Poker Needs A Superstar

My diagnosis of what ails professional poker as the WSOP opens today, from the Las Vegas Weekly:

The World Needs A Poker Star
Competitive-game fans want someone to admire
BY STEVE FRIESS

A few weeks ago, I was one of millions of Americans who got sucked into watching something on TV that I ordinarily would never, ever care about.

It was a Monday, I was overdue on more than one assignment—including that week’s Strip Sense entry—and I don’t usually watch sports on TV anyway. But the human drama of a hobbled Tiger Woods somehow managing one amazing comeback after another in the U.S. Open was so compelling that it even made watching privileged people using a crooked metal stick to hit a small white ball across a water-guzzlingly lush and exclusive private park worth my attention.

That said, had it not been for Tiger, such a close match with such great heroics surely wouldn’t have drawn my interest.

And that is the probably insurmountable problem that ails the World Series of Poker as its most prestigious event begins this weekend: There are no transcendent stars. What’s more, thanks to the very same factors that earlier this decade turned the WSOP into one of the fastest-growing professional competitive events— how’s that for avoiding the word “sport”?—of our time, there also never will be.

“You can’t buy your way onto an NBA court; you can’t buy your way onto an NFL field,” said Jeffrey Pollack, WSOP executive director. “You can, however, enter the World Series of Poker and potentially walk away as a world champion. We offer a brand of hope that’s more accessible than any other global sports brand.”

Well, that’s great, but where does that leave poker? Without mystique, that’s where. With nobody who has ever attained the same household-name status of a Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan or Andre Agassi. Ask any group of 55-year-old women emerging from a third viewing of Sex and the City, and they’ll all know who each is.

Ask the same people who Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey or Johnny Chan are; very few will know. Try Joe Hachem, Jamie Gold and Jerry Yang, the most recent three multimillionaire winners of the WSOP’s $10,000 buy-in No-Limit Texas Hold ’Em tournament—aka the Main Event—and expect the blankest of stares.

Being a victim of one’s own success is a cliché, but there is no better way to explain why TV ratings have been in decline for the WSOP. The meteoric rise in the fascination with poker in general and its richest tournament in particular boiled down to the notion, borne of the boom in Internet poker that turned every Midwest frat boy and bored Silicon Valley code geek into a rounder, that everyone is equal at the table. TV poker shows became so popular even my teenage niece watched, a sure indicator of fad status.

The allure was simple: Anyone can win. Even me.

And yet here’s the problem: Anyone can win. Even whatsisname.

Read the rest HERE

The Show is UP: The Win and Yang of Poker

Here we are with 2007 WSOP champ Jerry Yang (center) and his father and brother-in-law at the LV Rocks studio last week for a really great and rare in-studio conversation. Also, hear on the show what the Fontainbleau folks are saying about their mysterious plans for their Vegas showroom.

Here's the show 411. Click on the date to hear it or right-click to download the show and listen whenever you want. Or subscribe via iTunes here or via Zune here:

June 5: The Win and Yang of Poker

A year ago, Jerry Yang was a just a 39-year-old social worker from Temecula, California, with six kids, a hefty mortgage and a wife who worked nights to make ends meet. Today, he’s living proof of why the annual World Series of Poker is the one championship that anyone can win. Yang spent $225 to enter a local satellite tournament that led him to a seat at the 2007 Main Event where he walked away $8.25 million richer. Next month, he begins a defense of that crown but this week, he’s live in our studio to talk about the year that was, what he’s done with all that money and how he feels about the changes being made to this year’s W.S.O.P.

In Banter: CityCenter's brief strike, more details on Fontainebleau, a tour operator thinks straight men are neglected in Vegas and K-Fed is Father of the Year?!?

The Strip is LIVE tonight @ 7:05 p.m.

For the second week in a row, we've got a live interview, this time with an in-studio guest, the sitting World Series of Poker champion Jerry Yang. Yang spent $225 to enter a satellite tournament and ended up besting more than 6,300 players to win $8.25 million last July. (Here's my L.A. Times piece previewing this year's WSOP, which opened on Friday.)

Listen live and chat with us and fellow listeners from 7-8 pm at LVRocks.Com. Or wait until Thursday and the podcast will be up.

Next Week, on The Strip...

I just got confirmation that we will be having 2007 World Series of Poker champion Jerry Yang live in the LVRocks.Com studio this coming Tuesday for the show. We rarely hype guests much ahead of time but that's partly because usually the conversations are pre-recorded. But in this case, since it's live, I thought I'd get this up now so folks can plan to join the chat at LVRocks.Com and/or pass us your questions via email to TheStripPodcast [at] aol.com or in the comments section here. And no, he's not related to Jerry Yang, the CEO of Yahoo!

Check out my LA Times piece on the 2008 World Series of Poker, which kicks off on Friday.

No Poker Face Here - But There Should Be

I was a bit amazed to read this on the official World Series of Poker website today, summing up the end of the tournament that left Jerry Yang of Temecula, Calif., as the 2007 WSOP champ (emphasis mine):

"Well, that's all folks. The crowds have come and gone, the cards have fallen, an a Champion has been crowned. Jerry Yang will make a fantastic poker ambassador. His dominance of the final table was reminiscent of Jamie Gold's performance last year, however his victory speech was the polar opposite. Jerry is naturally humble guy, with a firm faith and a deep respect of his fellow man. He pledged to donate 10 percent of his winning to charity, and said that he wanted to give something back to the community. he was very appreciative, and thanked Jeffrey Pollack and his staff for all their hard work throughout the Series. He thanked his wife, who he said worked very hard, but 'does not have to work anymore,' and said he was going to ensure that his six children received the best education. After all the cameras and bright lights subsided, we caught a glimpse of a real guy, with a solid foundation who love his family -- a true Champion."

Now, imagine the NFL summing up the Super Bowl by writing, "These guys are great, not like the &$@@#s who won last year." Inappropriate, right?

Sure, Jamie Gold was a controversial champion and he offended some sensibilities by his behavior during and after the tournament. His admission of cheating to me in The New York Times and on "The Strip" podcast were embarrassing, no doubt. But ultimately, he hurt only himself by squandering his fame.

The snarky reflections on his place in poker lore -- and how he compares to his successors and predecessors -- are best left to bloggers, columnists and fans. For the WSOP organization itself to make such a snide remark is out of bounds.