| Business Leader: Kyle Kirkland |
| Posted Wednesday, January 06, 2010; 13:44 PM |
| Kyle Kirkland, owner/president, Club One Casino |
| by James Olinger |
 Kyle Kirkland, owner/president, Club One Casino  Fresno, CA (Jan. 6, 2010) – Even though he was born in Portsmouth, VA, Kyle Kirkland spent most of his childhood in Maine. Kirkland’s father worked for a bank, and his mother was a teacher. He was involved in sports, including soccer, and tennis in high school. He also delivered newspapers and shoveled snow in what he calls a “rural area.” He said that playing tennis heavily impacted his life and his health. “I was kind of an overweight kid, and then I started playing tennis and started running,” Kirkland said. He attended Harvard College, where he earned an undergraduate degree in economics, and then received an M.B.A. in business administration from Stanford University. After graduating from Stanford, he worked at the investment banking firm Drexel Burnham Lambert. He then worked with some friends in Beverly Hills, which is where he met longtime partner Dana Messina, whom he’s worked with the past 20 years. While he was an investment banker he was involved in a leverage buyout of the Selmer Co., which was the leading producer of band and orchestra instruments in the United States. At the time, Selmer was owned by a company that was being liquidated. It came up for sale, and they purchased it. Kirkland said that the deal was written about in Forbes magazine. 16 to 18 months later he and Messina heard that Steinway and Sons, the largest manufacturer of musical instruments in the country, was for sale. The partners are both shareholders in the company, and Kirkland is the chair of the board. “We had tossed ourselves into the bidding for that and ultimately won it, and we’ve since gone public,” Kirkland said. The two also own the company Kirkland Messina, Inc., with offices in Los Angeles. They have done some financial work for the Commerce Club, the biggest card club in the world. That was when Kirkland first became involved in the card club industry. Kirkland and Messina first met the owners of Fresno’s Club One Casino in 2006. One owner was looking to retire from the business, and the casino was put up for sale. In February of 2008 Kirkland and Messina became the new owners of the establishment. By that time Kirkland had a good knowledge of the card club industry, and had even developed a poker information Web site. “It was considered one of the leading providers of information on poker rooms,” Kirkland said. “So I knew a little bit about the business.” Since purchasing the casino, the plan was to improve different aspects of the business. “We’re in the customer service business, the hospitality business,” Kirkland said. “We’re trying to provide food and beverage and entertainment options to people, and make a profit doing it.” Club One Casino operates in Fresno’s downtown area, and has not closed since it first opened its doors in the mid-90s. It offers 49 card tables with a variety of card games, including Texas Hold ‘Em Poker. The casino also boasts a restaurant featuring Asian and American cuisine, and is a place where patrons can view televised or pay-per-view sporting events. The establishment employs 310. “It’s a constant scheduling exercise,” Kirkland said. “That’s definitely unusual. Every other business I’ve been in, at some point it shuts.” Kirkland said that a couple of goals he had coming into the business was to be more aggressive in the marketing aspect, and pay more attention to the food and beverages. “Coming in, the strategy was let’s get in, let’s try to understand it and see what we can improve on,” he said. According to Kirkland, if the California Lottery is included, California is the biggest gaming market in America. It is home to 58-60 tribal casinos and 90 card rooms, as well as race tracks. However, people come from 150-200 miles away to take part in Club One Casino’s card tournaments, and it is a venue that doesn’t close at all, which is unheard of in downtown. Kirkland feels comfortable knowing that there are several Native American gaming casinos nearby. “I feel like in what we do we’re very competitive,” he said. “We’re very competitive in our table games, our food and beverage experience, our customer service. I feel very comfortable competing.” Despite his busy schedule, Kirkland makes time to not only be on the board of Steinway, but also the board of the California Gaming Association and the Downtown Association of Fresno. Kirkland has a wife, Stephanie, and several hobbies that include reading, playing tennis, working out in the gym, and traveling. “Over the last couple of years, with the economy, with this business, with our other business, it’s definitely been a challenge,” he said. “So I find myself working longer and harder, which tends to leave less time for fun activities.” He has also played poker in major poker competitions, and has an idea of what the future of gambling will be like. “I think gaming’s going to get more sophisticated,” Kirkland said. “Over the next few years, the folks that survive and establish themselves are going to be the ones, when the economy turns, they’ll really have a bit more presence.” Listen to the Business Street “Business Leader of the Week” every Thursday morning at 10:00 a.m. on “The Alan Autry Show” on KYNO 1300 A.M. Business Street’s Business Leaders are featured every Thursday, only on KYNO 1300 A.M. |
Monday, August 27, 2012
Business Leader: Kyle Kirkland
Sunday, August 26, 2012
PARK WEST CASINO'S
WHICH PARK WEST CASINO DO YOU LIKE BEST? PARKWEST@supercardroom.com
The 101 Casino brings an upscale, inviting gaming experience to the Petaluma region. Voted “Best Baccarat in the bay” for their No Commission/No Collection Baccarat tables that are always full of action. On the restaurant side the City Limits Bar and Grill continues to impress us with their amazing food quality and attention to detail. Currently offering an incredible Prime Rib special for just $9.95.
|  The Casino 580 is redefining cardroom gaming in the Central Valley and Bay area. This amazing new space has been designed to capture the feel of Vegas gaming. Bac, Pai Gow, and BJ are all going from day to night. The action is unlike anything you have seen before. Come in and check it out! Featuring a very active Baccarat game and poker room featuring tournaments with guarantees over $2500+, as well as Collection-Free Blackjack and Three Card Poker. The Lucky Buck/Casino 580 weekly $1500 freeroll happens every Sunday. | 
Cordova Casino not only boasts some of the highest promotional payouts around, but they also have 99 different unique beers available. Their “99 Beers to Glory” promotion (built around their amazing beer selection) earns you rewards as you unlock achievements on your way to completing the challenge, finish the expedition and there’s a decent prize in it for you. On the casino side, their No Commission Dragon Baccarat game has caught on like wildfire and the action is unstoppable, couple that with a busy poker room and it’s easy to see why Cordova Casino is on our “must visit” list.
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The Lotus Casino is the premier Asian gaming destination in Sacramento. Located in the heart of Little Saigon, off of Stockton Blvd, there is no better place to play Bac, Pai Gow, Tiles, and Blackjack. Come in for the games, stay for the Pho! Their “Rollover Raffle” is generating quite a buzz in town as they are holding $100 drawings four times per day, if the amount is not claimed within 5 minutes it rolls-over to the next drawing. Another exciting offer at Lotus Casino is their Pai Gow Jackpot that is seeded at $5000 and grows by $250 daily and caps out at $100k!
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Wine Country Card Room is home to Northern California’s absolute best WSOP satellite series. Their next round begins near the end of January 2011 and will be appropriately titled “The Mega World Series of Poker Satellite Tournament” where as little as $15 can literally get you a seat in the 2011 WSOP Main Event. Their restaurant has an incredible breakfast menu with favorites like Steak & Eggs ($8.95), Eggs Benedict ($7.95), French Toast ($4.95), and many more. Of course like all Park West Casinos properties they also offer Blackjack, Pai Gow, Baccarat, and Poker.
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CALIFORNIA CARD ROOMS FROM A - Z
HERE IS A LIST OF ALL CALIFORNIA CARD ROOMS AND THE PDF LINKS INCLUDE RULES AND ALL INFORMATION.
WHICH CARD ROOM DO YOU LIKE BEST? EMAIL SUPERCARDROOM@GMAIL.COM
WHICH CARD ROOM DO YOU LIKE BEST? EMAIL SUPERCARDROOM@GMAIL.COM
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
San Jose's Casino M8trix opens Tuesday after all
San Jose's Casino M8trix opens Tuesday after all
Posted: 08/07/2012 08:26:48 PM PDT
Updated: 08/08/2012 03:27:00 PM PDT
1 of 21
Casino M8trix in San Jose
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SAN JOSE -- After getting word of what was supposed to be a private opening for family and friends, card players flocked to San Jose's newly built Casino M8trix card room Tuesday, a day before its planned official opening, and owners decided to let them in.
"We didn't expect it," said M8trix consultant Sean Kali-rai. "People just started trickling in, tweeting friends. You couldn't turn people away."
Casino M8trix, the $50 million reinvention of the old Garden City Casino card room on Saratoga Avenue, originally planned to open in April, but had to spend an additional four months battling for permit approval from the city.
After getting a thumbs-up on a permit from police Chief Chris Moore last month,
the card room's owners planned a "soft opening" at 8 a.m. Aug. 8 -- timed to take advantage of the date to promote a number considered lucky in Asian culture. A more celebratory grand opening is planned Aug. 17 and 18.
The owners officially shut Garden City at 2 a.m. Tuesday to begin the highly regulated and choreographed transfer of gaming operations to the new M8trix location on Airport Parkway. They planned to remain open Tuesday just for "family and friends" before an official unveiling Wednesday morning with a ribbon-cutting that is expected to be attended by Mayor Chuck Reed, Vice Mayor Madison Nguyen and council members Xavier Campos, Ash Kalra and Rose Herrera.
That's still on schedule. But Kali-rai said that as card
San Jose allows just two card rooms. The other is Bay 101 Casino, located across Highway 101 on Bering Drive, which opened in 1994. Bay 101 officials have qualified a November ballot measure that would allow a 61 percent increase in gaming tables at the city's card rooms.
The San Jose City Council on Tuesday officially put it
An interior view of Casino M8trix during a tour for the Mercury News on March 16, 2012 in San Jose. (Dai Sugano/Staff) ( Dai Sugano )
The city's card rooms currently generate about $15 million a year in tax revenues for the city thanks to a 15 percent tax on operations, more than the revenues from gas stations, restaurants, department stores or auto sales.
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