Jeff Haney on getting on a poker reality show by playing hundreds of hours at the Palms

Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2007 | 7:10 a.m.

It's not often a poker room offers a "freeroll" tournament with a prize pool as large as $1 million.

Yet players can qualify for such an event at the Palms from now through June 30, according to Palms poker manager Michael Vento.

The "River King $1 Million Freeroll," to take place at the Palms on dates to be determined after the qualifying period concludes, will carry a top prize of $500,000, with payouts down to $5,000 for 10th place. Smaller cash prizes, dependent on the size of the field, will be awarded to players advancing past the tournament's preliminary round.

All the action, of course, will be documented for (all together now) a poker-oriented reality TV show.

The tournament structure and its qualifying guidelines look promising.

Because it's a freeroll, by definition, you don't have to put up any money to compete in the tournament.

You do have to play a lot of poker at the Palms - not an unpleasant prospect for many, and not just because the casino spreads no-limit games with $2 and $5 blinds in its "High Limit" room, making us $2-$5 players temporarily feel like high rollers.

Players must accumulate at least 300 hours of play in the six-month period that began Jan. 1 to qualify for the freeroll. Players who rack up 300 to 349 hours start the freeroll with $2,500 in tournament chips; 350 to 399 hours will get you $3,000 in tournament chips; 400 to 449, $3,500 in tournament chips; 450 to 499, $4,000 in tournament chips; and 500 or more hours, $5,000 in tournament chips.

The preliminary round of the freeroll will consist of one-table "shootouts," with the top two players from each table advancing. The semifinal round and the 10-player final table will consist of a traditional elimination tournament, with each player starting with $10,000 in tournament chips.

Up to 30 players from casinos outside Nevada can qualify for the semifinal round, according to the terms of the tournament, but there is no limit on the number of players who can qualify or advance from the Palms.

Blackjack seminar

As famed card counter David Irvine sees it, casinos worldwide rely on blackjack's reputation as a "beatable" game to rake in ample profits at the 21 tables.

There's nothing casino officials like better than a half-smart card counter - someone who's familiar with the term, perhaps a few of the basic tenets, but who's nowhere near proficient.

"You see it all the time," said Irvine, a former member of the notorious MIT blackjack team that won millions of dollars in the 1990s. "Someone will pick up a book, skim it and think he's ready for the tables. He doesn't stand a chance."

Irvine and his partner Mike Aponte, a former manager of the MIT team, hope to help aspiring blackjack wizards avert that sort of disaster with their Blackjack Institute group seminars.

Their first seminar of the year is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Feb. 24, at the Platinum hotel at 211 E. Flamingo Road, just east of the Strip. The cost is $899, which includes a full day of instruction, training exercises, tips from Irvine and Aponte, and a home practice kit containing cards, chips, a discard tray, a DVD and other supplies.

For would-be customers concerned about being publicly "outed" as card counters, wigs and fake beards are optional.

Fitzgeralds tournament

As part of NBA All-Star week, the Fitzgeralds poker room downtown will conduct the Legends of Basketball Charity Poker Tournament scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. Thursday.

The no-limit Texas hold 'em tournament, which carries a $500 buy in with $125 rebuys, is expected to feature NBA personalities such as Moses Malone, George Gervin, Jo Jo White, Connie Hawkins and Spencer Haywood, among others.

Sign-ups are available at the Fitzgeralds poker room on the casino's second floor.