Heading to Punta Cana in the Dominican in April. I've done a bit of research, and I think the only game is at the casino in the Riu Royal Macao casino. Has anyone played there? If so, what was your experience like?

Thanks.

I stayed at the Riu in Punta Cana last February and posted this trip report on RGP:

Well, I am back from my trip to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, and can confirm that there is at least one casino with poker. We stayed at the Riu Palace Punta Cana, and played poker at the casino at the Riu Palace Macao (a ten minute walk away). Here is a trip report.

The casino had one or two games going of $2/4 NL HE. Half the players were locals, and it appeared that at least two of them worked for the house (or were part-owners of the casino). They weren't very good players -- extremely loose and very aggressive. I think it's to get the tourists to loosen up and to build up big pots, as the house took
a 5% rake with no cap. Poker rooms I've been to in Vegas and AC usually rake 10% up to $4, but here the house probably took $10 from most pots and much more in several pots ($80 in one huge pot).

The minimum buy-in was only $50, and I bought in for $100. I usually play for small stakes ($0.10/$0.20 NLHE at home, $0.50/$1 NLHE online, and $1/$2 NLHE live), so I wasn't completely comfortable playing this high, until I saw the level of play. In most pots the PF raise was at least $20, and not unusual to see $40-$50 PF raises be called. It seemed like any ace or any two painted cards were sufficient not only to raise, but to call these huge raises as well. After a couple of orbits, I bought in for another $100 and waited to catch a hand.

The first playable hand I saw was JsTs in late position and see a flop for $4 (a rare occasion) with five others. Flop comes AKx, rainbow. All check to me, and I take a stab at the pot by betting $12 with nothing but a gutshot. Two callers. Blank on turn, and it checks around. Beautiful Q on river makes me the nuts, and I bet out $20. I should have bet more here, but happy to win my first pot. I should know better than to bluff at this table, but it worked out this time.

I didn't get into too many memorable pots the first night. Just limped a lot and re-raised when I got a premium hand and took down a lot of pots on the flop. One hand that I got away from without losing much is when I limped with A9 in late position and saw a flop of 933. I bet $10 into the $16 pot and was called by the BB. Turn was an ace, and I checked behind the BB, not wanting to get trapped. The river was a blank, and the BB bet out $21. I called, and he showed me one 3 (they didn't require players to table both cards to win the pot at this casino). I stayed until the casino shut down and ended up winning $320 without risking too much.

The second night I started out running well (hit a couple of sets, got paid out when I hit trips holding 75o on board of Q55) and was up $300 early on. However, I gave back all my winnings plus $330 more over the next two hours when I lost a couple of big pots. First, I held A5s and hit two pair on a flop of A85 rainbow. Pre-flop raiser (a local) continuation bet $25 on the flop and I smooth called behind him, trying to trap him for a big pot if he had an ace. Turn was an innocuous-looking (to me) 3. The local bets $25 into me again, and I raise to $75. He raises me all-in for his last $60, so I call and lose a sizable pot [when he held a set of 8s].

Second big hand I lost holding Td7d in the BB. Five limpers including the button (another local). Flop comes 877 with two spades. I check, and it's checked around to the button who bets $15. I debate raising to chase out any draws, but just call to see one more card before making my move at the pot. The player to my immediate left also calls the $15, so I'm putting at least one of them on a draw. Turn is a non-spade 6, and I bet out $30 (not sure why I did that -- the six completed an open-ended straight draw and also wasn't enough to dissuade flush draws from drawing, in retrospect). My neighbor calls, and the button raises to $60. That surprised me, so now I'm wondering if he flopped a boat or hit his straight. I call the $30 anyway, hoping to hit a 9 for a straight or a T for hopefully a higher boat. The guy to my left also calls. River is a 3, so I check, hoping to see a cheap showdown. The guy to my left checks, and the button bets $100 into the $245 pot. I think for 30 seconds, but can't think of any hand I can beat except 75 and 74 that the button would play, and I can't see him raising the turn with either of these hands. I fold, but am very surprised and pleased that the local to my left called the $100. The button shows Jc7c and takes down the pot after the guy to my left shows 83o -- he called $100 on the river with top pair, no kicker on this board....hmmm.

So it's getting really late, but no one wants to leave. The casino usually shuts down at 3am, but let us play on until 6am. I'm down to my last $71 at about 5:00am, I finally catch a break. I limp with 9c7c and see a flop of Ac8c6d. I'm in EP and bet out $20 into a $28 pot and get three callers. Turn is a beautiful Ts, and I go all in for $47, and get two callers. The river is an ugly 5c, which improves my hand, but doesn't give me the nuts anymore. The two other players check it down, so I trust that my hand is still good. It is, and now I have some chips to play with.

About a half-hour after that, I limp UTG with 65o, then call a $16 raise from a MP player (my friend) along with two others. I flop the nuts when 743 comes out, with two diamonds. I check, my neighbor to the left bets $35 into the $86 pot, my buddy (the PF raiser) calls with AdTd, the guy next to him calls with QdJd, and I raise it to $80 (not enough of a raise to get any flush draws out, but I got greedy and wanted to win a big pot, not take it down just then). The local to my calls the $45, and my buddy goes all in (he has everyone in the pot covered) with his nut flush draw and two overs. The dude with the Q hi flush draw has been having a bad night and says "f-it, let's go" and calls. I call, and the local flashes a 7 and folds. My hand holds up, and I triple up. I end the evening up $340 (about what I was up in the first half hour).

The third night, the stakes had been bumped up to $5/$10 blinds, but after about ten minutes of playing, we convinced them to lower the blinds back down to $2/$4 since we weren't bankrolled for such high stakes. I was up $700 early that night when the deck hit me in the face (flopped boat holding JJ on AAJ and local to my left chased flush to river, and had to pay me out $150 on river after catching his flush; flopped a set of deuces and filled up when a flush got there), but made a big play that didn't work out quite the way I expected. A local raised blind to $8 under the gun, one person called, I called with AJo, the local to my left raised to $25 (pretty small raise for this table, considering the $8 blind bet, I thought) and six people called the $25 when it got back to me. There was $191 in the pot when it got back to me, and I thought I could take down this pot with a big re-raise since no one except the guy to my left showed much strength. I re-raised it to $208, and thought that at worst I'd be up against the guy to my left (who only had about $250 behind him), so I'd be getting close to 2:1 on my money and very likely could be in a race situation if called, and hopefully would take it down without seeing a flop. But not only does he call (with AK -- ouch for me), but two others call as well (KdQd for another local, and TT for my buddy)! $860 in the pot pre-flop! A king comes out on the flop, but I still bet out enough to put the others all-in (suspect play by me there, but I was thinking I was going to call any bet anyway with so much money in the pot so I may as well move in). The AK dude only has about $40 left, so he calls, the KQ dude calls for his remaining $250, and my buddy calls with TT b/c he only has $80 left and is actually getting the right price to call hoping to hit a two-outer. I turn a Jack, but the river blanks. I just lost $450 of my $700 winnings on this play, but I was really shocked to see so many people call a $183 re-raise preflop. I thought I had at least a 50% chance that I'd take down the $191 without seeing the flop. Oh, well. I ended up booking a very minor $80 win this last session. Got a T-shirt from the local-slash-poker room manager (Carlos) and got a lift to my resort in another local's BMW X5 (bet there aren't too many of them in the island, from what I saw). Fun trip; would definitely go back.

Sick bump, me.

Can anyone give me a rundown of the current poker scene in Punta Cana? Heading there in a few weeks for Christmas. Does anyplace get regular games going? The Hard Rock?

Hard Rock's Casino does a big tourny every year- I assume they have a yearround poker room. But they are a 10-15 min cab ride north of most of the Bavaro Beach area hotels.

I've play every trip @ Tower Casino attached to Bavaro princess Hotel. 1/2 every night ... 2/5 frequently plus small ($100+) tourneys.
And I go offseason.
Also free shuttle service to/from Bavaro area hotels

Website for the club that organizes a lot of it:
http://www.puntacanapokerclub.com/

I stayed at the Hard Rock in October and they run a $100+$10 bounty tourney on M/W/F nights that had 9-12 players each night. $50 per knockout and extremely soft play, but pretty low traffic. They also had 1/2, but never more than 1 table going, though I imagine it's better during peak tourist season.

Bump. Heading top Punta Cana January 4th. Any info on poker rooms and games would appreciated.

Thanks.

Heading down there in a couple of months.

Can you give a trip report, Tyl?

Public Service Announcement:

Do not go down to Punta Cana and plan to play poker. While many of the resorts have a casino, they are pretty much dead. (And from what I have heard second-hand, some of the smaller ones appear to be on the shady side.)

When in Punta Cana, sit in the sun, eat, drink, swim, sleep, rinse and repeat. You paid all that money for the sunshine and warmth, not to sit in a casino at night. You could have stayed home to do that.

Took a recent vacation to Punta Cana and can briefly mention the poker stuff I saw/experienced:

We stayed at the Melia Paradisus Reserve at Punta Cana, which was a really nice resort with just about everything you could want (as it should be for this type of thing). The resort was in the Playa de Bavaro area of Punta Cana, which seemed to be a fairly well inhabited part of the island, although it is not incredibly near the Hard Rock, which seems to be where people expect to play poker the most.

Hard Rock:
Took a cab here the first night we got in (Thursday) and it was on the late-ish side. Probably ended up walking in around 10p or so and they had 1 table of 2/5 going in an otherwise empty room of about 15-20 tables. The rake was of course pretty outrageous if you're coming from the good ol' U.S. of A.--looked like 10% up to $15 ($13 house, $2 promo drop). Game was played in usd and stacks weren't especially deep from what I saw but it's always possible it was a slow night.
When we arrived, the table was full and the floor person told us to sign up for the list on a sheet of paper, but no spots ever opened up and the list never got longer than 4-5 names so no new tables started. We left after about an hour, played a little blackjack etc, drinks are free if you're playing.

Avalon Casino:
Saw this place as the wife and myself were getting our ride from the airport to the resort. It is in what was described as 'downtown' Bavaro, and it turns out it was about a 3 minute walk from the front gate of our place, which was nice. However, the walk was down an unlit tree-lined street with multiple turns, meaning that a feeling of safety was noticeably absent. The casino itself is probably the size of a small warehouse, and the entire floor is visible the second you walk in the door. There is a club in the back so be fully prepared to be propositioned, and offered just about anything you could want. Nobody in our group cared to take up any of the offers, so it remains to be seen whether or not the promises can be fulfilled.
Decided to drop by the night after our Hard Rock failure, and walked right into a large tournament in progress (for the area I assume, there seemed to be 4-5 full tables). Believe the buy-in was $120, not sure of the structure.

During the tournament there was no cash game action, but we were told to wait around and when enough people busted they did start a game around 8pm. The game was 1/2 and the play was pretty bad, although there were a few guys splashing around. House beer was free, other 'premium' beer such as Corona they charge for.

1/2 game was fine, nothing to write home about. The rake is again pretty brutal at 10% up to $10 (8+2). We were told the promo drop was for high-hand promotion, but according to the guy running the room it is a monthly thing and he was quick to tell us that someone had already hit a royal for the month. (what a shock!)

After an hour or two of 1/2 they got enough to open a second table, and it was decided that one table would be 1/2 and one would be 2/5. I got the impression this is fairly standard, and there was a bigger group of guys wanting to play bigger as opposed to smaller. The rake at the 2/5 was 10% up to $13 (11+2).

One of the 'quirks' of the room is that the guy running the game also plays, which of course would be laughable in the states but was par for the course here. He appears to also be the one to set the rake numbers. I saw nothing about his play to lead me to believe that anything untoward was going on in regards to shady nonsense, even though the 2/5 was filled with a bunch of regs who tended to softplay each other (standard in a place like this imo). Quality of play was very very bad, example:

Hero (500) opens to 25 in lp with KJo after three limpers and a whale reg flats on the button, limpers call. 5 to the flop

Flop (125) KKTr checks to hero who bets 105, whale thinks for a few seconds and flats, rest fold.
Turn (335) 3 hero ships whale snaps with QQ

Whale proceeds to yell "bravo, bravo!" at the dealer for the next 5 minutes, which fazes nobody at the table and is probably a regular thing. The guy running the room is also playing at our table, and is between me and the whale. Game-runner guy placates the whale by telling him to settle down and forcing the dealer in the box to give the whale another $500 from the tray. No cash was exchanged, so apparently this guy's credit is good, or that's where the promo drop was going. This was questioned by nobody and again appeared to be the norm. I ended up stacking whale again literally 4 hands later when my combo draw got there against his overs+fd and he was again given another $500 from the tray with no money changing hands.

Anyways, the game was good and the rake was brutal but probably beatable because of the players. Cash games seemed to start between 7-9 in the evening and go until closing which was 3 or 4 in the am can't remember. There is a shuttle that will pick you up and drop you back off at your resort, and I highly suggest you use it or risk the mad dash at 4 am sprinting back to the resort with cash in your pocket that me and a buddy stupidly ended up doing before we heard about the shuttle. I heard from a few players at the table our last night that there is also a much smaller casino across the street that spreads games in dominican pesos for significantly smaller stakes, and this is where a few of the guys go after Avalon closes so it must go all night.


Enjoy, be safe!

Lol at the guy rebuying without involving any money.

A whale having immediate and unlimited credit is a great feature as long as you get paid out when you leave.

Ding ding ding...I looked around mouth open for a second to see if anybody else thought it was odd, nobody did so giddy up. 1000% chance it came out of the rake so live rakeback ftw I guess.

smaller card rooms all over the world give credit to players that are regs. some get unlimited credit. and dont even have to ask or they dont even write it down.

update? especially hard rock casino punta cana?

I was in the DR in November at Barcelo Bavaro Palace, and loved it. Casino was pathetic, and you wouldn't know there was a poker game if you really looked hard. It's up a pair of stairs to the right of the entrance on the casino floor. Games only ran half the nights I was there, was always 2/5. Some of the best games I've ever played in.

i'm there from 15.January pn me if you wanna meet up drink a beer or so

Bump on this. Think I will be staying at the Majestic. If anyone has any experience with the casino there I’d be happy to hear. Only looking really to play one night, maybe two if the games are juicy. Otherwise I’ll probably just do a night at hard rock.

Thread has been dead for 5 years, but please update us when you come back, we'd love to hear what the current landscape is like there