The recent popularity of poker has swept up millions of people nationwide, including many locals.
“Texas Hold ’Em is the hottest game on cable right now,” said Mike Loeh, sales manager for Susquehanna Communications, the primary cable-television provider in most of the region. “Poker’s so hot right now that ESPN is doing an original drama about the excitement around these poker games.”
ESPN, ESPN2, Fox Sports, the Travel Channel, Bravo, and the Game Show Network all scheduled poker-related programming during primetime hours this year, Loeh said. The finals of the World Series of Poker drew a 2.8 rating in primetime, he said.
“Some smaller networks may barely even get a 1.0 rating, let alone a 2.8,” he said. “That was incredible. They’re saying that the reruns for these poker shows are even hot, meaning people evidently are learning to play poker from these shows.”
Montoursville High School senior Tim DeMay is one of them. The television coverage stoked his interest in poker, he said. Now, he regularly plays a $5 buy-in game with friends at one of their homes.
“We usually get about 10 people every week or two weeks,” he said.
The television coverage rekindled fond memories for Corey Johns of Montgomery, who used to play poker for fun with his grandfather. He and his friends now play a $2 buy-in game about once a week, he said.
“When it started coming on TV, I started getting into it again,” he said.
Such games would be illegal if the game organizers claimed part of the profits, known as the “rake.” However, such games probably would not draw the attention of county District Attorney Michael Dinges.
“Obviously, law enforcement is not concerned about a couple of guys getting together,” Dinges said. Gambling in Pennsylvania is strictly regulated. Gov. Ed Rendell signed a law in July that legalized slot machines for use in 14 locations statewide, none in northcentral Pennsylvania. The state also conducts lottery games to raise money for programs for the elderly.
State law also provides for licensed nonprofit organizations to conduct certain small games of chance as fund-raisers in municipalities where voters have permitted the practice. Those games include Bingo, punch cards and 50-50 raffles, but not poker or its popular variant, Texas Hold ’Em.
Hope Hose Fire Co. of Lock Haven and a Lock Haven University student organization last month canceled plans for Texas Hold ’Em tournaments after Clinton County District Attorney Ted McKnight told them their planned fund-raisers would be illegal.
“There are no exceptions, exclusions or provisions to allow a Texas Hold ’Em poker tournament,” McKnight told the Lock Haven Express. “With regards to gambling, it requires three elements: consideration, an element of chance and a potential reward. Poker games fit all those elements.”
