Issue at "Johnny Chan's 88 Social" cardroom in Houston?

Johnny Chan's 88 Social is a cardroom in Houston. Johnny is personally involved with it -- this isn't a name licensing thing.

Some allegations are flying on Twitter regarding a recent incident there, and supposedly some players have quit 88 Social because of it.

https://twitter.com/unomaas/status/1449554477338476545

https://twitter.com/unomaas/status/1449555983550881793


The story going around is that a player named George, who is supposedly a close friend of Johnny's, welched on $60k worth of sports bets against a popular female player at 88 Social.

According to unomaas on Twitter, this has caused other players to become furious about the situation, and they've quit the place. He claims that the 5/5/10 PLO game, which used to go very often, has ditched 88 Social and moved to the nearby Legends Poker Room.

The most damaging part of the allegations involves 88 Social supposedly lacking cash at the cage to cash out people's chips, but it's possible this was more of a "run on the bank" situation, where they didn't keep that much cash on hand at once, for security reasons. I'll try to get clarification on that.

Please be aware that I have not verified any of the above, and am simply going on the report from this Twitter user above. Still worth noting, in case you're in Houston.

You can never trust someone who makes it six bets and folds to seven bets in limit hold'em

BUMP

Looks like he was right.

Shit hit the fan.

https://twitter.com/HoldemMedia_Dan/...71130686627847

Here is a video made recently that makes a lot of the Houston poker clubs look bad.

It's speculated this was a paid piece done by prime social.

https://youtu.be/_6SkjnzHYmA

Good article about this:

Quote:

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In the lawsuit, which Poker.org has obtained, Chan details how he met with La and Sin at the Bellagio in September 2019 to discuss buying into the club, which was then known as 52 Social. Chan asserted in the lawsuit that he was promised a 20% share in exchange for $40,000 and use of his name and likeness. However, Chan then claimed that “June” Sin refused to sign any documents that acknowledged his 20% ownership stake, despite La acknowledging Chan’s ownership stake.

Chan’s lawsuit alleged several torts including fraud, breach of contract, and the misappropriation of Chan’s likeness. Chan also alleged that Sin tried to buy him out of the 88 Social operation at one point for $100,000.

The larger bomb in the lawsuit, however, involved Chan’s allegations against Sin. Chan described Sin’s failure to acknowledge Chan’s part ownership as “the result of Mr. Sin’s greed and his desire to continue looting the company for his benefit and to the detriment of all shareholders.” Chan went on to describe an operational scheme wherein La and Sin were “distributing hundreds of thousands of dollars monthly to numerous owners and employees characterized as ‘house players,’ and these players use this free money to play in poker games, either keeping the winnings or kicking them back to one or more of the Defendants.” Chan also alleged that Sin purchased a car for himself with company funds.

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https://www.poker.org/johnny-chans-8...n-poker-scene/

Also LOL:

Quote:

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The room’s recent cap on chip cashouts by players of $2,000 per day has also lowered players’ incentive to play at the room.

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If anyone has any $1, $5, or $25 chips that they are looking to cash in, please drop me a line.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by alpha1243

If anyone has any $1, $5, or $25 chips that they are looking to cash in, please drop me a line.

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I should explain this post better.

alpha1243 is a longtime chip collector. He has a very extensive collection, and has been doing it for years.

I'm assuming he probably wants some of these Johnny Chan 88 Social chips, and is willing to buy them at face value. While I am not vouching for anything here, the guy has been around for a long time and is trusted in the chip-collecting community.

alpha, how much are you looking to buy?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dan Druff

alpha1243 is a longtime chip collector. He has a very extensive collection, and has been doing it for years.

I'm assuming he probably wants some of these Johnny Chan 88 Social chips, and is willing to buy them at face value. While I am not vouching for anything here, the guy has been around for a long time and is trusted in the chip-collecting community.

alpha, how much are you looking to buy?

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I'm looking to help out those poker players "stuck" holding chips that no longer have any value. I don't imagine that players would hold any large quantities of chips, but you never know. So far no one has reached out to me, but depending on the denominations and quantities they have we could work out a fair price. I would buy the $1 chips at face as this denomination is the most commonly collected chip. Higher denominations drop in value.

Thanks, Druff.

Druff,

I enjoyed your segment on Johnny Chan's 88 Social, but I seriously doubt anyone will buy it. Those Texas poker rooms are usually not stand alone buildings, but are located in strip malls. This is the case with 88 Social. Aside from the poker tables, chairs, chips, and other equipment left abandon in the rental unit, there really is nothing of value to purchase. Once they stop paying the landlord their rent, it can be rented to any other group that wants to open a new poker club. As you noted, the name is tarnished, so has no value.

As you saw on the map, that area of Houston has several poker clubs. It's a matter of getting customers in an over saturated market. I did play there when it was called 52 Social and it was the largest and best run room in Houston. Interested to see what becomes of the location, but since it's just a generic strip mall unit, it could be turned into a donut shop. lol

If I'm contacted by anyone looking to sell their Johnny Chan chips, I'll let you know.

Vic

BUMP

88 Social is no more. New owner. Chan is out. New name.

https://www.pokernews.com/news/2021/...-101-40470.htm

Now called "101 Poker Club".

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dan Druff

BUMP

88 Social is no more. New owner. Chan is out. New name.

https://www.pokernews.com/news/2021/...-101-40470.htm

Now called "101 Poker Club".

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The original location of 101 Poker was in Katy, TX. Looks like they're growing the brand into this 2nd location in Houston. Both 101 Poker Clubs are only 23 miles apart. I suspect that they may close the Katy location in the future if the Houston location turns out to be more profitable.

Only Texas Card House (TCH) and Shuffle have multiple locations with 4 and 2 respectively. 52 Social, before becoming Johnny Chan 88 Social and now 101 Poker, also had a second location, and still do, in south Houston.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shizzmoney

The larger bomb in the lawsuit, however, involved Chan’s allegations against Sin. Chan described Sin’s failure to acknowledge Chan’s part ownership as “the result of Mr. Sin’s greed and his desire to continue looting the company for his benefit and to the detriment of all shareholders.” Chan went on to describe an operational scheme wherein La and Sin were “distributing hundreds of thousands of dollars monthly to numerous owners and employees characterized as ‘house players,’ and these players use this free money to play in poker games, either keeping the winnings or kicking them back to one or more of the Defendants.” Chan also alleged that Sin purchased a car for himself with company funds.

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Sounds similar to the Full Tilt business model.

Apparently 101 Poker is using the old rack from Johnny Chan's, so players can cash in any chips they took home.