Gardena: Poker Capital of the World

Robert Turner as part of Larry Flynt’s  Original Hustler Casino Management Team

The Normandie Casino has been rumored to be an acquisition of the Hustler Casino by Larry Flynt. If this happens, the Gardena poker legacy will be gone, and all that will be left is one corporation controlling the remaining two.

Poker was started in Gardena in 1936 by legendary card club owners Ernie Primm and Russ Miller, the patriarch of the Miller family who owns the Normandie Casino.

The six clubs of poker that made up the Gardena landscape are now just a memory, and if Larry Flynt takes over the Normandie Casino, the last of the original six, a poker era will varnish forever.

As I reflect back, it has occurred to me that I managed four of the six casinos in Gardena, a small city ten miles outside Downtown Los Angeles. When poker boomed in California with the legalization of Hold’em around 1986, many characters came out to play in Gardena, including myself.

A Storied History: The Horseshoe Club

Some were very famous for their play while others were notorious for having a shady past like Shoeshine Nick. Legendary poker author Mike Caro was also part of Gardena history.

Caro recalls of that time, “Old Gardena was a poker garden where money grew, but there was also treachery, and you had to avoid the cheating. You dealt your own cards, which was fine, but so did they, and there was always danger.”

Caro continues, “The producer — weak players who provided you profit — came, and many went broke or disappeared. But along came new producers, so you survived. It was five-card draw, high or low, and the draw could determine your fate for now. But there was always tomorrow. So, we won.”

“Gardena called itself the Poker Capital of the World. And it really was,” Caro concludes.

I agree with him. When I was General Manager of the Horseshoe Club in 1986, I had many problems to solve including rampant cheating, which I solved with stationary dealers. Before that, each player took turns dealing, which led to mechanics and teams plying their trade at the expense of the producers.

Some of the problems I had to deal with at the Horseshoe not only had to do with the players but also involved the owners. One day I discovered a security guard in the count room area taking chips out of the drop boxes.

After an investigation, it was determined that one of the owners had given him the key. That particular owner was the general partner of the casino; I knew my days were numbered there. The casino was sold, and my contract was bought out. It was closed for remodeling, and it never reopened.

Poker Legends in Gardena

1996 WSOP Main Event Winner Huck Seed

 

But while I worked there, I added new games, such as seven-card stud and Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO), which was spread in California for the first time at the Horseshoe. These games attracted the best poker players in the world. Regulars in these games were Freddie Deeb, Phil Hellmuth and Johnny Chan.

Hellmuth would fly into Los Angeles, take a taxi to Gardena to play PLO and sometimes he would go broke and turn right around. The first time I met World Series of Poker Main Event winner Huck Seed was in Gardena. He was playing $15/$30 Limit Hold’em and was a consistent winner, who showed greatness even at that time.

The first World Championship of Omaha was played in Gardena at the Horseshoe. It featured a $500 buy-in, and people came from all over the country to play.

I left Gardena for nine years while I managed other clubs, such as the Regency, the Bicycle Club and Hollywood Park Casino. I returned to Gardena in 2000 to open Hustler Casino with Larry Flynt as his executive host in charge of the house players and, of course, promoting Omaha.

Eric Drache and Yosh Nakano created a huge stud game hosted by Larry Flynt himself at the Hustler with great players from all over the world. Regulars in that game included a who’s who of poker royalty—Doyle Brunson, Chip Reese, Barry Greenstein, Phil Ivey, Thor Hansen and Danny Robison.

In 2006, I was hired as the poker manager of Normandie Casino. I remember Mike Sexton roasting me for my sixtieth birthday and referring to my Horseshoe days in 1986. He said, “Robert Turner came a long way in his poker career—right across the street.”

At one time, the Horseshoe was located right across the street from the Normandie Casino. It is pretty funny that after twenty years I had come right back to where I started, the other side of the street.

Today the Normandie is facing some serious fines and legal issues, so passing the torch to Larry Flynt may be their best opportunity.

Only time will tell where Larry Flynt takes Gardena, the former poker capital of the world. He owns it all now.

Robert Turner is a legendary poker player and casino/billiard marketing expert. Robert is most well-known for creating the game of Omaha poker and introducing it to Nevada in 1982 and to California in 1986. He created Legends of Poker for the Bicycle Casino in 1995. He also helped create Live at the Bike, the first live gaming site broadcast on the Internet in 2002.

He has spent over 30 years in casino marketing and player development. He has served as an executive host at the Bicycle Casino and MGM.  He is currently working as a casino consultant.

Robert can be reached at robertturnerpoker@gmail.com for consulting, marketing and coaching. Find Robert on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/thechipburner and on Twitter @thechipburner. Subscribe to Robert’s blog “Beyond the Numbers” to receive notifications of new posts by email.

World Poker Tour/Legends of Poker by Patricia Chavira

The Bicycle Hotel and Casino will be hosting the World Poker Tour/Legends of Poker tournament series starting Tuesday, July 28^th and running through September 4^th.  The series kicks off with Event No. 1: a $235 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament with a $200,000 guarantee.

This event will employ the unique Quantum-Reload concept. Mo Fathipour, the tournament director at the Bicycle Hotel and Casino and inventor of the Quantum Reload, explains the structure as a way for players to enter the tournament at the time and buy-in level that suits them.

Fathipour says players can “come into the tournament on different days, pay different buy-ins and get different starting stacks.” This format accommodates players’ schedules and bankrolls.

For example, Days 1A, 1B and 1C have two sessions each, one starting at 12 p.m. and the other at 5 p.m., all with a $235 buy-in and 25,000 starting chips. 10% of the field qualifies for Day 2.

For players with a bigger bankroll who do not have the time to play over three days, they can directly buy into Day 2 on Friday for $2,400, receive 250,000 chips and are guaranteed to be in the money for $400.

Legends of Poker was created by Gaming Today columnist Robert Turner in 1995. George Hardie had the rights to one the most prestigious tournaments at that time called The Diamond Jim Brady tournament which had a long history of success. When George Hardie’s contract with the Bicycle Casino was not renewed, Turner was asked to create a tournament that could match the prestige of the Diamond Jim Brady.

He came up with the idea to have 25 top poker pros each host an event. He gathered the likes of Phil Hellmuth, Johnny Chan, Ted Forrest, Cyndy Violette, Barbara Enright and 20 other poker superstars to launch Legends of Poker, which remains one of the most highly-anticipated poker tournaments every year.

Legends of Poker has been part of the World Poker Tour schedule since 2002. The tournament series will include a variety of events and buy-ins. From the return of the Mega Millions with a $1,000,000 guarantee to H.O.R.S.E and a variety of satellites, there is an event to suit every player.

With an estimated $6,000,000 prize pool, this is a series not to be missed. The complete schedule can be found at:

http://www.thebike.com/poker/tournament_yearly_wpt_legends_of_poker_2015.php

Follow tournament updates here: http://thebicyclecasino.blogspot.com/

2013 WSOP: Year of the Woman

2013 WSOP Bracelet Winner Loni Harwood

As I was reviewing the statistics for the 2013 World Series of Poker (WSOP), one in particular stood out.  With 79,471 total entries, women players represented a mere 5.1% of the field. Yet, at the same time, female cashes represented 9% of the total money won.  This is an encouraging fact.  Female participation in the WSOP has come a long way since I began playing it in the 1980’s, but we as a poker community can do much more to increase those numbers.

To move forward we must first look to the past and honor the achievements of the pioneers that blazed the trail for today’s women in poker.  No discussion would be complete without talking about Barbara Enright.  To this day, Barbara Enright is still the first and only woman to make the final table of the WSOP Main Event.  She accomplished this historic feat in 1995 when she placed 5^th.  That was just the beginning of her firsts.  She was also the first woman to win three WSOP bracelets and the first woman to be inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2007 along with Phil Hellmuth.  Enright is still racking up those chips.  To date, her total live tournament winnings exceed $1.5 million.

Though no woman has reached the final table of the Main Event since Enright, two women came close in 2012.  In fact, both Gaelle Baumann, who placed 10^th, and Elisabeth Hille, who came in 11^th, are tied for the biggest Main Event payday awarded to a woman with $590,442 earned by each.  By percentage, Baumann has the best record of any woman in the Main Event as she finished in the top .15% out of a field of 6,598 players. Only two women have lasted the longest in the Main Event twice—Annie Duke in 2000 and 2003 and Marsha Waggoner in 1993 and 1997.

This year, Loni Harwood’s spectacular run was the big story of the 2013 WSOP and was chronicled in a PokerNews article titled, “Loni Harwood Setting Records at the 2013 World Series of Poker” by Pamela Maldonado.  The 23-year-old poker player from Staten Island, New York, won her first WSOP bracelet this year in the final $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event of the series.  That win marked her 6^th cash of the summer (accomplished by only three other players this year) and tied Cyndy Violette’s 2005 record for most final table appearances by a female in a single series.

And the records do not stop there.  The $609,017 first place money she won surpassed Allyn Jeffrey Shulman’s record set in 2012 of the largest payday awarded to a woman in a Las Vegas WSOP event. With $874,698 in tournament earnings for the entire summer, Harwood has also jumped to the No. 8 spot on the all-time WSOP money list for women. That total was also the most a woman has ever earned at a single WSOP in Las Vegas.

Harwood’s three final table appearances at this year’s WSOP is an impressive accomplishment for any poker player, male or female.  And the fact that the percentage of female participation is so small makes her achievement all the more stunning.  Harwood has just embarked on her career and has many more final tables in her future.  Some legends of the game have amassed an impressive number of WSOP final table finishes including Cyndy Violette at 12, Jennifer Harman at 11 and Marsha Waggoner at 9.  2013 marked not only the 10-year anniversary of Chris Moneymaker’s historic win in the Main Event that helped spark the poker boom, but 2003 was also the first year 10 women made final tables at the WSOP.  2012 saw 14 women final table the WSOP and that number will only continue to grow.

Female players are just as skilled as male players, but I feel one of the problems facing women is the lack of sponsorship.  No matter what a player’s skill level, sponsorship money is critical in being able to compete in poker at the highest levels.  When online poker went live in Nevada, I noticed the new sites were mainly reaching out to male players.  I feel women make even better ambassadors for poker, and it is a mistake to overlook them.  It is time for both men and women, the legends of the game and the up-and-comers, to work together to increase the number of female players so that someday in the not-to-distant future we finally have a female World Champion of Poker.

Robert Turner is a legendary poker player and marketing expert. He is most well-known for introducing the game of Omaha poker to Nevada in 1982 and to California in 1986. He created Live at the Bike, the first live gaming site broadcast on the Internet in 2002. He also created the Legends of Poker for the Bicycle Casino in 1995.

He has spent over 30 years in casino marketing and player development and has served as an executive host at the Bicycle Casino and MGM Grand.  He is currently working with his new companies Crown Digital Games developing mobile apps and Vision Poker, a poker marketing group.

Find Robert on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/thechipburner and on Twitter @thechipburner. 

Robert can be contacted at robertturnerpoker@gmail.com for consulting, marketing and teaching.