Ethan "Rampage" Yau And Nikhil "Nik Airball" Arcot Join Ownership Team At Texas Card ClubThe Two High-Stakes Regulars Join Doug Polk-Led Ownership Group At The Lodge Card Club In Round Rock |
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Two new investors have come on board at Texas’s Lodge Poker Club.
The company’s owners already included Doug Polk, Brad Owen, and Andrew Neeme, and Polk announced in video on Monday that poker vlogger Ethan “Rampage” Yau and high-stakes pro Nikhil Arcot, also known as “Nik Airball,” have joined the ownership team.
The group operates a Lodge poker room in Round Rock, just north of Austin, and added a San Antonio club last year after acquiring Rounders Card Club in May. Polk was pleased to see Yau and Arcot come on board.
“I think these two men have a play style that will fit in nicely with the Lodge Card Club ownership group,” Polk said in a YouTube video announcing the move. “However you want to chop it up, these are two of the largest personalities in poker today and they certainly make things more entertaining. In fact, whenever they swing by the channel and play in our show, viewership does tend to spike pretty significantly.”
New Owners Know The Importance Of Content
Polk said both players understand how to create successful poker content and that appears to be a major factor in adding them to the Lodge ownership group.
Yau and Arcot frequently appear on high-stakes cash game streams and Yau has 328,000 subscribers on YouTube. The additions mean more appearances by the two on the club’s Poker at the Lodge livestreams.
“They understand that poker is a game where you need to generate interest in the game itself in order for viewers to enjoy their experience and feel compelled to root for their heroes or hope that their villain loses,” Polk said in a YouTube video announcing the move.
Both have appeared on the Lodge livestream and Polk said much of the show’s growth came from Yau’s early appearances before Polk was even involved in the company. He didn’t disclose any financial details of the investments.
“I am incredibly proud of what we’ve built over the last few years,” Polk said. “Obviously we bought into this club a few years ago and we’ve expanded to two clubs. We’re going to continue to look for opportunities to grow and we’re going to keep trying to do cool stuff in poker. And I think that’s something that the poker industry needs.”
However, the investments come as the legality of Texas poker clubs might be at an inflection point. A pair of bills are floating through the legislature. One would legalize the social club model used in the Lone Star State, while the other would make them illegal.
Beyond the new investors, the Lodge recently made news when players at the property cashed in on a $290,000 bad beat jackpot, the largest in Texas history.
Photos courtesy of PokerGO/Antonio Abrego
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