ShareMike Matusow has announced that he is to be affiliated with the 52 Social poker room in Austin, Texas. The four-time WSOP bracelet winner spoke about the plan on his "Mouthpiece" podcast last week and will be hosting a get together meet-and-greet game from April 9 to 12, with plans for many more in the future.
Grand Plans
This move looks as if it will put Mike Matusow in direct competition with Doug Polk as The Lodge Card Club is situated nearby, but Matusow disagrees and says that his only aim is to grow the scene in the area.He must also be feeling a little confident because 52 Social has a full-size bar and restaurant on the premises, something which The Lodge doesn’t. This is obviously a great selling point when potential members are considering all of the options in the area.
Some readers will remember that Matusow was talking about putting together a team to take over and run the Poker House Dallas card room but the deal amounted to nothing in the end, leaving him to look for new ideas.
How Bright Is the Future?
With 25 tables surrounded by TVs, a bar and a restaurant, 52 Social looks to have stacks of potential for the future, but recent news headlines in Texas might be a little worrying.how many people here are aware the top shelf poker room in tyler got raided a day or 2 ago and the police kept everyones money? i almost went to it after i left coushatta instead of waco.
— tony bigcharles (@sevencard2003) March 11, 2022
Earlier in March, Top Shelf Poker Room was raided by police who confiscated all of the players’ money along with business documents. The owners were charged with running an illegal gambling operation and the club closed.
For now, this appears to be a law enforcement operation being directed county-by-county with Austin currently unaffected. However, this could obviously change in the future, although there has not yet been any indication of that.
There are 60 poker rooms in Texas that operate under what is called the “social model”. Members pay fees to be able to play there but no rake is taken from the tables. But now it seems as if there is disagreement among the authorities as to whether or not this is just a way to shirk the law.
