Pursuits: Gambling

ANOTHER ATTEMPT to get poker off the ground and into commercial orbit is on the launch pad. "The Tournament of Champions" (TOC) is the name of the game. Its promoter is Mike Sexton, a professional player who is well known in Las Vegas and an all-round good guy.

Mike's idea is to organise a tournament at the New Orleans, an up-and- coming Las Vegas casino, on 26-28 July 1999. The feature of this event is that all the competitors would have qualified by winning a major tournament during the current year, in the US or on the European circuit. Past winners of any World Series tournament would gain automatic qualification.

The TOC itself would be a combination of games (limit hold 'em, seven card stud and Omaha eight-or-better) with a guaranteed minimum of $500,000 in prize money - plus a new car for all nine players at the final table (where the game would be no-limit hold 'em). The entrance fee at $1,500 a head is not high by top tournament standards. Most of the funding would come from sponsorship. Four official sponsors on line so far are: Bet- Ex, Executive Convention Consultants, the Financial Institute of Nevada, and Players Travel.

I hope the idea works. Poker players tend to be rather conservative in their playing habits, but they will always go where the money is. The success of the TOC depends on the co-operation of a lot of players and other card rooms. The essential ingredient, if poker is to be commercialised, is television coverage. TOC is working on a pay-per-view deal for the finals. Whereas a game like snooker speaks for itself, as do, say tennis, golf and even bowls, poker is difficult to show on the small screen. In chess it has been done by telescoping the play so as to speed up the action. Something similar is needed for poker, plus a way of showing the players' hole cards and giving their thoughts by voice-over.

"The TOC provides all players (both low-limit and high-limit) the opportunity to qualify," Mike says. "It will create a level of excitement and enthusiasm among players that the poker world has never seen before." (Might as well be optimistic.) He also says that players who qualify for the finals will be required to meet certain standards of conduct - including a dress code. "Our mission is not to restrict your individuality, your earnings or your freedom of expression. Our mission is to take poker to another level." Way to go, Mike baby!