NYC Underground: Poker in Spanish Harlem

Posted on October 26, 2007

I kept my head down and my hood up. Joe walked next to me, his eyes straining to see the numbers over the doors of the buildings. I watched the ground with every step I took, screaming metal blaring from the ear buds of my iPod. It was Friday night, 1AM, and we were on the border of Spanish Harlem, desperately trying to find the entrance to a tiny poker club that Joe was at a month earlier.
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NYC Underground: Bad Luck, Bad Beats

Posted on October 25, 2007

I called my cousin Scott and picked him up from his house. It was 6 p.m., but he had just rolled himself out of bed. I'll reiterate, it was Monday night. What a bum! I was dragging him back to the card club I was now frequenting; the place was replete with all of the bad players you needed to keep your bank account ballooning.
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NYC Underground: Cash Game Mania

Posted on October 21, 2007

New York's Upper East Side. Home to old money, overpriced boutiques, and expensive restaurants. Old buildings adorn the tree-lined blocks, and - unbeknownst to the normal person - New York's largest, most successful card club is nestled six stories above street level.
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NYC Underground: Part Four

Posted on October 20, 2007

Amidst the threats and high tensions, the final table was nigh. The field had battled for a little more than two hours, and the top nine were ready to play. First prize paid out $500, second was $300, third, $200. Fourth to sixth paid $100, and seventh to ninth was only $50. The card club staff enveloped the final table - it was a wall of Italian men dressed in black. I'm not sure what the purpose was, but I was intimidated. A chorus of "Don't forget to tip your dealers at the end" was repeated nonstop.
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NYC Underground: Part Three

Posted on October 19, 2007

I had a monster chip stack in front of me. Three big hands had given my stack a great boost, and I was easily in the top three in the room. My cousin Scott was still sitting in the corner of the club, the dealers at the cash-game tables keeping a close eye on him.
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NYC Underground: Part Deux

Posted on October 18, 2007

I trailed behind my cousin Scott as he pushed the glass doors open. "We're going to floor three," he told the doorman, who nodded knowingly. I kept my hood over my head and got into the elevator, in awe that this poker club was right smack in the middle of Manhattan and I'd never heard of it.
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NYC Underground: Summer Poker Action

Posted on October 17, 2007

When the sun goes down, New York City lights up. Thousands of twenty-somethings spill into the city from Long Island and New Jersey. The work-weary young professionals living in Manhattan finally get to slip on a pair of jeans and get out drinking. I had finally left Boston and returned to the rat race that I affectionately call home. And I only had one thing on my mind. Well – two things.
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