Does New Orleans have any other good poker rooms besides Harrah\'s?
 

Im heading down to New Orleans and I know about Harrah's. Im honestly not that excited about playing there because of the huge rake ($6) and because I usually prefer a lower limit (I have played 1-2 and 2-4 live) since I only play .5/1 online. I just dont want to lose my whole bankroll just to play a little poker.

Anyways, if there are not any other good rooms I guess Ill just suck it up and play Harrah's. However we will have a car and I dont mind driving a reasonable (less than an hour) if there are other good casino's around.

Greg

Re: Does New Orleans have any other good poker rooms besides Harrah\'s?
 

No.

Re: Does New Orleans have any other good poker rooms besides Harrah\'s?
 

not really.

i played at harrah's one time with a guy who was a manager at one of the other local rooms (BoomTown it was called perhaps??).

But I think their rake will be the same.
And it will be just locals for the most part I'm guessing. Not that they aren't fishy either...but the tourists and conventioners at Harrah's really can't be beat.


Biloxi is about an hour and change away perhaps so that might interest you. Although I still would recommend just playing at Harrah's even with the lousy rake.

Re: Does New Orleans have any other good poker rooms besides Harrah\'s?
 

Boomtown is maybe $1 cheaper in rake, and though I've never actually played there myself, from talking to the dealers that do play there, it's not worth the hassle.

The quality of the play at Harrah's is well, well worth the extra buck in rake. The tourists suck and the regulars suck almost as bad. The place is a bigger aquarium than the Party .50/1.

Re: Does New Orleans have any other good poker rooms besides Harrah\'s?
 

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The place is a bigger aquarium than the Party .50/1.

[/ QUOTE ]


agreed. (based on my limited experience there)

Re: Does New Orleans have any other good poker rooms besides Harrah\'s?
 

If you really want something small, then I'd go play at Boomtown. That's all they've got and the rake is lower than Harrah's. Really, though, I'd say hit the 6/12 at Harrah's.

Re: Does New Orleans have any other good poker rooms besides Harrah\'s?
 

Agreed. Man, was that game tasty during New Year's/Sugar Bowl weekend...

Re: Does New Orleans have any other good poker rooms besides Harrah\'s?
 

The quality of play more than compensates for the extra rake. The 3-6 can be a little swingy if you're running bad (outrageous 3-outers calling you down) but if you're patient it will come back.

Re: Does New Orleans have any other good poker rooms besides Harrah\'s?
 

Yeah, Im pretty patient and I am a 2BB/100 winner now at Paradise at the .50/$1 tables. I guess I'll just hang at the 3/6 and play ultra TAG so that if I hit a big hand I maximize my payout to pay the rake.

I have never played limits that high though, so Im a little worried that I will get too passive with my betting. Oh well we'll see what happens.

Look forward to a trip report in the first week of June.

Greg

Re: Does New Orleans have any other good poker rooms besides Harrah\'s?
 

If you are a winning player at Party .5-1.00 you will have no problems at Harrah's NO in their 3-6 game. Just play well, buckle the seatbelt (for the crazy suckout's that happen in ALL Low-Limit live games) and stick with it and you will be fine.

Oh Ya, Take money that you plan to lose and when you come home with more than you left with, it's a bonus!

Re: Does New Orleans have any other good poker rooms besides Harrah\'s?
 

remember that the hands will be coming at you slower in B&M play. this is especially true at the Harrah's 3/6 with so many players staying in the pot typically.


ultra-tight would work fine too of course....but as you get comfortable try to just play a normal TAG game that is hopefully the kind of game you are already playing on party .5/1.

Re: Does New Orleans have any other good poker rooms besides Harrah\'s?
 

There's an old jazz club on the corner of burbon and anna st. Walk up to the bar ask for MRS. Big Mama JuJu. Order the stinky crawfish special #3. Two men will then escort away from the bar to the back thur the kitchen to a red door. Knock twice , door will open. Go down stairs. 10 tables 3/6-10/20 plus no limit games.

Re: Does New Orleans have any other good poker rooms besides Harrah\'s?
 

[ QUOTE ]
but the tourists and conventioners at Harrah's really can't be beat.


[/ QUOTE ]

If that can't be beat, why would you play? [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Re: Does New Orleans have any other good poker rooms besides Harrah\'s?
 

Anna Street?

If you mean St. Ann, it's the corner on Bourbon where the gay bars are.

Re: Does New Orleans have any other good poker rooms besides Harrah\'s?
 

[ QUOTE ]
There's an old jazz club on the corner of burbon and anna st. Walk up to the bar ask for MRS. Big Mama JuJu. Order the stinky crawfish special #3. Two men will then escort away from the bar to the back thur the kitchen to a red door. Knock twice , door will open. Go down stairs. 10 tables 3/6-10/20 plus no limit games.

[/ QUOTE ]

I love how sketchy this is. Ive never played at anything other than a B+M casino or online. I might have to check it out.

Greg

Re: Does New Orleans have any other good poker rooms besides Harrah\'s?
 

I'm doubting the authenticity of this, as much as I know sketchiness is part of New Orleans life.

One clue: "Go downstairs." There are no basements in New Orleans.

Re: Does New Orleans have any other good poker rooms besides Harrah\'s?
 

I will be getting a crack at the Harrah's NO tables next week. Hopefully they will not have a huge wait list for everyone coming to the WSOP events. Should be fun.

Re: Does New Orleans have any other good poker rooms besides Harrah\'s?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Hopefully they will not have a huge wait list for everyone coming to the WSOP events.

[/ QUOTE ]
Good luck with that.

Re: Does New Orleans have any other good poker rooms besides Harrah\'s?
 

[ QUOTE ]
I'm doubting the authenticity of this, as much as I know sketchiness is part of New Orleans life.

One clue: "Go downstairs." There are no basements in New Orleans.

[/ QUOTE ]

While I also doubt that the person was being serious, I have to wonder if you actually live in NO? Practically everyone here has a basement.

Re: Does New Orleans have any other good poker rooms besides Harrah\'s?
 

[ QUOTE ]
While I also doubt that the person was being serious, I have to wonder if you actually live in NO? Practically everyone here has a basement.

[/ QUOTE ]

Do YOU actually live in New Orleans? You realize we're talking about the one in Louisiana. Those houses with the front entry door on the 2nd floor (like this) don't count as having basements, BTW.

Re: Does New Orleans have any other good poker rooms besides Harrah\'s?
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
While I also doubt that the person was being serious, I have to wonder if you actually live in NO? Practically everyone here has a basement.

[/ QUOTE ]

Do YOU actually live in New Orleans? You realize we're talking about the one in Louisiana. Those houses with the front entry door on the 2nd floor (like this) don't count as having basements, BTW.

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Actually those are called basements, but they are above ground, and the main living quarters are on what would be called the second floor in most of the US and the first floor in much of Europe. But as far as practically everyone in NO having a 'basement', absolutely no way. Many of the houses are raised with a crawl space underneath, but a crawl space is not a basement. In the newer neighborhoods most of the houses are built on slabs supported by pilings--mine is.

I myself had a good laugh with that "knock three times and ask for Joe" business. New Orleans is a city where the locations of brothels, dungeons, crackhouses, and other dens of corruption and iniquity are known even to little old ladies. In spite of some overzealous law enforcement out in Acadiana. it is as legal in Louisiana for people to play poker in a bar as it is to play pool--as long as the bar doesn't take a cut. If Las Vegas is Gomorrah, New Orleans is Sodom, and no one much cares except a few bullhorn-waving evangelists annoying people in the Quarter during Carnival and Southern Decadence.

LOL

Re: Does New Orleans have any other good poker rooms besides Harrah\'s?
 

Yes, I do live in New Orleans, going on 3 years now. Maybe I just limit myself to Uptown too much, but pretty much every house I've ever been in here has a basement. Probably because they're all ~100 years old. I'm talking real basements, not the first floor/basement thing like you said, though those are fairly common as well. I've actually always thought it was strange that so many houses here had basements, considering the city is below sea level.

Re: Does New Orleans have any other good poker rooms besides Harrah\'s?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Yes, I do live in New Orleans, going on 3 years now. Maybe I just limit myself to Uptown too much, but pretty much every house I've ever been in here has a basement. Probably because they're all ~100 years old. I'm talking real basements, not the first floor/basement thing like you said, though those are fairly common as well. I've actually always thought it was strange that so many houses here had basements, considering the city is below sea level.

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Not I imagine that anyone cares, but if you venture to the lakefront or to the vast stretch of New Orleans East, you will see that the norm is slab-built homes. Also the city as a whole is not below sea level. Parts of the city are above sea level. The elevation (or lack thereof) ranges from about 6-8 feet below sea level to 6-8 feet above level. When the storms come the difference is significant. It is also not true that New Orleans's famous above-ground tombs exist because the city is below sea level. In fact there are cemeteries with in-ground burials. The tombs derive from traditional burial practices in the Mediterranean countries. Ancient Rome, for example, was surrounded by extensive necropolises featuring the same kind of house-shaped tombs found in New Orleans.

Not that this has anything to do with a trip to Harrah's NO to play poker....

LOL

Re: Does New Orleans have any other good poker rooms besides Harrah\'s?
 

We're below sea level. I have never been in a home with a basement in the 10 years I've lived here.

Re: Does New Orleans have any other good poker rooms besides Harrah\'s?
 

Harrah's has a tunnel entrance from the parking lot to the casino.

How's that for bridging the discussion?

Re: Does New Orleans have any other good poker rooms besides Harrah\'s?
 

new orleans is shaped like a bowl. The highest point, at the base of the levies, is at about 10 feet above sea level. At 1/4 mile from the river is at sea level and the lowest point is at city park and st.john bayou which is about 10 to 12 foot below. If a cat 5 storm would hit the city, the storm surge would fill the city up with water to the top of the lake levy about 12 foot above sea level.
The first french settlers buried their dead below ground but because of floods they went to the spanish tradition.

Re: Does New Orleans have any other good poker rooms besides Harrah\'s?
 

[ QUOTE ]
new orleans is shaped like a bowl. The highest point, at the base of the levies, is at sea level. The lowest point is at city park and st.john bayou which is about 10 to 12 foot below. If a cat 5 storm would hit the city, the storm surge would fill the city up with water to the top of the lake levy about 12 foot above sea level.
The first french settlers buried their dead below ground but because of floods they went to the spanish tradition.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, New Orleans is a bowl, and the bottom of the bowl is in Broadmoor uptown (roughly 8 feet below sea level), not at City Park and Bayou St. John. The highest points are on Gentilly and Esplanade ridges and the natural levees along the river, about 8 feet above sea level. My house is 1 foot below sea level which is relatively high but not high enough. I am just a short distance inland from the original shore of Lake Pontchartrain (not the current shore), part way up the natural levee that formed along the original lakeshore. When the streets flood, the upward slope is definitely noticeable. But Gentilly Ridge, nearby, is even higher than the original lake shore.

If a storm pushes Lake Pontchartrain over the levees, worst case the water could cover a three-story building (depending on where that building is located). Once the water overtops the levee and fills the bowl, the levees would have to be breeched and the water pumped out (in fact every drop of rain that falls has to be pumped out of the city)--the city would be devastated.

Obligatory poker content, if there is a storm in the Gulf headed our way and you were planning to come to New Orleans to play poker, don't come..........

LOL

Re: Does New Orleans have any other good poker rooms besides Harrah\'s?
 

Last year when we had to evacuate New Orleans, I headed to Shreveport. Evacuations lead to soft games.

We're safe in May, just the occasional garden variety flooding.

Re: Does New Orleans have any other good poker rooms besides Harrah\'s?
 

Here's the breakdown for casino poker in NO relevant to what you are looking for:

Harrah's: 3/6, 6/12, 1-4-8-8 half holdem-half omaha, & other higher limits; 10% rake 5$ max & 1$ jackpot rake
Boomtown: 3/6, games vary; 10% rake 4$ max & 1$ jackpot

Boomtown is about 15 min from downtown NO on the opposite bank of the river in the middle of an industrial area. There's only 6 tables, and usually only a couple of games going. If you get really bored and decide to check it out, make sure you call first. However, there's enough action at Harrah's that you won't need to drive out there.

Also, I've lived in or around NO my whole life save 3 years, and I've never a true basement before. The Harrah's tunnel is the only structure I know of, and maybe a handful of subT parking lots.

Oh, and stay away from Bourbon & St. Ann lol

Re: Does New Orleans have any other good poker rooms besides Harrah\'s?
 

[ QUOTE ]
We're safe in May, just the occasional garden variety flooding.

[/ QUOTE ]

Then how come my house and tens of thousands of other structures were destroyed on May 8, 1995??? Not exactly garden variety in my view.......

LOL

Re: Does New Orleans have any other good poker rooms besides Harrah\'s?
 

Re: Does New Orleans have any other good poker rooms besides Harrah\'s?
 

Hellmouth, I was just kidding. Don't order the stinky crawfish! But check out K Paul's and order the soft shell crabs over pasta! UUMMMMM UUMMMM GOOD!!!

Re: Does New Orleans have any other good poker rooms besides Harrah\'s?
 

For those who have never seen a basement in New Orleans, give me a PM. I will take you on a whirlwind tour of Uptown where you will see all sorts of basements.

And speaking of poker at Harrah's, someone at my table won the BB Jackpot the other night. It was the biggest I've ever seen it at $43k. Good night that was.

Re: Does New Orleans have any other good poker rooms besides Harrah\'s?
 

Since this has denigrated into a shout out for New Orleans posters, I gotta join.

9 years, never seen a basement. Friends who grew up uptown in Riverbend and Fountainebleau never seen one. I am not doubting your basementness, just wondering what your stray cats do it if not under your house

On the other hand, I really have not much to add, because in my 9 years I've rarely seen a house with a dishwasher either. I gotta travel in better circles.

PS 8th Ward rules

Oh, and right, there was once an OP. I advise you to take the hundred bucks you'll make at the 3/6, and pick your bars to blow it at carefully. If it is crowded and has a cover band playing Jessies Girl, you can do better.

Now I don\'t feel like playing at home in my underwear tonight
 

So yeah, any of you locals feel like getting tanked and playing dumb (or what the hell, even getting buzzed and playing well...I'm flexible) just scream...could be fun

Re: Does New Orleans have any other good poker rooms besides Harrah\'s?
 

[ QUOTE ]
PS 8th Ward rules

[/ QUOTE ]
Wait... ward? I thought they have Parishes?

Re: Does New Orleans have any other good poker rooms besides Harrah\'s?
 

Oh, it's simple...

A parish is an entire county in Louisiana controlled by wealthy yet corrupt old landed families.

A ward is a neigborhood in New Orleans, controlled by possibly or possibly not corrupt religous leaders and usually corrupt cousins and in-laws if mayors.

Districts are divisions in New Orleans of police enforcement. They are much less corrupt than they used to be.

And if anyone cares, I ended up staying home and playing in my underwear, the official sole clothing of the New Orleans summer. I'm not old enough to pour gold bond powder on my crotch, that's what you do when you become 50 or older. But I dream of the day.

Please ask me anything about New Orleans (I'll probably be able to use the word corrupt in the answer)

Re: Does New Orleans have any other good poker rooms besides Harrah\'s?
 

I grew up in Kenner, and spent a fair amount of time in the city, and have just been back for a year. I always thought I was sure there were no basements in NO. But now one hazy memory of someone's father's friend's pool room is coming back and confusing me--I'm contacting a friend who is a contractor and another who is an architect so I can get this straight.

Re: Does New Orleans have any other good poker rooms besides Harrah\'s?
 

okay, this is from a 4th generation uptown new orleanian who is in construction:

---------------------------------
not strickly. some houses have been raised and then
the floor has been dug out slightly, but i am not
aware of any basements lower than the street level
itself. sometimes dirt has been piled around the
house, making the yard of the house higher than the
street and giving the appearance of a sunken basement.
the storm drains are the lowest a residence can
practically be, or else the toilets won't drain and
the rain will seep in and fill the basement. if you
find a true basement, we will break in one night and
take a look.

----------------------------------------

we'd be happy to take up any invitation for a tour, for curiosity's sake.

Re: Does New Orleans have any other good poker rooms besides Harrah\'s?
 

microbob, you going to N.O.?