Playground Poker Club

mikelbyl · Nov 30,2011, 08:11 AM

I don't want to get in to the politics of it, but 90% of Canadian-based Indian Nations have never signed (nor been asked to sign) a treaty ceding their sovereignty. In fact in a very real way Canada wouldn't exist at all if not for the Mohawks saving the British bacon time and time again. Canada has routinely broken most of the treaties is has signed with natives as well. There is no moral or legal high ground for Canada related to natives anywhere in Canada.

The government doesn't test any of this in law because the best legal opinion is that they'd lose (I studied all of this stuff pretty extensively back in my studying days).

Anyhow these are legally licensed live poker rooms under the authority of the Kahnawake Gaming Commission and I can tell you from personal observation that the KGC takes their regulatory authority very seriously as do the rooms. It's a very tight ship as far as I can tell.

jontm · Dec 04,2011, 06:41 PM

They do better regulating than AGLC, give them that for sure.

What was up with this HHPT event though? Heard nothing about it till a few days before?

Only 49 ladies, at that low of a buy-in, pretty poor turnout. Given that they also had Valerie Ross and Jennicide attend, and I'm betting at a cost, it seems that the house would have taken a shit kicking on this event. The Legends Banquet and event looks like it didnt do nearly as well as the NLH; maybe just too much so close together, costing some "flair"?

Wondering if next weeks 1k will see a significant drop as well? It's getting very close to christmas/holiday spending season and with so many "major" events they hopefully won't get into the Alberta trap of "might as well wait for the next one next week", and start seeing just "average" fields.

mikelbyl · Dec 04,2011, 10:03 PM

The HHPT tourney didn't get a ton of promo - but I think 49 women (minus some who travelled to the event) may be the entire "regular" roster of women players in Montreal. Thing about a series like that is that you never know how the promo responsibilities break down between the host and the series organizers.

The Legends banquet had 123 players for the tournament (Jon are/were you one of the Canada Poker guys there? I'm the guy in the photo gallery looking at his cards scowling with a shockingly high forehead) but few that I talked to were interested in the banquet part of it - I'm sure there are many who love that kind of thing, but isn't one of the hallmarks of poker players that we prefer to square off against people across the table as equals? I'm not sure how often then can go to the "hockey legends" well, though, and you're right that going there twice in three months might have been a bit much. Many of the players that I spoke with were mostly interested in the fact that they hoped it would be a slightly softer tourney than many others at that price lol.

As of today I understand that next week's 1K has 123 registered players, so I expect it will be close to a sell out.

jontm · Dec 04,2011, 10:10 PM

Good to hear about 1k, was starting to think things were cooling down over there.
Nope, I was not there, I freelance for them, great guys and I love the site, but I live and am in Calgary.

I did go check out the club earlier in the year though, but was just a quick eat and crash as we drove to Foxwoods next day. Thought food was fantastic!

Also checked out Four Aces and Snakes, Montreal scene is pretty damn sweet!

jontm · Dec 06,2011, 03:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikelbyl

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There's a chance Four Aces will open again as well - there are very credible rumours floating about. I don't want to speed rumours like that on a public forum (they may not be true after all) but stay tuned.

I'm ok with rumours, seeing how a few of my investor friends were already approached about this...

On a side note...I see a certain Tour group polling players to see what name a "new" cardroom should have. I also the same people where trying to help close a deal and that some Toronto players had bought it, but then KGC pulled thier license....

As a matter of fact if you google Four Aces Poker, there is a search result looking to bring in inestors/sell.

Unless someone has truckloads of cash to try to be competivitve, they dont have a hope in hell. JK has been running the poker scene long before Montreal even got onboard so it's going to be hard to convert players.

mikelbyl · Dec 06,2011, 11:30 PM

Well Snakes has reduced their rake to $5 max for all games, all limits. They're billing it as the lowest rake in Canada.

Snakes has maintained a very strong tournament footprint but their cash games dropped for a while - and then seemed to rally in the early fall.

I have a pretty good idea of what went on with Four Aces last spring as well (I was there for certain events) - but the interesting thing is that there seems to be an entirely new local investor in the mix, and according to the KGC their license has been reinstated though they will still require approval to reopen. And their sign, which has been dark for months, is now lit up at night - if that means anything.

Playground's 1st anniversary is Dec 17 and Stardust is slated to open on the 16th with a VIP opening a few days earlier.

Whatever happens, we're facing a future here that is good for players (competition is good) but not necessarily sustainable. Added to the Casino's 15+ tables open every night there are right now between 10-20+ tables distributed between Snakes and PG. It's possible that in two months you'll add capacity for at LEAST 10 more cash tables (ignoring tournaments entirely for the moment)... it's clear something has to give.

How many places in the world could support a top capacity of over 60+ cash tables spread over 5 rooms? And with almost NO poker-destination business in the mix? How many tables are open nightly in Edmonton or Calgary - both with what I think is a much longer history of organized legal poker? What is the top capacity in Vancouver?

ReefAquarium · Dec 07,2011, 08:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikelbyl

Well Snakes has reduced their rake to $5 max for all games, all limits. They're billing it as the lowest rake in Canada.

Snakes has maintained a very strong tournament footprint but their cash games dropped for a while - and then seemed to rally in the early fall.

Does that $5 max also include a hated BBJ?
Reduced rake is great news. How do they drop/structure their rake?

I hear they have a hated bad beat jackpot with a mandatory 5% gratuity?

mikelbyl · Dec 08,2011, 03:42 AM

No it's +1 for the BBJ for every hand with a flop iirc. Pretty sure rake is 10% max $5 for hands with a flop. Pretty sure chop pot = no rake but not 100% sure. I don't know about the gratuity on the BBJ.

There are probably 400+ regular-ish players in Mtl who love the BBJ. Some cause they want to hit it, others because it brings out non-regs who want to hit it (and who play relatively softly lol).

cardsrusa · Dec 08,2011, 07:22 AM

Mikelbyl though the GBH does not offer no limit I am surprised to here that some one is claiming to have the lowest rake in Canada without doing their homework. The GBH had its rake at 5% to a max of $5 for several months and yes +$1 for the Bad Beat on all of its games (except Omaha).