Quote:
Originally Posted by TNBishop
Limit games at the local casinos (Vancouver) generally have an older demographic. Has anyone else seen this? If true, I'm not sure if this is good (many of us will switch to limit as we age) or bad (limit will die off) for limit poker.
I don't think limit will ever die off, but it was definitely waned in popularity. Matt Savage has already said that the most popular poker game in Vegas is 1/2 NL.
Morongo Casino in SoCal is almost entirely 1/3 and 2/5 NL.
Occassionally a 3/6 kill limit game breaks out, but even that's considered a redheaded step child. The floor couldn't even find the game for me!
The only reason a casino will have majority limit games is when there smallest NL table is 2/5 and/or there is no NL due to local ordinances.
Finally, the cardroom manager for the Mirage came on the 2p2 pokercast and basically had to argue that limit was a more "civilized" game. Why would she argue this? Because casinos get more rake per buyin from limit games. Casino's prefer limit for this reason, which is one reason why the game will always be around.
Keep in mind that NL with low caps are very similar to limit in many ways, which is why many places have very low buy ins. Hawaiian Garden has a 1/1 $20 NL game, for example. In these cases, casinos get the best of both worlds in terms of entertainment value and rake per buyin.
People who predict NL will die off are either casinos looking for more rake or are "old school" poker players who have never felt comfortable playing big-bet games.
I'm more interested in the future of PLO. I know the Bike spreads a 5/5. And now Excalibur spreads 1/1 PLO on an electronic table. The future is near! If there's ever a reason to push for electronic tables, the ease at which it can deal 4 cards and count the pot is one of them.