Poker In Colorado?

[JackInDaCrak]

[ QUOTE ]
A good portion are.

mod note: Edited to remove unacceptable name calling. -RR


[/ QUOTE ]

You can always ask for a table change or go to a different casino, or realize that RR has a legitimate point and the more people capping the better odds they're offering you.

[CincyLady]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
so do you think it's collusion when there's 7 players at 5-5, only 1 white.. White guy is out of a hand, and the total pot may get to $60. White guy in the pot and it's capped by all players until whitey folds. The whole point of 5-5 for the asians is to take outside money.. They'll openly admit to it, just won't say they cheat to do it.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have lived and worked in diverse poker rooms. I don't stereotype people by the color of their skin. SO you are saying their great cheating strategy is to give the white guy 6:1 on his money every time he choses to play a pot. So they are risking 180 preflop to win 30, and the guy putting in the 30 gets to pick the hands he plays while the "team" putting in the 180 will play random hands? You think that is a winning strategy?

[/ QUOTE ]

Also, apparently all the asians in Blackhawk are in cahoots with each other according to this guy.

this is SFSTUPID.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not all Asians, just a select few, and yes, they do work in teams up in Blackhawk, I've seen them in action (and remember, I no longer play live action in Colorado, because I can get longer play out of my money playing the slot machines here, than playing poker, because of the capped 5 buck max bet laws here).

Just because sometimes it's all in ONE players head about certain things, doesn't mean that you should discount the same story being told when many people are (now) seeing and saying the same thing.

Edit: FWIW, I don't know of one floor person alive, or an any online site, that's going to ADMIT that they have a problem with colusion on their property/website, even if it really WAS going on in their place of business.

[JackInDaCrak]

[ QUOTE ]
I no longer play live action in Colorado, because I can get longer play out of my money playing the slot machines here, than playing poker, because of the capped 5 buck max bet laws here).

[/ QUOTE ]

lol, maybe it's just a problem with your strategy.

[CincyLady]

Laugh all you want to, talk strategy all you want, but I'm with the other poster who said, why don't YOU move to colorado, come play in Blackhawk with this level of low limit crap as the ONLY live game you can play in, before you pass judgement on the rest of us, hmm?

As for me, No, I have no plans on playing live action here ever again (unless the cap laws change for the better).

I have tried to pick it up (since there are no other choices locally for live action), but since I moved here, I just can't get a handle on low limit games, especially with the Variety of No fold 'em Hold 'em they play up there.

It would be far too expensive for me to learn how, and I don't want to simply because I don't like playing this level anyway. It's no fun, and I like at the very least, if playing for fun, and I'm losing, for my money (aka 100 bucks) to last at least longer, than if I was playing the slots to lose.

I prefer N/L myself, and my idea for a low limit game, is one where the limit is a 10/20 game, and I'm out of luck for that here in Colorado on both counts.

[JackInDaCrak]

I live in Denver and I have played in Blackhawk probably 20 times in the last 4 years, and I am well in the black...

You're right, it doesn't play like NL - the strategy is very different. But it is beatable, IMO.

[CincyLady]

Just curious Jack, is this the only level you have played then live?

Don't get me wrong, 4 years ago when I was first learning how to play, I could play in this (level of) game and most likely do okay. At the very least, I'd have fun playing it (which I don't now), and even if I didn't finish in the black, at least my money ($100 bucks) lasted a few hours, as opposed to a mere 20 minutes. I then moved up to the higher levels.

To be honest, I've simply forgotten how to play it, and that's what I mean by I can't get a handle on it.

Since I am not even getting any 'play time' with my money (aka the money needs to last longer for me than if I was playing the slots), and it's not fun for me, I really don't want to spend the money (or the time, or the long drives to go up there) to relearn it, so I've written it off.

[JackInDaCrak]

No, I have also played many hours of 1/2 NL in vegas, it's certainly a gear shift.

It's a personal style thing, but I think that despite what you and the other posters in this thread say, the game is beatable, even if only marginally so.

Your main complaint seems to be the opponents' styles of no-fold-em hold'em, whereas others complain about the rake and BBJ drop and tips.

Well, I think that the "NFEHE" directly contributes towards a player's ability to overcome the high drop, due to the size of the pots and willingness of your opposition to pay you off with such poor values.

I can't speak as to your game, but I can certainly understand how the high-variance nature of the blackhawk games would frustrate you - it has certainly put me on insane monkey tilt more than once. However, the precise reason why you don't like the games is why they are so profitable.

In a nutshell, blackhawk strategy (I play only 2-5 spread, not 5-5) is similar to SSHE strategy. The focus is less on big preflop values and more on hands that are able to win multi-way pots. It's a fit-or-fold flop situation, rather than a "power poker" situation.

YMMV. I should tell you that the main reason I play in Blackhawk is for entertainment on a Friday or Saturday night - I don't grind for profit, but I do think I have +expectation. Contrast this with my trips to NL cash in Vegas - which are probably about 5% entertainment and 95% profit-driven.

The fact that you have decided it is not +EV for you and have written it off is respectable. I just happen not to agree with you. No hard feelings.

[CincyLady]

No hard feelings [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] ... to each his/her own.

I suspect if the law allowed for card rooms in Denver itself, I might feel a tad different, because part of the reason is also I hate the long drive to Blackhawk.

I would also be able if they allowed for legal rooms in Denver itself, to gain more practice time to get back to where I was experience wise, when I played at this level before.

FWIW, is there a reason why there are only a few select cities that are allowed for gambling?

Is it that the casinos are not interested in larger cities, or does the law expressly forbid casinos in major cities like Denver itself?

[CORed]

At the risk of being accused of stereotyping, I'm going to say that a fairly large percentage of Asian players in Blackhawk play very aggressively. So, a couple of LAG Asians get in a raising war, maybe one is on a draw, and they talk in a foreign languaqe while they are doing it, and the one on the draw misses and folds on the river. "OMG, Collusion! No wonder I can't win at this game. It can't have anything to do with the fact that I play J rag offsuit and call to the river with bottom pair.".

Am I saying collusion never happens? Of course not. But I don't think it's nearly as common as the fish think. Am I saying there's a lot of money to be made in these low limit, high rake games? Of course not. But the people who blame the marginal profitability of these games on loose play or collusion are idiots. If the games were tight, with the rakes as high as they are, they would be unbeatable. Loose play, especially loose-aggressive play, makes for a high variance game, but it is also the only thing that makes it possible to win at all at these games. And the truth is, the games in Colorado are slightly tougher at times than low limit games elsewhere, because there are no higher limit games for the better players to move up to.

[CORed]

[ QUOTE ]
FWIW, is there a reason why there are only a few select cities that are allowed for gambling?

[/ QUOTE ]

Politics, pure and simple: Some casino owners and politicians from the three mountain towns got the "limited gaming" initiative on the ballot several years ago, and managed to get it through. Now the casino owners have a vested interest in limiting competition, and plenty of money to spend on advertising if anybody tries to pass another initiative that would let any competition in, and they get support from the religious and other anti-gambling folks.