https://brokefishpoker.com/news/f/mi...-club-revealed

I'm confused as to how some of these rooms offer high hands, BBJs, etc. Where does the money come from?

Marketing budget (ie out of their profits). Although, I believe some have a drop.

Now this here really throws me for a loop. Free everything, and promos?

Currently one NL and one PLO running.

Is that the room where you pay a house player when you win a pot? That would make sense for the language of no "illegal" rake or "illegal" tipping. That room used to be freerolls.

They rake(they call it ping). $15 a hand

Legends in Houston has gotten very unsafe (actually it always was but the incidents are getting more and more frequent). Be careful out there.

Two weeks ago a player was followed after he left Legends and robbed in his driveway. Crazy thing is he lives 20 miles away so was followed a long way. Lost more than $30K.

A week later another player left and went to Wal Mart. When he came out of Wal Mart he was robbed in the parking lot. Video confirmed the two cars that followed him out of the Legends lot were the same two cars shown on Wal Mart parking lot surveillance.

Last night someone fired random shots into Legends from the parking lot. Holes in the wall and in one of the TV's. Luckily no one hurt.

This follows up the earlier attempted robbery two months ago where the security guard starting fighting a robber inside who fired off multiple rounds in the place.

Also all of these incidents are confirmed/outlined/discussed in depth in the Houston Poker Players Group on FB for any non-believers. Only a matter of time until someone gets killed or seriously hurt.

As long as Legends is the only place in Houston that spreads PLO at decent stakes, there is not much incentive for management to seriously address these issues. The players will keep coming back because there nowhere else to go...

If you get followed for 20 miles and don't realize it, that's on you, IMO. Ditto for going to Walmart with a large amount of cash. Those two incidents sound like they could have occurred at any poker room. Robbers are going to go where the money is.

Come play with Mike ALL DAY (for 5 hours, lol)

How many more rooms can open up on the SE side?

Bull,
You are correct. It is getting more and more dangerous at Legends. I was there during the attempted robbery, my car was broken into at the other place (JC's 88), and I in no way feel safe by any measure. In addtion, the parking situation (and valet) makes it even more so. I just do not understand why they don't move to a better, safer, and bigger (more parking) site.
I am Currently in Las Vegas, so I have not been there in the last two weeks, but with all the above, and other incidents I am seriously considering playing in Dallas going forward, but as a PLO player, it's tough to give up playing in Houston, although to quote a fellow PLO player from Houston (who is now also here in Las Vegas) the games are good, but not worth losing your life for.
Racetrack

The real question is how many rooms can sustain themselves on the SE side? Right now only 1 that I know of is able to sustain player base and as long as they continue running it without the greed factor taking over, it will likely continue to be successful.

Assume you are referencing Spades, they don't get the attention they deserve IMO. Good room and alternative to the debacle that is the west side of Houston. I also like TCH but live a long way from there.

Totally agree. Spades is a very good place. I live in Pasadena so most places are 30 minutes away. Safety and parking make Spades and TCH clear choices. I’ll go to a prime for the big tourneys.

Staying the weekend in East Austin next weekend. My buddy and I like playing cash games from 1/2 to 5/10. We won't have a car and will be ridesharing around. What's our best card room option for Friday or Saturday night?

And is there anything else we should know before coming? I know Texas rooms are monthly membership based. Does that mean we're going to be paying a bunch for just 1 night of poker?

It looks like TCH and The Lodge are both ~$30 ubers away from where we are staying. If we go to one of those and leave midnight-2AM are the surcharges going to be ridiculous?

Usually you pay $10 as an entry fee plus time for hourly.

TCH and the Lodge are the best options for NL action in Austin. The Lodge recently switched to a $15 weekly option and eliminated the daily membership option. It's $10/hr after that. TCH is $10/day or $30/month + $12/hr and they have some promos going that reduces the hourly if you play at last 5 hours.

The lodge has more games running, but no bomb pots at the lower limits sadly. I also find their tables, chairs, and felt to be more worn out compared to TCH.

I saw a post from Prime that they're changing their chips out and you have until 5/15 to cash out your old chips.

The cashier said and they had an issue with some counterfeits.

That is correct. A player introduced some counterfeit $100 chips and was caught. They switched out all their $25 and above chips.

The one on the left was the counterfeit. Pretty damn close

How did you catch it?

Actually a dealer noticed the guy kept pulling chips out of his pocket. In the past he never bought in deep or much. That day he kept pulling $100's out of his pocket like Chiclets. Cage was alerted and when he went to cash out and she called a supervisor to look at chips closer he got scared and bolted out the door. Wasn't caught but his name and photo has been plastered all over the internet.

Here is a link to his pic and the post about the incident on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid...WfFQ3PnQgK7OVA

LOL

That guy was a regular there, that's cray.