From Smoke-Filled Card Rooms to Smoke-Free Poker

For most of its history, poker was played in a haze. Saloon tables, private back rooms, riverboats and early Las Vegas card rooms all had one thing in common: a cloud of cigarette and cigar smoke hanging over the felt. Today, most serious poker is played at non-smoking tables. How did that happen?

The smoke-filled room

The phrase "smoke-filled room" entered American English after the 1920 Republican National Convention, when party bosses were said to have chosen their candidate behind closed doors in a Chicago hotel suite. It became shorthand for any back-room deal, and the image fitted poker perfectly: cards, cash, whiskey and smoke. Films and novels reinforced it for decades, with the cigar-chewing card sharp as a stock character.

Las Vegas card rooms

When the World Series of Poker began at Binion's Horseshoe in downtown Las Vegas in 1970, smoking at the table was normal. Players spent long hours at the same seat, and many smoked through every session. For the dealers, who had no choice about the air they breathed, it was simply part of the job.

How the air cleared

• California, 1998. California's smoke-free workplace law extended to bars and the state's commercial card clubs, making some of the biggest poker rooms in the world non-smoking.
• House rules in Las Vegas. Even though Nevada's law still allows smoking on gaming floors, Las Vegas poker rooms moved to non-smoking policies. Today they are almost universally smoke-free, often in the same casinos where the slot floor still allows cigarettes.
• Europe's smoking bans. Workplace bans across Europe in the mid-2000s, as poker tours were taking off, meant European tournaments quickly became smoke-free.
• The online boom. After an amateur who had qualified online won the World Series of Poker Main Event in 2003, millions of people started playing online, at tables where nobody could blow smoke in their face.

The break: a test for ex-smokers

Tournament poker runs in levels, with short breaks every couple of hours. For smokers, the break is a race to the door. For ex-smokers it can be a strong trigger: the same clock, the same stretch of legs, the same group heading outside. If you play, plan the break before it arrives. Walk somewhere else, get a coffee or water, use fast-acting NRT, or call someone. Our guide to cravings and triggers has more ideas.

Does smoking affect your game?

Poker rewards focus and patience. Nicotine withdrawal does the opposite: it makes people restless, irritable and distracted, which is one reason smokers felt they "needed" a cigarette to concentrate. Once withdrawal passes, most ex-smokers find their concentration returns to normal or better. Long sessions without needing to leave the table are a small bonus.

Home games

The friendly home game is where a lot of poker smoke survives. If you host, make it smoke-free; if you play at someone else's, ask whether smokers can step outside. More on social triggers in why casinos, bars and betting nights tempt ex-smokers, and for playing from your own sofa, see online casinos and sports betting at home.