Halifax Casino poker?

pkrooster

Hi all

I will be in Halifax at the end of the month and was wondering what the action is like at the casino. I was there last year and it seemed pretty good. Lot of newbie calling stations with a few good players in the mix. I played 5-10 and made $200 in about three hours. The only hand I remember clearly is being on the button with 55 board came A95 and some young punk paid me off with ATo.

Thanks Paul

Wr3ck3d

It's a pretty easy game over all.. I don't play there much anymore, but was playing 2 times a week for the longest time.
Lots of calling stations at 5/10 and 10/20.
They also run a 15/30 game, but not very often.
Patience pays off here as you'll have people capping the pot for you when holding middle pair.
If you are in the city on a Wednesday, you might want to stay away - they hold a 2/4 game with a random draw to see who gets on a table around 6:30PMish, If you dont get on, or aren't one of the first 10 on the list you won't see a table. Most Wednesdays they will open up a single 5/10 table, but its normally packed.
Thursday nights are pretty good - last night I was at the casino playing some Let It Ride and there was open slots all night - just didn't have time to sit in for a while.
They only have 5 tables, which sucks as they could double that and fill them up most nights.
Send me a msg with when you plan on being there and i'll head over and try and sit at a table with ya.
Would be nice to meet up with some of the people from PokerForum.ca

Cheers

pkrooster

Thanks for the info. I will be in Halifax sometime between April 30 and May 3. I will PM you when I know exactly when I can make it to the casino

Paul

Unknown

Hi pkrooster,

This is a copy of a post I wrote last June.  So, some of the details might have changed, but hopefully this helps, in addition to Wr3ck3d's post.  Enjoy your trip!

As for poker, I didn't play that much of it, actually...  Believe it or not, I was pretty busy drinking and whatnot.    But I did squeeze in a few short sessions, so here are my thoughts about poker in Halifax:

The casino has four hold'em tables.  Not all of them are in use all the time.  The poker area is kind of in the middle of slot hell, and it's not enclosed, unfortunately.  So, it's noisy, but you get used to it after a while.  The staff and players were all very nice.  I arrived in Halifax on Tuesday, but they weren't running the poker tables.  So, I checked it out Wednesday night, with some family members.  I thought the lowest limit would be 5/10, which was a bit daunting for some of the rookies in my family, but they were running 2 2/4 tables that night.  Apparently, they run 2/4 on Wednesdays only, which was great for my relatives but not great for me, because it meant that the third table was 5/10... the highest level they were offering that night.

So, I spent a bit of time at the 5/10, and then decided that if I was going to play low-limit poker, I might as well go really low.  Like, 2/4 low, so I could play with my brother, cousin, etc...  I had a blast.  I think I was down six bucks at the end of the night.  The casino has CANADA'S ONLY 24 HOUR LIQUOR LICENSE.  This would be problematic if I was playing a higher level--it being my vacation and all--but it was perfect for 2/4.  We rolled out of there at four and headed to the hotel to play a single-table tournament, dragging one of the players from the casino along with us.  The tournament went well into the next morning.

Thursday, no poker.

Friday, I had a few hours to kill in the early part of the evening, so I played some 10/20.  I left up $475...      The guys at my table were really friendly people; it was a very pleasant experience.  As for the level of play, it was pretty good.  They knew what they were doing, IMHO.  If I had to identify one weakness in that particular 10/20 game with those particular players, it would be that people were calling people down too much.  If I thought I was beat, I'd fold early and get out.  If I was leading, I'd bet and get called all the way down.  Maybe these guys know each other pretty well--I got that impression--and they put a little more emphasis on catching bluffs than I'm used to seeing.  Whatever it was, I was glad for it.

Copies of Canadian Poker Player were on display, and scattered throughout the poker area...

Saturday night we returned after hitting the bars, and I played some 10/20 again, with some of the same people.  After a couple of beers I realized--mostly thanks to my girlfriend--that I wasn't playing my 'A' game.  Not too painful, though, I only lost about 15 bucks.  Very short session, mostly I just bid farewell to a couple of familiar faces, and called it a night.  The game was breaking up anyways, or so it seemed.

Overall, it's a nice room.  I don't agree with a couple of their rules: you can't chop the blinds, and it's not unlimited heads-up.  They do, however, have a bad-beat jackpot.  I know that the locals are the ones who will very likely benefit from it seeing as they play there all the time, but I don't mind contributing a buck or two a night to a bad-beat jackpot.  It makes things interesting.

One player was telling me about the tournaments they run there.  BIZARRE structure... I think they play 50 hands at each table and then whoever has the most chips moves on, or something to that effect.  I guess they want to get the thing over and done with so they can start collecting a rake again.  Not at all unlike every tournament at Port Perry or Rama....  edit: I have since changed my opinion of Port Perry's blind structure   Apparently Halifax will be hosting a $300 buy-in tournament at some point in the future.  Hopefully they change the structure and put on a fair game for it.

So, to summarize: nice players, good dealers, good staff, weird rules, typical games, 24 hours of booze, bad tournaments, low-limit Wednesdays, and the waits aren't too long.  I give it an 8 out of 10 for ring games.