Quite honestly, I'm not terribly surprised this happened and am actually very surprised it took this long.
I'm taming my comments here as they would start to tiptoe into territory that's better served in the politics subforum, but I also don't discuss politics in general as nobody wins those arguments. I'll try to keep these thoughts as apolitical as I can, but unfortunately they might lean that way, and for that I apologize.
This is a case where the owners of the Lodge (and every other cardroom like these in Texas or elsewhere) knew they are walking on a legal tightrope, or better example a slackline, with respect to what they are allowed to legally do in their respective jurisdictions. One magistrate or constable who is willing to 'look the other way' for whatever reason are they only reason they were open at all. There are sufficient people in power who see gaming of any form as evil or bad for society and will do whatever they can to stop it.
The ownership at the Lodge chose to walk that slackline. They understood the technicalities of the rules of law in their particular location and made it work, and work well, for quite a while.
To make that location more attractive to their user-base, they offered additional benefits that others either did not or were unwilling to offer.
That drew additional attention to their operation, positive and negative.
In what appears to be a mis-step on their part, intentional or otherwise, they slipped on the slackline. Maybe not even a mis-step. Maybe it was a case where the 'wrong' person happened to be looking at that moment and that was all it took.
When one treads the fine-line of what is legal or acceptable in the location where they happen to be and a mis-step happens, you're going to fall off the line. What might be prefectly accptable in one place is completely out of line in another.
Is this unfortunate? Absolutely. Doug Polk and the ownership at the Lodge were providing something to a user-group (poker players) that the state and legislature are unwilling to allow (a means by which to play poker that's not a home-game).
Is there anything wrong with this (playing poker)? It will always depend on who you ask. For those of us here in this forum, I seriously doubt anyone here will say it's an issue or a problem, ethically or morally. The bigger issue is there are enough people outside this forum who do, and they are able put people in a position of power to enforce their sense of ethics and morality on others.
I'm disappointed that this is what has happened to the Lodge, but I'm also very surprised it took this long for the place to get shut down. I'm afraid it's not going to take too long until other locations either close voluntarily or get shut down for a 'violation' that has nothing to do with poker or card games, but are sufficient to force ownership to shut the doors.
Until there is a uniform and legal means for poker to be played in a public location without interference, this story will continue to be replayed. Someone in Texas tried the experiment of doing so on the thin line of "legality", and one little bump was enough to upset the whole train. Unfortunately, this won't help the cause of those of us who want to see regular and routine legal poker in this country. Those who don't want to see that happen want that more than those who do.
[As an aside, I feel like I've seen this story play out before. Well over a decade ago, maybe a decade and a half now, the only poker games that were allowed in the casinos in Arizona by the tribal gaming commissions(s) were limit games. I cut my teeth on 2/4 and 3/6 limit hold'em and the local tribal casinos and still enjoy those games and at that level. However, at the peak of the poker boom, everyone wanted to play no-limit like they saw on TV. There was a small group that opened a "club" style poker room only a couple blocks down the street from my office that had something like a $5/day membership fee and ran quite a few tables of different stakes no-limit games.
I don't know what it was but the place never felt terribly inviting to me. A rather bare room, overhead fluorescent lighting with a soda fountain in the corner and vending machine for 'perks'. Despite seeing less "go to the house" than at the tribals, I only played there once and briefly at that. It just didn't feel right.
They remaind open for a few months with a steady flow of traffic in the place, but one day I drove past and saw the lights were off and the place was empty. It turns out they had gotten a little too greedy and started pulling a per-hand rake on top of the 'mebership fee". The gaming commission had been sending folks in there routinely but also on the down-low to make sure things were still above board, but once the rake started being taken by the house, it was game over at that point.
That location now sells discount furniture aimed at students at the University a few miles down the road.]
[EDIT - Spelling and phrasing]
