It's a sad day for Seattle Poker fans, as the 'Puget Sound Probability and Chowder Society' has played their last game. The poker club was started by Grant Erwin more than 46 years ago, as a small club. In the early days eight or nine men would meet once a month around kitchen tables in Seattle and Bellevue, playing low-stakes poker, and keeping track of their winnings using tokens stored in individual baby-food jars.
Over the last 46 years, the club has seen many members come and go. Some moved to other cities, a few, sadly, have died, but the core membership have played poker together for almost half a century, seeing member get married, divorced, have grandchildren, or celebrate retirement. On Friday, the seven remaining players played their last hand as a society.
Bob Gillespie, 75, a player who moved to Portland several years ago but travelled to Bellevue to play the final game in Frank Davenport's home, said “I'm really going to miss seeing all these guys [...] I'll miss hearing their stories about their lives and families. We've learned so much from each other over the years.”
For the first four decades of play at the society, the players would give their winnings to Erwin, who would invest the money in stocks. Over the years, the money would rack up, and by the year 2000 the men collectively had more than $100,000 in stocks. When Erwin remarried, his attorney wife made him divest the stocks, pointing out that what they were doing could technically be illegal.
The society kept playing even when the stocks were gone, sharing stories instead of talking stock prices, and enjoying the friendship they had built up over the years. Showing what a beautiful game poker can be.
Now they are in their 70s and 80s, and have decided to put away the cards. There are plans, however, for a yearly reunion.
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