职业扑克

　　几十年来，专业扑克玩家是比较少见的一种职业类型。他们都有一些独特的名称，像Doyle Brunson将自己称为为“道路赌徒”，普雷斯顿、约翰·尼莫斯及 T.J. Cloutier将自己化名为“阿马里洛·斯利姆”。这些几乎都是众人皆知的称呼。其中，许多人依靠这些室内扑克游戏而创造了美好的前途，但是，往往在最后也会再次失去。唯有通过多年的扑克游戏经历和获得游戏经验，才可能成为一个在游戏当中的长胜将军。而许多早期的职业玩家都背有很狼藉的名声：有的犯有谋杀罪，而有的就被称为骗子或者小偷。

　　现在，扑克逐渐成为游戏的主流。全国性世界扑克巡回赛的举办，各种名人扑克活动的兴起，《全国的世界扑克系列》和《詹姆斯·麦克扑克世界系列》畅销书的流传，都推动了扑克游戏的流行。世界系列赛开始的时候只是由比尼恩主办的一场小比赛，场地设在拉斯维加斯的马蹄赌场，主要以宣传画作为宣传的手段。这场游戏只是由班尼·比尼恩的几个朋友在一起用一堆筹码进行扑克决斗。现在，成千上万的人出现在比赛场地，观看或者参加比赛。任何超过21岁的人都可以购买到10,000美元的主要事件参赛权利，从而可以成为游戏比赛的参赛者。很多玩家都使用这种方式，通过卫星赛来进入到主要的扑克游戏比赛，这样子成本低很多，并且还会提供作为奖品的主要事件席位。

　　进入决赛，要熟练在线扑克和几十种扑克指南。所以一般都是有天赋的玩家才能够进入最后比赛，因为所需要的游戏知识远远超过了他们以往积累的游戏经验，我们从2003年的世界系列扑克赢家改变扑克的这一个完美的例子就可以看出，最终决赛是非一般人所能进去的。随着好莱坞的扑克游戏故事被人们熟知，克里斯摇钱树（化名）参加了40元的网上啤牌比赛，最后赢得了比赛。为了领取奖金，摇钱树在他的父亲和朋友的帮助下东拼西凑一些用来买一张机票和定酒店房间的钱来到好莱坞。在此之前，从来没有一场比赛是可以在互联网上玩的。尽管那些扑克玩家对手都是非常的有实力，摇钱树还是能够保持冷静，并抓住了一些幸运的机会，后来赢得了$ 250万美元的回报。

　　译文

       Professional PokerFor decades, the professional poker player was a rare breed. They were "road gamblers" with names like Doyle Brunson, "Amarillo Slim" Preston, Johnny Moss, and T.J. Cloutier. They were hardly household names. Many of them made their fortunes in back room games -- and usually lost them again. The only way to get good at poker was through years of experience, and earning that experience was a costly proposition. Many early professional players had fearsome reputations: Some claimed or were known to have committed murder, while some simply maintained an intimidating front to ward off cheats and thieves.

　　These days, poker is becoming mainstream. The nationally televised World Poker Tour, combined with celebrity poker events, national coverage of the World Series of Poker and a best-selling book about the World Series of Poker by James McManus have added up to a surge in popularity for poker at the pro level. The World Series was once a small event hosted at Binion's Horseshoe in Las Vegas mainly to draw publicity. It featured a few of Benny Binion's friends in a Hold'em duel over a pile of chips. Now, thousands of people show up to watch and participate in the dozens of side tournaments, satellites, and ring games that surround the main competition. Anyone over the age of 21 can buy into the main event with $10,000. Many players have made their way in through satellite tournaments that cost much less to play and offer a seat in the main event as a prize.

　　With online poker and dozens of poker guides available （including Doyle Brunson's legendary Super System）， skilled, talented players are entering tournaments with far more knowledge than their experience would indicate. The 2003 World Series of Poker winner is the perfect example of how poker has changed. With a story straight out of a Hollywood script, Chris Moneymaker （his real name） earned a place in the tournament by entering a $40 online poker tournament. To claim that prize, Moneymaker scraped together the money for a plane ticket and hotel room with the help of his father and a friend. Once there, Moneymaker, who had never played in a tournament that wasn't on the Internet before, found himself at tables with the big names of poker. Despite the intimidating presence of these heavy hitters, Moneymaker kept his cool and caught some lucky breaks on his way to a $2.5 million payoff.