Columnist Jeff Haney: A long way since Puggy and the ‘Shoe

Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2005 | 7:16 a.m.

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

In the latest chapter of televised poker's remarkable success story, coverage of the main event of the 2005 World Series of Poker began Tuesday night on ESPN (Cox cable channel 30).

Hourlong episodes featuring the seven-day championship tournament are scheduled to air each Tuesday through Nov. 15.

Count on plenty of people forgoing the Lightning-Capitals game -- or even "Emeril Live" -- to tune in to the WSOP. According to an MSNBC report, poker is now the third most-watched sport on cable television, behind football and auto racing.

Curious about the origins of this unlikely phenomenon, I popped in a videotape of the first World Series of Poker that was filmed -- the 1973 event won by Puggy Pearson at Binion's Horseshoe.

The most glaring difference between the 1973 program and today's poker shows, of course, is the absence in the original show of a tiny camera that reveals the players' hole cards, making it easier for viewers to follow the action.

In other ways, though, it seems the players change, but the song remains the same ...

* Like today's poker shows, the '73 program begins with obligatory outdoor footage of the casino's glittering neon sign. It's a little jarring, however, to see traffic on Fremont Street in front of Binion's -- including a sweet gold Plymouth Duster.

* Then and now, announcers hype the number of WSOP entrants and the prize pool. In '73, narrator and producer Jimmy "the Greek" Snyder informs us that this is largest field ever: a staggering 13 players, with a winner-take-all prize of $130,000. (This year, there were 5,619 players, with a prize pool exceeding $52 million.)

* Several of today's top players fancy themselves "bad boys" of the game, relying on outrageous antics and verbal putdowns of their opponents. Back then, the trash talk was more Southern-fried. Pearson of Nashville, Tenn., is shown taunting Amarillo Slim Preston: "If it wasn't for Tennessee, there wouldn't be no Texas!"

* This was well before Chris Moneymaker, an accountant, famously won the 2003 WSOP, so amateur players were afforded little respect. After the lone amateur in the 1973 tournament was knocked out early, the Greek called it, perhaps a bit harshly, "a sort of reaffirmation of a man's station in life."

* There was no advertisement for Levitra printed on the table in '73, and thus no opportunity for cheap jokes about "raising it up." Nor were the players wearing hats and satin jackets promoting poker Web sites, as they do today.

However, Alka-Seltzer received some valuable exposure when Pearson was shown plop-plopping a couple of tablets into a glass of water, then guzzling it.

* A young player described as a rising poker star in '73 had no eyebrow piercings -- a look favored by today's hotshot prospects -- but rather a Doobie Brothers-style mustache.

* On the other hand, old-timer Johnny Moss' thick, black-framed eyeglasses would today be considered quite stylish, although it's doubtful Moss found his in the DKNY line.

* In today's telecasts, the odds of each player's hand winning the pot are calculated by computer and displayed in a graphic on the screen. Back then, players were just as obsessed with those odds, but lacking in modern technology.

In the '73 show, a long argument ensues about the proper odds for a side bet on a particular hand. Pearson offers 2-1, but Jack Binion steps in and makes 3-2 the official line. "Jackie Binion sets the odds," the Greek solemnly intones.

* While many of the players and spectators in '73 were smoking cigarettes or cigars, a comment from Jack Strauss foreshadows the health-consciousness of today's players. "I went to the vitamin store yesterday and got a big bunch of multiple vitamins," he says, in a bid to increase his stamina at the table.

* Likewise, the Greek seemed to anticipate today's great debate on whether poker is a sport. "Maybe poker isn't anything like a physical game," Snyder says, "but the wear and tear of the grind chips away at a man's nerve center."

* An entertaining segment of ESPN's poker coverage called "The Nuts" chronicles some of the offbeat action at the WSOP, such as a rock-paper-scissors contest. There were goofy side bets in '73 as well, including Crandall Addington offering the Greek 50-1 odds that he would not loosen his tie during the entire tournament. Snyder paid off the wager with a one-dollar bill that he autographed.

* Still another statement by Snyder reverberates today. "As a spectator sport, poker-watching doesn't rate with some of the great events of the century," the Greek says, as the camera pans an audience that looks as if it's in a collective stupor.

"But it has a fascination all its own."