Inside the New York Underground
Semi-related to all the activity going on today … there’s a great story in Salon about poker:
A city awash in cards
Inside New York’s underground poker scene, where no one thinks about the recession, or their rent money, when there’s a good hand to be played.Hi, my name is Jim, and I have a gambling problem.
I told myself the last time was the last time, but here I am, in another bind: $1,000 in chips resting anxiously on the felt in front of me, and the ace-queen of hearts in my hand.
My lone opponent is Al, an egg-shaped old wiseguy who breathes heavy when he has a winner. Right now he’s taking up most of the oxygen in this three-story walk-up.
The rational part of my brain is screaming at me. “Fold, you stupid motherfucker. That’s half a month’s rent you are about to toss into the pot on a draw.” But Al is legendary for losing and that’s all the compulsive part of my brain can focus on. “Maybe he’s bluffing,” it whispers. “Move all-in.”
Pauly says:
March 25th, 2009 at 3:17pm
Great story? Pathetically mediocre at best
DanM says:
March 25th, 2009 at 3:19pm
Dude … non-poker media. And I haven’t read anything from you in Salon about the New York underground.
Short-Stacked Shamus says:
March 26th, 2009 at 8:21am
Yea, I was kind of surprised by how generic the piece turned out to be. Could’ve been about a hand played just about anywhere in the world, actually. (Not to mention the hand could’ve been explained better, too — even taking into consideration the non-pokery context.)
F-Train says:
March 26th, 2009 at 11:47am
Not only was the story kinda meh, but I feel like stories about the NYC underground rooms have been done to death at this point. Three of four years ago this story would have been more noteworthy.
DanM says:
March 26th, 2009 at 11:54am
OK, a-holes, I admit I didn’t read it all the way through. (Sorry readers, I’ll do better next time.)
But still … interesting to me that they would run it now. Go poker?