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Pulse monitors peel away at poker mystique |
LAS VEGAS - In poker, it's common to see pros
covering up to keep from revealing their
emotions and tipping their hands.
Phil "Unabomber" Laak hides his head in a
sweatshirt hood. Phil Hellmuth zips up a mock
turtleneck and plays with his hands in front of
his mouth, while wearing sunglasses and a black
cap.
Now, one of several TV programs attempting to
cash in on the poker craze is peeling away those
defenses with pulse monitors that players strap
to their chests before taping.
Fox Sports Net's "Poker Dome Challenge" offers
viewers further insight into the thinking of
poker players, first revealed in how-to
handbooks and then played out in real time with
the widespread use of hole-card cameras
beginning in 2003.
"These people are bare naked," said executive
producer John Faratzis, an Emmy winner who
turned down a job producing National Football
League games to run the 43-week series.
"The interesting thing for me is to see whether
that accelerated heart rate and that attention
shows on their face," he said. "You get to find
out: How astute a competitor are they? Can they
mask that? Or are they truly a calm individual?"
In taping for week two of the series, which
began Memorial Day weekend, amateur Andrew
Rogers displayed the most uncanny composure.
The 34-year-old poker league manager from
Montgomery, Minn., had a heart rate of 160 beats
per minute while sipping water during breaks —
no doubt thanks to the two pots of coffee and
six Red Bulls he said he drank before taping,
and a pack-a-day cigarette habit.
In one hand, Rogers looked down at an unsuited
jack-two, while his opponent,
World Series of Poker bracelet winner Perry
Friedman, held an unsuited three-two.
Despite constant betting by Friedman, Rogers
called every time, while his heart rate dropped
to about 140. He won the hand after two kings, a
queen, an eight and a six were turned over as
community cards — allowing him to win with just
a high card.
"I knew he was trying to buy it," Rogers said
afterward. "I knew he was betting small."
He eventually won the six-player round for
$25,000 and the right to move on toward the
series-ending $1 million prize.
"Poker Dome Challenge" is among several new
shows that target a growing poker-playing
audience, much of which gambles online.
The American Gaming Association says poker room
revenues in Nevada and New Jersey alone rose 37
percent in 2005 to $207.2 million from the year
earlier. But it also notes online gambling
revenue hit a staggering $11.9 billion last year
and is expected to double by 2010, despite being
illegal in the United States.
AGA President Frank Fahrenkopf Jr. credits the
Travel Channel, which began airing World Poker
Tour tournaments with pocket-card cameras in
2003, for reviving poker in casinos and then
sparking it on the Internet.
"I was flipping around looking for a ball game
the other night and there was some poker on at
least five channels," Fahrenkopf said. "As that
popularity started, I think some of the offshore
(Web site) operations saw something going on."
In April and May, NBC's six-week "National
Heads-Up Poker Championship," featuring 64 pros
and celebrities, averaged 4.2 million viewers.
CBS started "The Intercontinental" poker series
in June and will premiere the "Ultimate
Blackjack Tour" in September. A poker movie,
"Lucky You," starring
Eric Bana and Drew Barrymore is in the works.
And ESPN announced that it would add a
pay-per-view showing of the final table next
month to its annual coverage of the World Series
of Poker.
For Fox Sports Net, poker programming, which
includes "Poker Superstars" and "Learn from the
Pros," provides one of its top three rated shows
week to week, usually behind the "Best Damn
Sports Show Period" or "Pride Fighting
Championships."
The third installment of the "Poker Dome
Challenge" attracted 200,000 viewers, the most
in the network's 11 p.m. Sunday to 1 a.m. Monday
time slot for the quarter.
Reruns, because of their instructive nature, can
do just as well as the originals, he said.
"Poker is a very durable piece of programming,"
Greenberg said. "It plays well, it rates well
and it re-airs well. And for a programming
person, that's a bonanza." |
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