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Southern California Man Expires at the Poker Table: Rammin'-Jammin' Game Continues Uninterrupted
By Nolan Dalla
(All Rights Reserved)

After Mankowitz's corpse is removed from the poker room, the game continues as usual (Note seat 10 is vacant after the body was extracted from the table).

(UPI) LOS ANGELES, CA -- The scene at the Poker Palace Casino in Gardena turned morbid on Friday afternoon, when 89-year-old Benjamin Mankowitz died of natural causes while sitting at a poker table. Mankowitz had been a regular at the club for many years and was well-liked by both players and staff. When pressed for additional details about the octogenarian's life, no one at the casino knew much of anything about Mankowitz's personal history, nor knew whether or not he left any survivors.

"Ben wasn't much of a talker," fellow player Roy Simmons remembered. "Old Benny just sat there most of the time like a rock and never said a word to anyone."

According to several witnesses, Mankowitz entered the Poker Palace Casino located at 2347 S. Che Guevara Blvd. in mid-morning and proceeded to sit down in his usual $3-6 Omaha High-Low Split game. At approximately 1:20 pm, Dealer Josh Robbins sensed something was wrong with Mankowitz, who was sitting in the ten seat at Table 12. "Five full minutes elapsed without a check or a bet by Mr. Mankowitz. I wasn't sure if he was thinking about whether or not to call the $3 bet, or if something was really wrong," Robbins said in an official statement later given to police. "It's not unusual for those elderly Omaha players to take lots of time to make up their minds."

Other players at the table became impatient and ripped the cards out of Mankowitz's clasping hands as the game continued on. "After a similar incident occurred each and every time (Mankowitz) was dealt a hand, I finally decided I better call the floorperson over to the table. He was really slowing up the action and pissing everybody off."

After the floorperson arrived and failed to get a response from Mankowitz, he issued the deceased player a severe reprimand. It was explained to Mankowitz that the "Third Man Walking Rule" was in effect for the table. Since two other players had departed the table previously in order to go get lunch, that left Mankowitz in a most unfavorable situation. The rule meant that Mankowitz would not be permitted to sit out of the game for any reason. Over the next three hours, the blinds raced around and gradually ate away Mankowtiz's paltry stack of white one-dollar chips. After the next shift change, no one bothered to inform the new crew of the odd situation, and Mankowitz's cold clammy body was permitted to slump onto the felt.

Finally, it became obvious to someone at the table that Mr. Mankowitz was either very tired or not feeling well. "Hey old man, wake up!" Rodney Jenkins joked as he prodded the man's lifeless body. After another hour passed, a dealer finally called over another floorman who was reported to have once taken a course in CPR back in high school. "He doesn't look too good. I think something is wrong with him," Chad EuClaire said. "When I saw poor Benny's left hand sitting in an ashtray and starting to catch on fire, I began to suspect the worst."

Medics from the Los Angeles County Coroners Office arrived 55 minutes later. Removing the dead corpse from the poker room without causing a major disturbance posed the most serious challenge for the medical staff. "They kept right on playing poker," Emergency Service Technician Wanda Perkins complained. "We couldn't even get the stretcher into the middle of the poker room because no one would move their chairs even an inch to let us pass by."

Staff at the Poker Palace Casino were quick to get the games moving again, despite the distractions of a dead body laid out inside the poker room. "Kill his hand and deal around him!" one unidentified floorman yelled out, as the stiff body was strapped to a stretcher and covered with a white sheet.
"Open seat! Seat ten! Table 12!"

Nolan Dalla can be reached at: nolandalla@pokerpages.com