Casino Rama
Hey!! Im lookin for some information on the poker room at casino rama. I was wondering if only holdem is played, the table limits, how much to buy in with, and the skill level. I am still new to the game, and dont want to sit down at rama and look like a fool.
Thanks Bryan
Thanks Bryan
Comments
Last time I was there they had 2-5, 5-10, 10-20 tables. Play is a little on the loose side (especially the 2-5 tables, where you'll constantly see 8-10 people in for a flop) The rake ican be hefty at 2-5, but a lot of bets get put into the pot, so it almost makes it worth it...
If you want to play a little higher, the 5-10 game is not too difficult.
Try it out. You'll see soon enough which players are the fishies and which are the sharks.
You want to be able to max out the betting rounds if you have the best hand and someone is re-raising you... so if each round is capped, you're looking at $120 in total (though the particulars of the hands would have to be pretty unique for this to happen...)
I'd just hate to be sitting there with a royal flush and not be able to bet the pot up...
When I play 5-10, I'm typically ready to play with $1,000 and usually buy-in for $300 to start. I'm not saying I'd realistically expect to lose the whole grand, but one time I sure was glad I could keep playing in a very juicy game where I was down more than $500. (Don't get me started on this session--- the best hand was AA vs 24o and the board comes AT8o 5 3. The betting was capped on the flop.) I believe I ended up making a comeback to leave down a mere $150, but if I had only been ready to play with $500, I would have had to kiss the whole lot goodbye.
By the way, is there a name for the money you bring with you (and/or allocate as ATMable) to a session? I guess it's something between a buy-in and a bankroll, but it's neither of those.
ScottyZ
In my experience, playing for play money online doesn't mean anything. You just can't play poker without money (or possibly something else important) at stake. Money is part of the game of poker. The biggest part.
Read "Winning Low Limit Holdem" by Lee Jones and "Winning at Poker" by Dave Scharf. You *cannot* learn poker by playing alone.
ScottyZ
And Lee Jones' book is a good one to read if you have a general idea on how to play Holdem and would like to pick up a bit more strategy to give you an edge. If you're completely new to poker, "Poker for Dummies" by Lou Krieger is a good start.
hork.
I was at Casino Rama today (Sat Feb 28th), went on a bus trip with friends. One of which wanted to play poker with me so we played 2-5 for about four hours. Got there at 12:30 pm. There were six tables going at that time. 3 2/5 tables, 1 5/10 table and 2 10/20 tables. They ended up starting one more 2/5 table, 2 more 5/10 tables and one more 10/20 table. (There are a total of ten tables in the room) Tables at Rama all seat 11 players and they were all full by about 2:00pm.
Play at 2/5 is very loose ( 7 or 8 players see almost every flop). I got garbage hands all day and ended up winning only two pots (mostly 'cause I was playing fairly tight) I ended the four hour session up a big huge 13 dollars. The bus trip only cost 2 bucks though and they threw in a free lunch buffet worth 15 dollars plus it was a real social atmosphere so I had a good time. My friend was up a little over 100 by the end of our session.
For buy in, I bought in at 100. But ScottyZ is right though that you never want to start a hand without enough money on the table to cap it every round if you need to.
A word of caution. If there is no open seat when you get there and you have to go on the waiting list, make sure you stay near the poker room because their microphone does not sound over the entire casino. My friend and I missed our names being called and had to start at the bottom of the list again.
Rama is a good place to try your first brick and mortar poker game cause I don't know of any other place in Ontario that they offer a game with stakes that low.
Good Luck and have fun when you go.
btw - I heard rumours of a bad beat jackpot being introduced soon, as well as regular tournaments.
I am the 'friend' that Flush refered to in the earlier post. The 2-5 game at Rama is one of the best casino games for new players to start playing. Based on my judgements, half of the players at the table were quite new to the game. The rest of the players (including me) were people who've played casino poker a number of times, but were not "regulars". There was a couple more skilled players initially but they moved to the 5/10 table just after i sat down.
Because of the high relative rake and lower stakes, it's a little difficult to make money at 2/5. At the end of the day, I felt like I should have had won much more than the 100 bucks of profit. It's also much more difficult to lose a lot of money at 2/5 if you play a tight game.
Most players bought in at 100 dollars (I bought in at 200).
Rama currently has only Hold'em tables and no jackpot. While we were playing, one of the pit bosses announced that the casino will soon have multi-table tournaments. Also, I heard some dealers talk about squeezing in 2 more tables into the room.
Overall, I'd say that the 2/5 Rama tables are a good place for new players to experience the casino game. I've only been there twice on the weekend, so I'm not sure whether this applies to weekdays. Next time I go there, I will check out the 5/10 tables so I can compare them against the 2/5 tables and the game at Brandtford.
The quoted and unquoted text in the above message should be reveresed. The top part was the quote and the bottom, my new text.
Speaking of tournaments, I live near Brantford, and I went in to ask them if they were planning any tournaments. They said there is no plan now or EVER to have a tournament! If everyone asks everytime they go, maybe we can get something done(or at least they will THINK about it?)
When I was in Vegas I would buy in for 1000.00 for 10-20 & that seemed to be what most people did.
Do you mean 100x? I don't see why you would need that much if you are playing a sound game...
I'd usually buyin for 20x the big bet. So at 5-10 my buy-in would be $200.. with additional pokerroll available in case I'm down early, but feel I can beat the table..
hork.
Ummm... doesn't this make the game *easy* to beat?
ScottyZ
argh.
hork.