Poker at the CNE (the EX), Toronto, Aug 20-Sept 6

Iron

I remembered a topic posted here about poker at the Ex, so I thought I would look into it, since I live about a 10 minute walk away. Here is the reply I got when I emailed them:


There is a casino at the Ex again this year. It is located in the North East
corner of Better Living Centre. We have Multi-Action Blackjack, Roulette,
WAR, and our newest games, Spanish 21 and Three Card Poker. We also have a
private, air-conditioned Poker area. The Casino also offers an outdoor
concourse patio with live entertainment nightly and catering from the pub.
The casino is open daily from noon to 6am. If you have any questions please
contact our offices at 416 263 3852.
Thank you and enjoy the Ex!

Tilter

Nice, did you ask about the stakes for Poker. if they have 5-10, I may head down with $200-250 and try it out.

mac

These are large action games, you may want to consider $500-$600 for 5-10. The swings can be large. They have 5-10 and 10-20 games there with 40 tables, lists on weekend are huge. good luck

ScottyZ

I like having $500 for a *typical* loose-passive 5-10 game. I wouldn't take less than $1K there for the 5-10, especially since I'd be wanting to be sure of making a full day of it when seated with what I've heard about the insane lineups and wild play (as mac mentioned).

ScottyZ

Tilter

Wow, I am assuming Capped pf and almost on every street. I'm not too rich though, well see how I do at Rama, if I can win anything, maybe I can buy in for more

Facecard99

do they have 3-5 or 2-4
if they do ... i'm living there for the summer
HOLY SHIT
AMAZING!!!!

Tilter

Nope, I believe they only they only run 5-10 and higher limits. I wish the limits were lower. Also heard that the dealers aren't that great, which is why they are dealing for 2 weeks only. Make sure to check your cards when playing, this is where cheaters will most likely play (mark cards etc).

Jay

If I go, I might play a little...

Hork42

a little more info:

http://www.gamblingmagazine.com/articles/27/27-710.htm

hork.

tpfelt

I play on testing the waters at least a little bit and spending some serious time if the swings don't kill me. I work about 10 minutes from the CNE ground, so I'm hoping that if I just head over after work, the waiting list won't be too crazy.

tp.

Unknown

Ahhh... it's that time of year again. CNE poker. The masses of nickel/dime/quarter Kings 'n Little Ones specialists head out to the good old Ex for some 5/10 action. It's there for the taking, gentlemen. Go get 'em.

Regards,
all_aces

ScottyZ

Heck, I've been busting up my home game for 6+ big bets per hour ($0.60). My oppositon is so weak that they hardly seem to know the difference between a King and a little one. So I'm going to make a run at it. Rollin' up a stake and goin' to the CNE. :cool:

BTW, should I bring a couple of packs of cards, or will they have some for sale when I get there?

ScottyZ

Unknown

Ahhh, so you've played there?

ScottyZ

Okay, seriously, I'm considering trying it out. The following are discouraging me somewhat (okay, a lot) though, and I'm not sure which ones will or will not be the case. Any thoughts and/or info are appreciated.

1. I've heard that the rake is higher than the amazingly high Ontario casino standards. IIRC, couple of years ago I heard it was $7 max rake at $5-$10.

2. Waiting list horror stories. I've heard things like get there at 7:00 in the morning, and you *might* get a seat afternoon/early evening. It's not the wait itself that's the main problem... you'll miss out on an incredible number of dead money *ahem* casual players who wander by the poker room in the afternoon/evening, "want to give poker a try," but don't feel like a 5 hour+ wait.

3. Inexperienced dealer horror stories. Compound this with (what I would expect to be) a lot of inexperienced players. That's a recipe for 10 hands dealt/hour.

Even with all of that, I would guess the games should be leaning towards the soft side.

ScottyZ

Chugs

if all the sharks, scammers and specialists are going to be at the cne, doesn't this make the casino's a better place to be playing while they all try to feast on fresh meat ... of which there will be little since as mentioned by others the casual player (ie. wow poker i don't i try that0 ain't going to wait 5 hours to play.

maybe i'm missing something, but for some reason i like my logic about casinos instead.

Flush

Myself and a friend are planning on going tomorrow. I know the casino doesn't open until noon, but can you get on the list before then?

If so, how early should we show up?
How many tables do the have and at what limits?

Anybody with info, please let me know.

Thanks

Hork42

I was there today. Didn't play ( was there with my wife) but I checked out the poker room.


From what I saw... 16 tables. At 1pm 8 of them were being used. A little waiting list. 5/10 and 10/20 games going.

At 6pm, all tables were running with a longer list.

Pretty smokey at 6. The poker and roulette are in a seperate room from the rest of the casino.

I watched a couple of hands. Loose tables, though not what I would call crazy or wild...
One hand was capped 4 way on the turn and river... Board had an Ace and a Queen, hands were AK, AK, QQ, A2.

hork.

Flush

Hork,

Did you happen to notice what the rake was?

Hork42

Flush wrote:

Hork,

Did you happen to notice what the rake was?

crap, I forgot to check that. sorry.

mac

Rake is $7 max for 5-10 and $10 max for 10-20, there are 21 tables and at the right table the action is large. 11 player tables, and swings are big, down $800 in 4 hours, took awile but made it back and then some. Involved in one pot last night 10-20, capped pre fllop 9 players, chase chase chase, guy drew to an inside str8 to take down a pot over $1100. There are alot of people who really hate money there, and there are quite a few good players as well. The smoke is a killer though, need my iron lung.

Iron

The smoke in this place is absolutely disgusting. I spoke about 10 words in my 5+ hours in the room and have an insanely sore throat today. Even the smokers were complaining.

I was there at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday to sign up for a 5-10 table. I got on at 6:20, and that seemed a fairly typical wait for most of the night. The wait for 10-20 was a little shorter from what I could see.

Originally I had a decent table, but by 9:30 or so all the poor players had gone home and we had an extremely tight table made up of 50% average and 50% better than average players. Next time I'll be showing at or before noon to get in on the early action. I'm surprised at how many people there know each other.

Played until 10:40 p.m., and left up 12+ big bets. Had quads twice and had a good table image throughout. My good hands only very rarely got cracked, and I won all but one time I was dealt AK.

There was a mixed bag of good to very poor dealers. When I sat down I was planning to wait for the big blind. They dealt me in and I didn't post...um, okay. The rake might be high with a $7.50 maximum, but I wouldn't worry too much about it because the dealers USUALLY did not take as much as they were supposed to. On my biggest pot, quad 3's, the dealer forgot to take something out for the rake altogether! Be careful though, because there were several cases where the dealers would have awarded the pot to the wrong player, and in once case forgot to collect a bet into a pot I won (I had to tell the dealer to push over chips that he missed from a called bet).

I'll be back, but my plans to go again today are off. I need a break from the smoke.

Tilter

I think I will give the EX a go. I think I'll bring $200 and give it a whirl on the 5-10.

Flush

So I went to the Ex on Saturday. Got there at 11:40 and waited in line. Seated at 12:00. I play regularly at Brantford and I recognized about twenty players from there.

To answer my own question posted previously: The rake is 7.50 max for 5/10 but it is only 5%. So... if the pot is under 100 bucks its better than Brantford and if the pot is over 100 bucks its worse. At my table, average pot size was probably 90 dollars.

There were some loose fish and some good players. Nothing special about the players, I didn't notice much difference from Brantford. I didnt catch any cards and ended up down 270 after a seven hour session. My session ended because of the smoke. My eyes started to water and I made the mistake of rubbing them and then I couldn't see any more. The smoke was absolutely brutal.

It is unlikely I will ever be back at the CNE for the following reasons.

1. Smoke (terrible)
2. Slow Inexperienced dealers - I timed it - we averaged one orbit every half hour
3. Parking/Entrance fee. Twenty bucks to park, ten bucks to get in (you can get a VIP pass for the rest of the Ex but you have to pay the first time)
4. Distance. I live in Waterloo.
5. Players not noticibly different from Brantford.

If you live in Toronto, I can see how its convenient, but if you're closer to Brantford, Seneca or Rama they're all better places to play.

Tilter

Smoke is that bad, dam, I'm not sure about it then. I'm pretty sure I will be coughing the entire time then!

Jay

I guess I'll just stay right here.

tpfelt

I went there briefly last night after work. The smoke is pretty bad and the list was very long. Only got through about a quarter of the names ahead of me in 60 minutes, so I decided I'd head home and try again another day when I could get off work a bit earlier (4:30 instead of 6:30)

tp.

giggles

Well, you got to be at the right table. Also it seems the craziest play happens at 10/20. During this past Fri/Sat/Sun late night and early morning I saw at least one table where someone was betting/raising in the dark. I saw one guy on one of these tables go from just over a $100 to about $1900 in 15 min. Also the following hand took place.


Capped 9 way preflop. Flop comes J 8 6 with 2 diamonds. Capped 7 way on the flop. The turn is an offsuit 4. Capped again (!) 5 way on the turn. The river is checked around! Here is the funny part. First guy mucks. Second guy shows 56 of diamonds for a pair of 6s. Third guy flips over 82o for a pair of 8s. The last 2 guys muck. 82o took down a pot that's almost $1100. lol.

The waiting list is too long though if you don't get there around noon.

teach

Capped nine way pre-flop - obviously Ming was the folder.

giggles

teach wrote:

Capped nine way pre-flop - obviously Ming was the folder.

Actually it was an 11 handed game. All CNE games are 11 handed. So there were 2 folders. And I was not in the game. I wish!

Another odd sight - I saw someone wearing a chemical face mask at the table.

Iron

I could use one of those chemical facemasks with the smoke in there.

ScottyZ

Another odd sight - I saw someone wearing a chemical face mask at the table.

Cool! Was it a full-blown gas mask, or more like one of those surgical masks?

ScottyZ