Shark Tank Poker Club (Columbus, OH)
 

Anyone been to NST? Do you pay $20 bucks every time you go play cash games there? Is there a rake?

Re: Nicks Shark Tank Columbus
 

Yes the session fee is $20. There is no rake. Pots over $50 they take $1 for the bad beat. The bad beat is currently at $9999.

It is a good place to play. Two to three $1/2 tables a night and usually 2-3 tables of tournament players, depending on the night. Fridays there can be 80 people in there. PLO goes off I think on Sat night.

Friday and Saturday evening they have hired an armed security guard. Also there are other businesses in the shopping plaza so it is pretty safe.

They sometimes buy pizza for everyone. They try to take care of their members.

There is a bar right next door and sometimes people go over and get drunk and then come back and we take their monies:laugh:

Re: Nicks Shark Tank Columbus
 

nice, thanks. what time do games usually get going? aslo is the nick in the name decker?

Re: Nicks Shark Tank Columbus
 

Games usually start around 7pm. Nick is the name of the owner but I don't know his last name. He is a San Jose Shark's fan, hence the name. He collects sports memorabilia, so there are some signed jerseys and stuff hanging on the walls.

They have flat screens on the walls and usually have Reds/Indians or other sports/espn playing.

There should be a good crowd tomorrow night, come on down and check it out!

Oh there is a $20 yearly membership fee but I'm pretty sure they waive the session fee the first night. Also the session fee for tournaments is only $10 and for the cheap tournaments I think it might even be $5. Not sure though as I mostly play the cash games.

Re: Nicks Shark Tank Columbus
 

thanks for the info. checking it out tonite. tomorrow.......... depends on tonite

Re: Nicks Shark Tank Columbus
 

As I'm fascinated with strip-mall card games, can anyone point me to Ohio law on these? Is this a charitable room? Is that how it's done there?

[There are plenty of legal strip-mall games out there, tons in California for example, I'm not finger pointing. Just curious.]

Also, $9999 is a fascinating coincidence, no? I assume they're holding new BBJ funds until that one clears or something?

Aside, isn't OH one of those crazy places you sue people and get gambled money back from them?

EDIT: Reading this one in the meantime to build up that understanding. http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/27...poker-1027566/

Re: Nicks Shark Tank Columbus
 

not charitable. i believe the games are legal because they are a private club with membership dues.

Re: Nicks Shark Tank Columbus
 

I assume the bad beat is kept at $9999 so the max you can win is $4998 and they are not obligated to make you fill out a tax form. I don't work there but that is my assumption. Yes, they have a backup bad beat pot that builds up so when this one hits it will be several thousand already.

At one point both the main and backup pots were maxed out and they were doing a bonus for high hand of the night for like $200 or something.

I have tried to read the Ohio Title Code but it is confusing. The main thing appears to be that it is not a "game of chance for profit" since they don't take a rake. These are private clubs with membership dues where members have the opportunity to play cards, pool, darts, etc.

In reality they stay open because no one has complained. Once the casino opens, I fully expect them to get closed down. Can't have free enterprise and competition after all, this is 'merica!

Re: Nicks Shark Tank Columbus
 

In Ohio, as long as there is no rake taken (i.e.typical home game), poker is legal.
They skirt around the law by making it a private club. instead of the normal monthly or annual dues that a typical club charges, they charge a "daily use fee" to use the club. You don't pay to play poker, you pay to use the club. Tipping the dealers is purely vountary, and the money collected for BBJ gets paid out later ... so it "looks" like a rake free home game.

One of the local news stations did a story on these a couple years ago. They even took a hidden camera into them. They then showed the footage to a city attorney (FWIW, they didn't show it to the attorney who handles these types of crimes, but w/e) who said that there was nothing on the film that was illegal.

Realistically, they haven't gotten much heat because there haven't been many (if any) complaints. The local newspaper recently ran a follow-up story on them, and the city prosecutors basically said that they can't find a law that is being broken, and the cops basically said that they had more important things to do with their time. AFAIK, there haven't been any major problems (fights, shootings, robbery, etc) at any of them.

But I agree that once the legal casinos open, these places will either close down or get closed down.

Re: Nicks Shark Tank Columbus
 

What's the buy-in for the cash games? I'm only familiar with Gemini.

Re: Nicks Shark Tank Columbus
 

While searching for the video:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/27...-clubs-487102/

Sadly, the Fox28 story doesn't appear to be on their site any longer.

The important quote was "IF they can prove they're legitimate private clubs." Neat.

Anyway, interesting. I'll carry some of this back to the legal forum with me later.

Re: Nicks Shark Tank Columbus
 

Buyin for the $1/2 game is up to $300, and/or up to 75% of the big stack if larger. Min buyin is something like 60ish, maybe 80? I think the buyin for the PLO game is $300/$1000 but I've only played it a couple times.

Since the $1/2 game buyin is $300, it plays the same as the $1/3 at the Gemini. If you raise to $10 you are getting four or five callers. $18, maybe two to four. I've had situations with raise to $14ish, call, call, I raise to $50 on the button with JJ or QQ type hands, and all three call. Flop comes AhKh3x or similar of course:p

Re: Nicks Shark Tank Columbus
 

had a good time. good games. had 4 tables going for awhile. tourney is a little better than some of the ones i have played at clubs. small turn out, but i hear it was just a slower tourney night. will definitely be back.

Re: Nicks Shark Tank Columbus
 

I was wrong. Jim is one of the owners. He has a son named Nick.

Re: Nicks Shark Tank Columbus
 

Anyone been playing here recently? Will be in town for a handful of days leading up to the Wisconsin game. Debating between Nick's and Gemini. Thanks.

Re: Nicks Shark Tank Columbus
 

For anyone in Cbus, or willing to drive here, there is a small MTT series at Nick's Shark Tank starting Weds 2/22. Details here.

http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/2439/nsty.png

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Re: Nicks Shark Tank Columbus
 

I played their Friday night tournament and they had a record 82 players. Once the tourney field was down to 3 tables the other 7 were filled with cash games. I will be playing their Main Event tourney on Saturday. From what I heard, they are bringing in more tables to allow a maximum of 130 players in their tournies this week. Anyone else plan on playing?

Re: Nicks Shark Tank Columbus
 

I plan on playing the daytime events Thurs - Sat. If I bust out early I may play the evening events. This should be a nice warm up for the Tri-State poker series at Hollywood next month. Between these two events I am holding off on going to AC or Hammond, I'll be good till April now.

I was a little concerned at the noon start times during the week, but it seems like there is a lot of interest. I don't know what to expect since this is the first series like this for NST, but I'm hoping for the best. Someone mentioned they are advertising during poker broadcasts on ESPN, so it should be a good tournout.

The tourney Friday was great. Joe is a good tournament manager. The dealers are all good. I have had FAR worse dealers at the tourneys at Hollywood, so I'm really looking forward to this.

Re: Nicks Shark Tank Columbus
 

78 runners for the noon Friday event counting rebuys. Great structure. I hung on and made the final table. Finished 7th for $795. First was around $7500.

Got it all in pre with AA and lost to 33. Would have had around 250K chips and in good shape for a much bigger cash. Played 18 hours between yesterday and today, probably not playing the main event tomorrow.

Re: Nicks Shark Tank Columbus
 

Nice, ul.

Sat's Main Event got around 74 entrants and paid top 8. First was $8,500 ish. I busted in 16th but never really had much momentum.

Re: Nicks Shark Tank Columbus
 

Main was a really nice structure. I finished somewhere between 28-31. I can't remember now exactly. I was exhausted, barely slept in a couple days. AA < QJ on AKT board. I had just started gaining momentum after playing a level or two constantly at push/fold mode.

I thought it was cool that they brought in pizza for everyone.

I've always found the staff to be really nice and friendly as well.

Re: Nicks Shark Tank Columbus
 

I played in four tournaments and they were all ran excellently - staff really go out of their way to make customers happy. NST is the nuts - I'm not going to be thrilled when the casino arrives, tbh.

Re: Nicks Shark Tank Columbus
 

Hello to any of the guys I met tonight. I was the non-regular :)

Re: Nicks Shark Tank Columbus
 

Some reviews on Google claim that collusion in the cash games is a problem. Can anyone confirm?

Re: Nicks Shark Tank Columbus
 

I've never seen someone claim collusion occurred that was a good player.