The Linq re-opening their Poker Room

Re-opening on the 24th. Does me no good for my upcoming trip, but I'm still happy to have more poker options on the strip.

Source from twitter: https://twitter.com/LinqPoker

 

And The Trooper will be a dealer!

 

Hell yes! I am staying there Sunday Friday! Just in time!

 

Yeah, I saw that on his vlog. How many "Whaddups" will he get per shift?

 

^^^ lots - slick move by the Linq. I will put in a session or two there now to meet the trooper

Deserves a good tip for the enjoyment I have got from the vlog

 

I'm a bit shocked by this news. I guess they couldn't find a better use for the space? They have struggled at poker ever since they had to move the IP poker room from the very front of the casino. I definitely miss the old 3/6 Mix game they had there.

They're doing the right thing by spreading $1/$1 NL though. Reasonable market for it that no other casino bothers to capture.

 

Linq poker room will be re-opening August 24th. Daily tournaments and high hands. Spreading the popular $1-$1 No Limit game with a $50 minimum buy in.





There are very few new poker rooms opening in Vegas. This is very good news. And it is great news for me in particular because I love that 1-1 game that blends limit and no limit in the way it plays out. It is the closest game to our weekly home quarter chip game because all the big bully money is eliminated, chasing money is reduced, and the rake can be overcome better than at limit because the pots are larger than limit.

This is what I like to play at Mohegan Sun and Ocala. I'm very pleased. Thanks for the post.

 

Interested in learning more about what a 1-1 NL game is? Never encountered this and google was no help.

 

Well, I'm not an expert and the variation in poker is largely a factor of who sits at the table.
That being said. 1-1 is basically a low stakes 1-2 game with a smaller minimum buy-in.
In some places the minimum is as little as $20 and the maximum $60. Linq advertises a minimum of $50. I don't know about max. I think in Vegas most 1-2 games have a minimum of $100. If the max is unlimited at Linq, then some of the advantage of the lower blinds goes away for frugal players.

In theory 1-1 should not play much differently than 1-2. In practice, I've found it attracts folks who don't aim to make a lot of money and don't play as well as 1-2 players, often loser players who are out to have fun. That might also be local rocks who play every day on small bankrolls and play for freerolls and food comps and the odd chance to find a table with 3 or less fish.
It might mean tourists who would play 2-4, but like no limit if the by-in is more affordable.
It attracts players who want a bit more action, who don't want to wait an hour for the playable hand.

Sometimes 1-1 becomes a flop game. It is almost an understanding at such times that no one makes preflop raises.
Almost every round the minimum of $1 is called until the flop.
Few preflop raises. Hardly any preflop reraises.
I am much happier with a flop game. That means it is more like 2-4 limit in play. In fact, if you best like playing after the flop, this no limit game offers a bargain because it always costs at least $2 to see the flop in any limit game. Here you might see the flop for just $1.

Folks will play more hands because it may only cost a $1. Those who don't like chasers won't like this game. Those who like permission to chase a bit and to play more hands will like it.

Button raises to see a free card (a common technique in limit poker) will often work in this case as well. So if you play J-Q on the button and make a small preflop raise (in some games even a min raise of a dollar,) you might get table respect even from those who have flopped two pair. They wait for you to bet again so they can raise. But you check and get a free card. So, if K-A comes on the flop, you can just check and see the turn for free. If this works on a particular table, it gives you permission to play even middle connectors or hands like K-X suited on the button. And if you catch, you are not limited when betting the turn/river as you are in limit poker.

It also means that you might see a lot of your blind hands for free. Both blinds are $1, so even the small blind sees the flop for free if there is no preflop raise. So you play more hands.

In this game tight players are less likely to get blinded to death. They have blind bet two hands out of 9/10 but they see the flop for free, so all of a sudden their 2-3 off suit has flopped the wheel.

Of course, what can be a rather tight game until the flop with some selection of players, can become a maniac game with players pushing all the time with another group. It depends on who sits down. What is a game requiring less bankroll to play, can become a game that it is easy to bully. I don't much like that game, and I won't play it. I generally watch a game before I take a seat. I leave a table if it evolves into a game of maniac bingo.

Bluffing power is reduced especially at a new table. Everyone has just $50. It is harder to bully with that.

It is hard to get a lose enough limit table to overcome the huge rakes the casinos now take. This game helps with that as well. Pots are generally bigger than 2-4. You generally won't end up passing around winning post while the house takes a third of the money out of each one.
That being said, if you get stuck at a short table with 6 rocks and see no pot every approaches a size to offer much of a profit and no one plays second or third best, then it is time to get up and leave. Join a loose 2-4 with all seats taken. Join a newly opened game. That happens at Mohegan. I move from 1-1 to 2-4 depending on how much action is at the table.

Finally, if you do have the best hand and accurately put your opponent on something less, you can more often get them to call their second or third best hand than you can in 1-2.

Again. Every table is different depending upon who sits down.
I play with a limited bankroll, so this 1-1 cuts my entry buy-in in half. I can more often play this game than 1-2. In Vegas I never play 1-2.

Also, the social aspect of the game may be better. NL is generally all about poker: poker faces, poker mathematics, poker macho attitudes, sun glasses, uptight and sometimes unhappy opponents.
2-4 in Vegas offers another value. It is like sitting down at a bar with strangers and striking up conversation. Serious poker players want nothing to do with talk or stories or joking banter.
2-4 players are just there for the fun.
1-1 is somewhere in the middle. However, those of us who appreciate the social/story aspect of the game may find that 1-1 attracts people who can have a discussion that isn't limited to "outs" and strategies. In a city where people come from all over the world, a poker table of storytellers is what I'm looking for.
And I like it when the pretty girls outnumber the old grumps.

 

Very good post...Of all my trips I have never played poker in Vegas! Every time I stop by a place I want to play,
the whole table is dead silent and looking like absolutely no fun.

I want to sit, drink, and have good joking and banter at the table... Like at my home games.


A side note: I have been told by numerous players that I am a much tougher to read and all around better player when I'm drunk... so I do have that going for me. HAHAHA

 

Glad to hear this. Always have fun at LINQ VP bars--looking at the photo, it looks like it is between the south doors & the TAG bar?
Have never tried 1-1. Hate limit. Prefer NL tourneys to cash games, but do occasionally play cash (I prefer the way the gameplay changes throughout a tournament; cash games can bore me...then I drink...then I play bad poker...But this could be a balance between NL & limit, in a way. Worth a try as long as I realize the chaser feel (DH would probably love it)

 

Whaddup, It's The Trooper confirming his backup plan.

[YOUTUBE]Eitaiy-XPmQ[/YOUTUBE]

 

Called Linq today and they said poker room is still closed.

 

Supposed to open tuesday.

 

I loved the old Imperial Palace room. With play there I could get cheap IP rooms. They offered free cookies, free tea, cracked Aces and cracked Kings. A weekly freeroll was great fun and generally gave me $100 on the final table as a split. Even tourists could qualify.
The folks who came regularly were very friendly and somewhat lively as well. Even the every day rocks had more character and life than weathered granite.

I did have my worst poker experience there. My quad jacks were beat by a straight flush. They had no bad beat. A week before at Foxwoods that hand would have been worth 180,000 (just my share)
Well, we'll see how they treat us in the new venue.
I have not done any CET gambling in a long while.
Resort fees kicked me out of decent room offers for poker.
The high rake just seemed ridiculous.

I'll have to see how the 1-1 feels as opposed to my current favorite, a 2-6 spread limit game at Monte Carlo, late at night after the regulars have gone home.

 

I was there last weekend and could see it getting ready to be opened. It is over by the doors that lead to the Linq Promenade by the Flamingo. Right off of the TAG bar.

 

Very interesting to hear about the 1-1 NL game, sounds like it could be a lot of fun so I think I may stop by and give that a shot when I'm there in Sept. If anyone plays there in the mean time I'd love to hear what you thought.

 

Thanks for all the info! Will probably try to check this out when I'm in town in October. The only live casino poker I've played is 2-20 spread limit game at a local casino here, otherwise only played online or at home. I like the idea of a low buy-in game to get my feet wet.

 

Stopped there today and they were doing a meeting with all the new dealers. Said hi to trooper and he said they are opening tomorrow the 25th. He said he might be working tomorrow

 

Yeah, the picture made me think it's around where that Total Rewards free slot pull thing is. Bunch of crappy old slot machines in that area that nobody will miss anyways.

My buddy is a big poker player and we are staying at The Linq for a 4th time in Janaury. He was VERY happy to hear about the poker room returning