For Poker, TV May Be an Ace in the Hole

As a kid I played gin rummy with my grandma. What a rush to hold an ever-widening arc of cards, waiting for the moment when I could lay them all down at once and, if the fates smiled, snag some of Grandma’s Social Security. Don’t hate me; she was just as aggressive in wanting my lunch money.

Luckily, the gambling bug didn’t bite me in earnest, as it reportedly does to between 2% and 5% of the adult population. I confined my card-playing to low-stakes games with friends.

Now, it seems, the country is rediscovering poker. It’s been written up in newspapers and national magazines; ESPN and the Travel Channel have broadcast tournaments in recent months. To my surprise, I got totally hooked watching them.

I’m not alone. David Mosikian, a Huntington Beach resident who works at the Commerce Casino, says the TV exposure has brought new fans to the tables. “For years, we’ve been saying, ‘How can we get people off the freeway to come on in?’ ” Mosikian says, “because we know that once they play, they have a great time. We were always busy as it was [at the poker tables], but we did see a difference since all this stuff has been coming out on TV.”

I envy ballplayers, but these TV poker players are my new heroes. Hitting a fastball is tough, but how many people can push $300,000 in chips into the center of the table while holding only a pair of 10s? Without shaking?

Let’s see Tim Salmon do that.

I could take a Randy Johnson fastball in the ribs easier than re-raise on a bluff. The TV players do it with a smile.

I was a lousy card player, because I didn’t know then the old poker maxim that there’s a sucker at every table and that if you look around and can’t spot him, it’s you. Now I can spot him: Rats, it was me. When your voice goes up an octave whenever you announce a raise, you’re probably not cut out for the game. When you can’t remember, under pressure, which hands outrank which, you’re not well-suited for poker.

So, tail between my legs, I’m semiretired.

“Everyone has played with friends, but it’s always been a very intimidating game to sit down with eight strangers and put your hard-earned money up there and have a shot at it,” Mosikian says.

After confessing my inadequacy to Mosikian, I ask what it takes to push thousands of dollars in chips into the pot. “I always thought about that,” he says. “It takes a whole different level of guts, which I don’t have and, obviously, you don’t either. It’s amazing the guts that people have and the psychological games that go on. I played in my first tournament a couple weeks ago, and out of 272 people in no-limit poker, I came in 19th place. It was awesome. It was such a rush. For a little time, I got that feeling of pushing in all the chips. But to do it every day, I don’t have the stomach for it.”

Much has been written lately about why poker suddenly has a TV following. The experts cite the use of cameras that now let viewers know what cards each player is holding.

That obviously builds excitement, but I’m betting the answer goes beyond that.

In a world where so much is left unresolved and it’s hard to know if you’re right or wrong, poker eliminates fuzzy endings.

No polls, no sleeping on it overnight. There are no ties, no hanging chads.

It’s just you and the cards. They may break your heart, but they don’t lie.

That kind of clarity is comforting.

Shades of gray are fine some of the time, but give me the resolution that filling an inside straight can bring. Give me the resolution of a full house when the other guy has just pulled a flush.

I can handle the truth -- as long as I’m only a spectator.

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Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. He can be reached at (714) 966-7821, at dana.parsons@latimes.com or at The Times’ Orange County edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626.