Tao of Zow: Poker players gone wild

Tao of Zow: Poker players gone wild Craze quickly catching on thanks to TV exposure by Jeff Hoodzow Unless you have been living in a cave, without cable, and with your hands over your ears, poker has taken over the world. Honest to God, Poker could have won the Iraqi elections if it made the ballot in time. The fine folks at ESPN, who have brought us 24-hour sports coverage and Barry Melrose, jump-started the craze with their coverage of the World Series of Poker. The cameras moved the game from the backroom to under the spotlight. Texas Hold'em has become the new black. Now, any TV station with a strong enough signal wants to throw its hat into the ring. The Travel Channel and Bravo, which air weekly shows, have never seen their ratings higher. Daniel Negreanu and Howard Lederer have become household names. Brash stars like Phil Hellmuth Jr. are easy to hate. Online poker has turned anyone with a major credit card and the Internet into the next World Series of Poker champion. Riding the wave, I entered a tournament over the weekend with some friends and coworkers. I lost nearly half of my stack on the first hand when my pair of aces was cracked by a set of kings. If you didn't understand that last sentence, maybe you should be watching a little less "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" and more "Celebrity Poker Show-down." For nearly half an hour, I patiently sat around, folding faster than a Gap employee after one too many espressos. Poker tournaments are a great place to people-watch, observing players with their gas station sunglasses trying to look like real pros. My day was put to an end when I was down to my last $300 of play money and went all-in with ace-queen -- a pretty strong hand. The guy to my left called the bet, and threw down A-6, making me a 70-30 favorite. Like any poker player, I could tell you a war story about how the guy I was playing caught two runners to make his straight. I finished my Coors Light and went home to take a nap. The start of my poker career was over before it even started. I wonder what Barry Melrose is up to?