A real ace

Hershiser picked for heads-up tourney

Bill Ordine

February 23, 2008

Twenty years ago, the Los Angeles Dodgers' Orel Hershiser put together one of the greatest seasons by a pitcher. In 1988, Hershiser was 23-8 with eight shutouts and a 2.26 ERA in the regular season and, in six postseason games, he threw nearly 43 innings, going 3-0 with a save and an ERA of 1.05.

So, two decades after winning the Cy Young Award and being the Most Valuable Player in the National League Championship Series and World Series, how does a competitor like Hershiser - Tom Lasorda called him "Bulldog" - get the competitive juices flowing?

How about glaring across a poker table at card sharks such as Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth and Chris "Jesus" Ferguson?

Hershiser - who is still very much a part of baseball as an analyst for ESPN games and the College and Little League World Series - has been selected to play in the National Heads-Up Poker Championship at Caesars Palace starting Thursday and running to March 2.

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This is the fourth year for the tournament and it will be on NBC during six consecutive Sundays beginning April 13. The total prize money is $1.5 million - $500,000 to the winner.

The former pitcher's inclusion is something of a surprise. The heads-up event, which mimics the NCAA basketball tournament by starting with a field of 64 playing one-on-one until there's just one left, has routinely sprinkled celebrities among the poker pros for TV appeal.

But Hershiser, unlike poker-playing show-biz types such as Don Cheadle and Shannon Elizabeth, hasn't been associated with big-time poker.

"I've been playing for a few years now, ever since the poker TV craze, and more so since I moved to Las Vegas," Hershiser said.

"PokerStars.net heard about me," he added, "and said they'd sponsor me."

PokerStars is the Internet poker site that helped launch former World Series of Poker Main Event champions Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer.

The heads-up tournament will be Hershiser's first trip to the deep end of the poker pool. Mostly, he said, he plays low-stakes no-limit Texas hold 'em cash games at his neighborhood casino, Red Rock, and occasional daily tournaments at the Venetian and the Bellagio.

In his baseball days, card playing was a common time-killer, Hershiser said. Long flights meant long sessions of nickel-dime hearts. But poker approximates the competitive culture of athletics, he said, and the skills he honed on the mound come in handy at the table.

"First of all, there's the control you need to have over your emotions, no matter what's going on," he said.

"Then there's the strategy of dealing with what you have. Some days, you may not have your 90-mph fastball, and you may have to rely on your slider and your changeup," Hershiser said. "Well, in poker, you have to play with the cards you're dealt, so that means adjusting your game accordingly - and adjusting your game relative to whom you're playing against."

In baseball, some of the variables were playing surface and weather. In poker, some variables are the changing cards in play and even a player's position in the betting sequence.

"Plus, it's that you're competing and keeping score," he said. "When I first started pitching, I'd go over at-bats and innings in my mind, keep track of what I did in certain situations. Here, I go over certain hands, the decisions I made, even the comments at the table. ... It's the same process."

bill.ordine@baltsun.com

Bill's rant

Call it: gambling or not?

The NFL's vehement objection to wagering on its games is well known. And in practice, the league has demonstrated a serious antipathy for gambling in general.

For instance, you don't see advertising for casinos - even ones that don't have sports wagering - in NFL stadiums the way you do at baseball parks.

But when it comes to something as significant as draft position, the league uses one of the most rudimentary gambling practices - the coin flip.

Yesterday, the Atlanta Falcons won a coin flip to draft third overall, beating out the Oakland Raiders and the Kansas City Chiefs. All three teams finished with 4-12 records, and all three played a schedule that had a .516 winning percentage.

So, now by virtue of sheer luck (in Atlanta's case, some might call it dumb luck), the draft order is now Falcons No. 3, Raiders No. 4 and Chiefs No. 5. The Miami Dolphins, because of their 1-15 record, are No. 1, and the St. Louis Rams are No. 2. The Ravens draft No. 8.

But the coin flip has always had a special place in football. Of course, every game starts with a coin flip to determine who chooses to receive or kick off but, theoretically, that's counterbalanced by the loser of the flip getting its choice for the second half.

And overtime possession is determined by a coin flip, although for years the NFL would cite statistics showing that the winner of the flip in its sudden-death format didn't hold a considerable advantage - something that fans of any team that loses by a field goal on the first possession may dispute.

Bill's tube tip

Men's college basketball

Maryland@ Miami

2 P.M. [CH. 54]

You might have to do some channel surfing to find the game, but the Terrapins are at Miami with the pressure building in the stretch drive to make the NCAA tournament. Maryland (17-10, 7-5) lost to Virginia Tech on Wednesday, the same night that Miami (18-7, 5-6) upset Duke. The Hurricanes can stay in the hunt for a tournament spot with a win. Meanwhile, the Terps can't afford to lose more than one of the four games remaining in the regular season.