Theoretical discussion here...

I would like to take 6 months and relocate to a site on the East Coast near a brick and mortar poker room. I am unattached, single with no kids, no dependents. My work will not be affected by this. I would like to play for 6 months and then re-evaluate my position.

I will be looking to play primarily during the day.

I have a $10,000 bankroll and will likely be playing some combination of 10/20 Limit, 20/40 Limit, 2/5 NL and/or 5/10 NL.


Where is the best place to go? Obviously, I realize AC has the most games, but it's maybe not the best place to live for 6 months. I need to stay on the East Coast but it can be anywhere from Maine to Florida. Keep in mind, there are other factors to this as well other than poker - like location, affordability, lifestyle, etc.


If you were going to do this, where would it be?

I'm from Central PA. There isn't too much in our area but Philly is supposed to have a few decent poker rooms. You could find a place to live in the outskirts and "commute" to work. You'd also only be 1 1/2 hours away from AC when looking for a change of scenery.

your only East Coast choices for limit poker around those levels are Borgata in AC, Parx in Philly, and Foxwoods in CT.

Sounds like you need to go to AC and deal with it not being the best place to live. The problem w/ Parx is your game selection will be limited if you want to play during the day. Plus Philly isn't cheap. Not sure about Foxwoods.

$10,000k is kind of a tight bankroll, especially for 5-10nl and 20-40.

Philly, or Philly burbs is the obv answer here.

If you live just south of Philadelphia, these are your options.

Delaware Park - 20 min drive - daily 1-2nl, 2-5nl, and small mixed games, great tourn room, 3 tourns daily

Harrahs chester - 5 min drive - daily 1-2nl, 2-5nl, (5-10 runs some nights) an occasional 20-40 game, 2 tourns daily

Parx - 30-40 min drive - Pretty sure the best cash games in the state. 1-2nl, 2-5nl, prob not getting a good 5-10nl until dinner time.

Atanltic city - little over an hour drive. Taj for 20-40, Borgata for everything else.

Game selection is no better in AC. Only place with any game you mentioned other than 2/5 will be Borgata. Taj might have 10/20 and/or 20/40 weekday daytime games again in the summer but they haven't lately.

http://www.parxcasino.com/gamereport/
http://www.theborgata.com/poker_live_data.cfm
http://www.foxwoods.com/PokerCurrentTables.aspx
http://www.playtajpoker.com/modules/...gamereport.cfm

To keep an eye on, but like was said, if you are looking for a daytime limit game Borgata or Foxwoods are your best bets.

Edit: Other than the Parx one which is pulled directly from the Bravo system, make sure to keep an eye on when the list was generated, as it can be up to 12 hours behind.

Well the 15/30 at Parx typically doesn't start 'till 4ish and while I'm not a NL player I doubt the one 5/10 that runs during the day is any good; so pretty much 2/5 would be his only option. At least in AC there's always a decent 10/20 if not 20/40 game @Borg.

how far of a commute are you willing to make?

If you want to be near AC then you could live fairly cheaply 10 miles out away from the shore

If not, while Bensalem isn't the best of places to live, it's a cheap place to live for the Philly area and Parx is 5 minutes. You also could live in NE Philly, Trevose or Feasterville for a short commute as well.

If you live in the Williamstown, NJ area you will be 1 hr away from a wide variety of poker. The CT area near Foxwoods and Mohegan is also very affordable to live.

I just don't consider that there is much game selection when weekday daytimes there is usually one 10/20 and one 20/40 game in all of AC.
Your info is good, but I didn't want the OP to get the impression that he would have lots to choose from in AC either.

For limit Poker, park yourself 20 miles outside of AC. Go to the Borgata, maybe Taj. For a change of pace, you'll be close enough to Parx. Mays Landing, NJ west gets affordable. Anything near the Ocean in the summer will cost you.

I'll just note that I don't think you have a big enough bankroll for 20/40 or 5/10, especially if you are depending on some of your poker earnings to cover basic expenses.

Neither NJ, nor CT are low cost states. With the US average being 100, NJ is 128.5 and CT is 130.2, meaning it costs about 30% more than average to live there. In comparison, NV is at 101.3. PA is cheaper overall, but the cost is driven down by the central and western part of the state. The Philly area isn't cheap.

http://www.missourieconomy.org/indic...ving/index.stm

Thanks for the responses so far...

Let me note a few things that will help clear up the post...

First off, I am not a novice player. I know about bankroll requirements, and I really just put that info in there to paint a picture. So let's not focus so much on that. Maybe I would play primarily 10/20 Limit or 2/5 NL...But I wanted to make the point that I wasn't going to be playing 1/2 NL or 50/100 either. Just wanted to give you an idea of the game size.

Second, I have logged hundreds of hours in Atlantic City. So I am familiar with the game selection there. I appreciate the info though, I just wanted to point out that I'm not new to this.

The question is really theoretical with some real implications. I was hoping someone would make a case for a location outside of AC...like Charles Town or upstate NY or whatever...and provide some insight about being a full-time player there. But maybe that just isn't possible to do given the lack of game selection.

It seems clear (and it was my suspicion) that the early consensus is - if you want to make a run at full-time poker and stay on the East Coast, you need to be in or near AC. I can certainly understand that.

I'd seriously consider CT. That part of the state is relatively inexpensive, and Foxwoods has pretty good game selection. You've also got Mohegan close by, which should have plenty going on during tournament series and busy weekends.

Not taking florida into the consideration would be a mistake, the rent around the casinos is pretty low, the weather is good, and the rooms spread mostly nl, limit is a little tougher to come by.

Montreal. we have a sick poker scene.

There is the casino, and then 3 big poker rooms on the kahnawake reserve. Casino has 5/10 daily, often 3+ tables of 2/5.

I hear one of the new rooms on the reserve has a 10/25 game, daily also.

AC is the only possible answer here. You have 6 rooms within 5 minutes of one another. The Borgata is also by far the best room on the east coast for the games you mentioned. I wouldn't live in AC proper. Get an apartment in Brigantine or somewhere else close by. You can always drive the hour to Philly if you want to.

For quality of life purposes, NJ is ideal. 1 hr from Philly, 2 hr from NYC, 2 hr to Baltimore, 3 hr to DC, etc. You don't want to be stuck in upstate NY when your game doesn't go.

6 rooms within 5 minutes of each other? Not sure what you are referring to here. There are 7 poker rooms in AC, but they are not all "within 5 minutes of each other". More like 15 - 20 from one end to the other.

More importantly, for the purposes of what OP is asking, they don't all have 2/5 and above. Only Tag and Borgata have limit games 10-20 and above. Harrah's has been getting a fun 7.50/15 pink chip OE game, but I'm not sure that is what OP is looking for.

As for the 2/5 game - Harrah's, Caesar's, Taj, and Borgata. I'm not sure about Tropicana, since I haven't been there in over 2 years. Bally's on occasion, but it's irregular at best. Does Showboat get the 5/5 game on weekends anymore? Saturday, maybe, I suppose.

Anything in terms of NL action over 2/5 - Borgata. Maybe Taj. Once in a great while Caesar's or Harrah's, maybe. During the Circuit events, mostly.

Parx has all of the above.

Harrah's Chester gets higher than 2/5 sometimes.

Both are within an 1 1/2 of AC.

Lee