Aruba Poker

[DespotInExile]

Thinking of taking a family vacation to Aruba. Which casino has the best poker room? How is the associated hotel? (Thinking about the Marriott b/c of freqent points opportunity, but really just want to stay at the best hotel/poker room.) Thanks in advance.

[Mr Rick]

I went a year ago. The Radisson was the only poker room that spread limit games bigger than 4/8. But those limit games had players who typically played much higher than the 10/20 or 15/30 game that was spread... Also, I am not sure if any other casinos spread limit at all. The radisson always had at least 1 4/8 LHE game going during the week.

I did well at several small tourneys (I forget the hotel) but the formula for the payout was known only to the guys running it and seemed to be: how much money they could take out without causing the players at the end to get violent.

[WYDGD]

I haven't been there for a year and a half, but the Radisson was the best room in town when I was there. They were spreading a few 4/8 games, and a pretty juicy 15/30 game that I had my way with. Be aware that the rake is a killer, it was something ridiculous like $10 max. The casino at the Holiday inn always spread a 4/8 lhe and a 5/10 stud game the last few times I was there, and there was a big no limit game at the Windham.

[scotty-win]

Anyone been recently to Aruba? I'm going next week and will be looking for limit or spread-limit games. I hear there are usually $4-8 spread limit games? How do they play?

[scotty-win]

Update on Aruba poker:

Radisson and the Holiday Inn, both in the high-rise hotel area, are the only casinos with regular poker games, and they don't start until after 7pm. Radisson had a couple 4-8 LHE and a 5-5 NL game going on. Holiday Inn had 4-8 too but I think their NL was 1-2. A casino in the low-rise area, Alhambra, advertised an electronic poker table for NLHE and I saw it roped off, but I heard no one ever plays there.

I played 4-8 at Radisson a couple nights. The rake is 5% up to $10, and there is a bad beat jackpot, as well as a house-funded best-hand-of-the-night nightly $100 prize. They also had some $50 Aces-cracked and 2-7-wins bonuses during select times, and if you're there between 7 and 7:30 pm and start a table, you get $20 in free chips if you buy in for at least $30.

The players were about 50-50 locals and tourists, with everyone playing pretty laggro. The locals have a habit of talking to each other and the dealer in Papamiento (local Spanish-Dutch dialect) during the hand, which got annoying but didn't seem to help them. Despite that, the dealers were very quick and competent.

It's not exactly spread-limit, but the Radisson does have a rule where you're allowed to bet or raise $8 on the flop instead of $4. So even if the first bettor bets $4, someone else can raise it to $12, then everything is in $8 increments after that. I thought going into it that people might only bet $8 if they were protecting top pair or bluffing with a draw, but $8 flop bets were the norm. Usually the only time someone bet $4 on the flop, they were slow-playing a set or straight.

In one of the Aruba tourist guidebooks you can get for free at restaurants, there are four or five matchplays ranging from $5 to $25. The 6 or 7 casinos I went into seemed pretty rinky-dink in general, like Ellis Island-sized. There's one in downtown Orangestaad that's open 24 hours, but the rest are closed until midday, and table games don't start until 4 or so.