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Sign greeting visitors to the town of Black
Hawk, Colorado is dwarfed by construction cranes
being used to erect the new Isle of Capri and
Central Station Casino expansion.
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Real estate developer and consultant Steve
Higgins stands atop Tollgate Golden Rose Casino
in Central City, Colorado. |
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BLACK
HAWK, COLO. - Folks in these parts have gone from
mining gold to mining gambling. And Texas HoldEm
poker has been riding the wave of prosperity.
The discovery of gold here in 1859 - a decade after
the California Gold Rush - transformed this region
40 miles west of Denver into what is still called
"The Richest Square Mile on Earth."
The phrase "Go West, Young Man" actually refers to
Colorado, not California. An estimated 100,000
people journeyed here to pan for fortune. And while
much of the gold is still in them there hills, the
big money nowadays is in legalized casino gambling.
There are 22 casinos in Black Hawk - population 140;
Central City - population 515 - sits just north of
Black Hawk with seven. A third mountain town 150
miles to the south, Cripple Creek - population 1,115
- has 13 gaming halls.
Most are basically modest slots houses; many have
names that honor a glorious time in the past - the
Golden Gulch, the Golden Gates, Gold Rush, Gold
Diggers, Eureka and Doc Holliday's.
Black Hawk, which generates about 80% of the state's
gaming take, has a swiftly burgeoning Texas HoldEm
following, making it a logical stop on Pienciak's
Poker Tour.
Mountain madness
A constitutional amendment approved by voters in
late 1990 authorized limited-stakes gambling
confined to the three hard-luck communities.
The plan was approved under the guise that tax
revenue would finance badly needed historical
preservation; the new industry also was supposed to
produce an economic revival for the old mining
towns.
Since then, the casinos have given the state more
than $780 million in taxes. The money has gone to
restore a lot of endangered buildings, as well as
pay for highway improvements and tourism interests.
One-fifth of the preservation/restoration funds goes
to the three casino towns, with the rest distributed
statewide.
But the financial windfall has not been without
controversy.
Investigations have been conducted here into how
Black Hawk officials have spent the restoration
funds. Several casinos have encountered financial
difficulties and recently were sold to major gaming
companies.
Circumstances have not been kind to Central City,
either.
It started out as Gilpin County's seat of power,
missing being designated the state capital by just
one vote. In 1889, Central City became the first
town in the nation to have all electric outside
street lights, and was one of the first to have
telegraph and telephone service. In its heyday, the
opera house, which still operates today, welcomed
kings, presidents, princes, military leaders and
other dignitaries.
But when the first trains made their way north from
Golden, the tracks stopped at Black Hawk, 8,042 feet
above sea level. The same can be said for modern-day
gamblers: When they stop here, even though the road
does not end, they often don't continue on to
Central City.
"Gambling has been a mixed bag," says Neal Standard
of the Gilpin County Historical Society. "It
certainly has brought in a lot of jobs. And the
money literally saved Central City from crumbling.
But it has run out all the little shops. We don't
have a grocery store, we don't have a car wash. We
have no amenities."
Standard says the job improvement hasn't translated
locally either. Most employees come from the Denver
metro area, he says, noting the stagnant local
population growth.
Still, business looks good. Ameristar Casinos, Inc.
recently announced plans to build a 300-room hotel
to go along with its recently acquired Mountain High
Casino, the largest here. The Isle of Capri firm is
already building a new casino/hotel complex that
promises to be "the most spectacular gaming complex
outside of Vegas."
There's even hope for Central City. A new
eight-mile, $45.2 million link from Interstate 70
will offer an entryway that avoids Black Hawk.
Circumvent the rules
To get gaming approved, proponents proposed strict
regulations. Only slots, blackjack and poker are
permitted. A maximum bet is $5. Some slots require
only single penny bets.
Alcoholic beverages are served, but casinos limit
patrons to one drink every 45 minutes or so. If you
are drunk, you legally cannot gamble.
Unlike casinos elsewhere, credit is prohibited.
Gambling is barred between 2 a.m. and 8 a.m.
Casinos must be housed in structures that adhere to
"the architectural styles and designs that were
common to the areas prior to World War I," according
to the Colorado Limited Gaming Act.
No more than 35% of the square footage of any
building and no more than 50% of any one floor of
such building, may be used for gambling purposes.
The casinos that offer Texas HoldEm have established
poker rooms on the second floor.
The $5 maximum bet rule, however, is somewhat
misleading. For example, there's a gimmick called
Streak, where blackjack players bet whether they can
win two, three, four or five hands in a row. The
payoffs are, respectively, 3-to-1, 8-to-1, 18-to-1
and 38-to-1. A five-dollar bet on a five-timer pays
$190 - plus the winnings on the five $5 hands.
"Each of those wagers is considered a different,
separate bet," explains a pit boss at the Lodge
Casino. "It's a way to get around the law."
Then there's the Let It Ride card game, where a
Royal Flush pays 500-to-1.
The Texas HoldEm games are not necessarily
low-stakes games, either.
Other casinos visited by the PPT have games as low
as $1/$2. Here, poker is $2/$5 and $5/$5, with the
latter meaning the minimum bet is $5 and the maximum
bet is $5.
Two of the poker rooms have added another wrinkle to
get around the "limited" gaming regulations.
Card games usually have four bets per round, the
opening bet and up to three raises.
Players at the Lodge and Mountain High casinos can
make five raises after the opening bet, at every
point in the hand - pre-flop, at the flop, the turn
and the river.
"Some of those pots go to $600-$700," says Marc
Hoesel, 38, a poker floor supervisor at the Lodge.
"These people come out raising and raising - and
then at the end they have lousy cards. It's crazy."
And it's far from low stakes.
Hot poker rooms
Texas HoldEm is essentially the only poker game in
town. There's no 7-Card Stud, no Omaha, no draw,
other than an occasional table on weekends.
There are HoldEm tournaments almost every night
during the week, split betweeen the Colorado Central
Station (6 tables), Mountain High (12 tables, up
from 6) and the recently-expanded effort at Fortune
Valley in Central City (9 tables).
The Lodge, the largest poker room with 18 tables,
does not offer tournament play.
"We don't need to," says poker room employee John
Freeman, 27, with a wry smile. "Many nights we have
40-50 names on a waiting list."
When the Isle of Capri bought Colorado Central
Station more than a year ago, management shut down
the poker room. It reopened last month and has
tournaments several times a week. It will host a
three-day $330 buy-in tourney in September, with an
estimated prize pool of $39,600.
Last Tuesday, Fortune Valley held its first
Tuesday-night Texas HoldEm tournament. After eight
weeks, winners will compete for a seat at next
year's World Series of Poker.
"The Tuesday tournament starts at 8 p.m. If you want
a seat, be here by 5," a floor boss instructs
potential contestants.
Hoesel says the Lodge is thinking of expanding to 26
tables. "There's also been talk of expansion to our
sister casino across the street, the Gilpin," he
adds. "If we follow through with that, then we'll
have tournaments, stud and Omaha over there. It just
keeps getting bigger."
Twists & turns on the tour
It's been an interesting week for Pienciak's Poker
Tour - breath-stealing views of the Rockies, hairpin
turns on mountain roads, a jarring
middle-of-the-night fire alarm - and most harrowing
of all, an extremely raucous night of Texas Hold'Em.
I've never been so happy about losing 20 bucks.
The $5 maximum bet is most often the bet of choice.
Back and forth re-raises are the strategy of choice.
Over a seven-hour stretch ending Friday morning, I
lose and win countless thousands of dollars. At my
nadir, I'm down $360, but miraculously claw my way
back to down only $20.
Forget about logic in this game - there is none.
A match of the $2 single blind is often followed by
five raises, a total of $27 - and this is before the
flop.
More than several times, the flop is followed by a
$5 bet and five $5 raises - $30 more from each
player.
At first, I am intimidated by this strategy. But how
good can these hands be, with only two cards dealt?
A pair of Aces is a pair of Aces, certainly not
invincible.
I conclude that the only way to beat this nonsense
is to fight back.
You want to raise me $5, I'll raise you $5 back.
Lo and behold, the PPT gets a check the next round,
as if the frenzied raisers' supposedly unbeatable
cards have suddenly vanished in Black Hawk's thin
air.
Five hours into the session, I come alive. I win a
hand that includes a $27 pre-flop bet from five
players; then I win another big hand. And a third.
I leave the Mountain High Casino relieved that a
disaster has been avoided.
For this week anyway, with Colorado's 2 a.m.
closing, there'll be no playing bleary-eyed until
sunrise. But instead of peaceful sleep, the hotel
fire alarms and emergency lights go on at 2:30 one
morning, just as the eyes are closing shut.
A 20-minute stroll down five flights of stairs
ensues, a good chunk of the time consumed while
stuck behind a group of elderly people in their PJs
and bare feet.
Talk about gambling - we actually beat the arrival
of the fire engines.
Hundreds of us spend an hour milling around outside,
until the alarms are reset.
We survive, free to gamble again beginning at 8 a.m.
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