TEXAS HOLDEM ONLINE POKER

It's poker night at Mike Dunn's house.

He and six of his friends are gathered around his dining room table under a bright ceiling lamp, slightly askew.

In front of each player is a bottle of beer and a pile or mug of change, and in the middle of the table is a larger pile that grows with each game -- Seven Card Stud, Texas Hold 'Em, Forty-Four -- until the holder of the best hand wins it all. Then the pile starts over.

Along the way, there's a good amount of blatant bluffing. "This is the best hand I've ever had!" shouts Greg Niemeyer, 36, at one point.

There's also plenty of good-natured ribbing about 30-year-old Kyle Scheidler's conservative playing, which has earned him the nickname "I'm out." The ribbing is also aimed at 29-year-old Dunn's housekeeping habits and the melodic ring tone on Chris Wolf's (also 29) cell phone. They warn him about the penalty for looking at the phone -- 25 cents in the pot -- and for answering it, $1.

"It was supposed to be a man-only event," Dunn said. "We didn't want people giving or receiving calls from their girlfriends all night."

It's like this about every other week for the group in suburban Cincinnati, which has been getting together for the past six or seven years for poker.

What's poker's draw?

"There's a sport to it, trying to tell when people are bluffing and when they're not," Scheidler said.

"It's got numbers, it's got statistics, it's got psychology," Niemeyer adds. "It's great."

Plus, he said, "It's cheaper than if we all went out and had dinner at a bar."

Members of Dunn's group say they prefer the social aspect of the game and that they're not out to take each other's money: Most nights, the most anyone goes home with is $20 or $30.

But more recently, the group has started following some of the high-stakes poker games on television that have been drawing millions of viewers, especially the "World Poker Tour" on the Travel Channel. Last season, the ratings show about 5 million people a week tuned in to the tournaments.

Renewed interest

That show and its imitators, including Bravo's "Celebrity Poker Showdown," have sparked a resurgence of interest in the game that once conjured up images of middle-aged men in dark, smoky basements or garages.

More people are playing poker regularly in home games like the one at Dunn's house, in tournaments and casinos and online: The World Poker Tour estimates 40 million to 50 million total players. And more TV shows are in the works, including a reality show called "Casino" on Fox from "Survivor" creator Mark Burnett.

"It's just the biggest explosion of interest I have ever seen," said Rick Steiner, who has won six national poker championships and who now spends most of his time producing Broadway shows.

Steiner gives the TV shows the credit -- in particular the cameras that let viewers see the two cards players hold in the high-skill, fast-moving poker game the TV shows have popularized, No Limit Texas Hold 'Em.

In Texas Hold 'Em, players are dealt two cards face down and then place their bets. The dealer lays down three "community cards" face up in the middle of the table that each player can combine with their own two cards.

The excitement escalates in No Limit Texas Hold 'Em, when players can bet everything at any time.

"Watching it whets people's appetites," Steiner said. "It's fascinating. It's like, 'Let's play financial chicken.'"

It can be addictive

Elizabeth Matthews, 32, started playing poker when her boyfriend got hooked on the 2003 "World Series of Poker" on ESPN.

After he explained to her how the game worked, she started playing a computer game of Seven Card Stud. Last spring they went to a casino that didn't have any Seven Card Stud tables, so she played Texas Hold 'Em instead.

"Ever since then it's the only game I play," she said. "It's addictive. There's a lot of luck to it, but there's also a lot of strategy, too."

Even though Matthews finds she's often the only female player at games, she holds her own. At a recent home game, she said she knocked out 15 guys, including her boyfriend, and she came in second.

Matthews and members of Dunn's group agree that the strategically placed cameras make shows like the "World Poker Tour" worth watching.

"If you couldn't tell what (cards) they had, it would be like watching paint dry," said 25-year-old Michael Sabbia.

Schools and churches are capitalizing on the trend for a good cause.

Instead of asking students to sell cookies, two 30-year-old Cincinnati-area coaches -- Matt Dierkers and Pat O'Connor, poker players themselves -- recently held a No Limit Texas Hold 'Em poker tournament to raise money for the school's golf and baseball teams.

Before the competition, organizers say they were fielding 30 or 40 calls a day. "It's crazy, the number of people wanting to play," said Dierkers, a director of development at the school.

It's a trend that Steiner doesn't think will go out any time soon.

"I think we've only just begun," he said.