Speakeasies, Backdoors, After-Hours and Underground Card Games.., we all like to be clued in on what's going on -- on the DL… It makes you feel special -- cool, knowing most of the people you pass on the street have no idea, that just about any night of the week they could pop into the Gramercy Park Hotel (one of the lower floor rooms) to play a few hands. All over town -- 24/7.., you could always find a little action, one infamous poker game went on for over a month, they just kept shuffling in players and dealers -- nonstop.
From multi-millionaire hedge funders, hustlers, knock around guys, celebrities and drug addicts.., there is an illegal game going on 24/7 in not just NYC but cities across this country. The mere knowledge of a game.., is like -- an offer you can't refuse… Because unlike other, more trendy addictions that rely on some form of outside chemical.., a gambling addiction is already inside of you -- just waiting for some action.
They were (and are) in essence, to many people (more than you'd think), just like the neighborhood bar, the social aspect was not only undeniable -- it was alluring. It sucked you right in.., and called you from a far when too much time had passed since your last fix. Almost like a secret society, a sub-culture, that welcomed all that were "in the know." And once this "underground" world gets ahold of you, it's hard to escape. before you know it you are trapped in a life that feels like some surreal dream, only all too often turning into a reoccurring nightmare.
"What makes it illegal.., is the rake -- when the house takes their cut."
The mere knowledge of a game.., is like -- an offer you can't refuse… Because unlike other, more trendy addictions that rely on some form of outside chemical.., a gambling addiction is already inside of you just waiting for some action. After all, playing in one of these games is not illegal… The players do not get charged, but they do lose whatever cash they had already changed for chips -- it's the House that gets busted.., and they get busted for "the rake..," the percentage they take off the top for putting on the game. Plus, most of the time the cops have plenty of other things to worry about, besides cracking down on a lousy card game. And if you were hip to one of these underground games, you could walk out with a few hundred more than you walked in with, if you knew the score. If you went there with the sole objective to win a few stacks, stayed cool, played your game and knew when to walk away -- Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner!
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https://steemit.com/life/@macksby/underground-poker-the-action-is-the-juice
Interesting read... gambling is a tough sport to master.