A building that looked like an abandoned garage had a door that locked with magnets, flat-screen TVs on the walls, a kitchen, a custom-made bar, foosball, video games, table tennis and exotic dancers moonlighting as cocktail waitresses. Out came silk-screened table felts and custom ceramic poker chips. Up sprung The Depot, The G-Spot and The Peanut Shop.
In Greenville, the players who still clung to poker’s inherent cinematic romance gave code names to their favorite games: The Spring Hotel, The Black Stallion, The Gaelic Game.Įnterprising hosts took note of the marketing power.
In the movie, the guys played at the Chesterfield. When rooms got bigger and the guest lists grew, the early games took their names from their waypoints: Fountain Inn, White Horse, Fox Run, Holly Tree or the fireworks place.Īnyone who had seen “Rounders” knew a good poker room needed a good name. You’d go to Ronnie’s, Kevin’s or Teddy’s. When everybody knew each other, finding a game was as easy as calling a name.
