On The Road With Chris Moneymaker: Texas Card House

As a professional comedian, magician, and entrepreneur, I have toured with entertainers such as Cheech & Chong, Mike Epps, and Cedric The Entertainer, but being on the road with 2003 World Series of Poker main event champion Chris Moneymaker is quite a different experience.

Chris and I met at my personal cardroom in Odessa, Texas, the Celebrity Card Club, and quickly became friends off the poker table. It was then that I started booking our Celebrity Poker Series as a way to tour the country and see the poker world.

As we know, Moneymaker is one of the most recognizable names and faces in the game because of his role in sparking the poker boom. Walking into a poker room with him is the equivalent of walking onto a baseball field with Jose Altuve, or a football field with Michael Oher. Perhaps not ironically, all three of whom went into their profession completely written off as underdogs until their dedication and hard work took them over the top.

In the coming months, we look forward to bringing you reviews, photos, and our experiences from various places here in the states and abroad. In addition to cardrooms and casinos across the U.S., we will be visiting Barcelona, Australia, Sochi, and several stops in the U.K. including London.

We recently visited a new club in the Spring suburb of Houston called Texas Card House. The TCH, as it’s known by, is a franchise to the original Austin club. Our first night there, they had their biggest crowd of players to date.

TCH is open 3 pm-4 am seven days a week and charges membership fees of $10 daily, or $30 monthly, along with the $12 hourly time charge. The games are not raked otherwise.
All 12 tables were full for the $5000 freeroll and the prize pool ended up being more than $14,000. Any kinks they ran into were quickly worked out as the professional floor person was on top of it all, making sure all members and guests were satisfied.

The cardroom catered from three different restaurants in one night, so players were well fed and able to concentrate on their play at dinner time. TCH is also one of the only Texas membership clubs that we have been to that had a full cash bar versus a BYOB or open bar setup. I can tell you as a player, we like folks to be loose and drinking, however, the cash bar kept most of the players conservative.

The club itself was beautiful and spacious, and the restrooms had the high privacy doors which showed no expense spared. There were complimentary pool tables and a fully-stocked bar with sodas, as well alcoholic drinks served by an attractive serving staff. The high-back rolling chairs are some of the most comfortable chairs you could ask for in a poker room.

I also have to admit that one huge plus as a traveler to this club is that next door to the TCH is Splashtown Water Park, and right down the road is The Woodlands Riverwalk and Mall. So don’t blow your wad in one place!

We had three days to grind in Houston and they came to play! Chris somehow managed to cash in all of the tournaments he played there, and I cashed in one. As you could imagine, when they had a PLO cash game with over $30,000 on the table, it was hard to get him to step away to play the tournaments he came for, but he did.

That’s also when I noticed that this guy doesn’t like to lose, even if it’s in a freeroll! He brings his A-game regardless of the stakes and he takes no prisoners. As a new poker pro, I am learning from one of the true greats of the game. I have never known anyone who puts in the hours and dedicates his life to poker the way Chris does. I have seen him play 16-18 hour sessions and be right back at it after 5-6 hours of sleep. To question this man’s work ethic is to not know him. To think he isn’t that good and was just lucky in 2003 is exactly what he wants. However, those of us who have played with him and had to ship our stacks to him, know better. ♠

Rob Jenkins is a professional comedian, magician, and owner of Celebrity ard Club in Odessa, Texas. He is also a newly turned poker pro under the mentoring of his friend and WSOP champion Chris Moneymaker.