New Mexico. The Land of Enchantment. Jackrabbits, rattlesnakes, peyote, home of Billy the Kid, Blackjack Ketchum and Jack Schaefer, author of 'Shane.'
My kind of country.
I moved to New Mexico when I was 19 to become sports editor of the Tucumcari Daily News. Over the years I worked as a reporter on various newspapers in Clovis, Hobbs, Roswell and Deming. I fell in love with the Land of Enchantment.
When I first settled in New Mexico, there were a few places where gambling casinos existed. The Inn of the Mountain Gods, for example, provided 24-hour action just outside Ruidoso, N.M. A race track for fast quarter horses existed a couple of miles from the casino.
My publisher owned race horses and Ruidoso was a real party town for cowboys, secretaries, doctors, ranchers and journalists like myself. My lost weekends in Ruidoso were rewarding and legendary. Even now when I think of them, I smile.
As the popularity of gambling and especially poker increased, the tribal councils of various Indian tribes around the state began taking an interest. Against the wishes of the New Mexico State Legislature, they built gambling casinos on their reservations.
The State of New Mexico fought back. Compromises and taxes to share some of the profits went into effect. The Indian tribes and the State Legislators were able to settle the issue without going to war.
Today there are gambling casinos spread across the Land of Enchantment. The jackrabbits have diminished in number, leaving only a handful, but the casinos have proliferated. Thousands of Indians have been provided with jobs, college educations, housing and other benefits because of the money spent by tourists in the Indian-owned casinos.
You can look up their locations on line, but I can vouch for the action. There is the Buffalo Thunder Resort which provides cash games and a tournament on the last Saturday of every month. The buy-in is just $150 and it starts at 1 p.m., followed b6 a 6:30 p.m. tournament.
The Route 66 Casino offers three daily tournaments, including a pineapple tournament on Wednesdays along with bounty tournaments. There is also Player of the Year competition and cash bonuses for the top five players of the year.
One of my favorite casinos is Sandia Resort near Albuquerque. The poker room provides weekly tournaments including two every Sunday. Tournament buy-ins range from $45 to $75 for bounty tournaments. You never run out of action at Sandia.
A low-limit poker room is operated by the Santa Ana Casino which spreads a $2-6 limit Texas Hold'em game.
Then there is the popular Inn of the Mountain Gods, a mystical casino in the mountains near Ruidoso. The Inn provides regular tournaments and on April 22-23 and May 20-21 will host a $330 buy-in tournament that guarantees a minimum of $60,000 in cash to the winners. First place is $10,000, second is $6,000 and third is $4,500.
While working in Tucumcari, I met Jack Schaefer, author of 'Shane,' a best-selling novel that was made into a movie starring Alan Ladd and Jack Palance. He had used some of his royalties to buy a ranch near Santa Fe.
Like me, Schaefer found New Mexico to be a true Land of Enchantment. He wrote several books about the beauty and mystery of the country. I spent a memorable weekend at his ranch riding horses and exploring the wolf caves in mesas and canyons. I even ran into a herd of wild horses that chased me and my horse all the way back to the ranch.
The next time you decide to drive across America, make plans to spend a night or two in New Mexico. You won't be disappointed.
Author: Geno Lawrenzi Jr.
(Geno Lawrenzi Jr. is an international journalist, magazine author and ghostwriter and poker player who lives in Phoenx, AZ. He has published 2,000 articles in 50 magazines and 125 newspapers. If you want to share a gambling story or book idea with him, send an email to glawrenzi@gmail.com ).
