLER.
Women Helping Women: Support for female gamblers in recovery (www.femalegamblers.org).
A.E.
E-mail ctc-woman@tribune.comCopyright © 2004, Chicago Tribune
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Game that's all about fellowship
Copyright © 2004 Republican-American
Chuck Petruccione looked like a character out of "Guys and Dolls," resplendent in black shirt and printed silk tie decorated with the faces of playing cards. He clutched a clipboard in one hand, and sported two silver bracelets on his right wrist. It wasn't easy, but he managed to maintain order over 60 poker players anxiously seated at round tables, all of them nervously handling $2,000 in play poker chips. This was the final night of the first season of the Connecticut Poker Tour, the oldest established permanent floating card game in the state. The 59 players that gathered Saturday night at the Polish American Club in Naugatuck represented the largest crowd for monthly gatherings of the tour. And the evening promised to be a bountiful night for at least one player. The tour's treasurer, Rocco Guerrera, elicited shouts of delight when he announced that nine players would receive a cash payout, with the overall champ taking home $788. The total jackpot approached $2,500.
In case you'd like to know how you can buy in when the 2005 tour gets under way in January, the sad news is you can't. This is a closed tour. It began four years ago, before the no limit Texas hold 'em craze took root on .Please turn to 5C, CARDS
cable TV. A bunch of friends gathered each month to play poker. They played any and all varieties of the game, and when they first sampled no limit hold 'em, it quickly became the game of choice. The tour didn't start as a tour. It was little more than a dozen guys who gathered to play once a month. Soon a few friends joined in, then a few family members, and then a couple of co-workers. If you don't fall into one of those categories with this crowd you ain't getting asked.
What began as a house party in a basement or garage has grown into rented halls in Naugatuck, Waterbury, Torrington, Farmington, Wolcott, Norwalk and Stratford. "We thought, 'Wouldn't it be cool if we did our own tour and modeled it on the World Tour of Poker?'" Petruccione recalls. Yes, way cool. The final night of the 2004 tour was handled in style, with a catered pasta dinner and a gold bracelet going to the winner. Petruccione wears both his silver bracelets at tour events, which signify his two wins this year. The buy-in is cheap, just 20 bucks. You can't lose any more than that, and you can hardly go to the movies and buy some popcorn for that price. Because Saturday night was the tour's grand finale, the buy-in was 40. That's what attracted a crowd. "This is the largest turnout we've ever had," said a delighted Petruccione, who explains that a poker night is perfectly legal under Connecticut law as long as the pot isn't raked for the house and all money is paid out to the players. This isn't a domain for males or even young men. About 20 percent of the competitors were ladies. The oldest player was the still sharp 90-year-old Dominic Capozzi. While husbands played, moms dandled tykes on their knee or caught up on their crocheting. Speaking of Capozzi, you couldn't miss bumping into one Saturday night. Al Capozzi, 36, from Carver, Mass., plays his poker to the sounds of soothing music. "When I listen to music I don't play as many hands. That's the key to this game," said the man who drove 2 1/2 hours to compete against this crowd, ultimately finishing second. Isn't there a game closer to home where you can win, or lose, some money? "This game has nothing to do with money," he explains. "It's about friendship, fellowship, and the love of hold 'em, not necessarily in that order. The buy-in is small, and that makes this a cheap night's entertainment." Along with a monthly family reunion. "There are a dozen people in this room with the last name of Capozzi," he adds, "and four or five others who are related." Play is nothing if not spirited, social and congenial. It took all of seven minutes for the first player to be eliminated. Moments later the tour president's mom, Kathy Petruccione, was "busted out. I went all in," she said with a shake of the head about losing with a pair of aces "in the hole. Someone else had a pair of sevens, and then another seven came up on the turn card. I was done." Turn card? Flop? River card? It was all very confusing to a novice. Everyone was looking for the "button" and "hitting the blind." They were a friendly lot, though. Whenever someone discovered that I knew nothing about poker, they insisted that I should play. Aren't they nice? Torrington's John Krayeski, who once finished 10th in a major senior competition at Foxwoods, calls the tour "a good night out," and an event that is "an even playing field for everyone. I can't play basketball or baseball against these guys any more," said the 58 year-old, "but in this game, it doesn't matter how old you are, or if you are a man of a woman." Each month, 20 percent of the field makes money, and everyone gets a hot meal. Now that's a night out that doesn't sound like a gamble to me. Joe Palladino is a Republican-American staff writer. He can be e-mailed at jpalladino@rep-am.com
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Snooker star wins poker's big pot
Snooker star Matthew Stevens has won $500,000 (£260,000) after swapping the green baize for the poker table. The Carmarthen potter who only started playing the card game 18 months ago won the UK's richest poker tournament.
Stevens beat tennis star Yevgeny Kafelnikov and darts champion Phil Taylor in the televised final of the 888.com Pacific Poker Open. The 27-year-old has flown out to New York on a holiday to spend some of his winnings due to the exchange rate. Before he left Stevens said: "This is absolutely unbelievable and I am in a complete daze. "It's a dream to win a poker tournament having only been playing for a short time.
"I was quietly confident going into the final but if at the start of the tournament you'd have told me I'd be winning it, I'd have thought you were barmy." The final, screened on Sunday night, was pre-recorded and Stevens has already set about spending some of the money. Stevens, who is ranked the sixth best snooker player in the world, became a father earlier this year. His agent Brendan Parker said due to the current exchange rate between the pound and the dollar Stevens was away this week in New York.
"It's somewhere he had always wanted to go so he is away on a week's holiday spending some of his winnings," he explained.To get to the final Stevens had to beat poker professionals and online qualifiers that made up a field of 108 hopefuls. World darts champion Taylor finished second and Kafelnikov, who has announced his retirement from tennis to concentrate on professional poker, came third. Taylor said: "I couldn't have been beaten by a better person than Matthew. This tournament has been one of the highlights of my life."
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