TEXAS HOLDEM ONLINE POKER

"We look at Chris Moneymaker and say, 'Give me the cards, we'll take 'em down,' " said Jackson, who resides in Cheltenham, Pa.

Moneymaker's feat also was in the thoughts of Kevin McEwen, a 40-year-old attorney from Scotch Plains, Union County, who was about to play in his first poker tournament.

Moneymaker's WSOP title "gives me hope that anybody can do it," he said. "If he can win (a satellite) and qualify to be in the World Series, then maybe We can win a couple of rounds, too."

Jackson and McEwen were among 80 hopefuls who paid $250 each to play no-limit Texas Holdem, the game that has become a pop-culture phenomenon thanks to cable television's regular showing of Holdem tournaments.

In Holdem, each player begins with two cards that are concealed from the other players. In all, there are four rounds of betting, and a total of five cards are exposed on the table. The object is to make the best possible hand using any combination of the two "hole" and five "community" cards.

For their $250 "buy-in," each contestant receives $5,000 in nonnegotiable tournament chips. Players are eliminated when they lose the $5,000.

The top-five finishers in each weekly game will meet in the May 5 final round. That tourney's champ will win an all-expenses-paid trip for two to the World Series at Binion's casino in Las Vegas, $5,000 cash and a seat at the championship game, which begins May 22 and carries a $10,000 entry fee. The next nine finishers will receive cash prizes based on their order.

The chance, however remote, to increase her stake 40-fold is what drew Charlie Roble of Brigantine to Harrah's.

"We figured out if We can take $250 and parlay that into 10 grand and a trip to Vegas, it's worth it," said the Tropicana Casino & Resort scheduling supervisor who was one of five women in the contest.

Although poker has been offered in Atlantic City for almost 11 years, the Harrah's satellites mark the first time a local casino has run WSOP-related events. That, said a Harrah's exec, is a direct result of Holdem's recent explosive rise in popularity.

"This seemed like it would be a logical move for us," said Bill Ambrosio, director of table games at the gambling den whose parent company, Harrah's Entertainment Inc., recently bought Binion's and along with it, the rights to the WSOP.

"At first, we were a little skeptical about how it would go, but this was a home run for us."

The first two Wednesdays sold out in advance, and he and his staff were making contingency plans to add extra days should all four be booked before April 28.

But his quick exit didn't diminish his enjoyment of playing poker just like the stars he watches regularly on television. "It always fun to play," he said.

Although an early eights-full-of-queens full house seemed to augur well for Jackson, he too was gone within the first 30 minutes of play. But like Gerhartz, he relished his time at the felt.