Rival poker leagues raise the stakes, give players more options

January 23, 2006 - This Texas Hold 'Em craze is getting insane. We knew -- at last count, on an estimate from the World Poker Tour -- that 100 million people play poker worldwide, about half of those from the United States. With a huge boost from television, where the Travel Channel broadcasts WPT tournaments, and other Texas Hold 'Em events are showcased on ESPN, Bravo, Fox Sports Network, the trickle-down hit Brevard County last summer.

That's when a league called Final Table Tour began springing up in bars along the Space Coast. Less than 6 months old, FTT claims 70 venues and as many as 3,000 players in Brevard, Orange, Osceola, and Volusia counties.

But then -- look out -- three months ago, along comes a second league, Big Slick Tour, which boasts 1,000 competitors in 26 locations in Orange, Volusia and Indian River counties.

Their common goal: sending a league tournament winner to Reno, Nev., in March for a shot at becoming a poker millionaire. According to WPT information, its 17 televised, big-money playoffs have created at least 30 millionaires since March 2003, and its total prize packages have grown from an initial $10 million to $100 million this year.

Needless to say, tensions between rival owners -- FTT's Bob Danoff and Big Slick's Domenick Lacattiva -- have been acute, but both are unwilling to denigrate each other in print. In fact, Danoff will say nothing for the record, and defers to a prepared statement from his regional manager (brother Justin). It reads "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" and wishes "the best of luck" to Lacattiva, Lacattiva's mother-in-law, and a former FTT dealer who defected to Big Slick.

Lacattiva, for his part, claims he has severed his ties with the FTT defector "100 percent," and that his mother-in-law helped him deal when he first got started. But he prefers to accent the positive. With fewer players, for instance, the odds of winning the $5,000 reserved seat in Reno are stronger. He also likes to tout the framed certificate each nightly winner receives, the complementary "I Won Texas Holdem Tournament With Big Slick" T-shirt.

Lacattiva admits he started out playing in Danoff's league, but that he got the idea of starting his own Texas Hold 'Em operation from an enthusiastic cousin in New Jersey a year or so ago.

"Yes, this (Big Slick) may be flattery, but you know, it's a good thing and it's a smart thing to do, to give players more options," says Lacattiva, who quit a 28-year gig in an auto dealer service shop to gamble on poker. "And I'm not out to steal his accounts, but I will leave my card and say, hey, if you're interested, here we are."

Predictably, local pub owners have different spins on their choice of leagues. At Pinto's in Titusville, owner Cathy Miller started out with Big Slick on October, but severed her ties in December for FTT.

"I hate to bad-mouth anybody, because I believe in professionalism," Miller says. "I think this place is big enough to support two leagues. As far as Big Slick, the only thing I'll say is, what goes around comes around."

Lacattiva says the problem at Pinto's was a dealer who was reportedly rude to the customers, "but I don't know that for a fact." Either way, he says he got a new dealer, to no avail.

But no such concerns have emerged at Tapp's in Palm Bay, where co-owner Richard Hayes has seen his Tuesday night crowd improve by a good 35 percent. Hayes, who says FTT setup rates "aren't competitive" with Big Slick, says the numbers have been so good "we're thinking about adding another table" -- which would bring the total to four.

No doubt, the Space Coast is up to its eyeballs in Texas Hold 'Em poker, with games available every day of the week. But it's too early to tell if it'll last.

"Right now, it's extremely popular on TV. I even have customers who can't wait to get home and watch," says Burt Kennedy, owner of the Lamp Post Lounge in Cape Canaveral. "Maybe it's a flash in the pan. On the other hand, people thought Monday Night Football was a flash in the pan, and here we are 30 years later."

Kennedy hosts FTT league play, but so far, the Wednesday night crowd numbers -- about 26 players -- haven't knocked his socks off.

"That's because every one of my competitors is doing it. Whenever a good idea comes along, the ease of entry into the business will decide whether or not the competition explodes. In the bar business, you need a lot of capital and a big inventory of liquor. That's hard. With a poker league, all you need is a few good dealers, a few decks of cards. That's not as hard."

No matter which league you play, the ground rules remain the same. No entry fees are charged, and players place limitless wagers on chips that aren't redeemed for cash, but for a chance to participate in league finals.

Danoff's FTT drew roughly 500 players to the Cocoa Beach Holiday Inn earlier this month, which is sending its champion to the WPT tournament in Reno. His second season is already under way.

Lacattiva anticipates a strong showing at the Space Coast Convention Center in Cocoa in Feb. 26.

"Oh, we're definitely here to stay," Lacattiva says. "I don't see people losing interest in this game anytime soon."

For more information on Final Table Tour's venues and game times, visit www.finaltabletour.com/

Or you can check out Big Slick at www.bigslicktour.com

Contact Cox at 242-3774 or bcox@flatoday.net