Poker group continues dealing cards, friendship

ATLANTIC CITY - If you entered the AT LARGE section of the poker room at the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort on Saturday afternoon, the first thing you probably noticed was the noise.

A Texas Hold'Em tournament was in progress, but you'd never guess the 199 players were playing for a $6,500 first prize. There was too much laughter, too much conversation, too much applause.

But then, the object of this game was to have fun as much as it was to win pots.

The Atlantic City Recreational Gambling Excursion is in its 10th year, and the number of participants keeps growing.

The group started online in the late 1980s, when the Internet was in its infancy and most of the people who used it were computer nerds and other brainy types, said organizer Steve Goldman of Livingston.

They used the "uunet," as it was then called, to discuss poker and tips for playing the game. The first face-to-face meeting was held in 1991 in Las Vegas. Nine people showed up.

But now, the erstwhile geeks find themselves at the cutting edge of one of the hottest trends to sweep the country.

This year, 209 people from 19 states and Canada registered for the weekend of poker, compared to 168 last year and 94 the year before that, Goldman said. An increasing number are women.

"You put it on television, and all of a sudden stuff starts to happen," Goldman said. "Television is a funny medium."

Nowadays, people can play poker almost anywhere, including on the Internet. The competition can be cutthroat, as prizes go into seven figures and champions become celebrities.

But AT LARGE members all said they converge on Atlantic City every year for one reason: To have fun.

"Everybody here is friendly," said James Smyth of Columbia, Md., who hung around the poker room even after he was eliminated from the contest. "Even when bad things happen, nobody's getting angry at each other."

Sabyl Cohen of Oakland, Calif., was still laughing when she was eliminated, an opponent's pair of aces and kings having beaten her aces and jacks.

"They're really friendly here," Cohen said. "And oh yeah, there's a lot of drinking," but usually after the games.

Cohen said she plays in card rooms at home, but finds the competition more serious on the East Coast.

"In California, they're a bit crazier. So the money's easier (to win) in California," she said. "A lot of them have more money than they need" and can afford to play recklessly.

The good thing about this tournament is that the top players are willing to share their expertise with those who are in it for fun, Charles Natkins of Sarasota, Fla., said.

"You get really good poker players who you can learn from," Natkins said. "This is the kind of group where someone can push you out of a tournament, and after it's over, you're at the same dinner table telling jokes."

John Harkness of Toronto described himself as "the only foreigner in AT LARGE." Mostly an online poker player, Harkness was last at the Atlantic City event seven years ago. He likes walking the Boardwalk between sessions at the tables, but prefers Las Vegas.

"There's not enough difference between the casinos here. They're all the same," Harkness said.

Still, the registration figures in Atlantic City are beginning to rival the annual national gathering in Las Vegas, Goldman said.

"Atlantic City has become as big as Vegas, just because of the population around here," Goldman said. "For Vegas, you've got to travel."

The crowd may have been large and rowdy, but the Taj Mahal was happy to have them, said poker floorperson Joseph E. Thomas, who served as the tournament host.

For one thing, casino revenues get a boost when AT LARGE is in town, Thomas said. Players join the regular cash games after they are eliminated from the tournaments, and their spouses and friends play in the main casino and eat in the restaurants.

And most of the players don't confine themselves to one property.

"Every time you bring them into the city, it's a plus," Thomas said. "Not just for the Taj Mahal, but for everyone."

By ELAINE ROSE

News Added: 07 March, 2005

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