New York City Poker Rooms Reviews -- "Near" Chinatown

[Ed. note: This is the ninth in an ongoing series of reviews of the major New York City Poker Rooms, half of which have now been CLOSED by the NYPD for one reason or another. Bastards. Due to the quasi-legality of these games, no room will be mentioned by name or specific address. While I realize these restrictions limit the usefulness of the reviews, I also respect that most of these rooms are trying to operate without drawing much attention to themselves. Anyone interested in learning more specifics about any club should contact me directly.]

Two weeks ago, I heard about a brand new poker room in Manhattan. Since I'm perfectly willing to spread my poker business around in the name of shlock "journalism", I figured I should schedule a visit to get the lay of the land and take the temperature of the fish. Before I could get around to making the trip, my internet celebrity status caught up to me, as I received an email asking me to review the place.

Take that, McGrupp!

Incognito, lest my reviewer's impartiality be compromised (ha), SoxLover and I picked a day and time, chowed down on some Mexican (food, you perv, food), and then spent the rest of the night shooting fish. Bankrolls were padded, and a good time was had by all -- especially when the entire seven-handed table was straddling around to the button. I was busy the next day, but with a steel trap for a memory, pushing the review off until the weekend didn't figure to be much of an issue.

Then Lt. Pasquale Morena of the NYPD had to go and fuck everything up.

But I'm not here to bitch about the NYPD treating the NYC poker club operators like some sort of back alley abortionists. I'm here to review the newest room. So lets get on with it already.

This particular room is tucked away in a somewhat more quiet section of the city than the Players Club or Playstation. Because of the general paranoia in the community, I'm not going to be any more specific than to say that it is "near" Chinatown and point out that there's a rather amusing (and ironic) landmark across the street from the club. Typical set-up outside: a buzzer and camera with no label. The first night there, knowing the drill, I hit the button and SoxLover and I stared at the camera. The door opened a few moments later.

"Yes guys, what can I do for you?" said Russia's answer to Fred Gwynne. This guy would have been a standout on the Soviet volleyball squad. Or one of Stalin's death squads.

"We're here to play some cards," I replied.

Fred looked at me suspiciously. "Who sent you?" he demanded through his thick Russian accent. I felt that if I got the answer wrong, he'd spirit me away to the secret dungeons of the KGB, and even if I got it right, he might still skewer me just for fun. I produced the name of the individual who had emailed me, and that was good enough to get us in the door.

Inside, a black felt curtain partitions the main room from the front door area, where a flight of stairs leads up to a second level. Fred directed us behind the curtain, where we found an oasis of beauty and classiness awaiting us. Hardwood floors. Exposed brick running the length of one wall. Brand new padded felt tables (memory's a bit hazy, but I believe there were 6 or 8, with room for more). Three-bulb light fixtures hanging low over each table. Flat-panel televisions mounted on the walls. Even a private bathroom in the back, stocked with amenities a touch above the usual.

In a word, "class".

Two desks stood at the front of the club -- one which acted as the cage, and another which was used to take in new players. When all was said and down, SoxLover and I each had our own brand new membership cards for the club. One great thing about the painless application process: Alex, our host, asked us what types of games we prefer to play and made a note of it. I'm sure that most of what will be spread in the future is no-limit holdem, but it's good to see a club that cares enough to find out if there's enough viability for other types of games.

In addition to the street-level room, there were two additional rooms up the stairs near the front entrance. One serves as a lounge area, complete with stocked kitchenette, comfy couches, an expensive-looking billiards table with all requisite equipment, and two large windows looking down on the street. The other room, on the third floor, could possibly serve as an "overflow" poker room in the future, with enough room for an additional four to six poker tables. Someone definitely has grand plans for the club. Or at least, HAD grand plans until Lt. Morena started shutting clubs down.

There's more I could tell you about the table banter and table play, and I feel like I'm forgetting a few details, but I'm coming off a marathon session in AC and you probably don't care anyway. Let's just close this off with the scorecard:

Location: Two major subway lines are nearby. It's out of the way enough to hopefully not draw much unwanted attention, but not so far that you feel like you're on some sort of extended expedition to find it.

Hours: The stated hours are Monday to Friday, 5pm to 6am; Saturday and Sunday, 2pm to 6am. I imagine it's more like "from the time the first table gets going until the last breaks down". I was recently there at 8pm and one game of 1/2 NLHE was going, with a second game starting up shortly thereafter.

Club Atmosphere: Like I said, this place is extremely classy, on par and probably even surpassing the Midtown room I reviewed last January. Somebody has spend lots of time and money on making the place nice. There was even a little Scotty Nguyen figure in the faux fireplace the last time I was there. The players and employees I encountered on my two trips were quite laid back. All in all, a friendly place.

Quality of Play: It doesn't really change from club to club. Lots of bad play. Nowhere near the level of donkey play you'd see at the Borgata 1/2 NLHE table late on a Saturday night, but still pretty bad. Just pick your targets and you'll be fine.

Tournament Structure: To be honest, I'm not sure how well this club is doing in getting its tournaments off the ground. I saw one private tournament the first night I was there, but other than that it seems like none of the players are interested in playing tournaments. You might be better off hitting a different club for now, unless and until this changes.

Cash Games: The 1/2 NLHE tables are deep-stacked with a $500 max buy-in. There was a 2/4 limit game going the first night I was there at half-time ($2 per half hour instead of the usual $4) but no such game the second night I was there. The time charges were also raised to $5, after initially starting at $4. A minor thing, maybe, but slightly disappointing. Less competition? More risk? Who knows why they were raised.

Playerbase: My first trip to the club, about a week and a half after it opened, there were 16 NLHE players, a full table of 2/4 limit players, and a private tourney. My second trip, on the night the club reopened after the raid, it managed to pull in about 14 NLHE players before I left. These are good signs for a club that opened only four weeks ago.

Worth Your Time?: These days, you don't have many other choices. If you're looking for a replacement for NYPC or Playstation, you're just not going to find it -- clubs with that level of playthrough (in terms of numbers of tables and players) just don't exist in NYC right now. However, I think this club has a chance to do good things in the future, and if nothing else it is a GREAT environment. So, in short, yes, it's worth your time.

[UPDATE 07/30/05 -- More information on the club is now available (click through).]