Poker Archives

Las Vegas Cash Poker

November 11, 2019November 10, 2019 Heather Leave a comment

When visiting Las Vegas to play some cash poker, a variety of questions might be asked to help direct you to the ideal venue. How many cash poker tables will you find downtown on a Tuesday night? Where can you find a good game of Pot Limit Omaha on the Strip? Which rooms are the favorites of high rollers? If you are a cash poker player, this rundown of Las Vegas cash poker tables will help you find a room that fits your needs.

Over the summer, we collected cash poker table numbers across New England and shared them in our new table format. We’ve now moved on to Las Vegas, both the Strip and surrounding areas. All venues reporting cash poker numbers to either PokerAtlas or Bravo Poker are covered here. Refer to our Las Vegas Cash Poker Table page for details on the counts and our data collection methodology.

In the meantime, on to the fun stuff. When we evaluated the Las Vegas Cash Poker scene, what did we find?

The Las Vegas Cash Poker Scene

Note: For the purposes of this analysis, The Rio and The Orleans are being included with Las Vegas Strip casinos despite the fact that, being a couple of blocks from Las Vegas Boulevard, they are not technically on the Strip.

Hidden Poker Skills

September 24, 2019September 24, 2019 Paul Leave a comment

Poker players typically spend their “training time” learning specific poker skills related to playing hands. Skills such as reading boards, calculating equity and pot odds, and understanding ranges, are all core to becoming a better player. However, players (particularly recreational players) are less likely to attend to other aspects of the game that are equally critical to success. In order to develop a rounded game, you also need to develop these four hidden poker skills.

Hidden Poker Skill I: Honest Self-Assessment of Your Physical State

Heather and I generally play poker on weekends. Given that we largely play tournaments, we often have just a single window of time to play. Sometimes when pulling out of the driveway, one of us will say “God, I’m tired.” The other will offer an insincere, perfunctory “We don’t have to go if you’re exhausted.” However, we know full well that the response will be “Shut up and drive.”

We’ve never tracked whether these low energy days correlate with poor performance. We probably should, but likely won’t for now, because our weekly poker tournament time is sacrosanct. However, if you have the ability to play frequently, and certainly if you play at higher stakes, you should make sure you are rested, alert, and at full capacity before deciding to play. Peak performance is unlikely when you’re tired or sluggish.

Introducing Our New Feature: Average Cash Poker Tables

September 17, 2019September 16, 2019 Heather Leave a comment

Poker Pilgrims is proud to introduce a new feature: Average Cash Poker Tables. We’ve been working over the past several months to collect data on the average number of poker tables by day across New England. Our first page with those results is now live. New England Cash Poker average number of tables can be accessed via the drop-down menus at the top of the homepage (under Poker Room Information).

This page will be updated approximately every three months. Over time we will add average cash numbers for other regions with high concentrations of poker rooms. These will include regions such as South Florida, Las Vegas, Southern California, and the mid-Atlantic seaboard.

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Sites such as Poker Atlas and Bravo Poker Live offer users the ability to see current numbers of cash players at a venue at any given time. However, we have not found a resource that allows you to plan your next poker visit in advance. Currently, if I would like to learn how many $1-$2 no-limit tables Maryland Live! gets on a Thursday evening, there is nowhere to go to find that information. Poker Pilgrims hopes to fill that gap. Whether you are figuring out where to play poker next weekend, or where to plan your next poker vacation, our average cash table map will hopefully be of help.

Our Plan

Ultimately, our vision is to track the number of average cash poker tables across the country in all areas with high concentrations of poker rooms. In areas where a poker player has options, this information, along with room reviews, can help you make a discerning choice. Be patient with us as we work to populate these tables. In the meantime, feel free to visit our New England page. You are also welcome to read our analysis of where to play poker in New England or our thoughts on the impact of Encore Boston Harbor on the New England poker scene.

Like this post? Want to learn more about our plans for our poker pilgrimage? Head on over to the sidebar and subscribe. We’ll let you know whenever a new Poker Pilgrims blog post goes live!

You Can’t Escape the Poker Rake

September 10, 2019September 16, 2019 Paul Leave a comment

Every player knows that the key to profiting at poker is playing well. If you don’t play well, you’re toast long-term. Unfortunately, playing well is not enough. Equally important is understanding how other factors impact your potential profitability. As we have discussed before, there are many ancillary costs of playing poker, and it is important that you make a plan to combat them. Most importantly, however, card rooms don’t survive on good cheer. They take a piece of the action out of every hand. Understanding how your card room takes their piece of the action, the poker rake, is critical in determining how your potential wins, or losses, will be impacted.

Cash Games and Poker Rake

Poker Rake

Let’s imagine for a moment that a 10-handed table has started with each player buying in for $200. Our imaginary casino’s poker rake is $1 for every $10 in the pot, up to $5 total (fairly typical). If the median pot is $30, the average hand loses $3 in every pot. Although there is some variation, on average, there are about 30 hands dealt an hour. We’ll also assume that nobody busted and re-bought or left and was replaced by a new player. The overall rake paid is $90 (30*$3) in that hour; thus, the “average” player will lose $9 in poker rake (or 4.5% of his/her stack) per hour.

How Has the Encore Boston Harbor Changed the New England Poker Landscape?

August 13, 2019August 14, 2019 Heather 6 Comments

The Encore Boston Harbor opened with a splash this June. Predictions about the new casino’s impact on the New England poker scene swirled. The Encore would drain players from all of the New Hampshire poker rooms. The Encore would take the best dealers. Twin Rivers would shut down. Foxwoods would go bankrupt. Chasers would lose all its business. And on, and on.

Category: Poker