U Club, I Hardly Know Thee, Yet My Faith Is Restored.

[shipitfish]

I heard a rumor last night that was “confirmed” this morning: The U Club open just a few weeks, was supposedly busted on Wednesday night.

This is third incarnation of the same club. It is professional and well-run. Meanwhile, clubs run by people who have no business sense at all, like the E and L clubs, run interrupted for a year or more. We all know there is no justice in poker itself, but there's also little justice in the world of quasi-illegal poker clubs in NYC.

I am so glad to learn, now later in the day, that this was a big false alarm — there's a little justice at least. Apparently, they were closed for some non-disclosed reason. They could be on a bigger radar screen, which may mean the days are numbered, but they are up and running at the moment.

Comments

[swolfe.livejournal.com]

man, i'm glad dallas doesn't have the same bug up their ass about busting card rooms that NYC seems to.

[shipitfish.livejournal.com]

Someone once argued to me that since we have no “western frontier spirit” it was going to be impossible to truly decriminalize poker on the east coast. He could be right.

For NYC, it's a complex situation. Bloomberg was forced to crack down due to highly publicized visits to clubs by famous baseball players (Alex Rodriguez) and actors (Robert Iler of The Sopranos and Macaulay Culkin of — um, uh, has he done anything since Home Alone?) just before a mayoral election. Meanwhile, the vice squad likely see it as an easy bust (I mean, it's easier than drugs and prostitution rings), and a quick take of cash probably equal to at least the prostitution busts.

There is some theorizing that someone who has a grudge against the clubs — calling saying there is a fight or something else going on at the address. Once the police show up for that a few times, they eventually have to bust what they see, even though the call is of course fake.

The most ironic thing is that off-track betting is 100% legal in NYC and there are stands and kiosks for it on ever other block throughout Manhattan. I suppose it's just easier to regulate and more profitable for the city than taxing poker clubs the way California does.

Meanwhile, no one running the clubs actually wants to legalize. They are happy to pay their fines and their attorneys retainers and keep operating. As one dealer/floorman said to me, The last thing I want is a Trump poker house in the middle of Manhattan. If I wanted to work for Trump, I'd have moved to Atlantic City already.

L Club

[red-hot-chips.livejournal.com]

Hi,

I'm a NYC player and I recently found your blog through Google.
From what I can gather, I believe I've played at the club you call the L club.

A post on CraigsList today says they got busted last night, but I guess you weren't a great fan of L, and neither am I that much, but they are in the middle of the city and open almost all the time.

Keep up the posts, I like 'em! (Maybe you could hint me at some other places to play too.)

-RC