What casino in Calgary is best? Easiest games? Highest stakes NL hold 'em?

bump

Elbow River Casino - I've only played there twice (the 4/8 kill game), but both times I crushed the game. No thought process involoved, I just played straight up ABC aggro poker and they paid off like it was Christmas.

I doubt it's always like that, but that's all I got....

Calgary has 6 casinos with poker rooms.

Elbow River has probably 90% of the limit action in the city with 4/8, 15/30 and 30/60 (all with a full kill) running every day.

The NL action is fairly evenly split between the Cash Casino, Grey Eagle, Deerfoot Inn and Casino and the Stampede Casino. The easiest games are probably at either Grey eagle or stampede right now with the Cash Casino probably being the toughest. All will have 1/2NL with a 100min 300max structure usually 24/7.

The larger NL games have been sporadic lately due to players being too spread out between all of the cardrooms; we really have too many choices right now. Your best bet is probably at the stampede casino where I've seen 2/5 and the occasional 5/10 NL recently. I'd strongly recommend calling the poker room before you drive all the way there if you want to play something higher than 1/2.

There is also a cardroom at Casino Calgary (which the locals refer to as ABS) that has a wild and crazy NL Omaha game. Yes NL Omaha, not PL. PL Omaha has been running every night at Stampede. either 2/5 or 5/10 run most days and the 10/25 ($2000 min, no max)goes every night.

The stampede casino has only been open a month and is by far the nicest. Grey eagle allows smoking indoors, though not in the poker room itself (the other casinos are all non-smoking). Cash casino gives you a free meal if you play for 1 hour. All will provide a complimentary buffet around 3am.

Here are the poker room #'s that I know:
Cash Casino: 403-243-2273
deerfoot: 403-723-4039
elbow river: 403-206-0252
grey eagle: 403-385-3796
stampede: 403-514-7058

Good luck!

abs if you want to play in a local dive type place with the drunks. easy to beat and fun to play there once.
elbow river is the best spot for limit and the games are great because of the oil money in town.
stampede is new and i dont know how it will pan out but i hope it can keep a big game going as the giant pot limit omaha games are basically gone.

great replies. thanks a bunch. I'll be in Calgary from July29-Aug4. If anyone wants to meet up, PM me

The larger N/L Holdem Games are disappearing too = money is tight, poker players are getting better, game selection is the most important item in being able to find games to beat. Poker is about winning isn't it? Not very many larger games to choose from = not enough bad players.

map & info showing Calgary Poker Rooms

Do any of the Calgary casinos spread stud hi/O8?

Only once in 10 years have I seen stud played here and unfortunately O8 hasn't been played in a while either. If you manage to get at least 6 or 7 people together they would spread those games but that's unlikely.

Uhhhh what makes you think this? afaik the plo game is far from dead and has a larger player pool than say 5-10nl would have in the city. On any given night there will be a full game and often a 8+ person list for 10-25/50.

Also, the NL game in Calgary has always been dead. Believe me when I say that it has nothing to do with the average player getting better.

Just returned home from Calgary. Played the aforementioned 2/5 NL Omaha game at Casino Calgary (ABS). Minimum $200, maximum $1000. It runs every night. I played in it on a Sunday night. A couple of later arrivals bought in for the max. Most guys bought for 200 or 300. Game started at 11pm. By 4:00 a.m. there was $10K on the table. The game ran until about 6:30 a.m.
One hand was four ways and there was $3K in pre-flop with money still to be played between two of the players.

A few pots over $3K, several over $2K, tons over $1K...players cold-calling $400 pre-flop. I was the rock and my EP re-raise to $120 was called in four spots. Loved it.

At Stampede Casino (10 tables, plush chairs, looks very nice) they run a 10/25/50 PLO game on Friday and Saturday night. Apparently there's major action.

Can someone give an update or confirmation on the NLHE cash game scene in these casinos?

I'm thinking about playing some 1/2nl. If anyone wants to join obv pm me.

Umm I haven't really played 1/2 in years or live in calgary in maybe 2+ months but I'm 99% sure this is right.

You'll find 1/2 NL running at deerfoot and cash all the time. Cash Casino is dirty and has some really stupid rules regarding cell phones and they make you show your cars whenever an all-in bet is called (gay ino). I think ABS has it sometimes but I wouldn't bank on it. The same goes for Grey Eagle. The game also goes at stampede and I remember hearing that they have a max buy-in >100BB's. Deerfoot and Stampede are the best options by far.

The 1/2NL scene is pretty much the same as I outlined a few months back. It's definitely not dead like one guy said here, I'm not sure what he was smoking.

There's been a few recent changes in the poker scene including:
- 1/2PL Dealer's Choice (usually 95%+ of the players choose Omaha Hi) has had a spike in popularity lately. Cash casino has at least one game everyday now. Sometimes it gets bumped up to 2/5 or even 5/10. Stampede has it friday and saturday and occasionally during the week. Crazy (stupid) action most of the time where you'll see things like a $200 bet and two calls on a paired board and a J-high flush take down the pot.

- 10/25 seems to be dying down a lot. I rarely see it go anymore, possibly due to the price of oil tanking and people getting smoked in the stock market.

- I hear 2/5 is going fairly regularly at Grey Eagle and there's a 5/5 with a 2000 max buy-in at deerfoot though I can't confirm firsthand

Warning on stampede...
They have a weird rule that can cost you some money. Whatever money you put across the line must be bet. So if you have $200 in chips in your hand and put your hand out across the line to stack a $40 bet, they'll force you to bet the entire contents of your hand.
I did this 3 times. Once cuz I didn't know this weird rule... and twice cuz it's a hard habit to break

That rule applies at every casino in Calgary IIRC.

I see you're from Toronto...that rule is also new at Casino Niagara.

I was in Calgary last week and can attest to a very soft 1/2 at Deerfoot on a Tuesday night. Basically two guys were flipping for about $1000 stacks numerous times and one guy was up 3 grand. Too rich for my blood after about 1/2 an hour so sat in another game and made a pretty quick $250. Several soft players at the table who were easily spotted. Went to Cash Casino the following night and there were 3 or 4 regs at my table who played somewhat decent. I would have asked to move to another table but they had a tourney that night so only 1 cash game going on.

Can a Calgary reg give a 2010 update of whats getting spread at different casinos? (Specifically NL and PLO)

I'm planning on playing live all month to take a break from grinding online. I'm going to the Grey Eagle tomorrow hoping to find 2/5nl.

It's pretty much the same as the one large post breaking down the casinos. Are you from calgary? I can't see your location on my phone.

But yeah I'll let someone else give you an update, I haven't played live for a few months so I won't be able to give you an accurate overview.

Any advice for quiet, clean cheap hotels near the casinos in Calgary?

+1
was thinking of somewhere close to downtown (south mcleod or osmething dont remember..)

and wheres action best for 1/2? stampede/elbow river/deerfoot/ABS? thanks

Deerfoot HOTEL and Casino. I usually play there and the hotel seems nice enough. Easy access off Deerfoot (the main N/S drag through the city).

3 games of 1/2 and 1 game of 2/5 going last night at stampede between 8 and 11 when i was there. 3 games of 1/2 is pretty standard on weekday nights. spreading 2/5 is rare. i haven't been in a month though so maybe 2/5 is happening more frequently.

Yes I live downtown, the reason I've bumped this is I've went to go check out a few casinos in the few months since I've moved here to check out these big games posted above in 2008 and have pretty much only ever seen 1/2nl running, with the exception of Grey Eagle which had 2/5 both times I played their bigger tournies where every table in the poker room was being used (two final tables nbd). So not sure if it even runs regularly.