The Royal Card Club in Austin, Texas has a unique poker room concept that just might help bring more women into the game of poker.
Lisa Pickell, VP of Operations and Business Development for the poker club, which opened in April, explained some of the challenges her business faces, and shared an optimistic view of the good it could do for the poker community.
Bringing More Women into Poker
Pickell, originally from New Jersey, is a longtime poker player. She’s an instructor for Poker Power, an organization focused on empowering women to win in life and poker. Her intent with Royal Card Club is twofold — she of course wants it to be a profitable business venture, but also to help attract more women to the game of poker.
“It has always been our goal since Day 1, was we wanted to create a club that was targeting women, bringing more women into the game,” Pickell said.
The concept, which she acknowledges, is challenging. Royal Card Club, a 13-table room with capacity to hold as many as 20 poker tables, must compete for players with major rooms in Austin such as Texas Card House and The Lodge Card Club, the largest poker room in Texas and one of the biggest in the world.
Royal Card Club’s second challenge is to make the concept work. While the card room is open to everyone, Pickell is targeting women as her key demographic. And she envisions the room being a comfortable place where women can learn how to play poker and compete in a friendly environment.
“We want to give them this space where it’s welcoming for women,” Pickell explains.
Pickell isn’t trying to provide opposition to The Lodge, which is co-owned by Doug Polk. Instead, she’s creating a niche — marketing more to women than most poker rooms — and she hopes it will pay off.
A Need for the Concept
There is clearly a need for poker rooms such as Royal Card Club, not just in Texas. Women in poker advocates will point to the low female turnout in the 2024 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event (only 3.5% of the record-setting 10,112 players) as an example of why rooms such as Royal Card Club are beneficial.
This weekend, the poker room in Austin is hosting the Texas Star Ladies Championship via the Ladies International Poker Series (LIPS). The action began on Friday with a livestreamed cash game and $150 Warm-Up event. On Saturday, the $250 Championship Event kicks off at 11 a.m., and a LIPS Meetup Game (MUG) is scheduled for 7 p.m. The Championship Event will conclude on Sunday with the final table being livestreamed.
Men are permitted to play in the Championship Event, but it will cost them $750 to enter. Royal Card Club does not discourage men from playing in cash games or tournaments and joining the club. In fact, Pickell realizes the business, which is owned by Las Vegas poker player Larry White, needs a good mix of men and women among the customer base to thrive.
But if the niche they’ve chosen works, the business will make money, and Pickell will achieve her goal of bringing more women into poker.