Wow $7, how dare they!!!!!!
Is the room in the same location, but they just removed the ropes?

Again I have only that other forum to draw on:

Is the may24 long weekend probably the best games of the year at niagara falls?

No, New Years Eve and it's not even close.

hey everyone, I started a thread looking for a ride to Rama two weeks ago, and someone referred me to this thread for TO regs... well I made it to Rama, and what a nightmare. You can't put your name on the waitlist if you're not physically in the casino, and half the dealers have spent less time at a poker table than I have. The place sucks.

As a result, I'm now looking for underground 1/2 NLHE or PLO games closer to me (Barrie area), because Rama is a ****ing madhouse of poker. It's tilting for me to drive an hour there and play 10 hands per hour because the dealer has to call the floor sup, who has to call another floor sup, just to find out what happens when the dealer mucks seat 1's unprotected hand when he has chips in the pot. If you can't tell, i'm kind of frustrated. The games are softer than anything i've ever encountered but the stacks are rarely deeper than 60bb. When they are, it's against the only player at the table I don't want to play against. I would much rather play at a home game the likes of which I enjoyed when I lived in Waterloo: free food and drinks, big fish, good dealers, running it twice, uncapped buyins, the occasional round of PLO, basically everything that makes poker fun.

I understand that you may not want to let an internet random into your underground game, so I'm going to continue going to Rama for now, and if anyone wants to meet up on a friday or saturday late afternoon/night to vet me before inviting me to a game, i would appreciate it a lot. I'm 26, blond with short hair and i'll wear my blue Aria hat the next few times i go. If you've been there the last couple fridays, i was the guy who was asking around for omaha players last night, and i played all through the night until 9 am last week.

I may also be looking for a ride next friday, for which i'm willing to pitch 15 bucks each way for gas.

oh geez i just saw the post about the armed gunmen storming the charity tournaments... I just want to say that im not armed or a gunman, and that I've met up with people on here to play 50 dollar games before without issues. I haven't posted much, so im not exactly well known but I hope I meet some of you at Rama in the next few weeks and that you get a feel for who i am and what i seek: a well-run, enjoyable game of poker. Rama isn't doing it for me and that's why i'm looking here.

Rama is good. I love Rama. That being said, I am going to make some suggestions to their management (The pokerroom supervisors are not full time pokerroom people by the way at Rama, they are just regular pit-bosses.) So far I am thinking :
1: Bring pot-limit omaha games. (just omaha or high-low?)
2: Bring bad beat jackpot.
Sounds like a good idea?

Rama isnt that bad, i mean its an indian casino its fine imo.

Omaha prolly wont work imo people dont learn easily and no racist ban but most gamblers/half the table are chinese who prolly wouldnt get it and most barely speak english. Im simply saying, it would be a challenge for everyone, as most have never played omaha, sure you get a reg-table going who know the game but what good is that...

BBJ is not bad but they did up the rake already so it would be cutting more from the players, granted it does attract people and action somewhat...hmm... surely could be a future possibility. OVerall tho just go on weekends and fridays its always super busy with a lot of action monday-thurs deadddd like most places lol.

Having not played live in a while (except in my home game), I'm going to head out this Friday (or possibly Saturday), either to Brantford or Great Blue Heron. So I have some questions for those who've been there lately. Any reason to prefer one over the other?

When I played last summer it was mostly at GBH, but a friend of mine thinks the B'ford action is better right now. He's particularly enthusiastic about the 20-40 game with a half-kill, which is right at the top of where I'm comfortable ... Any experiences in this game, or more general thoughts about game selection at Brantford?

I really enjoyed the 20-40 Omaha at GBH when I was playing semi-regularly there in 2009, but I played in it a few times in spring and summer of 2010 and GBH's Omaha seemed to have really tailed off--down from 2 tables with waiting lists and a lot of action to one table that never filled and only fair action ... Anyone have a sense of how it is now? Any other thoughts about GBH? Has the increased rake sent HE players elsewhere?

Finally any thoughts about preferring Friday to Saturday for game night? I was thinking about driving our in mid-afternoon Friday so as to beat the traffic, then probably playing a long session.

not a bad start, but i would add:

3: Hire better dealers or train them more extensively. I catch around 1 mistake per hour when im sitting at the tables there. This is unacceptable.

4: train pit-bosses in the rules of poker so that basic rulings don't take 10 minutes and so that they don't look at you funny when you ask to start a pot-limit omaha interest list.

5: make it easier to start an interest list (the last time i tried to get one going they wanted ME to go find 6 ppl who wanted to play before they would even start the list. Is it really that much skin off their backs to tap a few keys and start a list?)

6: allow players to call ahead to put their name on the list

The call ahead would be a HUGE advantage for rama. Something so small would make a huge difference as it will attract more players from areas where driving takes an hour+

okay, so no underground games in Barrie area then? argh. Rama sucks, I'm going to life tilt if i have to keep going there.

im also interested in some games in barrie area

ok so seriously considering moving to toronto.

just skimmed thread and pretty much only live pokers around niagara area?

No.

If you want NLHE, then that pretty much is it--though CasinoRama also offers NL.

Good limit HE up to 20-40 in Brantford and Port Perry (Great Blue Heron), which also has a good limit 20-40 Omaha (high only, of course).

All of these destinations are about 75-90 minutes from Toronto depending on where in TO you start. However, traffic (and, except in the middle of the night, there's always traffic) is a factor, most especially for Niagara.

There's also an underground scene, but I don't like underground poker in TO.

Does anybody know if the CNE Casino will have other limits besides 5/10 and 10/20 Limit this summer?

15/30 and 25/50 (pokerforum.ca, B&M forum).


What's my best bet for accomodations near the EX?

What are your criteria (in terms of cost, distance, convenience, comfort etc.)?

At the CNE?? Are you sure? There's no indication on their website (nothing about limits at all for that matter).

That would be quite an innovation from all previous years. And will change things more generally about the nature of the room.

Very interesting.

If you want upscale, the Westin Harbour Castle is nearby, with a streetcar connection that would take you there in ca. 10 mins. (Going back it stops running after ca. 1.30 a.m. but there will be cabs at venue.) I think there are room deals if you do an online search.

For that matter, the subway to streetcar is a nice way to get to the Ex from all over the city (especially so after the fair opens; before that parking is easy and you get comped once you're registered with the poker room).

Also, Brantford is gonna start to offer Omaha Hi/Lo soon. Not quite sure when yet, but dealers are signed up to start training for the game.

A lot of players in Brantford have been talking about getting ready to go play $25/$50 at the CNE. Don't know where the info first came from, but it seems like it's true.

I followed up my own incredulity by checking out the thread on pokerforum.ca (their search function sucks, fwiw) and I see that the source of that info in that forum is a poster who says the CNE poker room manager told him so. It will really change the TO area poker scene in the month of August.

And I'm astonished by the idea that anywhere in Ont. will have hi/lo.

I highly doubt Brantford would ever spread any game besides LHE. I just can't see it , but it would be really welcome! The game on Fridays at seneca is really juicy.

CNE 25-50, can't see it either. If the brantford regs were talking about this, how come it hasn't run for years there??

Time for that thread Russell?

If I can't make it out to the CNE this year, would someone mind getting a 5 chip and mailing it to me in ottawa? I'm trying to collect chips. I can pay through pokerstars or paypal pm me if you can help

Canadian National Exhibition Casino, August 1 - September 5, 2011