Local card room vs Vegas

[TommyO]

I am a recreational player at my local cardroom. The highest I play is 6/12. The conventional wisdom is that the average low limit player is horrible and that reading SSHE and applying the strategies correctly you should be crushing the games. From my observations this is not the case at all. Most tables I play at have one or two bad players, but the VAST majority of the players are pretty solid.

I have a theory about this. Since my local card club is not part of a casino, the only reason people go there is to play poker. People come from all over the three state region to play and are obviously serious about their game.

Casinos on the other hand attract people who are just there to gamble. They figure they'll give poker a try since they saw it on TV and it looked like fun. The couple of times I have been to Las Vegas I have noticed that the level of play was much worse than what I was used to.

Anyone else see a big difference in the level of play between their local card room and the casinos or am I giving the local players too much credit?

[LasVegasMichael]

There are certainly less "locals" in a Vegas casino versus your hometown place, that is true. Usually, in a typical Strip casino, there are about 2 locals at every table on average. Locals tend to play tighter and certainly play more often.

In LA and other parts of the country where they have poker casinos, these players are nearly all locals with 2 out of towners at best, however not all locals are the same.

In LA the locals are often the craziest ones at the table, especially at lower limits. Capping preflop with crap and three betting the flopa with second pair is common.

In Vegas, however, the play is significantly more passive (from the locals and the tourists). Though there a good many aggressive players (and TAG ones) it is not the majority.

So I would agree with you that the level of play is worse in Vegas then most local places, and hopefully it will stay that way. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[coolhandluke]

here in dallas, where the local card rooms are illegal, then, yes, people have to go to significant effort to find, and get into the games, so you can expect them to be much more into poker than the average joe at a convention in vegas.

[Cooling Heels]

There is a huge gap in the level of alcohol consuption between LV poker rooms and my local cardclub. The heavy boozing leads to slow games with a high percentage of players seeing the flop. The odd thing in Vegas is that some of the heaviest drinkers are locals, often off-duty casino employees.

[TommyO]

I guess the question is it possible to win at the low stakes tables in the long run when 7 solid players are going after two bad players money considering rake and tipping?

[Bulbarainey]

[ QUOTE ]
I guess the question is it possible to win at the low stakes tables in the long run when 7 solid players are going after two bad players money considering rake and tipping?

[/ QUOTE ]

its probably beatable, but ever so slightly. in LA i play mostly 3/6 and the rake is not percentage and is always 3+1, even in a $6 pot, so if the players were like they are at your room it probably would barely even be beatable, if at all. LV is a little better than here but mostly cuz of the rake, it seems like half the people playing in vegas are from LA anyway.

[TheStation]

TommyO - Canterbury is definently a gem and far bigger than most local rooms. I moved away from MN about a year and half ago and the games were much better then that you describe now (I played 6/12, 8/16 and 15/30), thats too bad if it has gotten a lot tougher but sometimes that can make the plays some people are trying to make so much more obvious.

While living in MN I would travel over to Turtle Lake, WI to play NL and those players were worse than the MN players but I think that was just becuase they got more new players in there, maybe that was becuase they were a full casino.

I can say that in my experience at Canterbury the quality of play was worse on Friday/Saturdays like it would be at any typical casino. Also playing after their regular tournaments was a very good decision.

One thing I didnt learned until I moved in MN is the value in table changing out of a bad game, when you are in a poker room that big its easy to get out of a bad game and into a better one.

[TommyO]

I think you hit the nail on the head Station. I usually play on Thursday nights because that's the only night that works for me. Fewer people are drinking at the table on week nights and you don't get the after bar croud coming in. I also don't ask for table changes as often as I should. Thanks for the input.

[Hoss1193]

Yes, without reservation. While I wouldn't describe the local rooms here in WA as "tough" by any stretch, I was shocked at how soft comparable limits (4/8, 8/16) were at Wynn, Venetian, and MGM. Bellagio was a little tougher (relative to these other Strip casinos, not my local game), but not much.

All in all, anyone going to Vegas for the first time thinking that he's "stepping up" to tougher competition than the same limits he plays at home has it exactly backwards. In fact, his edge will increase (or in the case of a bad player, his disadvantage will decrease, perhaps even break even).

[Holm Fries]

I really have to disagree with those who describe the games at CP as tough to beat. I have played the 6/12 fairly consistent over the last two years and have witnessed generally poor to mediocre play. I have found the games in Vegas to be equally fishy at best and much tighter (especially limit nowadays) at worst.

I agree that the games are better Fri. - Sun., but they are still easily beatable during the week. I was just there Monday during MNF and was in just about the juiciest game ever. It was 5-7 to the flop, often for multiple bets. I saw someone go 5 bets on the river without broadway on a hand where it was the nuts. There were two players at the table with (literally) a VPIP of 100%.

I really think you should be crushing this game by using SSHE. I remember a quote from someone in this forum one time: "Canterbury Park, the only cardroon where the tourists are better than the locals"

HF