Under new management
In early December, Johnny Chan’s 888 Social, a poker room or “social club” in Houston, closed without warning, leaving many customers with money locked up inside. Fortunately for those players, it looks like all may be well, as the club has a new owner, Sanjeev Vora, who is ready to reopen under the name 101 Poker Club.
For those of you familiar with the Texas poker scene, no, it is not a crazy coincidence that there is another popular social club in Katy called 101 Poker Club. Vora told PokerNews that he is a 101 regular and wanted to partner with the club as a sort of homage to a place he has enjoyed over the years. The affiliation is in name only – the original 101 Poker Club does not own a piece of the former 888 Social location.
Vora has already partially renovated the space, installing new carpet and a new outdoor sign. Though there is still much work to be done, he is hoping to have a “soft launch” of the poker room today.
Players hoping to reclaim their deposits
To rewind, Johnny Chan’s 888 Social had been a popular social club in Houston, but had experienced a “rush on the bank” of sorts, as many players were cashing out their boxes and heading to another recently-opened club. That may or may not have contributed to the club’s demise under the name of the poker legend, but whatever the reason, players who showed up about three weeks ago found the doors locked. Many had cash on deposit at the club – they kept their chips so they could sit down at the tables more quickly – so they were worried that they would never see their money again. Hundreds of thousands of dollars could have been at stake.
My colleague Earl Burton contacted Johnny Chan’s 888 Social and was told that it would reopen under new management, so that sounded at least somewhat positive, but that’s all we knew at the time. Now, things certainly seem to be looking up.
Vora told PokerNews that he is fully aware of the legal gray area in which social clubs currently reside in Texas, but he is ok with taking the risk. He said he has a legal team that understands Texas gambling laws and that his management will run the business in accordance with the rules and regulations of the state.
The legal loophole that allows social clubs to offer poker games, at least so far, is that they can do so as long as they don’t take a rake. They can’t take a piece of the action. The social clubs get around this by charging a membership fee and/or a time fee, thus, they are charging for access to the club, not raking the pots. They also make some money by selling food and drink.
