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www. dailygamecock. com Now five days a week. Qe/Vhdl f)wh4 AN HISTORIC RESIDENCE 1 Efficiency One Bedroom Two Bedroom $525 $585 $620 Rent includes all utilities and cable TV. All rates quoted are month to month. (Leases available, prices subject to change) Located across from the University Of South Carolina Horseshoe and the State Capital, Cornell Arms offers the premier location for downtown living. (803) 799-1442 1230 PENDLETON STREET COLUMBIA, SC 29201 TV goes all-in with poker shows BY CHRIS NEELY KIITCAMITS In her 25 years of selling poker supplies, Odessa Woodert has nev er been busier. Two or three sales of chips, cards and other basics used to be a pretty good week, she said. Now, that’s an average Saturday. “We’ve always had a good clien tele but not like we have now,” said Woodert, a saleswoman for Fort Worth Billiards. “It used to be middle-aged men, but now we’re getting college kids, we’re getting women. It’s tripled since last August.” With six television shows and scores of online chat rooms and supply shops devoted to the game, poker is in the chips in a big way these days. Some fear the interest may lead to more people with gam bling problems. But industry an alysts say the game once associat ed with shady hucksters and smoke-filled backrooms has gone mainstream as the number of players, especially young players, grows every day. “The old figure from five years ago was that 50 million people played recreationally or profes sionally,” said Trey Aldridge, gen eral manager of Card Player Magazine. “We figure that number is well over 100 million now and in creasing rapidly. We keep getting a huge influx of young people.” Meetup.com, a Web site that brings together people with simi lar interests, has more poker-play ing members from Texas than from any other state. According to site officials, Austin, Houston, Dallas and Fort Worth rank among the site’s top 20 cities na tionwide for poker memberships, and the number grows every day. As of Thursday, Fort Worth ranked 19th with 90 members. Aldridge attributes poker’s re naissance to televised versions of the game, such as the Travel Channel’s World Poker Tour, which made its debut last year. Expert commentary and tiny cam eras that show the players’ cards contribute to the shows’ populari ty. That, in turn, has driven a resurgence in neighborhood poker games, Aldridge said. “It brought it from something that’s not very interesting to watch to something that’s fasci nating — watching how the pros play and how they bluff,” he said. Other such programs include Bravo’s Celebrity Poker Showdown, ESPN’s US Poker Championships, ESPN2’s World Series of Poker, and Fox Sports’ Late Night Poker and Showdown at the Sands. Ian Voom, a 21-year-old senior business student at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, said such programs have brought more players to the table for his regular Sunday games. “That’s made it more popular, but I started playing before it got popular on TV,” he said. Voom, originally from Flower Mound, Texas, said that unlike those on television shows, where pots can grow to thousands of dol lars, his game is strictly small stakes. “Usually, each person puts in like 10 bucks at the beginning, and we play for pretty small chip de nominations,” he said. “You’re not going to get rich playing, but you’re not going to go broke, ei ther. It’s just a good way to hang out with my friends.” High stakes or low stakes, pri vate poker games are legal under state law as long as no one is taking a flat percentage of the pot, Keller Police Chief Mark Hafner said. “Among friends in a home, there’s not a threshold that would make it illegal gambling,” he said. It may not be illegal, but offi cials at the Texas Council on Problem and Compulsive Gambling fear poker’s newfound popularity may lead to addiction. Sue Cox, the council’s former director, said that because the group no longer receives state funding, it is staffed by a skeleton crew of volunteers who may not be prepared to handle an influx of poker-related calls. “It is a concern,” she said. “It’s clear just in conversations with people that they are watching TV poker, and that’s translating into a desire to participate themselves. PHOTO COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS Poker, a game once associated with shady hucksters and smoke-filled backrooms, has gone mainstream via television. KOGER CENTER, Golumiua’i home the pen^Mminq a/iii pneienU: temui/ ^Aolr On sale now at Carolina Coliseum box office and all Capitol Tickets outlets. Call 251 -2222 to charge by phone or order online at: www.capltoltlckets.com Special student rate of $5.00 for best available seat 30 minutes before the show starts. 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