He added: 'It'll be great to have a poker night where the guys can hug and kiss and not be apprehensive about it.' 'I've been to SugarHouse, and it's the South Philly, rough-'n'-tumble guys - I'm kind of 'in the closet' when I'm at a casino, because you have to be. And I think that's a big deal,' Cordora said. Casinos, they have gay nights, and they do drag shows and dance parties, but I don't think anyone's ever had a gay night - like, actually had the gambling tables out.

'I don't think any casino has had an LGBT poker tournament. game's winner gets a $30 Boxers gift card).īut the bigger news here is that his revived interest in hosting poker games has, he said, attracted the interest of SugarHouse Casino, which is in the planning stages of hosting what will likely be a quarterly LGBT poker tournament. His first poker lesson will happen this Saturday, Jan. The new idea: Do lessons and a game on Saturdays, in addition to the Tuesday night games he's been hosting since December. And then 16 came the next week, and then 23 and now we're at 30.'Īt which point, he realized a lot of gay men were approaching him, asking to be taught how to play poker. 'There were 12 people, which doesn't sound like a lot, but 12 more were crowding around to watch us. No one was more surprised than me!' he said. 'We started on a Tuesday in December, and low and behold, it was packed. Still, Cordora couldn't help but give Phelps a 'Yes': He's been running Texas Hold 'Em-style poker matches on the second floor of Boxer's Philadelphia since December. That, of course, was before the phenomenon of Pennsylvania casino licenses.

To be clear, when Cordora says 'years ago,' he's referring to when he launched his Bluffin' with Butch poker company, which ran a string of poker matches in the Gayborhood at bars like Tavern on Camac, Woody's and, by 2008, in Irish pubs up and down South Street. Now there's Sugarhouse, Parx and Harrah's, and they're the real deal - no one needs the bull**** poker where you win the free drink.' 'I got this email about two months ago from Kip Phelps, from Boxers, and he's like, 'Butch, my boyfriend said you used to run poker all the time in the Gayborhood - would you entertain the thought of running a poker game here?'' Cordora told 'I told him I didn't think it would work because of the casinos - it's not like it was years ago. After a brief hiatus, following the disappearance of his 2013-launched G-town Radio show, Butch Cordora, Philly's longtime LGBT talk show host and visual artist, is back on the scene.

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