To a person, my friends who know poker, gaming and the challenge of finding and buying a casino right have been excited for us and our new ownership. Despite my inference that I feel like a 24-hr busboy/bouncer, it's been a blast so far and, frankly, an ego boost. We've got a couple of thousand employees and market-leadership in our other businesses, but I'd forgotten how much fun it is to have 300+ people engaged, hands-on, in upgrading a business. And bottom line, even if it's just a mid-sized cardroom in a smaller market, it's still a licensed casino in the 2nd largest gaming state in America. We'll take it.

On the other hand, my wife is a part-owner of a children's clothing business and a yoga/pilates nut. She loves to see me engaged in whatever I do, but from her perspective, pretty much everything I do is nonsense. This morning, I was checking in on yesterday's results and incident reports and when I got off the phone, she commented, "It's like owning a Denny's. You guys never close." Well, sort of.

My friends think I'm living like Bugsy Siegel. My wife thinks I run a Denny's. It's all about perspective.

Two weeks in

Ok, my partners and I have owned the card room for about two weeks now and we’ve noticed a slight pickup in both business and overall energy level. In fact, our first night of ownership was a “best-ever” night in the casino and we’ve had a few solid nights since. I’d like to think it’s because of our efforts to improve customer service, but more likely, it's some sort of honeymoon effect or just that the regulars are hanging around longer to figure out when they could fleece us most effectively. Regardless of what’s driving the activity, we’ll take it. Better energy, more people, continuous games—it’s all good for everybody.


Day and swing shift

For those of you who would like a more specific taste of the glamor of card room ownership, here are some highlights from the first couple of weeks:

Held introductory meetings with all employees. We’ve got some of the better dealers I’ve seen anywhere (a nice surprise) and a dedicated floor staff…that helps even more. Some even speak English.

Resigned myself to my position as the best-dressed busboy/maintenance person in the local hospitality industry.

Supervised lots of computer and network fixes. Even if we don’t know how to use it, it now works.

Switched from 50c chips to $1 chips in 1/1 NL and saw the rhythm of the game improve immediately—more hands per hour and fewer mistakes. Received several sitting ovations from players and am convinced I have at least 15 or so votes for a future mayoral run.

Learned pai gow. Correction: Sat in a pai gow game, dusted off a couple of hundred bucks and still have no idea what’s going on.

Ordered another 3-card poker table. “Next time there are more than 10 people on the list for a game, feel free to let me know…”

Toured facility with local PD. The casino has a good working relationship with the city and we’re of course inclined to keep it that way. Ironically, I now have the phone numbers of vice detectives from two California counties in my speed dial adjacent to those of deeb, Thay3r, nath, Bond et al. There’s an epic conference call here somewhere.

Uncovered a trove of local sports memorabilia in storage including photos of local heroes Tom Seaver, John Hannah, etc. “Ok, we can use these. You can toss any K-Fed pics.”

Added recycling bins behind the restaurant. Vetoed my wife’s suggestion that we remarket ourselves as the world’s first ca-greeno.

Started rethinking menu and bar items. Excited about the prospect of a decent hamburger and bourbon I recognize on site.

Found out we’re allegedly the number 1 seller of Corona in the area. “Hi, yes, I’m calling from the casino. We deserve a visit from the Corona girls. No…all of them.”

Played a few hours of 1/1 NL and picked up 6+ buy-ins. Played 30 minutes of 15/30 limit. Busto for 35 BBs. It’s about giving back.

Made a quick trip to NY to keep the day job running smoothly. Re-read local ordinances and state regs on the plane. Note to self: review compliance with staff. Hate to give Tater and Landlord the satisfaction of seeing me hauled away in an orange jumpsuit.

Started compiling approved promotion activities. I’m thinking an annual Curse of the Waffle series might have merit. We may even use a tournament structure with antes.

Issued first red card (lifetime ban for fighting) and a couple of 1-month and 6-month timeouts for other drunken confrontations. I knew all those times I watched Road House would pay off.


In short, it’s been two weeks of 18+ hour days doing everything from fixing computers, otherwise playing casino operator and bouncer—all of which I like far more than I expected.


The graveyard shift

As for 2R, lakong’s been working on the initial video cuts of the twisted sit-n-go we ran during the LAPC and expect to have a few within a couple of weeks. The first cuts look like they have lots of promise and high entertainment value. Deeb, watts, nath, Thay3r, vivek, Adanthar, Flack, Brunson and Canseco on camera? Even without sound and hole card cams, it’s must-see comedy.

In addition, we’ve noticed several new writers coming to the site and have added a New Blogger section to stroke their egos early and often. A guy writes for one reason—to be read. We’re here to help.

We’re also working on maybe adding special sections of the site for Bond18 and the W/C crew to do the things they do without hurting themselves or others. Think of it as padded rooms with one-way mirrors so we can witness their respective matter-of-fact depravity in safety.

Finally, since we live for upgrades here at 2R, we’re adding private messaging, better forums to allow easier commenting and a proprietary debate feature. We may even fix the Login and Post a Comment and avatar upload features. No, I'm not kidding.

Edmond

As you might know, for the past few months I've been counting down to the purchase of a 49-table card room in Central California. Early in my poker career, it was obvious to me that, given my propensity to stack off light, the only way for me to beat the rake was to, in fact, become it. To that end, I found a card room for sale and spent the better part of the last two years trying to pull the deal together. It’s been a draining process and I'm happy to report that as of midday Thursday, we received our final regulatory approvals and by Friday afternoon, the prior owners tossed us the keys and said, "Have at it!" If anyone’s interested, I’ll post a journal of the entire sordid process.

“Awesome. I think he’s gonna die.”

After insisting to my wife and friends that the flu bug that’s savaged everyone I know would leave me untouched, I was immediately hammered by same. I’ll be honest, I felt it coming on and thought I could brush it off with Contac and cough drops, but after a lunch meeting at the Commerce in which all I remember was fighting to stay conscious, I dragged myself home and resigned myself to ridicule.

My wife would have been well within her rights to let me suffer, but instead she responded like Clara Barton possessed and spent the next 24 hours pelting me with Tylenol and antibiotics and serving up a foul round of cough medicine shots every four hours. Our living room looked like a Civil War field hospital and the cat had a strangely satisfied look on his face.

“In seat 9…providing the overlay…EdmondDantes”

Forty-eight hours later, I’m happy to report that her strategy worked and I’m feeling 100% better, just in time for a crazy session lakong and I have planned with the folks from Live at the Bike, now known as PokerNetcast. On Monday night, we’ll be hosting a $1K buy-in single table tournament with hole cams, video, commentators, the whole shebang. The current line up includes: Adanthar, nath, Shaniac, SirWatts, shaundeeb, Jose Canseco, Thayer. The flu knocked out two of the scheduled players, so we’re still scrambling a bit but I’m pretty sure we’ll round the table out. As a last resort, LakeofFire or I will fill in the final spot.

In a few weeks, we’ll be posting this dark comedy, access to the LATB archives and providing some videos with commentary which we'll segue into some new instructional content. It should be some interesting and entertaining viewing, and we’re pretty excited about it. In any event, I’ll post after the completion of the sit-n-go and let you know how it went.

Edmond

Just a reminder, the LA Poker Classic starts tomorrow (Thu, 1/24). I won't be playing the first events but will play a few the 2nd week and a couple of satellites for the final event. If anyone's in town or needs info, let me know!

For handy reference...

Guide to the LAPC

Schedule of events

Commerce tournament page

Edmond