Tournament chips at Texas Card House, Austin’s first legal poker room (Credit Taylor Wier) I want people to enjoy hanging out here,” Sam told me. “This will be a social club as much as a poker room.

Sam intends to have all the major sports packages for watching live sports, and eventually intends to buy major fighting events on the weekends. 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. “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.

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. 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. They all wanted a piece of Texas,” Sam mentioned on the club’s grand opening night.įour tables in the main room – Texas Holdem will be the primary game played (Credit Taylor Wier) “We got lobbied by all the major casinos including Harrah’s and MGM. You see, Sam used to work for the Chairman of the Licensing and Administrative committee. Sam’s unique background gave him the perfect insight to set up the first legal poker room in the state of Texas. This gutsy move is the brainchild of Sam Von Kennel. 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. There are no tips to the dealer and no rake (house share). Texas Card House offers membership to a “card and social club” and provides a facility where members can gamble. Texas Card House has changed all that, offering the first legal poker room in Austin–and in the whole state of Texas outside reservations. 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 on Manchaca in South Austin (Credit Taylor Wier)

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