Underground poker

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Underground poker rooms were most famously depicted in the 1998 movie Rounders, but existed long before and after the film^{[citation needed]}.

1 Historical New York Clubs
2 Recent Years
3 Playstation
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Historical New York Clubs

Some of the longest operating underground clubs have been in New York City. Two of these, the Diamond Club and the Mayfair Club, were famous proving grounds for such now well-known poker players as Howard Lederer, Erik Seidel and Dan Harrington. The New York Police Department, however, closed these clubs in the summer of 2000 during the Rudolph Giuliani administration’s law and order campaign^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Recent Years

Underground poker nevertheless flourished in New York City after the Giuliani busts. In Manhattan, circa 2004, the most well-known clubs included Playstation near Union Square and New York Players’ Club (NYPC) (sometimes referred to as 72nd Street) on the Upper West Side.

On May 26, 2005 New York City police raided and shut down numerous rooms, including Playstation and NYPC^[1]^[2]^[3]. Clubs that were not targeted then voluntarily closed their doors for some time in spring 2005, but were mostly reopened by that summer.

The reopened clubs began to draw some celebrity clientele, including Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees^[4] (who was officially reprimanded for playing in such clubs), and Robert Iler (who was actually present for the October 23, 2005 bust of the club Ace Point at 328 E. 61st Street)^[5]. Raids continued regularly throughout 2005, closing club such as Rounders on West 25th Street in the Flatiron District of Manhattan^[6], and, after a series of busts and re-opens, the Brooklyn Players' Club in Park Slope area of Brooklyn.

Clubs generally continued throughout New York City during 2006 and into 2007, but seemed to the clientele to keep their size smaller to avoid the attention that the larger clubs such as NYPC and Playstation brought.

[edit] Playstation

This section is written like a personal reflection or essay and may require cleanup.
Please help improve it by rewriting it in an encyclopedic style. (December 2007)

Playstation, known to many as "the Station" or simply "PS", was considered to be one of the finest card rooms in New York City history.^{[citation needed]} At its peak, the Playstation hosted ten tables in two rooms and spread several games including Texas Hold'em, Omaha, and HORSE. It was not uncommon for Playstation to have 100 or more players in the room at once. A long waiting list was typical for Friday and Saturday nights. The club served complimentary snacks and beverages (non-alcoholic). Every Sunday, pizza or Quizno's was ordered free for all players and spectators in the room.