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Deadwood, S.D. ... |
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... town where Wild Bill Hickok was shot
holding this hand ... |
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... is now a Hold'em hotbed. |
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DEADWOOD, S.D. - The final resting place of Wild
Bill Hickok is very alive and kickin' - a 24-hour
party town with a terrific $10 game of Texas HoldEm.
About an hour from Mount Rushmore, Deadwood is home
to the Dead Man's Hand - black Aces, black Eights
and a Nine of diamonds - the cards Hickok was
holding when he was shot in the back of the head
while playing draw poker in a saloon on Aug. 2,
1876.
Deadwood also is the inspiration for the hot HBO
series of the same name.
It's the perfect place for Pienciak's Poker Tour to
score the biggest win of the summer - so far.
History abounds
Sure, this is a tourist trap, but there's a realness
to the town.
The shooting of Hickok is such a centerpiece of the
Black Hills region's history that it is reenacted
daily.
Calamity Jane Cannary also used to run in these
parts, along with Hickok and Buffalo Bill Cody.
Half the buildings in town are protected national
landmarks. Each room at the Historic Franklin Hotel,
once considered the finest hotel between San
Francisco and Chicago, bears the name of a famous
former guest on its door.
Main Street is a walk down Memory Lane: Big Al's
Steakhouse Saloon, the Gold Dust Casino, the
Stockade, the Silverado, the Lucky Lady, Mustang
Sally's, Miss Kitty's, Rough Riders Leather and
Consuela's Cantina.
The Bodega bar has WOW - Wet on Wednesdays - wet
T-shirt contests. The rodeo is coming in a couple of
weeks; the bikers' rally a few weeks later. Lots of
women ride Harleys here - their own.
The hot bar/poker room is Saloon No. 10, named after
the establishment where Hickok was murdered. The
real one burned down in 1879 along with half the
downtown.
Inside No. 10, there are animal heads mounted on the
wall, sawdust on the floor. The live music is loud,
and good. Word is that the No. 10 sells more liquor
than any other establishment in the state.
To acknowledge the link between the past and the
present, a large color poster of the HBO western
adorns one of the walls, along with a sign that
promises a $250 bonus should a player precisely
match Hickok's fatal hand.
"A lot of people tell me they come here because of
the 'Deadwood' program. They want to see the place,"
says poker dealer Karen Ballert. "But the World
Poker Tour and the other poker games on TV are much
more responsible for the increase in poker action.
There are so many new faces here."
"TV has taken the mystery out of the game," adds
Lori Keehn, 39, who owns No. 10 with her brother and
two sisters. "People were afraid of it. The shows
have definitely helped out."
Last weekend, Deadwood hosted a blues festival on
Main Street: Saturday night the headliner was Son
Seals, Sunday night the Neville Brothers stopped by.
City fathers lifted the open container ordinance, so
several thousand people spent Saturday and Sunday
walking around town with drink cups in hand.
There was a mixture of Harley-Davidson leather
vests, paisley shirts, ponytails and pigtails,
Bloody Marys and bottled water, wife-beaters,
bandanas, cowboy hats, Bermuda shorts and sandals,
goatees, beards and very long beards, blonde hair
flowing down to the waist and dunagrees, lots of
dungarees.
There were no fights - just dancing, singing,
drinking and gambling.
Actor Kevin Costner, who owns the Midnight Star
casino, was rumored to be in town but was not seen
publicly.
Casinos everywhere
There are said to be 80 casinos here; seemingly each
storefront qualifies. "Hey, if the grocery store has
a couple slots, it's a casino," says an old-timer
named Billy. The local loophole - and it seems every
town the PPT visits has one - involves the number of
gaming licenses that can be issued.
Each building can have 30 gaming devices, including
slot machines and gaming tables. But multiple
licenses are allowed within each building, provided
the owner can demonstrate that in the old days the
building had more than one business.
At the Franklin Hotel, there used to be a real
estate office, beauty salon, lawyer's office, travel
agency, gift shop, and of course, a hotel. So the
lineage of each of those entities justifies a
separate casino.
The concept of using historical preservation to
secure legalized gambling, as cited in last week's
column from Black Hawk, Colo., actually got its
start here two years earlier, in 1989.
While Black Hawk is still saddled with $5 limits,
limits here were raised to $100 five years ago.
Most of the poker tables top out at $10 bets, though
some games carry a $15 max on the final card.
There's one structured $10/$20 game in town, and
Saloon No. 10 poker room manager Marty Nelson says
he's thinking of opening a high-stakes game on the
second floor, perhaps a $50/$100 game, "if the
demand goes that high."
He's also thinking of installing several computer
terminals so patrons can play poker online while
waiting for a seat at the tables.
The poker games at Durty Nelly's, which is housed in
the basement of the Franklin, and Saloon No. 10
serve more like add-ons to the taverns; the tables
at Cadillac Jack's and the Gold Dust look more like
cutdown versions of Vegas.
"This is a bar first before it's a poker room," says
Ballert, 28, who helps organize two HoldEm
tournaments weekly and a ladies-only event once a
month.
But poker is going big time here, too. In October,
ESPN will film 12 poker champs facing off in a World
Series of Poker event at the Franklin, says owner
Bill Walsh.
Deadwood poker
Danny Berr deals poker at Durty Nelly's. When he's
on break and the table isn't full, he simply
switches seats, grabs a handful of chips out of his
pocket and starts playing HoldEm with the very same
people he's just been dealing to.
"I'm a propositional player," says Berr, 39. "That
means I'm on the clock getting paid. I keep the game
going. But I'm not a shill. Shills are legal, too,
but I use my own money, not the house's."
Tournaments abound here, though they are not all
No-Limit Texas HoldEm. Sometimes they're Limit
HoldEm or Omaha. Seven-card stud games are popular,
too.
The games are so friendly that when you sit down the
dealer is likely to say, "Hi, my name is Andy,
pleased to meet you." Andy has a good memory, too.
The next day, I'm greeted with, "Hey Rick, how's it
going?"
HoldEm player Shane Roby, 21, a chemical engineering
student at the South Dakota Schools of Mining and
Technology, says he believes many visitors see poker
on the HBO western or the televised poker
tournaments before they visit Saloon No. 10.
"Then they come here and say, 'Hey, this is what is
used to be like.' Okay, let's have some fun. I'll go
for a 100 bucks.'"
The PPT overhears one woman remark after quickly
losing a bundle: "I'd never played before, but it
was so much fun."
Ah, if only we could stay in Deadwood forever.
Real
collection of cards here
DEADWOOD, S.D. - Some days it pays to never go to
bed, but falling asleep at the poker table is a
clear indication some shuteye is called for, even
when there's easy money around for the taking.
The PPT's key to success here is finding a table
filled with tourists. My first foray, at Durty
Nelly's, includes several out-of-towners who've
gathered for a family reunion. At least one of them
admits he's never played Texas HoldEm.
Later that same evening, there's a guy from Maryland
passing through town with his wife and kids on their
way to the Pacific Northwest. He works for the U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission and ultimately suffers
a money meltdown.
At the same table, a younger guy wearing a baseball
cap backwards says he wrestles steer in rodeo
competitions. He's looking for a sponsor because
he's not making enough money being a cowboy. He
leaves the table with about $300 in poker profits,
though.
The next evening at Saloon No. 10, I play against a
pair of two-man teams of 20-somethings. They are not
playing together, though.
Unit One consists of two hippies; one guy has
dreadlocks, the other long stringy hair. The second
pair are clean-cut college students. They aren't too
careful. I catch one of them, sitting next to me,
signaling to his partner across the table.
His partner promptly drops when it's his turn to
call the $10 raise.
No sweat; there's plenty of cash available. People
are raising and re-raising with the worst cards
imaginable - their best hand is the one showing on
the board.
One evening at the bar one of the hippies tells me
he thinks I'm interested in buying the place since
he's seen me taking notes and speaking with one of
the owners.
When I tell him I'm from New York and touring the
country writing about Texas HoldEm, he admits that
he and his sidekick are indeed working as a team. I
beg off additional chit-chat when he starts talking
about wild mushrooms and a van filled with
marijuana.
"I'm here for poker," I insist.
The PPT puts in about 25 hours at the tables over
four sessions, always in games with $10 maximum
bets. The first 10-hour stint at Durty Nelly's nets
$130; an afternoon session at Saloon No. 10 brings
$148; a lengthy evening session there brings $218;
and a brief re-visit to Durty Nelly's adds another
$15 to the kitty - a solid profit of $511.
I'm so pleased I pass on poker the night before I
leave. Instead, I spend my time talking to the
cowboys, off-duty poker dealers and motorcycle
dudes.
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