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
What specifically in the article makes it sound like that to you? According to the article, the TABC was approached first with someone claiming suspicious activity at the club and the investigation started after that.
There's a bunch of things. Post #130 by DessertCat does a good job of explaining it.
But I think the biggest give away is having agents play poker. If they knew what they were going after, why would they do this? Do you think sitting in a $1-$2 no-limit game (and probably losing their money) is going to be a great way to gather evidence about money laundering.
It seems almost comical to me. But I bet Doug and his partners don't think it's funny.
Don't disagree, but the TABC agents attested to this on an affidavit for a search warrant - if they lied then they committed a felony.
THEY ARE COPS. Cops do this all the time.
There's a bunch of things. Post #130 by DessertCat does a good job of explaining it.But I think the biggest give away is having agents play poker. If they knew what they were going after, why would they do this? Do you think sitting in a $1-$2 no-limit game (and probably losing their money) is going to be a great way to gather evidence about money laundering.It seems almost com
How else would you suggest they determine if the business is adhering to the requirements for allowable gambling under Texas law, ie without observing it incognito? Show up and announce themselves?
One factor not mentioned is that this an election year, and that the current Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, is running for John Cornyn's Senate seat. Gambling is a polarizing issue in Texas, and the people who hate it really hate it. I can imagine that Paxton's supporters in the government might want to hand him a juicy moral-panic prosecution win against a very visible actor in the legal grey area of card-house social clubs.
But to meet the private place exception, can a non member just be wandering around partaking of the non poker amhenities? Have not applicable read the definition of private place but I doubt unlimited wandering meets them.
They don't check at the door. Nothing prevents someone from just going in and walking around. The guard at the front will ask for ID if someone looks young. I'm not sure if this meets definition of private club or not.
TCH down the road has a pool table, chess boards, a restaurant and a bar inside. I've never seen them check for membership for people to use any of those things.
My understanding of the law is that gambling is permitted if it takes place in a private place not accessible to the public.
But in all of these card clubs you can easily just walk in and walk around without actually having a membership. Places like The Lodge and TCH are way too busy with traffic going in and out.
You can easily go into TCH, sit down in the restaurant side and get a meal and no one is checking if you have a valid membership, despite the poker tables being right next to the dining area.
imo that destroys the defense of "private" vs "public" access. I'm no attorney, but I would think you'd need a completely closed off entrance that members MUST pass through AND have memberships verified, BEFORE they gain access to the enclosed gaming area, to ensure you maintain that boundary of private vs public access
TCH Austin has really good food that's reasonably priced, and it's right next to an Aquarium frequented by families. I know when they had big football games on their giant screen tv system in the restaurant area, there were families who brought their under-18 children into the dining area to watch the game and eat.
There's obviously no way in hell their 8-year old has a club membership. Of course the room isn't letting the kids gamble on the tables, but I would assume this destroys the public vs private issue. With the WSOP set to arrive in late April at TCH Austin, this could get messy if they expand beyond the Lodge.
This is very frightening. Justice is the application of proportional punishment for committing crimes or bad acts. In this case The Lodge is receiving a massive financial punishment before it’s even been charged, or any evidence presented of its crimes or failures. Before it’s had an opportunity to present any defense, or have an impartial judge rule on its guilt or innocence.
In regard to the bolded , TABC didn’t “get a tip and immediately shut them down.” There’s a whole middle section missing from that narrative.
Here’s the more likely sequence, assuming everything was done by the book:
- Someone submitted a tip/complaint - the same way anyone can report a bar for serving minors, mishandling alcohol, or violating licensing rules. A tip doesn’t equal guilt, it just triggers a review.
- TABC opened an investigation - and according to multiple reports, that investigation ran for nearly two years. They were gathering documents, interviewing people, reviewing financials etc...
- They believed they found something worth escalating - not based on the tip alone, but on what they uncovered during the investigation.
- They applied for a search warrant - which requires a judge to review an affidavit and decide whether probable cause exists. A judge signed off, meaning the affidavit contained enough detail to justify the search.
- Law enforcement executed the warrant - and that’s the point we’re at now. No charges have been filed yet, and we won’t know the strength of the case until prosecutors decide whether to move forward.
The tip was just the catalyst. If the investigation hadn’t produced anything substantial, nothing would have happened.
Also important: I haven’t seen any reporting that TABC revoked a license or ordered The Lodge to shut down. Every article simply says they are “closed,” which could be voluntary or temporary. I haven’t seen anything indicating TABC forced a shutdown.
If TABC did suspend a license, that would fall under administrative rules - which is separate from criminal charges. Just like a bar can lose its liquor license without anyone being arrested.
I agree that some agencies overreach, but saying this kind of thing happens “all the time” is hyperbolic. This situation looks like a long regulatory investigation followed by a judge-approved search warrant, not a tip to instant punishment scenario.
Also important: I haven’t seen any reporting that TABC revoked a license or ordered The Lodge to shut down. Every article simply says they are “closed,” which could be voluntary or temporary. I haven’t seen anything indicating TABC forced a shutdown.If TABC did suspend a license, that would fall under administrative rules - which is separate from criminal charges. Just like a b
As far as I've read, the Lodge management was told they could not re-open until the investigation was concluded, they seized computers on site likely needed to operate the business and other assets and bank accounts were frozen.
not sure how The Lodge could or would continue to operate based on this
As far as I've read, the Lodge management was told they could not re-open until the investigation was concluded, they seized computers on site likely needed to operate the business and other assets and bank accounts were frozen.
not sure how The Lodge could or would continue to operate based on this
Fair point, I had forgotten that bank accounts were frozen. I was not aware that they were told they could not re-open until the investigation concluded, where did you see that?
The latest from PokerNews and it's not looking good:
Well, that was an extremely anti-climactic reveal.
googleAI "The Round Rock venue, co-owned by Doug Polk, Andrew Neeme, and Brad Owen, had the club's assets and bank accounts frozen as part of the ongoing investigation. There are still plenty of unanswered questions as the club remained closed with no formal charges having been filed."
Can we break down who actually owns the club for the masses?
Doug Polk, Andrew Neeme, and Brad Owen + Airball + rampage + Jake "Llama" Abdalla
+ who else?
googleAI "The Round Rock venue, co-owned by Doug Polk, Andrew Neeme, and Brad Owen, had the club's assets and bank accounts frozen as part of the ongoing investigation. There are still plenty of unanswered questions as the club remained closed with no formal charges having been filed."Can we break down who actually owns the club for the masses Doug Polk, Andrew Neeme, and Brad
The warrant also revealed details about Tempus Holding Inc.'s shareholders, which provide some insight into Polk's investor team that purchased The Lodge back in 2022. Polk, Abdalla, and Levin are listed as the combined majority shareholders, owning 63.3% of the company between them. The other 18 named investors each hold stakes under 7%, including poker vloggers Owen and Neeme, who are most commonly associated with The Lodge's ownership in the past. The warrant also lists notable poker players and content creators such as Jamie Kerstetter, Nick Petrangelo, Ryan Fee, Jaman Burton, and Polk's long-time editor Thomas "SrslySirius" Keeling as co-investors in the card room.
If you are familiar with TX, specifically Houston who “successfully” rolled out this membership model 10+ years ago. The first and biggest card club in town (Texas Social iirc) got jammed up in a similar way, report earnings that seemed way too large, investigation “proved” that the earnings were indeed inflated and likely used illegally gained funds. This finished that room, in my opinion as someone who had been there it was just them being impatient and greedy and wanting to funnel the money too fast. Whether it was actually “proved” never mattered in that case, but the lawyers got them shut down, and the second gen of card clubs only opened because the owners didnt get jail or have to pay players back etc.
Just thinking out loud but wouldn't a lot of these large transactions be for high stakes/stream games?
Wouldn't people just wire the money to the Lodge and then out again when its over.
Not too many people will travel interstates with 6 or 7 figures especially with the horror stories of cash being confiscated for no reason.
Just thinking out loud but wouldn't a lot of these large transactions be for high stakes/stream games?
Wouldn't people just wire the money to the Lodge and then out again when its over.
Not too many people will travel interstates with 6 or 7 figures especially with the horror stories of cash being confiscated for no reason.
Search warrant says the money was in cash:
Investigators noted that, during the first two months of 2025, approximately $1.35 million was deposited from The Lodge through the Loomis cash vault, located inside the club, into a bank account held by Tempus Holdings, Inc., a business associated with The Lodge Card Club.
Pokernews has a YT video up discussing their article from this morning. They talk about an online post from Joe Vongkaysone, who had his poker room "Watauga Social Lounge Poker Club" in Texas raided in 2022 a very similar way and he outlines what exactly happened throughout the process.
Starts at 19:27:
Fair point, I had forgotten that bank accounts were frozen. I was not aware that they were told they could not re-open until the investigation concluded, where did you see that?
Polk post for one
If you are familiar with TX, specifically Houston who “successfully” rolled out this membership model 10+ years ago. The first and biggest card club in town (Texas Social iirc) got jammed up in a similar way, report earnings that seemed way too large, investigation “proved” that the earnings were indeed inflated and likely used illegally gained funds. This finished that room,
Iirc this biz model started in Austin not Houston. I believe it was TCH but
But if I am wrong will be corrected here.
Here is a thread from 4 years ago where discussions of the legal risks involved with buying The Lodge.
Just thinking out loud but wouldn't a lot of these large transactions be for high stakes/stream games?
Wouldn't people just wire the money to the Lodge and then out again when its over.
Not too many people will travel interstates with 6 or 7 figures especially with the horror stories of cash being confiscated for no reason.
I sssume Lodge can will do a wire. But honestly, esp with documentation like winning ticket rcpt cash seizure risks are over estimated. Yes it improperly occurs by not routinely. Still sucks if you but in such a cases will be plenty of documentation.
They don't check at the door. Nothing prevents someone from just going in and walking around. The guard at the front will ask for ID if someone looks young. I'm not sure if this meets definition of private club or not.
TCH down the road has a pool table, chess boards, a restaurant and a bar inside. I've never seen them check for membership for people to use any of those things.
Would seem to seriously weaken the private place exception claim.
Iirc this biz model started in Austin not Houston. I believe it was TCH but
But if I am wrong will be corrected here.
Ok correct, TCH Austin was first in 2014 (I was in and out of TX during that time but heard very little about tch until they came to Houston) but Post Oak is the club I was talking about opened in 2016-2017 and were raided and shut down. Oddly enough the the people that started the separate clubs were buddies initially….
Iirc this biz model started in Austin not Houston. I believe it was TCH but
But if I am wrong will be corrected here.
yes, the first one was TCH in south Austin where Bullets Card Club is now
Pokernews has a YT video up discussing their article from this morning. They talk about an online post from Joe Vongkaysone, who had his poker room "Watauga Social Lounge Poker Club" in Texas raided in 2022 a very similar way and he outlines what exactly happened throughout the process.Starts at 19:27:
I worked with Joe when he ran Austin Social Lounge (after 52 social and then Poker House Austin mucked things up)
Dude doesn't have a frigging clue what he's doing. We were giving away high hand payouts, and he was paying people IN CASH rather than in chips. You pay people in chips cause it keeps games running longer, chips are more likely to find their way onto the table. Likewise, it results in more tips for your staff, instead of handing someone a hundred dollar bill which finds it way into their pocket.
Then he got the bright ***** idea to run tournaments the weekend of the grand opening of the new 46-table TCH Social Austin location. TCH had a 30K, 50K and I think a 300K tournament going on their opening week. There was ZERO chance we could compete with it.
He tells me that Monday "I'm thinking of running a tournament this weekend" and I explain it's an extremely bad idea to do so, we'll get absolutely killed with TCH having their grand opening that is the current hype.
I'm actually at TCH on Wednesday night, their grand opening, playing the 30K GTD. It's 10:30pm and he texts me and tells me to look at Poker Atlas, there's a tournament he wants me to start promoting for Friday.
So I look and he's put a 5K GTD tournament on Friday (which gives me roughly 1 day to promote it, since it's already almost Thursday) AND he set the starting time to 5pm............ON A FRIDAY!
Tournaments in the market always start around 7pm because people are still leaving work and stuck in rush hour traffic at 5pm, or getting food, etc.
But I had reached the point where I was done arguing with this idiot, so Thursday morning I hop on my computer to start creating promo flyers and I double check Poker Atlas, it still says 5pm start time.
I create the flyers, I put the information out on socials, and immediately he's blowing up my phone telling me I screwed up and to look at Atlas again.
Well, while I was in the process of getting this all out there, he went and changed the start time from 5pm to 9pm. Fortunately I had a screenshot of Atlas showing a 5pm Start time, which I sent to him.
His response? "Oh, that was just a test" Uh, no, Poker Atlas is LIVE to our customers, that's NOT a ***** test! Not to mention, it wasn't just up there a few minutes, it was there at 10:30pm Wednesday night and then in the morning on Thursday when I went to work on it.
So then I had to go and redo all the flyers and social posts, meanwhile many customers had already seen a 5pm start time, which caused confusion. And 9pm is bad too, people don't want to be playing until 5am!
Oh but we're not done, not even close! He then decided to add a Saturday and Sunday 5K GTD tournament as well, I knew we were going to take a bath on these (we did, 3K overlay Friday, 2K overlay Saturday and 1K overlay Sunday). Each day he'd materially change the tournament structure in an attempt to whittle away at the overlay.
, he
And when it came time to pay the winners of the tournament, he didn't hand out slips that they brought to the cage. The friday night flight was a 10-way chop for $500 each with a 3K overlay on it. He made everyone wait while he and two staff went to the cage.
Then they come back and hand everyone a rack of ***** chips with 300 in red and 200 in green. Well, everyone lined right back up at the cage and promptly turned those chips in for their payouts.
Cliffs: Joe V is an absolute moron and I wouldn't trust him with mowing my lawn.
Ok correct, TCH Austin was first in 2014 (I was in and out of TX during that time but heard very little about tch until they came to Houston) but Post Oak is the club I was talking about opened in 2016-2017 and were raided and shut down. Oddly enough the the people that started the separate clubs were buddies initially….
The Post Oak case was quite different. For one thing it was all local LE. No state and no Feds. Second,only my opinion, but it was a setup. Houston knew the case would be tossed and thought the could use it as a back door precedent for legality.
