"MAYFAIR CLUB"

POKER AFTER DARK IS A FLUSH WITH THE FANS

THE LINEUP

• Howard Lederer
• Steve Zolotow
• Jay Heimowitz
• Mickey Appleman
• Dan Harrington
• Mike Shichtman

For poker purists, the ones who believe the game is more about making great plays than winning easy money, the Mayfair Club was hallowed ground. It bore no resemblance to Vegas’ glittery, oxygen-enriched poker palaces. It was a basement room in a non-descript building on Manhattan’s east side – its tables populated with characters with names like Freddy the Watch and Phil the Rabbi. It began in the 1930s as a bridge club then, under owner Mike Shichtman, evolved into a mecca for chess, backgammon and a new breed of poker player. In the 1980s when Super System and Hoyle’s were virtually the only poker books in print, a poker think tank developed at the Mayfair . Players like Howard Lederer , Dan Harrington, Jay Heimowitz, Mickey Appleman and Steve Zolotow spent hours after a session analyzing each other’s game. It was fertile ground that eventually produced some of poker’s best players, thinkers and writers. This week’s match is tailor made for those who love great gamesmanship and stories of poker the way it was played “back in the day.”