Columnist Jeff Haney: On why World Poker Tour’s Lyle Berman thinks the card game may become as popular as pro golf on TV

Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2005 | 10 a.m.

Jeff Haney's sports betting column appears Monday, Friday (gaming) and Wednesday (poker). Reach him at (702) 259-4041 or haney@lasvegassun.com.

THE INSIDE STRAIGHT

Although his personal tastes run more toward game fishing and skeet shooting, Lyle Berman names another sport as the one poker is most likely to emulate as it evolves: pro golf.

Berman, the man who effectively controls the World Poker Tour as the organization's executive chairman, sees some similarities between the fairways and the green baize, the roughs and the bluffs.

As a televised competitive event, "poker is still in its infancy," Berman said recently at the Gambler's Book Shop near downtown Las Vegas.

"Interest in poker will level off at some point, but we're still a long way from the time when that happens," Berman said. "Even after it does level off, poker will continue to experience peaks and valleys in its popularity, the way golf does."

Golf enjoyed a boom a generation or two ago driven by Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, Berman pointed out, then had another surge in popularity when Tiger Woods emerged onto the scene. He expects high-level poker to behave much the same way.

"Poker as a spectator sport on television is here to stay," Berman said. "When you think about it, watching Tiger hit a drive isn't much different from watching how Chip Reese or Gus Hansen plays ace-king. You have a similar set of circumstances, but with different possible outcomes each time."

Berman's contention that big-league tournament poker is still thriving was supported by this week's figures from the World Poker Tour's latest stop, the fourth-annual Five Diamond World Poker Classic at the Bellagio.

This year's Five Diamond event, which began Monday and ends Friday, attracted 555 players with a prize pool of more than $8 million. The winner will receive more than $2 million.

By comparison, last year's Five Diamond drew 376 players with a prize pool of about $5.4 million.

"If the benchmark is the number of entrants in the tournaments, then clearly interest is still growing," Berman said.

The World Poker Tour, in its fourth season, features 17 tournaments at sites throughout the world plus three special invitational events -- up from 13 tournaments in its inaugural season.

Berman doesn't expect to increase the number of tournaments filmed for the Travel Channel (Cox cable channel 66) in future seasons, but said it is possible there could be more intensive coverage of the existing events.

The World Poker Tour is the highest-rated program on the Travel Channel, and competitive tournament poker could eventually become the cornerstone of an all-poker, or perhaps all-gambling, cable network, according to Berman.

"More people play poker than golf," Berman said. "Certainly there could be a poker channel if there's a golf channel."

Berman, 64, who achieved phenomenal success in the business world by expanding his family's leather business into a major national retailer and later helping found Grand Casinos Inc., has released a memoir called "I'm All In" (Cardoza Publishing, $24.95). While it's not a how-to poker book, Berman does recount some of his experiences playing in the highest-stakes cash games in the world against poker's top players.

"I think you'll find a little philosophy and some pearls of wisdom," Berman said.

The recent renovations at the Palace Station poker room, a favorite among locals, have generated a tremendous response from players, cardroom manager Frank Meoni said.

"They love the room," Meoni said. "We wanted to make sure we did it right."

The poker room expanded from nine to 10 tables and now has 11 plasma-screen televisions along with new decor.

Palace Station regularly spreads $2-4 and $4-8 Texas hold 'em, $3-6 Omaha high-low split and an occasional no-limit game. Among other amenities, it features complimentary self-serve coffee 24 hours a day.

Caesars Palace is scheduled to open its new poker room Dec. 21 with more than 60 tables divided into two areas, one for "live( cash games and the other exclusively for tournament play. The tournament area is expected to host regularly scheduled weekly tournaments as well as "sit-and-go( events with a wide range of buy-ins.

Jeff Haney can be reached at 259-4041 or at haney@lasvegassun.com.