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More Dallas Poker Scene Shakeout

Comments (30)
by , Jun 27, 2006 | 6:01 am

Yesterday might have seemed like Black Monday in the Dallas poker biz. But really, all it means is some equations have changed … (at a certain point in any tournament, good players and bad alike start dropping like flies) … More rooms have recently shut their doors:

Third Pair
Top Shelf
The Muirfield
The Room
The Lounge


  • david

    HOT OFF THE PRESS..

    Addison PD tried to raid the Platinum Room @ 6am toady and held few players as they where coming out and held them wanting to know what they where doing.. they tried to getting but had no warrant so they couldn’t get in…

  • Scott

    Is it just me or are the rooms being shut down, the same rooms that are posted on this website?

  • CHEDDAR

    F’n Addison PD!!!! Give me a break!!!! Good luck with that bluff LMAO.

  • Scott

    I was right. This website is leading to the shut downs.

    At least that is what this artcile says:

    Illegal High Stakes Poker Game Raided In Dallas

    J.D. Miles
    Reporting

    (CBS 11 News) DALLAS It’s being called the largest raid and seizure ever, on an illegal poker operation in Dallas.

    More than 80 people were arrested or cited after undercover officers infiltrated an illegal high stakes game of “Texas Hold ‘Em”, the most popular card game in the country.

    Playing the game is legal unless the dealer or house gets a share of the betting. That’s what police say was going on at the city’s largest underground poker game, that has for now folded.

    A website gives people a look inside a warehouse off Irving Boulevard, in an industrial section of west Dallas. A sign outside advertises gaming supplies, but police say the building was also the site of regular poker tournaments with directions and even photos of well known players promoting the games.

    “It is a little surprising that they would advertise this illegal activity on the internet. They had some signs posted, so evidently they must have thought that we were not going to be looking into their illegal activities,” said Lt. Christina Smith, Dallas Police Department.

    Despite security cameras and several doors to the inside, undercover vice officers infiltrated the game on Saturday. Nearly 35,000 dollars in cash was seized along with poker tables and chips.

    In all, 10 people were arrested and 72 people were cited for gambling.

    Police say the popularity of ‘Texas Hold ‘Em’ has led to the growth of underground games.

    The only person inside the warehouse on Monday told CBS 11 News the owner was in the process of obtaining an attorney, and to come back in a few days.

    Police say the games operated under the name ‘Aces’ and that winner was promised a chance to advance to the World Series of Poker.

  • http://cbs11tv.com/topstories/local_story_177232219.html jp

    Channel 11 News
    Illegal High Stakes Poker Game Raided In Dallas

    http://cbs11tv.com/topstories/local_story_177232219.html

  • http://www.truetexaspoker.com Karridy

    Wow… That sounds really desparate!

  • Tim B.

    no worries, new york city went though the same kind of thing and the scene is just fine…

    http://www.onlinepokercenter.com/articles/poker_life/underground_poker_clubs_new_celebrity_hotspots.php

  • http://pokerati.com DanM

    Scott, while I have long wondered why the cops didn’t just use Pokerati as a Google map, Pokerati had never been to Aces and never knew where they were … and thus we almost never talked about them.

    All we knew is that we didn’t like their tournament structure (1,500 starting chips?) nor the spammy nature of their solicitations.

  • Shawn

    The article is not referencing Pokerati.com. It’s speaking of the Aces website (tiltmonster? or something like that). They show the website on the news video. On that ‘blog’ website, they have pics from inside the facility. So, as Dan said above, there are a few local sites/forums that could basically be a map to the poker underground…however, neither this website or the others are being referred to in this story.

  • itsoverjonny

    The website referred to in the news story was the ACES web site, not Pokerati. The video clip clearly shows the Aces web site.

  • twh

    Re the Channel 11 story: Is 1-2 NL a “high stakes” game? Maybe they were referring to the $45 tournament.

  • TheActorTony

    So, is it just me, or does a $52,000 Bad Beat Jackpot at an underground-yet-its-posted-in-the-Yellow-Pages poker room scream “We have LOTS and LOTS of cold-hard cash in here. Please, PLEASE, come in and rob us”?? When you consider that people get beaten to near-death over a pair of NIKE’s… when someone wins this jackpot, how many SWAT guys are they gonna need to call in to get them from the double-door exit to their car? I mean it just takes a single text-message from someone in the room to someone outside the room saying something to the effect of “He has red hair, wearing a hawaiian shirt, drives a Ford Mustang, etc. etc.”.

  • Steve G.

    It’s “high-stakes” to the normal non-degenerate, TV-watching, person-on-the-street, non- gambler.

  • Aces

    Not that it matters, the t1500 in starting chips were in 20+5 and 35+5 widget tournaments and also included 75/150 and 150/300 along with additional rounds not found in some other rooms.

    Contrary to the reports of high stakes action, we catered players new to the game like cops.

  • Enrique

    I am the sacrificial lamb. Addison PD can’t hold me down. Cheddar is too small to chug beers or win coinflips. /end transmission

  • Woody

    Tony – The bad beat is not typically paid immediately to the person. The “winner” usually arranges a time and location to meet with management.

  • Lori

    David,

    You’re an idiot! Were you Plat this morning? I’m curious as to what constitutes a raid in your book. Here’s a thought……Hearsay doesn’t equal fact. Do some research before you go jumping in with out a life jacket!

    ~Lori

  • TheActorTony

    Lori, I don’t want incorrect info, so please fill us in on the facts. Were police officers at the location of the club this morning? If so, that may not constitute a raid, but certainly is a cause for some concern, unless the cops were there to buy-in… :-) By the way, sorry I couldn’t say my good-byes, but you were busy.

  • CHEDDAR

    Enrique, I have 7 bad beat stories from our coinflips alone. I will own you next time.. Nobody wanted to chug for money, and until then I will seem to be small and weak. Then I will wait until the time comes and laugh at you “big and strong” people when I slam you guys HAHAHAHAHA MUHAAAA!!!!! 50/50 coin flips and I lose 7 in a row…. How does that work??

    63 is the nutz i told ya!!!!

  • Steve G.

    Prediction:

    In a month, the only places open will be :

    1) The original Redmen
    2) The Legion
    3) Jackies- 50/50 chance

  • The Plague

    Well, I visited some rooms in the last few weeks, three weeks as of last Friday. I won’t say which ones other than to say it was a fun, short ride :) Back to the home game and the 45 min drive to Winstar and 1:15 to Choctaw from Frisco…..

    I got in at exactly the wrong point.

    I wonder how many people will be at Winstar this weekend? That place is going to be HAMMERED!

  • http://thisone Grandpaw gone wild

    Has no one ever got a speeding ticket. If everyone appears for the ticket and requests a trial by jury, it would clog up the courts system for 5 years, not withstanding of the fact that the arresting officer has to appear and identify the player. Probably get on the docket in 2 or 3 years.

  • Willie

    This so reminds me of the stock market crash after the tech bubble burst. I am in a job where a security clearance is a must and a gambling arrest/citation would be sayanora (spelt right?) to that. Everyone kept telling me not to worry about going to the rooms in Dallas, but I stood my ground because I thought it was getting too big for it’s own good. Sure enough, a few months later this happens.
    We’ll see if this motivates the ‘legalize poker’ masses or people just accept they can’t play in Dallas and move on. I’d like to see the former, but I have a feeling it’ll be the latter.
    I bet Winstar is all luby-duby right now, seeing as how they’ve been dead all summer.

  • Dallas Attorney

    Attention Players Who Received Tickets at Aces:

    FIGHT YOUR TICKET!! The worst thing that can happen even if you loose is that you pay the same fine you would have paid had you not fought the ticket. You don’t need to pay for an attorney, (although it could certainly help), fight it yourself. Ask for a jury trial, let’s see how many juries actually vote for conviction. If the city has to deal with 50-60 jury trials as a result of the raid, believe me, DPD management will get an earful and will think twice before doing it again. This is especially true of they start loosing the trials.

    A few years ago when Dallas vice went after strippers unfortunately only a few fought their tickets. But out of those who did, only ONE was convicted and the jury’s judgment was for a $1 dollar fine! The jury expressed extreme disgust at the waste of city time and resources.

    Dallas PD: Tell me this, how many rapes, robberies, assaults, or even murders occurred while you putting together an executed your raid of Aces? I don’t blame individual officers, I have deep respect for you as you put your lives on the line every day to protect the city. I do blame DPD management for wasting your time to enforce such a petty crime as gambling, particular poker. At least with local games, the money won and lost stays in our local economy. Now it will just go to OK or LA, or is distributed around the world via Pokerstars and Partypoker.

    Gambling, particularly poker is the most victimless of victimless crimes. PDP: put some officers out on I-35 at night and bust some of the drunks flying down the freeway and 100mph and save some lives. Do what your paid for, protect the citizens of Dallas.

    If I vice crimes was even remotely related to my expertise I would represent you all.

  • Pingback: Pokerati — Texas hold’em blog — semi-live at the WSOP » Blog Archive » In Defense of the Dallas Police

  • Jason

    For me, in North Plano (McDermott/Custer area),
    Choctaw is MUCH closer than Winstar.
    It’s about 50 minutes (80mph@68miles straight up HW 75) for Choctaw,
    compared to almost 80 minutes for Winstar.
    I just wish Choctaw had as many fish…

    Basically…
    I think the advertising for Choctaw sucks….
    I doubt most people even know there’s a poker room up there…

    At Winstar, on the other hand..
    I’ve had players (at the $1/2 NL tables) who had never played poker in their life….
    Now, that was fun. :-)

  • Chris Rebuy

    I’ve posted comments in the other threads, but anyone who needs an experienced attorney can contact me at c_rebuy@yahoo.com – I have the contact info for the attorney at represented the first place busted in McKinney, and we was able to get all of the charges dropped completely.

    He’s a board certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in Civil Trial law, which is the long way of saying he knows his way around a court room and isn’t scared to go to trial if needed.

  • http://pokerati.com DanM

    Chris, that gives me an idea …

    ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITY: Are you an attorney looking for poker clients? We’ve got lots of ‘em for ya. Good space could be yours on Pokerati.com!

  • Woody

    Dan – Lots of restrictions on attorney’s ability to advertise, especially when it is targeted to an audience known to have a need to hire an attorney. Just didn’t want you to have your feelings hurt if nobody took you up on your offer!

  • http://none BigSlick75093

    I sure thought these so called “Attorneys” who have been posting would be highly educated, but I’ve seen “Loosing” twice and “we was able”. Are you really attorneys, or just very bad attorneys? It is “losing” (One “o”, not two) and “we were able”. Do the judges laff at you? :)