Houston, TX Area Poker

I guess he came onboard with The Lodge back in August of 2024. I only heard about it a few months back when they had a meet and greet with him. What happened with MGM?

If I used the terms "hurts the fish" I apologize, as that wasn't what I'm trying to convey. My issue is that this type of promo is funneling dollars into the pockets of the grinders, which is backwards from a room operator standpoint.

You want those promo dollars more likely to find their way into the pockets of the weaker players (i.e. that's why you do a promo to hit a steel wheel rather than a royal, you encourage the weaker players to get in there with 23 s00ted and other such garbage).

The more you structure promos to put money into the pockets of the losing players, the longer you keep games running, the more likely you are to get the weaker players to continue coming back.

Those weaker players win the promos, they then lose some of that promo money back to the grinders, games run longer, the recs get their entertainment value, the grinders get their long-term profits and the room keeps tables running longer.

Structuring promos that funnel money into the grinders pockets doesn't accomplish this.

Wasn’t really what happened in the room per se. It was his posting in that venue thread on 2+2. Lots of complaints from players. Johnny tried to use this feedback but also explain limitations. All started fine but after a while feedback probably got a little to bitchie. Johnny tone and responses got more edgy. IMO some of his responses became borderline (over the line imo but not severely) nonprofessional, at least in tone. He took one or two self imposed posting vacations but eventually just ghosted.

Were the complaints excessive? Maybe. But when you are the face and voice for the org, esp voluntarily, sometimes you just gotta let stuff go or at least know how to handle it which is sometimes bite your tongue. Customer isn’t always correct but you don’t need to beat him over the head with that.

So it wasn’t about anything he did wrong or bad running the room. It was only about actions and opinions on 2+2. Good int3ndions gone bad and likely under appreciated. Thus why I would expect little if any interaction here.

Yeah, I think I saw a post here where he lost it on someone and maybe told them to STFU or something, so I know what you're talking about.

good to see you and good luck at the champions events if you are firing any of the plo series!

my brother is firing a couple of bullets so hopefully you both make some deep runs

Well the crap hole that is Legends raised their rake from $7 for the 1/3/6 PLO to $10 and the rake on the 5/10/20 PLO from $10 a half hour to $15 a half hour. What's funny is they tried to sneak it in without telling anyone. TCH and Champions hopefully can get some momentum from this.

Huge mistake with the lack of transparency. 1/3 remains $7 or did it move to $10 too?

1/3 remains $7 but all the $100 buy ins make it a non starter for me unfortunately

Was definitely implemented sneakily. I saw the drop yesterday morning and instantly told all the regs I could. Several have said they are going to start looking for somewhere else to play, we will see how it pans out.

How about this "Most Bullets" promo for TCH Houston's holiday $100K series?

I don't love or hate it... but I'm just imagining some guy going for it (freerolling in their mind thinking they'll for sure get the $5000) only to be out-bulleted by David Shaw or some other grinder. Can we find the guy who has the second most bullets? My condolences to them.

I hope somebody scoops and takes the triple crown.

Legends dropped their rake back down to $7 max on 1/3/6 PLO and $10 a half hour for the 5/10/20 PLO.

Also a word out to the community Lenard "Lucky" Adams known cheater/scammer was in Legends this week. Once he was identified/outed he was confronted and claimed they were just allegations but he was asked to leave and banned. Probably still in Texas so should keep an eye out for him as he is dangerous (allegedly😀). Links about him below.

https://www.pokernews.com/news/2025/01/lenard-adams-scamming-poker-players-47746.htm

pokernews

Poker Pro w/ Violent Criminal History Accused of Scamming Poker Players

https://www.pokertube.com/video/how-a-vi...

I'm in Austin and just helped get 2 known cheats banned that I helped get banned in Tampa FL about 5 years ago. They've been caught all over the country marking cards and they typically focus on PLO games to my understanding.

In this video I break down the history I'm aware of, provide receipts so it's not just me making up some allegations, provide the photos I have of them (one is good, one is not) and detail exactly how they're marking cards so room operators can be on the lookout and players can protect themselves.

They've been getting away with this for at least 6 years in different venues, and I'd like to make it as difficult as possible for them to find new honey holes to take advantage of.

So if you're able to help my video with engagement (likes/comments) or sharing it, it would help immensely in getting this spread far and wide to keep these scumbags off the felt.

Word is spreading fast, these guys tried to sneak into Houston but word is out

Feel like it's worth making a post about the ongoing (but likely soon to be over) PLO Poker room war here in Houston.

The previous owner of Legends opened a new room (Houston Social) 5 minutes away from Legends to try and take over as the best PLO room in the city a month ago... and it looks like he's pulled it off (again!).

Legends has slowly been bleeding away for the past month and there are now no tables going and having played in both rooms back and forth over the past month, I think Legends is likely to close their doors very soon.

Although I haven't been a reg there as long as many, I made many friends/ memories, and a lot of money at Legends and I'm sad to see it go out this way... it was rough around the edges, but a place I've enjoyed spending so much time in. I'm hopeful that Houston Social will be a great room and looking forward to playing there moving forward, as many of the good dealers, staff, and of course action players/regs have already migrated over.

Thanks for the update. I spoke to a Legends dealer/reg in January who said that one of the former owners, Max, was opening up a place called Fortune Poker. Did he end up calling it Houston Social instead, or are we talkinh about two separate rooms?

Also, do you think Houston Social is taking 100% of the PLO action, or is TCH Houston's PLO cash also picking up with Legends fading out? Is Champions getting any more PLO action from Legends?

I heard something about that Jun guy who was involved with 52 Social in Austin being involved with a room in Houston now, is this what you're talking about? I think he had some history in that market years ago as well.

Legends is officially closed. Apparently will reopen in a few weeks as a baccarat only place so no more poker. There was a rush to get over there and cash in chips. Apparently some weren't successful as someone tried sneaking some $100 Legends chips in today in a game lol. Owner came around to all the tables and made a point to say those won't be redeemed at Houston Social. Lastly, Idra, quit trying to bluff me😀

Max's venture went kaput before it opened. The two people funding it got into a conflict and walked away before it opened and it won't be opening. Max was just going to run it with a small piece of ownership as sweat equity. When that failed he approached Houston Social's owner and got a job as night floor manager so he is there now. Houston Social is a new place and was opened by David La the former owner of Legends who sold it to some out of town buyers and then screwed them over 6 months later by opening the new place. Same playbook he used when he sold 52 Social and did the same thing and opened Legends.

He's an investor in Houston Social. There every day playing but doesn't really run it or have anything to do with daily operations. Worst thing about him is he plays all night and never leaves and is constantly falling asleep at the table. You get 3 less hands per 30 minute down when he is in the game and floor man basically told me there isn't much he can do since he is a part owner. He is pretty bad though so there is that I guess but he definitely is tilting to play with for me at least due to his very slow pace of play.

Haha, gotta try sometimes!

I'm hopeful that Houston Social continues to have excellent plo games. There have been several super pro out of towners making it tougher, but overall games have still been great. I'm doubtful that champions or tch houston will be able to steal any of the plo action, outside of champion's private game/stream game which will just continue as usual I think.

Is it hard to get onto the live streams?

"several super pro out of towners making it tougher,"

Mostly Euros ?

Canadians. I dont know why rooms tolerate them, they are a massive net negative to the game sustainability because games basically snap break when they overrun the games.

It's astonishing how bad games are in Canada.