The seniors who meet at a Richmond home each week for a friendly game of poker are not exactly what you would call high-rollers, but to them the rewards of playing a few hands of low-stakes Texas Hold’em each week are immense.
“It’s a very cheap way to have an afternoon of fun,” poker player Serena Lambert said.
Lambert is part of a group of approximately 40 seniors who have been playing penny-ante poker together for a decade. They used to meet three times a week at the Minoru Place Seniors’ Centre until the city told them to fold.
In November, a member complained about the players. At 10 cents a chip, the buy-in was low but paying to play violated the centre’s regulations against gambling. The city, which co-runs the facility with the Minoru Seniors Society, said the players don’t have a licence.
“We can’t make allowances simply because it’s a small amount of money or it’s seniors,” Ted Townsend of the City of Richmond said. “The law is the law. It’s the same for everybody.”
The seniors now play at private homes but none are big enough or accessible enough to accommodate all players.
Poker player Harry Wolthers, who worked for the Vancouver Police Department on the gambling squad, said they’re ready to take their fight to the province.
“Something has to be done about this,” he said. “Even if we are the first group to do something like this, I think it needs to be done.”
In the meantime, the city said the seniors are welcome to return to the centre on one condition.
“We’re perfectly happy for them to continue to play poker,” Townsend said. “There just can’t be money involved.”
“We might as well play solitaire at home,” poker player Marilyn Berger said. “When you play Texas Hold’em poker, 10 cents is not such a big deal.”
— With files from Tanya Beja