I play 2-60 and I was there during the week it seemed really dead to me. (who whole card club seemed dead) There was 1 2-60 table with a lot of bad players as usual coming and going who dropped a couple of racks apiece.

the 4-20 game is on its last leg... for the last month or so there has only been about 1 table of that game going. most of the people who i have seen playing it lately have been old men who you would have to hit in the head with a stick to get chips out of. not my kind of game.

Guys,
Yeah I love the place because usually there are a lot of options.
If I want to play Omaha8 H/L they have it. If I want to play a game similiar to NL I can play the 2/60 spread. If I want to just play spread I play 2/10 and 4/20. I can also play a cheap NL tourney almost every day of the week.

I haven't been there in a month but usually there were plenty of games going Fri-Sun so it should be cool tonight. The 4/20 usually has some better players but not always. I also play the 2/10 quite a bit as there are more of them and they are also the fishiest.

Unless the road conditions look too nasty given the snow we're supposed to be getting tonight, I'll probably get there around 8PM. Hard to miss, I'm 6'4" and currently wearing an orange plaid shirt. Say hey if you see me and then fold your two pair to my bluff.

Don't know if you made it or not, but that tall guy playing 2/10 in seat five on table 14 was me.

Mini-trip report: there were three tables of 2/10 running, one of 4/20, and four of 2/60. For limit, four or five 2/4 tables, two 3/6, interest on the board for 6/12 and 8/16, and one 20/40 table running. Also a NLHE tournament going on. I ran pretty well again (made about three-quarters of a rack profit over four hours) against a mostly loose table. Two nitty older guys, 2-4 young LAG players, the rest generally loose-passive. I didn't do anything fancy, just played tight OOP and rather loose IP in unraised pots preflop, value bet flops that hit me and generally folded when flops missed. At least for 2/10, that seems to work just fine.

I just wanted to bump this to inquire as to how RA is doing in these tough economic times. Every time I have been in there on the Weekends (Fri-Sun) the place has been packed but I have heard from many regulars and dealers that the place is completely dead Mon-Thurs especially during the day. I've also heard of many dealers and other workers being laid off or working fewer hours. I really like the place and think they have had some great promotions to get people in there like aces cracked, drawings and splash pots during football.
Can they make it just being busy on weekends?
Will things pick up when live racing starts again?
I would like to hear some thoughts on this...

I am sure that numbers are down everywhere. The startrib had an article about injun casinos being down; I heard CBY's numbers are down.

They made the same mistake at RA that they did when they first built CBY as a horse track - they overbuilt it. Plus, they opened it at the beginning of a recession.

I play there all the time. It's not too busy during the week, but there's still about 10 tables going any time except early morning.
From 4-8 A.M. on a weekday morning there are anywhere from 1-4 tables running. These tables tend to be 2-10, 4-20, 2-60, and 20-40.
When there's only 1 table running it can be any of the above four.

I've heard from the floor there that they are actually turning huge profits these days. The problem is that they invested so much money initially that they are still struggling, and they aren't getting any help from the state like canterbury did.

Their monthly profits are actually > than Canterbury's from what I've heard. And anytime I've been to Canterbury recently it has had fewer games running than Aces (in the morning there's usually 1 3/6 game and 1 6/12 game).

Let's hear from some RA regulars in here!
Anyone going to be there tonight?

I'll be there tomorrow (Sat) night.
I play 2/10,4/20 or 2/60 depending what I'm in the mood for.
I need to get in there some Mon-Thurs to see what it's like for myself.
Probably not very profitable to play on those days as it’s likely mostly regular players.

Regular bad players, yes.
Don't worry, last night I had people calling 14 preflop (2/10) with stuff like J2o, so it was quite juicy.

Is the 2-60 spread 24/7? I'm interested in playing it (and I could always call before I leave) but was wondering if anyone had insight.

How does this game play btw? I want to play it because it would seem to play similar to NL?

bump


gonna be living in St. Paul for all of march, sure I'll have grind on the mind.

I've only played the 2/60 there a few times but yes, it plays much like 1/2 NL. At least PF and on the flop. For the last 2 cards, if the pot has gotten big, it's sort of like limit. Can't say if it runs 24/7, but it always seems to be running whenever I'm there.

I usually play the 2/10 though, a lot less varience for my meager bankroll.

Good description of the 2/60 game above. Plays like 1/2NL unless the pot has bloated huge pre/post flop or if you are playing a LAG who has accumulated a huge stack (ie: he's not folding a good draw for $60 postflop when he has $800 in front of him.)

Also table selection is key as there are many very good players in that game so you need to find one with donks that like to call when you make big hands and huge raises. I have always found at least one of these 2/60's running when I'm in there but more likely to see 3-4 Fri-Sun.

I'll have to check this place out soon, the 2-60 spread sounds cool.

Any of the pros/regulars gonna post some pics so we know who you are?

I live in St Paul but I still haven't been there, I'm going next week. Do they have mixed games at all??? I play at Diamond Jo's in Iowa a lot because I can get H.O.S.E, PLO, and PLO8 going, along with their juicy 2/5 games every once in awhile.

Ace™

I saw a mixed game (can't remember the combination) there once a few months ago but it's not something that they spread on a regular basis.

Pretty much several LHE and spread limit games running and typically one table of 4/8 Omaha Hi/Lo. The last few times that I've been there, one of the 3/6 LHE tables has been a kill game.

FWIW, last weekend the place was going strong, 20+ tables in action.

Going to try my luck at some 2-60 tomorrow night into saturday morning.

First time going there, hopefully i come back with stories of fortunes won

Where is Columbus at? Will there be games this morning at around 4am?

Columbus is pretty much Forest Lake. RA is Northwest of Gander Mtn. Exit 35e onto HW 97 and take a left.

The mixed game they spread is 4-8 HOE. It's very rare though.

I'll be up there Thursday for the O8 tourney, hopefully I can get a HOE or HOSE game going, if not I'll have to jump into stupid 2/60. Going to Diamond Jo's on the 21st, I'll for sure be getting a PLO, PLO8, or HOSE game going because they draw interest on weekends.

Ace™

Mini trip report: Played there this weekend in both of the freeroll tournaments (42nd place in a field of 91 on Saturday, 51st in a field of 137 on Sunday, yawn). They were only paying 10 places but I heard from several people that about 45 minutes after I busted out, the was a 28-way deal agreed to.

Later played 2/60 spread for about 4 hours, came out a bit more than a half rack ahead. It's taken a while to get used to the bastardized spread limit format, not quite LHE not quite NLHE, but the game is really starting to grow on me. FWIW, I've found that it works best to play very tight in early position, a bit loose in middle and quite loose on the button pre-flop. When the flop hits you, do a lot of value betting. People will pay you off.

There was one table of 4-8 Omaha H/L going while I was there. Everything else was holdem. The place was packed and they even had to set up a couple of temporary tables for the tournaments as every regular table was in use.

Only in Minnesota.

My first post!
I play up there pretty much every weekend i just recently moved up and started to play 2-10. I personally like RA more then CP, better enviornment, and RA is 10min drive vs. a 45-60 min drive.

My last session there was a complete nightmare this one a-hole to my right kept lecturing people on how to play and how he is so good. There were alot of young people around my age(20) at the table and kept saying to stop playing like your on the internet. I have never played for money online or anything. And the idiot every time he won a pot would get up and cheer like he won the ME or some thing. And that right there makes me mad i totally dispise people that cheer like that i mean be happy that you won and everything but take the pot down like a adult and when people tell you good hand just say thank you and move on. The only time i ever got in a argument at a poker table was with that guy and the only time i ever played when i was on tilt and gave most of my few remaining chips (10-20$) to some kid just because i wanted to get out of there.

any way sorry for the rant and first post

wb - i hear you. sometimes it's tough for me to play live just because of the people it forces me to interact with for long periods of time.