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Poker pro Wade Townsend posted a video Friday evening to offer his thoughts on what is transpiring with the Austin, Texas area poker room The Lodge. It was raided during the early morning hours Tuesday and the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) has since confirmed the investigation involves allegations of money laundering.
Poker pro Doug Polk is a co-owner in the venue.
He calls the TABC action a "witch hunt" and insisted Wednesday member funds would be safe during the time the card room remains shuttered. As of Friday evening, Polk is yet to issue a public statement beyond saying he was still waiting on additional information.
Townsend, who was familiar with The Lodge long before Polk's involvement, is casting doubt on Polk's "witch hunt" claims, referring to The Lodge co-owner and one time self tanner entrepreneur as a "dipshit" responsible for ruining a good thing.
Townsend is a respected player in the community, having had his biggest live cash came in 2006 when he finished 2nd at the WPT Borgata Poker Open, which resulted in a cash out of $1.5 million.
Lodge Raid
Poker in Texas
Dipshit Doug Polk pic.twitter.com/smOAPuehVe— Wade Townsend (@WadeTownsendMan) March 13, 2026
"How could this have been prevented?" Townsend asks.
These types of establishments have gotten really hot in Texas courtesy of a loophole in the law that favors operators.
Here is how it works.
Most Texas poker venues operate as private membership clubs, not casinos.
Typical model:
- You pay a membership fee or hourly seat fee.
- The club does NOT take a rake (a percentage of the pot).
- All money in the game goes to the players.
This is presumably how The Lodge Card Room in Round Rock operated.
"The first room that popped up was really small," Townsend explains. "Everybody who played the game was smart enough to realize 'hey, let's not ruin this for everybody. We enjoy being able to play poker in Texas. Let's not make a big deal of things. Let's not try to cheat the rules'.
"Even back in the day, they used to have specific chips that you would tip the dealer with that you would buy separately because they didn't want the two things to ever be construed as being the same thing and that was a smart precaution of course."
Now enter Doug Polk.
He arrived in the Austin area some time around the Covid pandemic in 2020.
"Here comes Doug Polk," Townsend said, mockingly. "Every other f***ing r***** who moved to Austin during Covid, 'Hey Guys, Austin's awesome, let's get some barbeque. Yeah, so cool, Bro. The coolest'."
Townsend went on to explain how Polk discovered there is a card room in Austin, that being The Lodge.
"'I'm gonna buy this because I am the coolest'," Townsend mimicked what he believed Polk was thinking at the time. "'Everybody knows I am the coolest. I'm so cool, the coolest thing ever'. And so he buys The Lodge and proceeds to destroy it."
Townsend relayed how he would go to The Lodge "before this f***er ever found out about it".
"It was a great neighborhood card room. There were always eight to ten tables. People having fun. Nobody is loosing ridiculous amounts of money."
But Townsend claims Polk got too greedy.
"When you start having bigger games and people are 'yeah, I'll play this', and so they lose $10,000 to one person, and then they are like "man, I don't want to come back any more," so that person is gone forever.
"It was never a good idea for the player pool, for the economy of poker, the economy of Austin, to run big games."
- Nagesh Rath, Gambling911.com
