Poker Rooms under attack in Texas (1 Viewer)

No offense @softchewy but a seat charge is not a rake. Rake is based on the amount in the pot. If you are at the table for two hours and never win a hand, or even play one, you have not paid any rake. Under the same scenario you will still pay your seat/time charge.

I've heard the suggestion that Winstar and Choctaw are partially behind the efforts to stop rooms in the Dallas area, but don't know that i agree.

No offense taken, but the fact still remains that a seat charge (hourly or otherwise) at a poker table is a rake.
A rake can be pot percentage (pot rake), but that is not the only type of rake.
"you will still pay your seat/time charge." <- this is a rake
 
No offense taken, but the fact still remains that a seat charge (hourly or otherwise) at a poker table is a rake.
A rake can be pot percentage (pot rake), but that is not the only type of rake.
"you will still pay your seat/time charge." <- this is a rake
Nope.

Both a rake and a seat charge are ways of making the house money. But they are different ways of doing so. In your mind, they may be equivalent but (perhaps) not in the eyes of the law.
 
We may differ in how we define a rake, but my accepted definition is a rake is a charge to play at a poker game
both pot rake and seat charge are forms of a rake.
... timed seat charge is a form of rake
Registration fee at a tourney is a form of a rake
If the button always pays a set amount instead of a the house taking a pot percentage, that is still a rake..
again, different ways to get that cash for playing poker at an establishment/home, but it is a rake.
You would have to be pointing to a specific law and referencing that to say "in this document, a rake refers to..."
Then you can say a rake is this or that with respect to that law and rulings...
doesn't change what a rake is in general at casinos, cardrooms or home games - pay to play
 
We may differ in how we define a rake, but my accepted definition is a rake is a charge to play at a poker game
both pot rake and seat charge are forms of a rake.
... timed seat charge is a form of rake
Registration fee at a tourney is a form of a rake
If the button always pays a set amount instead of a the house taking a pot percentage, that is still a rake..
again, different ways to get that cash for playing poker at an establishment/home, but it is a rake.
You would have to be pointing to a specific law and referencing that to say "in this document, a rake refers to..."
Then you can say a rake is this or that with respect to that law and rulings...
doesn't change what a rake is in general at casinos, cardrooms or home games - pay to play
Go back to the $5 to get in, two drinks per hour minimum at $5 per drink whether you drink them or not. Poker’s free.
 
If you google “rake in poker” all of the definitions involve money taken from each pot. So it is a specific way for the house to make money. Clearly there are others.

We are clearly arguing definitions and semantics. Unimportant to most poker players but potentially critical from a legal standpoint. The feeling in Texas at these cardrooms has been that raking each pot is not legal but that seat charges may be legal. Until the local DA disagrees. Or it’s settles in court.
 
Not all.. keep searching and you will find other broader definitions.. maybe semantics as it were.
The definition I use... if you are charging me to play poker, you are charging me a rake

just did a quick search .. here is the broader definition
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rake_(poker)

others:
"In cash games the rake will be a predetermined fraction of the pot up to a certain maximum. In tournaments the rake can be seen as an entry fee; it is the amount after the plus. So for a tournament of $10 + $1, $1 is the rake that goes to the online poker room while $10 goes into the prize pool."

https://www.gambling.com/us/online-...e-explained-what-is-the-rake-in-poker-1859900

https://upswingpoker.com/rake-poker-strategy-adjustments/
 
Hmmm.. i always thought women were the rake?

You know what cheers me up when I'm feelin' shitty? Rolled up aces over kings. Check raising stupid tourists and taking huge pots off 'em. Stacks and towers of checks I can't even see over. Playin' all night, high-limit Hold' Em at the Taj. Where the sand turns to gold.
 
I’ve played at post oak. Wild action. A bunch of rich folks looking to get their gamble itched.

Not surprised they’re hit but there are two dozen smaller ones out there floating around. Will be interesting to see what happens next.

Was my experience too. Love the 6x UTG opens being a regular move. Took me a whole to realize how loose it played.
 
I was playing at a private social club in Houston last night and what I heard from a couple folks, that I would consider to be more well informed than most, was:

The clubs were tangential to (same persons involved) a money laundering investigation that had been ongoing for about 2 years. The same people that I talked to did not express surprise that those arrested were implicated in money laundering (as they were widely considered to be involved in much other crooked shit.)

I also heard that another club (The Mint) in the Houston area was raided, but have heard no other verification of that.

The Harris County DA was the face mostly being seen on and quoted in the media, the HPD was the muscle on the raids, but the, authority was from a three-letter agency out of Washington, DC with local offices everywhere.

No other rooms, that I know of, were directly affected and the cards were in the air as usual at the unaffected clubs.

I heard something similar. And yes there were feds.
 
I figured that'd be misconstrued but hell it's such a funny interaction I had to do it :whistle: :whistling:

Worm:
I guess the sayings' true. In the poker game of life, women are the rake man. They are the f***in' rake.

Mike McDermott:
What the f*** are you talkin' about. What saying?

Worm:
I-I don't know. There ought to be one though...
 
..The feeling in Texas at these cardrooms has been that raking each pot is not legal but that seat charges may be legal. Until the local DA disagrees...

That is certainly the feeling of the cardroom owners, but ultimately I think the law will come down on the other side. That's why more and more DAs are disagreeing.

The other area where the cardrooms are getting it wrong is in the area of memberships. A "one day membership" option sounds less like a private club and more like a public venue with a cover charge.
 
Both a rake and a seat charge are ways of making the house money. But they are different ways of doing so. In your mind, they may be equivalent but (perhaps) not in the eyes of the law.

It's been a while since I read the actual text of the law, but I don't recall it saying anything about "rake". It prohibits making money from running a poker game regardless of how the money is made.
 

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