I played at casino arizona holdem in scottsdale quite a bit last year. Their poker room is the largest in the area with 50+ tables. It's new and clean, plus nearly smoke-free due to 40' ceilings and the fact that they don't allow smoking at the tables. With large plasma screens all around, it's really a decent facility, with good elbow room between tables.
They have limit Holdem games ranging from 3-6 all the way to 40-80, and sometimes spread higher limits like 80-160 mix. There are also a range of stud and Omaha tables.
I've only played there a twice this year, due to the crowding and also the maniacal play in the lower-limit games. My last trip (admittedly prime time weekend afternoon with a sports jackpot promotion going on)I had to wait 2 hours for a table.
The 3-6 and 4-8 games are nearly unplayable due to the large number of players seeing every flop, just like micro limits online. You can beat them but your single session swings will make it feel like a crapshoot. Also, the 10%/$5 rake cap (to fund the jackpot) makes the low-limit games a bad choice. Maybe they've lowered it since I was there last, but there was no shortage of players so I doubt it's changed.
The retiree-type social players have migrated to 6-12 because of the maniacs at the 3-6 and 4-8 tables, but last time I was there they only had three 6-12 tables going, and with the retirees camped out there the seats weren't turning over very fast.
There's a good selection of games at 10-20 and 15-30, so if that's your speed you should have a good trip, although you'll be the new face at the table and won't know who's a regular vs. who's an occasional recreational player. I can't comment much on the higher limits other than to say they will have 10-20 and 15-30 spread reliably with a choice of tables.
Oh yes, the food is very good and inexpensive, plus you get a discount if you order while playing.
Anyway if you're going to play while you're here, Casino Arizona is really the only choice in terms of facility and range of games.
Im feeling better about my +25 evening then at .25/.50. I layed down to sleep at 4, couldnt really sleep so I got up and started watching the .5/1 dollar tables at party. After about 10 minutes of watching, I bought in w/ 50 and turned it into 120 in little over an hour. I guess you could attribute it to a good run of cards, but I had good reads on the other 5 players, and played good, solid poker. I only won one big pot where I had a full boat A's over Q's and I knew the other guy was on a flush draw and hit it. Is this type of night/play to be expected or did i get extremely lucky and find a few fish?
I don't mean to sound sarcastic but from what I've heard it's bloody hard to put any low limit Party players on a hand as they play pretty much anything. Also, asking if you were either playing great poker or a bit lucky to earn 35BB in one hour?
You can expect to earn around 1-2BB per hour at limit if you are a very good solid player. Low limit is especially hard (some say unwinable) based on the fact that the rake eats into your stack too much and most tables end up being a crap shoot.
Thats why I posted what I saw. Maybe it was just the table I found had 3 other extremely tight players, and 2 calling stations. I honestly dont expect 35 BB/hour but it definately was nice. That was my first night to sit down and play online so I wasnt sure what to expect.
I haven't played on partypoker for money in about 3 months, but last summer when I started it was full of fish. It gave me an unrealistic sense of how much you can win. On the 2nd day of my online poker career I must have spotted one of the dumbest players in my life. He was a "raising station". Yes, when it was his turn to act he raised about 19 out of 20 times and folded once out of 1/20 times. I wonder if his call button was invinsible on his screen or something. I took $40 off of him in less than an hour in the $0.50/$1 table since I was sitting directly to his left. Yummy.
Are you sure you aren't playing No Limit .25/.50? I can easily see how you could make 10X the big blind. I just started playing online at UB and I play the .10/.25 tables. I'm making around $5.45 an hour. It's pretty easy at these tables, all you need to do is basically flop a set and push all in. You'll likely get 1 caller who is chasing a straight/flush draw. It's the only way to make a good amount. Play it right, and when you have the nuts after the flop, push it all in. I've found that slow playing to the river with 4 other people in the hand is no fun.
Yes I am playing 25NL and sat down for an hour at the 50NL games. Sorry for the misleading info. I read the two BB an hour for limit poker, what is a "good" win percentage in NL poker at these limits?
Honestly, I have no clue what is really a good win rate at NL hold em'. The swings can be pretty big when you start playing for a decent amount of money. It doesn't take long to lose $100 and then come back 20 minutes later and win $200.
