- The Post Oak Hotel at Uptown Houston is the city’s only AAA Five-Diamond destination boasting elegant accommodations masterfully blended with extensive conference space, prominent office space, designer fashion, signature dining and sophisticated amenities all in one tower.
- HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) - Houston police and investigators with the Harris County District Attorney's Office busted two upscale poker rooms Wednesday just minutes before one was to kickoff a big 5.
Post Oak Poker Club is located in Houston, Texas offering a variety of live action cash games and tournaments daily. Its tables spread a mix of No Limit Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha games offering rake free cash games with buy-in limits ranging from $100 up to $1,000.
Poker rooms operating in Texas have no plans to shut down. They believe in their right to operate enough to take it to the courts if they must.
The loopholes in the law, in addition to the antiquated laws surrounding poker in Texas, may be challenged in just that way, as club owners have strong legal counsel in their corners. But that isn’t the only reason the poker rooms continue to exist. Another is that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton decided last week not to issue an opinion on the topic.
By Paxton leaving it to the courts, he is allowing the ultimate court decision to set the precedent since lawmakers have chosen not to close the loopholes or pass laws that would clarify current wording.
AG Refuses to Play
The issue was put to Paxton by Texas State Representative Geanie Morrison, who sent a request to the Attorney General’s office. “Are poker gambling enterprises that charge membership or other fees or receive other compensation from gamblers playing poker – but do not receive a ‘rake’ – permitted under Texas law?” she wrote, according to KHOU.
The chairperson of Paxton’s opinion committee, Virginia Hoelscher, responded, “When a legal matter is being litigated, the courts are generally the appropriate forum for resolving the issue.”
She added, “It is the policy of this office to refrain from issuing an attorney general opinion on a question that we know to be the subject of pending litigation. This policy, which has been in effect for more than sixty years, is based upon the fact that attorney general opinions, unlike those issued by courts of law, are advisory in nature.”
Houston City Councilman Greg Travis was upset by the AG’s refusal to rule. He has been a vocal critic of the poker rooms, one of which (Post Oak Poker Club) is in his district, and believes the clubs are illegal. He hoped that Paxton would rule on the issue. “It’s either legal or it’s illegal, regardless of what lawsuits there are,” he told KHOU. He noted that Paxton’s statement was “very strange,” adding, “There must be more to the story, and I’m going to find out.”
The Post Oak Poker Club in Houston, the first licensed poker club in the state, is excited to announce the first major poker tournament tour stop ever in Texas.
STORY & SCHEDULE: https://t.co/ibe06uhekSpic.twitter.com/kc8mys9ZCH
— Card Player (@CardPlayerMedia) May 16, 2018
An Unusual Lawsuit
The litigation cited is a lawsuit involving poker rooms in the cities of Austin and San Antonio. Texas Card House owner Austin Card Room filed the suit in late June against SA Card House owner FSS Venture alleging unfair competition. Texas Card House has reportedly lost membership due to the SA Card House offering cheaper rates.
Why would one poker room sue another in an already-murky legal environment? Austin Card Room wants the court to clarify that law, the one under which both card rooms currently operate.
It may seem that the court battle could result in both poker rooms being shut down, depending upon the judge’s ruling and any subsequent actions. The call to request a ruling from Attorney General Paxton could have been that result, but Paxton declined to get involved.
In fact, the lawsuit could have a negative impact on the 30+ poker rooms in the state. KHOU estimated there are at least 19 poker rooms in Houston alone. All of them operate under the interpretation of the law that they are hosting private games and no rake is collected. Instead, the room operators profit by charging membership fees and benefiting from the sale of food and drinks. However, law enforcement officials can have varying interpretations of the law and shut down the clubs for operating illegally, which has happened in some cases.
Ultimately, lawmakers could take the matter into their own hands and pass a new law regarding poker. However, the plethora of clubs in the state and the masses of Texas residents who travel to neighboring states to play poker clearly indicate that there is a desire for some type of legal gambling in Texas, poker rooms at the very least.
Existing rooms take legal risks, and the poker players who frequent them take safety risks, as law enforcement isn’t always on their side or available to protect the clubs from robberies and other crimes.
All would benefit from some clarity of the current laws, but the desire for that clarification could result in the shuttering of all Texas poker establishments. It remains to be seen.
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On Wednesday, the law came down hard on a pair of Texas poker rooms.
Around 11 a.m., Houston's Post Oak Poker Club and Prime Social Poker Club were raided by authorities and nine people arrested. Prime Social owner Dean Maddox and General Manager Brent Pollack were both led out in handcuffs just before a five-day, $150K GTD tournament was about to take place at their establishment. Also arrested were assistant GM Steven Farshid and comptroller Mary Switzer.
Over at the Post Oak Poker club, co-owners Daniel Kebort, Alan Chodrow, Kevin Chodrow, Sergio Cabrera, and William Heuer were all arrested.
Charges levied against them include money laundering, gambling promotion, and engaging in organized criminal activity.
'We got two of the bigger ones today and this is just the beginning. We need to shut them down.'
'Poker rooms are illegal in Texas,' District Attorney Kim Oggsaid in a written statement. 'We are changing the paradigm regarding illegal gambling by moving up the criminal chain and pursuing felony money laundering and engaging in organized crime charges against owners and operators.'
According to reports, the raids were the results of a two-year investigation that included undercover police officers posing as players. The Houston Chronicle reports that documents state undercover officers 'were asked to pay a membership fee, a door fee and a fee to play at a poker table.'
Texas poker rooms have operated in a gray area where they function in a similar fashion to a country club on a membership model. Players simply play a fee and play. The club doesn't take a rake, instead driving revenue throughout memberships and hourly fees.
According to Texas law, poker is only allowed if it meets the following requirements:
- No person received economic benefits other than personal winnings.
- Gambling must be in a private place.
- Except for the advantage of skill or luck, the risks of losing and the chances of winning were the same for all participants.
That said, the rapid rise of the rooms, and the problems that came along with it including a lawsuit between Austin and San Antonio clubs, as well as a high-profile shooting, were sure to catch the attention of authorities.
'We cannot allow illegal gambling to go on,' Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said in a written statement. 'It drives organized crime and fuels other criminal activity.'
He continued: 'We're not going to tolerate it. We got two of the bigger ones today and this is just the beginning. We need to shut them down. If you want to have these kind of establishments, the legislature needs to authorize it, otherwise we're going to do our job and shut them down.'
Since 2017, authorities claim $10 million in bank deposits have been made by the clubs. Those funds are now frozen and face seizure.
Poker Players Left Hanging
The raids came at an inopportune time for Prime Social players, many of whom had registered for that day's tournament. Their buy-ins, as well as all chips in play, became worthless when authorities entered and froze all assets.
'Nobody seems to know anything right now, so that's kind of why I came over here to try to find out,' said poker player Sean Maggio. 'I feel shocked like they took something away from me.'
One thing authorities did make clear was that players were not being targeted, rather they were after the owner and operators.
The Post Oak Houston
Wayne Dolcefino, a consultant for Prime Social, believes the raid was unnecessary given the club operates above the board and has done charity work for the community.
'They don't take a penny out of that money,' he said according to Click2Houston. 'I just don't believe the guys that I know have done anything wrong. And I believe they've been very, very meticulous about the way they keep records.'
Several other clubs operate around the state, and while it's business as usual for them as of now, the recent crackdown at Post Oak and Prime Social are sure to have consequences for the entire Texas poker-playing community.
Lead image: Post Oak Poker Club Facebook.
Poker Rooms In Houston Area
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