I live and play around Florida and the overall vibe is just awful. Looking around Friday and Saturday nights everyone just looks miserable. It seems the only people who play poker and people grinding it for profit or people who are just depressed and have nothing better to do. No one is there to have fun.

Is this the average experience now a days or is it just me?

No one has fun playing poker and the people who think they do eventually don't. A poker room is a miserable place to be but you gotta get those hands in.

Agreed. There was a stark contrast my local room pre and post C19. Formally fun, rec players were largely replaced by regs and grinders, the majority of whom I've never seen before. With so few rooms open recs are clustered and overrepresented. Rec players who simply aren't going to uproot their lives to continue to play are not. That, coupled with the fact a larger percentage of rec players are at high risk for C19 than the general population makes for horrendous games.

There are plenty. But I do think that the player himself has a lot to do with making a game fun to play; don't depend on others to make the table great to be at. YOU are there, and its as much up to you to do that.
Having said that- I had to look at my running list of over 185 rooms I've played in, and what are the fun ones.
In LA, I have a lot of fun at The Bicycle and Hollywood Park. I have no problem playing the 100 to 300 max games at these two places. BY the end of the night there are a lot of chiops on the table, and in any event, if you are the splashy one, you are going to end up with most of them most of the time. I've had several nights where I've taken well over ten racks off a table at either casino, in the 100max at HP or the 80/120max at The Bike. And had a blast doing it, along with everyone else at the table. Sure, I could go up to the Plaza, play higher, sit ther and watch everyone knit socks, and try and double up. THAT is not fun.
So my suggestion may be to step down a notch or two if you are looking for fun. I'll even play limit with my wife, and thats fun. I have fun always with O8 games and a blast with O8/Stud8 at the Isle Pompano.
Some closed rooms used to be fun:Eldorado in Reno, Bills in LV as well as O'
Sheas. IN Florida, Daytona can be a blast, and Oxford Downs. I have always had fun at Foxwoods in the smaller NL games.

You want fun- make your own. Go with a group and get on the same table. You don't have any friends?, go make some poker friends. Its not hard.

I for sure enjoy myself when I play. I am friendly with a ton of dealers and players, that's not the point I was asking though. I'm just asking about the atmosphere in the room.

Some of the more fun games where I play are the mixed games and not super high stakes but not low, good crowd of people who like to gamble.

sure play plo
i always laugh when it's like 3 am on a week night and there are 6-7 nl games still going where everyone looks miserable and is silent and my plo game where everyone is bullshitting drinking and having fun

I would certainly agree that any post CV poker would have a higher percentage of 'serious' poker Players than before ... and this can drag the game down.

IMO it's very important to keep the game lively, especially in the home game scene. It's been stated many times on this site that you need to 'fit in' in order to get invited back .. unless you are the one donating.

I've seen plenty of lively tables get run down when one Player runs the table over. I've also seen Regs drive new Players away from the table for various reasons.

'Fun' all depends on why you're there and it's certainly not a stretch to suggest that poker isn't very high on the fun list as it was in years gone by. GL

OK, maybe you only read the first half of my post. IN Florida, I feel there are plenty of places that have "The Atmosphere" you seek. Daytona, Oxford and The Isle are a few. Especially The Isle for mixed games, when and if they get them going during the winter.
Sounds like you are in the Tamps area. Quite honestly, I've never had a ton of "fun" in this area, and I've played at Tampa Downs, Sarasota, SHRT, and Derby. Way too many "serious" backwardzhat wearers, nits, mathematical geniuses, short-stackers, Internet wizards and poker book readers. I used to live in Bradenton briefly.
Now I keep going down 75 to Naples. Or visit friends on the E.C.

Stay miserable, my friend.....

NH poker is definitely fun leaning. Lots of recs that enjoy splashing around 6 max and no game-killing plexiglass.

agreed and super social.
games are super fun

Private games. I've played in at least 5 different ones in Los Angeles that were more fun on a regular basis than any single night I've had in any casino.

Also charity poker tourneys can be fun if there aren't too many serious players.

It has been that way in Vegas for years. At the poker tables, people think you’re weird if you talk. Outside of the poker tables, people think you’re weird if you don’t talk.

Private games are by default more fun because they are either among friends or a group of people that is basically hand selected by a host. Casino games are with whoever shows up.

Which birthday party sounds more fun:
a) a private one organized by a friend
b) one organized by your employer for co-workers of which 80% are unknown to you and the other 20% are people you've chatted with 3 times in the lunch room

There are a lot of reasons to play in casinos instead of home games, legality and safety for example, but I doubt many people would say they have more fun in a casino.

its much more fun and less damaging to relationships to stack off a stranger than a friend and vice versa. at least IMHO.

Not in Florida, but I always have fun at the table no matter what. Beer in hand and splashing around. Lately, I've been going to Boston Billiards playing the $2/2 PLO six-max and it's been a blast. Everyone's just enjoying themselves and the dealers are really pleasant.

No. Unless you're playing unconventional games. No one is having fun.

Home games >>> casino games for fun.

They are ok but it’s super hard to keep the game friendly and talk to people when everyone is masked and there are giant pieces of plexiglass between you.

Vegas games are a total fun suck with the lack of tourists right now. There is an active attempt to portray them as "good" games, but those are just the local grinders posting here to try to get you to come visit us I believe..

Best bet for Vegas trips for most will be next summer once things hopefully get better with the virus that shall not be named...

I played mainly 5/10 NL in Encore August 2019 for a week, I didn't consider that game good at all either, I was one of the few non-locals playing the game. Don't assume that games will necessarily be good post pandemic.

Well right there is the problem.

There isn't any good 5/10 in Encore or most of Vegas. For loose fun 5/10 I recommend Calif.

What I've noticed playing live the lowest/lower games are usually very friendly. People come to chat and have a good time, game plays v loose passive. At my local casino the vibe difference between 2/4 and 2/2 is just huge, 2/4 is very aggresive/negative atmosphere. 5/5 is the highest they offer and can have a fun vibe, but is reg infested.

dry atmosphere xouldnt breath easily behind mask id leave the table earlier

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