State authorities bust illicit poker operation
December 3, 2004
By Taft Wireback Staff Writer News & Record
GREENSBORO - State investigators cited two alleged ringleaders and more than a dozen other gambling suspects Thursday in a late-night raid at a secret poker parlor off Lawndale Drive that advertised its games on the Internet.
Agents from the state Division of Alcohol Law Enforcement descended on the nondescript office suite on Ashwood Court, near Country Park, just as the action was heating up at the parlors two seven-person tables - games that police say cost an entry fee of $1,000 per seat.
They cited two Greensboro men, Josh Augustine Andrews, 34, and Joseph Michael Ganim, 36, on a variety of misdemeanor charges that include gambling in a house of public entertainment, operating a game of chance and selling alcoholic beverages without a liquor permit.
Also cited with participating in an illegal game of chance were 14 players, each of whom allegedly paid the $1,000 fee for an evening of intense, "Texas Hold'em" poker, said Rodney Johnson, district ALE supervisor for the Greensboro area.
"I am amazed at the blatant nature of this operation," Johnson said.
One of the players cited Thursday evening told officers that he was a surgeon who was scheduled to perform surgery this morning.
ALE has been investigating the storefront poker parlor for several months, after a tip about its operations from "what you might call a jealous competitor," Johnson said.
Thursdays arrests come at a time when the popularity of such high-stakes, low-skill gambling matches has been boosted by several cable-TV channels that show "Texas Hold'em" matches.
Police in Huntersville charged two men in that community last week with running a gambling hall similar to the alleged poker parlor in Greensboro, also attracting customers through a Web site geared to Tar Heel poker aficionados.
Greensboro-area investigators initially made contact with Andrews and Ganim by logging on to that same Web site, http://www.carolinapoker.com/, Johnson said: "We e-mailed them and got a response with a telephone number. We called the number, and in the game we were."
Since then, undercover ALE agents have been gathering evidence by playing high-stakes poker in the business suite, located in the Lawndale North Business Park.
The Tar Heel site on the Web was shut down after last weeks busts in Huntersville. It now has a disclaimer that eschews any interest in illegal poker.
Poker is legal in North Carolina as long as money is not wagered. The ALE became involved in the Greensboro case initially because Andrews and Ganim were serving liquor to players, Johnson said.
Those arrested Thursday dont face serious jail time. As a practical matter, they probably will be penalized with a fine and court costs of several hundred dollars. Johnson said, "It's going to cost them a little money and a little embarrassment."
However, ALE agents confiscated their entry fees, all the poker chips and any additional cash the players had on them. It all would go to state government as part of the penalty for a subsequent guilty plea or verdict.
The games were not for the faint-hearted. To join the poker "club," players had to commit to show up regularly with hundreds of dollars to wager, police said.
The entry fee was $1,000 on periodic high-stakes nights such as Thursdays, with Andrews and Ganim taking a cut of about 15 percent off the top of each players cash and returning the other $850 in gambling chips, police said. The least any undercover ALE agent paid for a seat at lower-stakes games was $400.
The office park was mainly deserted Thursday evening, its parking lot nearly empty as a van full of about 10 ALE agents pulled into a space near the secret poker parlor. At a signal, the agents stormed into the suite after an unlucky player opened the door, apparently to take a break from the game.
On Thursday night, there were to be no winners at the poker tables on Ashwood Court. ALE agents took everybodys money, an amount they expected to total more than $14,000.
Poker face: How Hutter wins millions
December 2, 2004
By Vijith Assar
ReadTheHook.com
"You have to be a good liar," says Temp Hutter, without a shred of apology. He can surely claim to be a pretty good one, but this time it's clear he's telling the truth. He's talking about his modus operandi at the poker table.
"You have to be able to sit there and keep the same expression and the same mannerisms no matter if you have a monster hand or you're bluffing," he continues. "That's not necessarily easy, especially when you're playing for a million dollars. I think that's one of my assets."
Formidable poker face notwithstanding, there's one thought in particular that must be dominating his head these days-- something roughly akin to "Yippee!"
That's because-- thanks to his poker skills-- Hutter can now also count a cool million bucks among his assets. On November 17, he walked away from the World Poker Finals tournament at the Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut with second place standing and a check for $973,256.
Somehow, though, he still doesn't consider himself a pro, despite the fact that his recent wins qualify him for the Professional Poker Tour, where sponsors provide the prize money so players don't have to ante up $10,000 to play.
"I don't think my wife is going to let me do it," he says. "It'd be hard to quit my day job."
Hutter, whose day job is chief financial officer of the Charlottesville-based Pro-Tax chain of tax-prep and refund centers, doesn't always seem to know quite how to handle his newfound success. That might be because it sort of took him by surprise.
Prior to this year, he had no tournament experience whatsoever. Now Cardplayer.com ranks Hutter #16 in the world with two tournament victories and year-to-date winnings of $1,242,255.
While he declined the Hook's entreaties for a photograph, his shyness won't stop him from hitting the poker circuit with everything he's got.
"I've already got a plane ticket and a hotel room for the World Series [of Poker] this year," he says.
At the World Series-- slated for June and July at the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas-- the usual game is No-Limit Texas Hold 'Em. That's fine with Hutter: It's his favorite variant.
"I'm more practiced at it," he says. "With no limit, you can bet all your chips at any one time. That element of the game really changes everything up."
Of his recent haul, he says, "That whole day at Foxwoods, I never really got very good cards. I was having to play with my chips rather than my cards."
Yikes. If you had assumed that a terrible hand could keep this guy down, go fish.
Poker going legit
December 1, 2004
By Dennis Rogers
Staff Writer
Mike Matsinger likes to play poker with his son, Michael.
"We played 13 hands," Mike said. "And my son won 12 of them. He's played in four on-line tournaments and won two."
Poker whiz Michael is 4.
"Poker has come out of the basement," says daddy Mike.
Has it ever. A deceptively simple game called Texas Hold 'Em has become the next Big Thing. Two years ago, most Las Vegas casinos didn't even offer poker because there was no way to rig the game so the house always won. Now casinos take a cut of each pot, and poker is exploding across the country.
In Durham, a businessman has filed suit to get poker declared a game of skill rather than luck, which could make it legal to operate the state's first poker parlor. The Cherokee-owned casino in the mountains is looking to put in 24 poker tables next year. Poker is on television almost every night.
Pat Diamond, manager at Raleigh's Ri Ra Irish pub, is a busy man on the Monday night before Thanksgiving. It's time for the weekly Texas Hold 'Em tournament, and things are hectic on what was once the bar's slowest night of the week.
"We've got 80 people signed up for a 7 o'clock tournament and 70 for 10 o'clock," he says, scanning the makeshift poker tables crammed into every nook and cranny. "That's at least twice what we expected."
Technically, there's no gambling in the poker tournaments taking the Triangle by storm. Players neither bet nor win real money. They play with chips for points and prestige only, sort of like playing backyard marbles for funsies. That keeps it legal.
"It's the challenge," says player Steve Ransom, who last week was points leader in both the local and national standings. "I just like the competition."
Matsinger, owner of a software company, is making a business out of tournament poker. For a fee, local taverns can put on games as part of his "World Tavern Poker Tournament." Bars in Raleigh, Chapel Hill, Durham and Wilmington have signed on, as have clubs in New Jersey and Kentucky.
Tournament poker is a different world from the musty basements and cluttered garages where guys have long gathered for their tribal rituals. Two of three finalists at Ri Ra on Monday night were women, as was the eventual winner.
That's part of poker's allure. I could practice a jump shot for 10 years and never be good enough to compete against a high school point guard. But as long as I have a chip, a chair, a little skill and some luck, I've got a shot at winning. In 2003, a rank amateur beat the best professional poker players in the world and took home the $2.5 million championship at the World Series of Poker.
Who knows how long the poker fad will last. Twenty years ago, you couldn't walk into a North Raleigh bar without somebody shoving a backgammon board in your face. Then came Trivial Pursuit as a way to pack the house on slow nights. Now its poker. So this, too, shall pass.
Meanwhile, I wouldn't want to be the judge who has to decide whether poker in North Carolina is a game of luck or skill. Anyone who plays it already knows the true answer.
When you win, it's skill.
When you lose, it's luck.
Probet Launched
CyberSportsbook Launches Probet Play by Play Wagering Distribution Source : PRWeb
St. John"s, Antigua (PRWEB) November 24, 2004 -- Groundbreaking news was announced today in the world of online sports wagering, as Antiguan based CyberSportsBook.com announced plans to provide sports gambling enthusiasts with ProBet "live" play-by-play wagering!
Players will now be offered the opportunity to gamble on "every single play" during the course of an NFL or college football game. This proposition style "live" wagering product is certain to revolutionize the world of online gaming!
Sports wagering is a multi-billion dollar industry that offers the player a variety of wagering opportunities from straight wagers to totals, parlays, teasers and "proposition bets". To this day no Las Vegas Sports Book or Online Sports Wagering Company has ever offered wagering on a "live play by play" basis.
The wagering public craves action and results. The opportunity to "roll the dice" during every play of a football game is bound to peak the interest of traditional football bettors and attract a whole new customer base, who up until now have ignored sports wagering because the results took far to long to be decided.
How does it work?
During the course of a football game there are usually between 100-150 plays that will be executed by both teams. There are a variety of plays that the offensive team can run. These can range from running and passing plays to the always interesting special team plays such as: punts, field goals, punt returns, kick returns and of course turnovers which could result in the offensive team fumbling the ball or having a pass intercepted. Using your home computer or laptop for that matter, a player will be asked a question prior to the beginning of the play such as "will it be a completed pass or incomplete pass?
Beside each question will be the odds that indicate the amount that will be returned to you on each dollar wagered if you select the right answer. On a punting play where the offensive team is preparing to kick the ball, you may be asked if the kicker will kick the ball over 38 yards or under 38 yards? Select the right answer and you will win cash!
Renowned Sports Handicapper, Gordon So, has been wagering on football games for 27 years and he is ecstatic about this great opportunity. "I love to play over/under totals and sometimes by half time I have lost my bet. With ProBet I now have the chance to wager on plays the rest of the game and the opportunity to still win."
Sportswriter, George Stepaniuk, has written several articles on college and pro football betting and predicts that ProBet play-by-play is going to cultivate a completely new client base as the opportunity to watch and wager a $1(minimum bet) or $100 (maximum bet) on various plays throughout the game is going to be an instant hit at house parties. "I can see a group of guys and gals sitting around the television and everyone throwing a few bucks in the middle of the table and everyone gets a turn making a selection" Stepaniuk remarked.
With this new direction that CyberSportsBook.com is taking, just imagine how much more involved you can get in the game. You now have the opportunity to play the role of a virtual head coach and by predicting the right play, you will be financially rewarded. It"s just one click away. What do you have to lose? By wagering only $1 you would be surprised how far it can take someone. Everybody knows that in professional sports anything can happen and that"s what keeps us begging for more. Visit CyberSportsBook.com and try ProBet "live" Play-by-Play wagering as we promise you won"t be disappointed. Remember, the sky"s the limit!
Chance or skill? Suit asks Poker club owners put issue to courts
Nov 30, 2004 3:00 AM
By BENJAMIN NIOLET
DURHAM -- A Durham business, arguing that poker is about more than the luck of the draw, wants a judge to exempt the game from the state's anti-gambling law so the business can open a poker parlor.
Attorneys for The Joker Club have sued Durham District Attorney Jim Hardin, challenging his stance on the legality of a poker club where players would bet cash against one another. The house would take a cut from each pot.
Hardin told the company in a letter that the club would be illegal. The lawsuit, filed Nov. 15, asks a judge to rule that poker is not a game of chance. "North Carolina law makes betting on games of chance illegal," said Durham lawyer Marcus Hill, who is representing the company. "Poker is a game of skill." Hill declined to comment further on the case.
Hardin said state law is pretty clear. At least one court decision, he said, defines poker as a game of chance. "As far as I'm concerned, it's gambling under North Carolina law," Hardin said. "This is a commercial enterprise, and from all reports ... they would attempt to do this notoriously and out in the open and gain commercially from it."
The lawsuit says little about the owners of The Joker Club. Hill declined to say anything about them. The company's lease for its proposed poker parlor, which would be at 2306 Ferrell Road, is signed by Howard Fierman. Fierman could not be reached Monday. Casino gambling is legal on the Cherokee reservation in the southwest corner of the state. Video poker machines in North Carolina are limited to awarding coupons worth no more than $10. Statewide, playing or operating a game of chance where money, property or other things of value are wagered is a misdemeanor. Bingo and raffles for charity are excepted.
At least 13 other states, which do not necessarily allow casino gambling, allow poker parlors, according to a gaming industry trade publication.
Hardin has asked the state Attorney General's Office to represent him in the case. He said it is the first time he can remember that he has been sued over his interpretation of state law.
In the last few years, poker has seen a nationwide boom, with high-stakes tournaments regularly shown on television and a host of online poker sites where amateur card sharks can play for fun or for real cash. One such site, PokerStars.com, has 1 million registered users, said Dan Goldman, its vice president for marketing.
Harrah's Cherokee Casino and Hotel plans to open a new poker room with 24 tables early next year, according to the casino's Web site. Not that players need to log on or travel to a casino to play. It's no secret that people have standing poker games in their homes. It's just that those games are illegal, technically speaking.
"If a complaint were filed with, say, the Durham City Police Department or Durham Sheriff's Department and they went to a location and found folks playing cards for money, they would be subject to arrest under our law," Hardin said. "Now what's the probability of that happening?"
Poker's popularity has many reasons, Goldman said, but an important one is that anyone can beat the top players, if they know what they're doing. The lesson was illustrated when a Tennessee man named Chris Moneymaker, a nobody in the world of high-stakes poker, won a seat at the 2003 World Series of Poker through PokerStars.com. He won the tournament, and $2.5 million, using knowledge of the game he says he learned exclusively from home games or online play.
"There is no question but that poker is a game of skill," Goldman said. "The best evidence? People can't become professional players at a game that is entirely chance. For example, you don't have anybody who's a professional craps player."
Arnie Wexler, a nationally known compulsive gambling counselor, said the poker wave will soon lead to an upsurge in attendance at Gamblers Anonymous meetings. Many of the new attendees will be under 25 and will have a problem with poker, he said.
"If poker was a game of skill, then the best poker player would win every time and every year," he said. "It's not a game of skill. It's a game of chance. You sit there."
Lewiston native wins big as poker continues to rise in popularity
By Andrew Z. Galarneau
News Niagra Bureau11/27/2004
John McEvoy studied accounting in college, but later chose another career. Even so, all those hours studying math, statistics and money finally paid off a couple of weeks ago - at the Seneca Niagara Casino.
After investing $225 to enter the Seneca Poker Classic tournament, the Lewiston native walked away with just over $11,000 in winnings.
"I was honestly shocked," said McEvoy, 25, currently a games supervisor for a Las Vegas casino. "This was the first time I've ever felt I won without getting the best cards."
McEvoy is part of a new generation of poker players that has transformed the game's image from a rec-room pastime to a televised spectator sport in glitzy casino showrooms and followed by millions of fans. Novice players have flooded poker tournaments in person and online, chasing the dream of megadollar jackpots.
Poker's popularity has soared in the United States since ESPN began showing high-stakes poker tournaments in 2003. Now, shows like the World Series of Poker, the World Poker Tour and Celebrity Poker Showdown boast scores of faithful viewers. In September, the World Series of Poker finale was watched by 2.5 million households.
Even before the Seneca Niagara Casino opened its poker room in May, the game's popularity made it easier to find a table in Western New York. University at Buffalo students enjoy weekly games with top prizes of $3,000 or more. Bars and other establishments hold poker tournaments without police interference, according to players.
Poker also has become available on demand, 24 hours a day, via the Internet. Pokerpulse, a poker industry monitor, estimated that 1.3 million players played online last month, betting about $6 billion.
The brick-and-mortar casinos don't find poker that profitable, but it certainly pays off in marketing and brand recognition, said Joe Weinert, vice president of industry consultant Spectrum Gaming Group.
In October, for example, all of Atlantic City's casinos won about $389 million, but poker accounted for only $4.6 million.
Yet Harrah's Entertainment, "one of the biggest and smartest entertainment companies out there," said Weinert, "went and bought an entire casino in downtown Las Vegas almost solely to get rights to the World Series of Poker."
Television and the Internet have had a huge impact, but one of the single biggest factors may have been something that happened in 2003 that caused players to start thinking of poker not simply as entertainment, or gambling - but as a moneymaker.
That was his name, after all. Chris Moneymaker, a Tennessee accountant, had only played poker over the Internet before he won a seat at the World Series of Poker, in an online tournament that cost $39 to enter. He borrowed money for the plane ticket to Vegas, where he won $2.5 million.
Moneymaker became an icon overnight, said Weinert.
"He was Joe Average poker player, and then he went and won the World Series of Poker. So now you've got millions of other poker players saying, "If he did it, I can too.' "
Even though veteran players like McEvoy tend to feast on such fresh players, the Lewiston native was left shaking his head at the ease of his success in the recent Seneca Niagara tournament.
"I've never gotten away with so many bluffs in my life at a tournament," he said. "I just couldn't believe some of the hands they would fold."
There are bar tournaments in Western New York where most people seem to be drawn primarily by the television shows, McEvoy said.
"I've had much success playing in those kind of games, too, because nobody there really knows what they're doing. All they know is they've seen it on TV."
The stakes were higher at the Seneca Classic, but the level of expertise didn't necessarily follow, McEvoy said.
"The way I saw some people playing in that tournament in Niagara Falls . . . they really shouldn't have been there," he said.
The relentless television exposure, coupled with eternal Internet availability, has heightened poker's potential for harmful addiction, said Renee Wert, head of gambling treatment services at Jewish Family Services in Buffalo.
Poker isn't as addictive as slot machines or faster-paced games like blackjack, but it's especially alluring to the young and reformed gambling addicts, Wert said.
Because it's not entirely random, she said, some people think poker isn't gambling. Parents are less likely to object if their children spend hours playing with their friends.
But teenagers who gamble are twice as likely as adults to develop gambling problems, Wert said. When parents report "all my son wants to do is play poker," Wert said, she tells them to look for signs of problem gambling, like lying to gamble, and talk to them like they would about the dangers of alcohol.
McEvoy has considered becoming a professional poker player but he's seen up close what it takes to survive a Vegas poker table.
It's a different world.
"With the knowledge I have I think I can be competitive, but not regularly enough to make a living at it," he said.
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