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A cardroom or card room is a gaming establishment that exclusively offers card games for play by the public. The term poker room is used to describe a dedicated room in casinos that is dedicated to playing poker and in function is similar to a card room.
Such rooms typically do not offer slot machines or video poker, or other table games such as craps as found in casinos. However, a casino will often use the term "cardroom" or "poker room" (usually the latter) to refer to a separate room that offers card games where players typically compete against each other, instead of against "the house." In the United States, stand-alone cardrooms are typically the result of local or state laws and regulations, which often prohibit full-fledged casino gambling. This was typically the case in California until the advent of casino gambling offered by American Indian tribes in the 1990s, though card rooms continue to flourish and even expand there.
Since games played in card rooms are usually player-against-player instead of player-against-house, card room operators typically derive their revenues in one of two ways. In most, the dealer of each game (employed by the establishment) will collect a rake, a portion of the pot from each hand. At other times, a charge will be levied against each player for a specific time period, typically each half hour.
Though traditional poker variants such as Texas hold 'em, Omaha hold 'em and seven-card stud are by far the most popular games offered by card rooms (and sometimes the only games), others may offer games such as panguingue, pai gow, Chinese poker, and variations on blackjack. These so-called "California games", or "Asian games", may resemble such traditional casino games as blackjack, baccarat and even craps, but have rules that comply with various state restrictions.
There are establishments that stand-alone as cardrooms. Basically what this means is no other form of gambling exists in the establishment, such as dice games, roulette, and slot games. Most are located in California, with more than a hundred such clubs licensed in 2006. Most establishments are modest, having only a few tables, while others serve as some of the largest poker rooms in the world.
Poker rooms sometimes operate illegally by not being officially licensed, or by operating in an area that restricts gambling. Two rooms with more than ten tables-the 14th Street Playstation and the 72nd Street Players Club-were closed down by Law Enforcement in 2005, but other smaller clubs continue to exist.
Websites offering online poker games are referred to as "online cardrooms" rather than casinos.
