EUGENE, Ore. – The winners laugh and tell jokes, the losers say “deal faster.”
It’s the oldest joke at the poker table, but the new TV-fueled popularity of the “Texas hold ‘em” version of the game is raising suspicions that some bars and taverns may be afoul of ordinances that allow friendly games for small stakes.
Eugene officials say the city’s 21-year-old social gaming rules don’t address the poker craze and games that may or may not be legal.
A new proposal would control how much players can bet and how much the house can make.
In Bend and Redmond, some popular card spots have closed, at least for now, rather than risk breaking laws.
“What (the existing ordinance) is set up for is for a group of friends to have fun and go to a bar and have a friendly game of cards,” says Sgt. Jerry Webber of the Eugene police vice and narcotics unit. “But when (poker clubs) become profit-making, it is then illegal gambling, which is a felony.”
Game operators say they’re willing to work with the city but object to rules they say could end the games.
“There’s nobody on the (city) council that has a real, legitimate understanding of the gaming and poker world today,” says Justin Zinser, who owns Eugene’s Full House Poker.
The city’s proposal would eliminate all forms of “house” profit, including the practices of “raking” a portion of the pot in each hand dealt, taking a percentage each time players buy chips and charging for participation in tournaments.
Zinser and others say they want to organize and monitor their own games and earn something beyond the food and drink sales.
The supervisor of the nighttime game at the Eldorado, who gave her name only as Sony, said the new proposals are “going to put us back in the closet, and in people’s homes. That’s going to make it hard for the city to manage it.”
The Eldorado Club has had the games since at least the 1980s, and city officials said initially it provided a good example of how the laws were supposed to work.
The 1983 Legislature allowed cities to permit the games.
But with regular dealers, variable betting limits, pot “rakes,” and other variables in some places, the old blackjack-inspired rules haven’t kept the action in line.
“The folks who are in business doing this are saying they can’t really be in the gambling business anymore (if the proposed amendments are adopted),” said Alex Gardner, chief deputy Lane County district attorney.
“Well, I think the intention was to not have them in the gambling business. The (ordinance) was intended to allow social gaming, and prevent a Vegas-style house rake.”
Police say the law is so vague nobody has been charged with violating it.
Police planner Linda Phelps has prepared a proposed replacement ordinance.
It limits buy-ins to $100 and individual best to $2 and bans the collection of any fees from players. The deal would have to rotate among players, who would have to be at least 18.
Hoyle’s Modern Encyclopedia of Card Games would rule.
“Springfield did quite a lengthy process, updating their gaming rules to cover Texas hold ‘em poker,” Phelps says. “We realized we needed to do something here in Eugene, too. People are playing Texas hold ‘em poker, and there are no rules to allow it.
Zinser, the owner of Full House Poker, says his business may have an advantage because it operates as a private club and serves no alcohol.
But he charges for chip purchases and tournament buy-ins and says losing that would affect all local poker rooms.
“Nobody’s going to provide a service to 60 people (in a poker tournament) and do that as a charity. I think they’re a little unrealistic,” he said.
The Sky Box in Redmond shut down its poker and blackjack tables for good, and Kayo’s Roadhouse in Bend and Redmond has closed its poker tables at least for now.
Two other establishments have made rule changes.
All denied profiting from the games and said they make their money from food and beverage sales. Some changes followed a meeting with a state lottery enforcement officer.
Angela Jordison, owner of the Sky Box, said she closed her tables rather than risk losing her bar business.
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