Confirmation on More Busts

[shipitfish]

Yes, it is as I suspected. The O Club was indeed busted. The rumor is that there was some sort of "altercation" at the place, to which the police were called, and decided to bust the club as part of the whole thing. I am somehow not surprised; since the club was not highly screened; anyone could get in there. It was the easiest one to discover and go to of all the city's clubs.

I learned too of another club, called Double Take, that was opened by the PlayStation crew for merely two weeks before again being busted. I assume that these guys are just a target that the police keep hitting.

The other clubs I know about have dropped further underground. There is one still running where I don't trust the management much (The L Club), one that struggles to get people in (The E Club), one that is pretty exclusive and well run but was mostly sharks at the table (The H Club), and one that is in a part of town I'd prefer to avoid at night (the K club). I am getting deeply frustrated by the whole situation. I wonder if it is really worth it to play poker in NYC anymore.

It's not that I don't want to confront the police about this — far from it. I don't really believe that it should be illegal and I am not really that afraid of being busted (other than the general inconvenience of it), especially given that it isn't illegal for players.

The difficulty is that one must be on top of things to play. I'm not deeply in the NYC poker scene. I know a few people who occasionally answer my emails, and that's about it. I am not deep enough in the scene to hear by osmosis that there have been busts, changes, or otherwise that the clubs I once went to are now gone.

I can only hope that the H Club has gotten better. I hope to go again this week or next, if it's still there. I was inspired again this weekend to begin reviewing clubs, but it seems somewhat pointless if they disappear so quickly. I'll keep thinking on it.

There are a number of important issues in the world today, and legalizing poker is probably not at the top of the list of urgent things needed. But, the missed tax revenue for the city and the waste of time for the police is not to be ignored here. It seems hopeless, though, given that the Atlantic City casinos would surely lobby to keep it illegal. The last thing they want is local competition.

Comments

I agree

[tmckearney.livejournal.com]

I agree that the legislators have better things to do, and I also agree that the police have better things to do. Why can't they ignore the poker rooms and start pulling people over for changing lanes on the highway without a blinker?

(NOTE: That's one of my biggest pet peeves. I'm going 85mph and some donkey changes lanes into my lane going 55 and nearly gets a backseat full of Tom. Has nobody ever taken physics?)

Many states have gambling laws that make games of chance illegal, so there are lots of efforts around the country to (properly) define poker as a game of skill. I guess you can use poker as a game of chance, too; that is up to you. Of course, people drive like it's a game of chance too, so what's the difference? :)

Re: I agree

[shipitfish.livejournal.com]

Well, they are unlikely to find $10,000 or more in the back seat of the blinker-avoiding driver's car that they con confiscate. A lot of the theories about why the busts continue is that it is a relatively safe job (poker players don't usually carry guns, these days) and an easy take for an evening's work for the police department. Some theorize that there is a certain amount of skim before the funds hit the city coffers.

The thing that worries me most is the unregulated nature of it all. The "altercation" at the O Club was not the first we've heard of some sort of disagreement breaking out that pulled the police in. There are also some stories that the E Club was robbed. Since these aren't legitimate businesses, the safety factor is not to be ignored. Which is precisely why I avoid clubs where I don't feel trust with the management — and all the trustworthy clubs seem to be those getting busted. I'll see how the H Club looks, of course.