THE 105 PLACES I'VE PLAYED POKER

I was born in 1967, but unfortunately didn't start playing cards for money til I was 16. The following are the places I've played at in approximate chronological order of my first visit to each locale as I recall. If there is some inaccuracy (like Caesars closed in 1983), tell me.

    1983

  1. Zwebe's house, Phoenix Steve Kober was the big winner that night, almost $5.
  2. Tom's house on Oregon, Phoenix The default location for most games of my teens.
  3. Pauly's house on Townley, Phoenix Who can ever forget the time Jeff Bass uttered the words... "always sell," and broke up nut-nut.
  4. My parents' house, Phoenix
  5. Andrew Koines's friend's (no idea on the name) house in Scottsdale Mostly JD and LedZep, but there was a poker game somewhere in the haze.
  6. Chris's house near Metro, Phoenix
  7. Adam Mayer & Steve Ross's house in Tempe The birthplace of many poker neologisms such as "pamphlet take," "roll your pot match the own," and "Dennis, what have you found?" Steve if you ever see this, email me; I know I still owe you a few $.
  8. Blilies' house, Phoenix This is where Eve won a huge pot without even being in the room. That was the end of the one-night letting-women-play experiment.

    1984

  9. Richard Connell's house, Phoenix
  10. Matt Savoca's apartment on Maryland, Phoenix
  11. The Palo Verde West dorm at ASU, Tempe

    1985

  12. On the ACU-I Bus to Utah Those bowlers thought they could play cards, HA! No match for the chess champ.
  13. Hotel room in Logan, Utah More of the same, the main thing I remember was that it was -20 outside that week.
  14. Dan's church near Mountain View, Scottsdale Dan was church-sitting so it seemed like a good place to play. At the end of the night, sure as fishes and loaves, no one was stuck! I am not making this up.
  15. Pauly's and my apartment in Tempe This is where I discovered that Polo takes the smell out of beer in carpet.
  16. The Cholla dorm at ASU, Tempe

    1986

  17. The Imperial Palace, Las Vegas This was downstairs, then they expanded and it moved upstairs, now I think they did away with it altogether to expand the Sports Book. Once I was in a game here where the poker room manager sat in when the game was short. He didn't play a hand outside the blinds for an hour til finally we got in a pot together. I ended up making nut flush. It went to six raises on the river before I wised up. Sure enough, he turned over the 4-7 of spades for the straight flush. Very strange..
  18. The Marina, Las Vegas Tis no more.
  19. The Phi Kappa Psi house at ASU, Tempe These games weren't very disciplined.
  20. Al Rossi's house in Scottsdale Friday nights there'd be two tables going .50-$1, and the big game, $1-$2, with a waiting list for both.

    1987

  21. The Holiday Inn Boardwalk, Las Vegas This got taken over by Harrahs.
  22. Chris's apartment at 67th and Butler, Glendale The question was usually how long until the night broke out in a marathon of "The Game" -- 3-card Man or Mouse, win 4, 1 blind. If they ever spread this at the World Series of Poker, watch out -- I could write a book on the "Three-White-Chip Syndrome" alone.
  23. The Sands, Las Vegas See The Marina.
  24. Jeff Schmell's house, Phoenix This game was the week after Matt got beat up for defending Bob the Bee's honor.

    1988

  25. Crickett's Bar, Glendale This was the first bar at which I ever played.
  26. Dan's apartment in Scottsdale

    1989

  27. Al's friend's Steve Spiczak's house, Glendale Ended up playing heads-up all night with Steve and broke even.
  28. Tommy's Full House on Camelback, Phoenix This was a great place before those WCTU-types decided "social gambling" weren't too sociable.
  29. The Sahara, Las Vegas
  30. The Riviera, Las Vegas This has got to be a cool place seeing how it's the only casino I know that has y2k disclosure on the front page of its web space.
  31. Caesars Palace, Las Vegas Their card room was closed around 89 or 90. They were the last Strip casino to spread 15-30 Razz on a regular basis I think.
  32. Yucca Tap Room, Tempe This may not have been called the Tap Room back then (89), but it was the same locale as the current Tap Room. This place later became the Refreshments' home court.
  33. Backroom of the New Saigon Restaurant, Tucson The main place to play in Tucson before the games had to go underground.
  34. Grand Falloon, Tucson Bar right by the UofA.
  35. The Swizzle Stick on 29th St, Tucson. Right next to Davis Monthan Air Force Base. Pretty much recreated wild woolly Old West in a 20th century bar.
  36. The Sweetwater Inn at 27th and Sweetwater, Phoenix

    1990

  37. Pete Ceppanetti's house, Tucson Pete was the best cook I ever met, so I always ate light during the day Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
  38. Sam's Place on Speedway, Tucson Sam didn't sell a lot of food. This was mainly a front for dealing Blackjack.
  39. Western bar in East Tucson right next to the DMV for which the name escapes me
  40. Garrett's at 7th and Indian School, Phoenix This was a sweet game I stumbled upon during Spring Break 1990. I almost didn't go back to Tucson.
  41. Winner's Circle at 19th and Bell, Phoenix Right next to Turf Paradise. Lot's of action. They used to have a $100-buyin no limit game.
  42. The Mirage, Las Vegas No longer Mecca, but still a nice place to play.
  43. Binion's Horseshoe, Las Vegas Home of the World Series of Poker.
  44. Golden Nugget, Las Vegas
  45. Frank & Mike's game on Craycroft, Tucson
  46. Frank & Mike's apartment on Alvernon, Tucson
  47. Frank & Mike's game at the Radisson on Speedway, Tucson Certain, er, legal challenges made this game a little mobile.
  48. Cliff Manor Inn on Oracle, Tucson Everyday at noon, they spread a $1-5 7-stud HiLo Split game. They thought that they could get around the law by designating it a club and charging a $1 membership fee. The law felt otherwise and it was raided with Arizona Daily Star photographers in tow. They had an old country singer that played upstairs every night (cept Mondays) who had a voice smooth as whiskey. I actually learned to like country a little here.

    1991

  49. Sun Terrace apartments south of UofA, Tucson
  50. Chris's house at 31st and Bell, Phoenix
  51. Bug's apartment on the South side of Dunlap, Phoenix

    1992

  52. Brent Gardner's house, Phoenix
  53. Flamingo Hilton, Laughlin Mostly notable for the bus driver forcing us to watch Victor Borge videos on the turnaround.
  54. The Excalibur, Las Vegas
  55. The Rio, Las Vegas Used to have tournaments here everyday at noon, now just a big one in January.
  56. Trailers at Fort McDowell, Fountain Hills Used to be all the poker games were in a building that looked remarkably like a renta-storage unit.
  57. Flamingo Hilton, Reno
  58. Bug's house on 21st, Phoenix
  59. My old residence on Cochise, Phoenix
  60. Pointe Tapatio hotel room, Phoenix, before Matt's wedding

    1993

  61. Circus Circus, Reno
  62. Peppermill, Reno Currently spreading 20-40 with a $2 drop. Best deal in America. Update: Apparently there is a 20-40 game in Seattle now with a $1 drop; the problem is you need a lineup card to figure out the teams. This info based on unsubstantiated r.g.p. rumour.

    1994

  63. Brady Skousen's house, Phoenix I haven't forgotten you owe me ten bucks, Jackie Schubert.
  64. Fort McDowell, Fountain Hills The plurality of my hours were spent here.
  65. Bay 101, San Jose A very nice place.
  66. Garden City, San Jose No shortage of action, but too smoky.This has changed now that California has banned smoking. Hopefully, someday all of America will come to her senses.
  67. The Stardust, Las Vegas

    1995

  68. Chris's apartment during Superbowl 95, Glendale
  69. The Reno Hilton They used to spread a NoLimit game here with $2 and $5 blinds. It moved to the Eldorado. To read how I got busted with Presto, click here.
  70. The Desert Inn, Las Vegas
  71. Al Rossi's house, Glendale

    1996

  72. Jane's friend Ron's friend's Rock's house, Houston I gave Jane 10% of my action here, just to give her a taste -- Now she's got half my action for life. (She won $1 that night.)
  73. Matt George's house on Ruth, Phoenix By this time, "The Game" had become 5-stud HiLo, win one high, one low, with alternating rounds of high and low.
  74. Diamond Jo Riverboat, Dubuque Found out here that my future brother-in-laws were gamblin, drinkin fools. Good quality family time.

    1997

  75. Bug's apartment on the North side of Dunlap, Phoenix
  76. Harrah's Ak-Chin Casino, Maricopa, AZ There was a great (>2Bph) 15-30 mix here every Friday til Gila opened. Sic transit gloria casini.
  77. Gila River Indian Casino, Chandler, AZ A nice room for those on the Southeast side of town.
  78. The Palace Station, Las Vegas
  79. The Orleans, Las Vegas They have tournaments here everyday at noon which are usually good for a few hun.
  80. Desert Diamond Casino, Tucson Word is after establishing a monopoly this place is now doing everything to screw it's customers. Raised rakes, not allowing any decent size games. Fight back! Come to Phoenix. It's less than 90 minutes to Casino Arizona. Less than 60 to Gila and Harrah's Ak-Chin.
  81. Speaking Rock Casino, El Paso Stopped in here on my honeymoon. Decent 15-30 game, but there was a $4 drop + $1 for jackpot. They also offer 8-deck blackjack (2-deck penetration) where you pay 50c / hand for the privilege of playing. Gee, thanks.
    Best bet: move to another state.

    1998

  82. Sandia Casino, Albuquerque Kind of a dump, but nicely run card room. Reasonable drop ($3, no jackpot), good dealers, and tables are adequately spread out with decent ventilation. One nit: free hands for new players in red chip games penalize those who start the games.
  83. Casino Arizona at McKellips, Phoenix - T1 A big tent used temporarily til they could scratch up enough dough to build a real casino on the site.
  84. ElDorado, Reno Current home of Reno's no-limit game. $2,$5 blinds. $2 drop.
  85. Matt's house in Surprise, Arizona Urban sprawl claims another victim as no-check-raise poker oozes westward.

    1999

  86. Casino Arizona at Indian Bend, Phoenix - T2 Where I play most of the time these days.
  87. The Bellagio, Las Vegas An absolutely beautiful place and poker room.
  88. Tom's house in Gilbert, AZ Home of the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, tho for civility's sake, I won't map these.
  89. Crystal Park Casino, Los Angeles
  90. Crown Casino, Melbourne, Australia Played 2-4 Manila here while cooling my heels before 1999 WSC.

    2000

  91. Chris's house in Glendale As people drifted off, I think someone actually got a check raise in here.
  92. The Internet

    2001

  93. Casino Arizona permanent site at McKellips.
  94. The Bicycle Casino, Los Angeles.
  95. The Commerce Casino, Los Angeles.
  96. The Farmhouse at Eagle Ridge, IL.
  97. Eagle Point Park, Dubuque IA. Poker comes to the Dolter family reunion party.
  98. The Four Queens, Las Vegas. You can check out my cuisine trip report.
  99. Paul Phillips' condo at Turnberry (old tower), Las Vegas What red wine goes best with hustling your friends at Scrabble, Yahtzee and 13-card triple draw?

    2002

  100. The Hustler Casino, Los Angeles.

    2004

  101. Matt's house at 67th and Happy Valley Bringing badoogi to the west side.
  102. Phil Gordon and Andy Bloch's condo at Turnberry, Las Vegas As featured in the New York Times

    2005

  103. Dennis's house in Cave Creek

    2008

  104. European Poker Tour at The Atlantis Casino, The Bahamas
  105. European Poker Tour Championship, Monte Carlo Bay Resort, Monaco

Last Modified 5/28/08

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