Last Meal

East Joppa Road
March 26, 2017

Bel-Loc Diner owner Bill Doxanas will be serving his last omelet and coffee later today. But he isn’t really sad to close the iconic Parkville diner’s doors.

“I’m 66—I started working here in 1964 for my dad,” he says, as he manages the long line that began forming before the sun rose. “I can’t keep up the pace any longer. It’s time to go.”

Over the decades, regulars at the Bel-Loc included Colts and Orioles legends like Johnny Unitas and Luis Aparicio. Former Colt star Tom Matte stopped by Friday to say goodbye. Other next-generation Colts, like Marty Domres and Bruce Laird, remain longtime friends of the Bel-Loc—one of the last of diners of a bygone Baltimore era. The name of the diner, as Baltimoreans no doubt can guess, is a reference to its location near the intersection of the Baltimore beltway (“Bel”)—which was completed a few years before the diner opened—and Loch Raven Boulevard (“Loc”).

“Anyone here that isn’t part of a party of six or seven?” a hostess asks with a smile as she ducks her head into the jam-packed waiting area.

Now, the diner is set to become a Starbucks. Doxanas says he contacted the company—which he believes is a good organization—after concluding he wanted a buyer. He says that the company has plans to build a handsome new coffeehouse on the spot. Once word got out that the Bel-Loc was closing, its iconic coffee mugs, featuring the image of a retro-uniformed waitress kicking up a heel as she handles a serving tray, have been at a premium. Normally available for purchase, the diner only has enough left for serving coffee this morning.

“I wanted to buy a mug,” a visitor, getting up from his counter stool, tells Doxanas.

“Just steal one,” Doxanas says.

For decades, the Bel-Loc was open 24/7, and Doxanas says he’s going to spend more time playing golf in retirement.

“It’s been a great run,” he says. “I went to college thinking I’d never return. But rather than spend a few weeks tending bar in Ocean City before a college lacrosse all-star game after my senior year, I decided to work my last couple of weeks here. And then I never left.”

Doxanas adds that it was the best decision he ever made because of the Bel-Loc’s customers, who he says are the best around. (He would know, too: His family’s diner legacy proceeds the Bel-Loc. His father, Tom Doxanas, also co-founded the Double-T Diner—the “T” in Tom serving as one-half of the “Double-T”—with fellow Greek-American partner Tony Papadis.)

Many of the Bel-Loc customers, not to mention longtime employees, still seem a bit disoriented, wondering where they’ll meet for coffee, eggs, pancakes, pie, and conversation after this weekend.

“We’re like a lot of the waitresses,” one man says, sharing a booth and final breakfast with his wife and sister-and-in-law, both of whom grew up down the street from the Bel-Loc. “We don’t know where we are going to go now.”

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Not Board

West Pratt Street
March 19, 2017

On a warm, sunny Sunday, one day before the official start of spring, one of the large upstairs conference areas at the Baltimore Convention Center is filled with hundreds of people playing board games. On cafeteria-style tables filled with Cheåetos, Bergers cookies, and energy drinks, the mostly 30- and 40-somethings hover over throwback board games—some familiar like Risk, Pictionary, and Dungeons & Dragons, but even more that are unique.

One board game is a competition to see who can build the best carnival. Another aims at creating the best bird sanctuary. There’s a story improv game here, too, and one called Hoodoo Sea Salvage—the occult nickname for the Bermuda Triangle—which pits players against one another as they try to pull treasures from the bottom of the sea while avoiding “the freaky and unexplainable terrors that haunt these waters.”

Welcome to Unpub 7—the seventh annual unpublished games festival. The game-playing today isn’t just about fun, however. It’s an old-school twist on the hackathon concept where would-be designers get help perfecting their unpublished games by allowing willing participants to play. Nearly 150 board game designers are on hand, as well as several big-time manufacturers, such as Hasbro. This is the third straight year that the event has been held in Baltimore, and it is expected to draw roughly 2,000 gamers.

“It started in 2010 in a church meeting hall with 12 designers and 30 people in Dover, Delaware,” explains Unpub founder John Moller, between bites of a hamburger and french fries. “The next year, we moved to an FOP Lodge and had maybe 20 designers and 50 attendees. And the community of designers, players, and companies that publish games just grew. People have come from Ireland, Canada, and Australia.”

There’s one governing rule: “No video games allowed.”

It’s not that video games aren’t fun, Moller explains, “They just tend to be isolating.”

“People talk to each other when they play board games,” Moller says. “That’s why people like them. Digital revolution or not, board games never went away. The industry is doing better than ever. Some popular digital games—like the phone app games—later become board games.” 

Several published board games, such as The Game of 49—a kind of auction-bingo combo that’s available at Target—helped get launched through Unpub festivals.

One game getting a test run isn’t a board game, but a lawn game with a Lord of the Rings/Game of Thrones-theme. First, sticks are placed in a circle to create “a realm.” Then players, adopting certain characteristics of the various “clans” they choose, roll bocce-like balls to knock down the castles of opposing clans. 

“My students love it,” says inventor/gym teacher Denny Weston, making his pitch to potential customers and investors. “But it’s for all ages. Kids can play at the park. It’s great for family picnics. It’s something college guys can do outside over beers. I can play with my buddies at a barbecue.

“My grandmother, who is 85, has played. She grew up bowling.” Weston continues. “She loved it.”

Did you play cards as a young boy?

I played poker for the first time when I was 16 and I went full-time when I was about 19. I basically went to college for my parents, but was spending all my time getting better at poker.

Talk to me about how you practiced and honed your skills.
I was playing 95 percent of my hours online and I was playing with a fake ID sometimes. I played pretty much all poker online, except I played at an 18 and over Indian reservation in upstate New York. I would go up there five or six times a year. But I probably played about 70 hours a week online. As soon as I went to college, I got introduced to underground games and I was playing a decent amount. Soon after, I spent every summer in Vegas.

What was it about poker that interested you?
I always got straight A’s—all the way from 6th grade on. And then when I went to college, I had to take all these boring pre-req courses. I thought, “That’s what I had been doing my whole life and now I have to do this all over again.” I found poker to be so much more complex, so much more interesting. It’s just a good combination of competition and gaming. It reminds me of sports, but also involves game theory. I didn’t do it for the money. I could easily make $2000, which was more than enough for spending money. I never looked at as an end all and be all.

Then I got addicted to drugs. I’m real open about it because I want to help other people. I’m just trying to give information to people struggling with drug addiction. Part of being an addict is being a perfectionist, and if you channel it into the right thing, you can be successful. It takes money to make money, just like anything in life. I was spending all the money I was making on drugs, and wasn’t able to make any because I wasn’t growing my bankroll. As soon as I got clean, I started doing pretty well for myself. I’ve had two or three relapses, but the first two were very early. If you’re playing a game that involves control, you need to be as level headed as possible. I don’t drink when I’m in Vegas; I don’t do any of that shit and it gives me an edge over other players. I was fortunate to pull myself together. There aren’t many successful poker players who have to deal with being a drug addict and having depression issues. You have to be careful when your mind is in that foggy state. If I feel like I’m having one of those days, I just don’t play at all.

What goes through your head during poker games?
Poker is the type of game, and anyone who plays poker will tell you, it’s all about making the right decisions—the rest will take care of itself. You can do everything right, but then it’s all in the cards. But, if the long run, you’re constantly making the right decisions, there’s no way you’re going to lose. It’s just like day trading. They win or lose money every day, but in the long run the market goes up. When I went in [to the tournament], I told myself I want to play every situation the best possible way and then I can live with the results. Even though everyone was telling me I was the best player, mathematically, I was only going to win 20 percent of the time. I had prepared myself to say whatever happens happens.

How’d you decide to wear the Orioles jersey at the final table?
I’ve always loved baseball. I played club at University of Maryland. At first, I was going to wear my high school baseball jersey. But then, I was getting a bunch of support from my hometown and the Orioles started to have such a successful season, so I wore my Adam Jones jersey—he’s my favorite player. Adam Jones was tweeting about it while i was playing. He started following me and sent me a message and said, “Thanks and it was super sick to watch you.”

How many days was the tournament?
It was seven 12-hour days, but I’m there all summer anyway. It’s funny because our house lease was only until the 16th. And so that night, we played until almost 3 a.m. and I had to go home and pack all my stuff and then finally went to bed and then drove back with all my stuff in tow to the final table.

At what point did you start to realize you might win the whole thing?
I definitely thought, “I’m going to have to get very luck to win this whole thing.” You’re never 100 percent.

I noticed you got pretty emotional when you won.
The thing is I guess I get pretty emotional from my mom’s side of the family. I didn’t see that coming. When I won, I saw my dad crying and it was only the third time in my life I had seen that. So it hit me, and I just lost it.

What are your thoughts on what you might do with the money?
Well I just signed a lease for an apartment in DC. I’m also going to be a silent partner in a real estate company. I’m going to meet with financial advisors that I trust. It’s really hard to trust people when it comes to investment. I’m going to be super careful. I’m going to continue to play poker, travel to Australia and Macaw. The biggest games in the world will be where poker is popular; and where really rich people want to spend money.

But yeah, it doesn’t even seem like real life. Everything has been so crazy. You go to Vegas every summer with goal of winning $100,000 or so and then I pretty much just won $10 million in two-and-a-half weeks.

How has your life changed since you won?
What’s kind of cool about it is that, if I wanted to, I could go around and have all the glamour and travel poker rooms and be recognized. But that’s the not the type of person I am. I just wanted to make a good living because I love doing it. And, If I go out to the grocery store, no one recognizes me. It’s pretty nice.

How do you feel about the slots decision being passed in MD?
We all want to be able to play poker online legally. Almost every country in the world you can play it online. It’s regulated in Spain, Italy, France; that’s what the US is going to do eventually. I had to live in Canada for 10 months just to practice legally. You have to leave your family in friends. I had to sacrifice things to pursue my dream. There are already so many illegal poker games in Maryland. People have no idea how many games there are. People are going to gamble no matter what. So, yeah, it was exciting. And if I could get linked up and be an ambassador to the new Harrah’s or National Harbor, that would be awesome.