In May of 1979, the Nevada Gaming Commission approved a plan by Doyle Brunson and Eric Drache to operate a card room at the Silverbird Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The approval came after the Gaming Control Board recommended that the application be rejected — since Brunson and Drache had not yet worked out a lease.
The two poker-famous figures were still going through the process, but they were eager to open the new room before the end of the 1979 WSOP. The Silverbird was equally eager to increase their poker revenue with the growing WSOP crowd.
The nation was also in the midst of a gas crisis, something Las Vegas casino owners were quick to blame for their problems.
“We’re off 25 percent in our drop right now,” Silverbird owner Major Riddle told the papers at the time. “It’s a very serious situation.” A card room fronted by a poker superstar like Brunson would mean "about $100K a year, more than I’m earning on my poker at the present time.”
The Ten-Deuce Club
The Silverbird, formerly known as the Thunderbird, switched names in 1977 when Riddle took over operations. Riddle had staked an early claim in Las Vegas going back to the Dunes in the 1950s, where he was a key figure in expansions funded by loans from the Teamsters Fund. He went on to open the Silver Nugget in North Las Vegas and the Silver City Casino on The Strip.
The plan was for Brunson and Drache to earn a salary until they would begin paying Riddle to lease the operation of the room. Drache (seen in the lead photo with Doyle at the 1976 series) was the tournament director of the WSOP and the man credited with inventing the tournament satellite. He was also featured in the Al Alvarez book The Biggest Game in Town, helping to earn him the reputation of a well-known stud crusher and future Poker Hall of Famer.
The two would lend their star power to what would become known as ‘The Ten-Deuce Club’ — named for the hand Brunson used to win the WSOP Main Event just a few years prior. Binion's press agent, Henri Bollinger, handled the promotions, suggesting a direct link between Binion's and the new venture.
Pros and amateurs welcome
The Ten-Deuce Club would be open 24 hours a day, and it would specialize in high-stakes hold’em games. Riddle would even sit in on the big games himself with buy-ins of $50K or more. An early press release touted the likely appearances of Bobby Baldwin, Johnny Moss, Puggy Pearson, and Amarillo Slim. Special features were also planned, like poker workshops for beginners.
A draft of an invitation meant to be given to players at the 1979 WSOP welcomed them to the new room. Binion’s did not offer poker for the other 11 months of the year and The Ten-Deuce Club would fill that void. The invitation promised seven-card stud, 2-7 lowball, and limit draw poker — all 24 hours a day.
Drache promised a welcome place for high-level professionals and amateurs. “If someone wants to get into a high-stakes game, The Ten-Deuce Club is the place to be, day or night.” The room would fit 9-10 tables near the Silverbird’s feature lounge. Amateur players were encouraged to ask for advice and give their money away to a long line of waiting local pros.
Free physicals, health screen drawings
The Ten-Deuce Club also had an eye for promotional gimmicks, like an early idea by Drache to promote good health. During the month of November in 1979, players were able to get free limited medical examinations at the poker room and a referral to a doctor’s office for the full physical. The health spot checks happened between 6am and 10am — “when problems might more readily be caught.”
Tickets were handed out every two hours throughout the day for drawings at 6am and 8am, with winners sent to Las Vegas physician Dr. Edward Hoffman for a complete physical and medical history, including “urinalysis, a Med-screen blood panel, a sigmoidoscopy, in the case of a female a Pap smear, a pulmonary function study, a chest X-ray, electro-cardiogram, a TB skin test, an allergy screening panel, and other tests, such as an acid phosphatase, that may be indicated by the condition of the individual.”
Another promotion set up a heads-up clash for $200K between Gabe Kaplan and 1979 WSOP Main Event winner Hal Fowler. Kaplan, who was a big TV star at the time, sat down for the challenge on August 11 of 1979 and beat Fowler in just three short hours in a match that was set up to last for a full day.
The end of the Silverbird
Ultimately, the Ten-Deuce Club was short-lived. Riddle died in July of 1980 and his casinos went into bankruptcy. No successful bid was found to take over the lease on the Silverbird and the casino closed in December of 1981.
No sources indicate an exact closure date for the poker room or how long Brunson and Drache operated it after Riddle died. Drache, who went on to work for Steve Wynn at the Golden Nugget, would run into trouble with the IRS in the 1990s, leading to the loss of his Nevada gaming license. He eventually returned to poker a decade later as a consultant for Larry Flynt’s Hustler Casino in Los Angeles and was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2012.
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Letters and correspondence obtained from Binion's Horseshoe Casino Records on Poker, 1960-2006. MS-00325. Special Collections and Archives, University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Lead images courtesy of Dennis Kula/UNLV Special Collections.
