TEXAS HOLDEM ONLINE POKER

Casinos that never had a poker room are building them, casinos that closed poker rooms are reopening them and many of the city's existing rooms are expanding and offering more tournaments as a way to tap into the game's increasing popularity.

And poker's heat is translating into bottom-line improvements at many of Las Vegas' top poker rooms.

"We don't think anyone could have dreamed it would be so successful," Bellagio Director of Poker Operations Doug Dalton said this week. "Most of the upswing happened since the World Poker Tour (WPT) began broadcasting in March (of 2003)."

The impact of WPT events broadcast on the Travel Channel, drawing 5 million viewers a week, combined with the incredible story of improbably named Tennessee amateur Chris Moneymaker, who parlayed a $40 online poker tournament entry into last year's $2.5 million World Series of Poker top prize, has been obvious in Las Vegas, casino poker bosses said.

Bellagio poker revenue is up, year-over-year, more than 50 percent since last March, Dalton said, crediting the WPT broadcasts and Moneymaker's implausible win for the lion's share of the surge.

"That's the best story ever for poker," Dalton said. "He takes $40 and now has $2.5 million in his pocket. Anybody can win, that's the message that Moneymaker sends, and that's the message people are getting: This could be you."

Las Vegas Investment Advisors casino analyst Dave Ehlers said that the poker boom will have a material effect on casino coffers.

"One way or the other, whether through additional revenue in the poker room itself or by attracting significant foot traffic to spend elsewhere in the casino, the properties are going to benefit, big time," Ehlers said.

Poker may never be a money-maker like slot machines, blackjack, baccarat and craps, but it has its place now, Ehlers said.

"For operators, poker was always a loss-leader, and a first-class pain ... until the World Poker Tour went on TV," Ehlers said. "Now people think they can do it. You've got a whole group of poker wannabees wandering into casinos, thinking they can do what they've seen on TV."

Bellagio plans to soon begin work on an expansion of its poker room, a project that will add another five or six tables to the 30-table room by December.

Space is being carved out of the Bellagio's slot floor to allow the expansion, which will include an ultra-high-end game area that Dalton promises will be the talk of the industry.

Bellagio is not the only casino expanding its poker operations.

The Sahara is getting ready to expand and add tables, a decision justified by the public's powerful interest in the games they see on TV, Sahara Director of Marketing and Entertainment Ron Garrett said.