Poker Turns Homes into Minicasinos

January 30, 2006 There are drinks and dinner, ballgames on television and the chance to win, or lose, hundreds, even thousands, of dollars in a night.

It's high-stakes poker, but it's not in a casino or on a cruise ship to nowhere.

As poker has turned into a national craze, more people are turning their living rooms into minicasinos. They are hosting poker games such as Texas Hold 'em and Omaha and requiring players to put up hundreds of dollars just to enter with the lure of unlimited winnings.

Underground poker is hot, lucrative and, yes, illegal, with pots that can reach thousands of dollars -- far exceeding the state's legal limit of $10. So far, however, the games have drawn little attention from police.

The games are nothing new, but now that poker has exploded in popularity, it's much easier to find a game any night of the week, with hosts trying to outdo one another to attract players.

"There's a million games in Orlando -- it's red-hot right now," said a card player named Eddie who used to help promote games in the Jacksonville area.

Eddie won't disclose his full name. That's because it's a hush-hush society. Invitations provide vague locations and first names only, though some hosts are getting bolder and advertising on the Internet.

Some think home games have become especially popular in this area, in part because the nearest casino or gambling ship is at least an hour away. The two pari-mutuel sites nearest Orlando -- a dog track and jai-alai fronton -- are not allowed to offer poker.

It's difficult to quantify the growing popularity of home-based poker. But the Florida Council on Compulsive Gambling says more people are calling its 1-888-ADMIT-IT hotline for help, and one in five calls is about poker.

Mainly a guy thing

Most callers are male.

The 2005 National Annenberg Risk Survey of Youth found a 20 percent increase in gambling among high-school and college-age males from the previous year. Because most are too young to play where gambling is allowed, researchers think much of the activity is taking place in homes.

"In work we're doing on college campuses, we're told constantly their games are primarily private games that are being held at somebody's apartment or house or whatever," said Pat Fowler, the gambling council's executive director.

Players range from college students to businessmen.

"One thing that's a lot of fun in playing in kind of underground games around town, there's people that are 60, 70 years old and kids as young as 18 or 19," said Bill, a 34-year-old consultant and occasional player who, like others, won't give his full name.

For some, it's just a good time: simply a group of friends getting together.

For others, the games are big business. Hosts take a cut -- often 4 percent to 5 percent -- of each pot, netting hundreds of dollars a night. The games often last from evening until dawn. The better organized hosts, such as the Kings of Poker, are known for miles around and might advertise on the Web.

"Most people host games to make money, and they make a lot of money if they run a big game," says one Seminole County man who stopped running a game several months ago because competition was too intense.

Invitations on e-mails or the Web boast of comfortable atmospheres, food and drinks, and "free rolls," meaning a tournament in which someone can play for free, winning money that the host puts up. Some hosts hire dealers and waitresses who get tips.

"We take care of all of our players to the fullest," a Web site for Kings of Poker says of its Orlando get-togethers.

No address or phone number is provided; just click on a button to submit questions.

Tough to police

Though hosting or playing these games is illegal in Florida and many other states, it can be difficult to detect. There have been some arrests, and in New York, several high-profile underground poker clubs were shut down.

But in Central Florida, law enforcement has not placed much priority on private games.

"It's not to say there's not a lot of people who probably do it in their homes," said Bill Lutz, director of the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation, which targets vice, narcotics and organized crime in Central Florida. "There's just not any complaints of it."

Critics of the games -- and even some who enjoy them -- say they can bring problems. Earlier this month, an off-duty Maitland police officer was arrested, accused of shooting two men after a dispute about a poker game.

Earlier this month, players in Manassas, Va., were robbed at gunpoint -- the second robbery within two months of a Texas Hold 'em home game in the state.

Poker insiders say many robberies likely go unreported.

"What are you going to do, call the cops?" asked one man who once ran a game.

Fowler, of the gambling council, said she expects to see problems increase.

"The pots are getting bigger. The numbers participating are getting larger," she said. "It makes for a somewhat volatile environment."