Poker Club Can Outlive Its Owner, Council Decrees

The Ventura City Council has decided to allow the 31-year-old wife of an elderly poker club owner to continue operating the small card club for 10 years after he dies.

The council on Monday voted to change city law so that Monica Donohoo can assume ownership of the Players Poker Club on Ventura Avenue once her husband, Pinky Donohoo, passes away. The 85-year-old former professional gambler is suffering from throat cancer.

In an interview at his house, Pinky Donohoo said he was pleased the council decided to extend the club’s license so his wife and 26 club employees will be financially secure after his death.

“I feel like hell,” Pinky Donohoo said Tuesday. “If I kick the bucket, she’ll be the owner.”

Under a morals code adopted in 1958, the city banned all gambling houses except for those already in operation. But once the owner of any club dies, it must also shut down. Pinky Donohoo is the only surviving club owner in the city.

In a 3-2 vote, the council amended the law so that the four-table club can keep its doors open for 10 years after Donohoo’s death. Councilmen Todd Collart and Jim Monahan cast the dissenting votes.

The decision was a setback for the Ventura Elks Lodge, which has lobbied city officials to close the 52-year-old poker club because the Elks Lodge operates a rival gambling operation.

“I’m disappointed,” said Art Gonzales, who runs the Elks’ card club. “I think they just wanted to get out because it was getting late.”

The council also directed city staff to do research on the possibility of making card clubs a revenue source for the city. Altogether, there are four card clubs in the city, but only the Players Poker Club and the Elks Lodge are open everyday.

“It’s a good business. There’s been no problems,” Councilman Gary Tuttle said.

Donohoo said he was happy with the council’s decision, but would have preferred that the club be allowed to operate permanently. “What’s the use of having a license if it’s only good for 10 years?” he asked.

Donohoo said his club manager and lawyer will continue to lobby the council to change the law so the club can stay open indefinitely after his death.

“If they shut it down, what are my employees going to do? What is my wife going to do?” Donohoo said.

Wearing a dark blue bathrobe and brown slippers, Donohoo looked in good health for a man who was in the emergency room of Community Memorial Hospital last week for chest pains.

Three weeks ago, he fell down while picking up the morning paper, he said. The cuts on his legs have yet to completely heal.

Monica, his wife of eight years, cares for him at home, he said. He was diagnosed with throat cancer about eight months ago and received radiation treatments four months ago. “I haven’t had a bite of food for months,” he complained. He receives nourishment through a tube in his chest.

After he dies, Donohoo said he expects that his manager, Owen Cornett, will continue to operate the club as usual. He said his wife doesn’t know how to play poker or manage the club.

Donohoo praised Cornett as the best manager he has had in 52 years and sent Cornett to make the case for the club before the council on Monday.

“All I ask is to continue our livelihood,” Cornett said, arguing that it makes no sense to close a thriving business. Poker players come from all over Ventura County and Los Angeles to play at the club, he said.

At Donohoo’s place, only about 40 people can play at once. Poker players say if the Players Club shuts down, they will go to the Elks Lodge or a proposed casino in Oxnard, if one is built.

The Players Club has only four tables, a small operation compared to the two major casino proposals that Oxnard officials are considering. Both developers are asking for 50 tables at their casinos, which would make them among the largest in the state.

Donohoo said he takes great pride in knowing that no cheaters are allowed at his club. He teaches all his managers how to spot cheaters, and when he used to work at the club, he would sometimes watch his customers through a two-way mirror.

“I can tell a cheater the moment they come through the door,” Donohoo said. “At my place, you get a chance to win. You don’t have a chance in hell to win in some of those places in Gardena.”

Donohoo said it has been a long time since he played cards professionally.

“I haven’t played in years and years and years,” he said. “I can sit down in a strange game and know how everyone plays in two, three hours. When I beat them, they think I’m cheating them.”