NYC: Deep in the Underground
I kept my head down and my hood up. Joe walked next to me, his eyes straining to see the numbers over the doors of the buildings. I watched the ground with every step I took, screaming metal blaring from the earbuds of my iPod. It was Friday night, 1 a.m., and we were on the border of Spanish Harlem, desperately trying to find the entrance to a tiny poker club that Joe had visited a month earlier. I had more than $3,000 in my wallet, and I didn’t want to wander the streets for too much longer. We had taken car service to the general area we needed to be in, and then got out to look for the place. The four-table club was spreading two no-limit games with blinds of $5-$10, a no-limit game with blinds of $10-$25, and - the largest I’ve heard of spread in New York - a no-limit game with blinds of $25-$50. Joe had made an absolute killing at $10-$20 no-limit hold’em the last time he was here. To say that I was out of my comfort zone is the understatement of the century. I wanted to find the place, and if we didn’t find it soon, I wanted to go home.
Normally, the clubs I frequented were in historically safer areas, places like New York’s Murray Hill, or in the heart of the Upper East Side. There were a couple of nice clubs in Brooklyn, and plenty of plush places on Long Island and Queens. Spanish Harlem, though, I hadn’t tested.
After what seemed like forever, we found it. Joe pushed the button for a certain apartment, and we were buzzed in. It was a six-floor walkup, and our destination was on the sixth floor. We made our way up the stairs and rang the bell on the door. I guess the door was hooked up to some kind of automatic locking mechanism, because Joe opened it after we got buzzed in the second time. We stepped into a small anteroom with - get this - a metal detector. This I had never seen before. Solid security! We passed through the metal detector and the door was opened by a person who I could only presume was the owner, all the while being watched by a camera above the second door.
Imagine my surprise when I squinted at a sea of people in their teens, twenties, and early thirties. The crowd was completely homogenous, save for one black man sitting at the $10-$20 no-limit hold’em game. How did everyone find this place? I had never heard of it before, Joe told me about it.
The club was surprisingly ritzy. There was a small lounge in a separate room, replete with a minibar, two leather couches, and a midsized LCD television. Along one wall was a table with sodas and what looked like one of those 12-foot Italian subs. The poker tables looked to be custom-made and all relatively new, and all of the seats for the players were slightly better than your stock folding chair. Any apprehension I had about walking into a club in Spanish Harlem with a lot of money in my pocket had disappeared completely. I went up to “the cage” to get some chips. I was going to play $5-$10 no-limit hold’em, and if I ran well and played well, I would move up. I peeled 10 $100 bills out of my wallet and handed them over for the equivalent amount of chips, and glanced at the two tables. One table had two open seats, while the other was completely full. So, my choice was clear. I took my rack over to the open table and plopped down.
The buy-ins were capped. The $5-$10 games were $1,000, the $10-$20 was $2,000, while the $25-$50 game was a bit different at $10,000, although it didn’t look like there was enough money on the table for all of the players to have bought in for the full amount. I turned my attention to the players at my table.
There were three big stacks, all sitting behind more than $3,000 in chips. One of them looked to have over $5,000 in front of him, which was incredible. All of the other stacks were anywhere between $500 and $2,000. My $1,000 in chips made me completely average, which was fine. I sat out one hand and waited until the big blind hit me, and posted my $10. As is becoming my custom, I was dealt a small pair on the very first hand. It was pocket threes, one of my favorite hands, and I called $20 more from a raiser in middle position after the button called as well. I flopped a set, but the board was all spades and somewhat coordinated, 10spade 9spade 3spade. Barring any reads on the players, I had no idea what to do. Generally, I bet out when I hit a set, but I checked my option, intending to check-raise. The middle-position player bet out $50, which was slightly more than half the pot. The player on the button deliberated and called, and I quickly raised to $250, $200 more. The middle-position player quickly pushed in his $200 more to call my raise, and my first indication was that he had the Aspade. Both players had me covered, the middle-position player only slightly, while the player on the button had about $3,000.
Unexpectedly, the player on the button moved the rest of his stack in. I had a great hand, but it wasn’t looking so great anymore. Either he had a mega draw, or he flopped a flush and was trying to push out exactly the kind of hand I had. I didn’t really think about it for too long, and mucked my hand fairly quickly while I called for chips to reload. The middle-position player called instantly and turned over A-A with the Aspade. The button, however, had flopped the flush with the 6spade 5spade, and the fourth spade failed to come. The board failed to pair too, so I felt great about my fold. He added a lot of money to his growing stack, while the middle-position player just shook his head and pulled a wad of money out from his pocket to reload.
What a first hand! Joe was right about the game, though. The action didn’t slow down at all, and there was a massive amount of money in play on the table. I played for three hours and saw exactly five premium hands, four of which were extremely large. The first hand I played after the 3-3 hand, was the Qheart Qdiamond. I was second to act preflop, and I raised to $35. I got one caller in the cutoff seat, and the big blind called as well. The flop was all rags and rainbow, so I felt pretty good about my hand. The big blind checked, I led out a pot-sized bet, the cutoff raised, the big blind folded, and I reraised all-in. Unfortunately for me, the player in the cutoff had flopped a small set, and I failed to improve. So $1,000 of my money shipped across the table. I was now down $1,250 for the night. I reloaded and kept playing my game.
After what seemed like hours, I peered down at A-A. I was in middle position, and action was folded around to me. I limped in, expecting a raise from the aggressive player out of the small blind. Unfortunately, almost everybody behind me decided to limp in too, and we saw a flop with five players. However, in a nice twist of fate, I flopped a set of aces. The small blind led out with a pot-sized bet of $50 that was instantly raised to $150 by the big blind. There was no immediate draw on the board of A-8-3, and I decided to just call the raise, seeing what Mr. Aggressive in the small blind would do. I had slightly less than $1,000 in front of me, while the small and big blind players had me well covered - the big blind being the biggest stack at the table. The player in the small blind called too, and we saw the turn. Another 8. Barring anybody having 8-8 - which would be a horrible cooler - I definitely had the best hand. The small blind checked and the big blind fired out another pot-sized bet. I called quickly, and figured it was glaringly obvious that I had a huge hand, but wanted to see if the small blind would come along for the ride too. I thought he had an 8. He called! The river was glorious, another 3. Gin! The small blind checked once more, and the big blind moved all in. I tossed in my remaining chips and the small blind called too. The big blind showed a stone cold bluff on the river; I was astounded to see him show down pocket deuces. I turned over my aces, and the small blind sheepishly showed 9-8 offsuit for the losing full house. He won a little bit in the side pot, but I scooped the main pot.
I was back in the black. That was my biggest hand of the night, by far. I had a stack of around $3,000. I would win two more large hands for about $1,000 each, and I called it a night after racking $5,000 worth of chips. I had made a little bit more than $3,000 in just a few hours and I felt euphoric. I had Joe call a car service to pick us up directly outside the building, and I was delivered to my doorstep in the wee hours of the morning. I’m already planning another Friday night trip to my new favorite club. The action is too good to pass up.
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