From the Sidelines: A World Series of chips and beer

This year's World Series might have been the best ever. The outcome was in doubt until the final seconds, and the announcers were virtually speechless watching the last play unfold.

Oh, you probably thought I meant that other World Series. No, no, no, my sincerest apologies. I was talking about the World Series of Poker.

Don't you remember the movie Rounders? When Matt Damon is watching a tape of an old poker World Series and the great Johnny Chan suckers his opponent into betting all his money? The commentator gives the immortal call, "And Chan has him!" That kind of drama can come right into your very own dorm room.

With the NBA locked out, college hoops not really underway, and baseball in hibernation, sports junkies like myself have only the NFL to feed our addiction. (I don't pay attention to pro hockey.) Clearly, we need a sports fix for the other five days of the week. I propose devoting this dead time to the gods of poker. Let me take you to the scene at this year's Series to tell you why.

The game of choice, just like every other year, is Texas Hold 'Em. For you non-poker players out there, here's a briefing of how it works: 1) you get two cards; 2) you bet;
3) the dealer turns over three cards face-up on the table; 4) you bet again; 5) the dealer turns up a fourth card;
6) you bet again; 7) the dealer turns up a fifth and final card; 8) you bet one last time; 9) whoever has the best poker hand, using any five cards from
the two in his or her hand and the five on the table, wins. (If you're confused, don't worry. You'll figure the game out soon enough.)

In the final twosome of the Series, bad boy Scotty Nguyen, sporting a white jogging suit, gold chains, sunglasses, and moussed hair, has the edge over rookie Kevin McBride, who has chosen to go with a slightly tamer look--black shirt, jeans, glasses, and a goatee. Two nines and an eight appear as the first three cards on the table. McBride bets, and Nguyen--reluctantly, it seems--sticks around. A second eight appears as the fourth card, and McBride continues to bet. Nguyen calls, and the crowd can't figure out why he doesn't fold and finish off McBride later. The final card is turned...and it's an eight! A full house on the table for both players to use!

Nguyen pushes all his chips into the pot, and now McBride has to put the rest of his money on the line to try to win. Nguyen looks him over and grabs a Michelob. Before taking a swig, he says, "You call this one it's all over, baby." McBride stares at the pot. With dreams of a $1 million purse dancing in his head he says, "Call, I play the board." But Nguyen wasn't lying. He pulls a nine from his hand, giving him a full house, nines full of eights, beating McBride's eights full of nines. The million bucks goes to Scotty. He calls it a dream come true.

For the sports addict, watching this denouement was like taking a brand new designer drug--an almost impossible pairing of five cards on the table, and on the final hand to boot!

But it gets better. Poker one-ups other sports in that you don't need athletic ability to play it! Grab a bunch of friends before The Game and play some 30-cent-limit Hold 'Em. Or, if you happen to be 21, drive 45 minutes east to Mohegan Sun and gamble with some real money. Take it from someone who's lost hundreds of dollars there this year--you'll never feel more like an addict than when you're actually paying for your addiction.

So sports lovers, breathe a huge sigh of relief. We may not have Jordan, but we do have Nguyen. And if you missed this year's World Series, fear not. Airing Thurs., Nov. 19 and Fri., Nov. 20, at 4 p.m. on ESPN2, are the 1995 and 1997 World Series of Poker. Get the Michelob ready.

The Yale Herald would like to remind its readers that gambling can be addictive. If you have a gambling problem, stay away from the ATMs.

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