Texas Card House Opens First Legal Poker Room in Austin

Texas Card House on Manchaca in South Austin (Credit Taylor Wier)

It almost sounds too good to be true. Legal gambling in Austin? Short of a four hour drive to Kickapoo Lucky Eagle Casino in Eagle Pass, it simply didn’t exist before now. Texas Card House has changed all that, offering the first legal poker room in Austin–and in the whole state of Texas outside reservations.

The trick is in the language. Texas Card House offers membership to a “card and social club” and provides a facility where members can gamble. There are no tips to the dealer and no rake (house share). Texas Holdem poker will be on the tables most nights, but other card games like Omaha Poker or Bridge/Gin/Hearts/Spades are available upon request.

How to Legalize Gambling in Texas

This gutsy move is the brainchild of Sam Von Kennel. Sam’s unique background gave him the perfect insight to set up the first legal poker room in the state of Texas. You see, Sam used to work for the Chairman of the Licensing and Administrative committee. “We got lobbied by all the major casinos including Harrah’s and MGM. They all wanted a piece of Texas,” Sam mentioned on the club’s grand opening night.

Four tables in the main room – Texas Holdem will be the primary game played (Credit Taylor Wier)

None of the casinos were successful in lobbying for legalized gambling in Texas, but Sam’s experience gave him the idea for exploiting the loophole in state law. As an avid poker player who runs regular house games, Von Kennel came up with the membership idea to give folks a setting where they can play poker in a fun, safe environment.

Country Club Setting

“The hardest part about setting up this business was finding a landlord that would be willing to rent to us once they found out what we were doing,” Sam said.

Once they found the right location in South Austin it was just a matter of sprucing up the place with a few HDTV’s, four pro-level poker tables and a lounge area where players can wait for the next game. Sam intends to have all the major sports packages for watching live sports, and eventually intends to buy major fighting events on the weekends. “This will be a social club as much as a poker room. I want people to enjoy hanging out here,” Sam told me.

Tournament chips at Texas Card House, Austin’s first legal poker room (Credit Taylor Wier)

Texas Card House doesn’t have an alcohol license yet, but they’ll be working on that in the coming months. As a workaround, certain membership levels will get you up to three drinks on the house. There were two polite servers running around getting drinks and water on opening night. And surprisingly, there was a ratio of about 65/35 guys to girls at the event.

How Texas Card House Works

The idea of legal gambling right here in the capital of Texas can be hard to grasp, so let me go over the rules again. Potential gamblers pay a daily or monthly membership for access to the card tables. Once there, they are provided with a dealer and table alongside up to 9 other players. There are currently $60 rebuy tournaments set up Wednesday-Sunday nights, as well as the option to walk into a cash game.

Check out their schedule to see the types of games being played and when they start. Membership levels are as follows:

Credit: Taylor Wier

Single Day Silver Membership

• $25
• Valid through the end of the night
• Allows access to Texas Card House’s rake, tip free card room and non-alcoholic beverage menu

Single Day Gold Membership

• $35
• Valid through the end of the night
• Allows access to Texas Card House’s rake, tip free card room and up to three alcoholic beverages
• Includes priority seating for gameplay and entrance into free roll promotional events of that day

Silver Level Membership

• $100/month
• Allows access to Texas Card House’s rake, tip free card room and non-alcoholic beverage menu

Gold Level Membership

• $150/month
• Allows access to Texas Card House’s rake, tip free card room and up to three alcoholic beverages a night
• Includes priority seating for gameplay and entrance into promotional free tool events

Founders Level Membership

• $100/month
• Minimum 6 month purchase required
• Allows access to Texas Card House’s rake, tip free card room and up to three alcoholic beverages a night
• Includes priority seating for gameplay and entrance into promotional free tool events

Credit: Taylor Wier

The first legal poker room in Texas has been open for only a few weeks now, but they’re already thinking about expanding. The current facility has a back room with the potential for up to 10 more tables. Given the club’s way south Austin location and immense popularity so far, I suspect a north Austin location is inevitable.

The concept works as its intended to, giving players a safe environment to legally gamble playing poker. You’re left with only one question after your first experience, how has nobody thought of this before?

Located at 11907 Manchaca Road

@Crafty_Ed wants to know:

Do you play regular house games? If so, would you consider Texas Card House as an alternative?