I’ve returned to the Indian poker room. Why? They’ve started this new “mini tournament” system. It works like this: HE: 40 hands, 500 units to start, blinds start at 25-50 and go to 50-100. Buy in $54.00 re-buy $15.00 (1000 units). Winner gets $240.00, second $100 etc. to 4th place. STUD: 25 hands, 5 to 25 ante, 500 units, 33 buy 10 rebuy (1000), winner gets 120, then 60 etc. Surprisingly, I’ve won the only two mini-tourneys I’ve played in. I can’t tell if I’m playing good tourney poker, or not. So…does this format offer a reasonable expectation of profit in the long term…or is it a crap shoot?

Answer 1:

It’s a crap shoot…..but it’s still an accomplishment if you keep winning consistently. A couple of questions though, are there unlimited rebuys? Do you have to be fewer than 500 units to get a rebuy? How many rebuys have you been averaging? How many players usually play? Also, if I understand correctly, there only 40 hands in the entire tournament (HE)? If so, you are not getting a real test of how you might play shorthanded and/or heads up. That’s where you get a real test of your ability to win tournaments. Of course, some players would rather make a deal rather than play short handed or heads up. These kinds of tournaments are probably fun and if I lived in Florida, with the lack of poker, I might play these also. But I don’t think they do much to prepare you for bigger tournaments.

Answer 2:

Tournaments are one table
HE is 40 hands 10 players
7Stud is 24 hands 8 players
Omaha8 is 45 hands 9 players
HE is $54
7Stud is $33
Omaha 8 is $105
The buy-in gets you 500 units the rebuy (1 only) gets you 1000 units. All the original money goes back to the players. The rebuy is the house rake. There is also a progressive royal flush jackpot which starts at $2500 for a diamond and is $1199 for the other suits. The diamond averages around $10,000 and is hit on an average of once every 3 days.
Answer 3:

Overall, the play is poor, but it is a bit of a crapshoot with just 45 hands. With decent play, the chance of finishing in the money is very good, trouble is you still lose money if you finish 3rd or 4th. ($100 buy-in, $30 re-buy, $5 jackpot fee, $5 toke is customary if 3rd or 4th). Have seen the jackpot as high as $35,000, for diamond royal (all other suits are $1199) I wonder at what point that is positive EV for Omaha. 50% win rate sounds a little out of reach to me. There are *some* good players there. I don’t doubt that a good player could grind out a small profit, even with the 30% juice (which could be avoided on occasion with no re-buy).

I recently heard all of the poker clubs in Vancouver Canada are non-smoking! I have to have some of this. Can anybody fill me in on the particulars (10-20 and above). I will also need a place to stay. Where? How much? Does the Lumberman’s still have a game? Hotel? What is the current exchange rate and should I exchange my money in Canada or here before I leave? Can you even exchange it here?
Answer 1:

Yes, all non-smoking. What types of particulars were you looking for? There is 10-20 at the Holiday Inn on Broadway and Heather which is a pretty passive game, sometimes tight, sometimes loose. The Lumberman’s Social Club (you know, if I were to start an underground card room, I’d call it something a little less obvious than “social club”; like doesn’t that translate directly to “front”?) was raided and shut down by the police. There are plenty of legal places to play, no need to visit the illegal ones. IIRC, one dead president buys $1.47 Canadian on the market right now (a little less in reality, since you have to buy it off the bank and they have to make money off you). It’s best to exchange all the money you’ll be spending on food, shopping, accommodations etc. before you come over the
border. The money you play cards with you can keep in American because the casinos are happy to give you a decent rate exchanging cash for chips.

Answer 2:

Connecticut poker rooms (Foxwoods and Mohegan sun casino) have both recently converted to 100% nonsmoking. Both have enormous poker rooms and its not uncommon to have 10-15 games in the $10-20,15-30,20-40 range taking place at 3:00 AM on a Tuesday….I’ve played pretty frequently in Atlantic city and Vegas but have to admit the Connecticut poker rooms are unrivaled.

Answer 3:

These days the cheapest and simplest way to obtain foreign currency abroad is to just use your ATM card there. The exchange rates are normally better than at the foreign banks and certainly better than at banks in the US, hotel desks, airport windows, etc Visa, MC, and AMEX used to be real good but now tend to tack on 2 or 3% as of about a year ago. The basic exchange rates appear daily in the Wall Street Journal and elsewhere.