Lol Jesus

I only play part time, but I've been to Vegas twice for about a week each time and I thought the games were pretty good at 1/2 and 1/3. I haven't played 2/5 yet but just the fact there a lot of games increases the chances there are some good games in there somewhere. Other places I've played to compare them to are Evansville, Tunica, St. Louis, Midwest (Louisville, Cincy), and Florida.

Yeah I went to Vegas played one hand and left. I'm playing 1/2 or 1/3 and some 2/5 in these games that I'm talking about. I can't speak for higher stakes.

That was one of many hands that I remember. I'm a losing online player but I've won $4858 at cash games in Vegas playing only NLHE. I've played about ~200 hours of cash games so whatever that hourly is and it is the softest place in the world that I've played poker to be honest. I thought that was a well known fact. 200 hours is lol sample size but I saw more than enough for me to know it's the softest place I've played and I was in and out a variety of games. I've played in almost every casino with a half decent poker room, mainly PH, MGM, Encore, Bally's, Flamingo, the latter two being the best games I've probably EVER played in. I don't know, maybe I was lucky to get in the games I did. The toughest 1/3 and 2/5 games I played in were at Bellagio.

Soft =! profitable.

I highly doubt anyone who played in other parts of the world would agree that Vegas is the softest place in the world. What might make Vegas more profitable than other places is the low rake. But there's no way the games in Vegas are softer than for example some of the games in Europe that cap the rake around $20/hand and still produce winners.

I am fully aware of what soft means and I meant it in that context. However, you make a good point regarding other places in Europe etc. I have played poker in 5 countries, with my base being the UK and the games I play in here in the UK are far more demanding than playing a bunch of tourists in Vegas in the Summer time. (Again, I have only been over Summer time to Vegas, so maybe this has something to do with it)

Yeah, my experience in Vegas the last couple of years (over 700 hours of play in those 2 years) is that you're lucky if there's 3 tourists on a table. Average probably being 2.

And being up less than 5k isn't much at all. You probably ran really good in that small sample if you aren't getting those results elsewhere.

I've had 200 hour live stretches where I've won over 15k, and I've had 200 hour live stretches where I've been down 3k, so lol 200 hours.

I haven't had the chance to play poker in England yet but I will eventually. I've heard people say the games are tough, and I've heard people say the games are soft. I'll hope for the latter and find out for myself sometime.

lol if you're such a nit you won't nuetral ev "gamble" where the loser pays 63 dollars and speeds the game up in the process you shouldn't be sitting with thousands of dollars.
how is nuetral ev gambling for peanuts a problem? it speeds the game up and creates a fun atmosphere.

the only positive to this disgusting nittery is I've only seen one person opt out of the time pot who wasn't a huge nit poker wise in probably 1000 hours of time pots so if i don't know a player at all and he opts out it's free information.

How does it speed the game up? In my experience it usually slows the game down, as there is a short discussion as to who is in on it, and sometimes a briefing on what's going on to a new player who doesn't know what's going on.

Time flops should just be mandatory at 5/10 no cap and bigger

between LDL and Nugget there will usually be a 2-5 running most week days

on Friday night - Sunday usually in the afternoon/night there will be 4-ish tables running between the 2

i was at Nugget earlier today at like 3pm and there was a 2-5 running and they had 10+ on the list so another table probably opened before i left.

i don't want good players to come to LC though so i don't know why i'm telling y'all this

Nugget is hotter than LDL right now and either Friday or Saturday night (i forget which) every tabled was filled at LDL with 3, 2-5 games going and like a 15 person waiting list for 1-3

The Nugget had a 10+ waiting list for 1-3

now that was a bit insane b/c of the Super Bowl (i swear half of ATL was visiting our casinos) but they get a ton of action and lots of TX money and local oil baws throwing $300 down the drain regularly.

Lake Charles Nugget usually has all six tables running by 3 pm on Saturday. Buyin rule is "up to biggest stack" but in reality they don't enforce it. Usually, they'll convert one game to 2-5 in the evening. I rarely move to the game, because by that time the 1-3 tables are really deep and the 1-3 players are horrible. There isn't any point in playing 2-5 when the average stack in the 1-3 game is 7-800 and the standard opening raise is $20 with a minimum of 4 droolers at every table. There are a handful of regular good players to stay away from. There are more regular horrible players and plenty of flybys. Lake Charles better than Shreveport right now which I attribute to the fact that DFW players have closer options in Oklahoma while for Houston players, it is LC or local underground games.

Speaking of Oklahoma--Winstar is also a goldmine. It could be better if they pumped free drinks into the players.

Beau Rivage in Biloxi--better than anything in Vegas right now as well.



Harrah's New Orleans--usually great but can be really bad if its a bad tourism time.

So WHERE are the best rooms? I just started a thread asking this specifically for 2/5 NLHE but I'm not getting much feedback. This thread is somewhat related so perhaps I can get some answers here ... ? What is the 2/5 NLHE buy-in structure in LA? Limon has said many times that LA is the best city in the world. Is that true for 2/5? Can you buy-in for 100bb's? Is the rake small enough?

You're not getting any feedback because the question is so broad as to be worthless. 2/5 plays everywhere, and it's almost always good enough to play if you have any reasonable amount of skill. There is almost no point in trying to rank rooms. The best room at any given time is the one where there are bad players with lots of money giving it away. Generally speaking you can't predict this, and it changes day to day, and hour to hour.

The "best" room is usually the one closest to you if there's only one, or one of the closest ones based on whatever set of factors you personally find important (food quality, comps, free drinks, eye candy, pit games, etc.) if there's competition.

Do you like LA? Then go to LA. There will be plenty of 2/5 games to choose from (but they will all be LA buy in levels, so be sure you understand that first).

I don't know anything about LA poker other than people like Limon and Bart saying they like it and that's where they play. That's why I'm asking. What are "LA buy in levels"? Whenever I watch Live at the Bike clips, it's usually uncapped. How does their rake work? I've heard it's done hourly not by pot.

i've dabbled in the 2-5 at LDL and it plays smaller than the 1-3 quote often. fewer players in pots and the standard $15 opening raise is seen as the same. fewer bloated pots on the flop creates much more manageable games. haven't played the 2-5 at GN yet

the 1-3 plays huge and is filled with very fun players. the local regs rarely even lower themselves to play it either so having somewhat of an idea of what to do (and avoiding entitlement tilt while having the ability to fold, which is crucial and people often forget) gives a massive edge in the game.

the biggest issue i have with LDL is that they simply do not enforce the "English only" rule and i almost want to learn conversational Vietnamese to join in. sometimes in-hand they will even speak to the dealers in Vietnamese

Kind of curious to hear from anyone who plays the PLO games with regularity how those have evolved?

Has the action slowed down in them?

Anecdotally it seems like PLO has picked up in the casinos I've seen in the midwest. Several tables running through the week where it was maybe 1 main game and a feeder game on the weekends just a few years ago.

LOL. EVERY Friday at Bay 101 in San Jose has 5 2/3/5 games going, and 40+ long list for 1/2/2.

Not really apples to apples. Lake Charles is 2+ hours from Houston, and the surrounding area isn't very well off. It's why Lake Charles isn't really a good spot to move to be a pro - besides poker, there's just nothing really going on. Winstar is a better alternative, IMO, because you can live in the Dallas burbs, or at least get to the Dallas burbs much more easily. Also, Winstar has better game selection during the week - IMO the weekday LC games are super reg heavy and play pretty nitty these days.

whoa. i was responding to a post about LC, not selling LC as a mecca of poker and civilization, bruv

i don't want y'all playing here

LA has a low median income. But the LC area is an BIG exception in the state. The plants in that area pay very well compared to even the national median. The recent changes plant fatigue policies has reduced the max an operator or maintainence personnel can easily make. But increased the median. It is easy for those people to make six figures.

Also that area has all kind of outdoor alternatives to spend that income on. That is where most of the locals spend their money not at poker. Over 80% of the cars at LB (they dropped the du lac years ago) and nugget are from tax. Hell the cost per sq foot for a house in LC is higher than Houston.

LC is far from poor but the poker players you find in LC, even most of the regs, are not from LC.

Just wanted to totally agree with the OP except for the areas recommended, most of which I have not (yet) visited. However, the sheer Uber-Nittiness of the comp-carving, whining for hours about pay-for-parking, deck-changing, "bad beat" victim-psycho dork chorus in Vegas is really getting tiresome. But I'll still play there a couple weeks/year. I like the desert. Lot of bodies buried in that desert. Place has character.

i had my first trip to vegas last week, and played some 1/3 at the encore. it wasn't as nitty as everyone was saying on here.

What time of the week/day did you play? I would think there'd be much more action on the weekend evenings/late nights.

There is. I go to Vegas 2-3 times a year, and always make sure not to play until about 7pm at night. Almost all major properties that I've gone to during the day are just nits and comp grinders. Usually, if you're lucky, they will have one "gambler" type.

One place that isn't mentioned a lot on here that always has a ton of action (IMO) is the GN downtown. It's an upcapped game, and there are usually some people who just want to gamble. Plus they will pretty much start any game as long as the table agrees and they can rake it.

There are a few known people who make regular trips there that drop a serious amount of cash on a 1/2 or 2/5 game.