Newport Beach poker game hosted by 97-year-old folds after four decades

In a first-floor apartment in Newport Beach, Friday evening, a 41-year-old tradition finally came to a close.

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Surrounded by moving boxes and emptied shelves, five people — aged 60 to 97 years old — gathered around a makeshift poker table to play one last game.

As cards and chips traveled around the green-clothed table, so did stories of how each player joined the game over the years, all while a “Solid Gold Oldies” radio station played “Unchained Melody” by the Righteous Brothers and other tunes — otherwise known as “high school songs” for the group.

The center of attention, however, was not on who would win the money pot at the end of the night, as it usually is, but on the person who brought everyone together.

Dorothy Dahms, 97, has hosted the six-hour affair — complete with a cocktail hour, 25 variations of poker and a home-cooked meal — since 1985. But Dahms will be moving to Portland, Oregon, at the end of July to live with her daughter, Leslie Crouch.

“I hate to see it all end,” Dahms said. “I really can’t live alone anymore, unfortunately. I have lost a little bit of weight, and I don’t drive anymore.”

So before she leaves, there’s one final poker night.

The tradition began when Dahms and her late husband, Fred Dahms, moved from Marina del Rey to their home in Dover Shores in the 1980s.

“It was just the two of them for most of the time,” Crouch said. “They both loved to play poker, and they had played at casinos over the years, so they decided to start a poker game at their house.”

After inviting some close friends to play each Friday, a group of six regular players — all men, other than Dahms, since female poker players were hard to come by, she recalled — quickly formed, and so did a routine that has carried the group through life’s changes.

“We, of course, had people move away, had people pass away,” Dahms said. “But we always seem to be able to scrounge around and get a player.”

When Fred Dahms died in 2017, the fate of the weekly poker games was unknown to her.

“I thought after my husband passed away, the guys didn’t want to play with me, but I was wrong. Maybe it was my cooking,” Dahms joked.

“The guys” kept coming back each week, and the poker tradition continued.

“I think they maybe took a break for a week or so, but they all love playing so much,” Crouch said. “My mom looks forward to every Friday.”

Each week, Dahms poured herself a vanilla vodka on the rocks while waiting for the players to trickle in and enjoy the snacks and refreshments she set out. But at 5:30 p.m. sharp, no matter who has walked through the door so far, the cards hit the table, and the conversation ceases.

Each dealer chooses which poker variation to play, from common games like Omaha and Follow the Queen to Fred Dahms’ favorite game, Bixler, one that newer players agreed was difficult to keep up with the rules.

The rounds go fast, and before the players know it, the clock hits 7, and it’s time for one of Dahms’ home-cooked meals, like her famous meatloaf she served on Friday.

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While Dahms enjoys two cigarettes, the playing continues for the next three hours until someone is declared the winner of the money pot, which can sometimes total over $200. No profit is made from these games.

“Everybody’s good friends. Whoever wins, wins, and whoever loses, cries,” Dahms said. “That’s all.”

The group’s final game was the same as always, with some exceptions. Dahms set out cheese and crackers and cocktail meatballs while offering everyone who walked in the door a glass of wine or a cocktail.

This time, however, the apartment was sparse, but the balloons Dahms’ daughter set up and the flowers sent by an original player who moved away filled in the gaps.

Jerry Laland, who lives in Irvine, is the newest to the game. He joined three years ago after his coworker Richard Hogan, a player of 15 years, invited him to fill in a seat.

“The first time I came to play, I was just a sub,” Laland said. “(Dorothy) looked at me, very politely said, ‘Do you mind if I smoke?’ It just caught me off guard.”

Robert Freiberg, who lives in Newport Beach, is one of the original players.

“If you want classic Dorothy, it’s after dinner’s put away that she can finally relax,” Freiberg said. “She sits down, lights up a cigarette and has a glass of wine.”

Dahms’ granddaughter Taylor Pion and 2-year-old great-grandson Tucker, who live in Orange, were also present at the going-away game.

“It’s prime nostalgia,” Pion said. “I remember being really little, and my friends and I would sneak around the kitchen and peek at them (playing). It’s all the best memories.”

While the move to Portland is bittersweet, Dahms will be close to other family members. Her other granddaughter, Mackenzie Pion, lives in Portland and is expecting a baby.

“I just noticed from some of the conversations that I’ve had with her that she wasn’t able to really keep up with what was happening and started to forget some things,” Crouch said of why her mother is moving into her Portland home.

“But God only knows she can still play poker,” Crouch said.

And Crouch is already planning to ensure her mother has more poker to look forward to.

“I’m going to set her up a poker game,” Crouch said. “My niece said she would help set up a game, too, so between the two of us, we’ll figure something out.”

For now, the last poker game played recently in Newport Beach was a chance to reminisce and say goodbye to a tradition that has withstood decades.

From a home in Dover Shores, to apartments at the Balboa Bay Club and Big Canyon Country Club, and finally to the first-floor apartment filled with moving boxes and packing tape, the weekly poker game has followed.

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“It’s been a wonderful adventure,” Dahms said.