Overall, I enjoy the game, especially the feeder tables. I am not accusing these players of intentional collusion, however if you know that if you get the stranger out of the hand that your other reg friend will check it down, it is a advantage over the non-reg player. Both players are aware that if you fold out, they will check it down giving them no worries about facing additional bets if you leave the hand. I did not see much bet/bet/fold then check it down which is a good thing. It is the same 4-5 reg players that check it down every time though and I have played in the game about 7 times now.

Obviously every player enjoys different games to different extents, personally I would like to play in a straight O8 game is all I am saying. I know the feeling is shared by several other players at the tables I have played on. Another note, I have had 6 out of 7 winning sessions in this game, so it is not a blame type situation. I just want to bring to light something that makes me uncomfortable playing in the main game as an outsider.

To the Asian reg at table 16, 2/5 game 530pm ish. Owning a fish is quit fine. Spewing poker strat talk at the table after fish 'couldn't believe u called with just a ten' is beyond horrendous.

Obviously you are a good player and regs know this. No need to reply to the worst player at the table with how badly he bet the flop('your cbet was only 30% of pot so you only had air or nuts) then continue talking about EV bet sizing and turn shoving etc.

You really have to realize how bad this is for not only your game but to the recreational player who had no idea how bad he played. Now he knows and with the wide eyed look on his face that said, holy chit 'I'm the sucker', he's gonna be that much more hesitant to play again.

You flat in position $25 with T8 and he goes from SB to 125 and you flat the BU, flop comes T high. Pot ~300 and he bets 130ish, you call, turn bricks and he nw shoves 490. You call and win. Your read was spot on but when he asks how can you call with just a T, your default answer should be ANYTHING to make him feel comfortable, like 'I was hoping u had AK, or 'I was really just gambling with you and got extremely lucky'.

Last thing he or anyone else needs to hear is how much of an advantage you have over him.

Sorry for the rant, but no good comes out of that talk when the mark gets up and leaves bc he knows he's overmatched.

Bedside manner ftw

No i'm familar with the hype of Tuesday at parx. It's stil awesome to see all the limit games going. Plus the 3 big n/l games.

Love the 30/60 game, good job parx getting it running.

The last two weeks i've played 10/20 half kill o/e no one walked on either round at least with the intention of not playing.

It will when the room moves into the main casino early next year.

I heard that the move isn't slated to take place until next fall.

Also, it's my understanding that the room is going to be on the second floor, open-air style, with escalators leading directly into the room. If you've been to the other building, the first thing you notice is the overwhelming stench of cigarette smoke. So this is great news for all the slot junkies...their cigarette smoke will now have a large receptacle (poker room) with a built-in filter (our lungs). Oh, and on top of that, smoking will be permitted in designated areas of the poker room. Awesome...just awesome.

Smoking is a no go.

Hope it's either not true or exaggerated.

Google maps acts like its an equal amount of time (or close to it) if I took Route 1 from Exit 9 rather than the PA Turnpike. This would certainly save a lot in tolls but I can't imagine it would be only a couple minutes longer, is it?

Might depend on time of day. Taking exit 9, you're going to hit moderate traffic and lights all the way from the Brunswicks through Princeton, and heavy traffic if it's rush hour. Once you hit Lawrenceville, there are no more lights and traffic flows pretty fast. You can also get on I-95 South and take it to the Route 1 exit in PA (seems weird, I know, but it's about the same time and distance), and save yourself the buck in toll.

If you stay on the Turnpike, you're going to hit traffic at the merge before exit 8, and it can back up pretty considerably during rush hour. There may also be traffic on the PATP. Unfortunately, I never go that route, so I really can't say for sure.

Hey guy was wondering if some people could point me in the right direction. I'm heading to Philly tomorrow from upstate NY. I had planned on playing at Parx casino unless someone has a better suggestion. But I have heard this is a pretty good poker room.

Also I wanted to find a hotel I guess there is not hotel at the casino but I have looked up hotels on google maps in the surrounding areas and they all have some pretty piss poor reviews. Can anyone suggest a place that they have stayed?

I would probably go during a low traffic time (Sun afternoon/evening going south usually isn't bad on the turnpike)

Hope this isn't the case. I stopped going into the main building to eat (Chickies/Steakhouse) because the smoke bothers me just walking from the entrance to the restaurant and vice-versa. I really try to avoid smoke wherever possible. What you describe doesn't sound good at all and would certainly impact my play depending on how bad it is.

Wish casinos had more foresight on this issue. There's a reason that smoking isn't allowed like anywhere indoors anymore. To their credit, when the poker room first opened the smoke was an issue and they did make an adjustment to improve the conditions. Hope they'll plan better for the new room before it opens.

As mentioned a few post ago, there is definitely too much strategy talk these days at the table as well as berating fish and just bad attitude in general(especially in the 2-5). I think it's very important, regardless if the strat is correct or not, to not allow competent players at the table to know your thought process and logic. Everything about it is -ev.

As for berating fish... Accommodating the customer is very important in any business and in the poker world the fish are the customers. A friendly vibe at the poker table is crucial in repeat business. You know it was a good table when the fish leaves broke w a smile on his face like he got something satisfying out of the experience. I think some of the 2-5 regs guilty of these things can take a page out of the 10-10 day reg play book.

Given how disgusting the main building is from all the smoke, I think the new poker room is going to be much worse than anyone is anticipating. I mean, how could it NOT be? Thousands and thousands of cigarettes and cigars are smoked in the main building every day, and the smoke has nowhere to go. And truth be told, management could care less about health concerns or the wishes of non smokers. If its as bad as I think it's going to be, I know I'm going to be making a lot more trips to The Borgata.

I can't stand the main building for this reason. I have been looking forward to the poker room moving to the main building as I think it could really help overall, but if nothing is done about the smoke issue it will certainly have a huge negative impact on poker at Parx.

I also hate smoke, and hate the main building because of it.

Having said that, on the random occasion I go eat at the Parx Grill, I find I don't smell the smoke any more once I'm in the restaurant. Granted, some others might have more sensitive noses than me. But maybe we should give the room a chance before we condemn it based purely on speculation.

Having said *that*, if the room smells like smoke, I will certainly also play less.

I keep seeing posts about how bad strategy talk is at the table... I'm somewhat of a fish, myself, and am willing to donate a bit here & there in the name of good fun. If I'm being owned by a better player I'm not naive enough to think he or she is just getting lucky. I'd rather hear the guy's reasoning behind his plays & try to learn something than have him patronize me and say, "Oh yeah, wow, guess I got lucky there". Nobody believes that - it's obvious who the good players are & who aren't... Personally, as a recreational player I'd rather try to learn a few things from these regs who are willing to share it. It's not like I'm ever going to put in the volume of hours required to become a legit threat, so why not kick over some knowledge? I dunno, just seems everyone here is so, "don't talk about EV, oh man, you'll scare the fish!", but I'm not seeing it - would rather try to learn a few things while I'm there than have people BS/Hustle me the whole time........

I'm not saying bad attitude or berating people is a good thing and of course I'd rather be treated with kindness than have people criticize my plays & be rude about it - just that I don't see the harm in a little bit of strategy talk every now & then....

Well, in the cases that were brought up, the situation was mostly different. As a semi-pro cash game player, I don't particularly mind it when a player who made a mistake asks and receives the response about their play after the hand. However, when such players are getting berated and insulted for their play, a much bigger problem than spreading knowledge is that it ruins an overall fun atmosphere of the game.

As my friend who used to coach (private lessons, not at the table) a certain loose cannon Borgata player from Brooklyn used to say when we drank together: "No Amount of coaching is going to make that guy a winner specifically due to general spewtastic tendencies and lack of discipline. However, teaching the guy about ranges, good and bad bluff and 3-bet spots and other fun theory increased student's number of winning sessions, radically decreased his loss rate (which used to be like - $100+/hr in 2 5) and in all likelihood kept him in the game for the long run benefiting the overall poker economy".

So, if you must talk poker at a table - keep it basic and more importantly keep it friendly. Also, using standard English (raise instead of 3-bet, lots of money in the pot instead of equity, 14 big blinds instead of M=8.2, and so forth...) instead of technical terms helps as well.

Is there free booze/drinks yet at parx?

No, all alcohol still must be purchased.

Spiting the poker room and the populace is a horrid idea. Breaking up the player pool leads to games breaking and segregation. As someone who plays a limit where only 1 maybe 2 games are going. Having it separated by smokers would kill it. Really it would force the non smokers to play on the smoking side.

Having smoking areas be far away from the tables is good enough.

Pretty good post.

Most players fail because they cant distinguish good talk about poker vs. bad poker talk. Set your level to "Norman Chad" level and you'll be fine.

Is there still no easy way to get to Parx from NYC without a car. I have a car but a lot of Manhattan fish always ask this question.

They closed today and tomorrow?

Just called and they plan to stay open tomorrow. Subject to change of course. They stayed open during the storm last year although this is expected to be worse.