Aces

I play at Spirit Mountain often. It is not perfect and I share many of your frustrations. The 1/3 and 2/5 no limit action is plentiful on the weekends and the player pool is way deeper than someone who only attends occassionally may conclude. There can be a problem with hit and miss, however Friday and Saturday have been very consistant of late. Last night there were 6 no limit games (two 2/5 tables, both very worthwile) and 3 tournament tables at the same time. Its not Vegas but if your complaining about there not being a lively 'poker central' for cash games around here, you should try making the drive for a couple weekends and give them a try. I took a liitle time off recently and when I came back I noticed the managment may have turned the corner a little. They implemented a couple player recommended changes and appear to be willing to listen a little more. YMMV

I just left Aces great game !

Anyone still playing this morning ?

Dang man. Where u playing at 5am? The loft game in the pearl?

I have played that game yes sir !

Anyone still out playing this morning

ROFL. You should PM me your number if you can get me into this (these?) after 2 am game(s) next time I'm back in town. Should have some home time in pdx next week some time.

I play at AoS quite frequently, and have been crushing the 1/2 game recently. Everyone there knows me as I have been around since the opening.

I do like Encore as well, and play some of the weekend tournaments from time to time, but AoS is 1 mile from home, and the shootouts are very fun to play there.

O rly? Who is u? I am sure we have battled!!

Hey framer... Ron was talking smack about your OFC game hehehe. He ran like god against me at encore the other day, until he didn't

I'm gonna be playing final table/encore /private games today to friday every day,anyone else gonna be grinding also?

Name is Mike .. I use the little Indycar as my card guard ..

Open face ? I have won a few games

Yeah OFC and I'm just joshin ya . I was sweating one your games while he and I played at Encore. I was berating him as a luckbox!

PDXracer/mike - we've spoken about racing before. I work on the nitro car in woodburn. Cya at spades soon!!

Ahh yeah ... I went and played last wednesday and got pWned! .. Left before I made things any worse.

Still was a great month of march for me though.

In case anyone who follows this thread hasn't heard:

http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/i...incart_m-rpt-2

If this bill passes, it will put all of the poker rooms in Portland, as well as Dallas, Eugene, Bend, etc. out of business. At my room, that means 15 employees will lose their job, not to mention the 30 or so dealers. We expect to be able to stop the bill and our efforts are focused, but there will probably be a time soon when the more voices we have, the better.

I'll leave Oregon and take my income tax elsewhere if this bill passes. Not joking.

That may be the case with me as well, but of course that will be because I'd be out of a job and my profession would no longer be viable here.

It would really be a shame. I love Oregon, love Portland and after spending my first 19 years in Alabama, instantly felt this strong sense of "you're home" that I wasn't expecting the first time I set foot there.

But no baseball (lol Hillsboro), then no no Ladd's Inn, then no poker, wow, strike ****ing three. Would be a very sad day.

I think this proposed change is nearsighted, and shouldn't be allowed to pass. However, on a side note, I don't see how it could affect Bend. In Bend, we don't have dealers, and the games are defined by the city as "home games". No rake, dailies, or tipping allowed. Money can't even be held by the host.
Either way, as many players as possible should be made aware of this.

Everyone who plays at these clubs in pdx need to email the two women politicians who are planning this. I think Chris Vetter is working on something now for the players and club owners to take to the city to show them we are plus EV for the community

thanks

Worm

Why do you say that? As it stands, my money would be on it passing. Those in favor have what I view as the very, VERY strong sword consisting of the fact that the poker clubs in town CLEARLY aren't what the state legislature had in mind when it enacted the social gaming laws, and not what is contemplated by the city ordinance.

I don't want this to pass since it will eliminate my go-to venue, but I feel worse for tournament players. I'll still be able to dig up cash games, but it's a long drive to Spirit Mountain.

I can understand why you would feel that way, we're not really giving out a lot of details about our efforts to fight this. I can't really say any more than that we are working on personal outreach and education with our lawmakers, and we have many valuable allies on our side. Like you, I was pessimistic when I first heard of it but the coalition of Portland clubs has pulled together a phenomenal team in the last five days. The beauty of poker is that there are plenty of lawyers and other powerful politically-connected people who enjoy it.

I certainly hope you're right, but I'll remain doubtful. No matter what you do, no matter how many law makers you convince the clubs are a good thing (yay, small business), shining any light on the very thin line the clubs are already walking can't be a good thing. Given the state of their poker room, I'm frankly pretty shocked Grand Ronde hasn't launched one of these efforts a long time ago.

It's obv not good for club owners and people wanting to play 20$ tournaments, but for people that want to play bigger it could be beneficial.

I'd love it if Portland only had one or two big poker rooms that were as professional as SM, but that's not the case. I haven't been to Portland in over six months... but imo there's too many clubs. They aren't professionally run (dealers, chips, tables, esp the cash game structure/ workaround). They just aren't places most people would want or even feel comfortable 1. bringing large amounts of money and 2. spending lots of time there.

It's rake free, but at what cost? Yes, driving over an hour one way sucks, and yes, paying $5 rake kinda stings, but SM is still the best card room. Dealers, chips, tables, floor are all professional. People feel comfortable bringing money and spending lots of time (binging really) there. They offer the biggest game I've been able to find 2/5nl no cap, and it runs all weekend. Hopefully these changes will force more people to drive to the mountain and add more depth to the 2/5

That doesn't make any sense to me. Most of the tournaments running in Portland are bigger than a $20 buyin.

I don't share the view that the SM tournaments are run any more professionally than those in Portland. I played and chopped a tournament at SM two weeks ago, and it was fine, but the room's small, it's a long drive from my home, and I don't play cash games, so their regular daily tournaments just aren't that appealing. The schedule's sparse, the fields aren't big, and it's not worth my time to drive that far for a small game. Even the Top of the Mountain series didn't have guarantees, just estimated pots based on 100 players (the one I played only had 83).

I can get to four different Portland clubs within 15 minutes and there's a tournament starting at one or the other of them every hour of the day between 11am and 10pm seven days a week, more or less. Most of them are going to have 30-60 players early in the day and more later.

I've never had an issue carrying cash into or out of a Portland club, getting paid, etc. I have had the security guard walk me to my car a couple of times when I've won big, but that's not an issue with the club, more the surroundings.

I don't know about "most people" feeling comfortable in them, but I can guarantee that at least a few hundred people are going to be finding them comfortable tonight, with $5K, $6K, and $20K guarantees starting in three different venues between 6 and 8pm for buyins of $150, $50, and $100, respectively.

People might have $300-$400 in their pocket at these things. If they bink $2k or $10k in one of the guarantees, great, good for them. But it's different. You might have 3-4 players walk out with a bunch of money. Way different from cash.

I'm talking about businessmen/businesswomen feeling comfortable bringing 2-3k in cash to gamble. Having maybe ~10-15k total on the table in play with a list, all with players willing to burn $500-1k a piece. Never seen that at a club in Portland. The money is there, no doubt in my mind, so why don't these clubs offer it?

There's lots of factors, but a big one is ambience, being comfortable, feeling good. For the businessman its about the whole experience, not just about being able to play cards. The lighting, the chips, the service, the food, do they feel safe? Are they having a good time? Are there other businessmen like them playing there? I've chatted with some of the uh more affluent regulars at sm, and they don't like the clubs for some of the reasons stated above. They feel dirty, they don't feel safe bringing lots of money, the games are tiny. And I understand that.

Offering bigger games is in the best interest of the players and the club. Bigger games bring in more people. Bigger games elevates the ambience. If I was a club owner in Portland i'd be scrambling to get a regular bigger game going. If Portland club owners are making as much as they say, they should reinvest a little bit and get their fkn clubs up to par.