I couldn't agree more. Self-dealt games offer a great atmosphere for players at all levels - enjoyable, traditional and fun. It's poker at its best - the way poker should be.

So far the other Portland clubs are proceeding as usual, and enjoying the increased business from the closing of their competitor. The other clubs seem to think they can continue with the tips-only dealer system.
So -- either they haven't yet been informed of the change in the city's rules governing social gaming; or that change didn't really happen, or isn't as significant as PDXPoker stated. There is a lot of talk around the poker community of financial and legal problems PDXPoker was having. At any rate it is certainly closed for good: it held a quick garage sale yesterday, selling off its furniture, TVs, chips etc.

self-dealt games sounds like a nightmare. slow, incompetent dealing, tons of mistakes IMO. the "volunteer" dealers are bad enough.

As long as you can ignore the incompetence and the cheating self dealing sounds great

Rotating the deal would be especially difficult in tournament play. Imagine some of the players trying to split a pot at the end when multiple players are all-in!

I imagine they would still have some kind of person supervising the games, hopefully one for every 2-3 active tables. That person could assist with side pots or anything unusual.

Can confirm strip club poker is still going strong

Hi,

I wanna play live poker while I am around the area for the next two weeks. What would be the best place to play 1-2, 2-5 NLH? Are there any places that runs PLO? For a person who doesn't live in this state, the situation here is a little bit confusing. Any help much appreciated.

I sure hope the Portland poker rooms aren't shut down. My understanding is that the new Cowlitz Casino named Ilani (by La Center, WA) won't have a poker room at least when they first open next year.

Heard poker in Oregon is dead...

How can a business making $10 a head offer such a stupid $5k giveaway? That's clearly the reason Encore is shutting down and not other clubs. If I was the guy, and pretty sure I know who it is, I'd confront John to his face about the issue...

Are other clubs in fact still operating? I'll be in town next week and would love to play.

Everything else is still going strong. Encore has long been the sketchiest club or at least the owner and there is likely more to the story.

All others going strong. The "rule change" didn't come with increased enforcement mechanisms, which the city has never had.

Hi, gonna be in Portland (well, Hillsboro) for the next couple of weeks.

Not expecting to have loads of free time, but certainly interested in finding local games to play.

Specifically I'm interested in small stake NLHE (and maybe PLO) - 1/2 or 1/3 games. Also, if there's anywhere I might find low limit mixed games, that would also be very interesting. I would also consider small NLHE tourneys on the weekend as an option to pass the time, probably only up to about $100 buyins.

I see that I could drive out to Spirit Mountain in about 90 mins, but there also seem to be a bunch of clubs in Portland itself and the surrounding area which I could consider. I've seen names like One Good Hand, PDX (although looks like this has closed now?) and a bunch of others I haven't researched much like Portland Meadows Poker, Final Table Poker and some others.

As locals, could you guys help me understand where I'm most likely to find what I'm looking for?

Rialto downtown has had consistent .50/1.00 games going for a while, more so with PDX Poker shutting down. $5.00 door fee. Does NOT play like a .50/1.00. Easily plays like a 1/2, and deeper as the night goes on. Good amount of money on the table (often two tables).

Join the NW Poker Facebook group if you are on FB.

Rialto (downtown) has a mixed game on Monday nights. It can be very deep and wild.

Claudia's has a PLO/PLO8 game on the weekends until football starts. It starts at noon.

I think the website is One Good Hand.

TIL

Is that NW as in pacific northwest part of the country? Or as in NW quadrant of Portland?

And what is TIL?

TIL = Today I Learned

I don't think it's the quadrant, although scrolling down on the Facebook page I don't see anything that's not Portland

But Rialto and Claudia's are on there and they're not NW quadrant

There are probably some options in Hillsboro for bar games, but I put together a weekly Portland-based (Wednesday) roundup of special events that may be of some use. Mostly focused on tournaments, but I mention the various clubs.

Unfortunately for you, most of the remaining Portland clubs are on the east side of town, which can be a long haul from Hillsboro.

The Game is on the west side, a couple miles south of downtown Portland. They start a 1/1 NLHE game at 11am, switches to 1/2 at noon.

Rialto is mentioned above. I can attest to the wildness of the Monday Mix game.

Portland Meadows is the new club in town. They start up at noon with a tournament. I don't know what their shootout (cash) games are like, they opened just before I went to work at the WSOP this summer.

Portland Players Club has runs dealer's choice mix games Wednesdays and Fridays, and has Big O tournaments.

Final Table is the other big club left. They start a 1/2 game at 11am, and run 2/5 and 5/10 regularly. They've got a $20K guarantee tournament this Friday evening.

Pacific Northwest, but sort of Portland-centric.

A year or two ago, Final Table was getting a 20/40 Limit Holdem game going a few times a week, but I don't see it on their website's schedule. Do they, or any rooms, get LHE at all anymore? Or Limit Omaha hi-low?

You a dealer? Work the WSOP every summer? If so, I think you may have dealt to me at WSOP in 2014. I remember chatting with a Portland dealer during event #49, as I had just been back to Oregon for the first time in years (in military, stationed out of state) to renew my driver's license and had discovered the club games.

Totally Portland-centric, unless it's Portland people talking about Pendleton or the Coast.