Poker is still the "in" thing, a craze that has seeped from underground poker lounges and high-stakes tournaments to the living rooms of middle America. Whether it's the "World Poker Tour" on the Travel Channel or "Celebrity Poker Showdown" on Bravo, the "flop" and the "flush" are new fads.

But to professional card players, poker is not just a game: It's a state of mind, a philosophical metaphor. It's all about what you learn when you lose your stack of high society to an ace kicker.

The best movie to capture the essence of poker was "Rounders" with Edward Norton and Matt Damon. Now the flavor and spirit of that movie is being dealt to the small screen with "Tilt," a new original series on ESPN, the second scripted program to come out of the all-sports cable network (the first was the now-defunct "Playmakers").

"Tilt" premieres Thursday at 7 p.m.

While only one episode was provided to critics, there's a lot of potential in "Tilt" waiting to bust out. The show's biggest asset is its two creators, Brian Koppelman and David Levien, the writers who took audiences into the world of high-stakes poker in "Rounders." Among the elements the movie and the series have in common is an authentic feel for the poker scene.

In "Tilt," three young card sharks, Eddie (Eddie Cibrian), Clark (Todd Williams) and Miami (Kristen Lehman) stake out the fictitious Colorado Casino in Las Vegas. Their target is the legendary card player Don "The Matador" Everest (Michael Madsen, "Reservoir Dogs"), a cool but ferocious card player who once won the World Series of Poker. It's been 10 years since Everest won a championship and he now spends most of his time at the Colorado working on rookie players in the casino's poker lounge.

Each of the young players has a reason to take down The Matador, and they are preparing to hatch some kind of scheme to win his money with the help of a well-financed professional gambler.

There's a hair-thin plot running through the premiere, but what gives the show its tang is the same thing that drove "Rounders" -- a flair for the dialect of the game.

With staccato effect, the players in "Tilt" rattle off poker terms and slang like it's a language all its own. It's what gave "Rounders" its texture and helps "Tilt" establish its own credibility.

The acting is sufficient, although the people who populate this world are just a step above stereotypes. But there is a sense that the world here is real thanks to the richness of poker-speak and the slick attitude of some characters.

It's hard to say whether the show can fulfill its potential after seeing just one episode, but the setup so far is an interesting blend of revenge and greed.

It's just going to take longer to find out if "Tilt" is just bluffing or got aces full, but I'm willing to stay in the game to find out.

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Television columnist Vince Horiuchi appears Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. He can be reached at vince@sltrib.com. --

Channeling

Crank Yankers: Comedy Central, tonight, 7. The fifth season of this puppets-and-crank-calls comedy premieres. Drew Carey guest stars.

Great Performances: KUED Channel 7, tonight, 8. The New York Philharmonic performs Leonard Bernstein's "Candide."

Law & Order: KSL Channel 5, tonight, 9. Elizabeth Rohm, who played assistant DA Serena Southerlyn for 3 1/2 seasons, leaves the series tonight.