This is a 2-part review of Lucky Devil, told from the perspective of a Seattle poker player. Cliffs to follow...

Part 1: The Game

Blinds: $1/$2, optional $5 straddle.
Time: 9pm-2am
One table, 9 seats
Cover: $1 lol
Rake: none!

I got there at 10pm and was 3rd on the list. Spent 2.5 hours drinking $4 beers and eating nachos. No guacamole, but they were $5!
The dealer was competent. He only took one break the entire time. Another player stepped in to deal for him and she was good too. Very friendly group. No major mistakes. Well, I did see him chug a beer with the table in the middle of a big hand. You'd never see that in Seattle!
No security cameras. No cash cage. No floor man. No shuffle machines. The chip runner was also the food/drink server. She was great, even as she flirted with the customers and joked with the dancers.

I got my seat at 12:30. The fishy players showed up shortly after that. Nobody embarrassed them away. In fact, some of them helped the fish fit in by playing even worse.
The music was loud. The guy in the 5 seat could not hear the dealer and I had to scream at him every time the action was on him.
Some interesting hands. Old Man Coffee played about 2 hands/hr and then suddenly decided to straddle his button. That must be why he 3-bet 8 5 and flopped a straight.
Best thing to do with that image? Limp AA and win a small pot obv. So that’s what he does.
He doesn’t make that mistake again. The poker gods give him another chance to play AA and he shoves it in preflop. I fold 67. A8 calls and gets there obv.
OMC gets AA one more time, on the last hand of the night. He shoves preflop again and backup dealer girl calls with T J. A lovely T J 2 flop comes out and they decide to run the rest of the board twice. Chop-chop.
I would look at it like a home game. There is no rule book or manager in case of a controversy. If you are unknown, don’t expect a close call to go your way. Play at your own risk.

Part 2: The Dancers

After a long day of marching for women’s equality, I deserved this. Seven different girls cycled through the stage. None were terrible. Some were excellent. The star was Pixie, the birthday girl. She had strong arms, doing pull-ups and hanging upside down. If I’m going to wait 2.5 hours a for a $1/$2 seat, this is what I want to do. Genius!
The music was a mix of sonic youth, the smiths, and modern hip hop. Not your usual Def Leppard Bon Jovi nonsense you hear at the corporate clubs. The DJ just had a laptop and an ipod and I’ll repeat it was too loud. But poker is less than half their business, so we deal with it.
They all mingled with the crowd between dances. It was very chill. No pressure or haughtiness whatsoever.

Stats:
2 blondes
Color: 3 or 4 half-Asians at most
Maybe 1 without implants
0 ink-free
Attire: none!

Tl;dr this place is an idea whose time has come. I’d like to see a little more “business sense” for lack of a better term. I understand the irony; the law prevents them from acting like a business, so it has to be informal. Player protection should always be the priority. I’ll be back and next time I’ll get there early.

Pretty solid (and accurate) review of Devil as a whole. Regarding bolded, my initial reaction was to disagree, then it dawned on me that in the many hours I've played there, I don't think a question regarding a ruling has ever come up. Off the cuff, I might attribute that to dealers that in my opinion are some of the best around (the two who usually work, anyway), and the fact that the lights/music force you to ask to make sure action is correct. As for safety, they certainly have a camera on the tables (even if not right overhead), and I've never felt unsafe.

I'm with you re: music. It's awesome. There used to be one dancer who only played old school and new school "outlaw" country. Loved it.

And yeah, my only problem with the game is you have to get there 45 minutes early (or earlier on Tiny Tuesdays) to get a seat. If you miss the first cut, you're waiting a few hours at least.

Yeah, the game was straight. Glad to hear it goes smoothly. It was fun.
The only other place I played was Claudia's. The 7pm bounty tourney was good value. 200bb starting stacks. But they had a $10 cover charge.

Most people who batch and angle and cause problems are exactly the type who don't play at devils. And the dealers are solid. I've played there about 15 times and never seen an issue or argument.

I have a good friend who got underpaid over $100 once. He didn't even go back and try to rectify, figuring once he left it was his word vs theirs. I don't suspect it was on purpose but be very diligent when cashing out.

That's an excellent point, and one I should have raised. One issue I do have is the chip colors are really similar, especially under the dark (and off-color) light, and as noted the folks cashing you out are servers, not professional poker folks. It's just good advice no matter where you are to check and double check your chips and what you're getting paid out, but worth being extra careful here (which I say due to the lighting, not the people).

So the Rialto building is still being repaired.

The Rialto poker game is now being held at Claudia's at 30th and Hawthorne.

They have the Rialto game every night of the week - dependent on getting players. I was told that the Friday game is pretty good. Still 50 cents / one dollar blinds. Still the Rialto dealers for the Rialto game.

I've been a couple of times this week and it's some of the same players with a mix of the Claudia players.

Claudia's is still running their nightly tournaments and then holding a cash game. That game is 25 cent / 50 cent blinds.

Couple of clubs simultaneously announce door fee rising to $15

The cash game at Claudia's is now 50 cent / 50 cent blinds NLHE. And they got some new shiny chips!

The displaced Rialto game (50 cent / 1 dollar, NLHE) is still being held at Claudia's.

Both cash games run every day of the week.

On the weekends, there is a PL Omaha game there.

Coming in to Portland tomorrow evening for a business trip and hoping to play a little poker. Is Lucky Devil my best bet for a Wednesday night? Just looking to play some cash games...

By far the best cash game at its stakes IMO. Be there by 8:30 to get a seat card.

Join NW Poker Facebook group to see nightly promotions by different clubs.

Thanks for that. What about Portland Meadows? Is there still action there?

Only reason I ask is it seems pretty close to the airport, and I'm not a big strip club guy.

They had a tournament there on Saturday with 386 entries. Four 1/2 NLHE tables and one Big O table with a waiting list of 20 for 1/2 by 5:30pm for the bustos. You'd have to call them for info on a Tuesday.

Final Table (not that far from the airport) has a live game tracker online.

Thanks for the good info. Will call both when I land and see where things stand. Appreciate it!

If you're on Facebook, check out the NW Poker group page. You can get a good feel for the amount of action going on at Meadows, Final Table, and The Game (SW Portland, mostly cash game venue) there.

Just moved to Portland this past weekend and am looking to continue my card pitching ways. >5yrs experience in large casino markets. Anyone have any advice about where to look?

I had a great experience at Portland Meadows. Plenty of action on a Wednesday night.

$15 admission fee is a small price to pay considering there was no rake, which in my case was worth easily $50+

Dealers were great. They get paid only in tips, and even have to pay the $15 door fee themselves!

Drinks were reasonably priced, and good beer selection if you're into that.

Players ranged from solid to super-fishy. Everyone was pretty friendly though.

Like others have said, it's kinda like a really well organized home game.

This would piss me off so much as a dealer. Ostensibly to make them on the same par as members/players and thus fall into regulations, it realistically does nothing to change the legality of the game. Just lines Meadows' pocketbooks.

Thinly veiled attempt to say they are players, nothing more. I love poker but until they respect workers rights all this nonsense is not something I can get behind.

Clubs are ****ed after Monday's hearing, IMO.

What happened?

http://www.wweek.com/news/2017/03/22...legal-to-last/

So that hearing is next Monday (17 April). I cross my fingers, but it doesn't look good.

Really well written article, by the way.

Personally, I thought the piece—though written by a guy with a Pulitzer Prize—was sort of haphazard and put most of the more interesting information in the sidebars, and spent more time talking about John Ogai's death and an interview with one of his friends who died before the article came out.

"Interesting" is relative to the reader.

Hearing got pushed to May 1. Can't tell from any public information (that I can find) why, or who requested it. A cynical opinion might be the clubs pushed it back to get a few more weeks' of income in before the hammer drops.