Good update

Are there any rooms that are playing 1/2 or 1/3 capped as 300NL (or 500NL) and not max stack buyin which just ends up playing as 1000+NL?

The whole wife and kids thing gets in the way of me playing with all the money I earn. lol.

TCH caps all their lower limit games.

My viewpoint

The clubs are now embarking on doing things exactly like the underground games

Girls in scant clothing

Bonus chips in tournaments if you play cash (horrible idea for what tournament gives you extra chips for ANY REASON in the professional world - this is a whole new topic but suffice it to say that it will just end turning off the tournament players)

Multiple day 1s to tournaments just to make the guarantees - I understand this if we are talking substantial 100s of thousand of dollars but not for sub 15k tournies)

Price cutting to the point (advantage to the players yipppee) but long run eventually something has to give - the clubs can only make money through these charges and will eventually it will just not make economic sense - another point is that once you cut a price - the players won't tolerate a price increase - this was the rise of the bulk discount stores and transformed the consumer psyche to just wait for these sales and not shop during other times)

I think we will see more and more clubs only certain days and certain times - the number of players going broke esp in the PLO games is reaching higher and higher numbers - the players from the BIGGEST clubs are now migrating to the smaller clubs and completely decimating their player pools.

We are now heading into the DEAD SEASON for poker...it ranges from Thanksgiving to about mid January with people saving for the holidays - going on vacations - etc...

Once these 3 months are done we will see who is still standing...in the past week and next 2 week about 5 or 6 brand new MEGA clubs will be opening up....stay tuned and lets see what happens.
Some of the worst starting stacks (under 100bbs) making them pure push fests - which I would understand if it was $20 and under tournies but I have seen it in $100+ tournies - I have even see tournaments that run with 3 players...wtf

In short this is turning more and more into a survival of the most desperate and will result in thinning the field more quickly than i first projected

What is the objection to eye candy? Granted, with the weather this week, it may not be THAT scantily clad...

You played the harbinger of doom about this time last year...nobody is 'going broke' in the volumes you assert. Some might have their hobby funds drop until their next paycheck, but remember that for MANY of those in every one of the rooms, this IS, and will always remain, a hobby. It is like golf...some may always have a few thousand on them as 'just in case' funds while others need to wait for next week's check to go enjoy their hobby again.

Oh, and bonus chips are not unique to the local clubs...they have been known to exist even in licensed establishments in places like Louisiana and Nevada. While they may not be common, they certainly exist, especially on the cheezburger stakes events (which would be a number of the double-digit entry fee events that draw the same levels of crowd, which is to say minimal).

This reeks of fear-mongering and sabre-rattling in an effort to get home games up and running again that rake more off the table than is reasonably profitable for anyone OTHER than the host...

Good post Michelle. Yep some of the "former underground game runners" are still hoping and praying that these places go away. Doesn't look like it's going to happen anytime soon. That place called Prime Social is going bonkers. Went there last night and the place was packed on a Monday night. Guess those "Clive bucks" are going to have to remain in storage for a bit longer yet

we will see in a year how much of this is prophetic...so far yes prime is doing well...but they are the exception and not the rule

I know by talking to places that are NOT PRIME - they are struggling to keep a table running and more and more often you are seeing owners playing to keep the table running which to me is a big no no

Again - I have never had poker bring more than 5% of my income - so it is not affecting me financially so that is not coloring my analysis as my "wish"

Lets look again in 6 months and 1 year and time will tell the story.

With poker atlas as the industry standard one can easily see the true numbers and I don't rely on word of mouth
Mint poker who used to have at least 6 tables running almost 18 hrs per day is now at 2-3 tables running
Post oak who at one time had 10 tables running almost every evening - is now at 2-3 tables consistantly

Only prime and lion's club have not seen dips in their patronage - I have played Prime and though I have made a profit - it took a larger bankroll than any 1/3 game that I am used to and at $15/hr one could not play more than 5 hrs before you started to realize that the drag on your profit was being eaten up.

Finally in the last week approx 6 new places should be opening up
One is Freerolls - which was open before but closed down because the location was not profitable and now moving to the katy area
One is another club is a branch of Post Oak
The other 3 or 4 are brand new clubs - none of which are in the "poker corridor" of Richmond/Westheimer but outside the 610 loop

We shall see if they drain players away from the current clubs or will bring more players from the outlying areas.

Its not just here that the whole venue of poker but gambling in general that things are looking bleak - all casino stocks are down - tilman has approached Caesars for a merger as they come out of bankrupcy - by merging you are reducing the number of casinos this is never good for the players for it takes another competitor out of the market - take a look at any casino stock and you will see they are at 52 week lows

The recent main event at Chocktaw was down in attendance for the 3rd years in a row - 960 last year and 870 this year as more and more tours are "stepping on each other's toes" in scheduling events - something they did not do in the past - now they are fighting for an ever shrinking pool of players and will do anything to put the less profitable tours out of business.

So this analysis is not just confined to the Houston market but symptomatic industry wide that the poker boom is fizzling out as there are just not new fish coming into the market to keep those of us that played for the last 2-4 decades to "feast upon"...without new blood the games will get tougher and tougher and in time it will become less and less attractive to play.

Last point..when i see tournaments being run with 3 players - $100 buy-in / no GTD on several occassions or tournaments that are scheduled and fail almost 60% of the time - then one does begin to get the impression that the hordes are not as strong as they were a year ago.

I would like you to quote this trend after we see when (as i have seen) the slow down from Thanksgiving to approx mid Jan and pick up where this market is from the period of Feb - beginning of June next year.

Probably a little of both.

Nothing will change as far as having 1 or 2 "big" clubs where most of the action is and a lot of other places that get at most 1 or 2 tables going a day. Other than a regulation change happening these places are here to stay.

For the most part bull - we see eye to eye on most of the issues and predictions
You do bring some points I had not thought of - the texas influence on Chocktaw

A lot has changed in 20 years - in many ways the rooms are a vast improvement over the over-raked games - for me the timing could not be more perfect for at 60 I had the opportunity to not only host and meet so many great people in Houston but also I only wished to run a few games a week as entertainment - I have taken on other projects at this point.

Everything in life runs in cycles - bridge / backgammon / chess / poker each had about a 20 yr cycle of BOOM - I truly believe that poker has put its best days behind itself but no matter what happens people will get together with friends to play this game - It has been popular in American for over 100 yrs (the wild west) and probably will always be considered "American's game" for many years to come.

Two things that I saw or heard for the rooms around Austin recently.

1. TCH (and other rooms as well) recently went to a "flat rate" for tournaments. As opposed to the hourly they were charging previously, which was the same hourly they were charging for cash games.

2. Rumor at the tables at TCH was that starting in January, you would be able to tip the dealers at the table. (Confirmed by at least one dealer.)

Both of these seem to be a bit contrary to some of the reasons posited as to why these are/were legal rooms. i.e, private club with same charge to enter and and be there regardless of what you were doing and no money coming off the table.

Curious to see what if any effect these two things have. I for one rarely played any tournaments with the hourly charge as I felt it was a bad deal. Might start playing a few more now.

Like idiots, they are going to push the limits until they get shut down. The TCH owners aren't making much money now(you can do the math), and they'd probably better off just sticking to their side/home games with crazy rake.

i think by "tipping at the table" is the common tipping via money or a separately purchased token that is not designated "in play"

Anyone know of any home cash games in San Angelo Texas or poker clubs?

5-10+ no limit holdem is running daily anywhere in texas? (or a 5-5 game that run mostly auto straddle) let me know. thank you

Topring555, not sure where you live so will give a brief rundown on what I know.

Winstar north of Dallas gets 5/5 every day and 5/10 on the weekends.

In Houston, PLO has taken over so there isn't a regular 5/10 game but 5/5 plays on the weekends at Prime Social. There are multiple 1/3 games every day that play very deep. A lot of the players straddle in that game as well.

In San Antonio, 5 card Congress has taken over so not that many good NL games. SA Card House is the place to play. They get multiple 1/3 games daily though.

Austin, Texas Card House is the best place but I haven't been there so not as familiar with how often 5/5 and 5/10 run.

Winstar is on Bravo and Prime Social is on Poker Atlas. SA Card House and TCH aren't on those apps.

Staying at a family member's home in north Houston...puts Rounders within about a 15 minute drive. Any recent visitors there who can comment on whether it is worth trying to go over and play?

The 5/T game at Winstar is pretty dead. It doesn't even go every Friday/Saturday and sometimes will just go for a few hours at a time on those days. Even some of the extremely wealthy businessmen that have played 5/T+ for years avoid that game now. Winstar's 5/5 games seems to be a sort of substitute for 5/T, attempting to draw 2/5 recreational players to play in a bigger game. Good idea but it doesn't run every day. Winstar's 2/5 game doesn't even run 24/7 any more. Very sad.

Nice screen name.

Depends what's "worth" it to you - it's a pretty small strip mall room and you won't like the security. I don't like it because the game plays much smaller than other games in Houston. I would just take the extra time to drive to Prime personally.

The 5/5 game goes pretty much every day at TCH in Austin. It has a $500 min buy in with No Max buy in, so it plays big. I think because of the no max buy in, there's no 5/10 game that runs.

I just got a text for a new place off Airport called Hobby Poker Lounge. Anyone else get this?

yea...combo strip joint / poker room

Finally joining Portland in combining two things that go together like peanut butter and pickles.

Sam Houston Card club already out of business. “Until the new year” they say.