by Wendeen H. Eolis 2006-02-06 (Updated 2014)[Originally appeared in the February 6, 2006 issue of Poker Player Newspaper}
Poker Player Newspaper Editor Note: This feature is an adaptation of material that may be part of Ms. Eolis’ planned book, Power Poker Dame.
When Charlie Prince’s invitation popped up in my E-mailbox, I assumed, at first, that it was another under-capitalized, disorganized filmmaker, anxious to cash in on the current poker craze. Would I care to participate (with scores of others) in the definitive made-for-television documentary that would chronicle the ever colorful, sometimes tempestuous, and never snuffed-out poker scene in the Big Apple?, he asked.
The Documentarian is a Serious Player
A second look at Charlie Prince’s name, along with his contact information sent me scurrying to the phone. He holds down a day job as an attorney at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates, one of the most prestigious law firms in the world. And, when it turns out that he is related to another Charles Prince I know as the Chairman of Citigroup, I can be sure that he hails from irrepressibly successful stock.
On the telephone, Charlie Prince was instantly persuasive, telling me right off the bat that his film company, Royal Flush Entertainment, LLC, a partnership with friends Andrew Wang and Jor Law, has already made contact with high-profile poker players Erik Seidel and Howard Lederer. The Company expects both to take part in recorded discussions about the good old days when they were regulars at the Mayfair Cub.
New York’s Mayfair Club; An Evolving Game Room
Originally dedicated to bridge and backgammon, the Mayfair Club was founded by Alvin Roth, a legend in the bridge world (inventor of the Tobias Stone convention). Roth allowed the Club’s earliest poker games, in 1984, reluctantly. They were relatively low stakes. He soon saw the inclusion of poker as an important growth opportunity, and by 1985 he also agreed to host the infamous “Big No Limit Hold’em Game” at his beloved Club. The increasing emphasis on poker later allowed him to sell his business to a second generation of owners that fully converted the Mayfair to a premiere poker emporium. The Mayfair grew to become the most touted card club in New York, until its abrupt closing by New York City authorities in 2000.
The Mayfair’s Monday night “Big Game,” began shortly after the close of the 1985 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. It was not a game for weaklings. In addition to Lederer and Seidel (who entered the fray once the game was in full swing) the game boasted an original cast of seasoned gamers, many with decades of experience at poker tables. Players making regular appearances inlcuded Dan Harrington who went on to win the WSOP Main Event in 1995 and many other budding poker stars that also included Jason Lester, Steven Zolotow, and Noli Francisco among them.
Superstar Poker Player Jay Heimowitz
The most notable New York-based player in that era was Jay Heimowitz, a suave superstar from upstate, and Yours truly, a babe in the woods in the world of high stakes poker players rounded out the table of original starters. Heimowitz had already made his mark at the WSOP, winning his first gold bracelet there in 1975. He followed up with a third-place finish in the WSOP’s Main Event in 1982. Yours Truly, looked to Heimowitz for tutoring on the finer points of the game and had him to thank in 1986 when she became the first woman ever to cash in the WSOP Main Event. He went on to claim six WSOP bracelets. He also was the first WSOP player to win a gold bracelet at the WSOP in four different decades.
Heimowitz also happens to keep an apartment in the same building as Charlie Prince. It is no wonder that the film executives are anxious to prevail upon Heimowitz to step up to the plate, with stories from the good old days at New York’s poker-centric Mayfair Club. Heimowitz tells Prince much about the poker world far beyond the walls of the Mayfair Club, but Prince is laser focused on the New York poker scene. If things work out as he plans, he’ll interview poker players of every generation (six in all), as he builds the story of the rise, excitement, disruptions and current chaos in New York poker circles.
The Documentarians Look for Movers and Shapers
The filmmakers have lined up an impressive roster of players to re-capture historical moments, the broad development of interest in the game, and extraordinary poker stories that surround the poker milieu of New York, NY.
Among the knowledgeable participants are principals of the two major poker clubs; a seasoned pro who bought the Mayfair Club from Roth in the early 90’s, and a former Mayfair employee and longtime poker player who founded a similarly styled club, the PlayStation, in 2002. The PlayStation was among the most popular new poker clubs that emerged after the City’s shut down in 2000 of underground poker, until the spring of 2005, when it, too, was shut down.
Prince is fascinated by the New York City poker scene. He is interested in learning more about its history and development over the past two decades, as well as the missteps of the underground poker salons and the inevitable political pressure to attack a favorite American pastime, that just has a way of bubbling up periodically.
The Progression of Poker Games in NYC
In the 80’s, in addition to the Mayfair Club, old timers in the poker world flocked to a former VFW Club to play the timeworn game of “seven card stud”, but even some of those folks became converts in the 90’s (after the VFW Club closed its doors) and joined increasingly popular Hold’em games around town. (The 1999 movie Rounders was loosely based on these two clubs, named in the movie as the Chesterfield and KGB’s club, respectively).
Prince begins to look for players that toiled at the tables during the 90’s and makes a unique find in writer/player Peter Alson, a Harvard graduate and author of Ivy League Bookie, and co-writer of the Stu Ungar story One of a Kind. He is also a regular attendee at the annual WSOP. Prince then scores an interview with Ingrid Weber, the long-time Mayfair Manager who is also a recreational player and can shed light on the constantly changing poker scene. While Weber can provide a snapshot of nearly a decade of poker, right up to its last breath at the Mayfair, Alson can compare the established Mayfair with the feisty 90’s upstart Diamond Club, a poker room that opened its doors in 1996, looking to offer poker players a more casino-style operation.
The Diamond Club Revolutionized Underground Poker Games
The Diamond Club collected seat rental fees (in the manner of legal public cardrooms) every half hour, instead of nightly club usage charges, a la Mayfair. It also was the first New York City poker club to introduce the concept of weekly tournament fare and cash games with bad beat jackpot prizes. Like the Mayfair Club, the Diamond Club was also summarily closed in 2000, on the same day.
To help explain the philosophy of the Diamond Club, the Documentary’s honchos look to a brother of the owners of the late cardroom. Brother Robert knows a thing or two about dealing and playing cards, and even more about the Club’s owners. The documentarians spend hours probing for details about how and why the Diamond Club was born. They are also mesmerized by Robert, a humorous rebel rouser. They consider sending one of their crew to get a glimpse of him doing stand-up comedy at a Greenwich Village club.
A New Generation of Poker Players in NYC
With the Diamond Club interviews in the can, the cameramen turn to Mike May, one of New York’s most congenial players. His poker exploits in New York began at the Diamond Club, but as smaller poker rooms emerged and many home games morphed into poker enterprises, the congenial Mike May got invitations to play poker wherever the game popped up–all around town.
May can recall the poker game that was in full swing just as airplanes were cracking open the World Trade Center on 9.11. He can also opine on the recent raids and robberies at games big and small, either because he was there or because everyone keeps him informed on all manner of New York poker news and juicy poker gossip. May is also up to date on the hot-as-a-pistol alternative to live games. It is internet-based poker. It has gotten a lot of traction with huge windfalls for the operators.
The Charlie Prince crowd is all ears for all manner of poker stories, but the producers and director are still determined to remain laser focused on live poker in New York City. As of now, they are mostly mum about the wide-ranging interviews except to tell me that no one has tickled their funny bone better than Adam Schoenfeld.
Schoenfeld is one of the few New York players, that was not part of the Mayfair’s “Big Game” that nabbed an invite to the World Poker Tour’s “Professional Poker Tour.” He was well-liked in the new generation of players in New York that came up in the late 90’s. May, Schoenfeld, and others help bridge the heyday of the Mayfair and Diamond Club with the lower profile, but just as colorful imitators that proliferated around the city after their closing. The widened cast of interviewees keeps the filmmakers busy and constantly moving forward, in the goal of painting a fulsome portrait of poker in New York. Their documentary will highlight New York poker players’ determination to enjoy the game through thick and thin.
The Documentarians Turn their sights on Smaller Poker Venues
Charlie Prince and his partners are working individually and together to pull the full picture into sharp focus, including the very much smaller New York City clubs that put down small-stakes games after the closings of the Mayfair and Diamond Club. In general, these clubs looked to to create fun, make a few bucks, and draw less attention to themselves, but many of them featured bigger stakes games with increasing regularity. These smaller clubs have also helped to popularize the game and accelerate the skillsets of their “regular” players. The documentarians also learn about one longtime, small cardroom under the radar screen for decades, because it popped up as one of the favorites in the early aughts
The Genoa Club, known as a “football club” to the outside world served up plenty of poker with down home Italian pomodoro sauce and Porno TV fare barely concealed on the side. My favorite newbie poker haunt was elsewhere, the rocking Dandelion Club, where a porterhouse and poker party was the last celebration.
Prince Interviews Yours Truly
Prince returned to his original request—an interview with Yours truly. He was anxious to learn about my experience as the only woman in the Monday Night Big Game at the Mayfair and my poker exploits elsewhere. He inquired about my poker confrontations with Aces of the game, celebrities that were beginning to show up, and the millionaires from all walks of life that were anxious to test their skills at underground poker tables—in New York.
I gave Prince what he wanted—an overview of the poker scene in which I have been a part and a taste of poker with porterhouse steak on hand. Like all of his interviews, Prince insists on keeping most of our conversation under wraps.
But here, my dear readers, is a peak at one of the hair-raising New York poker stories I tell him, that I am about to tell you—because it truly shines a bright light on the current state of poker in New York. I plan to publish this story, among others, someday, in an upcoming book. Here are some of the juicy details about my porterhouse poker party, at Dan De Lion’s Poker Club.
Porterhouse is Part of the Poker Party
On this Saturday night, New York movers and shakers of the poker world were in Dr. Dan DeLion’s egalitarian (bring your own food/serve yourself) “dining room,” where card games just had a way of breaking out. Inspired by the host’s tasty appetizers from McDonald’s, some of the socialites pleaded for porterhouse. How could I refuse to call my favorite steakhouse for delivery of its finest steak?
The Hold Up that Wasn’t
The jolliness of our porterhouse feast was surpassed only by the conviviality of a friendly evening of cards, until the City’s “party poopers” broke up the harmless happening.
An unidentified group of men and women with guns drawn barged off the elevator and banged on the Club Door. Once the door was opened, the leader yelled, “Hold up!” I took his words, literally. As ordered, I turned on my heels and stepped lively, back to the familiar dining table, where I eyeballed my black and blue steak and then bowed my head, quietly. At this point, I was pleased only about my choice of last supper! Finally, I could wait no longer to raise my head upward toward heaven. It was then that I realized I was at a dinner party with “New York’s Finest, not a foe that might fire.
To celebrate the revelation, I held my head high and hummed the Hallelujah chorus, quietly, relieved to learn that the “hold up” was merely a “sit down” with midtown enforcement agents. The “intruders” finally made a “find,” a pound of tasty looking leftover porterhouse. The hungry looking hounds from the mayor’s office gave the benediction and ordered us to scram. They emptied the place out, presumably to chow down on our porterhouse, in peace.
Moviemakers on a Mission
Charlie Prince laughed heartily at my story, but he and his partners have a far more penetrating tale to tell. The partnership of Prince, Wang, and Law was motivated to put their company together after bearing witness to the volatile poker scene of the past couple of years—at games they had personally attended. They have been part of the recreational poker scene.
Initially they were unaware of the breadth of the poker community, but every day the filmmakers are peeling the onion–learning more about the rise of hold’em, all around the City. The Mayfair was the key player to fuel interest and popularize the game in New York City and it will always be remembered as the original hub. But these documentarians are on the hunt for all of the historical and hysterical twists that have occurred in the New York poker world.
They are checking out the old-fashioned stud houses on lower Madison Avenue and the west side on 72nd Street, the home games built around the big fish, and the downtown back rooms around Chinatown and Little Italy where the big-time mobsters, and small potatoes wise guys might be in on the take.
Beyond the players and the workers, Prince has also reached out to legal beagles including Professor Nelson Rose of Whittier Law School, and attorney/gambling law expert Chuck Humphrey. Royal Flush Entertainment executives have also made a beeline to the doors of NY newspaper and TV reporters in search of more nuggets. Prince has even knocked on the doors of politicians and police, trying to cajole them into explaining the reasons for their unpredictable enforcement actions.
Along the way, Prince and his partners also hear from the poker room managers and dealers. While the Mayfair Club relied on the players to rotate dealing the cards among themselves, since the closing of the Mayfair, dealers have been an integral part of the New York poker community. They also have been the most jeopardized when the authorities have come around. Workers have often been the hardest hit in the various police raids, hauled off for a visit to the slammer and jobless when they finally got home.
The last interviewees are diverse group of young professionals who get together for a monthly Poker Night party at a fancy coop. We have come a long way through thick and thin since the sizzling Mayfair Big Game, but Prince will prove that the New York ‘s Mayfair Club players have been long-term influencers in the wide world of poker.
Author Note: An earlier version of this story appeared February 6, 2006, in Poker Player Newspaper and at the author’s website. It was updated in 2014. Poker Player Newspaper ceased publication in 2015. The article now resides at Wendeeneolis.com.