[CincyLady]

DRF, yeah, it all depends on where you live, and what access you have to live poker on how your view of that room (and it's rules) is colored.

Gawd I so suck now at 2/5 NL (because I'm out of practice) that I don't dare play it (at that level) anymore when I'm out of town.

Last time I tried to play at that level (after moving to Colorado, land of 5 buck limie no fold 'em hold 'em low limit poker), I had not been able to play for close to a year, and I lost 300 bucks in less than an hour over in CB Iowa.

Lucky for me, I spent almost a month in Vegas during the WSOP, and brushed up on my skills again by playing 1/2 NL poker.

Maybe next trip back home to either CB Iowa (I grew up in Omaha, and my Mom and brother still live there), or to Ceasars Indiana (my son and his wife still live in the Cincy/Dayton area), I will be able to get back on the horse so to speak, and give 2/5 NL another try again.

FWIW, I love Ceasars Indiana, and I placed 13th in the WSOP Circuit Event (event number 1) back in March of this year, out of a field of 713.

They are sooo lucky there, to have a Harrahs property closeby, I'm green with envy about it.

Right now, I find it amazing I'm getting so excited about the Heartland Poker Tour who is coming to our deseart Island of no Fold 'em Hold Poker here in Colorado, aka Blackhawk, in October.

Even then, it's not a real event in the truest sense of it, because the only way into the money, the only way to play in the HPT ME, is to get in via a qualifier satallite, due to Colorado's wacky gaming laws (max buying can only be $500 bucks for a tourney).

The OP should count his blessings, and so should others who have casinos where you can play REAL poker (aka real tournament events and for cash games, NLHE poker, or even high stakes limit poker) within a reasonable driving distance from their homes.

Yeah it sucks if the rakes are higher, or you have to wait a little longer, because of lack of competition in the area, but at least those players have that chance to play REAL poker, instead of the crap we here in Denver have to play that tries to PASS for poker.

BTW, FWIW, I know from past experience that Ceasars Indiana will provide you a pager that will work at the very least, anywhere on the boat (it might even work off the boat, out in the shopping/Dining areas too, but I never tried it that far myself).

All you need to do is give them your Drivers licence to hold, and boom, they give you a pager. When your seat is ready, they page you, and I think you have like 10 min to show up to claim your seat.

Then you can go off and get something to eat at the snack bar, play a little BJ or Craps, or what ever else trips your fancy.