Here's my promised trip report for Throne Poker:

I went on Tuesday 5/2. Got there at 6pm (open) but the game did not get going until after 8pm. Only one table running and never got above 6 players all night.

The tables, chips, and space are great. Very spacious, nice/big TV's.

Owner seems really great and we chatted for a bit. Dealers were good - Mark, a long time regular dealer and game runner from many game in Austin was the main dealer.

I think this place will be big once it gets going. Their biggest problem right now is they need to hit that "critical mass" of players and get a dedicated crowd. The owner said they were going for "speak-easy" vibe - no signage in the front ,just a small note to say "entrance in back." I think this is a mistake. With Austin about to have four legal rooms and them having such a convenient location near I-35 and Braker I think they need to forget this angle and seriously ramp up advertising, street signage, social media presence, promotions. Get the room filled and get a lot of action on the tables and then let the "vibe" of the room develop naturally.

I stupidly forgot to take pictures >.< If anyone else has pics feel free to post. The tables are really nice. Built by some outfit in Canada according to the owner - puts the BBO tables and ceramic chips of Texas Card House to shame.

Glad to see Texas Card House now has some legit competition in Austin.

With the reference to 'convenient' and 'I-35 and Braker' in the same sentence, perhaps being somewhat low profile is best, to include making it easier NOT to get in from the front. Too many instances in places near a freeway of late night robberies, especially when you are near the county line (and yes, there ARE idiot criminals that would try to drive north into WilCo- years ago, I saw that a lot near the Lakeline area where the wrong side of the street could put you into WilCo).

In the North Houston area, it has not been card-room related, but there are MANY (almost nightly) instances of the hoodrats coming north into Montgomery County and committing some brazen robberies and then heading back south (some with high speed chases and gun play).

Hes paying local home game player/dealers /staff referall fees to get them in. Seems like vad business model but thats whats going on

legit with cert of occupancy and sales tax setup? seems odd to be referral based.

Why is a bad idea to go to WilCo? just curious xD

For a criminal, it can easily mean years, if not a few decades, added to the eventual prison sentence compared to what prosecutors tended to offer in Travis County. Even with Bradley gone, sentences still tend to be more stringent in WilCo compared to Travis...

How the **** else do you build a player list? The owner will do just fine. He knows alot of players and the location itself is near a large population of people. He has the right email lists I'm sure.

Braker lane is in Travis County.

And when you head north on 35, you VERY QUICKLY hit WilCo...we've been seeing a rash of the same sort of idiots in other parts of the State where county lines are involved.

I am sure that your extensive experience in criminal law practice would have told you about the sentencing disparities that can exist in such situations though...

What does this have to do with a poker room in Travis County?

I tried calling TCH during business hours and I kept getting "your call can not be completed". It wouldn't even ring. Anyone else have this happen?

They sent an email out yesterday saying they had a power surge and their electrical system like credit card reader and such wasn't working. Could definitely be impacting their phone line also.

they posted on fb that all telephone lines (and CC machine) were down but games were running. fb message them if you need. theyve been pretty responsive on there.

Thanks for the info guys. I'm thinking about going there for the first time to play PLO on Wednesday.

how was it?


also anyone played throne during the week? How many tables they have going? 1/2nlhe only?

Played Wednesday night, only one table but Throne is still relatively new. They need to get the word out more if they want more action at their establishment. At most, there was more than $2500 on the table. One guy punted his stack off twice and kept buying right back in. There should be more action this weekend's tournament and that brings the local university kids out and they're ripe for the picking once a cash game starts.

yea. interested to see how it, chisholm, and TCH north do once theyre all open. Id image there are quite a few players up north and the rates are reasonable for sure.

I'm definitely looking forward to all 3 north locations opening up. Being from around Rock/Cedar Park, playing at the South Austin location is just too far (1.5 hours round trip). Chisholm seems to be in a strange location. It's only 5 mins from my house, but not really easy access for anyone that doesn't live within a 3 mile radius. I hope all do well and try to stagger their alternative game days so not everyone does PLO on Wednesday's, etc.

Hello Ladies and Gents,

I would like to announce and up and coming 4th card house in Austin, Texas with a completely different aim.

https://gyazo.com/8e39cc70d2a7d202a585976f5d33ae7d

We will be spreading games as low as .25/.50 with a max buy in of 100 as well as running 40 rebuy tournaments. Of course there will be 1/2 tables uncapped as well, but the goal here is to protect the casual player and help expand the poker community. We will have poker group meetups to discuss various poker topics etc.

We also want to expand the lowest stakes Pot Limit Omaha game around. Omaha can be a disaster for the first timer at 1-2-5 and we plan to have a .25-.50-1.00 bring in Omaha game. The seat rental for this lower stakes will be 5/hr for the first 6 months as we build credibility and a customer base. We want you to come into a filled room with plenty of choices!

The site will have 100+ parking and is a stand alone Plaza capable of expanding to all 15000 sq ft. Initially we will only have 10 tables and 1 suite roughly. The address is 1900 E Howard Ln, right between Austin, Round Rock and on the edge of Pfluggerville.

https://gyazo.com/1205b89df46a03fa54174c7f97ec3210

The place has 25 foot ceilings and lighting accents that remind of Winstar Casino. We are going for volume. We are going for recreation and providing the community a service and safe harbor for low stakes play.

All questions, suggestions and comments are welcome.

Omaha at ANY level is a disaster
Bankroll requirement for NLHE - 3000 bbs
7 Card stud 750 bbs
Omaha 125-250k bbs

anything less than a 500bb buy in - you are pretty much playing any superwrap and if it plays anything like it does in houston - you hear more POT POT POT than a Cheech and Chong movie.

so a THREE?...blind game of 0.25-.50-1.00 requires about a $200k bankroll

Man walks into Casino...bangs on desk
WHATS THE BIGGEST GAME YOU GOT HERE?
Well....sir...we have a limit 100k/200k game and a 10/20k NLHE game...
Put me in the No limit game...that's how i like it NOOOOOO LIMIT....

As he heads off to the high limit area...OHHHHH SIR???...A 1/2 PLO game just opened up
F....that....i can't afford that

Good idea about low limits but its just that Omaha will NEVER be a low limit game and if you are "protecting the community" ...its like giving them cut down heroin

Sounds like a good strategy.

micro stakes live PLO also a good idea.


Will be hard to show any profit with each table grossing ~$45 / hour, but obv you are more interested in growing market share for now.

Good Luck.

P.S. Still think TX rooms could all fold under their own success. But similar growth happened in Michigan a while back in Charity Poker market and they operated for years before gaming regulators finally shut them down. Once the first few sprouted up, they went from zero to 250+ poker tables operating in the state very quickly.

I too wish you the best - the cream will rise and so many start on shoe string budgets - the new one opening up in houston is to be $1 door and $1 per half hr and will support veterans causes - With deep enough pockets and keeping them small enough - it can be successful ...profitable..not so much but a good cause none the less.

I don't think you are trolling, but you are way off on your bankroll needed to play games. Not to get off topic, but you are trying to tell me for a $100 buy-in PLO game (0.5/1 blinds) you need $200,000? I'm pretty sure you don't need 2,000 buy-ins for a bankroll, unless you are absolutely terrible and even that, if you lose your buy-in over 500 times I think you might quit the game.

Gl to all the rooms. Hope these do well and get lots of people to play regularly.

Direct quote from Howard Lederer / Patrick Antonius and other major stakes PLO players / I have been playing for 30 yrs and play mid stakes mixed - $25/$50 ante games and don't have the correct bankroll for PLO.

When I do - I buy in for 1-2k BBs...i have at least 2 reloads in my pocket - so a 1/3 game is a 3k-6k buy in and even if you use the 10% rule - thats a 150k bankroll - the money you take to the game should represent no more than 10% of your entire bankroll.

I see people buy in for $500 but any raise is $10 with 8 callers...and two pot bets will take it to half your stack right away - so 250 bbs is just not enough to play a single BIG hand.

... Opening when? Is there a target date?