When Doug Polk, Brad Owens, and Andrew Neeme announced they bought a stake in The Lodge Card Club in Austin, they promised they would help grow the poker room’s brand with week-long events, large tourneys, and lots of live streams.
This week, they’re carrying through on their promise with a full schedule of events at the poker club, including one giant weeklong tourney, a massive poker party, and many hours of streaming.
The men bought into The Lodge late last month and are looking to franchise the club across the state and beyond. They plan on growing the brand through events like this one, as well as streaming poker content through the room’s YouTube channel. The Lodge is part of a booming and competitive poker scene in and around Austin. With a dozen poker rooms, poker consumers have a smorgasbord of poker to choose from. But this week, all eyes will be on The Lodge.
A giant poker party
Today, the “Biggest Meetup Game in Texas History” is set to take place at 4 pm CST. Poker meetups are simply planned poker parties, and Polk expects huge numbers for this one.
“I don’t know what the number is for most tables ever for a meetup game, but something tells me we’re going to be in that vicinity,” Polk said on YouTube. “The last time I went to a meetup game with Brad Owen and Andrew Neeme, it was standing room only.”
A table or two will be randomly selected to appear on the stream, which starts at 8 pm CST.
The Lodge, also known as the “Lodge-Mahal,” certainly has room for a giant poker party. Following its recent expansion, The Lodge is one of the largest poker rooms in Texas with more than 60 tables and space for dozens more.
Monthly Monster
The massive room allows it to hold big-guarantee tournaments, which it does monthly. January’s version of The Lodge’s Monthly Monster starts Wednesday at 12 pm CST. The $600, $500K guaranteed tourney is fueled by eight flights and offers unlimited reentry. Flights take place at noon and 6 pm every day through Saturday, with Day 2 starting Sunday. The final table will be streamed.
Big week of streams over on https://t.co/t5Q1wuKiV6.
Should be a fun game tonight with myself, @TheBradOwen and @andrewneeme.
Really looking forward to the $100/$200 on Saturday too. pic.twitter.com/ItUnZSC789
— Doug Polk (@DougPolkVids) January 24, 2022
Mixed games and high stakes
Jake Abdalla, who is also a stakeholder in The Lodge, will host a mixed game on Wednesday at 3 pm CST. This is the first of a weekly mixed game stream that will be hosted by Abdalla, who creates content with Polk for Up Swing Poker.
Several other games will be streamed:
- Thursday, 1 pm CST, Neeme hosts a PLO Party
- Friday, 1 pm CST, Owens hosts a Bomb Pot cash game
- Friday, 8 pm CST, Polk will be hosting, but not playing in, the high-stakes cash game
Polk will be playing in a high-stakes game on Saturday, however, where blinds will be $100/$200. That game will be streamed live beginning at 8 pm CST.
If that’s not enough action, The Lodge will offer up Football Funday on Sunday, featuring $1/$3 games and free pizza for the players.
“We tried to pick as many fun things that people would want to see or get involved in as possible. I think we did a good job,” Polk said.
