Re: [ba-poker] Baby No-Limit Hold'em Game at Lucky Chances

[Michael Hunter <michael.hunter1(deleted the rest)>]

On Sat, 2004-04-10 at 00:52, Alan Bostick wrote:
> Lucky Chances Casino, in Colma, California, is now spreading a
> small-buyin no-limit Texas hold'em game.

Has this killed the Sunday night 5-5 NLHE game?  That would be sad.

[...]
> over time.  Be prepared to weather some outrageous beats, but on the 
> whole a
> nd overall solid play is going to win the money.

I _think_ that for the reasonable player a small blind NLHE game
will often have a fairly small BR requirement.  For example a 1-2
or 1-2-2 game having a BR requirement in the same range as 3-6 HE.

> 
> I have no clue whether or not the game is going to be sustainable.
> No-limit poker is notorious for the ease with which the better players
> can take the poorer players' money.  The game might burn out its player
> base really quickly.  On the other hand, if no-limit hold'em on 
> television continues to attract new players into cardrooms, this game 
> might turn out
> to be sustainable over the long haul.

Long before the WPT the games were fairly continuous in the bay area.
The Wagon Wheel had a fairly regular game with the management more
of a concern then the players.  The Palace has had a fairly continuous
game (and its really a NLHE game, none of this silly buy in cap).
Nowadays the palace is seeing 2 games on tues thursday with a solid
game on fri, wed, sat.  (and that ignores the AJs->LCs tradition of
NLHE)

> 
> Grab your rods and reels and your best lures, folks!  The fish are 
> biting
> at Lucky Chances.

My experience is that the capped games are not as good as the non
capped games.  If you can actually play then you want to be deep
post flop.  Taking $120 (more the the allowable buy in) off the table
per hour is pretty steep.

I didn't read all the conversation about open amounts (I seemed to have
missed a few of the emails) but the main difference I see in big bet
is if the open is considered a raise or not.  In the few live NLHE
games I've played in you open (not raise), so in a 10-20 game if you
open for $30 if somebody wanted to raise they would have to raise
by $30, not $10.  In most PLHE games I've played in the opening
bet is considered a raise but is often allowed to be less then what
you would think given the blinds.  For example in a 10-20 game you
might open for $30 and the next person could call or raise by $10
or more.  Its always right to query about rules and get a rule book if
possible.  Personally I prefer as few restrictions on betting as
possible.  Give the person as much leeway as is possible.  Thats the
spirit of big bet poker.

FWIW I saw one of the worse NLHE rulings ever in the Sunday game
at LCs.  On the river small blind bets fairly small relative to the
pot.  Guy in early position calls, person in last position puts out
less then double the bet, looks at the small blind, small blind mucks,
guy amends bet to a raise, early position guy calls string, floor
first says its more then half the bet and then capers around saying
the person meant to raise so they should be allowed to.  The floor
is obvious wrong but was unwilling to back down (my mutterings about
smoking a crack pipe probably didn't help).  Unlike similar rulings
in limit this kind of nonsense can cost you big in PL/NL.

                       mph