Poker Writer
Reports broke on Tuesday morning on Reddit that the popular card club, the Lodge Poker Club in Round Rock, Texas, was raided by police.
According to a post from the user “Ordinary-Cash-438,” the raid occurred around 11 a.m. local time.
Police said they were serving a warrant to the management. They let all the players leave with their chips after they took a picture of our ID’s.
The poster sounds like they were present during the raid. They did not respond to requests for more information at the time of this article.
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Claims Corroborated By Others
A Reddit post isn’t necessarily gospel, but multiple users corroborated the story.
One said he was present at the scene. The police apparently refused to show a warrant and did not release this individual until they showed ID.
Another said that the scene was very vague for players and staff this morning.
They told the players to bring the chips home. The assumption being they could bring them back when they open up again. Tournament players were told (by staff – not police) they’d be refunded with an entry later.
Underage Drinking the Issue at Hand?
One user said that they were texting with someone who was still there as of 11:45 a.m. and mentioned the involvement of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC). Another user had also said they spotted TABC officers.
A friend is texting with someone who is still there. They said it was raided by TABC and they aren’t allowing people to cash their chips out.
The presence of TABC could indicate that an alcohol-related infraction caused the raid. The Lodge allows players as young as 18 to play in the club. That opens the door to potential alcohol issues for any player who is under 21.
The Lodge wait list still indicates active cash game play as of 12:45 p.m. CDT. Attempts to call the Lodge were met with an immediate automated message saying the answering machine had not been set up yet.
Lodge co-owner Doug Polk has not commented on the situation yet, and there’s no word from the venue’s official social media accounts.
Details will be added as the story develops.
