Northern West Virginia's racetrack casinos will discover today whether the poker craze that started with the game's arrival on television several years ago has built up demand to play in the Tri-State area.

Wheeling Island Racetrack & Gaming Center in Wheeling will begin operating a 20-table poker room at 10 a.m., and Mountaineer Race Track and Gaming Resort in Chester will follow at 4 p.m. with up to 37 tables in play. West Virginia Lottery Commission officials announced approval yesterday of the operations, based on two test nights conducted at each track earlier this week.

The Northern Panhandle gambling represents the first legal poker within two hours of Pittsburgh, but Texas hold 'em and other card games have been available in at least 30 other states in either commercial casinos, Indian casinos or licensed card rooms.

Pennsylvania remains one of the states where no one is supposed to profit from hosting card games. State police in Westmoreland County raided a volunteer fire company's Texas hold 'em tournament in August and charged a Derry attorney, Larry Burns, with unlawful gambling for running the games. He faces a Nov. 28 preliminary hearing.

No poker or other table games are permitted in Pennsylvania's slot machine parlors, so West Virginia casino operators sought and won permission from the Legislature to offer them and try to one-up their new competitors in the battle for customers. Craps, roulette and blackjack are expected to follow at Wheeling Island and Mountaineer in two to three months.

"With the height of poker and people's interest in it, we're going to do very well," predicted George Arsenis, Mountaineer's poker manager. "Turn any channel on the television and there's a poker game going on."

Dawn Clayton, the Chester, W.Va., casino's executive vice president of gaming operations, said poker is not typically as profitable for an operator as slot machines or other table games. Still, it is worth offering to provide customers the full range of options they expect, she said. Younger customers in particular, and an increasing percentage of women, have been enjoying poker in casinos elsewhere in the country, Ms. Clayton said.

Card games will be offered 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at both locations, with a variety of betting limits and game alternatives. The lowest betting limits on games will be $2 to $4, but both casinos will also offer much higher limits, based on demand.