Rounders Report

I visited casino Arizona a few days ago, if you don’t already know Casino Arizona is the largest poker room in Arizona and sports the biggest games found in the entire state. They have mixed games starting at $30-$60 that are regularly going as well as Hold’em up to $75-$150

They had just introduced a $2-$150 No-Limit style game just before I left town a year ago and have since adjusted that to a $5-$150 game with a max Buy-in of $350. Now, Usually when I play a N-L game with BB of $5 I buy-in for $1,000 some places only allow up to $500 buy-in and I am even comfortable with that. When I Visited Des Moines a few weeks ago I checked out the local room there and the Max Buy-in for the N-L game was $200! Most people do not realize the importance of max Buy-in – I am going to point out how different a N-L game is where the blinds are exactly the same but with very different max buy-in amounts.

Blinds $2-$5 No-Limit
Max Buy-in = $200

Blinds $2-$5
Max Buy-in = $1,000

The average pre-flop raise is a $2-$5 N-L game is $25 Therefore if your max Buy-in is $200 you are short stacked as soon as you sit down. This is very much a PRE-FLOP game where you toughest decisions are before the flop. If you re-raise to $60 you are pot committing yourself and building a pot that based on your remaining chips you must push or call most flops.
There is very little room to outplay your opponent or put him/her to a tough decision on either the turn or river because like you they are committed to this pot. Now compare this to a Max Buy-in of $1,000 and you have a far better game! Now you are playing a POST-FLOP game where the decisions on the turn and river are the most important! You now have the ability to use your chips and position to take advantage, maneuver and outplay your opponents. Needless to say, I far prefer a large buy-in cash game to that of a short buy. A $200 max buy-in makes for a tournament type approach where pre-flop all-ins are very common, Rarely do you ever see two players is a $2-$5 no limit game go all in pre-flop for $1,000, It just does not make sense.
So, back to the $5-150 game at Casino Arizona, I am comfortable with the $350 max-buy in but would like to see it higher. I played this game for 2 hours and showed a profit of $150, which is not bad for 2 hours with this structure. Prior to getting on the $5-$150 table I had put myself on the list for $6-$12 & $10-$20 Omaha Hi-low, I waited 40 minutes and decided to give up on those games, They had room in the $4-$8 games but I just cant get interested and stay focused in those limits. All and All Casino Arizona is a great place to play, there is plenty of action and the room is smoke free and very comfortable, The food is the best among all the poker rooms! The only downfall – NO PLAYER POINTS FOR POKER! That’s right, In every poker room I have ever played I earn anywhere from $1 – $1.50/hour in player points for sitting at a live table, This means that I should never have to pay for a meal. Harrah’s allows you to cash out your player points for CASH! After eating everyday for free for weeks I cashed out $90 from my players card – This is something that hopefully will change, as I am sure they are hearing from the players.

Popularity: 3% [?]

After getting our new house in Litchfield Park setup with furniture I decided to check out the Back room in Phoenix. The Back room is a poker room located in the back of a bingo hall in the Phoenix area, I had played there a few times many years back before I had learned to play Omaha Hi-low. This place was mainly a Omaha Hi-low game however last night they were playing dealers choice and it was a pretty even mix of Omaha Hi-low, Omaha And Hold’em. There are only 4 tables so this is a very small room with a real social vibe, Most players knew each other as iff they play togather everyday.

There were many thigs that i liked about playing there and many things that i did not like. I have detailed the information here.

The game was very good! It was a $4-$8 with 1/2 kill. There were a min of 3 players at showdown nearly 90% of the time. Players here seem to pay off hands more than they do in most rooms I have played. I was really getting cold cards and was unable to really take advantage of the loose action, However I do look forward to playing there later in the week.

One big draw back to the Back Room is the smoke! There is smoking allowed in the bingo hall AND the poker room and it seemed that everyone but me was smoking, My eyes are still burning the morning after.

Today my plan is to visit the Ft. Mcdowel Poker Room and see what has changed there. I will post my findings and a detailed report later this week.

Popularity: 3% [?]