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Texas Poker

He's talking to some nameless, faceless, unseen person who, for all he knows, might be on safari in Kenya. Yet that person is a virtual presence in Mediate's den, for such is the magic of 21st-century technology that it is now possible to lose tall piles of money to invisible strangers while sitting at home in your underwear.

They're playing no-limit Texas Hold 'Em. They get two cards face down before betting on each of three common cards dealt face up (the "flop") followed by a fourth (the "turn") and the last (the "river"). From the seven cards, a player makes his best five-card hand.

Nameless Faceless unseen had first raised the bet $200. Mediate re-raised $500 because he had caught aces, which is a good thing, like dropping a 5-iron in the flagstick's shadow.

"Please, please call," Mediate says.

Instead, NFU folds and concedes a $1,200 pot.

Here in our meditation, righteous folks might rise to denounce the evils of gambling. Denounce away. There's no changing the truth. America is a nation of swaggering risk-takers. From riverboats to Wall street, from the wild West to Augusta National, poker is a reflection of that bravado. This, too, is true: Remove gamblers from golf, and you'd have a lot of tightly mowed grass with nobody walking on it.

Mediate won't name his poker-playing buddies on the tour. Says only, "Not a zillion of them, but plenty." a veteran caddie, Cayce Kerr, says rainy days used to be bowling days for the heavy-lifters. "But now we get together and play Texas Hold 'Em on somebody's bed."

The 21st century reality is, poker has become uber-respectable. the great gray eminence of the New York times shined itself up last summer by hiring a poker columnist, James McManus. His first sentence paraphrased Jacques Barzun's famous take on baseball: "Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn poker."

When a PGA tour star declares poker a "really, truly amazing sport," it's certainly time to pay attention. A guy could put two questions to anyone who believes poker is a sport, the first being, "Rocco, are you nuts, or what?"

The second question would be more respectful. At age 43, Rocco Mediate is a bright guy of restless curiosity who knows stuff. He is a five-time winner in 20 seasons on the PGA tour with earnings of more than $12 million, an athlete who has worked in the Sunday heat alongside tiger, Phil, and lesser gods.

In April, he contended in the Masters after a first-round 68. "Like four of a kind," he said. Alas, he busted out the last day. After a back injury, he endured a water-soaked 10 on the par-3 12th hole. His summary: "Hah! I can't wait to see the film. It'll be funny."

So, the second question: How can he consider poker a sport of any kind, let alone an "amazing sport," when what you do is sit there and ... talk ... to ... your ... computer?

It's a dictionary thing, "sport" defined as "any activity that gives enjoyment." to hear Rocco go on, there's no doubt.

"Guys see us on tour hit a shot and say, 'I could do that.' No. No, you can't. You can't do what we do," he says. "Same thing with poker. No way the everyday poker player comes close to competing with the Doyle Brunsons, David Sklanskys, Greg Raymers. They're so good, it's petrifying."

Before last summer, Mediate had played poker only eight months, almost exclusively online and from home. "They're trying to make it illegal online," he says, "but as long as it's legal, I'm playing." in addition to the PGA tour's rules against gambling in clubhouses, Mediate says that on the road he's a professional golfer with no time for a hobby.

Early on, Mediate counted himself a 14-handicapper at poker. then the online poker site Pokerstars.com learned of Mediate's interest and paid his $10,000 entry fee into the "Main event" finale of the World series of Poker. In July 2005, Mediate joined almost 5,600 players in a Las Vegas casino room the approximate size of Rhode island.

He survived into the second day, outlasting maybe 90 percent of the field. Though he won no money and still calls himself a novice, he says his handicap is now single digits. He's a man hooked by poker, ambition running hot: "I want to get where guys like Greg Raymer are. But I have a big respect for them. I figure it'll take me 15 years."

During Mediate's 68 at the Masters, his gallery included new buddy Raymer, conspicuous in a straw hat and orange Pokerstars.com shirt. A patent attorney when he won the World series of Poker's $5 million first prize in 2004, Raymer now is a touring poker pro. Raymer met Rocco last summer and spent three days in January at Mediate's home in Florida. they shared expertise, Mediate talking the swing on the tee, Raymer talking odds at the computer.