Pitted head-to-head, champion poker player Gordon and Sen. Dave Kleis played a friendly round Monday at the Capitol to show the media crowd there was nothing to fear from the game, or from Kleis' efforts to legalize Texas Hold'em tournaments at bars statewide.

Those efforts depend on convincing lawmakers that such tournaments do not equal gambling, and on showing that Texas Hold'em is a game of skill, not chance.

"See, we're having fun. No money, just a little T-shirt at stake," said Gordon, the co-host of "Celebrity Poker Showdown" on Bravo Television Network. "Just having fun."

Gordon had come to St. Paul from Las Vegas to testify on behalf of Kleis' bill at a critical committee hearing Monday.

Kleis' defeat at the hands of a man who has won more than $1 million in professional poker tournaments appeared imminent.

But then a climactic hand, a dramatic turn of the cards, and it appeared as if Kleis was about to take most of Gordon's chips. Gordon's smile almost vanished. Could the St. Cloud Republican — first loser at a demonstration game among legislators last month — upset a seasoned pro?

As it turns out, no.

When the final card was dealt, Gordon managed to split the hand with Kleis and avert disaster.

Gordon eventually took all of Kleis' chips and the St. Cloud State University Huskies T-shirt that was the prize. And the smile was back.

"Folks, that's how we do it on the World Poker Tour," Gordon said afterward. "Poker really is the cruelest game."

While the game may have been cruel to Kleis, Gordon's appearance helped the bill sail through the Senate State and Local Government Operations committee Monday.

And while Kleis has struggled to keep his poker bill separate from discussions about expanding gambling in Minnesota this session, his efforts have drawn national attention, including a write-up in the New York Times that Gordon said is the reason he volunteered to come and testify.

Local enthusiasm

Gordon's appearance was a chance for Dominic Wirz and Ryan Pruse to meet one of their heroes.

The St. Cloud poker fans recently started Full Tilt Magazine, dedicated to poker playing in the Midwest. On Monday, they came to the Capitol and talked poker with Gordon.

Pruse, 32, mused on the effects of a state-led raid of a Texas Hold'em tournament last year at Granite Bowl that prompted Kleis' bill. Stearns County Attorney Janelle Kendall declined to prosecute Granite Bowl owner Dave Bischoff or the people playing cards, but the raid shook people up, Pruse said.

"There's a lot of people in St. Cloud who want to play but won't, because they're afraid the police will walk in on them," he said.

Kleis' bill would allow bars and bowling alleys such as Bischoff's to sponsor Texas Hold'em tournaments as long as there is no entrance fee, the house doesn't get any money directly from the tournament and prizes are limited to no more than $200 total.

Amendments to the Senate bill would allow local governments to regulate the tournaments and charge a fee up to $200 to license them, and people younger than 18 would be prohibited from entering.

Kleis vowed to keep his bill free of other gambling expansion efforts and to limit it to adding Texas Hold'em to a list of other games people can play in free tournaments, such as bridge, cribbage, euchre and whist.

"This bill is not in any way an expansion of gambling," he said.

Expansion plans?

Bischoff has resumed the weekly tournaments at his establishment and is working with Wirz and Pruse to expand similar tournaments to at least six other St. Cloud establishments by next month.

If Kleis' bill becomes law, Bischoff said he sees his tournament-organizing efforts increasing.

"Eventually, we'd like to take it statewide," he said. "I'm sure eventually we'll reach a saturation point, but I think there's a great demand out there right now."

Wirz said he wouldn't mind eventually expanding the prize options to make Minnesota more akin to states that offer cruises and cars as grand prizes.

Gordon made it clear he thinks people should be able to play all forms of poker in tournaments, though Kleis' bill only touches on Texas Hold'em.

"There's really no reason for social poker to have the stigma of illegality it now possesses," he said. "Poker is not gambling."

Not that he thinks there's anything wrong with playing poker for real money.

"Card rooms where they play for money are legal in just about every state," he said. "But I'm not here trying to legalize poker for money. That's a different issue."

On the Net

Follow SF317/HF519 throughout the legislative session at: www.leg.state.mn.us/leg/legis.asp.

Meet Phil Gordon

Name: Phil Gordon.

Age: 34.

Home: Las Vegas.

Marriage status: Single, no children.

Height: 6'9".

Started playing poker:Age 7.

Professional career: Seven years, about $1.1 million in tournament earnings.

Professional highlights: Fourth-place finish, 2001 World Series of Poker championship; won $360,000 purse in 2004 World Poker Tour's Bay 101 Shooting Stars tournament.

Related accomplishments: Host, Bravo Television Networks's Celebrity Poker Showdown; author, "Poker: The Real Deal."

Education: National Merit Scholarship finalist at 15; received computer science degree from Georgia Institute of Technology at 20.

Business experience: Founding member and programmer for Netsys Technologies until its acquisition by Cisco Systems.

Travels: Has traveled solo to more than 50 countries on six continents, primarily during a five-year backpacking tour that began in 1997.

On celebrity poker players:"Toby Maguire is the best celebrity playing poker today, but he hasn't been on our show yet. Ben Affleck's probably the best player who's been on the show."

On skill versus luck in poker:"I've been playing competitively for 13 years, professionally for seven. I lost a lot in those first six years, and I haven't had a losing season since. Top poker players are not the luckiest, they are the most skilled at what they do."