Poker's New Face

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Then, within the past 18 months, after the explosion in Internet gambling, which usually takes the form of poker or horse racing, and the cable TV debut of the World Poker Tour, the game took off again. "The games are classy affairs with megabucks at stake, and there are a lot of new people in the game," says World Poker Tour commentator Mike Sexton. "Poker is seen as a competition and a sport now, not as gambling per se." These days, the Golden Nugget, whose poker rooms shut down in 1989, is holding tournaments seven nights a week.

One Nugget regular is Steve Kaufman, 58, a college professor and former rabbi from Cincinnati, Ohio, who keeps a second home in Las Vegas, and placed third at 2000's World Series of Poker. Kaufman has wagered his chips in many places, including the big card clubs around Los Angeles, which offer fewer gaming options, but he prefers Sin City. "It's more serious and professional here. It's a careful, controlled game."

Even casinos that never featured poker are opening new rooms. Within a few months, the Hard Rock will debut a new enclosed room with 10 to 12 tables offering rock 'n' roll poker. "There'll be some rock memorabilia in the room, the cards will have a more neon look to them, you won't hear the blaring music that's on the main casino floor," Pestrichello says. "And purple felt on the tables--I wouldn't rule it out."

Affleck, who also plays poker in Los Angeles, feels Las Vegas has a special charm. "The appeal of casinos is that there's some glamour and some seediness," he says. "Both those things appeal to something fundamental in the American psyche." He favors the high-stakes games at the Bellagio, which he calls "the premier room, the biggest, most respected place to play: it's the Taj Mahal of poker." Pretty classy image there. The money is big in Las Vegas poker these days, and so are the egos. Of the winners, that is.