Dallas Trip Part 7: My First Visit to Texas Card House

 

 

Note: This is a series of articles from my recent trip to Dallas to spend time with my mother, who recently celebrated her 80th birthday.

Today, I made my first-ever visit to Texas Card House (poker room), at the location in Dallas-Las Colinas.
To say I was *impressed* would be a huge understatement. I have no reason to shill for poker, or any of these rooms, but I was really blown away by what I saw and experienced during my visit on Saturday. I also learned that the Texas Card House Dallas —which is located just outside the city limits in Las Colinas (Irving)…..I hope I have this information correct….— is celebrating their one-year anniversary. Congrats to them.

When I walked in, I was immediately greeted by a couple of security officers which is a little bit unusual, but as it turned out they saw me walk in the door with my mother and pretty much rolled out the red carpet and just said everything that a new customer would want to hear. If anyone is reading this at the TCH establishment, they were both ladies, and they were the security guards near the front door at 2 pm on Sat. afternoon.
These ladies (security officers) had no idea about my background in poker and just proceeded to be nice and helpful and tell me all about the cardroom and what I could do – and where I could sign up – and they spent several minutes with me just giving me the rundown and I pretty much just stood there and nodded the entire time taking it all in. Getting that welcoming experience in the first moments really hit home with me.

Next, I walked over to the poker area and was astounded because from the outside the card room is nestled in a strip mall and there’s not much to signify there’s a casino gambling/poker establishment inside. In fact, there’s a temporary banner in the place that you would expect to see a lit up sign. If you don’t know what the letters stand for, or know where this place is, you might think it’s a dry cleaners…okay, even though there are 200 cars in the parking lot. I presume they want to keep a very low profile, which is understandable.

The poker room has a full service bar a grille/restaurant and although I didn’t count, I’d estimate 15 to 20 tables. Game selection looked ideal for a mid-stakes grinder though there are lower limits and much higher limits from my glance at the board. There were a lot of chips on the tables. Obviously, these people like to gamble.

At the desk, another very helpful lady informed me that there’s a membership charge to enter and play. They don’t allow patrons to walk past the desk into the room unless they are members. This is probably wise and a good security measure.

On a personal level, this was something of a watershed moment for me. Having grown up in Dallas and forced to play an underground illegal card games and backroom gambling halls most of the 1980s, I wondered if we’d ever see the light of day when quasi-legal poker was allowed in Dallas or anywhere in Texas. To actually step into a bona fide “casino” with an atmosphere that looked as nice as anything in Las Vegas or Los Angeles was an exclamation point after many decades of hiding in the shadows. I’m still sorry and continue to carry some bitterness that Texas is so obscenely behind modern times on gambling laws, but it does show that if you build it they will come and they will play. Hopefully Texas will get its act together and step into the 21st century on poker and sports gambling. But, that’s another issue.

I expect to go back to Dallas this summer and I’ll spend more time here in the future and visit some of the other rooms, as well.

When my mother and I left the same two security ladies were there asking how we enjoyed the visit (again they have no idea I’m a writer and would write a review). I have to say the room looks very professionally run, but it was the *people* I encountered who impressed me most on this visit. Hire solid people. Without that, it doesn’t matter how much neon is flowing through the giant sign outside. In all my years, I don’t recall ever being greeted in my way out the door at the casino asking me how was my visit. *Excellence* is in the details.

Well done, Texas Card House.