Here are some good spots for limited/semi-limited hold them in the Seattle area. I'm a reg at Parker's, so I can provide the most detail for that casino. I think $3/$2 is standard rake for most of these places, and they'll reduce rake upon request for short tables.

Parkers (Shoreline, WA)
Games: 4/8, 8/16 (half-kill and no-kill), 12/24, 15/30, 20/40, 2-8, 2-12, 2-20, 2-40
Tables: 8 tables; usually 4-6 running at peak and 1-2 during non-peak
Jackpots: $500 high hand per hour during peak hours (6PM-2AM), everyday, and $300 per hour during non peak (before 6PM). $50 jackpot for quads and straight flushes, $599 for royal flushes; "royal of the month" that ranges from $1,500-$5,000, depending on whether it's flopped, turned, or rivered. "Monte carlos" are off during peak.
Action: The action is pretty sick here, and a lot of the people are here to drink and gambool.
Other: I think 20/40 is spread by request, and they'll run heads-up or short games.

Diamond Lil's (Renton, WA)
Games: 4/8, 8/16, 20/40

Palace Casino (Lakewood, WA)
Games: 3/6, 4/8, 8/16

Others (may need correction): Club Hollywood (2-40 spread), Crazy Moose (2-40 spread), Drift on Inn (4-8), Hideaway (3-12 spread)

Also, rumor has it that Freddie's (Fife, WA) runs a 15/30 with $1 rake and no jackpot rake? Can someone confirm?

The three largest tribal casinos are Tulalip, Muckleshoot, and Snoqualmie, and they run a variety of hold'em and non-hold'em games, both limit and no-limit (max bet in Washington is $500, so it's spread limit by definition). I think Muckleshoot runs the highest limit game, which to my knowledge, is 1/2 mixed. Limit games are pretty sparse at the tribal casinos.

Tulalip runs mostly 3/5, with the occasional 1/3 table. You're going to be playing short at 1/3, as max buy-in is $200, and a lot of people buy for $100.

Warning: Sno's max buy for 2/5 is $300.

Might call ahead but every time I have been to Silver Dollar in Renton they have had something I liked. First trip mid week(Tues or Wed?) we ended up playing 8/16 Omaha and Omaha Hi/Lo. Next time through they had a 20/40 LHE game going I jumped into briefly. Lots of spazzy players but fun place.

Silver Dollar Renton, as you are remembering it, is no more.

Billy and Pepper are gone, and it's been converted to a 2-10 spread room. Maybe 1 or 2 weak tables.

Total waste of a great effort, imho.


q/q

I know Jack was trying to get that going a few months ago as a weekly game. It's a fantastic idea and they're the perfect room to pull it off, but I don't know if it's actually happened or not. Probably worth a call, he's a great host and the staff there is top notch. If it goes, it'll be a great game.

q/q

Add the Royal Casino in Everett to your list of spread-limit casinos. 2/20 is usually going and, most often on weekends, includes a 2/40.

What does spread limit 2/20 and 2/40 mean?

It's a cross between fixed and no-limit (more fixed, though). In a spread limit 2/20 game you can bet any amount between $2 and $20. A raise would have to be at least the amount of the bet.

I just wanted to give the latest scoop on my favorite casino in the Seattle area, Muckleshoot.

They always have 3-5NL going, $200-$500 buyin, live straddles of any amount are acceptable. 5-5 (must bring in for 10, 1k max buy in) and 5-10 ( 1k max buy in) run occasionally, particularly on weekends like super sunday (1st sunday of every month.)

Limit games are always 3-6 and 4-8 with full kills, and on super sunday's they often have 8-16 with full kills. 4-8 Omaha high-low split is running most of the time too.

$100-$200 limit mixed games run fairly frequently, some weeks every night, other weeks just a few days. Occasionally this game will be $150-$300, though not too often.

Pot Limit Omaha is spread very very infrequently. Its usually a 5-5 game, and the action is often fast and furious. Last time they spread it the game resumed every night for several days, but their has to be interest and often it's only played once every few months.

Muckleshoot will generally start an interest list for any game you want to play, so long as it is something they are willing to spread. It's the closest one to me, only an Hour away lol, so it's become my poker room of choice.
I only play the 3-5 spread game.

NLH Tournaments are spread 7 nights a week at 7pm. usually it's a $65 buy in, but occasionally it's higher.

WA state has a stupid and pointless $500 max bet rule, but most of the time it doesnt really get in the way of the action. Its still pretty easy to get most, if not all, of your stack involved in one hand if you actually wanted too.

High hands are $100 every half hour. on super sundays they are $500 every half hour. Monte Carlo boards are reset at 3 am every morning. If a hand has been hit twice in a day, no more jackpots will be available for it until 3am the next morning. Bad beat is Quad 8's or better beaten, and goes up $500 a day. ( It's 37,000 right now)

Can someone give me a quick summary of the 5/10 game at Tulalip? I will be there this Saturday, probably from 12pm-5pm. Will a game even be running? I'm assuming if it is during the day it will mostly be regulars. How are the regulars? How would you compare it to a typical 5/10 game at Bellagio or Venetian?

Usually two tables with really good action going at that time on Saturdays. The game plays bigger than the typical Las Vegas 5/10. Much more agro.

Last Saturday the game started late (4PM?) due to lack of regs, and nice weather.

Iffy for this weekend so call ahead.

gotta love those who call seattle's 5/10 "bigger than vegas".. I mean c'mon, the typical 5/10 at venetian has maybe $100K on the table ya know??

It also has a 2k pot how often?

There is obviously potential for far larger pots in uncapped games without the betting limit, but the potential doesn't live out nearly as often as you get the WA "NL" games turning into $500 limit games - which are far larger when you consider # of 3 and 4 bet pots pre-flop, and average pot sizes.

For 5/10 NL thats softer than a marshmellow go to Snoqulamie, Tulallip's 5/10 is the toughest 5/10 ive played. Bellagio, Venetian, Wynn 5/10 games are soft and there are alot of bad players with alot of money playing. All NL games in the Vancouver BC area are super easy.

I rescind what I've said previously about the Muck. It's gotten better IMO, maybe its just the games are good now hehe.

Is there any benefit for the clocking in with the Players Card? I know Emerald Queen gives out $25 meal comps. It would be nice if the EQ would reopen their poker room, but it doesn't look like that will ever happen.

Here is an email I recieved from Susan:

I wanted to let you know that at the July 9, 2010, Commission meeting, the Texas Hold’em Work Group will present a proposal to create a pilot program to increase wager limits from $40 to $100 for the game of Texas Hold’em. The program would last for 18 months.

The pilot program would be used test the regulatory and economic impacts of higher wager limits for the game of Texas Hold’em poker. In addition, it would help determine whether there is a demand for higher wagering limits for Texas Hold’em poker.

There will be discussions as to which card rooms would be able to participate in the test program:

Alternative #1: All card game licensees; or
Alternative #2: House-banked and Class F card game licensees; or
Alternative #3: House-banked card game licensees.

Number of licensees affected by the three Alternatives:

Alternative #1: 362
Alternative #2: 76
Alternative #3: 71


If a pilot program is established, at the end of the 18 months, the Commission will evaluate the information and determine whether the wager increase should be made permanent.

Click here for meeting agenda and details about the proposed rule change.

I hope you find this information helpful. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Sincerely,
Susan Arland

typical gambling commissions. trying to see if there is a demand for higher betting limits. all they have to do is go to the indian casinos in their own state and take a look.

The minutes from the gaming commision meeting from (i think) May actually cites the small number of "large" games at the tribal casinos to show that there is no demand for increasing or eliminating the $500 max bet. "Where is the demand?" is asked in the report. The gaming commision in WA is completely clueless.

My best guess is that the small number of large games is sampled from mon-weds afternoons in the summer, instead of thurs-sat evenings in the fall/winter when 10/20NL would easily be sustainable at a couple of the tribal casinos.

Actually, it's a pretty good question for them to ask.

Basically, the RGA's goal is to try and set up a whole bunch of sh*tty little 1/2 "baby NL" games to pull business from the tribal casinos (there's *absolutely zero* demand for limit games > 20/40, so it's *only* about NL, and only a 1/2 structure can even marginally work under a 50bb cap).

But consider now: if this measure is approved (which it will be), what will tribal casinos do in response? If the new 1/2 games get any action (which they will, at the expense of small limit-game action), the tribal casinos will respond by adding a ton of new 1/2 games to their mix (with a $500 betting limit) to pull the 1/2 players back, which basically will kill a lot of their current 2/5-level action.

Good plan, huh? The net result is that the games pretty much get worse everywhere.

About poker, yeah, pretty much. Unfortunately, that makes them easily manipulated by the RGA and other lobbying groups, none of which seem to have much interest in the long-term health of the game.

10/20 NL ($500 cap) is already allowed at the tribal casinos, and this proposal won't affect them at all. Meanwhile, none of the non-tribals are going to offer 10/20 NL under a $100 betting cap, which is the only change under discussion here.

Long story short: the only things this proposal will do is change the current 1/2~40 games into 1/2~100 games -- killing off a lot of the remaining limit action in the process -- and force the tribals to move from 2/5 as their entry-level game down to 1/2.

It will, of course, be easily approved, because nobody really seems to get how the back-and-forth of this thing will play out.


q/q

Again, just to clarify: this proposal has nothing to do with the $500 max bet at tribal casinos. This is only about raising the limits at *non-tribal* rooms from $40 to $100.

q/q

I understand that, I also know that the relatively low use of that class game is an argument the gaming commision uses to keep a cap in place. Directly I was brining it up as an example in agreement with Ray.

I know that 10/20 blind 500 max is allowed in the tribal casinos, and have even played it at Tulalip one of the few times I know of it being spread, but it was just the standard 5/10 game with the same regs that generally stradle anyways. I argue that 10/20 true NL is sustainable 5-6 months a year if the 500 max bet is removed; and 5/10 year round.

The gaming commision simply doesn't understand the (poker) games they are regulating and the micro and macro effects of their imposed betting limitations, especially in the larger games.

The big bet games in Vancouver, BC are unbelievably good. I've only played 2/5 through 10/25 (or 10/20, can't remember) PLO and PLO/8, but my friends say the NL games are great too.

Are there any consistent PLO games around here? (Seattle) I don't mind playing PLO/NL round-by-round either. Failing that, mid-high O/8? (8-16 or higher)

Does anyone play at parkers casino? I play there a decent amount they usually can get 5 or 6 tables running during their peak hours where they give you $499 high hands every hour. pretty good action

the 5/10 in wa is not even close tot he action of 5/10 vegas.. atleast not during wsop.

Whats your name, I bet I know you