Card-crazy public spurs most houses to add tables

Black Hawk - Some Colorado mountain casinos hope to hit the jackpot by expanding the size of their poker rooms for an increasingly card-crazy public.

Poker is booming because of a seemingly endless array of television shows and celebrity Texas Hold'em tournaments.

Yet poker tables generally provide operators with slim profit margins. Instead, Colorado's limited-stakes casinos are using them to attract new players, particularly twentysomethings and women, to their bars, restaurants, hotels - and other, more lucrative games.

"It's what our customers wanted, so we are going to give it to them," said Jim Hubred, poker manager at the Lodge Casino, which boasts 18 tables. The casino, at 240 Main St. in Black Hawk, is privately held by Black Hawk Gaming.

Tournaments at the Colorado Central Station Casino, 340 Main St., are so popular "we are turning away many people," said Jeff Moore, a floor shift manager. The casino is owned by publicly traded Isle of Capri Casinos Inc., a $1.1 billion-a-year gaming giant based in Biloxi, Miss.

The Gilpin Casino, a sister to the Lodge Casino at 111 Main St., is making the biggest new move by putting 15 tables into a plush, 6,000-square-foot room on the building's third floor. The expansion, which is costing $1.5 million, features a full-service bar, television sets and comfy chairs. It will be ready early next year.

The Gilpin's poker room will have tables for Omaha Holdem, seven-card stud, five-card draw, and the game that started the recent craze: no-limit Texas Holdem.

The Colorado Central Station also is adding, by October's end, three or four poker tables to its current six.

Poker is any of a variety of card games in which players bet that they hold the high-ranking hand. Texas Holdem is a form in which players are dealt two cards face down, or hole cards. The player may then use none, one, or both of his hole cards in combination with five community cards, dealt face up, to form the best five-card hand.

In Colorado, small-stakes gaming limits poker raises to $5, and the house profits by taking a "rake."

Poker is "the greatest game in the world," said Bob Smith, 55, who plays at the Lodge once a week and said he will "definitely check out the new room" at the Gilpin when it opens.

Even so, representatives from Black Hawk Gaming have been cautious in their investment. For now, they're putting in 15 tables at the Gilpin, but will add five more only if demand warrants them, said Meera Rosser, the company's director of marketing.

"We have to ensure we grow the market," Rosser said. "We have to educate our public that the tables are up here."

About half of all Las Vegas casinos have expanded their poker rooms in the past 18 months, said Barry Shulman, publisher of Card Player Magazine. The move was prompted by an estimated 30 percent to 50 percent increase in patrons playing the game, he said.

Industry observers say television has a lot to do with it.

ESPN's coverage of the 2004 World Series of Poker, the Texas Holdem tournament held annually at Binion's Horseshoe Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, consistently garners strong ratings, averaging more than 1 million households per episode, according to Nielsen ratings reports.

This year's World Series attracted 2,576 people, including actors James Woods and Tobey Maguire, and offered a record $5 million first prize. Last year, 839 men and women competed for the $2.5 million first-place pot.

The Travel Channel features the "World Poker Tour"; Bravo offers "Celebrity Poker."

Part of the growth nationally, Shulman and others said, has been spurred by women and the twentysomething crowd.

"It brings new faces to our casinos," Rosser acknowledged. She said the expansion at the Gilpin will create about 50 new jobs.

Cripple Creek is also seeing some growth. The Gold Creek Casino, 400 E. Bennett Ave., added six tables in February, and the Midnight Rose Hotel and Casino, 256 E. Bennett Ave., has a dozen tables but does not anticipate expanding.

In Black Hawk, Colorado Central, Fortune Valley, the Lodge and Mountain High all offer poker rooms at their casinos.