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POCKET ACES

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Maryann Guberman has been a writer and editor with many gaming publications, including Sports Form, Card Player, Poker World, Player's Panorama and Systems and Methods. She also has written and edited numerous books on gambling.

Sep 30, 2006

Big or Little: Which Rooms Are Best?

Time was, making the decision about where to play poker was a no-brainer. You lived in Vegas, you had only a few places to consider and those could be divided into locals joints or tourist venues, two categories that could be further divided by size - one to three tables or four to 100 tables. The addition to a new room was often greeted by collective anticipation - collective defined as those regular players who until recent years rarely identified themselves as pros.

Large rooms such as the Las Vegas Hilton's snazzy venue across from the race and sports book was one busy place that attracted many regulars because of the status of the casino itself, in that it could draw tourists. (The room was eventually downsized and then eliminated.) Bingo Palace (now known as Palace Station) lured the locals because of the large number of tables and heavy tournament action.

The decision to play depended heavily on the player's levels of confidence and experience as well as on the type of competition he was likely to encounter. Not much has changed since the quieter days of poker, other than the facts that the number of land-based poker rooms has increased that online poker has become big business.

So, how does one decide where to play poker?

Again, the same factors should be considered. What is your skill level? Are you a beginner; do you have some experience; have you been playing for years? What is your confidence level? Are you easily intimidated by certain "powerful" people; do you consider yourself basically impenetrable emotionally; are you a powerhouse person? What kind of poker do you like? Do you prefer the TV-style tournament poker; would you much rather play in low-limit games drawing from a large pool of players; would you prefer playing against the same opponents more often than playing against new people every time you play?

You could fit into a number of combinations listed in the above questions so there's no clear cut indication of what size poker room you should choose. To find the best place, you have to test out certain venues to see if they suit the major part of your personality and needs. If you're a person who likes to play against the same individuals all the time, you'd likely pick a "locals" casino or an online poker room that doesn't have five- and six-digit members - rooms such as www.pokerworld.com, that are part of a reputable organization (Olympic Sports aka www.thegreek.com). If you don't mind getting into action with strangers every time you sit down, you would choose a busy room in a large destination-point casino that draws many tourists or you would connect to a site like www.partypoker.com. You'll use the same qualifications for land-based card rooms. When you think you have what it takes to plan in the fast action games with pros, semi-pros and highly skilled players then you might take your bankroll to a place like Bellagio in Las Vegas. Down the Strip a bit, you might like the Luxor if you want a mixed bag of regulars and tourists in a fairly decent sized room. The Orleans, with its many low buy-in tournaments will fill your need for familiar faces with a large selection of games while the small room at Arizona Charlie's would definitely keep you from running into too many strangers.

Of course if you're comfortable with your poker skill, it won't matter which rooms you choose, as long as you aren't intimidated.

The best advice is to find several venues, both online and on land, and move around. Getting too comfortable can give you a false sense of security but too little comfort can destroy your confidence entirely.

For a list of card rooms in Las Vegas and the number of tables they have, check out http://www.insidervlv.com/pokerrooms.html. You can find a complete list of rooms in Louisiana and Mississippi at http://pokerworks.com/mississippi-poker-rooms/. For more than just a list of places you can play in Atlantic City, check out http://www.atlanticcitynj.com/atlantic_city_poker.asp/. For a shortcut to all the gaming sites in the U.S. and in the world for that matter, try http://us.casinocity.com/. You'll have to surf around but you'll find what you're looking for as far as places to play. As for online, well, just about everybody and his brother will provide a list you can use, so just Google away.

Just remember to play cautiously at first, make sure you aren't the fish and make some money.