Salon.com > Kristy Siegfried http://www.salon.com Wed, 30 May 2012 12:44:01 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Gamblers Inc. http://www.salon.com/2002/01/10/cardsharks/ http://www.salon.com/2002/01/10/cardsharks/#comments Thu, 10 Jan 2002 20:30:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/technology/feature/2002/01/10/cardsharks At 5:45 p.m. on a Saturday, every seat at the pai gow poker tables in Colma's Lucky Chances casino is taken and several more players cluster around, leaning over the seated players to place their bets. The air is filled with the clatter of ceramic chips, voices raised over each other -- mostly in Chinese and Vietnamese -- and the occasional aroma of noodles, which can be ordered and eaten at the table so the players need never leave their seats.

The room is divided into two sections. In one, mostly male Caucasians play traditional poker games. On the other side of the room, the almost entirely Asian clientele play "California games," the most popular of which is pai gow poker, a hybrid of traditional Chinese dominoes and American style poker. On this side of the room, players are of all ages and almost 50 percent are women. They're not dressed up for a night on the town, but comfortably, in jeans and sweatshirts. There's little laughter and conversation. Players may toss a comment to a friend standing behind them but their eyes remain on the game, which proceeds at a brisk pace.

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