There are two clubs in Houston worth playing at: TCH Houston and Champions. Most of the other clubs have gone to pot rake they call a "promo drop" so they can take way more without people noticing. JokerStars seemed to have the worst reputation with allegations of cheating, but they have Topless Tuesdays with paid strippers so maybe TBC would want to stop in.
Like in Dallas and Austin, TCH Houston has become the gold standard for the city in how a Texas poker room should be run. TBC could pay the $13/hr time from his same account in Dallas if he built up any balance using promos. Indeed, during the month of August, TCH Houston is offering the promo $200 buys you $250 added to your account balance.
The poker culture in Houston is a bit different than Dallas. The standard and really only stake of NLHE is $1-$3 (which is played with one hand of PLO per orbit and double board PLO bomb pot every 30 minutes). And instead of starting a list for a bigger game when players want to play bigger, they just all start going crazier on their tiny 1-3, opening to $20 and getting 6 callers, 3betting often, etc, and if you don't go along with the action, you are shunned. This is perfect for TBC who doesn't care about the social pressure at all and only ever likes playing the smallest stakes anyway.
So TCH is the best room for our hero when he realizes Houston is where he belongs? Well not so fast. The nearby Champions Club is the other room in Houston with a different and interesting business model.
Champions is less of a poker club and more of a hotel resort located next to Chinatown. From the outside it looks a bit like a prison complete with a security checkpoint to get in the door, but on the inside, it is a cozy restaurant/bar/lounge area a short walk down from your hotel room and 20 poker tables just in case.
There is a promo in this room that is truly unbelievable value for TBC. The timerake is only $12/hr and in August they are discounting that to 10. The action may be a bit less than at TCH but still very good. They do allow an incorrect button straddle, but TBC could literally live out of this place. No Ubers, next to no rent. The promo: If you get 4 hours in a day, your room is discounted. If you get 8, your room is free.
So what's the catch? The game always breaks before you can get the hours? Not if they can help it. In the morning to get the game going, they run a promo for 3 hours where the house gives away around $60/hr to usually a single table. The house does everything in their power to keep the games going. If they can start a second game, the floor will sit down to play in it to prevent it from breaking and recombining. There is no table breaking culture. In fact, dealers are encouraged to keep the action going to prevent the game going down. The house even makes quiet deals with regs to give up their seat to a new player so everyone can help maintain the games.
The real catch would probably be that if TBC went hard for the value of this promo, they would simply end it. But maybe he'd get a good month out of them, and Houston rent elsewhere is cheap. When I stayed at Champions to play the private $10-$25 game that goes weekly there, the manager made it clear he valued my business and went out of his way to comp a future room for me. I think TBC would enjoy the small safe classy room atmosphere where he is known by name and his business is sought after.
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i swear i will update the blog before too long and talk about my trip to dallas with Ray and now that we have left Dallas and are in Austin, for a week, possibly heading to san antonio or Houston. at least i finally won a little bit in my first 24 hours here. but less than Ray did
i actually think Bill Potts did a great job with the guest blog post, u should encourage him in the comments. that being said, there are far better rooms in Houston than Champions, such as 101 Katy.
