High-stakes poker pro and Texas social-poker club co-owner Doug Polk is headed back to the drawing board after his hopes of opening another poker club in a north Dallas suburb were shattered on Tuesday evening. The City Council of Farmers Branch, Texas, voted 4-1 to accept the recommendation of its Planning and Zoning Commission to reject proposed re-zoning and business-category changes that would have allowed a card room to operate within its boundaries.
The approval of the motion to decline Polk's bid for the needed zoning changes isn't the first time a poker club hoping to open in greater Dallas has faced significant opposition from local residents. In 2021, Champions Social abandoned plans to open a club on Dallas's northern edge after neighbors of the planned club protested its location in an upscale neighborhood.
This time around, the result was the same. Dozens of Farmers Branch locals turned out to voice their opinions against a poker club operating in their virtual back yard, easily outnumbering the handful of local poker supporters who wanted to see the club open. Polk had called for Dallas-area backers to attend the city council meeting, but warned off outsiders, not wanting to provide easy targets for the opposition.
'NIMBY' protests dominate hearing
As with a zoning-commission hearing in April that also featured much lecturing and railing by Farmers Branch residents against the evils of gambling, Tuesday's city council meeting offered a loud chorus opposed to Polk's proposed club.
At one point, Polk supporter Scott Friedman captured a picture of an older woman pointing at Polk and lecturing him on the topic. "She's yelling directly at @DougPolkVids," Friedman noted, while posting a photo on Twitter/X. Polk is visible in the photo at lower left:
Polk's web guru, Thomas "SrslySirius" Keeling, excerpted another moment from the Farmers Branch livestream and posted it online. In one of the hearing's lighter moments, the short video shows two opponents of the card room seated two rows behind Polk showing a small printed sign reading, "No Card Room". Polk notices the sign on a TV screen behind the council's seats and makes a playful attempt to block the sign, which in turn leads to the council's leader ordering that all signs were to be taken down:
Out-of-business furniture store targeted as probable club venue
Polk and his supporters were likely well aware of the Champions Social Dallas fiasco from 2021, more wisely choosing a vacant commercial outlet on Farmers Branch's east side, just blocks from the I-635 / Dallas North Tollway interchange. He had said it would be "the largest poker room in Texas" if given the go-ahead.
The proposed location on Alpha Road was previously occupied by a furniture store and would have needed approval both in its zoning and in language approving "card room" as an acceptable business purpose for the venture. Despite the location being nowhere close to any residences, schools, or churches, the Farmers Branch locals' opposition was still heard loud and clear by the five council members in attendance.
Polk, though, is unlikely to give up his plans to enter the Dallas-Fort Worth area as a card-room operator. The co-owner of The Lodge Card Club, near Austin, remains undaunted, and his first post to social media following his proposal's defeat offered a Terminator riff, before a longer post showing his class in defeat.
You can watch the City Council meeting, including a very passionate speech from Polk starting at 1:09:09, below.
Featured image source: Farmers Branch City Council hearing livestream
