Why poker sucks in Arizona
When I first started playing poker, the only legal games in the Arizona Indian Casinos were player games (poker, and a game called "Arizona 21," which is based on blackjack, but the players competed against each other, not against the house) and slots. There were no house-banked table games. All types and stakes of poker were available, just like Nevada and California.
Before the poker boom, the tribes negotiated a new compact because they wanted to bring in blackjack, as well as lay the foundation for other house-banked games, such as Pai-gow, 3-card, Casino War and Let It Ride (which have all subsequently been added to the compact). In order to legalize Blackjack, one of the things they agreed to was a max legal bet of $150. This means that any single bet or raise cannot be more than $150. That limits us to 75/150 limit games, and makes no limit illegal. At the time, no limit was not popular, but shortly after WPT made it the most popular again. Anyway, the closest we can come are large spread-limit games (5-150 and 10-150). Theses games (the 10-150 in particular) are a joke. They really play more like 75/150 games with really small blinds.
In addition, the local card rooms have basically eliminated what would be "middle" limit for Arizona. The 10/20 and 15/30 games are non-existant. 8/16 is being spread now, but then the next limit up you can find is 20/40!
Now, lets talk tournaments. There are plenty of NL tournaments available (since the bets have no cash value, they can do that), but the structures and buyins generally suck. The best structure you will find are the rebuy tournaments at Fort McDowell; but it's only good because of the ability to play bonus chips (you can get up to T3000 for each tournament, which you earn by using your player's card while playing in cash games, at a rate of T1000/hour). With bonus chips and an initial rebuy, you can start with T5000, which gives a little bit of play with blinds starting at 25/50. The early rounds are only 20 minutes, but the antes don't kick in until after the 2nd break (10th round, I think?), at which point the rounds go to 30 minutes to provide a little bit of play then, too. The downsides: when the 30-minute rounds kick in, the blinds/antes escalate rapidly. You can easily go from an M of 10 to an M of less than 5 in one round change without even losing a hand. Also, the buyin is only $40 ($30 for the nooners) and the rebuys are only $10/T1000 (you can double-rebuy if you felt), so the prize pools are generally small.
At CAZ, the tournament competition is generally stiffer, but the vig sucks. Their morning tournaments are $60 buyins (they have one $20 rebuy only) but only $40 of the original $60 goes in the pool! That's a 33% vig! Rediculous. It's a little better in their evening tournaments ($120 + $15), but those are only on week nights, so I never get to play them. I can occationally get to the month-end Saturday morning tournaments, but those are only once a month and are generally a madhouse.
Before the poker boom, the tribes negotiated a new compact because they wanted to bring in blackjack, as well as lay the foundation for other house-banked games, such as Pai-gow, 3-card, Casino War and Let It Ride (which have all subsequently been added to the compact). In order to legalize Blackjack, one of the things they agreed to was a max legal bet of $150. This means that any single bet or raise cannot be more than $150. That limits us to 75/150 limit games, and makes no limit illegal. At the time, no limit was not popular, but shortly after WPT made it the most popular again. Anyway, the closest we can come are large spread-limit games (5-150 and 10-150). Theses games (the 10-150 in particular) are a joke. They really play more like 75/150 games with really small blinds.
In addition, the local card rooms have basically eliminated what would be "middle" limit for Arizona. The 10/20 and 15/30 games are non-existant. 8/16 is being spread now, but then the next limit up you can find is 20/40!
Now, lets talk tournaments. There are plenty of NL tournaments available (since the bets have no cash value, they can do that), but the structures and buyins generally suck. The best structure you will find are the rebuy tournaments at Fort McDowell; but it's only good because of the ability to play bonus chips (you can get up to T3000 for each tournament, which you earn by using your player's card while playing in cash games, at a rate of T1000/hour). With bonus chips and an initial rebuy, you can start with T5000, which gives a little bit of play with blinds starting at 25/50. The early rounds are only 20 minutes, but the antes don't kick in until after the 2nd break (10th round, I think?), at which point the rounds go to 30 minutes to provide a little bit of play then, too. The downsides: when the 30-minute rounds kick in, the blinds/antes escalate rapidly. You can easily go from an M of 10 to an M of less than 5 in one round change without even losing a hand. Also, the buyin is only $40 ($30 for the nooners) and the rebuys are only $10/T1000 (you can double-rebuy if you felt), so the prize pools are generally small.
At CAZ, the tournament competition is generally stiffer, but the vig sucks. Their morning tournaments are $60 buyins (they have one $20 rebuy only) but only $40 of the original $60 goes in the pool! That's a 33% vig! Rediculous. It's a little better in their evening tournaments ($120 + $15), but those are only on week nights, so I never get to play them. I can occationally get to the month-end Saturday morning tournaments, but those are only once a month and are generally a madhouse.
posted by MozMan at 8:13 AM
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