What Happens in Vegas

Last summer I saw an unbelievable story on the news about something
called the World Series of Poker. Apparently, a man named Greg "Fossilman"
Raymer had cleaned out 2,576 of the best poker players in the world and
became, not only the 2004 WSOP champion, but a multimillionaire to boot.
There was a clip of the newly crowned champ standing beside what seemed a
huge brick wall of cold hard cash -- five million dollars to be exact!

Incredulous, I couldn't imagine that a poker player could make, in one lousy
tournament, more than 125 times the average yearly salary of a high school
teacher in Los Angeles. It was just unreal to me. Five million dollars!
That's more money than most professional athletes make all year!
I had no idea that poker had become so big.

Turns out, however, I wasn't the only one amazed by Fossilman's
lucrative racket.

In 2003, writer and "aimless" internet poker junkie, Richard Sparks --
after hearing how Chris Moneymaker, the 2003 WSOP champion, had turned 39
dollars into 2.5 million -- had a "revelation" of sorts. Sparks, a
successful TV writer and playwright, would "write and play poker. Play poker
and write about it" as he made his own Moneymaker-like journey to Binion's
Horseshoe Casino in downtown Las Vegas for "the Big One": the main event at
the World Series of Poker. For the next six weeks, Sparks takes "the scenic
route, the long way round" and, thankfully, brings us along for the
entertaining ride. Via the Internet, and satellites, and tournaments,
Sparks will have to win a sea2 in order to cover the hefty 10,000 dollar
entry fee. The result is Diary of a Mad Poker Player, a clever, interesting,
informative, and often funny insider's look at the booming game of poker.

Reviewed by Frank Mundo, Westside Magazine, June 10th 2005