Rick
01-23-2005, 07:01 AM
Business in the cards for poker champ
By Al Lewis
Denver Post Business Columnist
Poker has long been a metaphor for business, but for Howard Lederer, it is business.
Lederer is one of the most recognizable faces in TV poker, not only as a champion in the game but as lead commentator on poker tournaments for Fox.
Dubbed "The Poker Professor," he has sold more than 300,000 instructional DVDs. And about 170 people paid $3,200 to join his "fantasy camp" at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas last fall.
He's apparently quite a teacher: He tutored his sister, Annie Duke, and she now threatens to become an even bigger celebrity poker champ than he is.
"Poker is life," Lederer said. "To get good at the game, you have to be honest with yourself. You have to observe others. You have to learn from people who are good, but you also have to create your own unique way of succeeding."
Sony is using Lederer's likeness in a video game due out in October. Cellular phone companies plan to offer Lederer- branded poker games. There's even a planned Lederer apparel line.
With his growing celebrity, Lederer commands $25,000 speaker fees - and that's on top of the hundreds of thousands he wins playing the game.
"The main thing that has drawn people like Howard ... to poker is the possibility of CEO-type money," said Lederer's business partner, Rick Bierman.
Sports broadcaster Les Shapiro is bringing Lederer to Denver next weekend for the "Colorado Poker Series."
For $350, attendees can learn "the hottest game from The Professor of Poker," boasts a website for the event, colopokerseries.com. For $1,495, there's dinner at Del Frisco's steakhouse with Lederer and local celebrities.
Shapiro said the pricey feast is almost sold out: "You wouldn't believe how much people are willing to pay to be around these guys."
A portion of the proceeds will go to "YouthBiz," which helps inner-city kids develop business skills. Bierman said some of Lederer's appearances will generate $750,000 for charities this year.
Poker has long shed its image as a game for degenerates, outlaws and mobsters. Today, 50 million to 80 million Americans play the game, increasingly lured by icons such as Lederer.
"I liken it to baseball," said Shapiro. "We all played Little League, and we all think we can make the plays the guys are making on TV."
The only difference is, you can never play baseball with the guys on TV, but if you put up enough cash, you can be in the "World Series of Poker." There, the pros will swiftly rearrange your chips on their side of the table.
ESPN has long broadcast this series, but poker really exploded in May 2003 when the Travel Channel featured the "World Poker Tour" with a new set of camera angles. Sixteen cameras showed every player with peeks at the cards, allowing viewers to see who was bluffing and who had the real hand.
Several cable channels now carry about 75 hours of poker programming a week, playing to viewers' get-rich-quick mentality and zeal for reality TV.
What's on TV will always be on store shelves. Poker-related products are everywhere from Walgreens and Sears to Crate & Barrel, Brookstone and Hammacher Schlemmer.
Media-spawned craze or not, poker has long been a game for Wall Street dealmakers. Financier Carl Icahn cut his first deal with money he won playing poker in the Army. Microsoft's Bill Gates went to more poker games than classes at Harvard. In Colorado, EchoStar CEO Charlie Ergen plays poker, as does Larry Mizel of homebuilder MDC Holdings.
"Desperation at a poker table is just like desperation in a business deal," Hustler publisher Larry Flynt once told The New York Times.
Business, like poker, is filled with bluffs. It's not always easy to tell the difference between a player who is skilled and one who is simply lucky.
"You learn the most about how good someone is at something when things are not going well," said Lederer.
Eventually, raw economic forces expose bad poker players and lousy executives. And like the old saying goes, if you have to wonder who the dupe is at the poker table, it's probably you.
Al Lewis' column appears Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at 303-820-1967 or [email protected]
By Al Lewis
Denver Post Business Columnist
Poker has long been a metaphor for business, but for Howard Lederer, it is business.
Lederer is one of the most recognizable faces in TV poker, not only as a champion in the game but as lead commentator on poker tournaments for Fox.
Dubbed "The Poker Professor," he has sold more than 300,000 instructional DVDs. And about 170 people paid $3,200 to join his "fantasy camp" at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas last fall.
He's apparently quite a teacher: He tutored his sister, Annie Duke, and she now threatens to become an even bigger celebrity poker champ than he is.
"Poker is life," Lederer said. "To get good at the game, you have to be honest with yourself. You have to observe others. You have to learn from people who are good, but you also have to create your own unique way of succeeding."
Sony is using Lederer's likeness in a video game due out in October. Cellular phone companies plan to offer Lederer- branded poker games. There's even a planned Lederer apparel line.
With his growing celebrity, Lederer commands $25,000 speaker fees - and that's on top of the hundreds of thousands he wins playing the game.
"The main thing that has drawn people like Howard ... to poker is the possibility of CEO-type money," said Lederer's business partner, Rick Bierman.
Sports broadcaster Les Shapiro is bringing Lederer to Denver next weekend for the "Colorado Poker Series."
For $350, attendees can learn "the hottest game from The Professor of Poker," boasts a website for the event, colopokerseries.com. For $1,495, there's dinner at Del Frisco's steakhouse with Lederer and local celebrities.
Shapiro said the pricey feast is almost sold out: "You wouldn't believe how much people are willing to pay to be around these guys."
A portion of the proceeds will go to "YouthBiz," which helps inner-city kids develop business skills. Bierman said some of Lederer's appearances will generate $750,000 for charities this year.
Poker has long shed its image as a game for degenerates, outlaws and mobsters. Today, 50 million to 80 million Americans play the game, increasingly lured by icons such as Lederer.
"I liken it to baseball," said Shapiro. "We all played Little League, and we all think we can make the plays the guys are making on TV."
The only difference is, you can never play baseball with the guys on TV, but if you put up enough cash, you can be in the "World Series of Poker." There, the pros will swiftly rearrange your chips on their side of the table.
ESPN has long broadcast this series, but poker really exploded in May 2003 when the Travel Channel featured the "World Poker Tour" with a new set of camera angles. Sixteen cameras showed every player with peeks at the cards, allowing viewers to see who was bluffing and who had the real hand.
Several cable channels now carry about 75 hours of poker programming a week, playing to viewers' get-rich-quick mentality and zeal for reality TV.
What's on TV will always be on store shelves. Poker-related products are everywhere from Walgreens and Sears to Crate & Barrel, Brookstone and Hammacher Schlemmer.
Media-spawned craze or not, poker has long been a game for Wall Street dealmakers. Financier Carl Icahn cut his first deal with money he won playing poker in the Army. Microsoft's Bill Gates went to more poker games than classes at Harvard. In Colorado, EchoStar CEO Charlie Ergen plays poker, as does Larry Mizel of homebuilder MDC Holdings.
"Desperation at a poker table is just like desperation in a business deal," Hustler publisher Larry Flynt once told The New York Times.
Business, like poker, is filled with bluffs. It's not always easy to tell the difference between a player who is skilled and one who is simply lucky.
"You learn the most about how good someone is at something when things are not going well," said Lederer.
Eventually, raw economic forces expose bad poker players and lousy executives. And like the old saying goes, if you have to wonder who the dupe is at the poker table, it's probably you.
Al Lewis' column appears Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at 303-820-1967 or [email protected]