The AceKiller's Story

The AceKiller’s Poker League is a degenerate band of poker players who have convened weekly for the last 20 years to play tournament poker as well as cash games. In doing so, they have been known to eschew sleep, trash talk, eat, drink, and generally make merry. Allow me to share the story of our unique little village and its ignoble beginning.

I am Barry Hurd, the Tournament Director for the AceKillers. My love of gaming was nourished in early childhood with board and card games played at the kitchen table. My older brother introduced me to poker when I was about ten years old, launching a lifelong fascination. While many of my early loved ones and acquaintances did not share my enthusiasm, I managed to find some games in high school, college, and even at work. When possible, I played the occasional home game before I landed on a monthly game with the local volunteer fire department. As a 911 paramedic working closely with the fire crews on calls, it only made sense that we should play together as well. Emergency medicine was my vocation, but poker was my avocation... iindeed, it was my passion.

It was during long consecutive shifts on the ambulance that I discovered the respite of online poker for the times in between 911 calls and paperwork. Live poker games were always preferable, and fortunately I found some friends and colleagues at work that also liked to play. We would gather around the lunch table and play a few hands several times a week. 

As the Tournament Director for the AceKillers Poker League, I am also its organizer, dealer, set up guy, webmaster, announcer, and heartbeat. But I cannot take credit for the initial spark that lit the fire (though I have relentlessly fanned its flames). For that, we must return to 2005 and give the credit to a good friend of mine, David Hohl. 

David, a fellow paramedic, would play casual games at work, and very occasionally join me at the Turlock Poker Room. Due to his scheduling and logistical limitations at home and at work, David didn’t get out to play very much. One day he asked me if I would like to get a game going at his place. Of course, I said yes! On that first night, we pulled together a table full to for a turbo tourney, as well as a little 1/2 no limit cash game. Though we skipped a month here and there in the early days, it soon developed into a consistent monthly game. It was basically a monthly roaming gypsy game. We would play at David’s home, and then down the road at another friend’s house, and a few times at fellow card shark Abel Sanchez’s place. We even set up shop in an empty house in the country (owned by a friend and for sale). We had cards and would travel!

Meanwhile, in another part of the Stanislaus County…

An honorable mention is owed to Chuck Wagner and Daryl Albino. While our nomadic tribe of feral poker players was wandering around in West Stanislaus, these two had been running a regular monthly(ish) game over in Modesto. Since Daryl was a paramedic, I heard about his game and managed to secure an invitation. I found wonderful hosts with a good setup. I do not mention these guys because they have anything directly to do with AceKillers, but to illustrate the tightknit community that is poker, especially in the home game sector. Several of the players at their game quickly became regulars at AceKillers, and vice versa. Many of us from these respective games have been playing together ever since.

Also, meanwhile, in yet another part of Stanislaus…

There was a small group of poker players who had been playing together (for at least as long as we had) under the hosting talents of Mitch Bailey. This group had never given themselves a name, so I saw fit to christen them The River Rats. I did so because of their proximity to the river, and also because of their predilection for playing anything all the way to the river to make a hand! They’re mentioned here to establish their place on the timeline of Stanislaus poker history. Though we would not encounter them for another eight or nine years, they are very important to our story.

Meanwhile, again, also in Stanislaus (Or is it still?)…

I continued to play fairly regularly at Turlock Poker Room, in addition to the various home (and empty property) games. In late 2006, while I was playing an evening tournament there, I met a bald headed dude by the name of Mike Moore as I chatted with the other players. Having only just met him; I took the opportunity to ask him if he liked home games in our introductory conversation. (As you know, one must invite new players frequently to keep the card sharks fed.) Mike smiled and admitted that he did indeed like home games. In fact, he had one at his house that he ran twice a month! 

It was an instant friendship, and the two games quickly merged with all the players into a hybrid gypsy game in Patterson once a month and two games at Mike’s place. Mike and I quickly realized we had a passion to make the games a place where players could learn the game and practice in an environment that would help them play in regional and even WSOP tournaments with some success. That became an early battle between us over rules and procedures. In those times, many of the casinos that we would play at had their own variations of the rules. The Tournament Directors Association rules brought some clarity, but they were still relatively new, so there were some ambiguities.  Eventually, we settled on their rule set (as we understood it) and I ended up attending my first TDA summit about a year or so later. 

Early on, we also wanted to give a structured format to the games in a league fashion, with points formulas and different game formats. That first year there was a long run of variance where it seemed, quite literally, that nobody could win with pocket aces. We all kind of believed it was the way our group of players played, variance, and some special karma attached to our group. Nevertheless, it became the inspiration for our eventual branding. Mike and I created the original logo with red aces full of bullet holes and a sniper’s sight. That was entirely inspired by the fact that Mike was a sniper in the Marines, and the now famous run of bad luck with pocket aces at our games. We developed tournament structures and schedules of games with points leaders for each season with a Tournament of Champions event to finish things off. After all, someone needed bragging rights for the following year.  

We built tables, bought chairs, and acquired other equipment (including custom poker chips and custom table felts) to make our playing environment special and comfortable. At some point, the roaming grew a bit tedious, and Mike wanted to limit the traffic to his home. The nomadic tribe was ready to find a more permanent home: one that wouldn’t be in the way and where we wouldn’t have to “set up” each week.

Thanks to Ron Meyer, one of our regular players, we found this space at his house in Turlock.  We set up shop in his mostly unused enclosed patio. After we finished the walls, put down carpeting, and hung specialized lighting, we had created a great little poker room. That was our happy place for nearly five years. It was an auspicious time for the league. We frequently hosted three full tables and had multi-table cash games. Every game boasted a delicious potluck menu, and we went through a fair amount of tequila and Jameson. Unfortunately, Ron had been dreaming of retirement outside of California for some time, and that time finally came. He said a fond farewell, gave us our notice, and we were once again on the hunt for a new venue.

Remember that other group of players that I mentioned earlier? A legacy player of ours, Bill Borges, happened to be one of the aforementioned River Rats. To our great fortune, he introduced us to Mitch with a mind to discuss possibly using his loft facilities. Mitch’s game had been slowing down, so the timing of Bill’s introduction was ideal. In pretty short order, we moved in with them, merging yet another set of players together into the ever expanding AceKillers Poker League.

It was a great move. We have been there going for the last eleven years. Our player pool has grown significantly. I truly can’t thank Mitch enough for the space, and for his partnership in hosting the games. Most important to me is his friendship.

While AceKillers were not formally named until they had already existed for several years and merged with Mike’s game, I have officially declared that first game with David (and the gypsy band of players) the genesis of the league.  We will, therefore, be celebrating our twentieth anniversary this coming September 2025.

In twenty years, we have seen the league host a total of over 440 individual players, play over 600 tournaments, and we are currently hosting an average of 30 players a week with 125 unique players each season. We have sent 4 players to the $10,000 Main Event at the WSOP and will be sending 2 more this year.

The league has fostered long lasting friendships, it’s been an amazing environment for the classic poker home game, where all can enjoy great bad bead stories and a generally good time. I invite you to come and join us when you can, but remember to play your pocket aces carefully, we’ll kill ‘em!