Measure that would open the door to larger card rooms awaits the governor

By DAVID RYAN, Register Staff Writer

Brian Altizer needs a few more proverbial cards to make his hand, and he's hoping Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will deal them his way.

Altizer, the co-owner of the Napa Valley Casino in American Canyon, is hoping Schwarzenegger signs a senate bill next month that would give him the chance to double the number of poker tables at his roadside card room, the only one of its kind in Napa County.

More tables mean less waiting time for players who want a piece of the action in the ever-more-popular game of Texas Hold 'em.

"Some nights we'll have open tables and some nights we'll have waits of 23 players without any seats to put them in," Altizer said. The card room, with eight tables, runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week and often has a packed parking lot monitored by a security guard.

Turns out other card rooms around the state are facing the same crowded situation, hampered by a moratorium on expansion that doesn't expire until 2015, while Indian gaming casinos are free to expand their card rooms at will. Those are some of the reasons in a legislative analysis, state Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, said he authored his bill, SB 152.

"The game has become so popular that the small and medium-sized clubs are unable to accommodate the overflow of players that are showing up, especially on weekends," the analysis reads. "The outcome is that many of these customers go home to play on the Internet, or find and play in one of the numerous illegal Texas Hold 'em tournaments being conducted."

The bill passed the Legislature with wide support, though some social conservatives and anti-gambling groups like the California Coalition Against Gambling Expansion registered opposition.

If it becomes law, Altizer can then take his request for expansion to the American Canyon City Council.

Texas Hold 'em's popularity has been spurred by television coverage of big tournaments held around the country -- including the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas -- and online card rooms. It has become one of the most popular games in America, with multi-million dollar payoffs at championship events that dwarf winnings by golf and tennis pros, according to "Bigger Deal," British poker writer Anthony Holden's book chronicling the post-millennial poker boom.

Altizer is quick to point out that in poker, players bet against each other, not the house. Casino games have odds that favor the house in the long run. In poker, the odds favor the player who knows when to bet the bank and knows when to fold the cards. The casino merely takes a piece of each winning pot, called the rake.

"There is a certain luck factor but it is definitely a game of skill," Altizer said.

He is also quick to point out that his business supports youth sports, American Canyon Chamber of Commerce events and a fund to help wounded soldiers coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan. Next month, the 50 employees of the card room will be offered health and dental insurance, he said. Players at the card room enjoy free catered meals and soft drinks.

"My wife and I live in American Canyon," he said. "We own a home here and we're part of the community. We just want to be a part of the community doing the right things."

That's a sentence likely to be repeated to members of the American Canyon City Council, who will be presented with Altizer's application if Schwarzenegger signs SB 152 by Oct. 12.

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