One of the Crowd

I was watching a program on television recently in which they were discussing the many quotes that have been attributed to Yogi Berra. One that particularly interested me had to do with his reply when someone asked him about a restaurant where he and his buddies went to eat. He replied, "No one goes there anymore, it's too crowded."

When I heard that quote, it brought back thoughts of playing at The Bicycle Casino during the Legends of Poker tournament. It was so darn crowded. It seemed like all the tables were full, and people were standing around everywhere. I looked around at my table and realized that I knew only a couple of the players. I looked over the rest of the room and noticed many more players who were unfamiliar to me. It occurred to me that I was almost a stranger in my own house.

As was the case with Yogi, it seems everyone has found out how good the food is in the restaurant. Or, in this case, everyone has discovered all the joys of playing in a big poker tournament. I guess what I have just said is just another way of expressing what everybody is writing and talking about. The poker world has exploded!

One might ask where all of these new players came from, but truthfully, there is little speculation. They came from two main sources. The first one was the Internet. This avenue gave poker a whole new market of players who could get a real taste of the fun and excitement of playing poker. The second source was the televising of the World Poker Tour and the expanded coverage of the World Series of Poker.

Showing the holecards of the players has revolutionized television viewing of poker. Each of these sources, the Internet or televising events, would have expanded the poker market considerably, but together, they were like a runaway freight train.

I was fortunate enough to make the final six players at the World Poker Tour (WPT) event that was held at the Lucky Chances Casino tournament a few months ago. I knew it was going to be televised, but I had no idea that it would be so different from past poker broadcasts that I have been involved in.

A few days after the airing of this event, I went to a 50th wedding anniversary party back in my hometown of Kansas City. It was a large event with more than 200 in attendance, and I would guess that at least 50 to 60 people came up to me and said they had seen me on television. I was on for only the first 45 minutes of the broadcast, so lord knows how many people would have seen me if I had come in first or second and been on TV the entire two hours.

The fact that so many people had seen me surprised me. Naturally, I was flattered, but what really made me feel good was that most of these people are not poker players. A few play in house games, but the majority play no poker. Also very surprising was that almost every one of the people I talked to had a pretty good grasp of what was actually happening during the poker tournament.

How big the poker world will grow from here is anyone's guess. Our wish of so many years has finally come to pass: Poker is now mainstream. I hope all of this exposure will translate to many opportunities for all players, especially those who have done so much to pave the way for the explosion.

We poker players were continually asked to do things to further promote poker. The battle cry was, "Do it for the good of poker." I hope some of those who did do things for the good of poker will be remembered by those who end up profiting the most from its enormous growth.

I have to admit, though, that I guess in a way there is a little piece of me that is reacting like Yogi. It's great to have something or someplace you love discovered by a whole new group of people. We will be getting bigger fields and bigger paydays. The competition, at least for the time being, will be a little weak. But, as good as this will be for us, I am sure we will be losing some things.

Maybe we will lose a bit of the camaraderie we have known for so many years. Even our own families usually get too big. It's like a lot of things in life: You don't usually appreciate things until they are gone.

Plus, my dream and everyone else's dream to win the "Big One" will be much more difficult to realize. The way this poker explosion is mushrooming right now, it would not surprise me to see 1,200 people in the $10,000 main event at the World Series of Poker next year.

In fact, as my son-in-law pointed out to me recently, I have a better chance of becoming the governor of California than I do of winning the Big One at the World Series. He explained that I would have to beat only about 200 other people to win the governor's seat. He also reminded me that I would be saving some money on the buy-in (or entry fee), since it costs only $3,500 to enter the governor's race.

As I was pondering my choices for a political slogan, my wife informed me I was too late. The deadline for entering the governor's race had passed. So I, unlike Yogi, will go back to the crowded (but welcome) world of poker. And, who knows, maybe Gary Coleman will get lucky and become governor … and maybe I will be the next world champion.

For what it's worth …