The doors at The Lodge Card Club in Austin, Texas are open once more in the wake of its triumph in a months-long legal dispute with the state of Texas – and the card room has big plans to celebrate its grand re-opening.
On Thursday, Garrett Adelstein and Alan Keating will step into the ring (AKA: the set at The Lodge) to battle it out on the card room's high stakes livestream. Notably, the game at The Lodge will be the first time that these two titans of the cash game world face off in a live-streamed setting. While they've played in private games together – see Adelstein's incredible story for more details on that – the poker world has yet to see them cross swords.
Doug Polk, a co-owner of The Lodge, announced the showdown on social media and will also partake in the action, alongside Monkey Tilt founder Sam 'Senor Tilt' Kiki.
In a reply to Polk's post, Adelstein wrote: "I like my side."
Adelstein and Keating went on to make an appearance on Polk's podcast later the same day – check out all the best moments in the video above.
The Lodge back to business
As of today, The Lodge Card Club is back to business as usual – but at one point, it looked as though the legal dispute might be the end of the line for the card club.
After an early morning raid in March of this year saw the premises shut down, owners of The Lodge were forced into a number of hard decisions. With its assets and bank accounts frozen and the possibility of an extended closure hanging over its head, The Lodge had no choice but to lay off its employees. As the Texas Alcoholic Bevarage Commission conducted an investigation into suspected money laundering and illegal gambling, the future of the card room remained unclear.
Then, in late April, a Williamson County Grand Jury refused to authorize the state's proposed charges and it was all over – The Lodge won.
