Prime was much more under control last night. They were only letting players in or people that were with a player. Will post details on today’s $20 k guaranteed tourney tomorrow

is it true that prime has 20 tables and not the 40 they advertised?

Here's a non-shill trip report on Prime Social.

1. Big place...former free-standing restaurant with a lot of leftover decorations. They have 20 tables...not 40, though. That said, there's plenty of dead space to add more tables.

2. Maybe 150 people were there? 6 tables going, half 1/3 NLH, 2 tables of PLO and a mixed game. $10 signup fee. $10 daily fee. $8 per half hour time rake.

3. Very heavy Asian demographic. Maybe 80%? Lots of people I talked with were there to "support" vs new players checking it out. Saw a lot of people not playing just standing around even though there were obviously open seats. That was weird and uncomfortable and certainly a security issue. It felt like a Chinatown game in a former Brazilian steakhouse.

4. Staff needs a lot of work. My table was averaging 2 misdeals an hour. Saw two horrific rulings by floor staff. Too much interaction between floor and dealers, slowing the action down. Dealer rotation was all messed up, with pushes like every 15 minutes at one point, again slowing the action down. This all needs a lot of attention.

5. Did they run out of money on the buildout? Smoking area is pretty junky. The chips are cheap. Free booze, but it was all well liquor. Just a little bit of overheated food set out. Bathroom was filthy.

6. Parking is a nightmare. Their lot only holds 50-60 cars, with no other large nearby lots valet can use. Lot was full to bursting with 6 tables going. What's the point of having 20 tables if you can't get enough people to fill 20 tables in the space?

7. Security is lax. I saw just two bored guards inside for 150 people, with tons of non-playing randos wandering around. There was also a security guy in a car in the parking lot, but he was tucked over in a corner of the lot arguing with someone on the phone both when I came in and went out. They aren't in a great part of town and need to pay much closer attention.

8. Clearly illegal. Tipping is a huge, obvious problem. People were tipping dealers at the table and doing so only when they won hands...clearly linked to the action on the table and an economic benefit to the dealers. I wasn't allowed to play poker without paying the time rake. Taken together, obvious economic benefits leading to violations of 47.02 and 47.04. Bets were happening...house was clearly making money...obvious violations of 47.03. Man 47.03, especially, is such a slam dunk for a prosecutor...don't get how these guys don't see it. Wishful thinking I guess.

In short, I don't get what all the fuss is about. I didn't feel like I was in Vegas card room...California card room...or even Lake Charles. It's a big place, but pretty amateur. I can easily see the place getting robbed or raided. If they don't clean up the business issues, I don't know how they'll survive once the newness wears off.

May go play tonight. HTownPokerGuy's post would push me back to PostOak, but he's been a bit of a troll throughout the thread. Would love to hear from someone else about (a) the quality of games at Prime and (b) what impact their opening weekend is having on PostOak's action.

I was kinda wondering if Prime's 20k guaranteed would lead to PostOak having an overlay in their 10k guaranteed

Played at Prime tonight.

1.) Parking wasn’t a problem for me I parked on the street close to the club.

2) Membership buy in easy and painless. Went to get my name on the 1/3 board, 2 floor managers left me standing there for a good 5 minutes while they argued over something.

3) Started a new table 15 minutes after I got there. There were total 3-1/3 tables at this point.

4) 140 runners in the tourney. I did not play. Dealer stated they lost count of players at one point in the night. 1st and 2nd place chopped for $8k a piece.

5) All of my dealers were good or great. Only a couple of misdeals in the 6 hours I played.

6) Number 1 player complaint was that max buy in at 1/3 is $300. Argued over it all night, but the floor stuck to their guns.

7) My table was mix of players, female, male, not overly Asian. (Although another table was full Asian)

8) Every one was “friend of owner”, which made me wonder what’s happening when friends stop coming.

9) Women’s restroom was clean.

10) My only real complaint was we got down to 5 players, other table has 4, other table has 6. Asked why aren’t we breaking down a table, floors response was “we can’t force people to move”. Uh yea that needs to be fixed.
Otherwise pleasant experience.

Clive, I didn’t do a formal count but it seemed like there were 16 tables in the main room(3 rows of 5 tables each) plus the raised final table and in the enclosed “high limit room” there were 6 tables so a rough count is they have 24 total tables currently.

Oops, make that 22 tables

Thanks for the info... Yeah I don't like the 300 max buy-in for 1/3.. Wish it was at least 500 or more...

I think they will change it to 500. I talked to a couple of different floor people last night and they agreed.

How was it last night? I played at Post Oak and another player said he came over there from Prime because they only had 1 table going (1/3 NL). Post Oak had 3 5/5 PLO, 1 5/5 NL and 3 or 4 1/3 NL.

I busted the tournament around 5. They had 1 1/3NL table that broke around 7, 1 2/5NL table and 1 5/10 PLO

the 2/5NL and 5/10PLO table were going when I left around 8

the 2/5 was 5-6 handed when I left

Heard from another player that Prime's cash games were dead again last night. Only 1 table of 1/3 going. Their 12:00 tourney had a $5K guarantee and they only had approx 35 entrants so there was a $1,500 overlay. It ended up being a 6 way chop for around $800 each.

They just posted some new promotions today to try and get some players there so give them an "A" for at least trying some new things.

* Trying to get Limit players over there(good luck!) so they have a promotion from 11-1 where there are no time charges to play limit. Doubt they will have any luck with this

* Promo for all NL and PLO games from 12-4 - 1/2 price entry($5) and 1/2 price time($8). Not bad if you play during the day and they are able to get enough players to get a game off

* Bad Beat Jackpot for Holdem that they are funding - $50K total - $30K to bad beat hand, $15K to winning hand and $5K split between the rest of the table. Quad J's has to be beaten.

* Bad Beat Jackpot for Omaha that they are funding - $10K total - $5K to bad beat hand, $2,500 to winning hand and $2,500 split between the rest of the table. Quad J's has to be beaten.

* Promotion where if you have AK suited and get a Royal Flush you win a $20K car.

Looks like The Legion will be opening another fee based place on the north side.

19863 Holzworth

https://www.facebook.com/thelegion.tx/

I am surprised that many of these places are struggling. I assume the market is just getting too saturated.. Also IMO since NL has become all the craze many players just do not have the bankroll to sustain playing. I have noticed in recent years that there is just not as many players as there was years ago..

Part of the problem is that you see the same faces night after night after night...and if I want to do that, I can play a home game without the risks related to driving to a game across town. I look at the locations of some of the places and the maps.com views look sketchy as hell. Add in that some of them have apparently gone to mandatory valet of vehicles and that is another issues that makes it easier to stay away. I don't see it as a bankroll issue...while I have played some of the local games with people that were waiting for midnight to roll around to open up the ATM again, most had cash in their pockets.

There is no question that the surrounding metro area has plenty of players. But the dilution is too much for some of them to overcome, especially with a few of the issues mentioned above.

Looks more like a move back to where they were before moving just north of 2920.

With 4 clubs within 15 minutes of each other, they’re just cannibalizing each other. I agree with Michelle on the mandatory valet. Unnecessary hassle that feels like a cash grab.

So I'm finally getting to H-town after the flooding canxed my last trip. Aces Social Club still a going concern? Hoping to play 2/5 Fri and/or Sat night, and will be taking Lyft from near the airport.

Aces closed after a month or so. Post Oak will probably have the best games but it is pretty far from the airport.

https://www.facebook.com/actionpokerclubs/
anyone know anything about it

How far from the airport? Turns out my wife got us a rental car, so still may be doable.

It’s in the Galleria area. Really depends on the time of day. 25 minutes during off peak traffic times. An hour and 15 minutes during peak traffic times. Note they are on Poker Atlas so you can see what’s running and get your name on the list before you come if you have the app

https://www.facebook.com/hangarpokerhouse/

New one closer to airport but no idea how it is or if they are getting games off

If you want guaranteed action games make the drive to Post Oak

Big news...a Texas Attorney General opinion on the legality of these clubs has been requested.

https://www.stopillegalgamblinghoust...uest-Submitted