It's
No Joke: Carol Leifer is Hooked on Hold'em
By
Barbara Feiner
There’s
one question that every experienced journalist should not ask comic Carol Leifer when conducting an interview: “So, are
you the basis for the Elaine character on ‘Seinfeld”?
It’s
the stuff of TV urban legends, and Leifer would like
to put it to rest. Yes, she 
has
often performed standup with Jerry Seinfeld. In fact,
she opened for him recently on a few tour dates. And
yes, she became a writer and story editor on the
critically lauded sitcom in the 1990s, later taking on
the role of co-producer. But Leifer will give up
pocket aces if she can obliterate this oft-repeated
factoid from the Internet.
What
Leifer (rhymes with “reefer”) will happily admit
these days is that she’s hooked on Texas Hold’em.
As one of the stars to appear on “Poker Royale:
Comedians Vs. Pros”—a 12-week Game Show Network (GSN)
series that debuted Friday, July 8 (9 p.m. EST/PST)—the
New York native is playing against internationally
renowned professionals like Phil Laak, David Williams
and Kathy Kolberg, as well as fellow comics like Tammy
Pescatelli. (The two are thinking about starting a
Hollywood
home game.)
“This
has been quite a journey because my poker-playing
experience was very limited before this,” says
Leifer, who started doing standup in the 1970s and has
appeared on “The David Letterman Show” around 25
times. She later became a
writer and supervising producer on “The Larry
Sanders Show.”
“I
really went into this not playing a hell of a lot,”
she says. “I really wanted to do it.
During my first match, I was very tentative. I
thought to myself, ‘Are you sure you want to do
this?’ But I began to loosen up, and one of the pros
started to call me ‘fearless’—and Tammy was
calling me ‘shock and awe.’ I was being very bold
and playing hands that a lot of people might have
normally passed on. I was more aggressive.”
After
riding the rush with some “karmic” cards, she
says, fate intervened. Busted a few times, she began
to modulate her game.
Leifer
prepared for her GSN debut by practicing with her
14-year-old niece.
“I
think it’s really a sign of the times,” she says,
“because she really taught me. So, I played a lot
with her, and then I played online. It’s really
addictive. Last night, I was playing online and I
thought, ‘Well, I’ll play for an hour’—and
then it was 1:30 in the morning. I had to stop!”
As
Pescatelli is quick to point out in interviews, poker
and comedy share commonalities.
“The
only way to get good is to suck,” Leifer says. “You
have to bomb. You have to be really bad to get good—and
you have to be in a lot of different circumstances.
The pros play
so much; that’s how they get to be pros and make
their living at it. It’s the same thing with
standup. When you’re a comic, your muscle gets so
good that even when you’re nervous, you don’t
appear nervous—because that’s the kiss of death to
an audience. You are like the pilot—and I’m sure
it’s the same thing with poker.”
Leifer
says her pro competitors in the GSN games were
extremely generous in providing tips to their newbie
tablemates.
“Phil
Laak gave me the best piece of advice,” she says.
“He said being a good poker player is like riding in
a hot-air balloon. You need enough hot air to stay up
in the air, but not so much that it bursts.”
So,
is Leifer ready to hit the casinos?
“No,
that’s my next step,” she says. “I am definitely
going to—but I’m going to start small!”
______________
About Barbara Feiner:
Barbara Feiner is a Los Angeles-based journalist who
covers the poker world.
