using the logic why don't they go somewhere else isn't very good... you're talking about poker players and assuming all make perfect decisions all the time. I have played a lot of hours here and elsewhere and I agree these games are terrible mainly because of buyin limits being so low but also because of the population which is overall very nitty compared to other areas. It's comprised of mainly retirees who are limiting their expenses as much as possible (poker being their main expense) and people trying to make supplemental income. The high rake no comps and no free drinks/food just adds to it being terrible but in terms $/hr not as significant.

btw some peoples reason to moving to jax over elsewhere was "there are no table games so I can't go degen off my money when I get hammered one night". Obviously this has nothing to do with the quality of the games.

you're also assuming just because they make more money that they have good credit/money saved and can afford security deposits etc for more expensive places. This is not always the case.

Some people just run good when they visit and make bad decisions based on that too and are forced into staying after they move. People can get a very skewed picture over very few hours or coming during series etc.

The main point is these people play better short then deep... that is why they do better or the same in jax vs other places. If they could play deep they would make more elsewhere but it's possible they can't they can just play supper tight and only play preflop/flop poker and never bluff.

Well put

any regs here that can provide any kind of feedback/thoughts at all about bestbet jax?

what ya wanna know?

the soup is too salty and the sushi uses very low grade fish but they get the rice right.

Any summer tournament series coming up?

Max buy-ins going up August 1st. Good news, although I'd rather them raise the minimum but that'll never happen.

2/2 - 40-300
2/5 - 200-800
5/10 - 500+

Glad to hear BIs being raised, agree on mins wish max was still 200bb
Is 5-10 no max?

Planning on staying in Jacksonville for 2 months from End of August until end of October. Any input where I could look for a longterm stay, rental car etc.? Trying to figure out what the best option is. Might have a place but not much else.

How have 2/5 games been since changes? Still 9 handed correct?

Its still one if he most nit-pro infested rooms in the State. So the games are deeper and the people who don't want to lose $200 at a time have moved down to 1-2, and the many nit pros are doing great since the bad players are losing money faster. This will no doubt encourage more nit pros to play more hours. Will be interesting to see if new money can come in as fast as it will need to make up for this, - time will tell. Usually the answer is no

For those who aren't aware, Best Bet is now a WSOP satellite location, and the first WSOP ME satellite is tomorrow night.

http://www.bestbetjax.com/tournaments/wsop-stl/

Trip Report: Bestbet Jacksonville

I recently spent 2 weeks playing at this card room and wanted to share my experiences. I played 12 sessions of $2/2 NLHE of 4 to 6 hours each.

Overall, my impressions of the room are very mixed. First the good stuff. The players were generally really, really bad. I had read other posts on the 2+2 forums which claimed this room is infested with nit-pros. Perhaps this is true at the $2/5 level, but it definitely wasn't true at $2/2. My home casino is Harrah's Cherokee, and the players in Jax were definitely weaker than the typical $1/2 players at home. In 12 nights of playing there, I was only in one game where people were actually trying to play well. The rest of the time most of the players were either loose-passive, weak loose-aggressive or tight-passive fish. There was a tremendous amount of limping and not a whole lot of attacking limpers. When I would make a large raise (say 8-10 bbs) after a couple limpers, players would routinely call with very weak hands. Once I realized how people were playing, I decided an ABC tight-aggressive strategy was the best approach (and I finished the trip with a win rate of approximately 10bbs per hour, which is pretty much what one would expect playing a solid style against weak competition).

Generally speaking, the dealers were quite good. There was one exception where in the space of 30 minutes a dealer miscalculated multiple side pots and also tried to push a pot to the wrong player. I don't know if he was just having an off night, but it was pretty egregious -- so much so that I chose to speak to the floor person about it. Which brings me to what I really didn't like about this card room -- management.

Bestbet is the only option in Jacksonville for poker (although they have two different locations). The lack of competition is obvious in terms of how they treat their patrons. For example, this is the only card room I have ever played at that charges for coffee and water. I found it extremely annoying that the cost for a cup of coffee was $1.25. That means I either had to be a cheapskate and only tip 75 cents or I had to tip $1.75. If you're gonna charge for coffee, just make it a dollar even.

More about management: when I spoke to the floor man about the dealer who had butchered multiple side pots, he was totally unconcerned and dismissive of my complaint. The dealer had screwed up really badly, and more than once. That's the reason I chose to call it to the attention of the floor. It was pretty clear to me that my complaint fell on deaf ears and the floor man didn't give a crap about my concerns. Which brings me to my second story about really bad decisions by floor people.

One night I was playing and an obviously drunk guy sat down at the table. The very first thing he did was trip over his chair and spill his drink. From the get-go he was spewing constant profanity and being generally disruptive. Over the course of an hour and a half the floor was called over at least 4 times due to the guy's behavior, yet they repeatedly refused to do anything about it. The guy was ordering two margaritas at a time, and finally after about an hour of constant disruptive behavior they did something about it. They told him they would only serve him one drink at a time! I was in shock. In any bar I have ever been in, this guy would have been cut off as soon as he sat down. Yet he was served at least 5 more drinks after it was clear he was highly intoxicated. Finally after nearly two hours and multiple complaints he was kicked out, but it took WAY too long for management to take action.

Returning to the good stuff, one really cool aspect of Bestbet is their livestream games. Every Tuesday and Thursday they had livestream games starting around 7pm (I think). I played in one, which was a first for me. It was a very cool experience, since I now have access to a 3-and-a-half hour youtube video where I can study my play. (Fortunately I had a good session and didn't embarrass myself!) For anyone interested in seriously studying and analyzing their game, having an opportunity to play a $2/2 livestream game is very cool.

Lastly, I will mention that the servers at Bestbet are some of the most beautiful women I have ever seen in a card room. It's pretty clear that they have a "type" that they hire. (It kind of reminded me of the Seinfeld episode where all of the waitresses at the diner had big breasts.) I had kind of mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, it made for nice scenery. But on the other hand I find it somewhat offensive when a business clearly weeds out any potential employees who aren't good looking.

On the whole, I wouldn't go out of my way to go back to Bestbet Jax, but I would be happy to play there again if I happened to be in Jacksonville for other reasons.

Thanks/great report!

Thanks for the detailed review. Heading out there this afternoon to play some $2/$2. Moved to Florida in 2015 and have yet to play so I'm excited to get the rust off (busy with family). Mostly played in Atlantic City, NJ (Borgata/Harrah's/Taj etc.) and Sands Bethlehem (PA). Interested to see how this place plays.

PLO Run often here? I’ll be in town this weekend for work. Didn’t see the room on Bravo, is there a way to check on the cash list?

check PokerAtlas, they might use that app/service.

as far as PLO running, I believe it's one of the bigger rooms in the country so I think you'll be good. I've not been (live 3 hrs away, been trying to make the trip just hasn't happen), but I've heard a ton of good reviews in terms of action.

Thank you!

Anybody else who frequents this room would you have any interest in a 20/40 half kill limit game?

Any interest at all for a limit game? Maybe even 6-12 half kill to start so as to attract some players. These games easily cover the rack and have regular pots of 2-300 and with a kill play 9-18 and pots grow to 500. Can play ten handed to increase VPIP.

I am planning a trip during football season to catch a game in town and plan to play some poker. Looking for a bit of advise. Is one room superior to the other room (in comparing the Jacksonville vs. Orange Park location). Looking to play 1/3 or 2/5.

Hey man, been to Jax many times. The "main" room on regency is really nice, with bad beat jackpots and high hand promotions all the time. The OP one is about 30 mins away from it and not worth hitting up imo, its a dump compared to the other one. 1/3 is up to 300$ and 2/5 up to 800$.

The NL games regularly available are 2/2 & 2/5 NL. Buyin ranges at Jacksonville are $40-300 & $200-800, respectively. The buyin ranges are lower at the Orange Park location ($40-200 & $100-500), but the games are rather loaded with regfish and OMCs. There's plenty of weak games available at Jax as well though.

PLO pretty much runs 1 table nightly at 5/10 uncapped. On really bad nights, like maybe monday or tuesday it might fail to kick off, but on fri/sat you can see 2 tables running, and on rare occasions even 3. The Orange Park location has a nightly PLO game that runs like clockwork. Supposedly thats the one to play in as it runs solely at the behest of 4 or 5 OMC's with deep pockets.

nightly $5-10? what ever happened to the $1-2 they used to offer when i was last there 3 years ago? i think it was a mix, part high part hilow with 5 cards instead of 4