Thursday, Aug. 25, 2005 | 8:16 a.m.
They have slick Web sites, written memoirs and how-to books. Theyve been profiled in biographies and featured on poker chips, T-shirts and magazine covers.
Through televised poker tournaments, theyve become household names. If we havent heard of Chris Moneymaker or Johnny Chan, then maybe we know Scotty Nguyen, Annie Duke or T.J. Cloutier.
Given all of this, three young entrepreneurs in Toronto noticed the one untapped element in the poker craze: bobble heads. They formed Pokerheads Inc. in 2003.
Since then, David Miller and Sam and Max Anshilevich have sold more than 10,000 of the bobbling poker stars from their first series, which includes Amir Vahedi, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson and David "Devil Fish" Ulliet, Humberto Brenes, Chan, Men "The Master" Nguyen, Scotty Nguyen and Cloutier.
The second series, released in July, features Antonio Esfandiari, Daniel Negreanu, David Williams, Doyle "Texas Dolly" Brunson, Erick Lindgren, Jennifer Harman, Phil "Unabomber" Laak and Phil Hellmuth.
"These guys are superstars," Miller said, explaining why he and the Anshilevich brothers chose bobble heads as their medium. "The players are idolized like sports figures.
"If you're a fan of Scotty Nguyen, you're going to buy a Scotty Nguyen bobble head without even thinking about it."
Moreover, if you're Scotty Nguyen, you're going to be on cloud nine.
"It's very special, baby," Nguyen, a Henderson resident, said via telephone about his bobble headed likeness. "After you win the World Series of Poker, (being a bobble head) is the greatest to that.
"My mom cried. She could not believe her son had a bobble head in America. I'm like the hero of Vietnam."
Nguyen's bobble head features the Vietnamese-born player wearing his trademark gold chains and dark round sunglasses and holding a pair of aces. It's one of the best sellers among the two released series, Miller said.
"We thought Johnny Chan would be the No. 1 seller, but (Nguyen) has outsold Johnny Chan by a lot."
Chan, a 1987 and 1988 World Series of Poker Champion, is a partner in the business. His bobble head is featured wearing the glasses and zip-up sports shirt that he wore in the movie "Rounders." His trademark orange is on the table next to a stack of chips.
Players receive royalties and are involved in the design process, even choosing the cards they're holding at the table, such as Brunson's winning cards, a 10 of spades and a two of spades.
The bobble heads are nearly six inches and each player is sitting at a poker table. Jennifer Harmon, a cash game specialist, sits with a pile of bills before her and Esfandiari, aka "The Magician," is doing tricks with his hands. Brunson is pushing in his chips. Mark Seif and Greg "Fossilman" Raymer were featured in special editions. Players Phil Gordon and John Phan have signed on, Miller said.
"We try to get the best players, at least the ones who are most charismatic, who are going to sell," Miller said. "Obviously, you can't make everyone (into a bobble head). There are so many other players. There are new stars every month."
But noticeably absent are Chris Moneymaker and Howard Lederer, who Miller said turned down the opportunity to be immortalized in the hand-painted polyresin material. Phil Ivey also hasn't signed on.
"He's a hard guy to get," Miller, who also owns an online sports jersey business, said. "With him, the focus is on poker. He doesn't get involved with the commercial side."
Miller isn't too concerned about finding poker stars for their bobble heads.
"There's always a thought of doing an international series and a legend series," Miller said. "There's so much you can do with it."
And, he said, "It just catches on. We've had men and women buy the whole series."
But not everyone wants to spend money on what Howard Schwartz, owner of Gamblers Book Shop in Las Vegas, calls a fad.
"It's a gimmick," Schwartz said. "They don't do anything, except bobble."
Schwartz said that he's sold only a couple in the past year because they're "overpriced." At nearly $30 (depending on which Web site you buy from) the made-in-China bobble heads are not painted very well.
But the old-school Schwartz sees it as all part of the poker craze.
"We've already got the hats, the T-shirts," Schwartz said. "We've got poker cigarette lighters, poker card holders and posters. The one thing they've missed out on of everything they've put out is that they've forgot to put out a book of how to run a card room."
But, Schwartz concedes, "This is a bobble head generation. I think if you wait long enough, they'll become collectibles."
archive
