The casino I frequent is drying up...

[Rick Nebiolo]

...the bar at Hawaiian Gardens on what should be a slow period (in this case last (Monday) night just before midnight) and watch the twenty tables they squeeze in that little space in action.

My observation is that this is the most successful Los Angeles card club at spreading low fixed buy NL games. By successful I mean these games are a higher percentage of the clubs total action and the tables in the section are utilized more heavily than any other section in Los Angeles (and it isn't close).

Of course the structures are what most on this forum disdain. The "big game" is 1-2 blinds with a $40 fixed buy and the small game is 1-1 blinds with a $20 fixed buy! All I can say is that this structure along with the party atmosphere takes the fear out of playing but keeps the fun in. The combination of the bar, the young staff, the fast chip runners and general level of goofiness keeps it packed almost all the time. That can't be said of the equivalent section in the Commerce or any other club (except perhaps the Hustler, which simply doesn't have enough tables).

Las Vegas cardroom managers really need to take a look at this as the crowds in their deep stack games dwindle. While at the bar stick to those extra cold 16 ounce beers served in the aluminum bottles; for mixed drinks I think HG is too careful on the pour.

~ Rick

[Al_Capone_Junior]

There will always be exploitable action in cardrooms, I agree. There will probably always be some action in no limit cash games, but this specific niche is much more limited than others. I think that a certain critical point will eventually be reached where the the balance between loose money and the ever increasing rake will make the games unbeatable. This will happen faster in areas with fewer incoming new players.

I have seen small no limit games where I don't believe any of the players could beat the rake. Of course if I'm playing in one of these, I'm outta there in short order.

Companies like harrahs, where greed is never enough, exacerbate the problem. They will take a good room that's making millions every year, showing a tremendous profit far beyond their costs, and jack up the rake even more. No matter that the rest of vegas (or the world) charges less, they still want more. No matter that they drive customers into other rooms, they're content to screw the ones they have left for the extra. Since they will have fewer games for the same overall profit, some idiot will note that they saved 0.2% in minimum wage labor costs and declare this to be a good thing. There is no spreadsheet showing the peripheral spending of poker players, so the significant extra money they're sending directly to the competition will never be missed.

Excessively high rake will discourage all players sooner, not just no limit. That extra buck will take another buy-in off the table every few hours, thus the game will break sooner. I don't know why people are so eager to take a perfectly good, highly profitable business and run their own customers into the ground. The fact is that poker is a low risk, high profit business, but the amount of money that can be made from poker is limited. You just can't take a room that's making millions and make billions, it's impossible. My guess is that this fact has never occurred to the upper management morons who are doing everything they can to ruin poker.

As far as no limit cash games go, it won't bother me very much at all when something else becomes more popular. I find no limit boring. My strengths are not fully utilized like they are in a good horse game. Plus it just gets old when you've got nothing but lima beans for breakfast, lunch, and dinner 24/7/365.

Al

[MrHorace]

[ QUOTE ]
Yes it is boring way to play,but nitty play allows me to play drunk which is very fun. (1 week sample size)

[/ QUOTE ]How do you play nitty drunk?!! To me that seems like an oxymoron. Okay, for me it seems like an oxymoron.

[MickeyB105]

[ QUOTE ]
I found nl @ MGM/Venetian on recent trip to be very juicy for a nut peddlar like me. Seemed fewer calling stations than previous trips, but they seem to be replaced by aggrotard/potbuilding average skilled players that continually tried to push me off big hands.

God bless the Venetian and Tao

Yes it is boring way to play,but nitty play allows me to play drunk which is very fun. (1 week sample size)

[/ QUOTE ]

[PrimogenitoX]

I am an online player. I just played live at Commerce 10/20NL last week for the first time. It was the easiest poker game I have played in my life. Live is easier than online. Live "pros" are huge jokes..they all suck and are huge nits and can easily be exploited. Poker is not drying up at all. Those who say it is/can't win anymore simply suck at poker. That is all.

[SNOWBALL]

[ QUOTE ]

The average 5/5 NL game has at least 4-6 people who play for a living, and while most do suck.

[/ QUOTE ]

if they play for a living and you are better than they are, I don't see what the problem is

[GinaSD]

I don't really see the problem either. If they're talking about Oceans, last night had one 5/5 table that had a few supersoft players simply bleeding chips. Of the three 2/3 tables, there was one that had 3 players out-gambooooling each other, and all you had to do was sit and catch.

Even the perceived 'toughest' card rooms are going to have juicy tables - even if the abundance of these tables declines a bit after some fish decide they've dumped enough money.