Hold ''em poker gaining popularity in Cenla

No longer relegated to smoky saloons or seedy back rooms, poker - Texas Hold'em in particular - is being warmly embraced by the card-crazy public, including residents in Cenla.

The game has been getting immense exposure through numerous books, countless Internet Web sites and television shows including the Travel Channel's "World Poker Tour" or Bravo's "Celebrity Poker Showdown" which features notable celebs including rocker Dave Navarro, NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon and illusionist Penn Jillette.

And closer to home, poker-playing groups have been meeting in casinos, households and other gathering places throughout Cenla.

At Paragon Casino and Resort in Marksville, vice-president of gaming, Louie Diehl, said that blackjack is the casino's most popular game and that Texas Hold'em ranks fifth in terms of popularity among guests.

In the past year, Diehl said, he has noticed "a 30 percent increase in the number of guests who visited Paragon's Poker Room."

In fact, the casino, he said, will be expanding the poker area for the addition of more table space.

advertisement
Party Poker
The biggest online poker room with thousands of players.
Choose one of the following games:
Texas Holdem Poker, Omaha Poker, Omaha Hi,
Seven Card Stud, Stud 8 or Better.
Receive a 20% bonus of your first deposit up to a $100!!!
Party Poker

When asked if Texas Hold'em is an easy game to learn, Diehl replied, "It is very easy to learn, which is why it is so popular with our guests and the television viewing audience alike."

Poker games can pop up anywhere. A recent game at PJ's Coffee and Tea featured six young enthusiasts, including Will Farley, a young player who watches a lot of poker on television.

"I see poker as luck and common sense," said Morgan Vidrine, who said he got his card-playing skills from playing with his father.

Ryan Fiorenza agreed with Vidrine to a certain point.

"You have to be a good liar," Fiorenza said. "You have to be able to read people. Besides that, it's all luck. That's what makes it fun."

Ben Rosier of Pineville is one such poker nut.

For months, Rosier, who will be attending Northwestern State University this fall, has been getting together with friends and playing $5 games.

"There have been times when I started playing at 8 at night and didn't finish until 7:30 the next morning," Rosier said. "I saw the sun come up."

Recently Rosier hosted a Texas Hold'em poker game in his parents house in Pineville.

And a sizable group showed up to play, including Jeff Kosco, Ryan O'Neal, Bart Wilson, Shane Jeansonne, Chase Andries, Chris Bourgoyne and Cody Collins.

Except for 22-year old Jeansonne, the participants are mostly in their late teens. All of them love the thrill of the game, the chance of winning the pot and male camaraderie.

Most noted that it was the poker tournaments on ESPN and other cable channels that caught their attention. Most agreed that it became addictive.

Rosier said that while you could spend upwards of nearly $40 on a date, with Texas Hold'em, you can drop in your $5 and have some gambling fun with your buddies.

"It's cheap and it's a good way to hang out with your friends," Rosier said.

Texas Hold'em, (an off-shoot of traditional poker) in simple terms plays like this: Each player receives two cards face-down; followed by a round of betting; then three common cards are turned face-up; more betting is followed by two more common cards with betting rounds after the turn of each. The players then make his or her best five-card poker hand amongst their own two cards and the five common cards.

To increase the stakes, players can risk all their chips with the turn of every card; a move dubbed "all-in."

Collins said that when the 1998 gambling film "Rounders" came out, he started playing poker. It didn't quite catch on at that time so when the latest craze came about, he jumped on board, playing games at LSU.

"It's not that it's addictive," Collins said. "It's just that there's not a whole lot else to do." He noted that while at school at LSU, the games get to be "very large" and will have upwards of 18 people participating.

"They're not too hard to win," said the veteran player.

Several other players, including Kosco - who would go on to win two early games this night - echoed this sentiment.

"It's addictive," Kosco said. "I can't put my finger on it. There's not much to do around here, I guess. We don't win squat. It's not about the money."

There was a real sense of fun and friendship among the group. Livening things up was latecomer O'Neal, who is a political liberal and not afraid to stir things up with talk of the Democrats and Sen. John Kerry.

Jeansonne, wearing camouflage fatigues and sporting a military buzzcut, appears annoyed with the pro-liberal talk and notes that "no one in the military is going to vote for (Kerry)."

As things start to get heated, the rest of the table tells them to "shut up" with the political talk and get back to playing the game, except when the conversation touches upon sports (the "flakiness of Ricky Williams), music (the real story behind Elton John's "Rocket Man") and, well, let's just say "guy talk."

Jeansonne says that he has won some big games in the past.

O'Neal said he has won several games but on this particular night hasn't been doing so well.

Rosier said it would be an early night tonight because he had to get up early the next morning and sign up for classes at NSU.

As a result, some players, like Andries, said that they would look for another game at another house.

And when Jeansonne gets a call from his wife, Kosco jokes, "That's got to be the best thing about being married, having your wife say, (insert high, womanly voice), 'You can't play poker tonight.'"

No beer here, although they note that there are adult groups that play pretty seriously. In Rosier's house it's all very clean and the drinks are water and Coca-Cola. In fact, before leaving the house, Rosier's mother pops in the room to remind her son that "there are Cokes in the fridge."

"OK, Mom," Rosier says. "Thanks, Mom."

In the next game, Rosier wins after slapping down a King-Queen flush while O'Neal reveals an Ace and a Jack. Not good enough.

O'Neal is out of chips and has to buy his way back in.

"Usually I bet like crazy," O'Neal said. "But I've been losing money."

Rosier said he doesn't read the poker books offered at places like Books-A-Million. Instead, he religiously watches "Celebrity Poker."

"I watch it a whole lot," Rosier says with a smile. "I watch it just about every night."

The games continue, one after the other. Chips are won and lost and the pot grows. When Andries wins a round he announces how he "took two people out in one hand" and when things get tense, it is likely they will stand up, just like the pros on television.

"I love the game," Jeansonne says.

Source: The Town Talk