Poker In Sydney, Australia
 

I am moving to Sydney in the new year, what is the poker scene like?lots of casinos with cardrooms?i am an avid and regualr player, playing low/med cash/tourneys......any thoughts please guys.......

Re: Poker In Sydney, Australia
 

star city is the main casino for poker, rake is pretty high but the games are some of the softest live games in the world! Theres also the pokerdome for smaller buy in tournaments.

Re: Poker In Sydney, Australia
 

are you from sydney?im moving there from England......

Re: Poker In Sydney, Australia
 

im in london at the moment, but i spent about a year in australia last year and this year, and am going back in about a months time for the appt sydney in december and the aussie millions in jan. Australia is awesome

Re: Poker In Sydney, Australia
 

ah ok!what the hell happened to the gutshot, why is it a private members only club now??i rang up the other day and they said i have to be approved by an existing member!so now im in bristol/plymouth all the time, oh well. thanks for that!

Re: Poker In Sydney, Australia
 

the gutshot is rubbish, try the victoria casino near marble arch, thats the main poker place in london, its got a whole floor as the new poker room

Re: Poker In Sydney, Australia
 

What about Perth or Freemantle? Any nice card rooms there?

Re: Poker In Sydney, Australia
 

FYI,

SkyCity casino, Auckland, NewZealand skycity.co.nz (NZ$)
2 tables of $200 buy ($2/$5) NLHE 10% up to $15
1 table of ($5/$10) NLHE 10% up to $15 twice a week

StarCity casino(14), Sydney, Australia starcity.com.au (A$)
4 tables of $80 buy NLHE, 10% up to $8 AND $5/HH
2 table of $200 buy $5/$5 NLHE, Everyhand $1 by one player
2 table of ($200<buy<$500) NLHE, 10% up to $10 AND $10/HH
3 table of ($100<buy) $5/$10 LHE, Everyhand $0.75 by one player
1 table of ($200<buy) $10/$20 LHE, Everyhand $1 by one player

Crown casino(47), Melbourne, Australia, crownltd.com.au no free water/food, rake AND time charge
5 tables of $60 buy $1/$1 NLHE 10% up to $6 AND $5/HH
2 tables of $500 buy $2/$5 NLHE 10% up to $6 AND $5/HH
1 table of $2000 buy $5/$10 NLHE 10% up to $6 AND $5/HH

Re: Poker In Sydney, Australia
 

im pretty sure the 5 10 nl at crown is $25 an hour per player and no rake

Re: Poker In Sydney, Australia
 

[ QUOTE ]
Crown casino(47), Melbourne, Australia, crownltd.com.au no free water/food, rake AND time charge
5 tables of $60 buy $1/$1 NLHE 10% up to $6 AND $5/HH
2 tables of $500 buy $2/$5 NLHE 10% up to $6 AND $5/HH
1 table of $2000 buy $5/$10 NLHE 10% up to $6 AND $5/HH

[/ QUOTE ]
Figures aren't quite accurate. Apart from this week when there is no 1/2 NL running due to the Pokernews Cup, usually there is:
~10 tables of 1/2 NL 60-80 buyin
5-10 tables of 2/3 NL 100-200 buy-in
also, 2/5 NL 200-500 buy-in, 5/10 Limit, 10/20 Limit, as well as other specialty games (pdf).

Re: Poker In Sydney, Australia
 

Melbourne is infinitely better - change your plans and move there.


.Z

Re: Poker In Sydney, Australia
 

When you say low, how low do you mean? There is a place that has $10, $20, $30, $50 and $100 SNG's.

Check out fullbluff dot com dot au for more details.

Re: Poker In Sydney, Australia
 

[ QUOTE ]
FYI,

SkyCity casino, Auckland, NewZealand skycity.co.nz (NZ$)
2 tables of $200 buy ($2/$5) NLHE 10% up to $15
1 table of ($5/$10) NLHE 10% up to $15 twice a week

StarCity casino(14), Sydney, Australia starcity.com.au (A$)
4 tables of $80 buy NLHE, 10% up to $8 AND $5/HH
2 table of $200 buy $5/$5 NLHE, Everyhand $1 by one player
2 table of ($200<buy<$500) NLHE, 10% up to $10 AND $10/HH
3 table of ($100<buy) $5/$10 LHE, Everyhand $0.75 by one player
1 table of ($200<buy) $10/$20 LHE, Everyhand $1 by one player

Crown casino(47), Melbourne, Australia, crownltd.com.au no free water/food, rake AND time charge
5 tables of $60 buy $1/$1 NLHE 10% up to $6 AND $5/HH
2 tables of $500 buy $2/$5 NLHE 10% up to $6 AND $5/HH
1 table of $2000 buy $5/$10 NLHE 10% up to $6 AND $5/HH

[/ QUOTE ]


Sky City has improved hugely recently. Thurs night they run a 500min 1000max nl game, there is typically 3-5 1/2 nl and 2 or 3 2/5 nl, capped at 100 and 200 respectively. A PLO game runs as well quite often, so while it aint Vegas, there is a lot more variety than previously -(I asume the "big" game runs on the weekend too). No limit games run that I have seen recently. Games are still insanely loose.

Sadly the rake is still like being bent over and pounded up teh ass with a pointed stick.

Re: Poker In Sydney, Australia
 

Am I reading those game lists right? There's rake and a time charge? How are these games beatable?

Re: Poker In Sydney, Australia
 

[ QUOTE ]
Am I reading those game lists right? There's rake and a time charge? How are these games beatable?

[/ QUOTE ]
Yes it sucks. No free drinks either.

Re: Poker In Sydney, Australia
 

like $50/100 freeze outs and $1/2 nlh, thats the limits i play.......

Re: Poker In Sydney, Australia
 

Thanks guys.

Re: Poker In Sydney, Australia
 

[ QUOTE ]
StarCity casino(14), Sydney, Australia starcity.com.au (A$)
4 tables of $80 buy NLHE, 10% up to $8 AND $5/HH
2 table of $200 buy $5/$5 NLHE, Everyhand $1 by one player
2 table of ($200<buy<$500) NLHE, 10% up to $10 AND $10/HH
3 table of ($100<buy) $5/$10 LHE, Everyhand $0.75 by one player
1 table of ($200<buy) $10/$20 LHE, Everyhand $1 by one player

[/ QUOTE ]

Also not quite accurate. CC's (the $1/hand or $0.75/hand) are being phased out, and most are already gone - I think the only one remaining is the $1/hand for the 5/5 $200 max buy-in game, and you may find this has disappeared by the time you get there too (though it's a political fight to remove, and is proving resilient).

There's rarely more than 1 table of 5/10 limit, or of 10/20 limit. Can't tell you the rakes sorry.

Most of the slack is taken up by $80-buyin 1/2 tables.

There is a 5/10 PLO game that gets up at least once a weekend, and a 25/25 PLO that gets up every Wednesday after the tournament, and often instead of the 5/10 PLO on the weekends. $35/hr time charge either game, no rake.

There is also a 5/10 NL, min $500 max $1000, that gets up most nights, and almost always on the weekend (when it doesn't it's because the PLO is taking its players). $30/hr time charge, no rake.

Yes, the lower level games are unbeatable because of the rake, regardless of how bad the players are (and they are bad). The higher level games are beatable despite the rake, mostly because the players are terrible.

The casino is putting in six more tables in the next month, in preparation for the APPT event in December, but it's likely to just be more tables of existing games, rather than any new games being spread.

Self-dealt cash buyin tournaments are legal in NSW, so there are also a lot of places offering small buyin ($10-$200) tournaments all over the city every night of the week, plus a few dedicated venues doing SNG's 18 hours a day. Some will have dealers for final tables of the larger of these events, but for the most part its cretins who have trouble reading their cards dealing ten hands a blind level in poorly structured events run by drooling idiots.

All that said, don't come to Sydney for the poker. Not only is Star City poorly set up (local rules include ratholing being allowed, dealing has to be from a shoe, and waits are often 1 hr+, 2hrs+ on weekends), but Crown in Melbourne has a wider spread of games, lower rake, and just as poor players, especially at the lower limits.

Re: Poker In Sydney, Australia
 

[ QUOTE ]
Am I reading those game lists right? There's rake and a time charge? How are these games beatable?

[/ QUOTE ]

Games ARE soft. There are a (very) few people who beat it on a regular basis. I suppose the trick is to luckbox yourself into a few hundred blinds and then play poker with other deep stacks.

BUT. Its an ideal location to play online poker imo. Wake up at 6am. Prime time Europe. Then prime time USA. Finish at 3pm. All day free. Fantastic city to live in.

Re: Poker In Sydney, Australia
 

StarCity is the ONLY Casino in Sydney which is a bit unfortunate because it's really quite bad. As most people have said the poker scene in Sydney consists of:

1. StarCity
2. Pub Competitions - $10 nightly tournaments that raise the blinds every 20 minutes for first 3 levels and 15 minutes thereafter (= 4 hands because no one can shuffle/read hands etc). I've basically stopped going to these now except for a laugh and drinks at the pub.
3. Random Events - Heaps of random 'big' events which may have slightly higher buyins (25-50) and may be on a cruise for the night etc.
4. PokerDome - sng and tournament central, self-dealt though, only played there once and will never go again (played during the day when only one supervisor was present and who didn't notice that once on bubble the other 2 friends checked everything down and only played pots against me...) but I hear it's not bad if you're into 1-tabling sngs (lol) with 2 places paid or tournaments.

I play at StarCity during the holidays quite a bit but mostly for kicks I don't count the wins or losses towards my monthly income or anything because it's such a joke with 40bb buyins. There's no particular use in building up a stack either because no one else will have it anyway except for maybe one good player who you'd be smart to avoid anyway. I'll play there once I get a roll for 500NL which at least has the full 100bb buyin which should hopefully be soon (400NL player online) so maybe I'll see you there in summer.

Re: Poker In Sydney, Australia
 

Melbourne much better than Sydney....St Kilda beach and the Crowne Casino.
Played 2/5 at the Crowne in Melbourne, good game, $10 per hour + rake.

Big tournaments go one too and it's the biggest poker room in southern hemisphere.

Re: Poker In Sydney, Australia
 

As an aside, Star City just had the exclusivity clause in its license extended for another 12 years, until 2019. That means no additional casinos in Sydney (or NSW for that matter).

There is still some hope of poker-specific licenses being granted outside the casino, especially for the PokerPro-style electronic tables, but nothing expected in the short term.