The tutorial was done with Maya 5 and since then Alias has changed the smooth proxy. In 6 and 6.5 it's different and in 7 it's a bit different again. Basic idea is still the same. In your case you'll adjust Exponential Level where I adjust Divisions.

For the other settings you'll just have to play around with and see what gives the best result. During the tut I keep cleaning up the base mesh all the time (not every step is shown) and that will affect the result of the smoothed mesh too. Don't worry about doing the mesh just like I did. If some other way works better, use it.