i mean, if you're the type of player who loses every penny he puts on the table 80% of the time he plays, is this really wrong?

Just saw TCH is opening on Westheimer, putting Prime, TCH, Richmond 101, and Legends all within, what, less than a mile of each other?

Correct, I am not really sure what the goal is or direction for all of these rooms in Houston. Like mentioned above, the rooms that do things right and seem "clean cut" struggle to get cash tables going. These rooms blatantly taking a rake seems pretty concerning as it has been made pretty clear that is where the line is to operate in Texas, at least for now. That is the garbage that will get it all closed down, and its a pretty short sited business model IMO. Maybe TCH will find a way to take over the cash game space in the area, and Prime can continue to do well with tournaments, but if I had to guess, everyone will keep donking off at Legends and 101 and nothing will change. Doesnt seem like River Room has gotten much traction yet either.

Everytime I look at Poker Atlast Legends does seem to be the one killing it with all the PLO action, beating out any other rooms anywhere in the state of Texas as far as I can see. I still need to get down that way and check it out.

Yeah if you buy $300 in time they match so you can play 1/3 or 1/3/6 PLO for $6 an hour or 5/5/10 PLO for $7.50 an hour. Great deal for the player, if:

I don't believe there currently is ANY defined line to operate. But I do agree that raking pots in cash games goes beyond any fuzzy pseudo official line. There is a reason the early clean rooms chose the model they chose. That model MIGHT pass muster with TX. Maybe they chose it because the area was grey enough that TX simply did not bother.

I completely agree that openly raking, the area violence (related to poker or not), and similar may be enough that state decides to get involved. Right now it is all city by city and county by county generally choosing to look away. I am pretty sure that if some anti-poker city/county pushed the case to completion sites raking pots, raking tournaments (even if just for dealer add on, but likely much less required) would win their ruling.

Agree it is short sighted but the rooms doing this often appear to have a choice. Go with clean biz model and long term outlook but be out of business in x months OR start raking and survive. This makes the open rake the better long term view for that business.

Fact is that someone is always going to push the envelope but if they push too far, state will simply come down hard on entire industry. Those who talk about the thousands of jobs and all the revenue being generated for the state are just silly. Poker jobs and revenue are not even a pimple to the TX state govt. That reasoning will not carry the day in a dispute.

Seems like we're all saying the same thing! Rooms blatantly raking = bad for the future of Texas poker. I'll be getting as many hours in as possible before either the games dry up, or the rooms get shut down.

Friday night, 7:45 PM - not a single table running at River Room. Speaks to the saturation of the market, imo. Seems like they only have Tuesday $5/$5 NL judging by PokerAtlas. Of course, I guess they could just not be updating on PA.

101 Richmond was giving refunds on time that was pre-paid. I got back over 1200 cash. My buddy still hasn’t been back there, just curious if anyone knows if Elite is going to reimburse him.

I went to Elite Social last night for the first time. I was playing in a meet-up game with some YouTubers - only reason I was playing there - but the action did look good; there were plenty of $1/$3 NL tables, a few $1/$3 PLO tables, a $5 Big O double board bomb pot game that allegedly runs each day, and a $15/$30 limit omaha game was running. The food was actually quite good. Many people at the table ordered something different and remarked on how delicious it was.

I don't reckon I'll be back due to the rake being well worse in the long run/not wanting to support the raked rooms. However, all in all, it appears to be a well-ran, clean club with good action and other amenities that come with the rake. I could see regulars justifying playing here since they cater to whales so well, as another user mentioned above.

Update - Legends now whacking $2 a hand. Started a bad beat jackpot at $5K and add $200 a day from the whack. Also offering free food and a car drawing on April 1st.

TCH's new Houston location opens tomorrow on Westheimer. There's some grand opening promos goin' on starting tomorrow:





Although far more interesting to me is the current seeming saturation in the Houston poker club market now. Hopefully the large amount of rooms results in healthy competition and more solid options for the consumer.

Anyone planning on going? I might head there tomorrow and check out the grand opening PLO action.

Heard the TCH opening crushed it... really crazy that legends is taking a drop now, feels like a house of cards deal happening, as soon as one gets popped itll all come crashing down.

Also saw on Live at the Bike that Phil Hellmuth is going to be part of reopening Champions Social in Houston in April, and adding a location up in Arlington... geeez...

Couldn't agree more, and the new ones opening left and right are just sealing the fate of Texas rooms even faster.

Someone tell me I'm being pessimistic, please?

The River Room is ready to be the best card room in Houston.

Plush red chairs.

Security at front facade and inside. Walkthrough metal detector and wanded.

Parking inside a gated area. Parking will be limited if this room is at, probably, half capacity. (But my estimate may be wrong.)

Tournaments and cash.

Bar service and beer available.

Bathrooms will need to be larger I think there are 3 standers and 3 sitters, maybe 4 each. They are amazing and clean.

Played in a tourney tonight ($120 2.5K guarantee) where a woman rebought about 10 times. She ended up getting first, I got 2nd.

They use a time model instead of rake, AKA not frowned upon by the TX Rangers.

It's just needs to pick up volume.

It's really worth checking out.

Update:

Apparently Infinity Poker Room has closed (formerly Best Poker which also couldn't make it).

TCH having trouble getting traction after nice initial opening weekend with some tournaments.

Still nothing happening at the River Room as far as cash games. They have now pivoted and are pushing 4 low buy in tournaments per day ($60 buy in).

Champions saying they will open in April (Off beltway 8 and Bellaire). Not sure how much if any traction they will get. Don't think Hellmuth has much pull with players at this point.

Prime's kitchen is not in operation.

You have to order uber eats basically. That's what the server at the bar suggested.

Elite Social Deep Dive was a success at 25K guarantee. 30K made the prize pool with 122 players and add ons. The payout structure was bogus, as it only paid 9 players, but managed 6th for 1.8k. First was 10K.

Who charges $6/hr? Most are $10 an hour

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TCH Spring has time match days, for example, so you can buy time on these specific days and they will match it. Since the room has a $10-12/hr rate (depending on what time you go in), you are effectively paying $5-$6/hr for your membership by only buying time on time match days.

Before Legends started doing what they're currently doing - $7/hr, $2 whack for jackpot - they were a $12/hr club. However, if you paid for over $300 in time, they matched your time, and boom: you're paying $6/hr

I was playing at Capri this week (Webster, TX, Bay Area Blvd) and a known colluder came in to play. He and a couple others are banned from Spades for collusion. The colluder was being very chummy with the owner of Capri and they were playing at the same table. I would avoid Capri's $1/$3 PLO game and perhaps the club in it's entirety.

ty for the headsup!

Any update on this?

They are listed on PokerAtlas now with the address, but it just says "Coming Soon"
Havent heard anything regarding opening date.

Anybody in Houston know what this garbage is? LOL are they just ripping blackjack and baccarat now?

Here is your update:

https://twitter.com/phil_hellmuth/st...XliNTpuO9236HQ