I recently spent a week playing tournaments at Crown Melbourne and played some cash games, when I was trying to find information on the poker games I found limited info so I figured I would post my newfound knowledge! I only played up to 5/10/20 NLHE and PLO.

Limits:
1/2-2/5 are always running and often at least one 5/5+ game. Limits 2/3 and lower are probably not beatable due to the rake.

Rake:
1/2 - $5/hr + 10%/$8 - $80 max buy-in. Don't play this.
2/3 - $5/hr + 10%/$8 - $200 max buy-in. Don't play this.
2/5 - $10/hr + 10%/$6 - $500 max buy-in.
5/5/str - $25/hr - $1000 max buy-in.
5/10/str - $25/hr - $2000 max buy-in.
5/5/str PLO - $25/hr - $1000 max buy-in.
5/10/str PLO - $25/hr - uncapped buy-in.

The 5/5+ games have live straddles and often get placed by all players when agreed upon.

Other games:
There were a few other games running during my stay at various times: 1/2 plo, 10/20 limit omaha, 20/40 limit omaha/hold-em, 25/50 plo, 100/200 plo.

Hope this helps!

i've played there a couple of times and that $5/hr is bull****

I played some 1/2 NLHE with a friend of mine who's level of play can only be called "social" and the setup/structure was robbery, plain and simple. The play is painfully slow, so the timecharge + drop hits you both ways & the dealers and the floors working 1/2 are usually rude and clueless.

2/3 - earlier this year was $5/hr + 10%/$6

1/2 - this changed a while ago to no time charge BUT 10%/$15 ISYN

the 2/3 game is sooooo beatable. Like disgustingly beatable.

And yes, the rake is absurd across the board, very much agreed.

Hey guys,

who is there recently? i´ve seen a girl there. she must be around 30. brown hair and i heard some calling her "mel". she seems to be quite a silod player. anyone know her? somehow i know her face even though i havent been in melbourne before...

$2/$3 is definitely beatable despite the high rake (no competition for Crown so they get away with it). For non Aussies reading this, remember that there is no tipping of dealers in Australia (by law) so that reduces the apparent impact of the rake.

$1/$2 is now played as a turbo, meaning players have only 20 seconds to act each time, increasing the number of pots played per hour. There is no $5 per hour time charge on $1/$2 though. It is also played 8 handed - F### knows why. It is high variance poker with a max buy-in of $80 and is often a shovefest. But it is where the beginners and drunks make their appearances so it can be highly profitable on occasion.

One other advantage of Crown is that there are always lots and lots of tables playing - the room has 50+ tables and over weekends, they will all be in action and waiting time is minimal. Only time you have to wait 15+ minutes is during tournament weeks such as Aussie Millions.

Both 1/2 and 2/3 are beatable despite the rake due to the terrible play exhibited there.

Play at the crown fairly regularly, know Mel quite well. Are u keen or something? She's fairly solid and has improved lots over the last 18 months. She cashed in event 1 Aussie Millions.

Anyone who claims the 2-3 game isn't beatable even with the rake, either hasn't played the game enough to give a reasonable assumption about the game/ or doesn't know how to adjust/ or step down to lower limit cash games.

Played there for like 2 weeks recently during/1 week after aussie millions, rake is obv sick but 2/3 is insanely beatable - lots of really bad regs that play there and of course lots of drunks on weekends is good too. I played 2/5 and 5/5 for most of the time I was there and 5/5 plays a lot bigger than you'd expect but 2/5 is very soft, lots of young asian kids with a ton of $$$ and some lebanese men with big egos too, those guys were fun!

Haha,
I always wonder where these Asian kids get their money from. They seem to be losing a ton at 2-3 & 2-5. I think a lot of them are international students with obviously very wealthy parents who give them fairly large monthly allowances. Hey good for the game at the crown though!

yeah - like 5 immeditately come to mind who all dropped pretty consistently like 2k +/day I was there on 2/5 and when 5/5 got going man, they'd just whip out like 5k chips it was sick. heard a few of them play baccarat really high too. Much better poker than Tasmania anyway, well worth the 1 hr flight.

Melbourne Regs - Just moved into the area and plan to hit the Crown soon. Given the time + rake though I'm curious if there are any other options in the area. Also, what's the deal with pub poker? I see that advertised all over the place. Thanks.

How common is the use of full headphones at the tables? Are you labelled as a knob if you just sit there listening to music and don't talk to anyone?

A definite 'Yes' at $1/$2 and $2/$3. And you'll be missing out on some of the tells exhibited by the drunks at the weekend.

I personally cant play 1/2 or 2/3 without headphones

the table talk is mind numbingly tilting

I CANT RAISE CAUSE OF THE ACE YOU KNOW?

I can summaris how all 1/2 2/3 players think in the 5 points below

1) limp all medium/small pocket pairs because if you hit a set you somehow win a $900 pot
2) limp AK cause if you miss you can fold cheap
3) always raise bigger with AA/KK so they got get cracked
4) i know you've got it but I flat with my middle set, oh wait u dont have a straight?!
5) limp/call is the best way to see lots of flops

ldo

I've heard that $2/$3 PLO plays much much bigger than the blinds suggest... can anyone confirm/deny? I've been told that people sit at it with stacks $2k-$5k+ and it just gets pot/pot/pot pre-flop pretty much every hand to accommodate for small blinds?

Avoid at allllllllllllll costs if possible. "Pub poker" in Melbourne usually = rebuy tournaments with horrific structures and some of the worst players/people around, the true bottom feeders of society.

LOL at people even suggesting that their 5/5 game has decent regs.

Americans reading,

If you're a winning nl25-nl50 player, you'll crush the game. A good NL50 reg will proabably even crush the 5/10 game.

just browsed thread, dont think anyone suggested crown has decent 5/5 regs - but its not like the game is full of fish either.

also gav regarding 2/3 plo - mainly its not THAT big but when i've played sessions there, its not uncommon to see the game playing like 300bb ($900) deep, with some people having 500 ( $1.5k ) -1k bb ( $3k ) but the higher side is quite rare from what i've seen. needs to have multiple fish just pulling $$ out for an hour or so.

I figured that's what implied as everyone mentioned how bad people were at 2/3 but not 5/5. And yes, you may get the odd REASONABLE player but a winning 25nl player would crush most of the 5/5 games that run there.

There's a few 5/5+ regs that are actually very good but most of the players are very bad lol.

That 5/5 rake structure is considered good? $25 a hour?

What kind of hourlies can be made at 1/2 2/3? Any strong regs that play part-time/living their?