Find Poker Games While on Vacation

BY: Ashley Adams
Contact at: (Asha34@aol.com)
Author of Winning 7-Card Stud

I love going on vacation. It's great to leave work behind, lock my front and back door, put the radio on to confuse the would-be burglars, and enter the world of travel. Nothing beats it. I'm only sorry I don't have more vacation time each year to use.

But there is a problem. I also leave behind my poker world. I can't play in any of the weekly games I normally frequent. My favorite casinos are far out of driving range most of the time. And I don't have the ability to call up my buddies for a spur-of-the-moment game when I feel like it. Also, now that I think of it, I don't have my computer and so, if I'm inclined to play on-line, I can't do that either. Bummer.

Fortunately, I've managed to figure out a way to have the best of both worlds. I find poker wherever I go for vacation. In fact, during the past seven years, I've learned to build my vacations around poker games -- even while not distracting my wife and children from the central mission of the vacation for them -- to go to an interesting destination and have fun.

Oh, and I'm not talking about a poker cruise either (though I've heard they're delightful). No. My wife would never stand for poker being the principal part of the vacation. It's only acceptable as an aside. Even so, with few exceptions, I've managed to find a poker game wherever I've gone. Let me share what I've learned with you so you can enjoy your hobby even when you leave home.

Start with a good map. Know where the regular brick and mortar casinos are. Why go through the trouble of finding home games and the like if there are convenient and conventional games within reasonable driving distance.

Finding the casino games is fairly easy. Just do a google search for casino and poker and you'll get quite a few web pages that list them. But you can't stop there. Make sure to jot down the places you find near where you're going on vacation and then call them or email them to confirm that they have live action, real money, player-versus-player poker. Many places that say they have poker really have things that are only poker in name -- "Oasis Poker", "Viking Poker", "Caribbean Stud/Draw Poker", "Let it Ride", etc.

And, just to make this even easier, here's a list of places in the U.S/Canada. where there is definitely a public poker room (because I've played there and verified it). If your vacation destination is anywhere near these spots you're in luck. Vancouver, British Columbia; Seattle, Washington; all of California, all of Nevada, Phoenix, Arizona; Tucson, Arizona, Santa Fe, New Mexico; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Denver, Colorodo; Deadwood, South Dakota; Kansas City, Missouri; St. Louis, Missouri; Evansville, Indiana, Chicago, Illinois; Louisville, Kentucky; New Orleans, Louisiana; Gulfport/Biloxi, Mississippi; Philadelphia, Mississippi; Tunica, Mississippi (near Memphis, Tennessee); Minneapolis, Minnesota; Toronto, Canada; Niagra Falls, New York; Verona (Syracuse/Utica), New York; Atlantic City, New Jersey; and Ledyard (New London), Connecticut.

If you want more information about any of the poker rooms in these cities you can check out Card Player Magazine (available on line) or email me directly. A google search for poker and these cities will also turn up the rooms and their phone numbers so you can contact them directly.

Similarly, if your travel plans take you overseas, there are many rooms there. There's public poker in Costa Rica, England, Paris, France; throughout Germany, in Amsterdam, Holland; Copenhagan, Denmark, Malmo, Sweden; Vienna, Austria; Estonia, Warsaw, Poland; Slovenia; and, I've heard, in Australia as well. There's Casino Europa magazine and a site on line for Poker in Europe (sorry, but I don't have the specific web address -- I always access it through Google).

But that's all making it easy. Sure, if there's a poker room nearby you can play in it. But what if there isn't? How do you find a game then?

Here's what I've done with great success.

The first thing I do is find out where I'm going on vacation. If I'm driving there, I check out the route that I'm going to use. Driving routes can often be altered slightly to place me near a place at night where I'm sure to find a game.

If I'm flying my options are limited. But not completely. Often I'll have a choice of airports. I can plan my arrival city based on where there is poker nearby. If I'm going to central Indiana, for example, it make much more sense for me to fly into Louisville (where there's a casino) than Indianapolis (where there isn't).

And then I go on line. I do a google search both on the regular google site and on the Google Groups site -- that accesses all of the newsgroups. I access rec.gambling.poker and post an inquiry about players in the area I'm going to. I respond to anything that has been posted in the past -- no matter how old, to see if there are still games or people who know about games. While I'm at it I make a post on www.twoplustwo another poker site, soliticing information on games.

I have usually succeeded in finding poker this way. But if not, I rely on the old fashioned way. I call the local police! Really, they have been an excellent source of games in two different locales. In one case they knew of a "charity" game that floated through the area. In another case they knew of a local guy who had games at his house once or twice a week.

Don't be afraid to use your own personal connections to find poker contacts. Did you attend college? Do they have an alumni book listing alums by city? What a great way to track down a game. Just go to the index, find the locales around where you're going to be vacationing and then call every alum who lives there and ask them for a game. Sure, start with the alums in your class or the ones you knew in college. But if there aren't any people you remember call others anyway. Hey, you're all alums. What's a college education good for if not professional networking? This method has worked wonders from me. The worst that can happen is that they turn you down when you call.

Similarly, if you are a member of any fraternal, veteran, ethnic or religious organization, call the affiliate offices in the place you're going. Obviously, if you're going to be camping in Yellowstone this will be hard, but in just about any small town to big city there is usually a church, a vets group, or a fraternal organization of one kind or another. Use your personal connections to reach out to one of them. Call them, tell them you'll be in the area for a while and would like to find a place to practice your favorite hobby. Hey, even if you don't score a poker game you'll probably have a good chance to chat up a few of the good local restaurants.

You should also sign on to as many on-line poker rooms as you can. Take advantage of the chat feature and talk up your interest in visiting and playing in a particular area. You'll often be able to see where people in these poker rooms are from. You can often find a game by asking them to recommend a place for you to play when you visit their city. I found a great game in Malmo, Sweden last week in just that way.

I should add that I understand why some poeple would be reluctant to play in a game found in this manner. We hear all of the stories about people being seduced and abused by people they have met on line. I can only tell you that I have not had any problem with people I have met in this way (nor they with me I hope!) -- nor in games I've played in that I've found out about on line. Some of my best poker playing buddies I met on line.

You need to keep careful notes about all of these contacts. There's nothing worse than finding a great game in a distant vacation destination, getting an invite, and then, when you're travelling, to realize that you don't have the information with you necessary to make contact. I'd even go so far as to suggest that you buy a cheap notebook for each trip you plan and keep the information about games in such a dedicated notebook for that venue.

That about does it for now. If you can't find a game this way then you can always insist that your family members play poker with you. Hey, tell them that it will be better than listening to you complain about not being able to have anything to do while you're on vacation!

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