Im getting an itch for some limit poker on my upcoming March trip. My question is, where can i find constantly running limit games on the strip. I'll be staying at ballys and anything within walking distance of the hotel will work. Thanks
If you have a smartphone like an iPhone or a droid, they have an app called "Bravo Live". It lists, for subscribing card rooms, the games currently being spread, how many tables, and just as important, how many on a wait list. On the strip right now (Sunday before President's day) @ 3:30pm Las Vegas time the Venitian has 28 tables, 2 of them are 4/8 holdem,, with 8 on the wait list. Mirage: 1 table of 3/6, with 1 on the wait list. Flamingo: 2/4 limit, 4 tables, zero wait list. Bellagio: 2 tables of 4/8 with 3 on a waitlist, 1 table of 10/20 and 2 tables of 20/40. It is a great app, but it doesn't have all the casinos on the strip because you have to subscribe. You can also access it from a regular computer, if this link will work: www.bravopokerlive.com/site/scasino Of course not. Oh well, copy and paste works too. Cheers!
Flamingo 2-4 and Mirage 3-6 are by far your best and really only real options. 4-8 at the Bellagio sometimes when they have it if you like being treated like a broke train hopping hobo by the staff. Seriously, if you ask about a limit game that low they will give you a "PFFFFF, let me check."
If you haven't done your trip yet... The 2-4 games @ Flamingo are my favorite spot for a drunken poker night I believe MGM spreads a table of 2-4 every night, and Excal usually has 1-6 spread limit as well. Take the monorail @ Bally's down to MGM for access to the south Strip locations.
I hate limit, unless I'm really drunk and they're playing a kill. And, then I'm just playing for free drinks and to raise every pot. Limit is way too hard which is why everyone plays no limit. Much, much easier. And, if you think limit is easy, you're not playing it right.
This might come off as a really stupid question, but as someone who has never stepped up to a real table how can you play no limit without being crazy rich? If I walk up with $100 bucks and someone bets a grand don't you have to fold?
No. First, if you're at a $1-$2 table, the buy in max would usually be $200, so the other guy would have $200 if he just got there. And no matter what he bets, you can call for all your money...he gets the money returned to him that's more than what you have. So in your example, if the guy bets $1000, you call with $100. He gets $900 back and the pot is $200.
Phale-- that is what is called "table stakes". Same as in limit poker. If you have only $5 left in front of you and the last bet your opponent makes it $6, you simply call $5 as an "all-in". Even if you have another dollar in your pocket, you can't bring it to the table until between hands. NL works the same way. Where that gets dicey (if you aren't used to it) is if you've been doing well and have a good sized stack built and another at the table also does. That is how $1K pots get built at 1/2 NL.
In the 10 years or so that I've amassed playing poker in countless poker rooms, I have never seen a maximum buy-in for 1-2 NL at less than $300 in Vegas and Atlantic City. But, I've heard on cruise ships and other places (like Niagra, Detroit, etc) it can be lower. I've just never seen it personally. BTW, my first live poker experience was at the Excalibur poker room. I played stud and was horrible at it. They opened up a 1-5 spread limit hold 'em table and I moved to that one (very easy table). They had an Aces cracked wheel that I spun when I got my aces cracked for $50. Bunch of fun but I essentially broke even after the stud debacle. That was also the first time I realized you could walk out of the casino with one of their glasses and no one would care.
Funny you say that, because Excal used to have a $100 max buy in. A lot of rooms do have a $300 max buy. The lower end rooms tend to be lower. Ballys had a $200 max...not sure if that's changed. Bottom line, I've seen both $300 and $200.
Most awesome. Thank you for this. I only wish that everyone would use normalized game identifiers ("1-2 NL Holdem" or "3-6 Holdem") for easier searching. Even as it is, this service is much more awesome than walking around town, trying to find the game you like.
Try it at about 8PM. It usually starts late. Even then you can't count on it. You can always count on Flamingo and the 2-4. And I think you can count on Venetian and the 4-8.
I haven't played at the Excal in years... since they had those video hold'em tables that were awful (and soon removed). I've played almost every room on the strip and I can't recall ever buying in for less than $300... including Ballys. Not that it doesn't happen... I just haven't ever seen it.