I stopped by a local poker room tonight on the north side of Houston about 1am. The inside door was open which was weird because it is almost always closed. I rang the bell and there were four people inside who all came to the door -- also weird...
Turns out that the county sheriff had raided them about 9pm tonight. The people that were there (I assume cleaning up or gathering some things) let me inside to see the place. All of the tables and flat-screen TVs were gone (about 9 tables and half a dozen TVs). All of the chairs were left, but the rest of the place was cleared out.
They told me that the cops came in in masks with guns out -- I assume in riot-type gear (a la
Dallas SWAT). They handcuffed and arrested the dealers and issued tickets to the 50 or so players that were there (Wednesday night is always a big tournament night for this place -- like a $50-75 buy-in... Big money!!!)
There have been other places in Houston that were shut down in the last year, but this room had been around for a while. Plus, the others did a LOT of internet advertising -- as in, I received emails from them even though I had never played there. This room always seemed to stay under the radar -- they had been around for at least the past couple of years.
I went and played in another room a few miles away (this is Houston - they are everywhere!) and they said that the problem with this room was that the bar next door had complained several times to the sheriff's office because the poker room was interfering with their parking. Not sure how true that is or not, but one of the better rooms on the north side of Houston is gone ... at least for now.