Were you there for the tourney last night? I made it to 22nd but a run of coin flips that always went against me ended my night.

I always choose the Snakes when I go play in Kahnawake... I play mostly 1-2 cash games, sometimes 5-5 when I'm on tilt. The fact that there are never 2-5 tables running is annoying though... But I find the staff very friendly and the average player is terrible AND friendly so I like it. So my best option now if I wanna try a new room in the are would be the Playground I guess !?

Yeah I was there on table 4 (seat 2) with Brian, Spider, Kosta, DanV etc. I was more than holding my own until the kind of crazy hand that you get at a table like that. Made an idiotic move - I called a blind suicide shove with two others but when the flop was a total brick I thought I'd be smart and fold to the re-shove by another player in the hand and start again from about 15K. I would have hit the turn, no one really had anything, and regardless of the results I should have shoved instead of called (or folded pre).

Yeah that table was pretty crazy from what I saw. I started at table 6, moved to 5 when it broke, and then to 1 when it broke. Table 4 broke soon after and that's when my run of coin flips gone wrong started.

I made the opposite move to yours and called the re-shove on the flop on table 5 when I had a gutshot-straight-flush draw and missed. Third player in ended up hitting a 5-outer on the river for the main pot and side-pot was won with 10-10.

Since Playground is the only new room that would be your best option if you want to try something new, yes. Lately they're averaging five or six $1-2 tables, 4 or 5 tables either $2-5 or $5-5 (usually both), and usually a $5-5 PLO game during peak hours.

I picked them up for Jeff already - will be shipping them early this week.

I was at Playground on the weekend - BBJ is up to 61K. Lots of action as well - it's pretty impressive what they've been able to do in a short period of time.

Whats the rake here for 2/5 compared to the playground and casino? Not sure where to play when i go to montreal.

Sacha all rooms in Kahnawake have the same rake structure for 1/2 and 2/5. But you might have trouble actually getting a 2/5 game at Snakes or Four Aces now.

5% max $14

Should I understand from your comment that Snakes and Four Aces are pretty much dead or dying? Or is 1/2 still running well there?

Four Aces is open Thu-Sat right now.

Snakes is still 7 days a week and they're still getting a decent turnout for tourney each night but the last few times I went the cash games seemed to be more or less 1/2 with only an occasional 2/5.

Playground is the S*** imo. If you sit at the cash table you get free food/drinks. For tournaments, just drinks. However, the food is pretty cheap, i got a huge chicken sandwich for $10 (i'm hungry).

They have a variety of tournaments every week and the structure is gppd. All the dealers are pretty chill and accurate. Downside, the rake is pretty high, especially at 1/2 (10% or $8 >$80 pots). I'd play 2/5 instead.

Yeah Four Aces is in a bit of a slump - rumour (well, more than rumour) is that it's for sale or has been sold. There was talk of a closing date in early April, but that has passed and things seem to still be up in the air. One interesting thing about it, though, is that they've been spreading 1/2 and 2/5 mixed games pretty regularly on weekends - I think HORSE but I'm not 100% sure (it's not for me). Otherwise a lot of the players are regulars and there's no shortage of gamble - there was a $900+ pot at a very deep 1/2 table last week, for instance.

Right now though Playground is your best bet, though I still have high hopes for the Return of Four Aces in the near future.

Word from a couple of dealers I know is that Four Aces has finally been sold and the new owners are getting things going again. I haven't been yet under the "new management" but I'm hopeful that it will give us a third/fourth option in Montreal for good action. There have been some interesting rumours about who the buyers might have been over the past few months, so I'll see what I can find out about that as well.

What's the BBJ at Playground nowadays?

It's over 70K now, probably around $73K.

So I'm going to play in the new tournament at Four Aces tonight. It's a $50 unlimited rebuy for the first 4 levels plus an add-on at the end of the rebuy period. Sounds like a great way to build a huge prize pool to me.

But if it's as silly now as it has been in the past few months I'll quit early and go play cash at Playground.

How did you do last night? Was it silly?

It was a better tournament than it had been in the past couple of months (i.e., not selling dead stacks to people who had busted, rebought, and busted again), but it was still pretty small.

I don't want to spread rumours (and I know you know already) so I'm not going to discuss the rest of it. It was a strange evening, leave it at that.

I will say this - JF Boulais is a great dude. He's been working so hard to keep things together...

Someone asked in the C de M thread about rumours of a fourth poker room opening in Kahnawake.

I've heard that rumour as well, and have reason to believe that it's more than simple/idle speculation. But I don't know any details (I'm not in any way an insider in the Montreal poker world, that's for sure).

There is some discussion of Playground expanding as well, which I believe to be true.

mikelbyl - have you reserved a spot in the NLH FACEOFF event yet? I figure you probably have a good chance at making it on points if you continue your normal attendance habits in the tournies for the next month anyway, but regardless it should be worth buying in to if you don't make it.

http://www.playgroundpoker.ca/nlh

So In montreal or Quebec, you either have to be gov't or on a reserve to run a card room?

i just can't believe players would pay a $8-$14 rake per hand..

$3-$5 is norm. No wonder the food and drinks are free...

Nice troll bud.

There are articles about Kahnawake (and other Montreal-area) poker in La Presse today (must read French).

First article is about Playground:

http://www.cyberpresse.ca/actualites...-kahnawake.php

Second article is about underground clubs in Montreal:

http://www.cyberpresse.ca/actualites...a-montreal.php

I thought for a minute they'd lump in Kahnawake with the illegal clubs, but although there is a short mention of the jurisdictional issues at play, and some critique of poker clubs from someone in Kahnawake, they seem to correctly make the distinction between the two kinds of establishment.

For those who don't know, Playground is now open 24/7. They use to close at 6am and reopen at noon.