The Pub Poker Thread

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Re: best pub poker league in melbourne....

I played when I lived with mates and we were all single. Too many flogs in holden (or similar bogan type) jackets. Took it far too seriously - I'd rather smash a few pots
 

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Merged this thread with the others previously made on the topic of pub poker.

There is a decent amount of info available in the OP on the topic.

FWIW I havent played a heap, but for a cheap night out and with little financial risk pub poker is a great way to learn how to play with other people in a live setting rather then either on Facebook or randompokerwebsite.net or within your own circle of friends.
 
APL in Hobart is going really well.

As well as the State and Regional Finals we now have a Tournament of Champions. Pretty much, everybody who wins a tournament during the season gets a ticket and the prize pool is $12,000. Usually gets around 60-70 people.
 
I travel quite a bit for work and rather than sit in bar by myself drinking I usually try to find a 888pl or APL venue and play a tourney.

up until recently the vast majority have been the free roll type events and I have now played in Orange, Bunbury, Glenelg, Albany, Bassendean, victoria Park (both in WA), Perth, and Yarraville.

What I have found is that the vast majority of play is pretty loose with most players either raising or calling with any pair (bottom, top or middle) regardless of kicker. Whilst this is a very broad generalisation, playing a pretty tight game and letting others dictate the betting until the river when you are holding top top or better generally pays off.

For the first time ever I came across a NL cash game at the Bassendean Hotel in Perth. They ran both a free roll and $40 tourney on the night and during the breaks and at the commencement of the final table they had a dealer from APL running a $1/$2 cash table. From memory I don't think there was a rake (didn't play as I was heads up for a second place on the final table).

I have never seen a cash table in a pub before and are amazed that gaming laws permit this. Most players seemed to bring $140 to the table and pre flop most pots were around $20-$30 with 9 players. Watched one guys donk off his whole stack ($100 odd dollars) after raising pre flop with A Rag, and go all in on a Kxx flop, where the winner paired his king on flop.

Has anyone else ever seen cash tables run in Pubs anywhere else in the country?.

I can't imagine Casino's being happy with this after all the rules, reg and taxes that they pay for the privilege.
 
DoggyStyle

Western Australia has slightly different regulations when it comes to pub poker compared to the other states. The negative is that for the W.A free poker tournaments, we cant give away anything of value for winning or competiting well in the tournaments, compared to Qld, NSW etc... where the winner of those tournaments can qualify for bigger tournaments etc...

However, we are allowed to spread cash games when we get permits from the state government. These cash games would have been raked (it is quite expensive to get the permits as well as hiring people to deal and run the tournaments etc...) its usually a 10% rake with a cap higher then the local casino. IIRC as well the spread at the Basso (I used to work for APL) is a 2/3 game with a $30-$200 BI with people in general buying in for around 60-100. The game becomes very difficult to beat with a 10% rake and 20ish big blind stacks obviously.

These games would be illegal if spread in NSW or Qld or anywhere else AFAIK because of the different rules

The high rake dictates that most players who are any good would be better off playing in a lower raked game, leaving behind those who arent quite as good. Thus even if the game is great, the rake implications doesnt make it worthwhile to play. Since pub poker is the lowest common denominator, its going to be where you find the worst players overall in general.

My general strat guide for pub poker tournaments would be to sit and wait for the early stages and wait until you have a push or fold stack. The structure is fast (because social players dont want to play a 10hr pokerfest obv) which means that the "shove" stack size is lower then a lot of other tournaments (I would estimate it to be around 6 BB's, maybe a little more) Obviously with low stakes and a fast structure will be a variance fest (people calling off light etc...) but what can you do, its part of the game.

Hope that helps

Ash
 
As you have indicated, if these cash pubs games are regulated then it makes sense that there would have to be a rake, I just didn't see it.

Although poker is never that simple, my sense is that these cash pub games should yield a higher rate of return for sharks considering the higer proportion of fish at the table versus the Casino.
 
DoggyStyle said:
As you have indicated, if these cash pubs games are regulated then it makes sense that there would have to be a rake, I just didn't see it.

Although poker is never that simple, my sense is that these cash pub games should yield a higher rate of return for sharks considering the higer proportion of fish at the table versus the Casino.
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Not the case, and I have a relatively large sample to prove the point. (around 2000+ hours recorded in the casino, and a few hundred hours in the pub games).

The main problem with the pub games is that their isnt enough $$$ in the game. People are only buying in for such a small amount of money that their isnt enough money in the gameto justify the effort. For example, for most nights like the Basso at a rough guess there would be around 15 people that would play the cash table total, for around $100 each total. That is $1500 total in the game. Before you look at rake implications, most people who play very well would have a casino earn around $25p/h. Assuming you play for 4 hours you need to average a $100 profit to break even. This is very hard given the small amount of money in the game whereas at the casino one table over that amount of time would be in my estimate around $4k.

When you add in the other negative factors

- People with a higher propensity to hit and run
- The people buy in for a smaller number of bb's, leaving a smaller edge for postflop play
- A lot of time waiting for a game as players are in a tournament
- Higher variance in whether a game is going to be good, compared to 6 choices or so of 2/5 games at Burswood.
- Higher rake

Its pretty clear by a fairly long way if you are playing purely to maximise $$$ expectation that you need to play at your local casino with deeper stacks, lower rake, more time, and more $$$ in the game to make a decent earn.
 
DoggyStyle said:
I have never seen a cash table in a pub before and are amazed that gaming laws permit this ... Has anyone else ever seen cash tables run in Pubs anywhere else in the country?
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I may be wrong but I was under the impression that in Victoria pubs can have poker involving cash buy-ins (whether tourney buy-in or cash game), as long as the entire prize pool goes back to the players (so, no rake).

I'm pretty sure Pub Poker (ie. the specific company) run games at some venues involving cash.
 
Goodo73 said:
I may be wrong but I was under the impression that in Victoria pubs can have poker involving cash buy-ins (whether tourney buy-in or cash game), as long as the entire prize pool goes back to the players (so, no rake).

I'm pretty sure Pub Poker (ie. the specific company) run games at some venues involving cash.
Click to expand...

Tournament yes (with no rake), but I have not seen cash tables anywhere other than in Perth.
 

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What I didn't particularly like about Tuesday night was there were only 18 players and it was held outdoors, albeit undercover. Therefore every 2nd player was smoking while they played. If I were to play someone semi-regularly I would want a bigger field and for it to be indoors.

By the way, it was a $15 buy-in and I finished 11/18. Ran QQ into KK and AA. Had them both covered but couldn't recover from the hit.
 
got a huge bad beat monday- i am big blind. blinds are 3,000 - 6,000 1 caller and then small blinds calls . i re pop all in for 28,000 with AA other bloke folds. small blinds thinks about it for about 2 seconds and calls me for all his stack 26,000 flips 6-9 offsuit.

flops 9 2 6 turn 8 river 3

i left thinking wtf...
called a all in with 6-9 just stupid
 
West_Coast_Eagles said:
got a huge bad beat monday- i am big blind. blinds are 3,000 - 6,000 1 caller and then small blinds calls . i re pop all in for 28,000 with AA other bloke folds. small blinds thinks about it for about 2 seconds and calls me for all his stack 26,000 flips 6-9 offsuit.

flops 9 2 6 turn 8 river 3

i left thinking wtf...
called a all in with 6-9 just stupid
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That all kinda bad, but mainly just a bad beat.

I actually love to see that happen in live games (not to me though), as it helps me to maintain my faith in online poker where that crap happens regularly.
 
I had dinner at the Lion Hotel (Melbourne Central) last night and discovered they run their own (non-affiliated) poker tourney on a Wednesday night. $15 buy-in, with the ability to buy back in, and various add-on options. No rake (of course). From what the TD told me they have some pretty handy regulars, as well as the usual array of marine life. I didn't indulge on the night, but will likely check it out another time.
 
Off to the Tankerville Hotel in Fitzroy tonight for my 2nd go at 888pl poker. Supposedly a number of the guys that had some final table scores at the recent Joe Hachem series play there.

FYI there's a new Pub Poker podcast - http://www.therail.com.au/

Have only listened to the recent podcast, episode 9.
 
Last Thursday at the local APL I played possibly the best game I've ever played. I seemed to make right decision after right decision. Sat at the second break with around 80,000 with the next highest person maybe 55,000.

Tried to use my stack to my advantadge after the break and knocked a few more people out (luck did make part).

My AK won the race against 10's. Also called an all-in preflop from a shortstack, thought they had less than they did so called more than I would have hoped with my J10. Another caller. They both turn AQ. Flop J 10 (I say yes!) then K (ohhh...) turn was a nice 10 and I clean up some more.

Turn up to the final table with around 160k. Stayed relatively quite and let the others knock each other as I was card dry. Down to 3 and I'm sitting 3rd (pretty close) and the cut-off shoves on me, I look down at KK's call and cripple him. Take the rest of his chips a few hands later and it is heads-up.

Heads up was epic and went for ages. I had around 450k to his 220k (rough estimates and blinds at 20k/40k) when he shoves from the big blind I call with my KJd and he shows 107 offsuit as he was trying to steal the blinds. The board came down 10 7 * 7* and I go right down.

Get knocked out a few hands later... Ahhhhh

This guy in his last 4 APL games went 1st, 1st, 2nd, 1st (against me).
 
Busted 2-3 from the final table. Was a bit of a laugh with little skill involved. To say the poker is bad is an understatement. But the food was good, there were some characters, I'll go back next week for more lulz.
 
red+black said:
Busted 2-3 from the final table. Was a bit of a laugh with little skill involved. To say the poker is bad is an understatement. But the food was good, there were some characters, I'll go back next week for more lulz.
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This basically sums up pub poker. Great fun, a lot of laughs, but with nothing to lose in the games, your going to get a lot of loose players.
 
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