[Luv2DriveTT]

[soapbox]
TSMDB... I can tell you a few things for sure:

1) The mafia that you see in the movies and on TV doesn't exist. There is/was a "mafia", but its 99.9% white collar now and usually not violent.
2) Poker rooms run in NYC are considered organized crime because they are run as businesses. There has not been a known tie to "the mafia" or organized crime as you and I know it yet, nor will there be. I have 4 friends who are owners in various businesses and none of them are connected, nor have any of them ever been shook down (actually this is their 3rd biggest fear, luckily shakedowns are all but extinct in the past few years in NYC).

In closing, the future of NYC poker is

1) No more tournaments. Thats what hurt the game in the first place, many rooms will reopen in the future with cash games only.
2) Bigger limits - no more low limit games. Bigger limit players don't cause the problems that the lower limit players do because they have more to lose
3) More rooms than ever before, but with only 2-4 tables at most. The entire scene will become fractionalized and small, just as it was in the 70's. That will be the most important factor for survival.[/soapbox]

TT [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]