Going to Portland for a convention. I found a few places in the city. Any recommendations for NL games? Any stakes is ok. Some of these places seem like they are combined with other venues or don't exist anymore. First time in this location.

So after a lot of searching and waiting for them to open it looks like I will take a stab at Final Table Poker Club in Portland. They spread NL only up to 5/5 on weekends. They seem like they mostly do tournaments from their website. They seem to have an aversion to poker in Oregon so I will see if it is worth it. As far as I can tell they can't make money from poker so I don't know what the door entry is or anything like that to sit there.

You can call an ask... 503.719.5457

From what I see
- Only seem to run Tournaments, I see no indication they run cash games at all
- Web says self deal
- seat fee for freeze outs looks like $10

But as noted, best option is call them and get actual information

I did call. $20 cover good all day with in and out privs. Looks like they have dealers but I didn't ask, will call back and ask but I saw old info on self deal and $10. More recent stuff I found is they do have dealers.

They run up to 5/5 NL on weekends, otherwise 1/2 or 1/3 NL games but a lot of tournaments, mostly single table.

The Oregon laws prevent them from making money on poker so it looks like they run a social club and the requirements to be in the club are a door fee or cover charge and then the game is free. Go figure. Stupid governments trying to regulate what goes on every day with or without them. The same thing is playing out in Texas. They could just regulate it, charge a tax and be done.

The other two major "social club" poker rooms I know of in Portland are The Game in SW and Portland Meadows in NE (no longer at the site where the racetrack used to be).
Or if you want a unique experience, with the lowest fees, check out the Kit Kat Club downtown, where there is one poker table in the strip club.

It is interesting that their own website, where I quickly looked, isn’t the most accurate. I might make some personal judgements just on that alone.

As to how TX grew market operates, that one I would not need to look up. If you need room recs there, feel free to ask. But hiw TX operates has a big difference from what you describe in Oregon. TX not only charges a door fee, they call it a membership, but also seat rent to play poker.

Not the correct forum or thread so I won’t entertain debate on whether this is legal in TX. Also I have no clue his laws in OR are written, so I don’t have informed opinions on what they are doing.

The places I have played in Portland also call it a membership. I even have a membership card for the group that plays in the strip club.

If you are willing to drive up to Washington, there is a casino at exit 16 of I-5 at La Center. They have 1/3 HE that is ostensibly NL but is really $1-$300 spread. Max buy in of $400.

In Milwaukie, OR there is a small game 1/1 NL HE run at the sports bar called Stadiums.

As I understand it, in the state of Oregon all poker games are "self-dealt" but one person "volunteers" to be the dealer/table captain. You technically do not tip that person, but can give them chips as you wish.

Thanks for the replies. I did see the KitKat but it was questionable if it was still open. Final Table seemed like the biggest club but I will entertain the others as well.

Also thanks for the info on the dealers. Kind of reminds me of bowling before automatic scoring. I used to go in the evenings and keep score for the 6 and 9 pm leagues. Pay at that time was 25 cents per game per player but often times I got some nice tips or they would buy a soda for me.

Yeah, I don't want to get into politics. I just noticed how each state has screwed up laws and how places get away with it. The TX work around is interesting. I knew about the cover plus seat rental. From what I have read these will probably go to a showdown in the courts if it is legal or not.

What I don't understand is we have here in California about 150 casinos split between poker clubs and full casino operations however gambling is illegal otherwise but you can do these online sports books or gambling sites but we still don't have online poker.

Interesting. Been league bowling since 80’s, was actually decent way back when, and never saw a designated paid score keeper. Wife prolly would have made a career out of it. LOL she loved keeping score.

Not that I expect something is happening, but I would be far less comfortable with a designated dealer h than a designated scorekeeper. But still def better than true self dealing. There is a reason the term self dealing is negative outside of card games.

I remember when bowling auto score was so bad we turned it off for leagues because it was faster than all the needed corrections. Even when we started using auto score, there were plenty of corrections needed (very rare now with current tech). But because it is all visible and not time sensitive, bowling score can be fixed, even after game is completed (assuming someone there knows how to score, there are lots of very good bowlers who have never had to do it. Could figure it out but many would struggle. Even fewer know how to count marks to know who is actually ahead). The point is tough to cheat at scoring and bad scoring can be corrected with minimal impact on the game. Neither always true for dealing.

Ah yes, marks in bowling. While scorekeeping a player wanted to argue with me after they received a minus mark for a bad frame. They didn't understand it either, how to do it or what it even meant. I had to explain that it was telling them the score against the other team and by not taking the mark off they would be behind further than they thought they were.

Scorekeeping was the same as subbing. Go to the desk, tell them you are a scorekeeper and they announce it. Hang by the desk until someone needs you. If you did well enough a team would make you their regular scorekeeper.

I'm pretty sure this is not the case - it certainly is not at Kit Kat.
Several years ago that was done for awhile, but it didn't work well.

But that is what the legal rulings say. Basically all the poker clubs are in major violation of the law, but the Portland Police is understaffed and has far more important things to worry about, so they haven't enforced the club rules for several years.

The Last Frontier in La Center is completely legitimate, small poker rooms are legal in Washington state.

I just got off the phone with the Final Table club. The games are self dealt but they have volunteer dealers that work for tips only. They also have something I have never seen before called a bomb. When the bomb button meets the dealer button the game can be called as a bomb (I assume the player on the button) and anyone who wants to play has an ante and the game changes to any of Omaha, 5 card Omaha or Omaha HiLo with 2 boards which then split the pot.

The have a couple of tourny's as well that look good.

And I was wrong about KitKat, it is still listed as having poker however it was another place that I saw that was closed, I just got them confused.

So, off to Oregon to see how it is. Looks like we will go to Final Table.

Huh, please report back and let us know about the self dealt games, I am really surprised to hear that. When I went there once years ago they had dealers.

The Rialto pool room had poker until maybe six months ago, not too far from the Kit Kat and was run by the same people.

The Lucky Devil strip club had one poker table as well, but they shut it down for covid and from what I have heard they haven't started back with the poker.

I think most places have the once a round bomb pots, they have it at Kit Kat and they even now have it at Last Frontier. There is just the ante and then no more betting until after the flop.

Will do. I will be there the first weekend in March. Planning on going on Friday night to get into the 6pm tournament and then 5/5 after that but I might play that bomb game as well.

There's a thread on Portland cardrooms in the Venues and Communities forum, btw.

Thanks for the 411

The "self dealt" thing is just for regulatory purposes, and most likely why they have it on their website. Since regulations say the house can't be involved in physically running the game, dealers are "volunteer." One place used to make the dealers pay the cover and wear a "paid player" lanyard. In reality, every single room you go to in Portland will have a dedicated dealer for every table.

Regulations are also the reason they might say they don't have cash games. There was a period of time where it looked like the heat might be up on the local rooms, so no house would EVER say they have cash games...they were just tournaments, with unlimited rebuys and no end.

Bomb pots are the huge, huge thing in Portland. It's like it was for Big O 5-6 years ago....people got into Big O, and there was a huge crowd who had played Hold Em for 20 years who decided Hold Em was a totally **** game and you are **** if you don't play Big O. Now you're **** if you play Big O but won't play bomb pots.

Bomb pots vary by location. Some will only do "5-2-2." Five card Omaha, two boards, winner on both boards. Others add in all sorts of things, hi-lo, Texaha, Dramaha, tic-tac-toe. Universally the bomb pot is as said above, antes with no pre-flop raising. Some places have the dealer call the amount of the bomb pot. Freeze out hands are also big. If you have the bomb pot (which is always on the dealer button) and it's your freeze out hand, no one can raise except the dealer.

I never cared for Final Table and haven't been since their new location. Same with the new Meadows location, although that one I just haven't gotten around to going to. Rialto still has a game, but it moved from the dumpy OTB to the "nice" pool room, up in the mezzanine. It's a nice setup. Games can be really good, but it's kind of inconsistent. Kit Kat definitely still has a game, and it is generally really, REALLY good. Doesn't start until 9:00 or so. Rialto and Kit Kat are $10 cover compared to the others being $20. Both have the wide variety bomb pots and freeze outs.

I haven't been to The Game in ages, but it used to be my favorite spot. Nice, big room. I assume they're doing bomb pots 'cause everyone is, but I don't know. I don't live in Portland anymore so when I go I tend to stick to downtown.

Thanks for the 411

Timely, I can now report on day games at Meadows; went there for the first time over the weekend. Multiple 1/2 games with one bomb pot per orbit, and the bomb pot is ONLY 5-2-2. There was a 1/3 table that had two bomb pots per orbit with "mixed" bomb pots, presuming dealers choice (I didn't get into that one). They also started a 5-5 game right as I was leaving.

Here is the report on Final Table in Portland. It is in a small shopping mall that doesn't have a lot of parking but I was able to find a spot at the end of the lot. There was security in the lot.

The place is a 15 table poker room that has a very small area to purchase drinks. They also have food. A soda is $2 and a bottle of beer is $3. Not bad. About half the tables were used for the torunaments.

When you get chips the very first time there is a $20 charge, good all day. I went on a Friday afternoon and they had a 12pm tournament that was just bubbling out and they had a 6pm tournament that had about 90 entries. It was a $10K guarantee.

They had two 1/2 NL games going and I put my name on the list for it, a 1/3 and a 5/5. Right away they started a new 1/2 and I was able to sit down. Buy-in was $40-$400. I bought in for $400. They do a bomb pot when the bomb puck and the dealer puck hit the same player which was the second had. It is called by the player with the puck and can be Big O, Omaha High or High-Lo. The only game we played for the night was Big O, 5 card Omaha. The puck moves in the opposite direction of the dealer button and can be passed if the player doesn't want to call a game. If there are 9 players then the SB is forced to sit out unless there is a volunteer. The dealer button doesn't move for this game, it is considered a side game.

It is a $5 ante and each player gets 5 cards and they run 2 flops. That is when the betting starts with the first player to the left of the dealer button. I don't know why they don't bet pre-flop but once the flops come down it is pretty clear if you have a chance of winning, but not to most of the players as they seems to play hands that had no chance of winning. I did chop one pot as I flopped a nut straight. I was able to bet $30 post flop, turn and river and there was enough action that I made some money on that hand.

I was on 2 different tables for the night and there were a number of ATC players and a few action players. One I felt sorry for was an elderly lady that played every hand, burned through several hundred before pulling $18 dollars out of her purse and busting out with a 74 unsuited. She asked to save her spot and came back with $120 and 2 hands later it was gone and so was she. She was replaced with a young guy who bought in for $200 and got stacked his first hand, rebuy $400 and gets stacked a few hands later, rebuy $200 and started winning some hands.

My only notable hand other than the Big O hand was KK against KJ off suit with a flop of Jxx. I was able to go all in on the turn and took down the hand which put me up $46 for the night.

Overall, everyone was friendly. The players, dealers and staff. They ran the room as well as any Los Angeles room and it was very professional. There was no drag from the pot and the dealers accepted tips. When I left they had 1/2 and 1/3 going. The 5/5 had enough interest on the board but only 2 of us wanted to start it so it never got off the ground.

Were the games really self-dealt like they told you on the phone?

They had 'Volunteer' dealers that were not players in the game. Basically it ran like any real card room but hosted as a 'home game' type of place. Oregon law says poker rooms must return all wagers to the players. The dealers are working for tips and who knows if they get some type of other stipend. They were all as professional as any card room I have been in and much more friendly.

Jeezus that's a lot of bomb pots. So every hold 'em table has bomb pots? Is Final Table same way?

No other stipend. Tips only, and they do pretty darn well for themselves.

The "friendly" part goes both ways. The big places, Final Table and Meadows, are generally good about staying professional all around, but you will occasionally get a dealer who is way too talkative and it slows the game down.

People are OBSESSED with bomb pots here. I'd wager the vast majority would prefer two bomb pot pucks going at a time, but there are JUST enough regulars who don't like it that it doesn't happen. And yes, at Meadows every cash table had bomb pots.

The other big one in the bar/strip club games are lock outs, which I briefly mentioned above. If it's your button with the bomb pot puck, you can do a bomb pot, and a lock out. Lock out is dealer choice $5, $10, or $20 ante, and only the button can raise. It's usually 5-2-2.

I played at a bar game a few weeks ago that was lock outs only, but they limited it to a $5 ante.