The Lodge Card Club, just north of Austin, Texas, was raided Tuesday morning by state police and the Texas Alcohol and Beverage Commission (TABC). Little is known about the incident, which occurred just hours after the conclusion of the Lodge Championship Series. Doug Polk, who owns the card club with Andrew Neeme and Brad Owen, posted on X that he will make an “in depth statement” within the next day.
According to patrons of The Lodge Card Club who posted about the raid on Reddit, law enforcement required players to show identification before they were permitted to leave. No reason was given for the ID mandate and some players protested, with no success.
Cash game players were told by agents to take their chips home, implying that they will be able to return to redeem them for cash, or even play games once again. Tournament players, of course, had to leave their chips – one Redditor said that Lodge staff told them that they would be “refunded with an entry later.”
The investigation, whatever it is, is reportedly being conducted by the TABC. That has given rise to speculation that this could be about the venue’s liquor license, but that’s all just online conversation. All that is known publicly right now is that the place was raided and patrons were required to go home. Hopefully Polk will shed some light on the situation tonight or tomorrow.
Polk, who also called the raid a “witch hunt” on social media, assured people that player funds are safe.
In addition to The Lodge Card Club’s daily business taking a hit, the World Poker Tour (WPT) also announced on Tuesday that the Lodge Wildcard: Wacky Weekend of Poker, scheduled for March 13-15, has been postponed because of “circumstances outside of WPT’s control that impact event operations.”
Image credit: The Lodge Card Club
