there are 3-5 tables every night...but there are not enough for 3 separations of the classes..i think 500 to maybe 1k max is best...

but my point is in the rebuys of people that get stacked - many players play 5-12 hrs and the stacks on the 1/3 get tremendous - so that is the solution i would think that needs to be addressed

The latter encourages a forced rat-holing. After all, someone who builds a big stack then welcomes the break and move since they get to pocket an arguably huge profit. This is no bueno given the tendency to rip on those who rat-hole or go south or whatever other term you want to apply to money coming off the table.

The reality is that, aside from a new table opening in a capped environment, you are ALWAYS going to have big stacks and small stacks. This holds true in Biloxi, New Orleans, Las Vegas and any other area where poker might be played. Players adapt and play THEIR game. If I sit with $200 and someone has $2K, the effective is STILL only my $200. Even the big stack players learn this, especially after they take a few hits from the smaller stack who adapts to the table dynamic.

And, if someone is playing with less than $100, then they KNEW what they were getting into when they decided to short-stack or, alternately, refused to top up. It is NOT the responsibilities of the bigger stack to change the rules to accommodate the shorter stacks nor should the house look to make those changes.

Though i have seen max buyin at casinos - the more common is a max or X% of the big stack

Relevantly, the 1/1 game at Mint yesterday was popping. They had 3 tables of that going. It's great for the higher stakes because it feels like it pulls a lot of the nitty scared money out.

Clivestraddle why 100% rake free in your games online and home now?

marketing move

Not my experience at all. Really the "match the big stack" or "75% of the big stack" is something I'd only seen in the south until very recently.

I asked entire managerment and all dealers over the last two days and they said there has not been one table of it make yet. I even asked to be put on the list for it Sat / Sun and Monday

I'm originally from the DC area, moved to Texas last year. This issue came up in the DC area at Maryland Live last year, for their 2/5 games. The max buy in was $500. There were complaints by some, but the room didn't want to raise the max buy in to $1,000. Maryland Live tried sort of what you suggest. They had two options, one with the $500 max buy in, and the other with a $1,000 max buy in. What happened was all the recreational players played the $500 max buy in game, while the only ones who would sign up for the $1,000 max were the regulars. Eventually, the regs realized that they made most of their money of the recreational players, who weren't playing the higher max buy in games. So that max buy in game rarely ran.

As a response to another casino in the area (MGM National Harbor) Maryland Live did eventually make all their 2/5 games a max buy in of $1,000.

I don't see offering the two different options at a single venue as being productive or working. Realistically only one game will be played.

Why not have a 1/2 with a $300 or 1/3 game with a $500 max buy in and then have a 2/5 game with a $1,000 max buy in? This would seem to be a better solution.

I don't think you see the problem

this "legal room" is open 24 hrs per day - so you get there and you are facing 1k+ stacks (5 or more) - so if you lose a big hand..you cant bet them off hands...there are generally 2-4 1/3 games ..all except one will be hyper aggressive -$25-40 preflop on almost every hand - so we are not talking about a "real" 1/3 game here...

80% of the players are game runners / dealers / game room owners and semi pros - the few recreational players are getting killed but now the sharks are feeding off each other because of this new cap RE BUY - i dont mind a $500 cap or up to X% of big stack

I have seen as much as 9k stacks commonly

And big stacks never confront someone sitting down in actual casino games? Have you ever BEEN to a casino poker room in the past decade? My god, Biloxi is uncapped (or was the last time I was there). Golden Nugget in Las Vegas is uncapped. While most won't sit down with more than a grand, there have been stacks that would mock the $9K show from time to time.

A player that sits down with no notion of the term 'effective stacks' has no real business sitting down. It does not matter if someone has a few thousand in front of them. If I am in for $300, then that is ALL I can play for and I adjust my play accordingly...

$25-40 pre-flop is not unusual in casino poker rooms...is it the norm? No, but certainly not uncommon. Hell, you go to NOLA and you are apt to see $15 PF be nothing more than a pot sweetener with eight to the flop. I have also seen the same thing at the Aria and other Vegas rooms even during non-WSOP season...

The simple reality is that few people want to nit it up.

I was specifically replying to the suggestion of having multiple buy-in levels for the same game at the same location. I have seen this attempted at a real live casino recently and seen it fail. I don't see this being a viable solution for the long term. Also, it doesn't really solve or address the issue you mention above of coming into a table that has a big stack or stacks of $1K or more. If that table started as a $300 max buy in, then it still would be for new players. Unless that's only the max buy in at the start of the table and is different for new players coming in later. Which might even be more confusing and create more arguments.

I live in Austin and don't play down in Houston. However, the scenarios you mention of pre-flop action can be found in Austin as well and is no different from any of the casinos I played at regularly in DC area or elsewhere. And they have the same issues. The casinos are all open 24 hrs and its not uncommon to start your session at a table that has been open for hours (or even days) and have several very large stacks at the table. The big difference is the size of the rooms. At Maryland Live and MGM National Harbor, they have multiple tables of each various games running, almost all the time. Thus you have more options of tables to play at. If you are at a table with a lot of big stacks that you don't want to play against, you can easily get moved to another table.

I haven't played at any casino that has no max buy in for lower stakes games (i.e. 1/2, 1/3, 2/5). But I understand that there are some. Even most 5/10 games have a max. It's not until you usually get to 10/25 that its uncapped. (This is for NL.)

Also, I don't know of any casinos that I have played in that allow you to match the big stack or a % of big stack. It's always just whatever the max buy in posted is. This may be due to each individual states gaming commissions rules. I do know a lot of home games I used to play in around DC that had this rule, but again no casinos.

It seems it would be better if there were less rooms, but bigger rooms. This would allow for better game and table selection.

oddly with all the games in houston....you are correct...i have not been active in casinos for almost 2 decades - every game in houston pretty much is a no cap game - so I guess it is more of a regional thing here

I prefer big stack games - NLH i like 200-400 BB start and PLO 1-2K bb start

this is my own opinion so take it as you wish

The cracks are appearing - the "discount wars" have started

Babaloo in Katy (a former partner in post oak and according to one source "We will be the new Prime) - has reduced their "post oak prices" to $10 hourly on Tue and Thur

Post oak now has no time charge from opening (11am - 1pm) obviously designed for the lunch crowd but who pays a $15 door and a valet charge (most people don't walk in houston) to play for 2 hrs then leave. Nice to offer an early free time but frankly this is hardly a time of the day most will be playing poker

The use of Poker Atlas is hurting every club EXCEPT prime - I rarely see more than 3 tables running at post oak - until night time. I have yet to see ANY games at Babaloo - Lion's club is equal to and sometimes has more tables running that post oak and prime is running at the low of 6 tables to a high of 16 tables running during peak hours.

I have asked repeatedly if this information was correct and many have told me it is.

Announcements from Babaloo Social Club
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Lets explore the question - Can poker rooms follow ALL THE LAWS under the current scenarios

a - absolutely no tipping or compensation at the table for dealers
b - taxes of the dealers by both dealer and employer
c - regards to tournaments - there is an argument that you can not differentiate on the rate that tourney players pay vs cash players - therefore if the room charges $10/15 per hr for cash - they must charge the same to tournies - this would completely kill any tournament - play an 8 hr tourney at even the lowest rate of $10/hr is an $80 vig (plus door) - there could be no dealer special and no tipping at the end
d - taxes on entry fees/membership - how many are not doing this...i know a few are but many do not

While watching the British Open on NBC this morning, I saw an advertisement that said something about Legal Poker and a 10 PM Monday broadcast time. I assume this refers to something they will be running on their nightly news program tomorrow. Since I had muted the sound, I didn't get much info.

Anybody know what this is about?

I suspect you are actually talking about 1-3 tables. I have never seen a 1-1 game going and I've been there a number of times since they introduced it.

On the issue of the limited buyin, I thought it was a bad idea originally but, after thinking about it a while, it makes more sense. In order for these rooms to keep going, they need to be able to attract new players. Players who don't have a lot of experience are going to be intimidated by lots of players with big stacks. They are also not going to come back if they play at a club for the first time and are required to put their whole buyin in preflop on nearly every hand. The 1/3 games have been like that for a while. The local "Sharks" aren't going to sit down at the 1/3 games if they can only buy 300 since that intimidation factor is something that they want so the end result is that the 1-3 games will be much tamer than they have been in the past and newer players will have more of a chance to get their feet wet without being swept away by a tsunami.

Prior to the buyin limit, the 5-5 games weren't running all the time because a significant number of the players who would have played in them were sitting in the 1-3 games because there were so many chips on the table. Now the 5-5 games seem to be going most of the time so it seems to be working.

I was one of the players that recommended it

Im sure its just a rehash of all this

Wrong Clive. It’s related to Post Oak’s lawsuit against Prime. Tune in tomorrow night for details but basically Heuer/Keibert the owners of Post Oak filed a lawsuit last week claiming Prime is illegal because they didn’t get the certificate they got(which is basically for 8 liner places) to operate in Houston. Essentially they are having trouble making payroll now because they didn’t service their customers and many have moved to Prime. Desperate times call for desperate measures I guess. Some players are talking about skipping the Card Player tourneys since they are pissed at PO owners for bringing more negative attention on this, I hope they go down in flames. Prime even has their old chef now lol.

ahhhhhh...its ok to be wrong my friend -

ALL I CAN SAY IS WOW....

i typed about 2 paragraph's of other points but frankly i deleted it all for words can not express how ...

I have been a game runner for years and I (this is no surprise) - thrown my fair share of crap against the wall but I would never consider doing harm via legal recourse or damaging actions against another host - and this is pretty much an industry standard.

To put it in the vernacular - Snitches get stitches.

I fight economically to offer a product with more value or less price (same thing sometimes) but to stoop to levels of calling in lawyers to make my point is just beyond the pale.

Awesome. Poor Daniel and Bill. They can surely make payroll with the 250K they claim to have made monthly.

I suspect this is just another ploy to get a judge to issue a decision on whether or not these places are legal. This particular suit is probably even better than the Austin/San Antonio one. Based on the description posted earlier, the judge is being asked to decide whether or not a certificate is required to operate one of these places. If the judge decides that it is, then the clubs that have one will have been declared to be operating legally and the other ones will simply have to get one to be legal. If the judge decides that no certificate is necessary then all of the clubs have been judged to be legal.

I'm sure it's not quite that simple but either of those decisions would certainly be a win for the poker clubs and the players.

Sounds like they will be at West Houston Poker Club for a live segment.

https://www.facebook.com/thepokerclubatwesthouston/