Texas hold em in the dominican republic (my experiences)

I've been coming into this country back and forth for the past year and have played texas hold em in Santiago (Matum & Gran Almirante), Santo Domingo (Hispaniola & Jaragua), Bavaro (Tower casino), Punta Cana (Hard Rock) and most recently Sosua (Playa Chiquita & Sosua Bay). Unless first impressions are deceiving, Playa Chiquita casino has by far the second biggest texas hold em game, coming second only to the Hard Rock in punta cana. To me any game where people are buying in for 2000 pesos and at times 1000 pesos is not worth while on average. At the hard rock they have both a 1/2 ($100 buy in) and when enough players are interested a 2/5($250 buy in if i'm not mistaken) game...downside is that the games don't get underway until after 9 and the casino closes at 4am. At playa Chiquita, the games last until the players are done playing and on Wednesdays and Fridays is when they have their biggest games because those are tournament days and as the players get knocked out from the tournaments(tournament are ran on all 4 tables) they get into the cash games. The buy in the night I was there started at 5000, pesos but most of us,the first 10 players, were buying in for 8000 or more which made the buy in for all new players start at 10,000 pesos. I was surprised at the numbers of loose players overall at that amount of money and how many times they were re-buying. Coming in #3 is Hispaniola in santo domingo, even though their buy in is only 2000 pesos the strong table which has the regulars, that likes to bump heads at the table, they will all buy in on average for 5,000-20,000 pesos on average. Down side is in that group at least half that table you will find that it is like pulling teeth from to get chips out of them, but its a good game and the poker tables stays open until 7 am and gets underway around 7/8 oclock (the loose and most dangerous player there is Jovahni, but its because of him the game stays so big and interesting overall). In Santiago, only their Omaha games are worth mentioning.

The worst rake was at the Tower casino in bavaro, that was 5%, capped at 15 max for any pots over $300. What makes the Tower the absolute worse is that not only are you paying 5%, you are also paying 1-$3 every time you are the dealer based on the amount of players on the table for a bad beat jackpot which really benefits the regulars there. Not playing a round will cost you 3-$6 instead of the $3 max that it would of cost you anywhere else. The hard rock I believe is 3%. I can't tell you what exactly the rakes are are each individual place other than it falls in line with about 3% with the Tower (they have no shuffle machines either and food you have to pay for yourself. Coffee and their local beer is what you get for free) being the worse as I said earlier.

In Santiago, I bar(very popular, your bigger players moneywise goes there) would be considered a house game because its not in a casino, but they play Omaha there not texas hold em. I don't do house games so I don't have much to tell you on that.

Luperon said:

Are there any private games in Santiago? If not maybe SKY could host, with a modest cut

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In comparing overall glitz and glamour and game varieties overall...I would not call playa Chiquita nor sosua bay a casino neither. Yet my overall post is about potential at the texas hold em games, cash games held at each of these places. I'm a poker player and my overall attraction to a place is the potential that the tables offers. I don't care for tournaments really, so my overall rating of these places is based on average chip stacks and the dollar amounts of rebuys and of rebuys in general. I have played at playa Chiquita twice and unless first impressions are deceiving I keep them #2 to the hard rock in punta cana in these regards.

DR Mpe said:

Well I would not call Playa Chiquita a Casino. A warehouse ?? Comparing Playa Chiquita Casino with Hard Rock Casino in Punta Cana is like comparing a Lada with a Ferrari. Not sure why you are so positive about Playa Chiquita..... I won the tournament there and asked about the rake because it was not much left... 20% ...yes 20 %.... and in a flooded warehouse. Yes, last time I played there... (prob. 2 years ago, so it might have changed, but I doubt it). In Hard Rock in Punta cana it is 10 % rake on tournament (usually 100 dollar+10), but then they provide you with good food (last time fried shrimps, beef etc.). The cash games are not raked that bad either, but not sure about the exact numbers.

Also, never felt safe when I left Playa Chiquita at night. Feels far from safe.

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Good luck with that, I find that a very problematic environment unless you have a well suitable environment in regards to types of players and amount of money that they are bringing to the games. I would recommend a shuffle machine because I for one would never ever play at a house game without a shuffle machine. That would put a lot of your potential players at ease having one <just a thought>. What city are you in? I guess depending on your environment and competition with local casinos you may be able to pull it off and make a good run at it.

notreallyconfused said:

I would love to start a house game. Maybe someone would like to partner up and get one going.

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