A few years ago I stopped at Ginny's while it was still open and had a nice long visit with her. I put a page about her and the club on a web site that I had at the time. You can still see it on the link below. I have copied and pasted most of the info here but all the chips are shown on the web site.

Ginny’s Card Room

Tucked away in the back corner of a little Second Hand Store is a great example of a dying breed – the small California card room. Virginia (Ginny) Mahoney has been dealing cards here for about 40 years. At one time the place was a nice little bar with a dance floor and pool tables and a card room in the back. At the time there were a number of card room operating in and around Marysville – the Golden Pheasant, the Marysville Hotel and numerous others. All that’s left is Ginny’s and Rooney’s and they don’t look to last all that much longer.

The dance floor is still there but its covered with all kinds of stuff that Ginny has acquired over the years at lien sales and yard sales. She says that she has had to do this to make up for the lost business that now goes to all the Indian Casinos. One of the largest in the state – Thunder Valley – is located just 20 miles to the South, the newly remodeled Colusa Casino & Resort is about 20 miles to the West, Feather Falls and the Gold Country Casinos are 20 miles to the North in Oroville. She says she can’t even get enough people for a game some nights now. In the good old days she used to start the games about sundown and they would go on until early morning almost every night. Ginny says she is going to hang in there – dealing lo-ball as long as she is able to but the outlook isn’t too good. In addition to the lost business to the Indian Casinos the current high profile of Texas Hold’em also hurts business – Ginny says a lot of the younger players don’t know how to play lo-ball but she is reluctant to switch games.

You’ve sure got to admire and respect Ginny for what she has accomplished. She has hung in there in the good times and the bad and made a decent life for herself and her three children. A lot of clubs have opened and closed in the last 40 years – it is a real tribute to her dedication and hard work that she has managed to keep at for all these years. Ginny’s is a great example of what is being lost in California – the small neighborhood card room – where friends can go to have a good honest game and a good time.

Here is a picture of Ginny -

Here is the sign that used to be on the front of the place:

Here is the $5 chips: