The only one I knew of in the area that I thought went under was the rake-free version of The Legion. The only other two rake-free games that I was aware of were Rounders (Cypresswood) and that one that recently opened (River?). Did the current location for The Legion start running in a manner that comports with the rake-free model?

There was one outside of Conroe, but that was not exactly what I would have called North Houston nor was it convenient for a lot of people.

AFAIK this is correct. The $2 charge is per entry. Having never played in a Houston room, the hourly rates posted in this thread for the existing Houston rooms seem completely bonkers.

The House bill has this line item in it:

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Do you know what that means?

Nothing on the Capitol webserver (what I linked to) contains that language that I can see. If it is in a third-party website, then my guess is that it is a reference to having been filed by a Democrat and there are no co-sponsors or co-authors from any party.

When it comes to tracking statutes, I do not use anything other than the Capitol site. It is the official record and is not going to have been butchered in the process of being compressed and contorted to fit the format of a third-party site...

It was at this link that was referenced in the orginal post on the subject by TonyTexan56:

https://legiscan.com/TX/text/HB2669/2019

There are other law enforcement levels other than state. All the rooms received Cease and Desist letters from the local authorities, and shutdown as a result of those orders. That is fact, not "disingenous". In addition to local authorities, there are also federal laws and authorities.

However, there is no proof as to outside applied pressure. It is speculation. But what other explanation as to why all the DFW rooms received the same type notice by the respective local authorities and the ones further away from OK have remained open?

if i remember correctly and please correct me if i am wrong

one place was indeed "raided" - all chips and cash were taken and they were told to shut down - Texas Card house had at least 1 if not 2 instances but they had their lawyer present and the police decided not to seize anything or close their doors

Not true. Texas Card House has never been raided or challenged by the police in any form or fashion.

I thought in their first week open they were in fact. Or was this another club - I'm not from that area but I know that one of first founded clubs were greeted in their opening with a "reception".

The other place that indeed chips were taken and cash taken - was named "Carl's?"

Correct. It was called “CJ’s” and it was raided and stuff was taken(chips, cash, computers). They were in the DFW area.

When I discuss 'State,' I am speaking from my experience with criminal defense work where ALL cases, regardless of who makes an arrest, will be captioned as State of Texas v (defendant). I am not speaking in terms of DPS having intervened...

Law enforcement agencies are not always noted for being correct in their interpretation of statutes. It is NOT uncommon for cases to be dismissed in courtrooms all over the State on a daily basis precisely because an arrest was made and where there was no actual violation of a law. Some years back, the Houston Police Department 'raided' a game-room (not poker) and had seized a lot of cash and other items. Ultimately, the arrested parties got EVERY PENNY back because there was no legal basis for the seizure.

A letter from a police department or Sheriff is NOT the same as a court of competent jurisdiction having ruled on the matter.

Here is the note Post Oak posted on FB today about the move..

"It has been talked about for months, we just didn’t know when it would actually happen. The time has come though for us to move on to bigger and better things. I hope you will all join us as we move locations to 1001 West Loop S. It is very easy to get to and has a great view overlooking the Bayou and Memorial Park.
The actual date has not been set yet but, will be very soon. We will let everybody know as soon as possible"

Ran across a website for yet another room called The Mayfield Social Club at 5555 Washington. Scheduled to open in April. Looks like seat charge will be $12/hr. From street view, parking could be a *****.
http://mayfieldclub.com/

Street parking anywhere on Washington St, especially on Fri/Sat nights, is going to be a nightmare, yes. There are some pay lots and valet around that might be a better bet, but none of it is awesome. That said, the room is also in an area where you could actually get some easy rec/new player traffic.

I’m glad someone is going inner loop/montrose but that will be tough for parking.

Should not be as bad since it appears to be in one of the strip centers. Those have their own dedicated parking and usually have people who don't allow the club-hoppers to park.

according to sources - they are allocated just a couple of space - they are going to require valet and shuttle people from a place 2 or more blocks away

Valet requirement and a shuttle is NOT a good thing. Too bad since they are actually not far from the Houston office...

Unfortunately, I'm not sure how else a poker club could really work in the center of Houston - there's just no parking anywhere inside 610.

We are not talking about a small, stand-alone operation- rather it is in a strip center that has a fair amount of parking space. Considering most of those strip centers often have little business after normal business hours, their inability to negotiate a lease that included more parking spaces is troubling. They should have had no problem getting access to a good chunk of the lot after 5PM.

Additionally, some of us don't trust valets since we have seen far too often how they abuse certain vehicles, to say nothing of the all-too-frequent inability of a valet to drive a vehicle with a manual transmission.

I don't dispute your concern - I'm just saying it's the reality of inside the loop Houston. If you look at Google street view, the strip center they are in is anchored by a restaurant space. While it seems that the space is unoccupied ATM, it seems unlikely that the landlord is going to give them access to all the parking spots after hours in that context. Looks like there are 20 or so that they might could get - who knows what the story is with that.

someone sent a video that shows it on the 4th floor of the building - it was stated this is temporary - I hope so - i suffer not only from acrophobia but also Gephyrophobia which precludes me from Poker Warehouse due to intermittent schedules of the closing of the Washburn tunnel

So are they planning on moving to the first floor or not?

Clive, the room is being built out on the 1st floor but it won’t be ready in time so they will move into a temporary space on the 4th floor until it’s ready. Lease at current location goes through May but they may have to vacate sooner if landlord tells them to as current building will be razed soon. No one at PO seems to know definitive date yet.

The talked about new place on a Fuqua is on Facebook. South Houston Poker seems to have a nice location. Supposed to open this month.