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Originally Posted by SoulCrussher
Los Angeles
California should absolutely still be in the discussion. The wide variation of kinds of games and stakes available (if that matters to you) without so much tight play and small-stakes pro wannabes of Vegas.
Also I find that smaller markets there, like Sacramento, still play NLHE roughly like it's 2005.
I guess a downside for many small-stakes NLHE players is that the LA rooms cap buyins pretty aggressively relative to blinds in order to keep the poor players solvent. (It's not the cardroom's job to help you bankrupt their clientele, so they're strategic to do so.) I don't think this is much of any issue starting around the "500 to 1500" stakes, and anyway, just learn to crush 40x BB no limit and move up if this is a problem for you.
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Originally Posted by namisgr11
Expensive place to live anywhere west of the desert.
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Originally Posted by Hellmuth was right
warm weather, good looking women, and no state income tax? sounds horrible.
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Originally Posted by holmfries
Agreed. I mean Florida is an ok place to visit (Disney world, beaches, etc) but my God could you imagine actually living there? Heat, humidity, hurricanes, bottom quartile quality of living in the US, overrun by tourists and don’t get me started on the backwater nature of the political climate. In many respects it’s worse than the Deep South.
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Originally Posted by answer20
2) Although one of the most common points made in the 'poker life' threads here is that you need to enjoy where you are as well as love to play poker, the OP request IMO is more poker related....
Yeah, I can't decide if the off-topic replies peeve me or not. I really do find it wonderful how people use such diverse criteria to make life decisions. But some of these discussions are just so played out... I mean, you like the kinds of places you like, and if that's more important to you than the softness of the poker games, fine.
Cost of living and taxes are pretty relevant though so not off-topic maybe. I always figure it's common knowledge that the West Coast and Northeast are expensive and the middle of the country is cheap, but maybe not common knowledge.
I don't know of any locale in the US with regular public cardrooms where the $1-2 -- $2-5ish -- $8/16ish games can't be beaten with a little effort.
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Originally Posted by Carnivore
Vegas has been overrun with nits for years. You can find good games, but most games in Vegas are among the nittiest anywhere in the world.
Exactly. Wannabe pros and retirees who want to grind all day (and probably make sports bets) aren't moving en masse to say Pittsburgh or Albuquerque or the Twin Cities. Maybe a few move to the places in this thread, or perhaps Arizona.