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Nestled
in upstate New York and far removed from the glitz and
glamour of Las Vegas, there exists a growing culture
of poker players. However, you won’t see these
players on ESPN for a few years yet, and you certainly
won’t catch them drowning their losses at the
bar.
On break from college or their part time jobs, these
neophyte card sharks flock to the poker room of the
Turning Stone Casino and Resort in Verona, NY.
Unable to partake in the phenomenon that is Las Vegas
or even the sordid fun of Atlantic City, these players
get a taste of the big time before they’re even
old enough to take a (legal) shot of alcohol. By not
serving booze on the floor, Turning Stone has ushered
in a new breed of poker room inhabitants. Now an 18
year old journalism student can butt heads with a grizzled
casino regular. What else besides poker could bring
two separate generations together?
Since its construction in 1993, the Turning Stone has
wrangled in a plethora of teens and twenty-somethings
from such neighboring towns as Rome, Utica and Vernon
as well as the near-by Syracuse University. It seems
odd that so many college-aged folk would venture to
a casino as a break from hitting the books. After all,
poker is just as stressful, if not more so, than your
average Chem final. Yet the draw is undeniable.
“Everyone is looking for the atmosphere that
you don’t get from basement games,” says
Tom Knudsen, a resident of Rome who attends college
in Pennsylvania. Knudsen has been to the casino between
30-40 times. “I think it’s a place where
(teens) can feel like they’re classy. It brings
a high-stakes feeling, even if you aren’t playing
for a lot of money.”
While the casino does attract a sizeable portion of
locals, it also brings in its share of roving gamblers.
With their wallets and ATM cards ready, these players
make the pilgrimage to get a premature sense of the
casino atmosphere. One such individual is Bobby Lovelace,
or “Bob Love” as his friends have affectionately
dubbed him.
Always hilariously aloof, Bob makes for interesting
company. Spend a day with him and you’ll come
to realize that he’s the very idea of addiction
made flesh. When he isn’t playing cards he’s
busy making phone calls in order to get a game together.
In fact, a call from Bob can usually mean only one thing:
poker.
While his hometown of Catasaqua, PA, usually provides
enough action to quench his thirst, Bob still frequently
makes the nearly four-hour trip to Turning Stone, sometimes
on nothing but a whim. To Bob, and many other inhabitants
of this small town, the casino holds an almost mythical
quality.
As poker players are increasingly turning into celebrities,
the lifestyle of a professional player is becoming all
the more romanticized. When legends like Doyle Brunson
and T.J. Cloutier first started playing, poker was a
much more harsh and unforgiving way of life. It wasn’t
enough to make money, you also had to protect it. Nowadays,
players are treated like royalty, with millions of dollars
in winnings and endorsements. But all money aside, the
biggest perk of being a pro may be the ability make
your own hours. It’s this perk that makes the
lifestyle seem all the more glamorous and enticing to
a college student facing 40 years of nine-to-five drudgery
in a cubicle.
With a highly competitive job market, and the burden
of the future looming over their heads, it’s no
wonder this generation looks for escape. While poker
may be stressful and potentially expensive, it provides
said escape. In poker there’s always that moment
when nothing else is going through your mind except
what the next card will be. For that moment, a moment
all players live for, it’s like the world stands
still. And when your card comes... well, any player
can tell you that there are few things better than catching
the card you need.
Yet even with the expected hits that come with the
territory, it’s easy to see that if you have what
it takes, the poker lifestyle beats the hell out of
Chem finals and cubicles any day of the week. For that
reason, among others, the poker room at the Turning
Stone will be filled with eager teenagers long after
the poker craze has run it’s course.
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