Underground poker room

There is a high demand in my small town for a 1/2 No limit Texas Holdem room, and I am going to open one. I would like any advice and suggestions to make my room the best ever. I am going to rake, the standard, but I need feed back on bonuses and such that I can offer. Also I need A professional table, chips, and chairs....etc. So if I could get some guidance on resources such as websites I can shop on, or if any of you have these things for sale...lemme know please......Thanks!

get a big steel door ,make it a by invite only ,dont just let any one in (unless of course your taking the legal above board route then visit a few others and steal there ideas!) make sure the dealer/s is good ,good luck

I had a friend that bought a nice poker table from BMI, here is their website. http://www.bmigaming.com/games-casino-pokertables.htm

A lot of their stuff is pretty expensive, but it is nice and they have a lot of stuff, so you could might be able to get a discount if you order a bunch of your stuff there.

Also, I would look into your local laws on gaming. If you are in the US, chances are it is illegal and if you get caught, you will be in some serious trouble. You may want to invite only close friends that you are sure won't tell anyone else.

And make sure the people you do invite arent too shady, I have a couple guys that I know, that I am cool with, and have hung with on numerous occasions, but the fact that they know all the "wink, wink" connections...i probably wouldnt want them there. First time they have a chance to make a deal, you may end up on Vice Squad

Pretty much do this only if you already have some type of criminal record where you can not really hurt yourself too much more. Since, as the above poster said, if you live in the US there is a great chance you will ruin your life by having a felony on your record if the police break up the game.

And if you are not busted at least once....you can be sure once the word gets around you have an underground poker room, some of the more dangerous element will make at least one visit to rob you

Even a poker room in Houston with swipe cards for members/players to enter the premises and hired security could not keep the police from getting in to play and eventually bust the club after one month of observing

Good Luck

I have looked into the laws on gaming in my area, and from my research It seems that the worst criminal charges you can get stuck with are all misdemeanors. Unless you get into selling things, like alcohol, food, etc. If anyone knows different about texas gaming law let me know.

I'm sure they may be misdemeanors, but according to the link I will be putting here, you could be charged with multiple misdemeanors at one time if caught, and each misdemeanors carries a $5000 and no more than $50000 fine.
IMO, think this through very carefully.

Link>>>> http://www.gambling-law-us.com/State-Laws/Texas/

Yeah thats where I got my info from, I think the risk is pretty low for getting caught though, there is a 2/5 and a 5/10 room that I go to and they have never had a problem with the law, or people robbing them. Thanks for all the advice guys, I will weigh all the pros and cons carefully. definatley dont wanna pay that much money in fines.....wish they would get that stick outta their ass about poker playing, its obvious the laws werent originally meant to effect poker players, sucks that they do.

Sounds like a bad idea. But if you decide to go with it goodluck to you. I hope you dont get caught because i would love a poker room in my town.

Yea, it would be a lot of fun to start something like that up, but there is just too much risk.

If you want to look into it, I know some people that got around gambling laws by saying that portions of the winnings went to charity, which it really did. So what they had to do was everyone had to give a certain percentage of their winnings, if it was a cash game(I can't remember what the percentage was) to the donation box and that would be donated.

Or for Tourney style, you would have say a $100 buyin and $10 from each person would go to the charity.

Something to think about, but it might be a pain in the ass.

CAN THE CHARITY BE MY MOTHER IN LAW

I can only advise that you get quality poker chips made with your own logo. That'll stop forgery of your chips. Count them after every evening, and have ONE person handling all the money. This way there is responsibility. I've played in games where it was time to cash out and lo and behold, money is missing.The tables do not have to be spectacular, just sturdy and pot reachable from all seats. If your going to rake, you have to run it like a business or players will not come. That means honest and knowledgable dealers, that will not double rake. {one for the house , one for the dealer}. Provide some kind of food either for purchase or free. Keep the drinking to social standards. There nothing that'll break up a game quicker than an obnoxious drunk.{except for a winning obnoxious drunk}.

I love the obnoxious drunk, because he is usually an open bank, just giving his money away with every hand.

TEXAS...that is one of the worst in the country ATM for busting private games and holding the organizers to serious penalties. For your own protection, please research carefully.

in london they have just opened a cardroom ,that asks for a £135 quarterly membership to each member ,this then entitles them to play any game ,no rake on cash games,and tourney buyins dont have the fee either .i know you cant do this at an underground club ,but it illustrates the need to think outside of the box ,try and come up with some idea that swerves laws rather than breaks them.(difficult i know!!)

you,d think that with rapes and murders etc the police would have better things to do with their time ,any police on cc should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves