When he's not singing the alphabet or tying tiny shoes, Mars School District kindergarten teacher Matthew Richards is shuffling chips with one hand and clutching face cards in the other.

The Cranberry Township resident's goal is to play Texas Hold 'Em in the annual World Series of Poker Tournament in Las Vegas the summer after next. Until then, Richards will continue to practice and study professional poker, which has gained incredible popularity in the last few years.

Richards has read numerous books on poker and its accompanying strategies. He has applied those lessons during trips to Mountaineer Racetrack and Gaming Resort in Chester, W.Va., at his weekly poker game with friends and during occasional trips to Las Vegas. He also watches or records every professional poker tournament on TV.

Richards explained that consistent success at a basic level in a casino means a player is ready to move on to higher stakes games in the casino. If a player meets success there, then he or she is ready to play in small tournaments.

As the wins pile up at that level, the player then moves on to larger tournaments, and eventually the granddaddy of all games, the annual World Series of Poker held in Las Vegas each June.

Richards said serious players learn to predict what cards others are holding by the way the hand plays out. The best players also manage to read and manipulate opponents.

"You have to make the players do what you want them to do," said Richards.

Richards' favorite professional player is Daniel Negreanu because he has mastered those two very difficult skills.

"His reading ability is unmatched," said Richards. "He can tell people's cards before seeing them. Every player that's played the game (at a professional level) can do that to an extent, but his skill is unbelievable."

Richards is working up to playing in about four tournaments a year, mostly at the nearby Mountaineer. He also plays with friends once a week.

Unlike the casual poker player, Richards' attitude toward the game is all business. He carefully balances all the money spent to enter or bet in poker games against his winnings, and he puts the winnings toward prospective costs of the World Series of Poker and plane tickets to Las Vegas.

And yes, he can shuffle a stack of chips with one hand.

"The reason players can do that is that there is a lot of down time in poker," said Richards. "(A professional round) you see on TV is actually edited from an entire day of play."

Richards said rather than aspire to playing in the main event at the World Series of Poker, he hopes to play in one of the several smaller tournaments at the event. The winners of these games receive a diamond bracelet engraved with their names and the game they won.

"If you win a World Series of Poker bracelet, you're considered one of the best in the world," said Richards.

Regarding the main event, the "buy-in," or cost to enter the game, is $10,000. He said anyone with the cash can play, and corporations often enter a beautiful woman to wear their logo while playing. Celebrities also play because the buy-in amount is no problem for them.

Asked his skill level, Richards replies he has "cashed" — or come out financially ahead — in every tournament in which he has played. The most he has earned in one sitting is $800, at a tournament at Mountaineer.

Richards said he was introduced to poker at age 5, when his Army-veteran grandfather showed him the basics. He picked up his first book on the game about five years ago.

"It opened my eyes to the game," said Richards. "It was very interesting and in-depth."

Richards dreamed of playing professionally back then.

"Now, it's becoming more and more real," he said.

Luckily, Richards' bride of six months is also interested in professional poker. Cetta Richards, also a Mars teacher, became interested in the game when she began dating her husband one year ago. She also is studying up on the intricacies of the game, and occasionally she plays with her husband and his buddies in their weekly contest.

"On a scale of 1 to 100, I know maybe 18, and he knows so much," said Cetta. "I've read one book, he's read several."

She said she is working on maintaining running percentages in her head and reading her opponents. Regarding raking in the winning pots, Cetta Richards said she tends to hoard.

"He is more generous with his winnings than I am," she said.

Richards fully supports her husband's aspirations to play in the World Series.

"I think he can make it because he has a passion for what he does, he's great at reading people, and he's aggressive or conservative when he needs to be," said Cetta. "I look forward to him winning the series. It'll be exciting."

The Richards' weekly poker guests also study poker. While they might not aspire to play in the World Series, they always give Richards a run for his money. Asked whether he thinks his buddy will make it to "the show" the summer after next, Eric Cupp replies like only a guy can.

"I hope he gets there," said Cupp. "We'll be there to cheer him on if he wins, or if he does poorly, we'll boo him."