BLADE BUSINESS WRITER
It's been over a year now, but the interest in the game of poker - both nationally and in the Toledo area - refuses to fold.
Poker's popularity, fueled by televised tournaments featuring top players and Hollywood celebrities, took off in 2004 and although sales of playing cards, chips, books, and tables may have peaked over the Christmas season, demand for poker-related merchandise is still strong, local retailers say.
"We sell an unbelievable number of poker chips, Texas Hold 'Em tables, and octagonal tables," said Zach Stechschulte, a salesman at Litehouse Pools in Maumee. "We still can't keep them in stock."
Likewise, at Thackeray's Books in West Toledo, demand for books and other guides to playing poker has yet to wane.
"It's a big thing, said Sally Rose, a manager at Thackeray's.
Once a game for professional gamblers or friends gathered in a neighbor's basement, poker has become a craze since the Travel Channel cable TV network began broadcasting the "World Poker Tour" in 2001 using special camera angles that let viewers see what cards players were holding.
Since then, other networks have begun televising poker and the game has taken off.
As a special item, Kohl's department stores carried a Texas Hold 'em game set during the holiday shopping season. "It just blew out of here," said Wendy Ziegler, manager of the store on Monroe Street in Toledo.
"We still have people who come in here and ask for it, although we don't carry it any longer."
Mark Mason, co-owner of Mason's Billiards and Barstools in Sylvania Township, said sales are strong, but the craze seems to be slipping a bit.
"Though we're still selling quite a bit of it, it's not where it was," he said.
"I don't know if it's all the people who are interested already have their equipment or what."
Poker chips are good sellers, Mr. Mason said.
A sleeve of 50 chips is about $7, and a case of 300 to 500 chips starts about $70.
Also, customers are still eager to buy decks of cards, especially those that are 100 percent plastic and washable.
They are $8.50 for a pair of decks.
Less in demand, especially compared with last year, are poker tables or table tops with a poker playing surface, he said.
Tables sell for about $400 to $500, tabletops for $140.
But Litehouse Pools is still selling a large number of tables and table tops, Mr. Stechschulte said.
Brian Scott, a sales clerk at Poolside Shops in Sylvania, said it may seem to some merchants that poker sales have slowed, but that's probably because many more merchants are selling poker-related items.
"The demand is still strong, and there's people always coming in asking for it," he said.
However, with so many stores now in the game, his is ending its sales of poker items.
Contact Jon Chavez at:
jchavez@theblade.com
or 419-724-6128.
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