Debt In Vegas

Al Alvarez sits opposite me, a blank expression on his face. Were it not for the smoking ban he’d have a pipe hanging out of the left corner of his mouth. Maybe he’d play with it when he was worried. He might make some sort of movement, something that might indicate what cards lie on the table in front of him.
“Come on Al,” I think to myself, “Give me something to work off here”. Zilch. I gaze at my chips, the rest of the table waiting for me to make a move. I’m looking at a straight. I’ll be beaten if Al has two diamonds. A flush is on the cards. I don’t know what move to make. Right now, ‘The Godfather of Poker’ is giving nothing away.

We’re playing Texas Hold ‘Em, a variety of poker that sees each player dealt two cards. What follows are four rounds of betting, based on the cards you're dealt, and the five cards the dealer lays out, known as the flop.
Alvarez has been playing this variety of poker for over forty-five years. It’s in stark contrast to the forty-five minutes of experience I’ve managed to muster since walking through the doors of the Clarence Hotel. Along with an assortment of other media hacks, I’m here for a master class in poker. Alvarez and Roy Houghton, one of Britain’s most renowned card dealers, are to be our tutors. It’s an event which has been organised by the online casino and poker room, 808.com, for whom Alvarez is a spokesperson.
Aged seventy-five, Al Alvarez is best known within the gambling world as the author of the bestselling book, The Biggest Game In Town. Within poker circles it has become a bible for both beginners and those looking to add to their game. Professionally, Alvarez makes his living as a writer, and has written a series of non-fiction books on topics as diverse as suicide and dreams. He is also a poet and literary critic and, as a close friend of the late Sylvia Plath, contributed to the recent film on her life, Sylvia.
In conversation Alvarez is an absolute gentleman. When it comes to playing poker though, he is a wily character, and a consummate professional despite never having played at the top level. In his years of playing he has competed across the world, from Vegas to Monte Carlo, with the world’s top ranking poker players. “My problem,” he says, “is that I can’t get into social games because of my reputation as a decent player (laughs), so I finish up playing in clubs where most of the people are professional.”
On the table he exudes the air of a predator. He is always watching people, continuously reading their moves. He later confirms what I’ve always presumed, which is that poker isn’t just a game of chance. “It is more psychological than anything really,” he says as he lies back in his chair. “Poker really and truly is a game of skill. Chess is a game of pure intelligence where the better player will always win. It’s like poker with all the cards exposed. Whereas in poker there is an element of luck. The cards are shuffled and dealt and so the less experienced player can win. Because it has an element of chance, the sucker might end up beating the pro.”
That’s exactly what happened at the last two sittings of the World Poker Championships. Held in Las Vegas each year, the last two winners of the tournament were relatively inexperienced players who qualified for the tournament through a series of online games. Through websites, like 808.com, you can enter an online step series of games to play for a place at the championships. In 2003 an American named Chris Moneymaker (you couldn’t make up a more apt surname), qualified online after paying $40 to play over the web. Although he had never played sit-down poker (as opposed to the web based version), Moneymaker went on to win the tournament. He beat off 2,680 competitors and with it claimed a cash prize of $2.5million. Last year Greg Bremer, another online qualifier, won a top prize of $5million. A 21-year-old came second scooping $3million. With increased interest, the tournament is this year expanding to take in 5,000 competitors.
“Online poker has really revolutionised the game,” says Alvarez. “Poker is a deep game and it takes a lot of time to learn how to play well. In the old days it wasn’t an education that came for free. Now you can start off on a site like 808.com and play for free money, so you can get sort of habituated to the way the cards fall and how to bet. Then you can play in tiny games where the money at stake is very marginal. In the bad days it took serious money to learn well.”
Over the years Alvarez has had a couple of modest wins. He’s won a couple of thousand but never lost big. He hates losing and never plays when he’s unlikely to win. Houghton notes that the best poker players do this. “The thing with the best players,” he says, “is that they can put down a great hand when they think they’ve lost. Most people will find it hard to down a good hand, they like the gamble, but the best know when the game is up. They never risk anything unless they can afford to lose.”
The good poker player has a great deal of intellectual stamina, says Alvarez. “You have to think about the game,” adds Houghton. “Even when you’re not in the game you’ve got to predict the cards, and try and tell who has what.”
Over the course of a couple of hours in their tutorage I win a little and lose a little. I eventually come in fourth. Mostly what I learn, though, is a love for the game. 808.com’s site is also impressive, being an easy way to pick things up fast. I can see why it might produce good players. Poker is a game where, above everything else, concentration is key. When it’s you and a computer, you’ve little distraction. Who knows, you might see me in Vegas yet!