Sign In Register. July in General Concepts. I live in Austin, and as many love to joke about, there is no legal Texas Hold’em available in Texas. Until recently, as several creative entrepreneurs in Austin, Houston, and a few monsy cities have opened what have been called «poker clubs». The idea is that they are a country club, that doesn’t profit directly from poker this is how they skirt the lawbut rather provide a safe and enjoyable location for members to play rake-free poker, in exchange for doo membership fee. We can put aside the legal questions for the moment;as of yet, they haven’t been raided or hassled apparently despite operating very publicly. My question is whether that kind of rake is beatable. July If you want to play however, it doesn’t sound like you have much of a choice. July edited July I’m not experienced live but that sounds like a big deal to how do poker social clubs make money.