An irreconcilable live-play situation

Lheticus

Lheticus

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I live in Florida, nowhere near Tampa, so if I've ever wanted to play proper live poker (a rare opportunity in my life so far, fiscally), I can either make a significant drive to one poker room/greyhound park in Daytona Beach, or go to the only local place where such play is possible, known as Club 52--another poker room/greyhound park. I've only managed to play there a couple of times, and will not ever play there again because of something that they do that I have never even heard of as being a thing in poker rooms--they do not allow you the option to select your table. Instead, you go up to some kind of poker room concierge, let them know what kind of game you want to play, and they give you this seating ticket for a table that is playing your requested game, or place you on a waiting list until either a spot opens up at a table already formed or enough people get on the list to form a new table.

The upshot of this is that I have completely no control over who I wind up playing against--a system that I view as nothing less than utter, complete, b***s***. I just want to know--anyone who has ever played in a poker room, is this a thing is any of the poker rooms that you have ever played in, or tried to?
 
JusSumguy

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Pretty much standard.

The floor has to have this control to keep things rolling.

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Lheticus

Lheticus

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JusSumguy said:
Pretty much standard.

The floor has to have this control to keep things rolling.

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Click to expand...
Okay, something is amiss in Denmark. I know I've read in poker books somewhere that it's important to pick a poker table that has people playing in it who's chips you can take! In fact--I remember where I heard something like that--it was in the audiobook version of Phil Gordon's Little Green Book of poker. He was relating an anecdote where he saw like 4-5 examples of poker legends at the same table, as well as one derpy whale handing all of them chips left and right--and he said he took that seat. How, if such a practice as you've described is standard, would such a story even be possible?!
 
dmorris68

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Yes, it's very standard. Every poker room I've played at in Florida, including Ebro Dog Track and Hard Rock Tampa, do the same. In fact most of the times I've played you had to get on a list -- there were no open seats to choose from. You either took the first spot that opened when they called you, passed it to the next, or if they had enough dealers and people waiting they might start a new table.

However if you do see a table with an opening and request it, they will often accommodate you. So look around first and if you see an open seat at a preferred seat, just ask for it. The worst they can say is no. Also, if you get seated at a table and just don't like it, you can always get up and put yourself back on the list or request another table if one is open. As long as you don't abuse this, like by ratholing or hopping around constantly, they'll usually let you.

Pros and casino regs have more leeway when it comes to the games they play and how they interact with the casino/room, for a number of reasons. They also will often have connections with staff where if a huge whale sits down or wants to start a new game, they'll get on the phone and start calling the pros/regs. This is how the situation you describe with one whale spewing chips to a table of pros often comes about.
 
dirtyoldog

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that's the way every casino ive played at does things
 
Lheticus

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dmorris68 said:
Yes, it's very standard. Every poker room I've played at in Florida, including Ebro Dog Track and Hard Rock Tampa, do the same. In fact most of the times I've played you had to get on a list -- there were no open seats to choose from. You either took the first spot that opened when they called you, passed it to the next, or if they had enough dealers and people waiting they might start a new table.

However if you do see a table with an opening and request it, they will often accommodate you. So look around first and if you see an open seat at a preferred seat, just ask for it. The worst they can say is no. Also, if you get seated at a table and just don't like it, you can always get up and put yourself back on the list or request another table if one is open. As long as you don't abuse this, like by ratholing or hopping around constantly, they'll usually let you.

Pros and casino regs have more leeway when it comes to the games they play and how they interact with the casino/room, for a number of reasons. They also will often have connections with staff where if a huge whale sits down or wants to start a new game, they'll get on the phone and start calling the pros/regs. This is how the situation you describe with one whale spewing chips to a table of pros often comes about.
Click to expand...

Wow. I really got the wrong impression, huh? To be fair, though, it should not be a particularly time-consuming process to determine whether or not you can spot the sucker at any given table--and you know what they say about when you can't spot the sucker... ;)
 
wanderingthehall

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I've never chosen my table. It's the floors job to keep things balanced and help prevent issues such as collusion, so they have control over which table you're seated at. You can make a request, but they are under no obligation to grant it. If there's more than one open seat at a table, you can choose that.
 
OzExorcist

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As stated above, that's pretty standard at all casinos and card rooms.

What most of them will let you do though is move to an open seat on a different table once you've already been given a place - have a word to the floor person there and see if you can do that.
 
CharlieWest

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This is very typical for me as well. The only time I've been given a choice of tables is when there is more than one open. But generally there's a waiting list.
 
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