Some quick thoughts from somebody who's been playing at these legal cardrooms since the first one opened in 2015 or 2016:

Lodge owner(s) has been looking to sell either a piece or majority of his business for a long time now to investors that can bring "value" to the business. Lodge used to have several owners but it was reduced to one man/wife who's objective is/was to give the business to their son. They kind of stumbled into having the best room in Austin/Round Rock from an ownership perspective in my opinion. They had good MTS 1/3 games that were driving action to the room, had a great location in Round Rock (just outside of Austin), and kept their hourly at $10/hr. The livestream was also quite good, couldn't have hurt. They also came up when they really only had one competitor (TCH) who's room was/is quite small and charged more per hour - not to mention has repeatedly changed ownership hands.

In my opinion, Austin/Round Rock is probably the worst location in Texas to own a poker room right now. First, Austin/RR is quite smaller than Dallas/Houston/San Antonio. 52 Social is opening literally across the street from The Lodge this month (officially), and they've got a *really* nice room. The Lodge made a decision to not open a bar/restaurant, because they decided that BYOB and being 18+ instead of 21+ was preferable to having the bar/restaurant in there. I think it was a bad decision quite frankly. 52 will have a full bar/restaurant at start, and I've heard it's on the high end of quality. Not only is 52 there now... there's another room starting up in Austin or RR soon with 30+ tables and a full bar/restaurant that is being kept under wraps. Frankly... I think the Lodge owner(s) got out at a great time. With all due respect to Andrew/Brad/Doug... none of these guys have really put in any meaningful hours into these clubs in Texas and don't really know the players or why these things have been successful. To choose Austin/RR of all these cities in Texas to start this new venture seems like an early mistake. Houston/Dallas/San Antonio all have big opportunities for new owners to come in and really have huge growth opportunity... and Austin was the city chosen when it's the smallest one, has the most competition, and widely is regarded as having the worst action in Texas? Additionally, have you ever met people from Texas? Generally they really don't like "out-of-towners". Wait until the first "mistake" is made that these "Vegas vlogging Democrats" make that they don't like. Or the rumblings that inevitably happen when Upswing is being promoted around the room and all the regs get pissy about the Texas fish getting training... and hooooly ****, imagine if they ever raise the rate from $10/hr to $12/hr like every other room. People will **** on Doug Polk for eternity.

All that being said... I play in San Antonio and actually love the Lodge. These are all just my opinions, and generally I think competition is good for the players. It's a very nice room, and I'm sure these guys will do ok. I think bringing in Andrew/Brad was an incredibly savvy move by Doug. The Lodge livestream does great. The people who work/run the Lodge currently are fantastic. But yea... we will see. I wish these guys nothing but the best.

Certainly to a point, but definitely not as much as I thought and I think that's because home games can offer many things to a player that legal rooms simply can not. Rake doesn't seem to be much of a consideration for many of the action players.

In Dallas, home games seem to be going pretty strong with very high rake while a couple large legal rooms sit nearly completely empty. One of those legal rooms has even offered $5/hr time charge for 2/5+ as well as $0/hr on PLO/PLO5 and it's hardly moved the needle.


I'm don't necessarily disagree with banning euros. Doing so could really set a club apart in a highly competitive market. That being said, I doubt most club owners even realize it's a problem. I've literally heard TCH Dallas advertise itself as a place where players from all over the world come to play, as if that is a positive lol.

Great post overall, but I disagree with this. I'm not sure the opportunities are as great as you think in Houston or Dallas. Houston has close to 15 clubs on Poker Atlas alone. Has any club in Houston had a high level of sustained success? It seems in that market you could be #1 today and dead and gone tomorrow.

You would think Dallas would be a great place to open a room but that hasn't really proven to be the case. Let's consider the big rooms that have tried to come to Dallas:

52 Social - Lost their ass
Champions - Lost their ass
Shuffle - Losing their ass
Poker House - Losing their ass
TCH Dallas - absolutely killing it.

Big players batting only 20% isn't exactly promising for the market and that's ignoring some of the smaller rooms which have shut down in tertiary markets as well as all the clubs that were shut down a few years ago (in Plano/Mckinney/Dallas). Many Dallas players are still choosing casinos or home games over legal rooms. I checked Bravo yesterday afternoon and Winstar and Choctaw each had 20+ cash tables running (albeit Choctaw is running a tournament series at the moment).

I don't know the San Antonio market but I question whether it is actually bigger than Austin. The metro populations are fairly close but Austin has much higher incomes.

BTW, it seems The Lodge's plan is to open locations in other markets but this sort of thing takes time.

The best way to implement this would be to have a locals' discount. With a Texas drivers license membership is $10 per hour. All other IDs are $100 per hour. Obviously not at the vloggers club, they need to be open to everyone, but at least one struggling club could do this and it would be a real attraction for the locals to choose to play there.

I don't want to derail this thread any further so this is the last I'll post on this issue.

White Knighting casinos/cardrooms has nothing to do with it. If a perspective cardroom owner asked me for my informed opinion on any operational changes I think that could be put in place to help run the business the ID suggestion would be on the top of the list. If you listen back to the segment, the reason why most asians wouldnt be affected by such rules is because most asians live in the US and have US driver's licenses. Most Euros do not and are traveling. It has nothing to do with ethnicity. There is a guy who plays on a lot of the Austin live streams from Italy that has lived in the US for many years and has a drivers license. And of course he would be unaffected by such a rule and vice versa to asians who don't.

How would you know? Haven't all your businesses failed?

Just because a home game isn't a rake saver, it doesn't mean that casino / poker room high rake haven't driven players to it.

MM

We have a bit of runway here. About a year and a half till the legislature meets again. They have not changed this law over many decades, and the politicians are aware of these rooms. It isnt a sure bet, I am aware that governments can take things away from you. However I also think the risk here is minimal, especially given we have 1.5 years to get things together, expand out of state, network, etc.

Sometimes you have to take calculated risk. Much like some other game we all know.

We arent going to ever open multiple locations in the same city, so I dont see much of a cannibalizing effect. Rooms tend to have local player pools and I think we will do our best to spread a wide net nationally... but time will tell. For now we are one location and we are going to do our best to continue to be the best place to play in the Austin market.

I will be in the booth on Wed. I think Mike/Rick have both done a great job of helping build the Lodge stream community. There are a lot of people who like them and tune in for those streams. No plans are in place to replace either, however we will be adding in more commentary from others. I will be in the bunker tomorrow!

I'm not going to go into the deal specifics here, its a private company and this was a private deal. What I can say is that the deal made sense for everyone, based on financial capital/platform/work they will put in. I think everyone involved is happy with the situation and we had good convesations on the subject to make sure this was a project that everyone wanted to be involved in (can be tough with so many people).

Now that you mention it....

Are you still going to keep the mgmt in place like the GM currently? Also are you still going to be doing these Mayhem tournament series with great structures and milly+ guarantees?

We are going to see. Ideally I would like to get a high stakes game going every Friday, as high of stakes as we can support with primarily a local player pool. I think $10/$20 should be no problem, realistically I think $25/$50 or $50/$100 should be doable. For the time being, its going to be $5/$5/$10 every Friday. Everyone welcome to come play, if its super popular we will kick up the stakes.

Have already left my thoughts on the legislature, but really all I can say there is that we will tackle whatever obstacles come our way and non zero risk is fine if the overal ev of the decision is still +ev. I am content enough with the situation to make a fairly sizable investment.

As for being a cash business, we have a myriad of strategies that really minimize any potential risk and keep money/finances safe. We have a great system in place, one that I obviously cannot disclose. These risks are minimal imo.

We love the name Lodge. I don't see any reason to change the name. Its a strong recognizable name. We are for sure keeping it.

Thanks for the post! Nice to see a long time member on the forums.

Re Upswing x Lodge: These are two different companies with 2 different ownership groups. Admittedly its a little weird because everyone at Upswing is involved in the Lodge, but the same is not true vice versa. Each entity has to act in their own best interest, but there is absolutely room for collaberation and we will be figuring out good ways to do so. Also at some point we will have an Upswing week or weekend at the Lodge. Either a seminar or a meetup, not sure, still kicking around some ideas.

We have been thinking a lot about the $1/$2, $1/$3, and $2/$5. For now we are going to leave it as is, its tough because it boils down to 2 things. Some players like match the stack, some dont. Also some players like PLO bomb pots, some dont. The game structure has been to accomdate everyone, we will continue to think about things.

Our Secret Plans REVEALED (ft Brad Owen & Andrew Neeme)

We are going to keep the monthly tournament, and have 2 series a year in spring fall. Considering our options outside of that.

Ugh lol

Texas stakes are weird. I played a 10k $1/$2 pot the other day in PLO. 5/5 is a lot of time 5/5/10. Either way, there isnt much difference between playing $1/2 and $5/$10 and $25/$50 for me. Happy to play any of them. Ill try to get the game to be bigger if I can but im totally content to help get games going lower and create a good atmosphere.

Seen a lot of these types of comments, it didnt really go down like that. I tweeted I was looking to get into the poker market here and got in contact with owners of a bunch of the rooms. We took meetings from there. It wasnt like we got pitched buying into some room by an owner trying to get out of their business. We just networked our way in and got to talk to many of the rooms here.

There are plenty of other rooms here in Austin, im not too worried about it. At the end of the day you can only focus on your own business, and we are going to do our best to make sure the Lodge is the best place to play poker here.

Also fwiw, the most important thing is to have games. Social 52 doesnt have games running. If you want to come play poker, you need to have games to join in on.

Feels like there are a lot of people in this thread that are not ok with the idea of taking risk. Starting a business is a risk. Investing your money in the stock market or in crypto is a risk. Buying into a business is a risk. My decision to enter this market is not to alleviate risk, its to maximize my ev.

I think we have by far the best club in Austin and have an outstanding team in place to build this business. We have 2 of the absolute best vloggers in the game, we have a phenominal marketing team from Upswing, we have plenty of money and sharp business minds. If as a unit we cant make it in this business, thats ok. +EV spots win in the long run.

I live in Austin, so I can go there 2x a week every week. That is a huge a factor in this decision, being able to easily go to the room and promote it.

Appreciate the input here. We will continue to make sure the Lodge is a great place to play.

Hi Doug:

General gambling theory tells us that in most cases the price you pay for increased EV is higher risk. So, the key is to balance risk versus expectation, and that looks to me to be exactly what you're doing. So, based on the little that I know, I think you've probably made a good decision from a gambling perspective, which is what most small business is about.

Best wishes,
Mason

Hi Doug:

This I recommend that you reconsider. The following is from page 74 of my book Cardrooms: Everything Bad and How to Make Them Better:

Next, I want to mention what is known as bomb pots which have become popular in some cardrooms. For those who don’t know, a bomb pot is when all players agree to put a predetermined amount of money in the pot when they receive their first two cards. Then, the real betting action begins on the flop.

It should be clear that bomb pots not only change the structure of the game, but that they affect the balance of luck and skill towards luck. But they also have another much bigger problem. Bomb pots allow each player to not only see his starting two cards but the flop as well. In addition, there will be a lot of money in the pot before the real betting starts. This creates an ideal situation for players who want to collude, and because of this fact, no poker room should ever allow bomb pots.

Best wishes,
Mason

Jfc still shilling your books, to Doug Polk... Lmfao

Appreciate that Mason. Read the Cardrooms book and took some notes. Took a lot of the lessons there and plan to use that as some framework on future decisions.

While that might be true, I would rather go the direction of trying to find people colluding than removing a game type people seem to really enjoy. Bomb pots are very popular here and the average player enjoys them. I dont want to take that away because there is an increased chance of collusion. Maybe I will change my mind if we see instances where this plays out, but for the time being, I think its fair game.

Hi Doug:

Thanks for the positive comments. However, keep in mind that what may be good policy for most cardrooms may not be right for yours. Also, I would be interested in knowing what policies/ideas that you and your team derived from the book which you intend to implement.

I certainly understand this argument, and I do agree that where possible, you want to make the customers happy. However, this is also from page 10 of the "What a Poker Room Needs to Accomplish" chapter in the Cardrooms book:

4. Reputation of integrity and honest games. This should be obvious. When a poker room starts to gain the reputation of dishonest games, even if it’s not true, expect business to drop. But this is unlikely to happen if the room is run well and the regular players as well as the recreational players trust the poker room management to do its job well.

I do understand that some people like the bomb pots. Sometimes when waiting to play the game I want in the Bellagio Poker Room I'll sit in a small no-limit game and someone will request a bomb pot. So again, I'm aware that they are well liked. But The Bellagio doesn't allow them and I believe that's the right decision. Also, if colluders do certain subtle things, it can be hard to catch.

So, my recommendation is that this is something you and your team should look at very, very carefully when making your decision as to whether to allow them.

Best wishes,
Mason

I assume you're not aware that I gave away a couple hundred copies of the Cardrooms book. So much for the shilling.

Also, the offer is still good. If you work in poker room management (and don't post here as fozzy71) and would like a free copy, contact me directly.

MM

Couldn't that also be the case with PLO/PLO5 in Texas? Huge pots that are generally going to be multiway. Wouldn't that also be an ideal game to cheat in?

Hi Dream:

You may be right. But there is a difference. The pots which may become large, are not yet large before the betting starts.

But this is one example of something that todays poker room managers need to think a lot about, and it's my opinion, that many of them aren't even aware of this stuff.

The above comment does not include Doug and his team. In fact, I view this as a great opportunity for a soon to be influential poker room to do things right and then to have many of their policies copied by other cardrooms. This would not only be good for the poker rooms but good for the players, both the pros and the recs, as well.

Best wishes,
Mason

I heard the video editor is a real dickhead tho

Just listened to Doug's podcast with Andrew and Brad which was a very enjoyable listen. Brad mentioned about entering the monthly tournament which whilst I can see why it would be fun to play I don't think it would be a good look if one of the owners won it! Maybe just punt off chips if getting close to final table.

Mason,
What if a guy runs a private game in his house, complete with a paid competent dealer, because he has been unfairly banned from his nearest casino? Would that gentleman qualify for a free book? Asking for a friend, of course.

My biggest takeaways were the balance of luck/skill, prevent cannibalizing games, and some of the general thoughts on promos.

One of the most interesting things right now at the lodge is $1/$2 vs $1/$3 vs $2/$5. All have similar players pools but their structures are.

$1/$2 - $300 max buyin, no bomb PLO bomb pots

$1/$3 - $600 max buyin OR match the biggest stack, no PLO bomb pots

$2/$5 - 1k OR match the biggest stack, PLO bomb pots.

Player pools tend to be quite similar and lots of overlap. Interested in your thoughts regarding those games.