LAS VEGAS -- Bernard Lee of Wayland kissed
a wallet-size photo of his son and daughter, peeked quickly at
his cards -- a pair of kings -- and changed his expression not
a bit.
This was a moment of truth, one of a parade of them for the
Boston Scientific marketing manager making an improbable run
in the fifth round of the seven-round 2005 World Series of Poker
No-Limits Texas Hold 'Em Championship yesterday. He was ''all
in," meaning he bet all his chips and if he lost, he would be
eliminated from the world's richest poker event.
Then the call: His opponent showed a pair of fours. Lee let
out a hearty yelp. He had doubled his chips.
By surviving that battle and several others, by 8 p.m. local
time last night Lee found himself among the last 28 players
in a tournament that started last week with 5,619 entrants and
he was assured of taking home at least $274,090. The top prize
is the largest in poker history, $7.5 million, which the nine
finalists will vie for at tomorrow's final table.
The 5,619 entrants is more than double last year's 2,576 and
about seven times the 839 players in 2003, a reflection of the
game's popularity explosion.
This is the top tournament of a six-week World Series of Poker,
which had 45 different events involving at least 33,000 players
from 45 nations, said World Series of Poker spokesman Gary Thompson.
Each Texas Hold 'Em contestant either paid $10,000 to enter
or had their buy-in fee paid for by one of many poker websites
and sponsors that run satellite contests throughout the year.
Lee, 35, gained entry through an online tournament.
Lee's showing is not bad for someone who, while a veteran
of online poker and some visits to Foxwoods Resort Casino in
Connecticut, says his typical poker habit involves weekly gatherings
with buddies for a guys' night they call ''Loker Poker," after
a nearby Wayland elementary school.
Folks like Lee are a key reason the nation is gripped in a
poker frenzy: Anyone can win. Aside from the exposure the game
has received from Bravo and ESPN, which will air the World Series
on tape later this summer, the heart of poker's popularity is
the notion that the right combination of some skill and lots
of luck can turn any player into a millionaire and a legend.
''All I'm focused on is getting out of the day," said Lee,
who had booked a plane ticket home from Vegas yesterday but
had to change it when he lasted longer than he expected. ''If
I don't do that, then there is no finals table for me anyway."
Fortunes rise and fall with great suddenness. Witness Greg
''Fossilman" Raymer of Stonington, Conn., who won the 2004 tournament
and led the field early Tuesday. A few big bets later, he dropped
to the middle of the pack, and then began clawing his way back
up and was fourth by 8:30 p.m. yesterday.
Raymer, 41, quit his job as a patent lawyer at Pfizer to be
a full-time pro after his 2004 victory. ''It's not a physical
sport where you can try harder, so I don't worry about it,"
he said. ''If this were a tennis tournament, they might say,
'Oh, this player was losing in finals and then raised their
game to a new level.' You can't make things happen like that
in a poker tournament."
The tournament, now in its 36th year, has been a boon for
Las Vegas and for Harrah's Entertainment, which owns the Rio
All-Suites Hotel and Casino that is hosting the event. Harrah's
bought the rights to the series last year and will host the
last two days of the competition.
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