I think 99% of players at the $8/$16 and below levels are playing for all the reasons that have nothing to do with making a living... and anything that helps bring recs in is good for poker imo.

As I said before, playing $20/$40 the promos and stuff are unnecessary. I would rather not have the extra $3 taken out of every pot.

But at $8/$16, I think the trade off is worth it. I can make a reasonable living in the game with the conditions as they are and sure, those long term numbers you posted are revolting but I can't say I feel it on a d2d basis. I'd rather play in slamming poker rooms than empty ones.

Does the drop and promo discussion really even matter as there are no alternative poker rooms locally who do not have a rake + promo drop? Real rooms, not abba dabbas.

Even if Cali rooms don't drop promos, do you really want to live there?

it really doesnt fill the rooms as too many players are not able to get better fast enough and move up or keep enough cash to want to continue coming back. over time and it does take time the rooms slowly go broke or settle with less tables going.
those that dont care if they win or not or those that are degenerate gamblers come back no matter what you do to them.

If it wasn't for the degenerate gamblers there wouldn't be any need for poker rooms.

Besides, in low-limit hold 'em, bad players go broke slow enough to keep coming back. It's the spread limit/no-limit games that chew bad players up quickly.

FB

Yup...per Amarillo Slim:

"Seldom do the lambs slaughter the butcher."

i played a lot with slim for years. he had a saying or quip for anything that happened.

Another wonderful quote about the bad players and high-stake games:

"You can shear a sheep many times, but you can skin it only once." Amarillo Slim

Well howdy. I've been perusing through this topic trying to get some info but figured it couldn't hurt to ask y'all. I will be up in Seattle for a week or so and I'm gonna need to get some poker in while I'm there. I play almost exclusively 5 card Omaha hi-lo these days (Big O, I guess?) and I haven't seen much mention of this here. Any places that spread it regularly? Something in the 4/8 - 8/16 range.

Poker Atlas lists some rooms that sound intriguing, but I'm skeptical. If there is one thing I've gleaned from this forum is places like Fortune and Red Dragon are my best bet for Omaha games. But I also gotta say some of the reviews I've read on Atlas really have turned me off. Really gives off a seedy vibe, and I will already be out of my element up there, so I'm not sure how I feel about those places.

There's a good chance, without further knowledge of the area, I'll just end up getting a room at Tulalip or Suquamish, but that seems so tourist-y and lame, and I don't really want to be at the mercy of a casino and their boring 3/6 limit 4 card games.

Any advice would be appreciated.

I play pretty exclusively at Fortune. It's a typical mix of players. The staff is competent and the room is clean/well lit, food is good, great promos. I believe we addressed some of the concerns from the Poker Atlas reviews in this thread a couple months back when someone had the same concerns as yourself. I haven't noticed any collusion or anything outside of the norm for a poker room. From my experience, the staff is quick to act anytime someone gets out of line. Hope that alleviates any concerns. Take poker atlas reviews with a grain of salt.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

I'm not an authority on this but the only Big O games I see are Pot Limit High. Not that it couldn't happen, I just don't recall ever seeing it run as Hi/Lo Limit game.

I would say the best bet would be to get in a regular O8 limit game at Fortune and try to talk the table switching it to a 5 card game. But even that might not fly as they can only spread games sanctioned by WA Gaming.

Palace in Lakewood has a Pot Limit Big O8 game on Tuesdays @ 6 PM.

Blinds are $1/$3 and it's $5 to enter the pot.

I don't think it gets off the ground every week but it must go often enough that they still have a list for it.

I obviously don't play it.

Considering it's a rarity to get PSJ back as a player, as well as the house keeps 10% of the PSJ drop, it's still quite relevant $3-4 drop. Like Darknight said it should just be removed from serious games, like when >$15/$30 non holdem games run at Muck or Fortune.

And Portland is a neighbor to Seattle, with no rake games.. so it's worth mentioning them in this thread, not just keeping all relevant talk in the fairly dead Portland thread. As for your legality questioning, are you a tribal gaming lobbyist? gtfo

Just randomly glanced at the Red Dragon app and see there is a 3/5 game running.

Seems like there would be enough interest in 5-300 spread at Fortune!

Huh, what app? There is an app?

Yeah, its just like the Fortune app.

What are you talking about? What website are you looking at?

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...edDragon&hl=en

That explains it.

Zero reference from dragon's website, not in app store, not referenced in FB...

You're welcome to mention them, but since they are in no way similar to the actual licensed casinos in Washington, they're not really a good comparison.

I am not in the legal field and have nothing against those rooms being available. I know they have questionable legal status because I went to one to play and found it to be shut down, with a notice posted on the door regarding the shutdown. Since then I read a lot about them online and educated myself (which it seems that you have not done yourself). There is a lot of good info about them in the Portland thread, which is why I directed anyone interested to there.

And again, if you think the rake in Seattle is oppressive, you must not have played many places. It is very low when compared with anywhere else in the country.

the reason the portland oregon games keep getting shut down is that the city doesnt like the poker so much. and so it requires that the dealers get paid fully where here they work for tips only. and it has to be that way as the casino cant pay them as the casino is not allowed to charge rake or time.
they charge a ten dollar admission charge to enter. and have to make it on that and food and drinks.

Are you saying the Seattle-area dealers work for tips only? I didn't know that, and it would really surprise me to find out.

^ don't know if you're being sarcastic or not, but no, they make min wage also.

It's more complicated than that, but not sure why we are discussing it here.

FWIW, I played in one of Portland's clubs last year and here are few nuggets:

1. No bank. House/club doesn't have a bank because all the money going in/out reflects the amount of chips in play.
2. No camera, except maybe a few for reasons that have nothing to do with protection of the game.
3. No full-time dealer and no shuffling machine. I had the same dealer for the entire 3 hour session I was at the table. Entire time the game was dealt with one deck and I did not see a single time in which the "dealer" counted down cards.

In other words, it is basically a glorified home game. Some people might like it and some won't.

How the hell does Fortune have their own table tracking mobile app? I mean, if you're in Seattle searching for area games, there's no way you're going to download some offbrand mobile app. You're going straight to Bravo, aren't you?

No, I wasn't being sarcastic - I assumed they made at least minimum wage, but then Ray Zee said "...where here they work for tips only...".