Poker rooms in Texas are becoming more popular, despite legal challenges

Texas lawmakers may not appreciate poker rooms, but state residents do

On Monday, The Lodge Card Club in Texas recently wrapped up its Mega Monster tournament that smashed the $1 million guaranteed prize pool after 5,750 players paid the $400 buy-in. Those kinds of numbers aren’t usually seen anywhere except at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) and show that poker rooms are still an important part of the Texas landscape.

Texas tournament poker is also breaking records in other places. Another popular poker room, Texas Card House, hosts an upcoming series with $3 million in guarantees. Beginning on August 15, it features a handful of seven-figure guaranteed events, including the $1,000 buy-in Title Event starting on August 30, featuring at least $1.5 million in prize money. The Dallas card room event will also feature final table live streams on YouTube.

The recent Mega Monster tournament at The Lodge began on August 3 with 24 starting flights. Day 2 was held on Sunday in Round Rock, Texas, with the final table on Monday. Three players at the final table took home six-figure paydays as Mauro Avila of Mexico took the title and a $286,578 payday. The tournament had no limit on the number of starting flights players could register for, with one player buying 29 bullets.

This probably didn’t make Norman Chad happy, as he’s maybe the biggest opponent of tournament poker rebuys and couldn’t resist making a sarcastic comment on his social media. Chad has continually appealed to tournament organizers to get rid of unlimited rebuys, with no success. However, no matter how you feel about the subject, you have to admire his resolve.

The Lodge took in over $350,000 (after overhead) in the Mega Monster from the $1,943,500 generated in the prize pool from the low buy-in tournament.