The Secret World of Poker Clubs

This you gotta read. 

A story about the illegal poker games that float around NYC -- in private apartments, the basements of buildings, the backrooms of bars, and other places you might not think were housing organized crime (well, bars maybe). 

Not that there's any killing or hooking or kneecapping going on at these places. Just a bunch of drunk middle aged guys playing cards while chowing down food. The author of this article used to work as a waitress at some of these games and would supply the players with food and drink while they gambledtheir life savings away. 

It's like something out of Goodfellas. Fortunately there's no stories of "Hey Spidah' go get me a drink!" and no one seems to have gotten their foot shot at -- yet. 

What's interesting about this story is how cloak and dagger these games are. How they are everywhere and nowhere and how operate in their own secret world. But what's most fascinating is how Old School this is. It's hard to think that, in the second decade of the 21st century, these kinds of games still go on. Considering that there's legalized gambling in much of the country now, along with Vegas and Atlantic City, along with the new avenues for gambling on the Internet, it's amazing to see that some guys just can't shake the old ways. They still just want to sit around, gamble, and eat. Technology and casinos just can't compete with that.