A 2024 survey on poker found that the game is more popular than ever before—and experts believe that’s primarily because of the unprecedented growth in the live poker space. “I think the poker media does an excellent job of promoting the game and showing off the winners, which I think is a major reason tournament series have maintained prestige,” Player Advisory Board and poker pro Jonathan Little explained.
Take the World Series of Poker, arguably the most prominent tournament in poker known for fostering success stories like Brek Schutten’s. A nurse hailing from Grand Rapids, Michigan, he suddenly shot up to fourth place on Michigan’s All Time Money List after taking home a bracelet at the World Series of Poker—along with more than $1.4 million. With that, it’s no wonder the tournament keeps breaking participation records virtually every year, with 2024’s main event particularly hitting a high of 10,112 versus 2023’s 10,043.
The question is: does poker’s popularity extend to Texas, especially in live settings? After all, you can only play it here under strict conditions—in a private environment that provides a level playing field and upholds personal winnings as the only form of financial gain. Fortunately, Texas’ card houses still know how to throw exciting poker tournaments, which is why these events prove that tournament poker remains extremely popular in the Lone Star State.
The Lone Star State Poker Championship
This championship comprises the Texas stop for the Card Player Poker Tour, a competitive series started by Card Player Magazine—the world’s oldest online poker publication and guide. That’s probably why the tour asked the Post Oak Poker Club to host this major stop: as Houston’s first-ever private poker club, the establishment is a pioneer in itself.
To draw Texans into the Lone Star State Poker Championship, the Post Oak Poker Club creates a festive atmosphere using a freeroll tournament format, a complimentary buffet, and multiple giveaways. “We… are working to [highlight] the best of Texas in order to welcome Texas Hold’em back home in style,” club founder Daniel Kebort added. For this leg of the tour, Card Player Magazine also hands out customized championship rings for three of the stop’s events, all of which add a more prestigious feel by featuring Texas’ state gem—the blue topaz—cut into that signature Lone Star shape.
These efforts proved particularly effective. By the championship’s second year, the Post Oak Poker Club welcomed nearly 500 participants—including Texan World Series of Poker event winners George Abdallah and Allen Baker. That resulted in a prize pool of over $247,000, $52,105 of which went to Abdallah after he won the championship’s main event.
The Moneymaker Tour
Arguably no World Series of Poker success story is bigger than Chris Moneymaker’s. The Atlanta native’s 2003 main event win was the first ever for someone who qualified for the tournament by only playing online. His journey from everyday accountant to one of the world’s biggest poker players sparked the poker boom of the early 2000s in what’s known as the Moneymaker Effect, and enthusiasts of the card game can still feel its impact today.
That’s especially true after Moneymaker kickstarted his very own competitive series in 2023 with the help of Americas Cardroom. Moneymaker signed with the Winning Poker Network’s flagship online poker site in 2021, calling it the fastest of its kind in the world and lauding its accessibility: it offers multiple promotions at all buy-in levels and is known for hosting The Venom, the US’ biggest online poker tournament. It brings that expertise to the Moneymaker Tour, allowing the latter to boast a huge tourney schedule spanning Las Vegas, Florida—and, of course, Houston—and facilitate online qualifiers for every stop to truly mimic the Moneymaker Effect.
To give that experience to Texans, the Moneymaker Tour partners with Texas Card House Houston. In 2024, this private poker club hosted over 12 days’ worth of events. As with what’s available for Americas Cardroom’s own promotions, players could make buy-ins ranging from $150 to $1,500 and join a main event with a $250,000 guarantee. Houston native Han Feng eventually won that event for $54,100. Overall, the stop proved to be particularly popular among locals, with all dozen events surpassing their guarantees.
The Wacky Weekend of Poker
Texas isn’t just known for its traditional poker tournaments, either. Locals and visitors alike can trust the Lone Star State to provide more unconventional experiences on the felt—especially now that they can head to major cities like Austin to participate in events such as the Wacky Weekend of Poker. The event’s host, the Lodge Card Club, prides itself on being a private social establishment that can do things even the casinos in Las Vegas can’t. Currently, it boasts experience organizing tournaments like the Art of Poker—and, in partnership with the World Poker Tour’s ClubWPT Gold, its very own Lodge Championship Series. With the introduction of Wacky Weekend in 2024, the club was thus confident that it was offering games that couldn’t be played anywhere else.
This year, it took the six most popular games from Wacky Weekend’s inaugural roster, creating a more streamlined, exciting schedule that included a mix of NIT games, double-board PLO bomb pots, Deuces Wild events, and a truly unique game dubbed Mystery Bounty Chaos. This particular event is brand-new and the result of countless brainstorming sessions done by the Lodge Card Club’s staff. Though it’s similar to the regular mystery bounty events found at poker tournaments, it stands out for putting advantages and penalties up for grabs alongside the usual cash prizes.
The resulting weekend was truly wacky—and it attracted quite a lot of attention. Its first event alone drew over 112 entries and a total prize pool of nearly $18,000. Wacky Weekend was even endorsed by poker legend Doug Polk, who shared the event’s 2025 schedule on his official Facebook page and promoted it as “one of the most fun times of the year.”
Though Texas doesn’t look like much of a poker hub at first glance, these events show that there’s plenty going on in its private clubs—and that tournament poker is indeed alive and well in the Lone Star State.
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