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A
feeling of excitement, exhilaration - and exhaustion
- consumes me as I hit the macadam of midtown at
6:37 a.m. I have just finished playing nearly 12
hours of Texas Holdem in the New York underground.
Sleepy and hungry, I stop for a grilled cheese and
chocolate milk before heading home. No one at my job
believes me, but it really is hard work being a
poker player. This is my cross to bear.
West Side action
The first stop this week on Pienciak's Poker Tour is
an upscale operation located between Central Park
and the Hudson River, 42nd St. and 125th St. There
are 10 poker tables on site, more than the number
offered at most of the legalized casinos visited by
the PPT across the country.
This poker room has a touch of class. There are
several pretty young ladies walking around in black
dresses or black tops and tight, fashionable jeans.
They bring around food (loaf cake from Angel's
Bakery on Normal Ave. in Brooklyn), sodas and
additional gambling chips. The dealers are very
polite and deal professionally.
There's track lighting, high ceilings, large couches
and giant televisions.
There's a nice framed color photo of cast members
from an early season of the HBO show, "The
Sopranos." There's Paulie and Silvio and
Christopher, Big Pussy and of course, Tony. All five
men have affixed their autographs.
There's also high-stakes poker. Two of the tables
offer $75-$150 stud; thousands of dollars change
hands during the course of a night.
At one of the stud tables, armed with a gigantic
pile of high-priced chips, sits Abe Mosseri, a
backgammon professional from Brooklyn who finished
120th at this year's World Series of Poker. In
December 2003, Mosseri won $174,585 by finishing
fourth in the World Poker Tour event at the Bellagio
in Las Vegas.
At the other table, likewise hoarding a fat stack of
chips, sits Noli Francisco, wearing a pair of
camouflage shorts. A native of the Philippines, the
longtime poker veteran now calls New York home. A
real estate and import/export entrepreneur,
Francisco won $470,000 when he captured last year's
Borgata Poker Open in Atlantic City.
There's a Texas Holdem tournament set for 7 p.m. so
I sign up. With re-buys and add-ons, the prize pool
will end up totalling $7,495, with first place
earning $2,998. I have learned to hate No Limit
tourneys. Hard as I try, I just don't get them. I am
a much better Limit player. In fact, I'd be up a ton
of dough on the PPT if I hadn't entered any
tournaments.
It takes a couple hours, but the inevitable, for me,
occurs when I go all-in with Ace-King. Another
player calls me with King-Queen. It's no surprise
when the common cards include a Jack, a Ten and a
Nine. He's pulled a straight. I got squat, and
finish 24th out of about 55 players.
All night PPT Tour
At 10 p.m., I head a bit downtown to my next stop, a
newly opened club with only four poker tables set
up, one refrigerator, one TV and one backgammon
table. Dark drapes cover ceiling-to-floor windows. A
one-word sign is affixed to the outer door.
The word could mean just about anything.
This poker room is much smaller and calmer than the
uptown one, but it does offer a $1,000 buy-in
tournament once every other week. The club also
hosts a World Series of Poker satellite tournament.
By midnight the action is down to one table; there
are nine of us playing $3-$6 Limit Holdem.
I hold my own, but I lose big when my full house,
Fours over Sixes, loses to a full house, Sixes over
Fours.
When I leave at 1 a.m.; I'm up just $9.
After a brief visit to a new club in a seventh-floor
space in Chelsea, where the only live game is
$10-$20, the PPT again heads south.
Entry into this club requires passage through
several doors with buzzers. Like the first stop of
the evening, this club offers casino-like emenities
- a separate smoking room, a refrigerated case with
various flavors of soda, a check-in desk, a
waiting-list board, and experienced dealers.
There's action on a half-dozen tables, with stakes
up to $10-$20 Limit. At times, the action gets loud,
prompting one of the floor managers to go "shush." A
player gets into a heated argument and is asked to
leave.
The PPT's poker action is quite enjoyable here. I
buy in for $200 and as daylight breaks, I cash in
for $484.
Along the way, I misplay several hands - staying in
when I shouldn't be anywhere near the table. But I'm
still learning.
Then there's the tough luck that all poker players
encounter.
In one hand, I end up with two pair, Aces and
Queens. Another player also has Aces and Queens -
only the Ace and Queen he has in the hole are both
clubs. There are three clubs on board, meaning while
he has two pair, just like me, he also has a flush.
"He tied you AND he beat you," chuckles one of the
other players. Very funny. The pot had to be at
least $200.
When I go to turn in my chips, I offer the lady $16
so she can give me five $100 bills. She demurs: "I
can't give you all hundreds anyway. We're not a
casino."
Mum's the word
Security is an interesting element of the
underground poker world. In every location visited,
not one has a sign by the mailboxes; not one is
listed in the lobby directory or in the elevator.
At one of the clubs, you can walk up or take the
elevator to the second floor, where there are
several offices with no signs on the doors.
As I stand in the hallway, I watch as several young
men, one wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap, exit
from one of the unmarked doors. Two guys get off the
elevator and run to catch the door before it
relocks. I follow them in. Sure enough, I am now
inside an active poker room.
It turns out the guys in the hallway needed to use
the bathroom; there isn't one inside the club.
All of the clubs present themselves as "members
only." Members play against each other, not the
house. Players pay up to $8 an hour for time at the
table.
At most clubs, you must join before you can play.
Sometimes you are asked how you became aware of the
action.
In Chelsea, I am given a form to fill out. As I sit
down, I notice the only piece of paper on the table
- a Xerox copy of last week's column about smaller
private clubs in the city.
If the column has prompted increased security or
concern, the PPT certainly didn't notice it. It
appears the column has been placed there so players
can read about poker's growing popularity.
Still, with an ounce of prevention, as the guy in
charge approaches to chat about an upcoming
tournament, I turn my photo over, pull down my
Borgata Poker baseball cap and adjust my reading
glasses up, to cover all of my eyes.
The guy doesn't notice or care; he invites me back
whenever I want.
At another club, one player asks the signup lady,
"Why do you need that?" when she requests his
driver's license.
"So we know who you are," she replies.
At two clubs, I am asked to list my occupation. At
one of the locations, when I leave the answer line
blank, the form is returned to me. "You have to tell
us what you do," the front-desk processor insists.
I write "self-employed business," which is true
since I also write books and magazine articles. The
form is accepted.
There seems to be little for the clubs to worry
about. A request to the NYPD for a comment on poker
rooms, made last Tuesday, goes unanswered.
For the sake of all the poker players I've met on my
tour, let's hope the City's Finest, whose members
regularly fill many a chair at poker tables across
the city, continues to let sleeping dogs lie.
Big Apple hits the small time
In contrast to the relatively large poker rooms
visited across the city, the PPT also has become
aware of dozens of small regularly-scheduled venues
in the region - not including the countless
"quarter-half" games that take place each night in
dining rooms, rec rooms and basements.
Basically, if you want a game and don't want to head
to Atlantic City or the Indian casinos in
Connecticut - and you don't want to venture to one
of the "big" private poker rooms in the city, these
smaller operations may be for you.
The website/message board poker.meetup.com offers
information about scores of friendly Texas Holdem
games.
In the New York regional section, there are listings
for the "newest" poker club in Queens; a "very
elegant" members-only club on the lower East Side;
an active club in Staten Island, with games and
tournaments virtually every night of the week.
One group of amateurs attempting to put together a
regular game on the East Side will be meeting in a
couple weeks at a neighborhood bookstore.
"Full attendance will complete the startup of the
$1-3 Holdem game, or other game if decided by
majority vote. At that time we will also decide who
will hold the game, preferable dates, etc.," one of
the organizers writes on the poker message board. "I
will be wearing a blue Navy VP-22 shirt and Navy
baseball hat at the coffee shop area of Borders."
A 50-player tournament set for the end of August in
Southampton promises a first-place prize of $1,250;
a Shelter Island game every Monday night requires a
$25-to-$100 buy-in; a club in Long Island City
offers a No Limit Holdem game "almost every night,"
with a $150 buy-in.
"Good-natured atmosphere, great mix of players &
personalities - always welcome new faces," says a
note regarding a $50 buy-in No Limit game in
Brooklyn, Thursday nights, 7 p.m. to 1 a.m.
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