David La, Legends Poker Room,
Houston, Texas — Kicked Out of California
We think it’s important to get a handle on those individuals who seemingly are working against supporting and promoting legal, legitimate social clubs or poker rooms. At the top of the list in Houston — the epitome, in our opinion, of someone who is seemingly trying to bite the very hand that feeds them by engaging in controversial or even illegal activity at their clubs is none other than David La.
David La essentially was “Kicked Out of California” (see our accompanying page here: Kicked Out of CA to get a little more of La’s infamous background). Perhaps another way to put it was that he was stripped of his ability to work in the gaming industry in California when he had his gaming license taken away. La left California under a cloud of corruption. He played a central role in the money-laundering scandal at Normandie Club, a casino in Gardena, California that eventually forced the casino’s owning family to be ordered to sell the casino. La was the casino’s Operating Manager and subsequently was named as its Chief Operating Officer. Normandie was temporarily shut down, was purchased by Larry Flynt, and was renamed Larry Flynt’s Lucky Lady Casino.
La was terminated from Normandie. He filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the casino. It was dismissed. La lost his gambling license in California and was unable to continue in that profession in the Golden State.
That’s when he set his sights on Texas and Houston. He shamefully dragged his unethical practices to the great state of Texas.
Why Texas? In a bit of the old school wild, wild west mentality, Texas sort of regulates poker but doesn’t really. Texas is certainly not California, and it sure ain’t Vegas when it comes to gaming or gambling oversight.
So David La made his way out here, to Houston, specifically, to begin plying his unethical trade practices when it comes to poker.
It took him a few years to get his own poker club, but he finally has — Legends Poker Room at 9275 Richmond Ave. in Houston
David La first started out on his Houston poker ownership roulette wheel by partnering with legendary poker player, Johnny Chan and another man, Ho Jun Sin, who, like La, is of Vietnamese heritage. Together, they acquired 52 Social, a poker room at 9371 Richmond Ave. in Houston. But the trio had a falling out — Chan alleged La and Sin were mismanaging the poker spot, embezzling money from profits. Chan sued them and settled out of court. Chan kept the poker spot and renamed it “Johnny Chan’s 88 Poker.” That venture didn’t last too long; Chan ran into money trouble, closed it down and sold it to Sanjeev Vora, who rebranded and reopened it as 101 Poker Richmond.
La and Sin moved on.
David La and Ho Jun Sin then opened up Legends Poker Room, just down the street from 88 Poker on Richmond Ave. David La’s Legends poker room has become legendary for the amount of crime and violence that has become a staple at that address. Just check out this post for more info about that: Legends Poker Room Legendary for Violence & Crime.
When it comes to David La and Legends Poker Room, here’s all you need to know: Legends Poker Room doesn’t even have a Yelp page. Why? The most likely explanation is that they don’t want you to see what it REALLY looks like in there, or subject themselves to 1-star reviews. They must be tired of getting those 1-chip reviews on PokerAtlas.com.