Poker club folds in wake of disputed jackpot
Decision to nullify ‘bad beat’ criticized
San Antonio Poker Palace was an upstart in the world of private card clubs.
It was late to the game when it launched in 2020, about three years after establishments such as Rounders Card Club and SA Card House had debuted in the city.
Poker Palace sought to attract players with promotions such as a “$100,000 bad beat jackpot.” A bad beat occurs when an extremely strong poker hand loses to an even better hand.
According to rules posted on its website, a hand of three aces and two kings — called aces full of kings — or better must lose to a higherranking hand of four-of-a-kind, a straight flush or a royal flush for a bad beat. The odds of that occurring are low, in the vicinity of 1 in 71,000 or worse, various websites show.
But it happened April 6 during a game of low-stakes, no-limit Texas Hold ’em. A player holding four-ofa-kind lost to another with a straight flush.
That should have triggered a payoff of the jackpot with $50,000 going to the loser, $25,000 to the winner and the remaining $25,000 shared among the other players.
But Poker Palace didn’t pay out. The next day, it took to social media to explain the bad beat was “nullified” for a few “infractions.” The decision has sparked controversy online, with some calling on players to stop patronizing the business and others saying it should be investigated by authorities.
None of that happened. Poker Palace abruptly folded about a month after the disputed poker hand. Whether its closure was related to the incident couldn’t be determined. Principals Richard Flo
restan of Leander and Christopher Aarons of Austin couldn’t be reached for comment; phone numbers linked to them were not in service.
Last week, Poker Palace’s landlord sued the business for allegedly skipping out on its rent at Brook Hollow Shopping Center at 15058 San Pedro Ave. Landlord CPRK-II LP, which is affiliated with Caprock Investments, is seeking at least $250,000 in unpaid rent, maintenance fees and costs associated with releasing the venue. Michael Flume, a San Antonio lawyer representing the landlord, declined to comment. A response to the suit has yet to be filed.
Florestan and Aarons are named defendants. The five-year, 4,649-square-foot lease attached
to the complaint filed in state District Court in San Antonio shows them as guarantors. Just how long Poker Palace had gone without allegedly paying rent was not disclosed in the complaint.
The bad beat jackpot fiasco went down as some state lawmakers were attempting to regulate poker clubs.
In Texas, any card game where the house takes a cut from the pot, called a rake, is illegal. But most clubs claim they are legal because they collect membership or usage fees instead of a rake.
Police have nonetheless raided some clubs around the state, though not in San Antonio.
Efforts to pass legislation, including bills that would have given counties the authority to regulate clubs’ operations, ultimately failed in the legislative session that ended May 29.
Poker Palace’s demise came just a few months before its monthly rent payments were slated to rise 7.5 percent to $8,329, the lease shows.
Differing accounts
Its Facebook post on the jackpot nullification has been taken down but was posted on Twitter by San Antonio poker pro Cedrric Trevino, whose handle is @Poker_traveler. He also posted a 45-second video of the game in question. Trevino didn’t respond to requests for comment.
In listing the infractions that allegedly occurred, Poker Palace first said a player — holding the straight flush — exposed his hand before the game was over. Its rules state “any player exposing their cards before the action is complete will disqualify the entire table from the bad beat jackpot.”
Some who viewed the video
say the player holding four-of-akind (four threes) was about to put his chips in the pot when the player with the straight flush showed his cards, Poker News Daily reported. They say Poker Palace should give him the benefit of the doubt.
But Poker Palace also said the player holding four-of-a-kind did not “call verbally or with motion.” Doing so would signify a player is matching the current bet. (The video did not have audio.) The business also said the player pushed his chips in only after the cards were exposed and he knew he had a losing hand.
Opinions on Poker Palace’s decision were divided. Some on social media took the position that “the rules are the rules” while others considered the decision ticky tacky.
Houston’s Alex Jacob, described online as a former professional poker player and a winner of the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions, was particularly critical in a Twitter post.
“People dream up elaborate poker cheating conspiracies but this is how they really get you,” he said. “This casino cheated these players out of $100k. Don’t offer a jackpot like this if you’re gonna weasel out of it when someone actually gets four of a kind vs. a straight flush. Shameful.” His Twitter handle is @whoisalexjacob.
“This situation sucks but there are rules and it seems they were broken =/,” a person with the Twitter handle @Ecgab1025 responded to Jacob. “It’s not like the casino keeps the money. I assume it’s still in the bad beat pool that can be won by other players.”
Given Poker Palace’s closure, that’s not likely.