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Proposed card room in Lodi: No reason it can't be clean, safe and well-operated
Thursday, March 22, 2007 7:03 AM PDT
I first learned how to play poker when I was 6 or 7 years old, playing for my relatives' caches of pennies on most major holidays.
Being a young man who quickly identified the value of money, I rapidly gained a certain awareness to the strategies and nuances employed by others to be successful at this great game.
Like many, many Lodians, I have been playing poker games with friends since high school. I must also admit to playing in several local Texas Hold 'em tournaments over the last few years. I actually had the good fortune to win one tournament at an event hosted by Lodi's premiere cigar smoking establishment, Stogie's. I am not at all ashamed to admit that I know more than a little about how this game is played.
The proposed Wine Country Casino, which I live within walking distance of, is planning to locate in the quarters formerly occupied by Jazzy J's. While WCC may be called a "casino," it would be nothing like the casinos that one may conjure up in his or her imagination. This place of business would be better called a card room. There would be nothing even resembling the Vegas or Reno type slot machines, craps, roulette tables, etc.
This card room would mainly cater to those who choose to test their poker playing abilities against other like-minded enthusiasts.
The main game that would be played at WCC is Texas Hold 'em, a type of poker that pits players against one another, in this type of game there is no playing against the "house." In most card rooms, the house makes money usually by charging a set rate for each player for the privilege of taking a seat at the table.
This fee at Lodi's one existing card room is now set at $6 an hour. The only way the house can increase its take is to increase the amount of players. Some card rooms do take a percentage of each pot rather than charge an hourly rate.
Who wins and who loses is of no concern to reputable card rooms.
The other main game that is proposed for WCC is pai gow poker, an Americanized version of Asian dominoes changed to mimic traditional poker. This game is played against the house and thus carries a certain amount of Las Vegas-type stigma.
The morality of playing cards for money has been debated for hundreds of years. In a perfect world there would be no need for cards. However, considering the total amount of temptation available to each and every person on this Earth, it seems to me that believing card rooms to be a primary cause of social degeneration is, to a certain degree, puritanical.
Those who are for whatever reason predisposed to recklessly risk their or their families' livelihoods have many avenues to squander away their money. The California lottery and scratchers are everywhere, and a new keno draw on those same computer lines is accomplished every 10-12 minutes. Indian casinos are within a 45-minute drive.
The amount of illegal activity that would be generated by this establishment would be, by my estimates, very similar to those caused by the former Jazzy J's, which during the evening transformed itself into a nightclub. Those complaints were, from all indications, minimal at best.
Card rooms of today are a far cry from the Wild West versions of yesteryear. Security and decorum are now essential elements to any well-run establishment. Most arguments to the contrary are to me, more visceral than reasoned.
It is my humble opinion that Lodi's moral fabric is spun tightly enough to endure whatever detrimental effects, whether they be real or imagined, may or may not transpire.
I guess you could say that "I'm all in."
J. Kurt Roberts can be reached at jkurtroberts@sbcglobal.net.
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