Visitors from all around come to Southern Arizona to visit Tombstone: “The Town Too Tough to Die.”

And pretty soon some of those visitors could include poker players.  Poker could be making a comeback.

“Tombstone was a Las Vegas before there was a Las Vegas,” says Harold Lee with the Arizona Card League. “Tombstone, as far as I can tell, is the home of poker in this country in a way.”

Despite their poker faces, a group of poker lovers are passionate the game should come back to Tombstone.

“We think that not only does poker belong there, but that poker can do a lot to help that community revive itself,” Lee says.

“It’s huge on TV right now. Turn it on and there’s 3 games on,” says poker dealer John Pearson.

The Arizona Card League wants to put on weekend poker excursions in town.

Some of the money will go towards fixing up the old city hall.

It’s another way to draw visitors to town.

“They could sit around, play cards like Doc Holliday and stuff,” says Tombstone resident Stephanie Hamblin.

The city says it can’t find any law on its books saying poker ever became illegal.

“I think it’s the Old West and they need to have stuff like that,” Hamblin says.

You can find more information at www.arizonacardroom.com.

Recovered from the Poker Players Alliance archive index. This is the archived item as preserved.