Every celebrity has that moment.
The moment you realize you are no longer just another actor, pop star, athlete, whatever. The moment when the world outside the insular world of your chosen profession knows who you are. The moment a stranger stops, points and says, "You're a star."
Annie Duke, professional poker player, remembers that moment.
"I think it really hit me last fall when I flew into LAX and I was walking towards the baggage claim and a bunch of people came up and wanted pictures with me and I said to myself, 'That's kind of weird.' And then I got on the Hertz bus to go pick up my rental car and four different people gave me playing cards of all things - I don't even carry playing cards with me - to sign those for them."
For Howard Lederer, professional poker player (and older brother of Duke), his moment came via their father, a professional speaker and writer.
"When my dad would give his talks, people would ask what his kids did. He'd say, 'poker,' and they'd say, 'sorry.' Now it's, 'Wow. That's really cool.'"
Phil Hellmuth insists he's been a star since he won the World Series of Poker at 24 in 1989. But he'll readily admit he has seen an explosion in his fame.
"If I'm at a bar today and I have my sunglasses and hat on, it's just absolutely bonkers. People come up to me, shouting my name as they come by, like I'm Ben Affleck or something," he says. "In the last month I feel like it's turned A-list finally. I've been around A-list and B-list celebrities, so I know the difference."
So for Hellmuth, his moment concerns that move up to A-list status.
"I was at Pure [a Las Vegas nightclub] and they have a strict policy that they won't let anybody wear a hat and sunglasses in there. Some kind of security came over and I said no problem, I'll just leave. I wasn't being a brat at all. It's getting kind of late, good time to leave anyway. He said, 'We don't want you to leave. We don't let anybody wear a hat and glasses in here, but you can do it.' I was like, 'OK.'Ÿ"
Accept as fact that poker players are now celebrities. And don't rely just on the anecdotes of the top pros. The best evidence is that poker players have begun their journey down the road that makes the rich and famous even more rich and famous. They have become endorsers.
"Not only is poker incredibly popular," says Jeremy Betts, associate brand manager, Super-Premium Brands for Jim Beam Brands, Co., "but the demographic we're describing for those playing and especially those watching is fairly high income."
Which is one of the reasons Jim Beam's Knob Creek Bourbon signed a deal with Lederer and 2004 World Poker Tour Player of the Year Erick Lindgren.
Hellmuth has a clothing line, a cellphone game, three books, DVDs, baseball cards, is in negotiations with GSN (aka, the Game Show Network) on a reality series, writes a syndicated newspaper column and has his own bobblehead doll.
Annie Duke, who recently signed as the endorser of ESPN's Poker Club, which offers everything from decks of cards to a full-size gaming table, is branching out beyond the world of poker.
She has sold a show to the GSN, is writing a horror film, has a T-shirt line and is "in the early stages of discussion" with a soft drink company and a clothing company. A pilot, starring Janeane Garofalo, for a sitcom based on Duke's life was shot but not picked up.
Poker and the people who play it have come a long way in a few short years.
"For the majority of my poker career, a lot of people reacted to me thinking I was obviously delusional to think you can make money playing poker because it was like telling them I was making my living playing craps," Duke says. "There were a lot of people who marginalized you, grouping you in with drug dealers and prostitutes. They just didn't get what I was doing.
"Now people think what I do is now one of the coolest jobs on earth. It's awesome for me."
Duke, Hellmuth, Lederer and almost every other pro and thousands of amateur players are in Las Vegas right now, in the midst of the biggest event of the poker year: The World Series of Poker. Consisting of 45 events, the majority of attention is on Event 42, the $10,000 No-limit Texas Hold 'Em World Championship. It's the event that made multi-millionaires and granted celebrity status the last two years to amateurs Chris Moneymaker and Greg "Fossilman" Raymer. And this year, a record field of up to 6,600 players is expected, which would make first place worth an estimated $10 million.
The six weeks in Vegas for the WSOP is a chance for the top players to focus almost solely on poker. For Duke, that has become something of a rarity. She's playing a lot less poker these days.
"That's an OK trade off," she says. "I'm never going to cut poker out completely because it's my passion. I just feel like how many people in the world are lucky enough to have people interested enough in them that you have those kind of opportunities come your way."
Hellmuth has seen a similar pattern. His playing time is "well down" from four to five years ago.
"Something's had to go and it's been poker. Some of the business stuff is too lucrative," he says.
And that may become more of an issue going forward. Lederer, whose deal with Knob Creek is the first involving a mainstream corporation and a poker player, thinks the future may include car or soft drink companies like Ford or Coca-Cola using the sponsorship model of PGA golfers.
"Maybe after this year's World Series, companies can see they can have a real relationship with a poker player and it doesn't bring ill repute to them," he says.
For now, Duke is adjusting to her new found fame and the pressure that comes with it.
"I hope it hasn't changed me."
Annie Duke
Claim to fame: The poker mom (she has four kids under the age of 10) won $2 million for taking the 2004 World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions.
Endorsements: ESPN Poker Club, T-shirt line, DD Tournament Poker 2005 computer game, deck of cards.
Phil Hellmuth
Claim to fame: Nine-time winner at the World Series of Poker. Considered the "bad boy" of poker.
Endorsements: Clothing line, three books, cellphone game, DVDs, chip set, runs a poker fantasy camp.
Howard Lederer
Claim to fame: Two-time winner at the World Series of Poker. Known as "The Professor."
Endorsements: Knob Creek Bourbon, computer games, cellphone game, DVDs, chip set, runs a poker fantasy camp.