Poker Takes on New Heights in Nevada Desert

Out in the desert south of Nevada yesterday, to celebrate the week the World Series of Poker's main event is to begin, InterPoker.com held its latest Extreme Poker tournament. Fittingly, it took place at Vegas Extreme Skydiving.

The first Extreme Poker tournament was held underwater. The second, on an ice shelf in Finland. This one took place 15,000 feet above the rocky desert, on a poker table that had to be cut down to fit in the belly of a SkiVan, an airplane that looks like a Winnebago with wings.

The rules were simple: Whenever a player got knocked out, the door on the back of the SkiVan would swing open, the player would be strapped to one of the skydiving professionals, and they would take the "loser's leap." The winner would receive an all-expenses paid trip to November's Caribbean Poker Classic. The prize package was worth $13,000.

It was supposed to work like how the other Extreme Poker challenges worked: Three pros would take on three amateurs who qualified online at InterPoker.com. Pros Phil Laak, Antonio Esfandiari and Scott Fischman were scheduled to don the silk suits and face online qualifiers Patrick Neary, Jamie Glasser and Nick Grudzien. Everyone was to meet at Jean airport at 6:30 a.m.

Esfandiari was the first player to bail without ever leaving Las Vegas. In an email to the P.R. rep. organizing the jump, he wrote that he wouldn't be able to make it because he had a cold. When Fischman showed up, his right wrist was hurting his so badly that he would end up watching the jumpers from the drop zone.

That left Laak, who looked like he got about three hours of sleep (a fact he later confirmed), to face the online qualifiers. A self-professed adrenaline junkie, Laak was the only player to have experienced a skydive, and he loves doing it.

"Even if I lose, I win," Laak said. "Because I get to jump. There's no bad beat here."

The other players felt the same way and said even if they won the tournament, they would jump anyway. To fill out the game, InterPoker.com had one of their own, Fraser Linkleter, also play.

After about 10 minutes of play, Neary was the first to go. The guys at Vegas Extreme Skydiving are so good, he hit the designated drop zone perfectly. As soon as he touched down, the cameraman and reporter from ESPN rushed over to him for an on-the-spot interview, which was nearly as unnerving as the jump, Neary said.

"It was definitely nerve-wracking," Neary said. "It makes you feel like a star."

Laak soon joined Neary on the ground, and he experienced the same star treatment. He wore a parachute specially made for the event that had InterPoker.com printed on the top of it and said he always loses in these "donk-fests."

Linkleter was the next to go, and then the plane made a landing to refill and take on new passengers interested in watching the heads-up battle between Glasser and Grudzien. Grudzien held a two-to-one chip lead when heads-up action began, but Glasser caught up in a hurry on the first hand when he went all in with pocket threes. Grudzien held overcards, but they didn't matter after a three hit the flop, which had to be slid under a Plexiglas sheet that kept the cards from blowing away.

Glasser's lead didn't last and he soon found himself all in short-stacked holding A9 against Grudzien's 69. Grudzien shouted for a six above the heavy buzz of the props, and he got one right on the flop. Grudzien, who qualified for the WSOP's main event through the online poker site, hammed it up for the cameras when the final card was dealt, while Glasser sat in his chair looking sick.

"It was the largest prize I didn't win," Glasser said, who claimed he thought about the bad beat as he floated to the Earth.

A few minutes later, a red carpet was rolled to the back of the plane for Grudzien. He was handed a trophy, and he stood there on the baking tarmac, holding a rack of chips, his two winning cards, and smiled as everyone took his picture.

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