If you ever spend a day by New-York City and you want to sit at a poker table, you will have to venture a little outside the city limits to satisfy that urge. Unless, of course, you find a private party on site. Some websites, like www.homepokergames.com, connect players in New York and elsewhere. For everyone else who prefers the glamorous atmosphere of casino poker rooms, here are our tips.
The underground circles: to forget
The Mayfair Club was the best known of the New York City ‘underground’ poker clubs of the 70s and 80s. Poker legends like Howard Lederer, Erik Seidel and Dan Harrington were trained there. But by the mid-2000s, most of these clubs had been closed by police after a series of spectacular raids.
It must be said that the law of the State of New York prohibits the organization of gambling on its territory. Only ‘home games’ are tolerated, when they do not give rise to any levy or entry fee. Suddenly, underground poker clubs have become even more discreet and it is no longer possible to enter them unless you are sponsored by someone.
In the event of a police raid, the players will not be charged (unlike the organizers) but the money with which they play will be seized. The risks of robbery are not to be underestimated either since these clubs are very tempting for criminals: there are large amounts of cash and robbed clubs are unlikely to file a complaint.
In short, if you want to play poker live during one of your visits to New York, these clubs are not recommended. But there are other solutions.
Atlantic City
The first is called Atlantic City, in the state of New Jersey, about 150 km south of New York. It is, along with Las Vegas, the only place where it is possible to open casinos when you do not belong to an Indian nation. Suddenly, gambling establishments have flourished there: Bally’s, Borgata, Caesars, Golden Nugget, Harrah’s, Tropicana and Trump Taj Mahal are available to you in this little Las Vegas on the East Coast.
Indian casinos in New York State
The second solution concerns precisely these Indian nations, which in the 1980s conquered the right to open casinos on the territory of their reserves. Today, there are more than 360 casinos operated by Indian forums throughout the United States, including several in the immediate vicinity of New York.
In the State of New York, the Seneca Indians opened two casinos, the Mohawk and the Oneida one each, all located near the Canadian border. Other casinos exist, including one in New York City, which opened last October following a relaxation of the law on gambling. But apart from those listed below, none offer live poker.
| Last name | Poker Room | Variants | Blinds min. | Address |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Akwesasne Mohawk Casino | 12 tables | Texas Hold’em, Omaha & 7Card Stud | 1$/2$ | 202 State Route 37 / Akwesasne, NY 13655 |
| Seneca Allegany Casino & Hotel | 12 tables | Texas Hold’em, Omaha & 7Card Stud | 1$/2$ | 777 Seneca Allegany Blvd. / Salamanca, NY 14779 |
| Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel | 24 tables | Texas Hold’em, Omaha & 7Card Stud | 1$/2$ | 310 Fourth Street / Niagara Falls, NY 14303 |
| Turning Stone Resort & Casino | 31 tables | Texas Hold’Em, Omaha & 7Card Stud | 1$/2$ | 5218 Patrick Road / Verona, NY 13478 |
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Connecticut Indian casinos
Finally, other Indian reservations have opened casinos in the neighboring state of Connecticut, about 200 km north of New York. There are two of the largest casinos in the world: first, the Foxwoods Resort Casino, located in the Mashantucket Pequot Indian Reserve, and the Mohegan Sun Casino, built in the Mohegan Indian reserve.
The Foxwoods Resort has a 114 table poker room, making it the second largest in the United States behind that of the Commerce Casino, in Florida. We play in limit and no-limit Texas hold ’em, in limit and pot-limit Omaha (including hi / lo) as well as in seven-card stud (high and hi / lo), from $ 1 / $ 2.
As for the Mohegan Sun, it has a poker room with 42 tables. Here too, we compete in Omaha, Texas Hold ‘Em and Seven-Card Stud, always from $ 1 / $ 2.
Finally, in May 2011, the Mohegan Sun announced its intention to open a new casino in Thompson, in the Catskills, in the state of New York itself. Baptized New York casino, we already know that it will include 258 hotel rooms, 2,100 slot machines, five restaurants, a sportsroom (for betting on horse races) and a shopping center. No details have yet filtered through his poker room but we should be quickly fixed since the opening of the complex is scheduled for spring 2013.
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