Goodfella and I were in the zone. We finally had our own game at our own location with our own staff and equipment. We moved full steam ahead. We networked like crazy. I started making rounds in the underground club scene. I talked with people and got new players. We started promotions. We started a refer a friend program. We gave out free entries into our tourneys. We had draws. We had tournament cards (similar to subway stamp cards). We did whatever we needed to do to ensure that our game was the shit! And....it worked.

Within a month, our Tuesday Tournament brought in 5 tables with a waiting list. That list eventually ended up getting to be as high as 26 (If I remember correctly) on a regular basis. The overflow from the tourneys into our 1/2 and 5/5 NL cash games made our game run all night. People loved playing at our place. Other club owners came by to visit. In reality, they were just trying to get a one up on the competition. I didn't mind, I did the same shit! Finally, Goodfella and I could run the game the way we wanted to. The way that we knew a good game should be managed. Our staff was awesome. If you ever been to a live casino ring game or even an underground game, you probably noticed that a lot of dealers are clueless! They talk to players about random BS in the middle of hands. They wonder off into space while big hands are going on. They start watching the television monitors on the wall. It drives me fukking crazy! We trained our dealers to be fast, efficient, and courteous. I remember Goodfella bringing in a article written by Jan Fisher for Cardplayer Magazine once. In the article, Jan talked about her issues with bad dealers and poorly managed card rooms. She brought up several good points. I've been looking for that article for the last half hour online and can't seem to find it. If you're interested in finding it, an archive of Jan Fisher's articles for Cardplayer magazine can be found at this link.... http://www.cardplayer.com/authors/8-jan-fisher?page=1 . Anyway, we made our dealers read it and study it. We routinely held staff meetings to fix issues. We were very committed to having an awesome staff that did what they were supposed to do. That's not to say that they were never issues with our staff. We hired, fired, and re-hired several dealers and hostesses throughout the years. But all in all, in the years that Goodfella and I ran our club, I can without any doubts, make the claim that our staff was the most professional and efficient in all of the clubs that made up Toronto's underground poker scene. That's something I'm proud of even today.

Another aspect of running a game that we were happy to be finally in control of was "the sheet". If you run a regular game in which you profit from, it is absolutely necessary to lend money. Without it, every time your regulars go broke, you will lose them forever. We call that...the sheet. Our old partners made a huge mess of their sheet. So concerned were they about maintaining the game that they gave sheet to any and everyone. There's a balance to running a productive sheet. Cost Benefit Analysis was, among many others, an economic concept I first learned through owning an underground poker club. Many people think that we used to pay rent at some warehouse and played poker there. I beg to differ. I could teach you most of the things they teach in a first year economics class, except with interesting real life scenarios! In grad school, during the 2nd term, we are given 3 classes to teach in a local high school. Super ironic (and awesome) that my first class during student teaching was.... 11th grade Economics! Those kids learned a lot from me, LOL (I miss them a ton). There were so many weeks that Goodfella and I could not be paid our cut of the game because there was no money! Sometimes, the week's rake was 4K and the week's sheet was 6K! The thing about lending money in the underground scene is that YOU HAVE TO BE ABLE TO RECOVER THE MONEY! Because some people will try to F you and disappear. I'm sure most of you understand this concept. If you're confused, please phone a friend. There's only so much I can talk about in a public forum. Our old partners had so countless people on their sheet for ridiculous amounts of money. They had no way of getting to those people. Goodfella and I suffered in the meantime when it came time for weekly chop. I actually went out and recovered some of the money myself in order to be paid. At one point, we went 2 plus months without seeing a dollar! This time around, we ran our sheet the way we wanted. Some players had to be cut off when it became clear that they couldn't afford to keep borrowing. Some players had to be put on payment programs. Some players brought in food from their restaurant in order to repay their debt. Some worked on the new hard wood floor we put in. Others, I tracked down and convinced that repaying their debt was the best option. Others...only a few... I beat the shit out of!

When you're in any underground business, some interesting shit happens. Some are funny. Some are sad. Some are scary as shit! One day, as players were registering for the tournament, two guys walked up to one of my dealers and demanded to speak with the owner. I told them that it was my game. They asked to speak in the back. "Fukk me" I thought. There was two possibilities. Either they were undercover cops there to bust my ass or I was being "taxed". If you've been living under a rock and haven't seen The Godfather, Goodfellas, or The Sopranos, it is now time to phone a friend again! Anyway, they asked me who I worked for. I said "What!?" Now look, by no means am I saying that how I handled this situation was either right or smart. Sometimes, when I feel disrespected or threatened, my ego (getting smaller as I get older) kicks in and I make poor decisions. They told me that the area was controlled by their boss and that they were here to tax me and offer protection in return. I asked who they worked for. They said they couldn't tell me. The way the fat one said that made me question the validity of their claims. I was steaming at this point. These cocksuckers come into my club and tell me that I'm being taxed. Fukk you I thought. But, I still had to be careful because if they were in fact who they said they were, I was fukked! I told them that I already had protection. That confused them. They said "from who?" I said I couldn't tell them that. They looked even more confused. The half retarded looking one was trying to put together a sentence in his head. The situation got real awkward. What do you say to someone when you have offered them "protection" and they say they already have it? LOL. The fat one said that I must be making good money. "AND WHAT?!" I said. The half retarded one finally spoke. He told me who their boss was. The fat one looked upset that his retarded buddy revealed that info. "I know him", I said. Now they both looked retarded and confused. I actually knew him pretty well through mutual associates. "Call him and let me speak with him", demanded. Now things were super weird. They didn't do anything. They just stood their trying to figure out what to do. At this point, I actually didn't believe that they worked for who they claimed to work for. I thought that these were just two idiots who came up with a genius plan to make some extra money and were going around using certain names to get the job done. I told them to either call their boss and let me speak with him or get the mutherfukk out of my mutherfukking club. I wanted to punch the fat one in the throat so bad! The quiet retarded one looked at his buddy and motioned towards the door. Finally, after a brief comical stare down, dumb and dumber finally left. I called an associate who knew their alleged boss really well. I told him what happened and he said he would get me in touch with him. The next day, I finally spoke with him. He said that the two idiots did in fact work for him but that they had no authority to do what they did and apologized for their bullshit. I said no problem and thanked him. The thing with the underground is that their are rules, alliances, and a great deal of respect. If you're weak, you'll be taken advantage of. If you're so strong that it makes you incapable of respecting those who need to be respected, you'll be attacked. However, if you know the right people and remain humble and respectful while making it known that you demand the same from others, you will, for the most part, be left alone to go about your business. I had survived my first "shake down".

We ran our game for the next 2 years. We had now been in the business for 5 years. Things were great. The game was good, the location was good, the staff was good and I had just faded a shake down. Life was good we thought. And then, just when we thought we were on top of the world, it happened.....


Part 5 coming soon