Two contests lure 'Big Game' bettors to A.C.

In Las Vegas, casinos have no problem getting customers to show up on Super Bowl Sunday. After all, that's where the betting action is for the single largest wagering event of the year.

But in Atlantic City casinos, where there is no sports betting, gambling operators have to be a bit more resourceful.

The Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City is offering two free contests through its poker room tied to "The Big Game" (the NFL forbids use of "Super Bowl" without its consent) with a fistful of prizes up for grabs, including a 42-inch plasma TV and a possible $25,000.

In one contest, which already has started, players handicap 12 so-called prop bets that are simple yes-no propositions, such as Will Green Bay win by more than three points? and Will either team score in the first five minutes? The player with the highest score wins the big-screen TV. If someone gets at least 11 of the 12 props correct and picks the correct total of the final score, a grand prize of $5,000 will be awarded. Other smaller prizes also will be awarded, according to Tom Gitto, the Taj Mahal's director of poker.

The prop-bet sheets are being distributed in the poker room, and players can make their picks right away. They don't have to be present on Super Bowl Sunday to win.

The second free promotion will be limited to poker players participating in live games, and using their Trump One players' card, when the Super Bowl starts. In this contest, seated players are given a scratch-off game piece with four individual quarter scores, such as: Home 3, Visitor 0.

The NFC team, Green Bay, is the home team this year. If the final point digits for the respective teams fall on those numbers in the designated quarter (for example, 3-0, 13-0, 13-10), the poker player is a winner for that quarter and receives $100 in comp money. If a player hits three quarters, the prize is $1,000. A win on all four quarters is good for $25,000.

"We know there's a lot of crossover between our poker players and sports. We have 60 TVs in our poker room, and every year, we need more," Gitto said. "Plus, this is a way to get some people into the room who might otherwise be a little intimidated."

WSOP announces schedule. A 10-event mixed tournament is one of the new additions for the 2011 World Series of Poker, which will be held May 31 to July 19 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

The $2,500 buy-in ultra-mixed, six-handed tournament requires players to exhibit expertise in a decathlon of poker disciplines, including familiar games such as hold 'em, Omaha, and seven-card stud. There also are some lesser-known games, including 2-7 triple draw and a game that's been long absent from the WSOP, Badugi, a four-card lowball draw game. The mixed event is Event No. 29 (starting June 15) of 58 bracelet events at this year's poker world series.

The famous Main Event, a $10,000 buy-in featuring no-limit Texas hold 'em, will begin July 7 with four starting flights over four days and play down to a final table on July 19, when the event is suspended and resumed Nov. 5-7. For a full schedule, go online to www.wsop.com.

Almost-live poker. ESPN's experiment with unedited poker on a one-hour delay a few weeks ago increased its ratings in a late-night/early-morning weekend time slot by 50 percent. To put the increase in perspective, the jump was to 0.3 from 0.2 in the 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. slot.

The rating is the percentage of all television sets that are tuned to a program.

The telecast was a stark departure because it included every hand, including pauses while players contemplated decisions, in contrast to typical TV poker - when only the most exciting hands are shown. ESPN's Matt Volk, manager for programming and acquisitions, said the telecast received positive feedback from poker fans. Impressions (the number of people watching at any given time) were up 76 percent from 145,000 to 255,000 for the time slot.

ESPN2 showed the final table of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event Jan. 15 on Paradise Island in the Bahamas, picking up final table play at 10 p.m. and continuing for 5 hours, 15 minutes until a winner emerged.

San Francisco's Galen Hall, 24, outlasted Chris Oliver to win $2.3 million. Oliver, who had a commanding chip lead at one point, collected $1.8 million. In the most dramatic moment of the coverage, Hall folded a straight to Oliver's full house when the two were heads-up.

Had Hall called, he would have been eliminated. TV viewers could see the hole cards.