Texas has been a hotbed for poker for many years, and after all, the world’s most popular form of poker is called Texas Hold’em. The game is said to have originated in the town of Robstown, Texas, in the early 1900’s, and eventually spread throughout the state (1). Although this story doesn’t really have much historical documentation to back it up, what is widely acknowledged is that Hold’em was first widely played by Texas road grinders in the early ’60s and perhaps late ’50s.

It wasn’t until the game was brought to Las Vegas in 1967 that the game become known as Texas Hold’em, as prior to that it was just called Hold’em. Although played primarily in Texas, it had also spread to surrounding states.

The stories of the Texas road gamblers, such as Doyle Brunson, Amarillo Slim and Johnny Moss, are the stuff of legend as they traveled from town to town making their living playing poker. Many of the best poker players and the early winners of the WSOP were from Texas.

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• Texas has been a hotbed for poker for many years, and after all, the world’s most popular form of poker is called Texas Hold’em. The game is said to have originated in the town of Robstown, Texas, in the early 1900’s, and eventually spread throughout the state (1).

There are also plenty of stories of these games being broken up by law enforcement. This would not be the case today under existing laws, at least not in the private games anyway, but in spite of Texas’ fame as the birthplace of one of poker’s great games and many of its famous players, it has always been a pretty conservative state as far as gambling goes.

Poker Laws in Texas Today

It is generally believed that all forms of gambling in Texas other than those specifically authorized, such as participating in the state lottery or betting at an approved racetrack, are contrary to state law.

Things aren’t always as clear as they may appear as far as the law is concerned though. It is certainly true that the Texas Penal Code makes gambling illegal in general. Betting for money on card games is specifically mentioned as constituting an offense (3). Anyone found guilty of gambling has committed a Class C misdemeanor, which incurs a fine of up to $500. There’s no possibility of jail time for individual bettors or players. For some of the more severe infractions related to running a gambling enterprise, there are higher fines and jail sentences prescribed.

The interesting thing is that it is a defense to a charge of gambling if the following conditions, listed in the Texas Penal Code, Title 10, Section 47.02(b), are satisfied:

“(b) It is a defense to prosecution under this section that:
(1) the actor engaged in gambling in a private place;
(2) no person received any economic benefit other than personal winnings; and
(3) except for the advantage of skill or luck, the risks of losing and the chances of winning were the same for all participants.”

We see that (1) permits betting that occurs in a private place, meaning that things like home poker games would be excluded from running afoul of this law.

To be exempt from this law, there is also the requirement listed in (2) above that no persons receive any economic benefit from the gambling other than their personal winnings. It could be argued that the intent of this is to allow people to gamble in a friendly way with their friends while still preventing persons under the jurisdiction of Texas law from benefiting by running a gambling business.

Finally, a game must give each participant the same chances of winning and losing apart from “the advantage of skill or luck” as explained in (3) above. This is likely an attempt to make cheating illegal even if the other two conditions for defending against a gambling charge are met.

Live Poker in Texas

There is only one venue offering indisputably legal live poker in Texas, and it also happens to be the state’s only casino. In spite of Indian tribes being pretty active in operating casinos in other states, they have met with more difficulty in Texas.

At one time there were three different Indian casinos operating in the state, but state authorities were successful in shutting two of them down, and only one remains today, the Kickapoo Lucky Eagle Casino and Hotel in Eagle Pass (2). Its poker room features $3/$6 limit and $1/$2 no limit Texas Hold’em every day with higher stakes spread on weekends and upon request. There are also low-buyin tournaments a few times a week.

Membership Poker Rooms

After examining the three stipulations laid out for gambling to not be illegal, a few Texas entrepreneurs had a clever idea. Beginning in 2015, they started to open up membership-based card rooms that they claim are in full compliance with the law.

These poker rooms don’t charge any rake. Instead, they charge daily, weekly, monthly or yearly membership fees from anyone who wants to play. This membership model serves a dual purpose. Because these businesses are not open to the public at large but rather restricted to members, management can claim that the gambling is taking place in private rather than public. Also, because the membership fees aren’t derived specifically from the money on the gaming tables, there’s an argument that these facilities aren’t deriving any economic benefit from gambling. (4)

Some of these poker rooms supplement their revenues by selling food, requiring players to pay a rental fee on their seats at the tables and through various other mechanisms. Many of them offer additional amenities, like lounges, televisions and pool tables, to support their argument that they are social clubs with gambling as just an additional attraction.

Of course, there are those who feel differently. They contend that gambling is the main appeal of these card rooms, and it is the reason why anyone pays for membership in the first place. Thus, the owners are clearly gaining an economic benefit from real money gaming.

Although the attorney general’s office has been asked to render an opinion on this matter, there has been no answer as yet. Confusing matters further are the questions of whether food and beverages can be sold, whether daily membership available to anyone who walks in the door really counts as “private” gambling, whether hourly seat rental charges are OK and other similar concerns. Each of these rooms generates its income in slightly different ways, so there are plenty of elements that can be attacked as being potentially illegal.

The ability of these card clubs to operate depends heavily on how local law enforcement feels about them because, even if it would be hard to achieve a conviction in court, raids and shutdowns by the police can really interfere with the continuing operations of a location. This has actually occurred in Dallas where local officials closed down two of these card clubs in 2017.

Today, Texan membership poker clubs dot the state in such cities as San Antonio and Austin. Houston has even begun licensing them at the municipal level, spurring the creation of such businesses as the Post Oak Poker Club and the Prime Social Poker Club within the city. We still await a final resolution as to the legal status of membership card rooms, but for now, live Texas poker appears to be booming.

Online Poker and The Law in Texas

As is often is the case, existing law does not really contemplate internet poker, and the thrust of the law here is directed generally at people profiting from running gambling operations in the state of Texas, which isn’t really the case with playing online.

The view though is that since people aren’t being prosecuted for playing online poker, online poker players in Texas aren’t worried about this at all, nor are offshore poker rooms that serve Americans, since none of them have a problem with allowing Texas residents to play on their site, unlike players in some states.

It’s extremely likely that people enjoying poker games played across the internet have an ipso facto defense from being subject to illegal gambling prosecution under Texas law unless they’re doing something really unusual. The three factors of taking place in private, not profiting other than as a player and not cheating appear to apply fully to online poker in Texas. The only conceivable ways that someone could get into trouble for internet poker in Texas would be if they’re playing in public, attempting to run their own poker site or cheating in some way.

In any event, the state of Texas has taken a hands-off approach here, and it is very likely that if this changes, it will require laws more specific to online poker for this to be prosecuted, which doesn’t look like it will happen any time soon. So online poker players in Texas can continue to be pretty comfortable here.

Recommended Online Poker Rooms For Texans

Ignition Poker: This is the newest and most popular player in the online poker industry. They have come in hot in 2016 after acquiring the Bovada Poker software and re-branding into both a poker site and an online casino. The site offers a 100% bonus up to $1,000 should you decide to play for real money.

This site has some of the best cash games in the world, huge MTT guarantees, great SnG selections and of course have amazing promotions to keep players interest piqued. Check out our review for Ignition and find out why it’s one of the fastest-rising rooms in the iGaming field today.

Americas Cardroom: This fairly popular poker room has a Texas connection of sorts. When Doyle Brunson’s online poker room closed down due to pressure from the authorities, their players were all moved to Americas Cardroom.

They continue to welcome Texans and all Americans with open arms, and have up to $1000 in bonus money sitting there for you to welcome you as well. So if you haven’t experienced this poker room before, just click here and you will be on your way to doing just that. Visit our ACR Review today for more info.

References:

(1) Texas Hold’em

(2) Lucky Eagle Casino

(3) Texas Penal Code Section 10, Chapter 47, Gambling

(4) Texas Online Gambling Laws

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I was invited to be a guest on a recent episode of the Top Pair podcast, which focuses primarily on home poker games. The experience got me thinking about the ways in which home games are different from casino games, and, in particular, what you have to do differently to succeed in home games.

It is a truth about poker — so much so that it’s nearly a cliché — that it’s all just one long game. But where the rubber meets the road, that is more true for home games than for casino poker. In casinos, though there will be some regulars that you see many times, most of your opponents will be strangers with whom you play only once. But in home games, you can expect the lineup to stay constant for months or even years. That fact makes an enormous difference.

When you’re playing in a casino, you don’t have to worry about being able to come back. Of course you can come back, anytime you want, provided that your conduct has not been so egregiously bad that you get 86’ed. But at a home game, you have to be invited to return.

One goal, then — a primary one, in fact — when attending a home game is to get invited back to play again. The game cannot be a long-term source of profit for you if you’re not invited back.

The first time I attended a home poker game, I completely failed at this task. I made some decent money, but it was one-and-done. When I got a group email announcing the next game and answered it expressing my interest, the host quickly replied, telling me that I had been included in the email list by mistake, and asking me not to show up. I never learned who I had offended, or how, but clearly I had screwed up, and turned a potential ongoing revenue stream into a one-time memory.

Some time after that — after moving to a new city — I blew it again. I was having breakfast by myself at a restaurant, when a man at the next table noticed my PokerStars sweatshirt and started chatting with me on his way to the exit. I learned that he was a long-time participant in a local game played at a country club. My impression was that the stakes, game selection, and competition would likely hit my sweet spot of advantage. I turned from being annoyed at his intrusion into my quiet meal to hoping he’d invite me to play.

It was not to be. This time, though, I know exactly how I messed up. He asked me whether I played tight or loose. I didn’t think about the consequences of answering truthfully, and told him that I usually have a classic tight-aggressive style. He responded by launching into a lecture about how tight players ruin the game. They’re there to have fun, he explained, and it’s no fun to have somebody who folds, folds, folds, and puts money in only when they have a lock on the hand. Pretty quickly, he drew the conversation to a conclusion — without inviting me to join in.

Which leads to the first point about how to get invited to a game — or invited back after your first time: give action. Nits are no fun. If you’re no fun, you’re less likely to be given the nod to play again.

This doesn’t mean that you need to go to the other extreme and become the table maniac. But you should strive to be at least averagely active — especially your first time or two at a particular game. It certainly wouldn’t hurt to be caught bluffing once in a while. Rebuy conspicuously, and frequently if needed. Don’t hit and run if you make an early profit, but help keep the game going as long as other people — and the host — want it to.

The other key to being invited back is to be sociable. Again, these people come together to play because it’s fun. If you’re not enjoyable to spend time with, why would they choose to have you around?

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To that end:

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• Learn people’s names — and call them by name so that they know you remember them.
• Bring food or drinks.
• Take an interest in the people sitting around the table. With any luck, they will become your friends.
• Never criticize how somebody else plays, or advise them on how to play better. They didn’t invite you there to give lessons.
• If you win a big pot, don’t boast about how well you played it. Instead, be humble and emphasize how lucky you got.
• If you lose a big pot, be a good sport about it.
• Laugh at people’s jokes, and make a few of your own.
• Don’t critique how the game is run, or suggest improvements or modifications, at least until you’ve been going long enough that you’re an established regular.
• Look for small ways to make the game go more smoothly, such as being quick and eager to make change, taking extra turns shuffling, etc.
• If a dispute arises, be your most diplomatic self. Let the host and regulars settle the matter however they’re accustomed to handling such things, even if it isn’t “by the book” or the way a casino would resolve it.
• Don’t flaunt your knowledge of rules, strategy, history, or current events related to poker. Such displays do not impress, but intimidate others who are not as deeply steeped in the game, and being intimidated is incompatible with having fun.
• If you’re allowed to bring guests, make sure they are people who will similarly add to the conviviality of the game, not be wet blankets or boors.
• Be profuse in your appreciation to the host(s) for opening their home to you.

If you do these things, you will likely be a welcome participant over the long run, even if you simultaneously achieve your other goal of taking more money out of the game than you put in. Recreational players like to win, of course, but don’t much mind losing to somebody who makes the game a pleasure to be a part of. Being that person is your primary task as a home game player.

(By the way, if you’re curious to hear me on Top Pair, I’m on the April 4, 2015 episode.)

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^{Photo: Shad Bolling. Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic.}

Robert Woolley lives in Asheville, NC. He spent several years in Las Vegas and chronicled his life in poker on the “Poker Grump” blog.

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