Ten Dimes, or the Price of Admission

Sunday, September 11th, 2005

By JAMES McMANUS
NYTimes.com

A nice round number, $10,000. A magic number, even. In poker, it buys you a ticket into the Big Time, a chance to win $7.5 million, as Joe Hachem did at this year's World Series. Somewhat less gaudy amounts are also winnable in an increasingly crowded calendar of tournaments on the World Series of Poker Circuit and the World Poker Tour. A few of these events still require "only" a $5,000 buy-in, and the World Poker Tour championship in April requires $25,000, but the fee to all the others remains the iconic $10,000.

By hook or by crook, ambitious optimists do their best to come up with it. Thousands have earned it in satellites, either online or in the brick-and-mortar casino hosting the televised main event. Some fortunate - and affluent - players receive it as a birthday or Father's Day gift, often with a hotel reservation and airline ticket. Others take a cash advance on a credit card, hoping to win back the money before the first notice comes due.

Reckless behavior, perhaps, but many consider it a fair price to pay for a chance to compete against the best in the game. No amount, after all, can purchase a Sunday golfer the chance to reach the 15th green at Augusta National in two, at least not during the Masters. A church-league two-guard might be able to post up Michael Jordan at a fantasy camp, but never with a ring on the line. But average pokeraticians who win (or write a check for) $10,000, routinely face off with John Phan, Chris Ferguson or Doyle Brunson in prestigious tournaments. And not just face off with, but vanquish.

The magic number was actually set in 1949, during the five-month, winner-take-all showdown between Johnny Moss and Nick Dandalos that became the precursor to the World Series. The impresario, Benny Binion, had positioned the Moss-Dandalos table near the entrance to his casino in downtown Las Vegas. To sweeten the pot for the two professionals, affluent wannabes were permitted to "change-in to" the game for a minimum of $10,000, the price of admission to what Binion was billing as "the biggest game in town." None of these interlopers lasted more than a day or two, and Dandalos finally succumbed with the famous line, "Mr. Moss, I have to let you go" after losing every dollar he had.

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