Well I did it. New Panhandle Texas poker club opening in September (1 Viewer)

[JThomas7]

I read a lot, and post very little. I'm simply not that interesting lol. I've seen a few posts over the years where people have talked about opening a poker club in Texas but I've never seen the results of any of them.

I've bit the bullet and will open in September! A little about myself. I'm now 43 years old. I've worked off and on in Poker room management since the day I was old enough to walk into a room. I spent many years with a Casino Management corporation that specialized in implementing tables games in native casinos. I've done a little bit of everything from dealer training, working the floor, implementing vault procedures, and worked a summer as a floorman at the WSOP.

I've been the "private game" guy in my area for about the last 3 years. Our game runs once or twice a week. I've always had my eye on Texas since the boom started happening. In 2023 I purchased some contents from a room changing hands, I also purchased some tables from a police auction after a raid in Houston. About that same time legislation was introduced to close the "private" loophole that most clubs operate under. This made me pretty skittish and I all but forgot about the venture. Well the legislation failed...... Believe it or not what got me motivated again was AI. I was able to work through problems rather quickly, research populations, ordinances, etc. I kept coming back to Pampa Texas. Small 20,000 person town that's growing quickly, clean, and lots of FULL hotels currently for all of the energy related fields doing work in the area. There's no card house within 60 miles. There are 2 in Amarillo within 2 miles of each other. While I don't hope to pull Amarillo customers, if I can keep Pampa people here while drawing Borger, Dumas, & Canadian customers we hope to make a go of it. I have 6 tables but plan to open even smaller with 4. We may be able to bring out extras on tournament days if need be. I have many friends who work as Traveling dealers / floors on the WSOP / wpt circuits and some of them will be coming with me to help get the place open.

If the group seems interested I'll continue to post updates. Maybe give some pictures of our new location etc.

 

[Ben8257]

Congratulations, cool story and hope everything goes well! Can you say “rights to custom Paulsons!” Cha Ching!!!

 

[Isorg]

sounds amazing. i little jealous, me and a buddy were talking about this, but being in Houston there are at least 20 poker clubs here....

 

[Jp74]

Good luck with the the new venture!

 

[divinerites]

Good luck. And keep us posted with update, pictures, whatever !!

 

[augster123]

Good luck. Following for updates!

 

[Tonysquander]

Congratulations, cool story and hope everything goes well! Can you say “rights to custom Paulsons!” Cha Ching!!!

No casino licenses issued in Texas equals no Paulson purchases. Best of luck on the new room!

 

[LeLe]

Good luck and Congratulations on your new venture

 

[Chips523]

Sounds like you have done your research and know the job. I hope everything goes good.

 

[Highli99]

Good stuff! Best of luck in west Texas!

 

[allforcharity]

@Anthony Martino

 

[ekricket]

Good luck. Although as a native of Dalhart I can say that nothing good happens in the Texas panhandle.

 

[JThomas7]

Good luck. Although as a native of Dalhart I can say that nothing good happens in the Texas panhandle.

Obviously I've spent some time in West Texas lately before I made my decision and I've been pretty impressed with Pampa. My biggest concern was how Big Amarillo is in comparison with what seems like limited foot traffic in their card clubs. Then I visited Amarillo and decided I wouldn't want to be out and about in that town either. Pampa is clean, there wasn't homeless people on every corner, and the hotels are all packed with energy workers with nothing to do. Not only will I be (at least for now) the only game in town, I'm one of the only things to do at all in a very visible spot.

My first choice for locations were Frisco or Plano both of which made it very difficult. In short they asked for letters from the Attorney general stating our business model is legal. It's a farely clever strategy to keep us out as the Attorney general has made his official position to have no position. I also don't have the funding to compete with the TCH's and Lodges of the world. For the size I want to be I really think I picked the perfect spot.

 

[oneeyedjack]

This is so awesome. Love hearing about this and admire your courage.

 

[JThomas7]

This is so awesome. Love hearing about this and admire your courage.

I appreciate it. I'm built a little different I guess. For better or worse I'm not the type to just "talk about it". I've failed before and may fail again.

 

[Chips523]

I appreciate it. I'm built a little different I guess. For better or worse I'm not the type to just "talk about it". I've failed before and may fail again.

Great attitude. Please keep us updated.

 

[HughDrackman]

PCF meetup in the soft opening?

 

[upNdown]

I love the irony that you’re opening a poker room in Texas with tables you bought from the police which they confiscated because poker rooms aren’t legal in Texas,
Go get em!

 

[mdt11]

Congratulations and best of luck! Excited to follow along with this.

 

[allforcharity]

Best of luck in your new endeavor!

 

[JThomas7]

I love the irony that you’re opening a poker room in Texas with tables you bought from the police which they confiscated because poker rooms aren’t legal in Texas,
Go get em!

Strangely enough they came from the raid of prime social. I'm not even sure they were shut down for over 2 weeks total, no chargers were ever filed that I can find. They re-opened shortly after in the same location and have been open ever since.

 

[JThomas7]

PCF meetup in the soft opening?

THAT would be really cool.

 

[Jers28]

Good luck! Sounds like a solid plan to me!

 

[doublebooyah85]

How has no one asked about the chips lol

Congrats!!!

 

[Anthony Martino]

Strangely enough they came from the raid of prime social. I'm not even sure they were shut down for over 2 weeks total, no chargers were ever filed that I can find. They re-opened shortly after in the same location and have been open ever since.

Prime down in the Houston area? Last I heard they closed down, they used to do pretty good business and then just died off and never recovered. Don't really know the full story on it, but pics I had seen showed the room to be pretty nice looking and their location was near a busy intersection with a traffic light and good visibility.

Lots of rooms in Houston switched over to raking illegally from what I've heard, eventually it'll bite em in the butt, but they're getting away with it for now.

I'm still working my way through it, but Mason Malmuth from 2+2 wrote a book on cardrooms, how to structure games, run promos, etc. He offers it free to those who run poker rooms. I'd be happy to email you the PDF if you want, just DM me an email address.

 

[Budha]

Obviously I've spent some time in West Texas lately before I made my decision and I've been pretty impressed with Pampa. My biggest concern was how Big Amarillo is in comparison with what seems like limited foot traffic in their card clubs. Then I visited Amarillo and decided I wouldn't want to be out and about in that town either. Pampa is clean, there wasn't homeless people on every corner, and the hotels are all packed with energy workers with nothing to do. Not only will I be (at least for now) the only game in town, I'm one of the only things to do at all in a very visible spot.

My first choice for locations were Frisco or Plano both of which made it very difficult. In short they asked for letters from the Attorney general stating our business model is legal. It's a farely clever strategy to keep us out as the Attorney general has made his official position to have no position. I also don't have the funding to compete with the TCH's and Lodges of the world. For the size I want to be I really think I picked the perfect spot.

Congrats on the poker room! That’s awesome.

My only suggestion is to make sure you stay on the right side of the local TX Big Fish, Small Pond politics - lol.

The legislation/rules seems to be crafted in such a way as to be at the discretion of the local (fill in the blank position/person). They ALL know this too..

I live adjacent to Plano/Frisco and the small town woo woo with local ISD school
Boards is enough to make your head explode. Be thankful you weren’t able to locate here, you saved yourself a huge headache. People think the planned (or was planned) Junior theme park for kids 12 and under is going to bring organized crime to town - lol.

 

[JThomas7]

Congrats on the poker room! That’s awesome.

My only suggestion is to make sure you stay on the right side of the local TX Big Fish, Small Pond politics - lol.

The legislation/rules seems to be crafted in such a way as to be at the discretion of the local (fill in the blank position/person). They ALL know this too..

I live adjacent to Plano/Frisco and the small town woo woo with local ISD school
Boards is enough to make your head explode. Be thankful you weren’t able to locate here, you saved yourself a huge headache. People think the planned (or was planned) Junior theme park for kids 12 and under is going to bring organized crime to town - lol.

Without saying too much I've had multiple conversations and sit downs with the right people. There's really only 1 official who said he wasn't crazy about the deal but wouldn't fight it. Getting the warm and fuzzies from the local people in charge was a big part of ending up here.

 

[JThomas7]

I had not heard about prime closing. I kind of backed off this dream of mine for a while once the legislation was introduced to close the "private place" loophole to a "private residence" Fortunately it failed.

Last night I pulled the tables we bought 2 years ago out of the barn to start redoing them. It's pretty slow and tedious. While the tables look "rough" they're sturdy and have good bones. I'll have these things nice in a few weeks. The only thing i'm not doing myself is the rails, I've got a boat upholstery lady I'm taking them to today.

 

[Anthony Martino]

I had not heard about prime closing.

It was pretty recent, looks like most of their socials were deleted as well except youtube and twitch

 

[JThomas7]

We're going to try and be a big deal in a small town instead of the small fish in a big pond. I forgot I knew a guy in town and looked him up. I said I'm opening a business where you live. His reply was "Is it the gambling deal". Word is spreading fast and the facebook ads are working so far.