It could be the setting of a post-apocalyptic movie – in the “Deserted Shopping Mall” genre. Visualize a massive building, with seating for hundreds of patrons, looking out over a huge dog track with a giant fountain and pond in the middle. A parking lot fit for a premier Westfield property.
Playing host to a few dozen people. Welcome to the Palm Beach Kennel Club (PBKC).
All sitting on what PBKC Assistant General Manager Noah Carbone calls, “The most expensive dirt in Palm Beach County, maybe all of Florida.” This is all fallout of Florida Amendment 13, passed in 2018 (by a 7:3 margin), which prohibited parimutuel betting on dog racing – the raison d’être of the greyhound racing tracks.
To keep the lights turned on, the PBKC operates as an off-track betting parlor, which allows old men (all old men) to yell at horses on TV to run faster.
The poker room at the end of the Universe
But the other revenue source is poker. I was there for the kickoff of the Moneymaker Poker Tour, which took over one end of the second floor. It was a bit surreal – a wildly successful poker tournament jammed with would-be champs raging in one corner of the building, but you could walk two minutes north, still in the clubhouse, and be literally by yourself.
At the north end of the building, on the first floor, is where they have the cash games. For Douglas Adams fans, think Poker Room at the end of the Universe. As you walk in, you get an interesting cocktail of “air conditioning” and “dog fur.” Which none of us could explain, since it’s been years since the dogs raced there. But I challenge you to go there and tell me you don’t sense eau de chien.
Most of the tables in the poker room are no-limit hold’em, as you might reasonably imagine. But if you were to have a time capsule involving poker, surely seven-card stud would have to be in there. This is the game that used to dominate home games around the U.S., mostly because it is the basic scaffolding for bastardizations variants such as Baseball, Follow The Queen, and Low Chicago.
Sure enough, I came across a seven-stud game there in the PBKC room. And this is where things turn weird. Knowing that none of PokerOrg’s readers would believe me if I just claimed to have seen a seven-stud game, I discreetly raised my phone and snapped a picture. Thought nothing of it until it was time to slide it into this article.
Let’s review the bidding. The dealer is about to pitch 7th street to the #3 seat. But there has already been a bet and two calls on 6th. Now, look at the #1 seat’s (lower right) up-cards. That’s right, poker fans – they’re showing four to a flush. Look at the other players’ up-cards. Do you see anything that could compete with a flush? Nope, me neither. #1 seat is on their phone going to Amazon to order a new drone with the proceeds of this pot. I promise you you’ll never see Gene Calden calling #1’s bet on 6th street.
But I digress.
Speaking of chips, it appears the PBKC’s chips were ordered about the time they got the new sign that’s out on Congress Avenue. There was frequent confusion about which chips were which denomination. And I’m sure that dirty stacks abound.
Poker is poker is poker
Ultimately, though, the beauty of our game shines through. It shines through a building erected decades ago for a very different – now anachronistic – purpose. It shines through acoustic tile ceilings and indistinguishable creek-stone chips. Ultimately, whether it’s at PBKC or Resorts World, poker is bets, raises, and folds. It is bluffs, tells, and bad beats. Why is soccer (football) the international sport? Because if you’re a bunch of kids in Rwanda, you can tape a bundle of rags together, call it a football, and game on – the same game they’re playing at Old Trafford. Poker requires a deck of cards, something to represent betting units, and a relatively level playing surface. Then game on.
I played a couple of cash game sessions at the PBKC. Once I was settled into my seat, and pretty sure I knew which chip shades were which denominations, I forgot about the rest – I was in a no-limit hold’em game. Even if it was in the Poker Room at the End of the Universe.
The times they are a’changin’
It is an inviolable rule of capitalism that under-used assets will be repurposed. By the end of my first day at PBKC, I knew that what I was seeing and experiencing was not sustainable. At the very least, the $4 ice cream cone that was half a day’s meal. Noah Carbone later confirmed this suspicion for me, saying that the building is going to be bulldozed, and replaced with an entertainment/living/shopping complex, that will include a full-feature casino.
I will be glad for new poker chips and more comfortable chairs. I will miss the sense of stepping back into a time capsule and playing poker in a place in a time out of mind.
