Games

Even in the midst of the Great Depression, gamblers flocked to Gardena. Colorful individuals like Ernie Primm fought for the legalization of commercial draw poker and established six iconic card clubs that thrived for generations. Russ Miller worked his way from Edgemont Club bouncer to owner of the Normandie Club. A criminal group called the Ver-Crans Corporation controlled the Horseshoe Club before being run out of town, selling its interest to Bow Herbert. Rival factions in the city waged war in the courts and the street over the coveted seventh card club license. And Larry Flynt bid his way to owning the Eldorado Club, which he rebuilt as the Hustler Casino. Author Max Votolato reveals the high-stakes stories behind Gardena's famous poker rooms.

From the time San Jose was founded by the Spanish in 1777 as California's first civilian settlement, the city has had its share of risk-taking in one way or another. San Jose began as a small settlement of farmers who produced food for the presidios in San Francisco and Monterey. In their free time, the farmers enjoyed a few games of cards despite the strict rules of the Spanish military. Present-day San Jose has become filled with high-tech engineers risking everything to develop the next successful start-up company. San Jose had a lot of gambling between these times-from the illegal speakeasy-type clubs that featured games such as dice, fan-tan, roulette, Chinese lotteries, and, of course, slot machines to the small legal card clubs consisting of one to ten tables filled with people playing games such as pan, lowball, and poker, that would eventually become two of Northern California's largest cardrooms, which generate millions of dollars every year.

Beverly Snodgrass made a lot of poor choices. Once a prostitute in the old mining town of Butte, she later became a madam running two of the most popular brothels. She fell deeply in love with a crooked politician, whom she nicknamed Dimple Knees. When corrupt cops in uniform came to her businesses, it usually wasn't to serve and protect but rather to collect payoffs. Butte is sometimes described as a town that drinks her liquor straight, but things never were the same after Beverly told her story to a newspaper reporter. That reporter, John Kuglin, recounts the scandal that rocked The Richest Hill on Earth and for a time made Dimple Knees the most famous name in Montana.