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Maryann Guberman has been a writer and editor with many gaming publications, including Sports Form, Card Player, Poker World, Player's Panorama and Systems and Methods. She also has written and edited numerous books on gambling.

Sep 04, 2004

Pros Only? What's Wrong With This Picture

We rarely think people have good sense unless they agree with us. -- Francois de La Rochefoucauld

There is so much happening in the poker world today that it's hard to stay on top of the news and even harder to ferret out facts, fiction, and feasibility.

Today, for example, we hear that the World Poker Tour and Travel Channel are working on a project which, while it might have potential, is not ready for prime time. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the cable TV network that has become a major player in the business partly because of the current poker craze, isn't ready to discuss the concept.

Basically, they are in the planning stages for a project that will present a tournament series for professionals only. Of course we have to assume that means professional poker players who meet their qualifications only but that's a moot point.

Here I thought the best thing about poker was its availability to everyone who has the money to play. It was a lot like Americanized karate, the sport open to any and all, male and female, amateur and pro, especially because many couldn't or didn't aspire to be boxers or wrestlers.

Amateurs were always welcomed to poker games, often with great anticipation because their inexperience usually meant fresh money for the regulars.

I suspect this pros-only idea didn't sprout from the journeymen players but from the minds of the people who want to jump on a good thing. TV works that way, you know. So I wonder how the powers that be will determine professional status. Will it require some kind of monetary dues? Will players have to qualify as they do in golf? Will someone have to have all his income derived from poker? Will it be anyone who says, "I'm a professional poker player."?

Will there be a hierarchy of professionalism with handicaps for those who haven't hit the status of millionaire. Will the guy who never won a tournament but cashes enough times to earn a living at the game be given extra chips to start

I'm sure if this deal goes through the questions asked here will be answered, and the producers will do as excellent a job as they've done with their current success. But when the WPT was first announced and I said I didn't think it would be good for poker, I think I might still be right at least in part. (The series has been good for poker tournaments and online poker rooms, yes, but that's not what pays the bills for a casino poker rooms or public cardrooms. Ring games, with the rake, make rooms successful. Tournaments might mean some good side games during an event but once the event ends, so do the side games.)

I know a number of professional players and I admire their skill but I won't like to see them exclude others from competitions in this attempt at a spin-off series.

What would I like to see? I'd like to see some kind of broadcast of ring games. Let everybody come to the table with their own money and play for an allotted time each week. Let them win and lose on their merits, quitting when they want; taking a profit if they like; cutting their losses if they have to. Show the world what the real professional poker arena is like, where a bad beat means the difference between steak and hamburger for dinner. Tape the game in the casino and watch how many of the pros leak their money out to the sports book or the craps table, and how many actually follow the rules according to the current version of Hoyle. Let the world see how the rake and the tokes can erode a bankroll.

Poker's a damn tough game when it's away from the cameras and tournaments. I say let's show the newcomers who don't make it to the final table of the big events what reality poker is really like.

Or not.

Do that and the next time we build a poker field of dreams they might not come.

The WPT has done a good job of cementing a place for poker in living rooms (with cable access) of America, and like the Westerns and cop shows, a good poker show will aways have a home on television. I hope we don't become oversaturated so quickly that the quality suffers. And I hope the game never discourages the novice, the amateur, the hopeful, the guys and gals who became the pros of today.