OK. Here's one of the 20+ trip reports from one of the Texas poker rooms I visited on this trip.
The rest can be found on my website: http://casinochips.epizy.com/poker/texas2024.htm
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Katy Poker
24445 Katy Fwy Suite 100, Katy, TX 77494
(713) 515-9616
Opened 11am to TBD - 8 tables
Website: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61564519685061
$1 House Chip | $5 House Chip | $25 House Chip
I always check PokerAtlas when I'm planning my Texas Poker Road Trip. For several weeks prior to my departing, a new club, called Katy Poker, was listed as "coming soon". I reached out to the club asking when they expect to open and was able to time my trip so that I would be in Katy when they were opened. I'm glad that I did because from what I experienced, this poker room will not be in business for long.
The club is in a new location, meaning that they didn't take over the space of a previous poker club. It's a bright little room, but was empty on a Thursday evening with the exception of 3-4 players sitting at the only table in operation. I asked at the desk if there was a game going, and they said yes while pointing to the table. They waived the membership fee, saying that they are a new club and are looking to attract new players, so no membership fee for now. I asked about the rake, knowing that they wouldn't abide by Texas state law and charge an hourly seat fee. Sure enough, they rake $10 per pot: $2 once the pot reaches $30 (no rake if the pot is smaller), $5 at $50, and $10 at $70. This is a pretty steep rake, but maybe the game would be juicy.
I bought in for $400 at the cage. On the walk to the table I pocketed a $25 chip, two $5 chips, and fifteen $1 chips ($50 total) and sat with the remaining $350 at the $1/$2 NLHE table. This is my usual routine. If you count the chips in the picture above you'll see $350. They offered a bad beat jackpot for quads beaten, though I don't recall the payout. Food and drinks were provided and served by a couple of young Asian girls dressed as hookers. The dealer was not very experienced and let the players run over the table. As I was getting settled in at my seat I observed a hand in progress. Both players checked the river. This is when the player in Seat 8 announces "straight", though there was no straight possible on the board and he did not table his hand. The clueless player in Seat 3 next to me was holding jack-high and was about to muck. Seat 8 eventually tables his hand. He's holding trey-deuce and is playing the board, so Seat 3's jack-high is good. The dealer announces that Seat 8 is playing the board. Seat 3 finally tables the winner and is pushed the small pot. This is when Seat 8 erupts, telling the dealer to keep his mouth shut. They argue a bit before I interject and tell Seat 8 that he cannot announce a hand at showdown without tabling that hand or better, else he loses any right to the pot since he's doing this to get a player to fold. He tells me that he can say whatever he wants and the dealer should butt out.
I get dealt my first hand. We're playing 4-handed with 2 stacks sitting in front of empty chairs. They play with a PLO bomb pot button, so this means that we're playing a PLO bomb pot after just 3 hands of NLHE. Seat 8 soon understands that I'm not going to take any angle-shooting from him and decides to leave the game. Now we're 3 handed. I tell the dealer I'll sit out the bomb pots until the two players who own the stacks in front of the empty chairs return. He makes no motion to call them or speculate where they might be. After a few hands a new dealer comes to the table to relieve our dealer who immediately picks his tips out of the dealer well and sits down in seat 8 with about $43. The game is a $100 minimum buy-in. I ask him what he's doing and am told he thought he'd play a while just to keep the game going. When I tell him that the min buy-in is $100, he quietly picks up and walks to the back of the room. Now it's clear that the two empty seats are just for show - there are no players. The house and dealers allow this so they can run what looks like a busy table when in fact it's just the 3 of us. I decide to pick up after having bluffed Seat 3 out of a couple tiny pots.
No one is at the cage. Our original dealer sees me standing there waiting and walks over to say that he'll text the owner. After a couple of texts and no response he says that he can cash me out and proceeds to pull out his wallet. I have $372 in chips. He assembles a pile of folded and mangled $100, $50, $20, and $1 bills until he's got the total correct. I'm satisfied with my small $22 profit and even more satisfied that I visited Katy Poker to pick up some nice clean chips before this place goes out of business.
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