So, with the pullback on casino revenue, the off season in NJ for tourists, How are the games for the 1-2, 2-5, 5-10 crowd at the borgata, taj, boat,trop, caesars etc? You think there are still fishies or have things tightened up?

If the stock market keeps with the nose dive, you think people will come the same, more or less often to AC?

I can see the sensable types staying at home, the Ones who have a little sickness in them for easy $$$ might come more frequently thinking they can make a quick buck, and the casual tourist i don't see making the drive to AC, unless it's too much $$ to go anywere else. If hotel rates are reasonable, I can see the NY crowd going to AC versus, lets say florida or vagas or something because of cost.

what do you guys think? Anyone played poker thru a recession before and have any observations to offer?

I have never played poker through a recession, being only 23, but gaming in AC has imo definitely decreased. However 1/2 and 2/5 games are still running very frequently at the Taj and Borgata (I don't really play at other casinos too often). There are plenty of fish in the games. I just don't see the 1/2 game drying up in the near future. I am a full time student and pretty much make it to AC from Long Island every other weekend. While still playing at a card room in Long Island during the weekends I don't go to AC. So, yes it has decreased, but there are still plenty of fish.

Hopefully, poker rooms will up the incentives for the "grinders", better comps, lower poker rate for the rooms, etc...

d'

Played 2 hours 2/5nl and 9hrs 5/10nl last Saturday at Borgata. Only 3-4 empty tables in the high limit section but the couple dealers waiting at the empty tables said they thought it was slow. It seemed overall fairly busy to me but then I'm not there every day. Maybe 10% fewer people than a year ago...? I saw maybe a dozen empty tables out of 70 or so in the main area at 11pm Saturday night.

I think poker's going through little contraction now, as is the casino industry in general.

I've been reading that PLOmaha is on the upsurge, particularly online, but I'm not seeing this in B&Ms yet, at least not at the Borgata.

Gas prices are coming down soon, maybe that will help a bit.

As we get deeper into a recession, I believe you will see a slight decrease in the number of players at the lower limit games (1/2NL, 2/5NL, 2/4LHE, 3/6LHE). These are the players that usually gamble with leftover income after paying the bills. As one's discretionary income decreases, gambling becomes less of a priority.

I do not believe you will see any change at the 5/10 and higher limits. For the most part, these players have poker bankrolls established and do not dip into income or savings.

I do see an increase of online players playing micro-stakes as a way to continue playing poker with less money.

The only good days to go down to catch some fish are Wednesdays at Borgata because of the 20K Guarantees' and Friday, Saturday Sunday nights. I agree that probably 10%-15% less people than last year but it's unclear if that has to do with the economy or lack of big events in A.C. So if WPT or WSOP Circuit is in town that's when the games get juicy but on the other days you'll be playing with the nitty regulars. I have to take the bus into from philly to make travel expense free to deal with the recession and gas prices.

Bottom line, you are one person and thus will only be playing one table. Ergo, you need to only worry about whether or not a game with 9 people's worth of fishiness exists. Switch tables or observe for awhile if need be, assuming you have an extensive amount of time. It's entirely possible that games have tightened up and overall things are worse for grinders, but, you can get around this with good game selection.

I too have been wondering about the recession's effect on poker. I heard Howard Lederer say something about how gambling was recession proof on Poker After Dark. This I found very surprising. To me it would seem like gambling would run off discretionary income almost totally (with degenerates being the exception). I also have to say that I don't think just the low limits would suffer, as many could move down in stakes as their discretionary income shrinks.

I would love to hear from some of the old hands who have played through the recessions of the 80s etc and see what they thought.

Gambling is recession proof for the same reason drinking is recession proof.

They fill about 40-50 talbes per day. That was double what the had when the room was downstairs.

As the OP mentioned, it's the beginning of the off season. It's always like this as you got closer to winter. 5+ years ago, everyone would switch to STUD during the winter as the HE dried up. Now HE goes year round.

An interesting angle to this is that there are some "new" games and limits popping up in AC. For one taj. has a 2/5 with a $1000 cap that is very good imo. Borgata has been spreading a 3/6 nl with an 800 cap. Borgata also has been spreading 1/2 and 2/5 plo lately with a $500 and $1500 cap respectively.

There will be some recessionary components evident in the poker room, i.e. there may be slightly less people coming into the casinos and we will see fewer recreational poker players. But overall it won't tail off that much because people will still come to the casino to blow off steam and will cancel that two week vacation in Cancun or Hawaii and instead go to Vegas or AC for a long weekend and save on the total cost. Obviously degenerates with no job will not be able to go to AC or Vegas. Poker overall will be slightly effected but we won't see that big of a difference I imagine.

I played at the Showboat last Tuesday on Yom Kippur. The bad beat jackpot was at $165,000 and that drew a lot of players. The room was fairly busy for a Tuesday afternoon.

Wednesday? Really?

Do you think this effects the 5/10NL games as well as the lower stakes?