well i'm currently travelling around the states for work and been lurking in the B&M to find cardrooms. Contemplating to drive 8-10 hrs to AC for the long w/end, i decided to stay put and try out the poker palace.

http://www.thepokerpalace.net

Ambience:this place is a bingo parlor that coverts to a poker room on some days, Saturday and Tuesdays, they have a 'dedicated' poker room of about 6 tables and during tournaments, they put poker tops on normal tables. They have 4 small TV's in each corner of the poker room, there doesn't seem to be any drinks service - i was only there for 45mins

Spread: they run 1-2 NL (100-300 BI), 2-5 NL (200-1000 BI), 5-10NL (300-2000 BI). I got there a bit before 1pm on Saturday and they only had 3 games of 1/2 open. Most people brought in for 100-200

Rake: $8 per 30 mins for donation + $2 @ 10% for bad beat bonus + tips! Hence the reason i only stayed for 45 minutes. Apparently they normally have a 2/5 game later in the evening so might try that out - the rake is the same throughout the different blinds

Competition: It is a fairly soft game, most would see the flop, barely any would c-bet, people would call with mid pair and overlook 4 card straights/flushes etc.

If anybody has a home game around this area and need another person i would love to join, i'm here until monday where i have to drive to whitesville, nc. If not i guess i'm just hoping a 2/5 game starts there tonight. I'm willing to drive a couple of hrs for a game.

Can you say illegal

for those interested, I went back this evening to see if they had 2/5 going, wasn't even close to getting this game running. I played the tourney they had, $50 - $35 for the pot and $15 for charity ($5,000 chip stack). People can 'rebuy' for $50 when they get knocked out and after several levels, no more rebuy's but there is a once off add-on's for $25. This gives you a $5,000 chip but the $25 goes to charity and does not add to the total prize pool

blinds go up every 10 minutes, it got crazy to 300ante/600sb/1200bb and got really crazy at 800ante/1200sb/2400bb yep! no typo 800 ante! that's when i became bubble boy from the final table

Fyi - if they are running cash games there like you say get ready for a raid. In VA - it is only legal to play in a residence and no rake is allowed.

Apparently this place used to be endorsed by the state police, but now the proceeds go to the march of dimes. It's a pretty well known place in the area, and there's been some speculation on the legality, but nothing has happened to it for the last few years.

I was thinking about going to play there, but it seems horribly structured for the cash games, so I might just have to wait for my winter break to head back to turning stone (not 21 yet)

I wish they had something like this in Northern VA. Is this the only card room in Virginia or does anyone know of others in the state? This one is too far for me to drive to.

This place is going to get shut down. Probably not in a "raid" but just a call to the owner saying "shut it down." No way this is legal -- they are taking a very liberal interpretation of state law. If this was 100% legal then there would be 500 of these rooms set up by charities in VA. They'd be all over Northern Virginia, Tidewater and Richmond.

well all i can say is that the place seems well established and been there for a while, there was a what seems to be like a policeman both at lunch and night time i was there, i'm not sure on the legality of the setup, but i'm sure they would not have a website that's continually updated and advertised if its beyond the law, anyway its information for people who might travel by there

Still open

I just don't understand why there is not one of these places in northern, VA. All the rich people are up here and they are surely not driving 3 hours down to Portsmouth. Not to mention all the folks in DC and MD who would swing through and play. It always boggles my mind when I think about it, why not one in northern, VA?!?!?!!? If I had the time and money I would open one myself.

There is also another room down there called Victory Poker lounge:

http://victorypokerlounge.net/

Closed. Like I predicted... with a phone call.

I've heard it's back open, running under a bingo license.

Supposedly the rake is a time rake of $10/half hour. So not sure how beatable the 1/2 game is. But I've heard the 2/5 game and tournaments are good. They have a Saturday tournament $125 rebuy where the winner of each Saturday will be entered into a free role next January for a seat in the wsop main event.

I haven't confirmed this, as their website is FB which I don't have. This was just from a conversation I had in a Virginia Beach home game recently.

It is back open on Tuesdays Wednesdays and Saturdays. The "charity" rake is $8 per half hour for 1/2 and 2/5 tables. There is plenty of loose action and there is a straddle in pretty much every hand.

Any interested in PLOHL or 1/3 nl contact AB @ 8048400005.

Great place to relax and enjoy endless action!!! text me and we can get you in!!

We also have a 2/5 NL and 5/10 NL that has seats open.