Article from the NY Times on Poker ~ General Info

Iago

May 1, 2005
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> SPENDING
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> Everything You Need for a Poker Party, Save a Winning Hand
>
> By COELI CARR
>
>
>
> ABOUT a year and a half ago, Jeff Cook, a Houston firefighter, poured a
> slab for a 12-by-16 structure in his backyard in Spring, Tex., a Houston
> suburb. The stand-alone room he built atop it has a phone line,
> air-conditioning, a cable television connection and a stereo system. Its
> outside light, when on, is an invitation to stop by.
>
> "If we do a big tournament, everybody brings chips," said Mr. Cook, who is
> married and has infant twin daughters. He was not referring to the potato,
> corn or nacho varieties, but to the plastic or clay-composite kind used
> for playing poker. Mr. Cook has built what he and neighbors affectionately
> call "the card shed," and although the table seats only seven, the room
> allows him impromptu "casino nights." "It's all here, basically," he said.
>
>
> Mr. Cook built his house of cards to last, and most specialists expect
> similar longevity for today's poker craze. Having already spawned many
> poker-related enterprises, the phenomenon shows no sign of abating -
> certainly not if Steven Lipscomb, founder and chief executive of WPT
> Enterprises, has anything to say about it.
>
> "Poker had been on television for years, but nobody watched it and nobody
> cared," said Mr. Lipscomb, who came up with the idea of letting viewers
> see what the face-down, or "hole," cards were, betting that this would
> provide a lot more small-screen poker drama. Convinced that he had a
> winning concept, he raised the requisite millions of dollars himself, and
> in 2003 the Travel Channel introduced the show, called "World Poker Tour,"
> featuring the popular game called Texas Hold 'Em. The program's debut,
> with hole cards visible to viewers, coincided with the growing popularity
> of online poker. The show now draws two million to five million viewers a
> week, both experienced players and neophytes.
>
> And Mr. Lipscomb, anticipating consumer demand for products bearing what
> he calls a "poker lifestyle brand," entered the world of licensing.
>
> His licensed products for the World Poker Tour - chips and tables, but
> also cards, games and apparel - are sold in stores and online. Folding
> tables sell at Wal-Mart for $100. At Sam's Club, tables cost $500 to $700;
> chip sets in wooden boxes sell for $100, and a silver tournament set with
> 300 chips and two decks of cards has a $60 price tag. The new
> "millionaire's set" sells for $400 on the company's Web site and at some
> retailers.
>
> Mr. Lipscomb's company had licensing revenue of $1.9 million in the last
> quarter. "We've seen tremendous growth, quarter to quarter," he said.
> "It's been very interesting to watch people's appetites become more
> sophisticated, such as a desire for weighted ceramic chips, like the ones
> used at casinos."
>
> His best-selling 2004 holiday product was Jakks Pacific TV Games World
> Poker Tour, a $25 plug-and-play video game, and he is also involved with
> the marketing for cellphone games through an agreement with the Mforma
> Group, a wireless company.
>
> "Our research shows that people want to play like the pros, with all the
> accessories," said Scott Kling, vice president for sales and marketing at
> the United States Playing Card Company, a World Poker Tour licensee. The
> company creates official cards, chips, poker sets and foldable poker-table
> tops. It also produces its own biggest-selling Bicycle brand, as well as
> the Bee, Aviator and Kem lines; Kem decks sold early this year at Harrod's
> in London for £48 for a two-pack, or about $44 a deck. Bicycle brand cards
> cost $2.25 to $4.99 a deck, and Target stores recently introduced
> powder-blue and powder-pink decks, geared to women.
>
> Not surprisingly, those who sell products and services that help poker
> lovers improve their game are also thriving.
>
> "I could pursue baseball for the rest of my life, but I'm never going to
> hit a home run against a major-league pitcher," said Joshua Malina, an
> executive producer of " Celebrity Poker Showdown," which started in 2003
> on Bravo and draws nearly a million viewers. But poker players who develop
> their skills, he said, might realistically compete with the game's
> legends.
>
> Jules Herbert, a buyer for Barnes & Noble, said poker book sales increased
> 84 percent from 2003 to 2004. "Our stores have gone from one or two
> shelves of poker and gambling titles to a full bay of poker-only titles in
> some stores," Mr. Herbert said.
>
> Among the favorites, whose prices range from about $20 to $35, are "Doyle
> Brunson's Super System" and books written by well-known pros. "Reading a
> book from them is probably the next best thing to playing a game of cards
> with them," Mr. Herbert said.
>
> Howard Lederer also believes in letting poker fans mingle with the pros.
> He has just finished being the host of "Howard Lederer's No-Limit Texas
> Hold 'Em Poker Fantasy Camp" in Las Vegas. For $3,500, which included
> hotel accommodations at the MGM Grand, two dinners and a show,
> participants received five hours' worth of seminars with top poker money
> winners, as well as the chance to participate in two casino tournaments.
> More than twice as many people signed up for this year's event as for his
> first event last year.
>
> Johnny Marinacci and his business partner, Mike Scelza, who recently
> served as consultants for the poker-themed film "Lucky You," starring
> Robert Duvall, have also seen requests for their expertise increase.
> "We're very in demand," said Mr. Marinacci, who has also consulted - and
> had a bit role - on "The Sopranos." The two men give private lessons for
> $100 an hour and have offered group instruction at forums as diverse as
> corporate meetings and bar mitzvahs.
>
> Subscriptions to Card Player magazine have also soared, to more than
> 30,000 today from 3,000 in 2001, said its chief executive, Jeff Shulman. A
> one-year subscription of 26 issues costs $40; the cover price of an issue
> is $4.95.
>
> While many people participate in poker as a social activity, experts say
> some players can develop a dangerous addiction to gambling.
>
> "The more it's part of the culture, the greater the number of people that
> get pulled into it," said Richard J. Frances, a clinical professor of
> psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine and editor of
> "Clinical Textbook of Addictive Disorders," whose latest edition (Guilford
> Press, 2005) has a new chapter on gambling. "For some, the stakes begin to
> get very high, and it becomes part of a whole lifestyle of betting." Part
> of the problem, he said, is that people see their own abilities mirrored
> in the big winners and think that they will have similar success. "The guy
> who's winning may be somebody with a 180 I.Q. who really is a
> superexpert," Dr. Frances said.
>
> For companies selling poker-related products, returns have been good - so
> far. Mehran Mikail, sales director for Global Sources USA, a
> year-and-a-half-old company in Roswell, Ga. Mr. Mikail and his business
> partner formed the company in late 2003 after they saw the category
> exploding on eBay and elsewhere. In 2004, he said, it racked up $2 million
> in revenue.
>
> But the proliferation of competing companies has had an effect.
>
> "Prices have dropped dramatically," said Mr. Mikail, who explained that a
> chip set that sold for about $120 in the 2003 holiday season sold for less
> than $50 a year later. He believes that prices will stabilize once weaker
> companies drop out, he said, and he expressed optimism for the category
> over the long term.
>
> "Anyone who starts playing poker never quits," he said. "People who played
> 20 and 30 years ago still play. It's a social event."