Aruba Poker

[pariah8]

I'm going to Aruba on vacation with about 25% of the reason to play poker (As opposed to Cancun which has no poker to my knowledge). As my bankroll stands I play 200 NL, 4-8 limit. I was just wondering if anybody here can recommend any poker rooms in Aruba and where the best places to play are (also any notable information would be appreciated). I'll be going there around the beginning of August for 2 weeks and staying at the Marriott.

TY for the help.

[GTL]

i've only been once and it was during the UB tournament so obviously there were tons of players there at the time. from what I understand, the Radisson Hotel and Casino spreads smaller limit games and perhaps small nl games all year round. I'm not sure if there are any other poker rooms that get games going consistently.

[22803]

IMO, the Radisson (within 2miles of the Marriott) has the best games on the island. Two years ago they spread $2-4 LHE and $2-$5 NL. Last year it was $4-8 LHE (But you could bet $8 preflop and on the flop, so i guess its 4-8 spread limit) . and $2-$5

the limit games were pretty soft, lots of tourists and locals. Probably 2 thinking players at each table. the $2-5 NL (500max) seemed full of retired regulars who play alot.

games start to get going around 8:30-9:30 PM and go to the early morning..

pm with more questions

[scotty-win]

I was there on my honeymoon a month ago. The only two hotels with poker are the Radison & Holiday Inn, both in the high-rise area. The Alhambra, in the low-rise area, had just installed Poker Pro tables and had a lot of signs to promote them, but I never saw or heard of games going there. No casino has any table games going before mid-afternoon, and poker doesn't get going until 7 at the earliest.

I played 4-8 LHE at the Radisson. Pretty soft game with a lot of action. As 22803 said, you can be $8 on the flop, so it's sort of a spread-limit game. Rake was 5% up to $10. The only thing I didn't like about it was that the players and dealers would often talk back and forth in Papiamento, despite a posted "English only" rule in the room.

When you get to the island, be sure to grab one of the free little tourist guidebooks. There's one that's got four or five $10-$20 match-plays in it, which you can knock off in 30 minutes across a few high-rise casinos.

[dcasper70]

I posted on it about 2 years ago, and it doesn't look like things have changed much. That post moved to the archives, so I can't bring it up at work, hopefully this url is correct... If not, search on my name + aruba sometime in the last 2 years.

Here you go

[Pscam10]

I posted about this back in January. I go to Aruba about once a year and play at the Radisson.

See below

Radisson Poker Room Review

[JLD]

I asked the same question a couple months ago as my wife and I were planning a vacation to the Carribean and wanted to play some poker as well. Couldn't find much in the archives and did not get much in terms of responses but we decided to go to Aruba anyway and are staying at the Radisson the week of July 14th - 21st.

Glad you were able to get some responses...thanks to all the posters for the info...very helpful and looks like we chose the right place to stay.

I am not back until July 30th but will post any updates from what I see when I am down there.

One question: I had heard about concerns about collusion among the locals and/or relatively tough local players compared to typical low-limit players and the tourists. Any truth? Simply paranoia from others? Thanks.

[Mr Rick]

[ QUOTE ]
One question: I had heard about concerns about collusion among the locals and/or relatively tough local players compared to typical low-limit players and the tourists. Any truth? Simply paranoia from others? Thanks.

[/ QUOTE ]
Wide spectrum of talent from the island. I didn't notice collusion at the Radisson from locals the week I played there (over a year ago). However, I suspected something fishy with a married couple that insisted on sitting together, pretending to get drunk, playing wild as if money meant nothing. So did the guy who ran the room. I just stopped playing when they were in the game.

One local went all-in against a tourist who was fairly drunk. The tourist allegedly removed some chips from the table according to the local before calling (about $700-$1,000 or so). After complaining once, the local let it go - I asked why he didn't ask Radisson management to go to the tape... Maybe there was no tape? Maybe the local felt it was better to win some extra money because the guy might have folded otherwise?

One thing to watch out for at the Radisson is that if the big limit game is 10/20 or 15/30 just be aware that many players in that game are likely to be comfortable playing 30/60 or 40/80 or above. So the game may be tougher than it seems. There were some double straddles as well... And sometimes the big game played with overs - so if you were not playing the overs you were subject to extra aggression to get you out so the rest of the table could play for the larger bets.

Also I played several tournaments not at the Radisson (not sure what the hotel was but walking distance from the Radisson) and their payout structure was suspect at best. There was no disclosure of how much had been paid for (re-buys were allowed and 1 add-on as well). At the end I was fairly sure it was a total rip-off.

[Pscam10]

[ QUOTE ]
One question: I had heard about concerns about collusion among the locals and/or relatively tough local players compared to typical low-limit players and the tourists. Any truth? Simply paranoia from others? Thanks.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have been out there a couple of times, and each trip I had the feeling that something strange was going on with the locals and sometimes management. I passed it off as paranoia, but I definately have a feeling that something wasn't completely kosher.

The room is run by two brothers who must be in their early to mid thirties who routinely sit in the games. They obviously know all the locals and allowed conversations to take place in the native language (Papiemento?). The dealers also know everyone and play in the games when their off.

I only played 2-2-5 nlhe, and picked on the other tourists. I avoided the locals unless I had a huge hand. I would love to hear what other think about possible collusion?