Clive:

The ones I'm aware of are:

52 South
101
Freerolls(now PokerrStars but probably still owned by Trent)
Empire Katy

Don't know why anyone would play at any of these places. Much worse for the player.

Hideaway Social in Cypress advertising $165 buy-in $10k guarantee on Poker Atlas for several weeks with no mention of minimum number of players required.

An hour before the tournament starts they make a post on Twitter with a footnote that 30 players needed to honor the $10k guarantee. Still no mention of that on PokerAtlas.

Good price point and decent structure, but announcing this detail on social media an hour before it starts is either shady or negligent. Not sure which.


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Looks like it is currently on Poker Atlas...

That was updated less than an hour ago. Here is screenshot from before the update.

I understand the need to avoid a significant overlay, but editing announcements just prior to tourney starting isn’t cool.





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Places like these have no business being open STARS, HIDEAWAY SOCIAL, ALL IN POKER, EMPIRE KATY, FREEROLLS(Pokerstars) they don’t make a Dollar and another one opening just off 290 soon. Don’t understand how all these guys just don’t care about losing hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to open up rooms.
Hell Prime gonna open in Dallas and can’t get more than 2 tables in Houston how smart is that? Over 40 poker clubs in Texas now. Won’t be long till there will be 0 so called legal rooms.

Looks like they had over 30 players...did they honor the 10k guarantee?

I think prime needs a new location with potential new player pool since Johnny chans 88 (formerly 52 social) took all the action plo players that Prime had a few years ago plus new players coming to Texas.

Where is the Prime location in Dallas?

Seems Dallas is the uncharted territory to grab a share of major city. TCH Dallas has it all currently.

Wasn't 52 Social trying Dallas? Same with Champions (formerly in Houston) ?

These new rooms must think jt is this cash grab and just opem it and people will flock, I don't know. I would assume the best idea would be copy these other successful models (hourly, daily/ monthly and any possible promotions, but above all offer a good product! Good chips, safe environment, parking, good tables, comfortable chairs and good options)...obviously easier to say then do, but those tend to be the ones that remain..

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Trying to decide which area I should visit for a few days of poker in Texas. Dallas, Austin, San Antonio or Houston. I decided not to rent a car since the distance between the 4 area is more 100 hours apart. San Antonio to Austin is the closest together, separated by 80 miles drive. Going to be using Uber/Lyft.

I'm leaning towards the bigger poker rooms. The Lodge (60 tables, Austin) vs JC 88 Social (65 tables, Houston). Going to be flying down from NYC area, air flight is cheap less than $200 roundtrip for a 3hr flight. Staying in an AirBnb for about 4-5 days. Would like to visit several card rooms if possible but don't want to play in any dive-ish sketchy poker rooms.

Can anyone suggest the best place to go for a first time visitor to Texas? Btw I'm going by the list of poker rooms on Poker Atlas.
Poker Atlas Texas

Remember JC 88 social in houston is mostly PLO driven but always gsmes...Houston has the most places, rooms wise. You can always check prime sociak out in Houston. Kinda close to JC 88 if you want to see a place that used be be bumping a few years ago. Look at poker atlas before going to anywhere...

Austin (TCH and Lodge) are both North Austin area...there's bars downtown on E 6th Ave or Rainey street to do besides poker too.

I would probably do Houston if you want plo. If not do Austin for a short trip...just my opinion

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Thanks Arburns,

I'm mainly NL Holdem. Haven't played PLO in a while. Don't feel comfortable until I can calculate the pot odds quickly in my head. I know there's a trick to doing it but haven't spent the time to learn. Fast furious game that you need multiple buy-ins at hand to play.

In terms of places to live, how do the different areas stack up? I think Polk and Hanson moved to Austin area, also that blogger Sara Dietschy. Is that the nicest area? I work in Tech/wall street. I think Houston/Austin both have thriving IT/banking industries but not entirely sure. Possibility of moving to Texas.

Right now leaning towards Austin per your recommendation.

The prize pool payouts on Poker Atlas say $6,800.

You get varying degrees of accuracy from TDs keeping TableCaltain clocks updated with entries, re-buys, add-ons, etc.

The whole experience for me just means they’ll never get me as a customer. In an unregulated market, all you have is your reputation.

JCs, TCH and Prime tourneys are all reputable enough for me to not risk going back there.

That said, the tourney rake is too damn high everywhere. 20% is tough to beat.


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Visit them all to decide, but Austin has the most in terms of lifestyle variety. Lots of outdoor activities nearby, great restaurants and nightlife, etc.
Fort Worth is the cultural hub of Texas if you love museums and art.
Dallas and Houston have tons to do as well, but with a different vibe. Houston is better if you want regular ocean visits.
All are going to suck for traffic.

Thanks Waldo. Sounds like lots to do in Texas. Traffic? Would think that wasn't the case given the amount of space.

I plan to go more than once since the commute is cheap and fairly easy.

In Houston Johnny Chan’s 88, Legends and Prime Social are all 10 minutes max from each other. Prime has a big tourney series coming up where there should be some good action - primesocialtx.com

Anyone know what the deal is with The Fort Card Room in Willow Park (outside of Fort Worth)? They said they were on track to open November 1st, but now I can't get any information from them at all. It looks like Willow Park City Council had a meeting a week ago in executive session to discuss the room, but I haven't heard any details or outcomes. Would be nice to have a place close to Fort Worth, but the radio silence makes me think the room may not actually get off the ground.

A few things about Dallas poker that Bart may not be aware of:

There was poker in the DFW metroplex a few years ago and all the rooms were forced to shut down.

In Dallas it's not as easy as just opening a room and expect everything to be hunky dory. It took TCH 2 years of lobbying just to get its Dallas location open. Since then, a room tried to open in Euless and that city shut it down. 52 Social spent tons of money on a room in Dallas and then got shut down before it ever opened. Champions Club was denied its certificate of occupancy after a bunch of families with small children protested outside the location and thus Champions has been unable to open.

Frankly, Dallas poker hasn't taken off nearly as much as I expected. There is only one busy room, TCH, which has like half the tables of Winstar and TCH is actually too busy (yes, that is a problem too). Despite this, a 2nd TCH location never opened as was originally planned. Shuffle 214 and The Poker House of Dallas have extremely low volume. The Poker House of Dallas is relatively new and seems to be increasing in volume slowly so there is some hope there, but Shuffle214 is pretty much dead in the water as I view it.

52 Social and Champions were both set to open in prime locations. Unfortunately, the city and vocal residents don't want poker rooms in great locations. Shuffle214 opened in a bad location, which I suppose allowed it to open without protest but has resulted in a 31 table location that mostly just hosts 1 table of cash games a day.

It seems a large percentage of Dallas players are still playing at the casino and in underground games rather than embracing these legal rooms.

Anybody have any info on the 52 Social Club opening in north Austin?

Opening date or what games they plan on spreading?

No clue, but I just heard about a new room opening up in Watauga (outside Ft Worth) called Governors Lounge. Its opening is today (Monday November 15th).

In Houston, just noticed Legends (new room) has a ton of traffic per Poker Atlas while Johnny Chans 88 Social has a lot less. 88 social giving away $300 in time on Friday. Anyone know what’s going on, or have a take on the new Legends room?

Always thought 52 Social aka 88 Social would be the main room drawing most of the traffic…

From what I heard, legends (owned by the 52 social guys that sold to Johnny's 88) & its right near it. Legends is Undercutting the time and monthly fees to lure players away. The same scenario they did when they opened 52 social and got many players to leave prime social.

Seems like it to me...

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Interesting, thanks for the heads up. I’ll be a little surprised if it doesn’t get shut down, but here’s hoping it doesn’t. It will be a few weeks before I can get out there so let me know you’re experience if you make it there.

Interesting article re; 88 Social..

https://www.poker.org/financing-shor...-cancellation/

Thanks for posting that article. Not good news for Chan’s lasting.

I played there twice on my last trip to Houston and I loved it. I was looking forward to playing there again in December. However, a poker venue that is unwilling or unable to cash out players at the end of a session is obviously in trouble, and it is just a matter of time before we find out someone is stealing player cash. Whether it is simple theft, or extending credit, or putting in shills with no cash to back them, it won't be long before it gets worse. I wouldn't put another dime at risk there. Very sad to read this.

If it turns out that the poker economy can't support multiple rooms, that is unfortunate, but clubs undercutting each other in unsustainable ways is no good for the players either. Too bad the scumbags who own these clubs can't work together to rip us off, instead of ripping each other off too.

In any case, to the extent that the law has ignored these clubs for the last few years, I predict that is over.

88 ran into a cash crunch when Legends opened and was offering the players a lot of incentives to play there. All the "big" players that had a lot of chips tried to cash them out and 88 didn't have the funds on hand. They then limited cash outs to $2,000 per day. This was several weeks ago now and players have been able to get their money out but once you lose that trust with cash outs you are toast. Doubt they will get any of the bigger games back.