The Gardena clubs were the only ones in operation, with no house dealers and players dealing their own cards and the only legal games were low ball and draw, Paul, until the opening of the Bell Club, circa 1981, which changed the LA poker scene forever, with it's 50-60 tables, and permission to deal "Asian Games", Pai-gow and Super Nine. The Commerce opened a couple of years later and the Bicycle Club the next year. Each was bigger than the last, with the Bicycle boasting 100 tables. The "Bike" spelled doom for the nearby and now outdated Bell Club, and the Gardena Clubs began closing one by one until only the Normandie and Eldorado remained in operation. The Bell reopened as the Regency, closed again, and reopened again as the Jackpot Club. That lasted only months. The Huntington Park Casino opened in another part of town. The wave provided by the Asian games slowed down, and just in time stud and hold 'em were legalised. Existing casinos expanded and re-expanded into the monstrosities they are today. The Eldorado eventually closed, leaving the Normandie as the only connection to the original, classic Gardena draw poker clubs. That's the story of the LA poker clubs in a nutshell, from a guy that lived it.