SUNDAY SPECIAL

GARY | Whiting's Eric Roberts has been a poker dealer for the past 13 years. He's currently looking over the stacks of chips on the green table at Gary's Majestic Star Casino.

"Texas Hold'em, it's the biggest game we have," Roberts said.

"Hold'em, 99 percent of our players play that game," Majestic Star poker room manager Dom Niro said. "It's the hottest game we have, the hottest game in America."

Hold'em is a game where each player gets two cards face down, which is followed by a round of betting. "The Flop" comes next, where three community cards are put in the middle of the table, with another round of betting. Next comes "The Turn," a single community card followed by another round of betting.

Then comes "The River," a final single card with a round of betting.

Recently, Roberts was punching when a player got four kings, which is almost unbeatable. But another player ended up with a Royal Flush to rake in the cash.

"After that, what else can you say?" Roberts said. "But good hand."

"I've seen four deuces beat by four eights," Niro said. "Our dealers, we tell them to be friendly. Don't be rude. When you watch the games on TV you don't notice the dealers very often. They're kind of stone-faced. There's a reason for that. They're a part of the game but they're not in the game."

Milwaukee's Mike Esparza drives 120 miles to work at Buffington Harbor three times a week. Like a lot of the dealers, he plays Hold'em when he's not working. The camaraderie he gets with the players makes each day different and exciting. With over 50 million Americans now playing Hold'em, Esparza loves what he does.

"At first, Hold'em players were looked at as kind of seedy," Esparza said. "But not any more."

In 1998, Matt Damon starred in "Rounders," which really gave Hold'em a wider audience. In 2004-05, the National Hockey League season ended due to labor strife and ESPN was looking for a way to fill the time slots where pucks were supposed to drop. An expanded version of the World Series of Poker took over, and when amateur Chris Moneymaker won the Main Event, Hold'em soared.

Once, Esparza was dealing at a table where two players flopped three-of-a-kind, and another had a straight flush draw. At the end of the betting, one player had a full house, another had four of a kind and the winner got his royal flush. "Crazy," is the only way Esparza could describe it.

The Heartland Poker Tour, televised by Comcast, is coming to Majestic Star on March 17, and a series of satellite tournaments will lead to the Final Table on March 25. Last year, Majestic Star hosted the largest event in the Heartland Tour, with 186 players, a $450,000 prize pool and a first-place check of more than $122,000.

Portage's Tina McClaran likely will be at the tables when the cameras are rolling. But the 11-year dealer won't get caught up in all the drama, strategy or "bad beats." She knows her role.

"I'm a robot," she said with a laugh. "Some players like more interaction. Some don't. I don't play (poker). I don't even watch it on TV. I just do my job. I'm a dealer."