Dealer tries his hand at poker school

SAN RAMON - John Schireck believes the proliferation of poker programs on TV ultimately will deal him a winning hand, aces high.

Schireck, a lifelong card player and poker dealer with Las Vegas experience, is opening a poker school in the Outpost Casino on San Ramon Valley Boulevard. Inside this dimly lit card room, full of card tables with cards and chips, Schireck will teach the ins and outs as he awaits an answer from the state about reopening a full-fledged card room and casino there.

"We got a couple of sign-ups already," said Schireck, who also operates a restaurant with a liquor license in his 7,000-square-foot building.

Schireck, a Las Vegas dealer who worked at the Sands Hotel and then the Tropicana Hotel from 1952 to 1962, has a full liquor license and will offer 24-hour food, celebrity auctions for charity and the fellowship of friendly poker.

"In 1950, when Las Vegas began popping, there were not enough dealers," Schireck recalled, and he worked long shifts seven days a week. Eventually, the big owners began training dealers.

"Well, the same thing is happening here, with the influx of the 'World Series of Poker' and the camera on cards," he said, referring to the proliferation of poker shows on TV. "Now, you can see the strategy of the game."

Other dealer schools have opened in Oakland, San Jose and Napa in response to the increased interest in poker, Schireck said.

"There were 10 blackjack tournaments going on the last time I was in Las Vegas," he said.

Schireck bought the land for the Outpost in 1976 and opened in 1978 with California draw and five-card lowball and pan.

San Ramon incorporated in 1983, and Schireck stayed in business until 1996, when Mark Luciano bought the Outpost from Schireck, who retained the property.

Luciano feuded with the state Division of Gambling Control and also with Schireck. The Outpost closed when Luciano missed a deadline to pay the $12,500 required to renew his city gambling license.

Schireck, who also operates JWS Sports Collectibles in Danville, now is locked in another battle over the license.

The California Grand casino in Pacheco, where Schireck says his customers have gone since the Outpost closed, is angling for the license.

The principal of CBSR Partners owns the California Grand. CBSR purchased Luciano's assets at an auction during Luciano's bankruptcy proceedings, asserted Mike Bonnifield, a CBSR attorney. He claims those assets include the rights to the Outpost's gaming license -- which Schireck says is flatly false.

Luciano's license was provisional only and thus worthless, Schireck said. The city has told him he would be "grandfathered in" and allowed to obtain a provisional license, provided he meets the requirements and then gets the state license.

By Scott Marshall

News Added: 12 April, 2005

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