What Happened to New York Poker?

Publisher's Note: Since Poker Digest previously published an article on the Diamond Club in New York (June 16–29 issue), we believe it is only responsible reporting that we bring our readers up to date on the occurrences which led to the closure of both the Diamond Club and Mayfair Club.

Wendeen Eolis, a past player at both clubs, tells the story in a step-by-step manner, and Poker Digest publishes same based on her opinions and knowledge of the facts as she researched them.

Last month, the New York City Mayor's office padlocked the doors of the two largest poker clubs that had flourished in the heart of Manhattan. Suddenly statutory prohibitions were enforced — after years of a laissez-faire policy. The Mayfair Club, mother of all private poker emporiums, and the Diamond Club, overseen by the feisty emperors of poker room promotion in New York City, were TKO'd by the mighty mayor of New York.

My story has three purposes:

(1) to provide a fact-based, chronological report on the events that led up to the shutdowns;

(2) to address the related misinformation campaign that has promoted false statements to be spread as gospel. I played poker at the Mayfair for nearly 10 of its 16 years and at the Diamond Club for 2 1/2 years of its 3 1/4-year run. My departures were the outcome of "divorce," but in these two poker rooms I formed many friendships that I still cherish;

(3) and to tip my hat in fond recollections of both clubs and to the extraordinary group of New York poker players who frequented them.

On September 7, I contacted the city about these cases for the first time in order to acquire information for this article. Until September 7, 2000, I had not disclosed my acquaintanceship with either club to any city, state, or federal government official (since my days as First Assistant and Senior Advisor to Governor George Pataki in 1995). Earlier, I had been a career consultant and a long-time friend and political advisor to Rudy Giuliani who became mayor in 1994. I served as a mayoral advisor during 1994, until I became involved with the governor's campaign and election. While I served in the New York State Executive Chamber, I was directly responsible for various gaming issues and became conversant on legislative issues elsewhere.

An estimated 28 other states have taken a more progressive view toward poker than has my beloved Empire State. Upstate, Oneida Indian Nation's Turning Stone Casino failed in its efforts to obtain poker in its compact with the state. The Oneidas then turned to the federal government, and under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) won approval for a nonprofit poker club as provided in an opinion by the National Indian Gaming Commission.

Oneida Indian Nation's counsel, Nils Holch, explained that part of their strategy included an ironic twist; Mayfair Club news stories were used in pleading the part of their case that required them to prove that poker was not prohibited in the state. According to Holch, the Oneida Indian Nation demonstrated that poker was actually authorized in New York by a legal analysis that included the citation of cases that stemmed back to the 1930s.

During its long reign, including several years next door to the Appellate Court, the Mayfair Club was never raided. The police were aware of the club's activities. At least once they responded to a call for assistance during a holdup; they caught the robbers and later returned money and property to the rightful owners. By all appearances, local politicians and police precincts accepted poker as a harmless pursuit of a favorite American pastime.

Recently, the mayor spoke to the New York Daily News (September 6, 2000) under glaring headlines that suggested Donald Trump might soon collaborate with Indian interests to build a casino on Manhattan Island. Giuliani stated that his support of a casino operation in the city would be contingent on a strong supervisory commission to keep organized crime out plus ensure the city would receive economic benefits from it. The governor pointed out in the same article that he favors gambling in specified tourist resort areas of the state, but not in New York City. Neither the governor nor the mayor made any distinctions between poker and other gambling activities.

Clues to the downfall of these poker rooms — where Rounders was conceived and Matt Damon and Ed Norton polished their poker faces — abound. Conversations with scores of poker players, personnel and managers from both former clubs, publicly available documents, and interviews with lawyers are the basis for our journey into the inner sanctum of the New York poker world.

A city official directly familiar with the actions that resulted in the shutdowns was also contacted. Although he spoke without obtaining formal press office approval, he confirmed that these cases began when FBI agents notified the New York City Police Department of "illegal activities" at both clubs.

According to legal papers, "a confidential informant" infiltrated the Manhattan poker games. The NYPD investigation was driven by its Vice Enforcement Division, which made criminal arrests in simultaneous raids at both clubs this past April 27. Various piddling convictions were processed. The NYPD then turned to the Mayor's Office of Midtown Enforcement which brought civil lawsuits to close the clubs. The mayor's "men" were empowered by court order to padlock the doors of the Diamond Club. In a subsequent hearing, the poker operations were declared illegal by the New York State Supreme Court. The decision dealt the deathblow for the Mayfair Club — the doors of which were padlocked soon after. The Mayfair Club settled its case out of court with the city.

In the maelstrom that inevitably accompanies the collapse of an empire, those at the center of it desperately seek answers to why they have lost their cherished way of life. In this context, competitive interests, political ties, disgruntled and unwelcome customers, ex-employees, and personal grievances all provided natural fodder for speculation about possible involvement in the investigation or prosecution of these two clubs.

A diverse crowd of professionals and other day-job regulars mixed it up with the full-time poker players and professional gamblers. The games attracted young suits and techies, senior titans and toilers, the elite and the earthy.

I, myself, was a "fit" for the radar screen. Recent magazine and television presentations had highlighted my prior political connections — along with my experience as a poker player — around the time when this momentous shake-up unfolded. So, before I continue, I must state there is not a shred of truth to any statement that links my name — in any way whatsoever — with the demise of either of these two clubs.

Over the past 15 years, the passion for poker has grown at a galloping pace in New York City, and the Mayfair evolved into the biggest and best-known poker club in town. A diverse crowd of professionals and other day-job regulars mixed it up with the full-time poker players and professional gamblers. The games attracted young suits and techies, senior titans and toilers, the elite and the earthy.

The Mayfair Club's first poker game in 1984 was the brainchild of its owner, a famous bridge player. The big, no-limit game began right after the 1985 World Series of Poker. Nightly games, at stakes as high as $150-$300, developed as the years went by.

The owners changed but the games continued to grow. The second generation of owners included the Old World Pro and the Peacenik; they provided a fine balance of talent and charity at the tables. Then the Old World Pro exchanged the Peacenik partner for a dual entry — the suave video store proprietor and a South African import. They took things up a notch. Later, a fourth investor bought in.

The Mayfair Club bred a galaxy of poker stars — the sports enthusiasts, backgammon aces, the gin experts, the Boston/Philadelphia lawyer, the toy inventor, the master of split offers, the college whiz kid dropout, and the beer distributor with five WSOP bracelets. I will be forever grateful to the mentor I met there.

The crowd was diverse and included the traders, the brokers, the investment bankers, the Shakespeare buff, the Rabbi, the Boss, the Rug Man, the lawyers, the opera-loving teacher, more than one computer expert, the real estate mogul, and the top banana in the "rags" trade. The lower stakes players were an equally colorful mix: There were the Action Jacksons and the grinders, the up-and-comers and retirees, the wannabees and the has-beens, and a fair share of cut-ups and loners. As the years rolled by, the club's clientele anted up for higher stake games. The low-limit recreational players became ripe for change.

In early 1997, colorful media advertisements announced the opening of a multi-table poker room in the popular Chelsea district, a quick stroll almost directly across town from the slightly fancier block of the East side's Mayfair Club. The ads promoted "gambling" … poker games in a "casino" environment … something new in New York.

The Diamond Club tolled the opening bell in April 1997, amid incomplete construction and renovations, under the direction of the two eldest of four brothers. They worked hard on the reincarnation of their rented space and made the new location the liveliest spot in town for low-limit poker games. The two oldest brothers ran the business. Brother No. 3 was on call: he could deal, he could kibitz, he could play poker and he proved it by winning the Big Apple Classic. The youngest brother of the four was the ever-chatty, friendly dealer who brightened our nights — all too briefly — before he passed on.

It was slow in the beginning — just one or two games in a giant room of mostly unoccupied tables. Soon the ads were pulling in the players. One player was an undercover cop; he set up a raid. The place was busted. Diamond Club personnel were hauled off, processed through the system, and obligated to do a day of community service.

One day later, the club reopened. The industrious brothers built two, then three solid games. They introduced tournaments and then bad-beat jackpots. Hold'em, stud, and eventually crazy pineapple were spread. The board displayed the waiting list for a room full of games. The brothers' winning recipe included the aggressive promotion of their seven-day-a-week "come as you are" poker party. The devoted crowd could sit back and relax while dealers and floormen took charge of running and supervising the games. The Diamond Club became the place to play poker in New York on the weekends and for action that could go around the clock.

Both clubs boasted many hundreds of members by the turn of the millennium with new prospects always showing up at the door.

The very same undercover officer — who had set up the police raid back in 1997 — hit the scene again in 2000. He showed up at the Diamond Club in a suit, with the rap of a cool Wall Streeter. The new member screening process usually eliminated the unwanteds, but this impostor passed the test.

Undercover agents passed, unscathed, through a similar screening process at the Mayfair Club where a manager says that he "verified" the cool Wall Streeter's workplace phone number and treated him to "dinner on the house." At least one "confidential informant" also found a way into the Mayfair.

In April 2000, investigators obtained warrants for the arrest of principals and personnel at each club. On April 27, the Vice Enforcement Division conducted simultaneous raids. Many players described the initial scene as horrifying. The police stormed the respective premises (only to find themselves peacefully admitted) and swarmed into the playing areas. They made identifications, took photographs, and confiscated club property and cash.

One would think that the police expected to barge in on heinous crimes, judging by the number of officers, detectives, and other police brass who were assigned to this obviously expensive sting operation. According to players and personnel at both clubs, the police did not find a single weapon nor any drugs. Nor were there any signs of any drug deal in progress, no numbers runners were on hand, no sports bets were shouted, no loan sharking was evident, and the only organized "crimes" were a handful of poker games. Bravo to both clubs!

The Diamond Club treated the raid like a rerun of an earlier, uneventful movie — their bust of 1997. They reopened the next night. The Mayfair Club management regrouped; they reopened days later.

The brothers may have been right when they insisted at their reopening their troubles were behind them — but for the fuel they added to the fire. They promptly took to the Internet to dismiss the police raids as inconsequential. Personnel and players naively echoed their sentiments. Then, the Diamond Club was profiled in Poker Digest unbeknownst to the publisher that the earlier raids had taken place.

Within weeks the mayor's men dashed into the Diamond Club — this time as the Lords of the Dance — to escort everyone out the door — with a warning not to return.

Again the Diamond Club took to the phones and the Internet to say that the club would prevail. A mammoth freeroll tournament to celebrate the anticipated victory was in the works. It never came to pass. The court handed the mayor's men a win. Days later, they took a twilight hour victory lap across town, with copycat charges in hand. They moved with emboldened confidence when they padlocked the Mayfair Club's doors. The owners retired from the stage, and the curtain dropped on the Big Apple's most prestigious poker playground.

In discussions between city attorneys and the defendants' lawyers, the city was said to have explained that the clubs were prosecuted because their activities were "too noticeable to ignore."

New York players have been flocking to the nearest casino cardrooms at Foxwoods, Mohegan Sun, and the Taj Mahal but talking about the future of poker closer to home.

As of late, New York players have been flocking to the nearest casino cardrooms at Foxwoods, Mohegan Sun, and the Taj Mahal but talking about the future of poker closer to home.

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