Moved from the southeast to the northeast last week. Been grinding Spades PLO for the better part of the summer. Looks like TCH Spring is going to be my new spot; can anyone attest to the PLO action there?

We're a huge 1998 Main Event city, baby

Looks like Lucky Aces has shut down. They announced they’re moving to a location downtown which is think is great. Surprised no one else has tried that. That 45 location was bad. Not good surroundings plus there’s SoHo, Spades, Capri, Gin and All In nearby.

I guess "101 Poker Richmond" retained phone numbers of clients from Johnny Chan's when they changed names, and now they are texting out spam. If they want to be taken seriously as a legitimate company, and not just crooks waiting to pull the rug out, they should act like a legit company and give people a away to opt-out of the text messages.

Any thoughts on the newer clubs? Infinity and/or ... the other one. Riverroom? Something like that? Either of them a threat to Legends' seeming dominance?

I believe Infinity is the old Best Poker, and I think it was bought by the Legends folks... Might be wrong on that. River Room looks nice, but I am not sure if the games have picked up, I dont think they are on pokeratlas yet.

River Room recently came onto PokerAtlas but their usage of the software seems inconsistent. I haven't been.

I think 101 Richmond will soon overtake Legends for dominance in that area. Legends is in the literal crossfire based on its location. The regular 15/30 Big O game relocated to 101, I know what much.

As a Texan, I'm really interested to hear about a possible referendum on gambling in TX. I hope they don't **** it up , pretty sure they will though.

This is definitely the right category for Houston rooms, however, it doesn't seem like it has ever gotten the traction that it had in the 'home games' thread.

Truthfully, I think its been slow because Houston tournament poker has slowed... Other than Prime a few times a year, nobody is running any tournies with buy in's >$500 consistently. The cash game scene is still rocking and rolling, but there hasnt been enough controversy to stir the forums up lately lol

Speaking as a realist, not a pessimist - sadly, I think this current gray area is as good as it's gonna get for Texas poker rooms for a long time. If there are any significant changes, it seems far more likely to me that they would be in way of restriction and not legalization.

I saw an ad from Las Vegas Sands Corp trying to push people to support gaming in Texas so who knows what the future may hold?

Bible Belt lobby is strong and well funded in TX. They have influence over many TX politicians. Imo as long as they oppose and make it a priority to oppose, casino gambling won’t move. If if does get traction to move forward I estimate at least 4 year legal process to make it happen. Then you process to issue licenses and construction. Pretty easy to think it would be closer to ten years total process if any significant political objection.

Also likely half or more of this process would happen with the gray market poker sd

Ofc this is just one opinion and I could be completely wrong.

Looks like River is launching on Super Bowl weekend. Legends still has 3x as many NL games at any given time than anywhere else, crosshairs or no.

How's the Big O action in the Houston area, what room(s) does everyone recommend?

It’s virtually non-existent. Houston is the land of 4-card PLO. San Antonio has great Big O games though, and no PLO

Here are some updates on the Houston Poker Scene:

* Legends continues to have the most tables running each day. Offering matching time if you buy $300 in time (brings it to $6 an hour) to combat the new places that have opened. Still in the crappiest area though. No door fee either.

* 101 Richmond is changing its name to Elite Social Club. Raking the pots ($12 to $15 per hand in most games). Probably the 2nd busiest spot in Houston currently. No door fee and free food and drinks if you play. Also offer some other promotions - high hands etc.

* Infinity Poker - Opened a month or so ago (was Best Poker which failed). Haven't been there so can't speak to if raking or time model but lucky if they get 1 table per day going. Don't think they will last long.

* Prime Social - Still offers the best tournaments in town. Just had a big bounty tourney over SB weekend which smashed the $100k guarantee. Get more cash games going during their series. Other days they might get 2 Holdem and 1 PLO going. Charge $12 an hour and you can get to $10 if you buy $100 in time($120 put on your card). They do charge a $10 door fee.

* The River - Newest and nicest place. Having trouble getting traction though. Charge $10 door fee and came in at highest time charge in town. Have since lowered time charge to be competitive with Legends and Prime. Gave away a bunch of time to players over the weekend and still having trouble getting many games going. Now offering 1/2 price time the rest of this month ($6 an hour)

* Texas Card House Westheimer - Will be opening in March and currently interviewing and hiring staff.

Lots of options out there. Make sure they treat you right or go elsewhere where they do.

Awesome update, Bulltexas. Great info and advice.

Record scratch noise. No time, or in addition to time? That's so stupid of them ... whatever.

Do you all feel that a major room switching to raked games from a membership platform increases the likelihood of local law enforcement doing something about these rooms? It's certainly unsettling to me. These rooms being open dwindle on the interpretation of the law, but raking pots takes away any deniability about the legality.

My question is who would pay a $15 rake when competitors are offering $6 an hour time charge?

Lol I didnt realize 101 was blatantly raking pots... not sure what they expect to happen there...

The player pool in Houston is full of people who think rake benefits the players just because the rooms raking will provide free food. I've had guys use this exact argument at my tables.

I'm speechless.

There really are a lot of dumb people out there. It is actually most of the losing players that love the rake over time charge concept. From talking to some of them at the table here is what most of them think:

"Time charge sucks. I buy in $500 and lose that but then I have to also buy time on top of that so it cost me $550, etc."

"With the rake I get free food and drinks, no time charge and if I lose my $500 that's all I lost and I still got to eat and have a few drinks"

Basically it is losing players who don't understand how much is being taken off the table because they lose anyway typically. They love these places. Legends is the busiest room in Houston (time charge) but 101 Richmond and 101 Katy are the 2 other busiest rooms and they are raking. Others that do things right like Prime and the River are struggling to get players.

If you could take all the smartest/+ev players in the 4th largest city in the country and compact them into time charge/membership clubs(because yes, it is better), and then take all the worst players in the 4th largest city in the country and pile them into the raked card rooms (cause free chicken fingers and beer), which would you play in? Grind it out guys, I'm gonna have a steak and splash around with the whales.

I'll continue to grind TCH Spring for $6/hr (sometimes $5) under the membership design, and play with the kind of splashy recs who make group Doordash orders at the table.

I see the merit to this, of course. "Rake good because food and booze" is indicative of a lower quality player. Something something game selection. I guess it is up to the grinder to consider how much this is worth to them and compare it to how much they are losing
hourly by played in a raked room vs. a membership. To add, I feel like pretty much the same action is available at membership rooms for now if not better in the case of a place like Legends.

Also, I'll say it again - I can't help but feel uneasy about rooms blatantly raking. Gotta be -ev for the future of Houston poker in general for multiple reasons, my main concern being raked rooms causing law enforcement to do something about all of them.