IF U DON'T LIKE READING LONG POSTS - U CAN JUST READ THE TEXT HIGHLIGHTED IN BLUE.

I lived in Tucson AZ from about 1991 to 2002. At 1st they just had big bingo halls if u wanted to gamble at that. They drew big crowds so if u were lucky enough to get a Bingo alone - the prize money could be $1,000 + or more.

I wasn't into Bingo - but somewhere around 1993 or 1994 the 1st legal Casino with a poker room opened. The state passed a law that the Indian tribes could have Casino's on their lands to get some money for these folks who mostly didn't have any due to the history of the USA.

I was there on the 1st day and they basically spread 3 games....limit hold'em....limit Omaha/8.....and 7-card stud. There were no games spread that were no-limit. Soon after the 1st Casino - 2 more quickly followed. The best one turned out to be the Desert Diamond on Valencia road (if memory serves).

They had the most business, were open 24/7 and always had at least one game going around 3:30 AM. Week-end days & nights could get pretty busy. Maybe 15 games going at the busiest times. The biggest games played were sometimes a $20-$40 limit hold'em game. They also had $10-$20 limit, $6-$12, $3-$6, and $2-$4 in the limit hold'em games.

The other 2 games were usually pretty small limit games. They ruined this poker game though a couple years before I left Tucson by moving the casino further away from most all of the regulars - so you had to go miles more towards Mexico where it was put close to one of the highway exits.

The room became a shell of its former self because most of the regulars didn't want to drive that far. And these were the times b4 Moneymaker won the World Series main event - so I'm sure after I had left - the games probably switched to a lot more no-limit (which they almost never spread in the 90's in Tucson.)

If you wanted to drive an hour and 1/2 North to Phoenix - that was where the bigger games were.

Anyway - the games I liked to play in which were the $10-$20 limit hold'em games mostly dried up when they moved the Casino with the best cardroom further away.

So I played a ton of poker in the 90's before internet poker broke big & b4 most people were very good at it. And the only decent books on poker back then were hard to find. Sklansky had a good one on limit hold'em & Brunson had the other where he & others wrote about several poker games.

But u couldn't find these in bookstores or libraries. I had to go to a store up by Phoenix that only sold gambling stuff to find Sklansky's hold'em book. In libraries you would find a book on 5 card draw by Oswald Jacoby & stuff like that.

OK - so I moved from AZ to GA which has no Casino's or poker rooms. I learned how to play online and played a lot from 2004 to 2006 when that senator who was about to retire ruined online poker for Americans. My 3 favorite sites all went away & when more changes came it just wasn't worth it to play online if u were in America....the so-called land of the free (no way).

Sorry it took me so long to get to my question here - but I wanted to give some of my experience about playing in brick and mortar poker rooms in Casinos in Tucson in the 90's.

So now it has been about 17 years since I have set foot in a Casino to play poker. To be clear, I haven't been in a Casino for any reason. What changes would I notice? I hope they still have human dealers. I'm guessing there are changes that I haven't even thought about. Walking into a poker room for me for the 1st time in 17 years might seem like a Twilight Zone Episode for me at this point.

I'd appreciate finding out whatever may be different.

I've been playing live poker since 2008 or so (I think) and I don't really think much has changed in that time as far as the basics go. And from what others say that have played longer I don't detect much different from them either.

You obviously left the game before Moneymaker changed it all forever, but for the most part the basics are the same. Walk in, ask for seat, buy chips and then sit down and play.

The biggest shock for you will be the actual game play itself. If you are still thinking that a re-raise can only be AA-QQ, then you are in for a rude awakening.

Have fun, play slow so you can take it in and work your way back into things one hand at a time. GL

No idea what you are afraid of, it's not rocket science you just go in and put yourself on the list and yes, they have human dealers, usually. Probably the average level is better than when you quit, but most players are still terrible, esp at the lowest stakes. If everyone would even only follow Doyle's book that came out like 40 yrs ago or something, then the games would be a lot tougher than they actually are

The waiting list is likely electronic and can text you when your seat is ready, rather than someone mispronouncing your name over a crappy PA you cant hear from more than 3 feet away.

LHE & stud has been almost entirely replaced by NLHE.

Small buyin toruneys are more prevalent, but cash games are still plentiful, even though bigger games dont run like they did in the boom years.

People play on their phones a lot (the table may have built in usb charging). There are probably more TVs in the room also.

Many rooms are now non smoking.

Otherwise thats about it.

Dex,

Much much more will be the same than will be different. Including the players. That 60 year old who sat at 3/6 every day is now 80 years old playing the same stakes.

Some differences you already know, NL games are now the standard. Mid stakes fixed limit from 8-16 and up are now more difficult to find (though still exists).

Automatic shufflers are now the norm in most casinos.

What will be different (and worse) is the proliferation of cellular technology and how it has ruined the flow of the game. But that ship has sailed, society has deemed it acceptable to make others wait while you attend to your phone.