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The Poker Allure

72-year-old poker legend Doyle Brunson can vividly recall a conversation he had in the past with another poker pro, when poker didn't yet enjoy the popularity it has today.

"We were sitting there at the first World Series and Benny Binion told me, 'This thing is really going to take off. Some day, we're going to have 100 people here,"' Brunson said.

It seems that Binion might have missed his estimate. This year's main event in the World Series of Poker saw a record 8,000-plus participants.

"Much more lucrative than I ever could have imagined," said Brunson. The main event has started Friday, and all of those who put in the $10,000 US entry fee are hoping to get a slice of the over eight figure purse.

The event has pitted amateurs against pros, mixing together the young and the old, Hollywood celebrities and the man off the street.

"If you'd told me 10 years ago that one of the biggest growing new TV genres of the future was going to be people playing cards, I'd have told you you were crazy," said Robert Thompson, professor of popular culture at Syracuse. "It seems incredibly boring. It goes against every instinct of how TV works."

It has however been the television that has propelled many people to take on the game, and many even quit their day jobs to take on poker full time.

"It's the inside information that people like to watch," said ESPN's Lon McEachern. "It's the documentary fashion. It's the human-interest stories."

Many believe that part of the allure is the chance to become an instant celebrity.

"If you win the main event, you're automatically a nationally known star," explained 21-year-old Ian Johns, who quit his job at his family's bowling alley in the state of Washington to take up professional poker. "It's crazy, really. Of course you're going to dream about it. You know the chances of it happening are very slim. But you never know."

"It's like a lottery now," Brunson said. "You still have to hit the lottery to win. A few of us have more tickets, but you still have to hit it. I don't think the main event will ever be won by a known player again."

 

September 15, 2006
Jeremy Evans

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