Lodge Card Club Raided / Grand Jury does not indict any Lodge employees
Came looking for some info on this, but I guess I will kick the thread off. Anyone there at the time or know more detail
I thought they'd let poker clubs exist in a grey area for a while before deciding to do something about it. I don't know if they will succeed, but the timeline strikes me as normal. The idea of focusing on one target rather than taking a bunch of rooms down at the same time strikes me as normal. It could very well be that they were willing to look the other way until big tournament series started coming in.
Personally. I'd rather have no bribing of local politicians to grease the wheels and to let the legal system come to a definitive conclusion so that poker is either legal or illegal and doesn't exist in some gray area of uncertainty.
On the membership angle, maybe a prospective member job verification process before being allowed access can help Texas cardrooms. Establish a prospective member job verification process as part of a cardroom-level "anti-money laundering policy". If the prospective member job verification process reveals that the prospective member works for law enforcement - cardroom reply: "We're sorry, our membership is full at this time. We'll let u know when there's room." More difficult access inside means more difficult investigations right? Kind of like private games.
This is all semantics and everyone is talking around the actual subject. Stop making it complicated and "loop hole talk". The lodge is as legit as any club in Texas, employing and running a club like any other. They are being made an example of and don't hold the Contacts in Texas like other owners do, don't have same connections with the elite, and have been taken out, Texas
Do you think you need to have connections with the elite to bribe them? No you just have to be willing to do it and not act like you can't be touched because the lawyers said so. Guess why the other clubs are still running and the lodge isn't. I'm sure Doug knows the answer, which is why he was so salty in his video regarding the other clubs.
I wasn't aware it was as big of an issue (in cash games) outside of Texas. I do know the whole industry is mucked up on the tournament side of things. Multi-day, multi-flight, multi-bag, unlimited rebuys for the first 9-13 levels and top-heavy prize pools is just funneling the bulk of tournament prize pools into grinders pockets.
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On the cash side, I feel that it has always been a push and pull as far as pleasing the grinders and keeping the player pool healthy. The original head at MD Live was strict about keeping 2-5 at 500/600 cap for longer than many other rooms around the country with an eye to keeping the pool healthy. Grooms went to 1k buy-in 2-5 which eventually was copied by MD Live, hard to tell how much the higher limits caused the games to start drying up versus the inevitable reasons…feels like a lot of rooms got semi-saved by COVID and influencers getting some more young people into the game but that seems to be subsiding now…
It always seemed crazy that Texas didn’t care and had uncapped 1-3 some places which like knish said will empty pockets quickly…
Lol
Whatever knish wannabe you call yourself, what a joke? If you don’t like the state of the games because stacks are too big? Don’t play! There are plenty of options. Then coming on here calling out people by full name about gossip you heard of about former employees at certain clubs? Then you come on here talking about what this or the other clubs should be doing from a marketing standpoint? I believe they are doing just fine without your advice. Furthermore, you know you are the nut low for the games. It is confirmed around the PLO community in Austin. Keep crying like a total primadonna! Lmao
LolWhatever knish wannabe you call yourself, what a joke? If you don’t like the state of the games because stacks are too big? Don’t play! There are plenty of options. Then coming on here calling out people by full name about gossip you heard of about former employees at certain clubs? Then you come on here talking about what this or the other clubs should be doing f
His posts are literally 95% complaints about the state/size of games in TX and other various criticism. Must be the least fun reg in TX to play with
Poker economies are just not that big anywhere. For the size of the metro, Lodge and TCH have actually pulled a pretty impressive number of tables on a night to night basis. As I type this at 6:45 on a Saturday evening, with Lodge shut down TCH Austin has 27 cash tables - it and TCH Dallas are probably the two busiest cash rooms in the country between Hard Rock Tampa and Talking Stick.
TCH used to have Texas Card House on the outside of the building. Why'd it change? There's a pretty likely answer to me: landlord relations. The new TCH location is next to an aquarium. It'd make a lot of sense to me that the landlord doesn't want "GAMBLING" plastered on the outside of the building. It's just an image thing, but it's very real.
The kind of location they need doesn't grow on trees, particularly in that part of Austin - it's not an enormous square footage but they have times where they need huge amounts of parking. Seems like they probably made a pretty pragmatic choice to keep nice with potential real estate options. Lodge actually got a pretty perfect spot; it's a 1980s era strip center that mega overbuilt on parking originally.
The Lodge game structure has probably done a pretty poor job of getting new people into PLO, but 1/2 and 2/2 type games exist on the charts in both rooms, and they fire when there is demand. The kinds of people that attracted to PLO are generally (albeit not absolutely) not the kinds of people that want to play 500 cap. At some point you cater to the audience you have, not the one you wish you had.
On the cash side, I feel that it has always been a push and pull as far as pleasing the grinders and keeping the player pool healthy.
The ONLY things you need to do for the grinders are:
1. Attract and retain fun losing recs
2. Charge reasonable rates
3. Have competent staff
The problem with grinders is they don't understand they slit their own throats by making too many edges in their favor that chew through the losing players too quickly. They think it's great because they're winning big pots, but they're thinking short-term rather than long-term.
LolWhatever knish wannabe you call yourself, what a joke? If you don’t like the state of the games because stacks are too big? Don’t play! There are plenty of options. Then coming on here calling out people by full name about gossip you heard of about former employees at certain clubs? Then you come on here talking about what this or the other clubs should be doing f
nice brand new anonymous account, keep hiding you misreg. If you had half a clue you'd realize that your entry-level games are the bread and butter of every poker room. It's where new players learn the games and get hooked, and eventually try their hand at higher stakes games. But if you structure those games to slaughter those new players, they don't win often enough and guess what? They stop coming in, and you're left with misregs like you, euros, aussies and traveling pros who have zero fun vibes and make the games even less fun for the recs. Your job at the table is to be an entertainer and make the games enjoyable for the players who are paying your mortgage. Not to sit there and tell them "too bad, don't play"
Also, there's reasons both those guys got shitcanned from their top-level jobs despite the massive success The Lodge was experiencing. It was obviously things that the owners couldn't overlook despite the success they brought.
And there's a reason so many staff from the Lodge left for other rooms (long before the shutdown). The culture was toxic. I've had TONS of former staff express this over the past year.
Poker economies are just not that big anywhere. For the size of the metro, Lodge and TCH have actually pulled a pretty impressive number of tables on a night to night basis. As I type this at 6:45 on a Saturday evening, with Lodge shut down TCH Austin has 27 cash tables - it and TCH Dallas are probably the two busiest cash rooms in the country between Hard Rock Tampa and Talkin
Both rooms certainly were doing very well, but I still firmly believe they both did terrible jobs marketing on a local level and could've seen significantly more games if they had made competent decisions in that regard. Instead they marketed outside of Austin primarily, drawing in Euros and traveling pros more than fun local recs.
As far as the PLO games go, it's been YEARS where the only options offered were 1/2/5 with unlimited straddles and match the stack, or 5/10/25
The addition of 2/2 PLO only came about in the past few months. That game was actually pretty good action when it was at The Lodge, but the 2/2 at TCH is much tighter in my experience.
Also, while TCH built a really beautiful room, they chose a terrible location. If you're going to have a 46+ table room with restaurant and bar, you need to have parking to accommodate that level of traffic (i.e. 400-500 spaces)
Even if the Aquarium wasn't right next to them tying up spots in that parking lot, they still wouldn't have enough spaces to handle the traffic, especially with the WSOP coming in a few weeks. Now they're going to be utilizing shuttles, valets, etc. to make it work. It's going to be an absolute cluster.
LolWhatever knish wannabe you call yourself, what a joke? If you don’t like the state of the games because stacks are too big? Don’t play! There are plenty of options. Then coming on here calling out people by full name about gossip you heard of about former employees at certain clubs? Then you come on here talking about what this or the other clubs should be doing f
And another thing. The "plo community" should be a little more appreciative.
I got those scumbags marking cards out of the PLO games
His posts are literally 95% complaints about the state/size of games in TX and other various criticism. Must be the least fun reg in TX to play with
And another thing. The "plo community" should be a little more appreciative.
I got those scumbags marking cards out of the PLO games
That's the other 5%!
Both rooms certainly were doing very well, but I still firmly believe they both did terrible jobs marketing on a local level and could've seen significantly more games if they had made competent decisions in that regard. Instead they marketed outside of Austin primarily, drawing in Euros and traveling pros more than fun local recs.As far as the PLO games go, it's been YEARS wh
2/2 has been around for a couple of years, it just never actually got any traction. Still isn't, really. They try to get it going, it runs some for a bit, and then peters out. TCH can't fire a table of it with four of the bigger game going.
For TCH - what's the alternative? There aren't just a bunch of strip centers that can support 500+ cars that want a poker room as a tenant sitting around. Lodge found pretty much the only space on all of the north Austin suburbs that fit the bill. There aren't that many to choose from; too much of the commercial real estate is too new. You can't just roll in next to a Walmart and borrow its parking when you need it.
2/2 has been around for a couple of years, it just never actually got any traction. Still isn't, really. They try to get it going, it runs some for a bit, and then peters out. TCH can't fire a table of it with four of the bigger game going.For TCH - what's the alternative? There aren't just a bunch of strip centers that can support 500+ cars that want a poker room as a tenant s
The old 52 social/poker house austin/ austin social lounge / the rock had great parking, but shitty owners
On the membership angle, maybe a prospective member job verification process before being allowed access can help Texas cardrooms. Establish a prospective member job verification process as part of a cardroom-level "anti-money laundering policy". If the prospective member job verification process reveals that the prospective member works for law enforcement - cardroom reply: "
LE would simply create fake ids including fake employment
That would require the card room calling peoples employers. I don't think people are going to be on board with that. What if I am retired? Unemployed?
Also if I come in to sign up on a weekend/at night and my place of employment is closed?
This whole process would torpedo the business.
Last night at TCH they had a security guard sitting in front of a screen/scanner where you'd use your membership card to verify before you entered.
However, when I approached the guard had asked me if I was "coming back in". So it seems I could have just told him "yes" and bypassed this membership verification. And as far as I'm aware, the security for these rooms are outside contracted vendors.
The screen just displayed my name, I don't know if the guard has another screen that shows my membership photo to verify that I'm the actual member attached to the card being used.
So they're "trying" to shore things up, but there are certainly holes in the process that can be bypassed if they're concerned about non-members accessing the club.
I saw a player dealt in before the dealer swiped him into the table, which again is another potential hole.
Depending on outside vendors to verify memberships at the door or dealers (many who can be just there for an event/series and not regular staff) could cause issues without proper training and monitoring to ensure they're not letting things slip through.
A few days ago I used their valet and there was no charge and I tipped the kid. Now they're charging $10 to valet park your car. And this is weeks before the WSOP Circuit event. I can only imagine the absolute cluster they'll have not only with parking but also trying to verify members before they get to the gaming floor given the massive amounts of traffic they'll have.
In addition, they don't seem to have enough cage staff to handle the logjams that can occur at certain periods, sometimes with just one window open. I hope they have another system in place to handle tournament registration vs chip purchases when the WSOP hits because the potential line at the cage will quickly become a problem.
Why don’t you share this feedback with the room manager instead of on an internet forum? Usually I give businesses a chance to correct their mistake before I start badmouthing them online.
Why don’t you share this feedback with the room manager instead of on an internet forum? Usually I give businesses a chance to correct their mistake before I start badmouthing them online.
He's just that type of guy. Like I said, must be the least fun reg to play with in TX
Last night at TCH they had a security guard sitting in front of a screen/scanner where you'd use your membership card to verify before you entered.However, when I approached the guard had asked me if I was "coming back in". So it seems I could have just told him "yes" and bypassed this membership verification. And as far as I'm aware, the security for these rooms are outside
Also poker regs like you on this forum: wHy DoEsNt (insert room/casino) cAtEr To uS?!
F’ing no wonder Vegas casinos are closing rooms
Why don’t you share this feedback with the room manager instead of on an internet forum? Usually I give businesses a chance to correct their mistake before I start badmouthing them online.
"Tampa Sn1tch"
guys take it easy on Knish, he handed me down a truck route to drive when I busted my roll against KGB.
guys take it easy on Knish, he handed me down a truck route to drive when I busted my roll against KGB.
I'm not playing for the thrill of ***** victory here
And that room could hold like 12 tables. Both gotta have both the square footage and the parking to meet your criteria; parking with no tables is pointless.
Pretty sure when it was 52 social they had 25 tables, plus at the time had the only restaurant and bar in the market.
The parking was amazing, the aesthetics at the time were best in market, but poor leadership doomed the place.
It could've been a goldmine of a location if anyone competent was in charge.
Now the location is saddled with the negative shadows of its history
Well today is April 9th, according to Doug's video they must file a report to continue holding onto the funds. Curious to see if there are any major updates today/tomorrow.
Criminal charges were not filed against The Lodge Card Club in Texas on Thursday as the 30-day civil asset forfeiture deadline approached. But the poker club's money will remain in the state's possession.
PokerNews has obtained a document filed April 9 in the 480th Judicial District Court in Williamson County that explains why the state is holding on to over $2 million in assets despite no criminal charges being filed.
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