Halifax, Nova Scotia (Scouting Report)

[Cry Me A River]

The Halifax casino is located right on the waterfront, in the downtown area. I was there at around 5pm on the Friday of a long week-end (Monday holiday) with about a zillion tourists in town (Tall Ships docked minutes away and a province-wide Acadian festival celebrating 400 years of French settlement).

Unfortunately, the casino didn't really seem to be benefitting from all the tourists (though to be fair neither did the deli accross the street from the harbour which we stopped in for ice-cream). The casino was far from busy and is pretty small, about the size of the 1,000 Islands casino and significantly smaller than Hull or Montreal. However, unlike those casinos, the Halifax casino does have poker.

There's no actual Poker Room, mind you, just a "poker area" roped off and near other table games like Blackjack. the "poker area" consists of 4 tables, of which 2 full tables of 5/10 Hold 'em were being spread. The pit boss told me there would probably be a 10/20 and maybe a 15/30 table later in the evening.

We were only spending half a day in Halifax, so I didn't play and can't comment on the quality of the game. There are no previous posts in this forum describing the Halifax casino so I wanted to at least check things out even if only briefly. If the place had been hopping with some juicy looking lower limit tables I might have taken the time out. As it was, my slim bankroll was not enthusiastic at the likely thought of a 5/10 rock garden full of local regulars.

The habourfront itself was *packed* with people for the tall ships and the region was incredibly busy all week-end (we wound up sleeping in a college dorm room on the way home Saturday night when we couldn't get a m/hotel room in Fredricton and I wasn't up for an all-night drive the rest of the way) so its possible things improved later but I can't help but think what I saw was pretty typical evening. Might be better Friday and Saturday night, as is usually the case, but I wouldn't expect much. If you're spending time in Halifax anyway, it might be worth a look, but I
really wouldn't go out of my way. There's *plenty* better things to see and do in Nova Scotia and Atlantic Canada in general.

[toots]

Nova Scotia is fab.

Give the poker a break.

Visit Cape Bretton. Go to a Ceilidh. Buy a Natalie MacMaster CD. If you get bored and have a couple of days on your hands, take the ferry over to the rock and hang out with the friendliest people on earth. See the place where they tried to scrub the skin pigmentation off a US sailor during WW-II. Take the ferry to France.

All kinds of things to do in the Atlantic provinces.

[ninja please]

i go up to nova scotia every summer. i played in the halifax casino once last summer. i thought i posted a trip report here, but i can't find it so either it's expired from the archive or i forgot to actually write it.

there were only 3 tables at the time, with one 10/20 and one 5/10 when i sat down on saturday afternoon, and another 5/10 opening up a little later in the evening. the table was full when i put my name down, but the list was only 2 or 3 names and i got a seat fairly quickly.

i'd never played 5/10 at the time, so i was a little nervous, but the game was very beatable. plus, it's canadian, so it's actually a little less than 4/8.

it could be that i sat down at an especially good table, but the table was quite good. there was a LOT of very passive limping, at least as much as foxwoods 2/4. this was despite the presence of a couple decent players and one who was a little over aggressive, which led to several multi-way pots, often for 2 or more bets. i can even remember at least 1 10 way family pot with everyone in for 2 bets preflop.

i agree with the other poster that nova scotia definitely has more than enough to offer without spending a precious day in the cardroom, but if you feel like taking a break for some play, the halifax room is (at least when i was there last year) worth it -- if you can put up with the constant slot machine noise from the slots in the same room (it sounds like they may have moved the poker area since last summer, so it might be better). unfortunately they have odd hours (i think they are closed mondays and tuesdays or something) and they close the room every night at 6am. (i would recommend getting really good cards on the hand after the floor announces the room is closing -- EVERYONE plays the "last hand". since i play mostly at foxwoods, i'm not used to the last hand syndrome, but i would have taken a monster pot if my nut flush had come through).

there is also a casino in sydney, on cape breton on the other end of the island, but it doesn't have poker. probably good because that's where i spend my time every summer, so i'm not tempted to spend the time playing...

i'm about to leave for my trip to NS this summer, though i'm not sure if i'll have a chance to play in halifax again. if i do i'll post a report.