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Mike “The Mouth” Matusow has become the latest poker celebrity to buy into the Texas poker scene, the 4-time WSOP bracelet winner buying an interest in the Poker House Dallas...
Ready to go to work! @pokerhousellc #Dallaspokerhouse pic.twitter.com/Ghra0mRcdk
— Mike Matusow (@themouthmatusow) January 30, 2022
Matusow had originally tweeted out a pic of him and his business partners, but although that tweet seems to have been deleted, it seems that the legendary pro is definitely set for a new life in Dallas.
The move comes at a time when everyone and their best friend seems to be taking advantage of the Texan poker boom – Doug Polk, Andrew Neeme and Brad Owens buying a controlling interest in a Houston cardroom, and 2-time WSOP Main Event champ Johnny Chan having just seen his Houston poker investment hit by scandal.
Meantime, Dallas poker has itself been hit by some serious bad news this week, with the Texas Card House among several cardrooms facing potential closure in a citywide crackdown on gambling.
As we have reported previously, poker in the Lonestar state operates in a legal grey area, with most cardrooms working on a membership and/or table fee basis, rather than the more traditional house rake approach.
That’s because charging rake is illegal in the state, but there are those who have sought to outlaw the membership version too – and it has resulted in a messy state of affairs, often dependent on which part of Texas people live or play in.
Houston Good, Dallas Bad
Houston, where Polk, Neeme and Own have set up business, wasn’t such a poker friendly city just a few years ago. In fact, the DA, Kim Ogg, was looking to prosecute two social poker clubs, until her own office fell foul of the law.The Post Oak Poker Club and the Prime Social Poker Club had seen multiple members and owners arrested in 2019, charged with multiple felonies. These included allegations of organized criminal activity, gambling promotion and money laundering.
However, it transpired that one of DA Ogg’s financial crimes consultants, Amir Mireskandari, had scammed the clubs out of $250,000.
A lawsuit brought by Post Oak Poker Club against Ogg states that the DA, “acted with malice, targeting only the Post Oak Partners and another poker club that refused to keep paying exorbitant fees for fake licenses, while allowing all other poker clubs in Harris County to remain open.”
All the charges against the two clubs and those arrested were dropped in the wake of this devastating revelation, and Houston has been relatively problem-free ever since.
Dallas, on the other hand, seems beset by those who wish to close down the social cardroom phenomenon.
The Texas Card House was recently hit by a revocation of their Certificate of Occupancy (CO) – basically a permit to run a business – amid claims they had breached state laws regulations by “Keeping a Gambling Place”.
The cardroom is still open while they appeal the decision, but more than 200 employees and up to 500 daily customers are facing a bleak future if the appeal fails.
Ryan Crow, Texas Card House CEO, had sought to ensure he was following the law by spending “hundreds of hours” with lawyers and city officials prior to opening.
Local councilman, Omar Narvaez, was shocked and dismayed at the news, stating: “I think it’s unfair that all of a sudden all of these COs for all of these card rooms were suddenly revoked.”
Narvaez added: “Unfortunately, our city attorney has decided to change the idea of ​​what he believes to be the rules of the card under the law.”
That’s the atmosphere Mike “The Mouth” Matusow has just stepped into with his investment this week, and we’ll be sure to hear about it if things don’t go as planned. For the time being, February is looking good for Poker House Dallas members...
All month of February 8 day 1s of our 250k freerole tourney! Join our club for 10 bucks and you're entered into 250k tourney freerole! @pokerhousellc #Dallaspokerhouse pic.twitter.com/fvGbBv1p3V
— Mike Matusow (@themouthmatusow) January 30, 2022
