I don't know about Long Island, but i used to play in some "clubs" upstate.

The only real concern I would have is security. One of the places I played got robbed and I hear more and more of these stories. The more money at the game the bigger the risk.

As far as the risk of a raid, I think as long as the operator keeps it low key you will probably be OK (unfortunately for some stupid reason a lot of these guys manage to convince themselves that what they are doing is legal so they don't keep it low key).

One club I played in got raided but it was actually a bookmaking raid, the poker game was going on in one room when the raid came. The State Police did not make any arrests at the poker game (not even the dealer or the operator).

Remember that in NY it is not a crime to be a PLAYER in the game. The worst case scenario for a PLAYER if there is a raid is that the cops grab the money.