Millions At Stake In ‘friendly, Hometown' Poker Tourney

Millions At Stake In ‘friendly, Hometown' Poker Tourney By KAREN FLORIN Day Staff Writer, Casinos/Gambling - The Day Mashantucket The big names of poker are not expected at the New England Poker Classic, and that's OK with the staff and the players at Foxwoods Resort Casino. This is the otherpoker tournament, a regional event that has grown steadily since it started 10 years ago. Thousands of players will compete for millions of dollars between now and April 11, but the New England Poker Classic is not expected to draw a lot of players from Las Vegas and the West Coast. “This tournament is in conflict with one at the Bellagio,” said Kathy Raymond, Foxwoods' director of poker. “We don't care. It makes the field a little more manageable.” Foxwoods hosts celebrities and pros at its poker tables all the time. It was a founding member of the World Poker Tour, which has become a major television event. The World Poker Finals, taped last November at Foxwoods, airs April 13 and 16 on the Travel Channel. The legends of poker will return to Foxwoods later this year, but in the next few weeks the casino will cater to its regional poker audience. Foxwoods hosted a media charity tournament on Wednesday morning, donating $15,000 to the favorite charities of 10 newspaper, television and radio personalities from throughout New England. The real tournament players eked out hand after hand in the Sunset Ballroom. The prize pool for the final game is expected to be between $2 million and $3 million. The price to play in the “big game,” the No Limit Texas Hold 'Em tournament, is $5,000, but players can compete in satellite games, called “acts,” and win a seat for as little as $60. “We want it to be a friendly hometown tournament with a big prize pool,” said Raymond. Foxwoods was running tournaments before they became all the rage, and some of the poker regulars have earned tidy profits. Neal Gersony of Rocky Hill said he has won $200,000 over the past eight years. “It's been great for me,” Gersony said over the clink of poker chips as dealers dealt dozens of live games. “I spent from 1997 to the boom playing a lot of tournaments, and I got better.” The tournament drew an array of young and old players, many of them dressed in baseball hats and sunglasses, windbreakers or polo shirts. The field was mostly male, but that didn't keep Regina Brown of Cromwell from joining the game. Brown has played in every New England Poker Classic since it started and has watched the game grow in popularity. She works full time and plays mostly on weekends. She said she can afford the higher costs of buying into poker tournaments. “I've grown as a player and so has my bankroll,” she said. Foxwoods, she said, has grown with the times and become a leader in the poker world. “They'll try something and you'll see someone else try it,” Brown said. “New England was just starved for something like this.” Brown had already won a seat in the upcoming big game, but 80-year-old Peter J. Gialluca of Norwich was still trying. He plays once a week at Foxwoods and often watches poker on TV. “My wife wishes they never put it on there,” he said. Despite the continuing popularity of poker, Mohegan Sun President and Chief Executive Officer Mitchell Etess said the casino has no plans to reintroduce the game. The Mohegans closed their poker room two years ago and replaced its card tables with more slot machines, which executives said are more profitable. “Poker is very popular on television, but to our standpoint it isn't any more profitable than it was, and we have no regrets about our decision,” Etess said. The casino's non-poker table game business is continuing to grow, however. Etess said 12 new tables would open in the Hall of Lost Tribes by Memorial Day.