Posted by Dr Fro 1:47 PM
There were two articles in the Dallas Morning News today on poker. The first is about a fantasy camp led by Howard Lederer. Evidently the next session is while we are in Vegas for th big bachelor party.

The second one provides a decent resource for Vegas card rooms. It notes:

With so much proliferation, gamblers have their choice of setting and stakes. Most rooms, however, are dominated by Texas Hold 'Em, the variation that has all but taken over poker, in many cases crowding out 7-Card Stud and Omaha, the next most popular games.

I have to say that I was very surprised at the dearth of non-Holdem games. The other surprise to me was that all the NL games that I played in had a max buy-in. Before the current proliferation of the game, NL not only meant that there was no limit on your bet (other than your and you opponents' stack sizes of course), it also meant that there was no limit on the buy-in. It was therefore common to see a $2-$5 or $5-$10 NL game with guys looking over a mountian of ten thousand chips. The online poker rooms, always on the cutting edge, instituted the maximum buy-in to encourage more participation. It worked, and the casinos followed suit (no pun intended). What I find most interesting about this is that the online sites were intended to be an imitation of the brick and mortar casino. But the tide has turned and we now see casinos imititating the online sites. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Sit & Go's become common in brick and mortar rooms, and why not? After all, it was clear that easily 1/2 of my table had extensive online experience and zero B&M experience. Thus, places like Party Poker have set their expectations of what a casino should offer.

So what else will casinos borrow from their online brethren? Will a chalkboard be put up next to the table where, after I win a hand, a guy names JerseyBoy69 be able to write, "How did you call that bet, you idiot??? Geez, you suck. I will take all your money before it is over, BIOTCH!!!"

I hope so.

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