Friday, April 4, 2003 | 8:34 a.m.
Robb Cullen, co-creator with his brother Mark of "Lucky," FX's new seriocomic series starring John Corbett as a compulsive poker player, knows his milieu. When a large chunk of money dropped in his lap (he saved a celebrity's life, but that's another story, and one that a confidentiality agreement ensures won't see the light of day), he decided to use his earnings to make an independent movie.
Trouble was, he needed more money. So Cullen, having grown up around Las Vegas (Wayne Newton is his godfather), made what he considered a sound investment: He went to a casino. "In 6 1/2 hours, I was up to $861,000," he recalls. "Did I stop? No. And 4 1/2 hours later, I was down the entire 861 grand."
In other words, about $1.5 million passed in and out of mainly out of Cullen's hands in a mere 11-hour period. "After you go through that not a lot else bothers you," he philosophizes today.
For decades roguish gamblers have been romanticized in literature and Hollywood. Three new entertainments bet high stakes that they can remake the image of the poker player.
Goodbye, Mr. Chips
In "Lucky," Corbett stars as Lucky Linkletter, a poker ace who wins a million-dollar tournament, only to blow through the money and tragically lose his wife in a year's time, consigning him to rub elbows with the losers and scam artists populating downtown Vegas, away from the Strip's glamour and glitz.
Novelist James McManus offers an entertaining look inside the World Series of Poker, played in a hardscrabble downtown casino in his nonfiction book, "Positively Fifth Street" (Farrar, Straus & Giroux; $26). McManus writes of entering the competition while covering a celebrated murder trial Ted Binion, the colorful (almost everyone in Vegas is "colorful" for lack of a better euphemism) host of the event, was luridly killed by his conniving young girlfriend and her opportunistic boyfriend.
Meanwhile Travel Channel endeavors to improve the sport's reputation with "World Poker Tour," in which the game's best -- and, often, most flamboyant -- players compete in a series of tournaments. (Wednesday night's episode, which took place at the Bicycle Club in Bell Gardens, will be repeated Thursday and Sunday.) Once consigned to insomniacs tuned into ESPN, "World Poker Tour" is a prime-time series hoping to appeal to serious poker fans and neophytes alike.
All this while Binion's World Series of Poker competes alongside "WPT's" championship at the luxurious Bellagio in Las Vegas beginning April 14. Both McManus and Robb Cullen plan to attend -- and maybe play -- at one or another of the events. With 50 million poker players in America -- McManus puts the number at between 60 million and 80 million -- the stakes only promise to get higher.
"While the game can be quite riveting to the people at the table, it can be tremendously boring to watch," notes McManus, who adds that "WPT's" innovations -- viewers can see what cards the combatants are holding, therefore understanding when players are bluffing big-time or stumbling into carefully set traps -- improve the TV experience. "No question, it will be much more viewer friendly now with this technology. We are entering a quantum leap forward. It's 100 times more exciting to watch."
Steven Lipscomb, founder and CEO of "World Poker Tour," has produced televised poker tournaments in the past. "I wouldn't have a great deal of interest watching it the way it's been done before," he admits. "Now it's being done right. In the past there were three or four cameras on the action -- now we have 16. There's nowhere on that table I can't show you. We put you in the player's seat when someone is making a million-dollar decision; you're sweating it with them. You know what they have and what other guys have, and they don't."
Another draw for the weekend poker player, Lipscomb adds, is that they can learn strategy from world-class players. "I watch every Super Bowl, but that doesn't make me a better football player," he says. "You watch a poker tournament, you're a little better next time you play."
Moreover, Cinderella stories abound. McManus relates his ebulliently tension-filled lucky streak in "Positively Fifth Street," and last month at a tournament in Commerce, Calif., which will air later on "WPT," a player from a $100 satellite table (a long shot to make it into the final rounds) made it to the final table alongside pros. "Average golfers can't play with the Tiger Woodses of the world, but in this sport, that's a possibility," Lipscomb exults.
Cards on the table
"WPT's" Sunday premiere drew a full house of viewers, doubling Travel Channel's usual audience (admittedly, not huge to begin with) but, more tellingly, expanding its audience as the two-hour program progressed.
No-limit Texas hold-'em is the game depicted in "WPT," "Positively Fifth Street" and "Lucky." No limit, because players can bet their entire pot in any given hand; otherwise, the game runs thusly: Each player is dealt two cards face down, while up to five cards (depending on how betting goes) are placed in the center of the table face-up. Whoever builds the best five-card hand from their cards and those on the table takes all.
McManus says poker lends itself to gripping depictions on the printed page. "Certain sports are more susceptible to literary treatment," he offers. "The NBA is so dynamic that it's hard to capture in print. Baseball is the great literary national sport; it's easier to write about because its pace is slow. And poker is even slower than baseball. As the game slows down, it's more susceptible to a literary treatment."
Lipscomb adds that it can also make for more visual excitement as viewers strive to divine cracks in players' poker faces. "You watch a guy trying not to show emotion, it's almost more interesting than showing emotion," he says. "But we have guys who throw themselves on the floor after a hand, too." That between $2 million and $4 million in chips can be represented on the final table of a tournament doesn't hurt the drama either.
Though "Lucky" includes jaunts to Gamblers Anonymous, McManus notes, "One of the ironies is that poker players do not think of themselves as gamblers. Of course, gambling is involved, but there's a distinct difference in poker -- you have control over the odds; you enter the pot with stakes you choose. With other games, the casino is guaranteed to win; not many people can make a living at blackjack -- once the casino catches you counting cards, they toss you out. It's an interesting distinction -- Gamblers Anonymous is teeming with nonpoker players."
In that way, "Lucky" and "World Poker Tour" are at odds with one another -- "WPT" seeks to give the sport a more respectable, upscale fan base, while "Lucky" revels in decadence and sleaze.
"That goes to the kind of characters we find interesting," Robb Cullen says. "In our research, we asked people at Gamblers Anonymous meetings, 'Why live in Vegas?' They'd say, 'If I can beat it here, I can beat it anywhere'; 'I can play cards in California or on the Internet.' They'd give any excuse."
"Which is perfect for our character -- this is where dreams come and stay too long," adds brother Mark. "We wanted to make our main character the protagonist and the antagonist at the same time. He's his own worst enemy."
"Those are the people we love," interjects Robb. "Everyone in Vegas thinks they're one bet from staying in the penthouse at Bellagio."
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