February 3rd, 2005

Giles Hewitt
AFP

In the past 24 hours, around $180-million was bet in online poker rooms worldwide, and Boyd Leys wants a slice of the action.

Five months ago, Leys packed in his $65 000 a year job with an internet publishing company and joined a growing number of poker enthusiasts emboldened by the boom in online gambling to take up the game fulltime.

In the first online tournament he tried, Leys (50) managed to get in the money, but with an average monthly "take" of just $300, he has few illusions about becoming an overnight poker millionaire.

"I just want to be able to make a living at it," he said. "Basically, I'm going to give it another three months, and if I can create sufficient income then I'll see where it goes."

Leys spends an average of six hours a day playing $50 and $100 buy-in games.

"Obviously I take breaks in between," he explained. "I don't just sit there and drool on the keyboard for six hours."

Television coverage has fuelled phenomenal growth in the poker industry in recent years, and nowhere more so than in the virtual gaming rooms that litter the internet.

In January 2003, around $11.1-million was wagered every day on major poker websites. Two years later, that daily average has grown to $180-million, according to PokerPulse.com, a Canadian company that tracks the industry.

And with as many as 1.8 million players active at any given time, poker sites are expected to pull in more than two billion dollars in gross revenue this year.

What's the attraction?

So what attracts people like Leys to give up comfortable jobs for the insecure world of internet poker?

"Well, for one thing you can work in your underwear," said Matthew Hilger, a poker writer who forsook a career in banking to become an online poker professional four years ago.

According to Hilger, a number of wannabe pros have an overly romantic view of what the job entails.

When the thrill is gone...

"The fun and thrill of playing online poker is not quite the same once you start playing 40 hours a week in front of your computer," Hilger said.

The dreams of online players are embodied by Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer, who stunned the traditional poker world by stepping from the obscurity of the internet ranks and walking off with the coveted World Poker Series titles in 2003 and 2004 respectively.

"After seeing those two win, everyone from the bellboy to the CEO suddenly wanted to play the game," said Bill Seymour (63) a 10-year veteran of the World Poker Tour, who now coaches online players at Pokercoaching.com.

Many just don't have a clue

"A lot of the people out there just haven't got a clue," said Seymour, who claims that four sessions with him would give any online player an advantage over 85 percent of his cyberspace rivals.

Logic suggests that highly skilled players like Seymour would make a mint fleecing amateurs on the internet, but the virtual environment robs them of a key weapon in their armoury — the ability to "read" flesh and blood opponents for signs that they may be bluffing or holding a sure-win hand.

"Playing bad players can actually be a liability for a pro," said Seymour. "They call when they shouldn't and bluff when they shouldn't and, worst of all, win when they shouldn't."

Luck a great leveller

And as Barry Shulman, editor of Card Player magazine points out, the element of luck is the great leveller in poker.

"A decent golfer will almost never beat a top professional, but a decent poker player can beat the world's best on any given day," said Shulman.

If the faceless nature of online play is viewed with suspicion by the pros, it is happily embraced by the likes of Leys, who can build up hundreds of hours of competitive poker experience without having to brave the intimidating atmosphere of a bricks and mortar casino.

"Because of the anonymity there's absolutely no fear other than losing your money and, perhaps, looking bad in front of people you've never seen," said Leys.

Passions still run high

But even in virtual poker rooms passions run high.

Most online sites offer players a chat facility, and although foul language is prohibited, sore losers find ways of getting their message across.

"They'll call you all kinds of names... there's a lot of stars and dots and dashes and f-blanks," Leys said.

Playing alone in front of a computer screen can also prompt behaviour that would result in immediate ejection from a real casino.

"You can curse and yell and scream and nobody will know," said Leys. "And that's one of the things you've got to guard against, because it can be very debilitating in terms of your play."