"If I catch you not dropping enough (rake) I will cut your balls off and send you the fuck outta here."
-David La, Owner of Legends Poker Room: Staff Meeting
In this weeks blog I'll share my correspondence with an employee who currently works at Legends Poker Room in Houston Texas, For this person's safety and job secuurity identity shall be concealed.
As part of my ongoing "Texas Poker Cheats Exposed" video series and investigation, an employee (dealer) from Legends Poker Room reached out to me via email after watching my videos to let me know there is even more to the story behind what has already been exposed about David La, the disgraced owner of Legends Poker Room in Houston Texas who lost his gaming license in Los Angeles due to a money laundering charge before relocating to Houston and ultimately running the cities most successful, and (what many would call) Houston's most corrupt card room.
(LEGENDS EMPLOYEE): "Legends is the only card room that allows the players including David to speak in Vietnamese while there is a current hand in play.
"If you deal David (the owner) too many losing hands...you will be banned from dealing to him at any table"
(on speaking Vietnamese at the table) - I've been dealing for many years and you can not do that in any card room. It’s a WSOP rule. As a dealer if you deal David too many losing hands (not you messing up but him playing bad and losing) you will be banned from dealing to him on any table. So everytime he is at a table you have to be rerouted because he has a list of dealers who he does not want to deal to him.
"He also throws cards at you, curses at the dealers and many other things - downright degrading treatment!"
The (illegal) drop is the biggest thing. He will tell the dealers it’s their (Legends) money over respect. If a table is running short they will bring in floor managers to keep the game going all so they can get the drop.
"Now since you (KARDSHARP.com) have exposed Legends, there is a new policy at the large limits tables that no cell phones are allowed at to avoid recording."
This place needs to be shut down. I will find a new room to work in right now I am just there because I am in the middle of transition. I can not afford losing this job. Due to the action there unfortunately no other poker room comes close to the compensation. It can be tiring though because the players are allowed to verbally abuse you as well.
Of course if you have the owner and other floor people downgrading and disrespecting the dealers the customers follow.
"The rake is 10% after 25 up to 7 bucks. The idea is to get as many 1-3-6 games going because the 7 bucks will be reached faster. In the big game the rake is 10 to 20 per hand depending on the games played."
Those large games are usually worse for the dealers cause it’s people like David and others who treat you like shit and then tip you $1 on a 5k pot. Now we don’t expect tips but to take all that shit and not say anything and deal for 30 mins under that pressure and only make 5 to 10 bucks is horrible. Because you can deal to the lower level people and make 30-40 in that time and it not be nowhere near the pressure.
If Legends goes away I will have to find somewhere but for now this is it. You would think people would want somewhere decent like the card rooms you mentioned in your video because at Legends the restrooms are ran down, food is subpar and is not fresh,and the kitchen is nasty.
It is a "players ran" place is the reason why people go there - if (Legends) was eliminated then we rid Texas of this disrespectful “Shut up and Deal” mentality. Then the players would respect one another and the dealers.
We had a meeting about 3 months ago and David tells us “Nobody cares how you feel or what you think about anything” Just deal you don’t have an opinion on any conversation. If you can’t do that then leave I have plenty of dealers. He also told us get the drop - you don’t forget your tip so don’t forget my drop! If I catch you not dropping enough I will cut your balls off and send you the fuck outta of here.
"David has humiliated staff members in front of the customers and has not been shy about it it’s so painstaking to see dealers go through it but often we are blinded by the possibility of making 500 a day."
Legends is one of the Only places you can find that will allow rabbit hunting and hold and not fold.
The employees have to pay for their uniform and full price on food shirts are 30 bucks which you know is what you would pay for store bought shirt with overhead. So I am sure they are making money off of us with the shirts.
"We pay out to work there when we leave it is an average of $30 per shift."
Hope this helps since it’s all over the place trying to not forget anything.
Legends has the highest turnover of any card room. It’s a revolving door you will look for people and it’s like they got fired. Unlike other poker clubs in Texas, at Legends there is no membership fees and no door entry.
"The cheating is done in the big game with the non English speaking players."
...a few weeks back there was a situation where some guy made some huge calls with literally nothing but a gut shot and ended up calling 20k and won for a 100k pot. They thought he put some device on the cards because he did it the same way on 2 huge pots and left.
But the Vietnamese players constantly cheat. They will check it down between themselves but pot it when others are in the hand. And we are not allowed to say anything about them speaking in the native. They pass money when they win to the other and say it’s a lucky chip. I have even seen them give the last bet back etc."
When asked about the exposed card cheat:
"The one that you showed I know him. ...I know him to take money out of the pots as in changing $15 for a green chip or something like that. If indeed he was attempting to stack the deck I can tell you it was not favoring any of the players but a few that tip well. Which is still cheating."
When asked about the money laundering:
All the time they come in large amounts of money or they have it in the lockers behind the cage. I have never seen anyone fill out any forms for winning or anything like that. That’s the advantage I think to playing at Legends.
Be sure to check out The supplementary Poker Cheating Exposed video which will include:
Chip Stealing sleight of hand
A great bar bet to fool your friends with
Expert insight to the Men" The Master" Cheating Scandal
The Kardsharp solution for GTO Wizard and RTA protection
Comments