Houston’s Champions Social Club announces temporary closure

Houston’s Champions Social Club announces temporary closure
Poker writer Geoff Fisk profile photo
Geoff Fisk
Posted on: May 28, 2021 07:10 PDT

Poker club hosted biggest Main Event in Texas state history earlier this month

Weeks after running one of the biggest live tournament festivals ever attempted in Texas, Houston’s Champions Social Poker Club announced a temporary closure on Twitter.

The post announcing the closure, along with the entire Champion Social Twitter account, has since been taken down. The original post stated that the club would temporarily close as of May 30, with all daily tournaments canceled.

Poker.org called Champions Social, and a representative of the poker club confirmed that the venue would temporarily close. The representative said that the club would reopen at a different location, at a date yet to be determined.

She also told Poker.org that the club’s official website would provide details on the new location and reopening date as they emerged. For now, the club’s Twitter account has been shuttered, and the website doesn’t offer any insight on the closure as of Friday morning.

Massive live series ran at the club earlier this month

Champions Social hosted one of the most ambitious live tournament series of the year earlier this month, which included a record-setting Main Event.

The Lone Star Poker Series ran its most recent live tournament festival at Champions Social, with that series playing out April 15-May 3. The series included 19 total events, beginning with a multi-flight Spring Series Kickoff tournament that offered a $150,000 guaranteed prize pool for a $400 buy-in.

The series culminated in a $1,300 buy-in, $1 million guaranteed Main Event. The Inaugural Texas State Main Event ran as the first poker tournament in Texas history to award $1 million in guaranteed prize money.

The Texas State Main Event played out with a field of some of poker’s biggest names in attendance. Former WSOP Main Event champions like Greg Raymer and Americas Cardroom Team Pro Chris Moneymaker traveled to Houston for the Main Event, along with a slew of other stars from the poker world.

Other well-known pros in the hunt for the Main Event championship included Matt Berkey, Joey Ingram, four-time WPT champion Darren Elias, and billionaire recreational player Bill Perkins. Aside from Perkins, all of those players finished in the money in the Main Event.

The Texas State Main Event ended up going well past the $1 million prize pool mark. The tournament drew 1,818 entries, with the final prize money ballooning to $2,090,700.

Joon Park came away with the win in the Main Event, coming away with a $271,429 payday. The top four players in the tournament all collected six-figure payouts.

PokerGO was on hand for live coverage of the Main Event, which marked the first time for a Houston poker tournament to draw coverage from poker’s leading television brand.

Just weeks after what appeared to be a highly successful Main Event, however, Champions Social is shutting down. Check back with Poker.org for updates on the new location and reopening date from Champions Social.

Featured image source: Twitter