Clubbing Seals - Star City's thriving poker community

CLUBBING SEALS
Star City's thriving poker community

Tiny is anything but. His bar stool is a fair distance back yet his large belly still engulfs the small bar table at the Star City TAB.Modestly dressed in a green polo shirt and khaki trousers, he is a gentle giant with thinning brown hair and a loose double chin. An affable public servant from rural NSW, You would never pick him as a ruthless poker fiend.

Eric on the other hand exudes mischief. A scruffy former finance trader in his late forties, he is decked out in full golfing gear, including the windbreaker to deal with the adverse conditions expected for later in the day. It won't be needed though as he no intention of heading to the course, his wife just regards golf as a less squanderous activity than cards.

Eric and Tiny are both seasoned gamblers that have been sucked into the world of poker by the games phenomenal rebirth. They also form part of a tight knit yet sizeable band of regulars at Star City's poker tables; a fairly new service from the house of sin, provided to meet the overwhelming demand for public poker in Sydney. Its Saturday morning and I've joined them for a coffee while they wait for the poker desk to find them an available seat.

"I had a look at Poker. It's actually a game of skill, in the long term the better player will prevail" says Tiny. Therein lies the games mass appeal.

Millions believe that they are the 'better player' and they are all enthusiastically engaging in the endless process of prevailing.

This process transcends both culture and age. Men of all creeds; aged anywhere between eighteen and eighty are happily clustered around the low padded tables in the far corner of the casino. "A lot of the players are multicultural, Asians, Europeans, Indians, Pakistanis, they all show up" says Tiny, Star City's informal ambassador of Poker.

"My eight year old nephews are playing 'hold 'em, bloody raising and re-raising me" says Scott, the slightly disturbed poker addict that runs the Sydney Australian Poker Association tournaments. He reckons they picked this all up watching World Poker Tour on Fox cable, but they could very well have picked it up from World Series Poker on ESPN or Late Night Poker on SBS.

They may have even picked it up from a 'Texas Hold 'Em starter kit', stocked by global toy retailer Toy's R Us.

We've now been joined by Joe. He's got a flat white in his hand, a pen between his teeth and a folded racing digest tucked under the sleeve of his trendy pinstriped jacket. His stool has swivelled towards the screen to observe the fortunes of the horses he has backed but he's still listening to the poker talk. He adds a salient point on poker demographics. Poker doesn't seem to transcend the gender barrier.

There is clear evidence of this; only one woman is seated at the half dozen or so tables. 'It's an ego thing, the competition of poker' he says. It's the hunter versus the hunted, a game that men apparently like to play more than women.

Joe's horse race is over. He turns towards the table to give me the full run down. There players and there are gamblers. Gamblers may occasionally beat the players but as Joe explains, "In the long run you'll end up with their money". Poor gamblers are referred to as 'fish that the player will slowly reel in. Then there are 'sheep' - 'that's a guy with heaps of money that can't play'.

'You always take your time shearing a sheep' says Tiny apologetically.

"Its more like clubbing seals" says Eric, less apologetically.

There are some patrons of the tables that are not so much seeking a manly contest as they are a stable tax free income. Tiny was told by a dealer that there are only a couple of players that have been able to earn a solid crust from playing at Star City. One of them is 'Arthur', a man in his '60's of Eastern European descent and a well known figure in poker circles. "He's lived his whole life in the casino" says Eric.

The table roundly confirms with each other that he's a surly old bastard and even worse; a 'tight' player.

"There are a lot more professionals in Melbourne" says Tiny. Crown casino is regarded by many as having one of the highest standards of poker in the world and attracts a number of American poker tourists. The Crown casino is after all the home of world poker champ Joe Hachem. The chiropractor from Preston who recently beat off 5,600 players to win the US$10 million World Series of Poker prize, is a regular fixture at the Crown tables.

Thirty-nine year old Hachem is made for life, but there are other young whizzes who are learning how to grind out a living at the poker tables.

"Some boys are paying their way through university" says Tiny singling out one particular talent, a computer engineering student at UNSW. "He's making good money; if he wanted he could forget about uni". But this boy is hedging his bets; he did not accompany his brother Tanner to the weekly APA tournament because he had an assignment due.

"The day he turned 18, we carted him off to Star City and he's never looked back" says Tanner who shows up at APA headquarters in Alexandria every Sunday to play. Much to his irk, Tanner's little brother brings home up to 800 dollars a week from the Star City tables while Tanner earns a similar amount slaving away as an accountant in North Sydney.

Tanner has faired well in his own right. In the three months since he began playing internet poker, he has turned a US$100 account into $1000.

Online poker is immense. Partypoker.com one of the larger online poker providers, launched with an astonishing market capitalization of USD9 billion: that's 60% of the value of American telecommunications giant AT&T.

Because Tiny lives two hours from the casino it's often more convenient for him to go online for his poker fix. Tanner works a day job and does not have the time or energy for marathon sessions at the casino. He is also more successful on the screen than at the table.

Tiny prefers to be at the table with a mortal cast before him. Poker is a contest that cuts to the core of human nature and assessing ones opponent through physical 'tells' is where much of the romance lies.

Besides, the casino is where his friends hang out. "You have a joke, it's a bit of a social, we meet up and go for breakfast'.