Poker in Australia

StraddleFor6

...and living there in general.

I know a number of people from boards have lived or are living in Australia. I'm heading over mid Feb, staying in Sydney to start with, and just want an idea of what to expect.

- Are there cash games 24hrs a day in Sydney?
- Winnings are non-taxable, correct?
- Standard compared to a regualr 1/2 game here in Ireland?

-Which part of Australia did you enjoy the most and why?
-Which part did you dislike the most?
-Were there any little cultural differences that you were surprised by?
Good and bad.

Any other info that you think would be useful, much appreciated.


Eoghan.

ditpoker

carfax could help a bit i think. also pm aodea, he headed out there two weeks ago for a year, he'll have found the poker by mid feb!

spectre

Poker is sewn up by the government in New South Wales, The main casino there is in Sydney, called Star City. Forget about poker there, the rake is ridiculously high, might not even be beatable despite the typical poor standard in live games.
I think cash games are illegal outside the casino, there are a few places you can play tournaments, place called the poker dome is one, they have $500 sit and gos.

Rake isn't as bad in Melbourne, Victoria. Crown casino is huge, lots of poker games. That's where the Aussie Millions takes place.

Otherwise, there's free entry pub games with no real prizes so not worth your time.

In summary, Ireland beats the $hit out of Australia for poker

Bandara

I lived there for close to 3 years, its fantastic, I loved everything about the place, lived in Sydney and had a lovely place in Neutral Bay. If things had worked out different I'd never have come back.

I'm back close to 5 years now and I still miss it everyday believe it or not.

ionapaul

The rake is beatable in Star City, believe me! Yes, the standard is unbelievably awful. The cash tables open from 12 noon to 3am or maybe a little later Monday-Thursday. The tables open at 12 noon on Friday and stay continuously open until 3am on Sunday night. Very busy there in the evenings and over the weekend. I lived 5 minutes from Star City and to be sure of a table at a cash game during the week would go down at 11am, register at 11:30 (would be a big line of regulars and not-so-regulars waiting to do this) to be sitting with chips in front of me for 12 noon. They never seemed to have enough tables open, sometimes the wait to sit in would run into 2 hours during the weekend. The set up in Crown down in Melbourne is much better....but then again, it isn't Sydney so there's that to deal with! The Poker Dome in Newtown, Sydney is alright even though all tournaments were self-dealt when I played last year.

The free entry pub games are great for a laugh with your friends. Spot prizes, free booze sometimes are given away. In terms of working hard / running events to attract punters in off the streets, Aussie pubs beat Irish pubs hands down, most locals run something every night of the week which is free to enter and give prizes such as pub food or booze away. We won the local trivia nights regularly for $100s in drink / food vouchers!

sickpuppy

Personall STraddle i preferred Brisbane above all other places in oz.
You are an hour from surfers paradise to the south the sunshine coast is an hour to the north lovely climate too.
I found the amount of irish that got stuck in Sydney laughable sure why would ya leave get the sunday roast and pints of cider and fa premiership shyte on the tv.
Treasury casino is in Brisbane not sure about the game there whilst you meet backpackers in Brisbane its also a chance to meet real Australians and ozzie women love an irish accent.
The culture not much different than ours more outdoorsie barbecues beaches and my personal favourite pig hunting with knives and dogs.
The hunting is mostly done at night and of course in redneck areas like north queensland something youll never do in ireland id recommend it. Squeal piggy.

RoundTower

Star City is the very worst place in the whole world to play poker, stay away. Don't bother asking why, the answer is everything.

Crown in Melbourne is OK.

From a non-poker point of view you really should travel, I went there and spent 95% of the time in Sydney, I would definitely do things differently if I went again.

dvdfan

Whats the cost of living their compared with Ireland for:
1) A Pint
2) Food
3) Rent

Examples would be great

I presume broadband is very reliable and reasonably priced. Is playing poker on the internet banned?

phantom_lord

what's the story with visas?

dannydiamond

Eoghan,if advice on freeroll pub tournies is what you were looking for i think you're sorted now..

StraddleFor6

phantom_lord wrote: »

what's the story with visas?

Very handy. 15 min online form. AUS$190. Granted a 1 year work and travel visa less than 48 hours later.

spectre

Whatever you do, don't get a visa through a crowd call Visa first. It's more an extortion racket than a business. They've made a fortune through the foolishness of eager Irish getting to Oz.

You pay for a Visa package which includes lots of stuff you can get for free when you get there. They offer to setup an Oz bank account for you and transfer funds into it for you. Sounds great until you realise they sodomise you on the foreign exchange rate. Don't say you weren't warned. All you need going over is the visa which can be obtained from the embasy I think.

jbravado

Star in Sydney has it all.

Rude dealers-intolerably slow action-torturuous rake-1-2 game capped @ 4o bb buyib 5-5 capped @ 200 with 1 dolla ante every hand. One-two hour wait for a seat if you arrive past midday.A really annoying bonus is if you are winning in a game and it breaks you have to buyin for the 400 bb cap at the next table regardless.

I still played there four times before I realised I was glacing at harbour brigde a little too enthusiastically on the way home. Literally soul destroying and certainly wouldnt recommend playing poker there.Nul point.

I also played in Perth which was a little better-the games were quite good with plenty of bigger Roi games that break up and filter down to the holdem.In theory the 5-5 is capped @ 500 but in practise this was laughable as within minutes someone would have like 2k without winning a pot.Good little poker room with good staff and semi good games.

Dvd-booze is @ the same as in Ireland maybe a little bit cheaper. Except they have this genius juice called "goon" which is 4 litres of white wine #contains fish bits# which retails at 10 dolla.For maximum devastation this has to be consumed with red bull.

Food is cheaper for the most part-ex meal in mcds will set you back 6-8 dollars.

As with everywhere accomadation is pending on what condition you want to live in.I have viewed shared house which were 80 dollars a month but had 10 people and 6 beds.You can stay in decent hostels for @ 150 a week but bewarned they get very tedious after a while.Id estimate a good apartment would set you back around 800 dollars a month.

www.immi.gov.au/immigration.htm is the site for Visas-takes less than 48 as said.

BrokenArrows

spent a year in Oz.
3 months in sydney where i spent alot of time in Starcity.

The games as far as i can remember:

$1/$2 - $5 time rake per hour i think. $80 fixed buyin. the fixed buyin was the worst thing starcity ever introduced.

$2/$5 - $1 per hand rake from every player. $200 fixed buyin. Very soft game.

$5/$10 - $30 per hour rake from every player. $500 fixed buyin.

$5/$10 Limit - $.75 per hand rake from every player. (never played dont know buyin)

$10/20 limit - $1 per hand rake from every player (dont know buyin)

They also ran other poker based on demand. Manella or something it was called.

Jupiters in Gold Coast

only 4 poker tables
i spend 3 months here too. I didnt get a job and i made my rent and living and lived a pretty good life here playing the 5/10 and 10/20 tables. This gives you an idea of how easy the games are.
I played the 5/10 limit a good bit too. Also a very loose game. More times than i can remember high rollers came down from upstairs and droped large amounts of cash on the 5/10 pot table. i was lucky enough to take advantage of one of them to the sum of about 3k one night.

5/10 Limit $100 min buyin with $1 rake per hand

10/20 limit $100 min buyin with $1 rake per hand

5/10 pot limit percentage pot rake 10% caped at $20 $400 min buyin

They were thinking of introducing NL in the future but i left before they did this. dont know if they ever did.

Crown in Melbourne

they have pretty much every game afaik
rakes are %
large casino plenty of tables.

I only spent a day or two in here.

Hope this is some information. This info is about 9 months old so dont know what has changed.
Although the rake sucks in the games i really enjoyed playing there. met alot if nice people and made alot of friends at he tables.

Daithio

Poker is much better in Melbourne than in Sydney. Star City is ran horribly as everyone else has said. It's only saving grace is a weekly $300 slightly crapshooty tournament that is just about bearable to play because of the automatic shuffling machines. Disregarding poker though Sydney is a class city in the summer, and I'd spend a month or so there to begin with as February is a great time of year here. But as soon as Autumn/ winter kicks in I'd be off to Melbourne if I was you. It's got better bars and restaurants and the poker is much better. All that said, you still can't beat Sydney in the summer. And there's always internet poker which is great to play over here, as morning time here is late night at home. So you can have a somewhat normal schedule.

As far as travelling around Australia, the highlight of everywhere I have been was a trip down the West coast, from Broome to Perth. Drove around 4000k in 12 days, and saw some of the most amazing stuff I've ever seen. It's like being on Mars. I remember one 400k stretch where the only evidence of civilisation was the road we were on and the car we were in. I think we passed two trucks in 4 hours or so. Unreal experience.

I really like Tasmania too, it's totally different to everywhere else I've been in Aus. If somebody told me I was in Scotland I'd have believed them from the landscape. Also the food is great down there and the people are really nice.

I'm not mad on Brisbane, it's an OK city, but basically not a patch on Sydney or Melbourne. The east coast is good craic for a road trip, but it's very well travelled, and I reckon the west coast is alot more rewarding/ interesting. Definitely try to do both if you can though. I've heard amazing things about Kakadu national park in the Northern Territory but haven't made it up there yet. Irish summer/ Aussie winter is the best time to do Northern/ Western Australia as it's the only time it's bearable heatwise. I'm planning on doing it this July. Any other time of year it's either plus 40 degrees or monsoon season. But definitely without a doubt make an effort to go a bit further afield than just the East coast.

Also if you're coming over through Thailand get your PADI diver's license thing, it's dirt cheap to do there, and if you're travelling around Australia there are ****loads of amazing dive sites to check out. If you're not stopping in Thailand you can do the course here but it's a bit more expensive AFAIK.

ionapaul

Re: rent - had a huge ensuite double bed room in a fantastic apartment (pool and gym in building for residents' use) 5 minutes from Star City / 10 minutes from Sydney CBD for only $600 / month. This is amazing value compared to Dublin, the same sort of room (minus the pool and gym of course, this is Ireland and we don't do luxury apartments, nevermind the estate agent spin!) would be €900 / month I'd say, about $1500 australian! Live the high life young man...

The Pyrmont Bridge Hotel, a venerable drinking institution indeed, had $5 (€3) dinner specials every day, including a fairly decent steak-and-chips. Unbelievably good value for food over there.

Drink cheaper as well, though as a mate worked for Diageo HQ in Sydney and so we had access to the office's extremely fancy free bar most times the drink was for nothing.

Life can be good in Australia.

POKERKING

Unfortunatly my year is up on sunday so im about to leave so i can giv you my 2c for whats its worth!

-my rent is 400$aus a week for a studio apartment in manly sydney, a little bit more than the goin rate around here but worth it becuase own pool gym and heated jacuzzi in building and internal washer and dryer which saves a fortune!
-booze more or less the same as at home
-food in general ie supermarket is a litle bit more expensive here than ireland, although eating out is reasonable lots of places do a steak special usually between 8-12$ for steak and chips, its possible to get one for 5$ in scruffymurphys irish pub in the city works out even cheaper than happy meal in ireland but it aint great but u cant go wrong!!
-my braodband is plug in cos didnt want contract or phone line, it was 190$ for plug in thing(cant member what its called although u may get a second hand one cheaper!) and then 90$/mth from then on in, its ok does the job allowed me to play poker for the year and not have to get a job! it only works in sydney and melbourne its called unwired if its any use to you!!

Poker has been prety much covered, i actually thought star city was beatable if you manage to actually get a seat waited for 2hrs plus one day and just gave up! thhe rake in crowne for 80$ game was same as star city ie 5$ hourly charge and 10% of pot up to 8$

My local pub runs a crapshoot twice a week 10$ to enter and the pub adds money to prize fund and no reg fee value wise its great, play way its shocking but its good fun!
also if you want to play for fun try apl.com its aussie poker league they run free tournaments most nights in local pubs/social clubs called rsl's and you earn points and then go int final(eventually) for 50k they also have sit and gos goin for 10-50$ all crapshooty tho but bit of craic and you geta trophy if u win on a night i have a couple of them my pride and joys!!! they occaisonally have 20-50$ mtts too but great way to meet people same people most nights and most sound as a pound

oh also played in jupitars casino on gold coast it was limit poker an absolute joke, sat with 9 gamblers who call everyhand and every bet regardless, most pots are family pots right up to showdown so impossible to win in the few hours i was there

ps i recommend manly in sydney if your lookin for a diverse group of people, if you want to be with irish/english try bondi/cogee, depends whatever your into ive had great nights in both!!

peeko

I'm living in Australia at the moment.

Pokerwise. Online ipoker is fantastic from 9pm-2pm, the day is a bit dry. But pokerstars, party and other american sites are going off at that time, so it's all good in that regard.

Live, I went to Jupiters on the gold coast at the weekend. There were about 3-4 tables running, all cash games. 1 table of 5/10 limit, and the rest were 2.5/5 pot limit holdem. Rake in the limit game is 1$ per person per hand I think, and the 2.5/5 pot limit game was about 5% of pot to a max of $20. Standard on this game that night was mixed, some good, but there was certainly a few fish throwing money about.

There are also pokerdomes in NSW, they run tournies and SNG's, but no cash games (http://www.pokerdome.com.au)

As for the standard of living, it's costly enough, maybe on par with Dubin. But the weather is fantastic, the women are savage, the sea pumps waves, the pies are the best munchie food out there, and everyone drinks like fish! Good party country.

Enjoy your trip!

dacman

I flew to perth from asia and i played a fair bit in the burswood casino there. There generally was just 5/5 NL and 5/10 NL and loads of limit games which i didnt bother looking at. There was serious money floating around in the 5/5 and 5/10 games as most people in perth are fairly well off. There is alot mining in WA so alot of the miners used to fly up and the weekends with pocket full of cash and fuk all idea of how to play. Rake was 5% with a cap of 25 dollars. You could easy walk home with an easy 2-3k after a nights play. From perth I did a little bit of the west coast which was nice but it was winter there when i was there so the weather wasent great. Margaret river is a also a nice area to visit. Night life in perth is ok. Its a bit more expensive than sydney and melbourne for beer and food but a heck of alot cheaper for accomadation. I spent 3 months there.

From there i went to melbourne. I really liked it here as the winter was over and the weather was a bit better. The crown was great for poker although i didnt play there as much as i would have liked. They had tables to cater for everyones taste. PS they have a great deep stack festival on the 14th of febuary which i will be going to. Main event is only $500 which isnt bad.

From here i flew to cairns which is lovely and tropical. Go snorkling and scuba diving on the great barrier reef.Its class. There is a casino there but i wouldnt bother with it. From here we went down the east coast where there is soo many things to do. white water rafting and skydiving was the best thing i done here but you wont be borred as there is something good in every place you go. fraser island and withsundays are great also.

I was in brisbane for about a week but i didnt really like the place. I played in the casino there but there was only 4 tables running.

I've been in sydney about 2 months now and it class this time of year. weather is great and there is lots of nice restraunts bars etc. You will drink more here than you have ever done in your whole life as alot of pubs are 24 hours. Star city is a nice place but they really couldnt give a **** about poker. I dont think there is 1 tourney on this month. There are a good few cash games but the rake is bad. Othere wise you can try pokerdome They run some ok tourneys but u have to deal yourself.

Internet wise I use bigpond which isnt great value for money but its worked every where ive been to in australia. The one I have is $199 for the mobile card and $119 a month for 3gb usage( yes way too dear) but its way too handy.

Overall its brilliant place to live and you will be very sorry going home which i have to do very soon.

Windsurfer

Like the OP I'm also off to Oz for a year (to start with) in Feb.

I was there 2 years ago for 3 weeks and headed into StarCity a couple of times and all they had going were Limit Holdem Games which were painful to play.

I was only starting out in the game at the time so I had no real clue about rake and so on and I'm sorry to see that prospects are not looking good as I plan to base myself in Sydney for the year.

As for the question re Visa - I have got a 12 month working holiday visa which allows me to work for any one employer for 6 months. Anyone up to the age of 30 can apply.

I applied for mine and had it approved in about 2 weeks. Here is the link http://www.immi.gov.au

It's bizarre that they are tough on poker as every pub has fruit machines or "pokies" as they call them and they are also lotto mad.

However the lack of poker may not be such a bad thing as I plan to spend most of my free time on the beach.

StraddleFor6

Some sound advice there. Thank you. I'll make it my business to travel alot and be out of Sydney by Easter. A friend over there said there's far too many Irish in Sydney. Thats not what I want.

One more thing. ATM's. I heard stories of people being charged $6-9 per transaction. Anyone know the details of ATM charges over there? I'm with AIB.

sickpuppy

Best thing prob open a bank account there straddle especially if you mean to have aproper 9 to 5 jobs at some time.
Its easy to do all u need is passport and away u go maybe a tax file number too.

5starpool

Melbourne > Brisbane > Sydney > Adelaide imo. Never been to Perth. I want to go back there.

Daithio

StraddleFor6 wrote: »

Some sound advice there. Thank you. I'll make it my business to travel alot and be out of Sydney by Easter. A friend over there said there's far too many Irish in Sydney. Thats not what I want.

One more thing. ATM's. I heard stories of people being charged $6-9 per transaction. Anyone know the details of ATM charges over there? I'm with AIB.

Depends where you are. Bondi beach and Bondi junction are jammers with GAA jerseys. No joke sometimes I head to the cinema in Bondi junction and I actually reckon about 50% of the customers are Irish on any given night, and it's a big cinema! But if you avoid those areas you don't notice it at all. Sydney is definitely worth checking out during the summer though. Dave Callaghan is arriving in today actually Eoghan, and Conor Doyle should be here by the time you make it out, so we should catch up for a drink. Will pm you my number etc.

rag2gar

Daithio wrote: »

Depends where you are. Bondi beach and Bondi junction are jammers with GAA jerseys. No joke sometimes I head to the cinema in Bondi junction and I actually reckon about 50% of the customers are Irish on any given night, and it's a big cinema! But if you avoid those areas you don't notice it at all. Sydney is definitely worth checking out during the summer though. Dave Callaghan is arriving in today actually Eoghan, and Conor Doyle should be here by the time you make it out, so we should catch up for a drink. Will pm you my number etc.

Thats wierd I never would have tought there is that strong an Irish contingent there

POKERKING

StraddleFor6 wrote: »

Some sound advice there. Thank you. I'll make it my business to travel alot and be out of Sydney by Easter. A friend over there said there's far too many Irish in Sydney. Thats not what I want.

One more thing. ATM's. I heard stories of people being charged $6-9 per transaction. Anyone know the details of ATM charges over there? I'm with AIB.

Yeah bondi, bondi junction and cogee are full of irish in fact the few times ive been there i dont recall seeing ausssies!! come to manly everything from brazilians(!!!) to swedes to a few irish and close enough that you can handily head to city or bondi etc and one of the best beaches around here definitly recommend it, i played for a football team here too great craic it was ,lads all sound as a pound!!:)

jbravado

Im in Coogee at the moment and its full of Irish/English.Id say 50% is a fair estimate.

Just set up a bank account-takes literally 10mins to do and is handy enough to transfer funds from home.

therealzuppy

I'm in Sydney at the mo. THere are some decent deepstack tournies at the Pokerdomes, Newtown always seems the busiest. I play regularly enough at Paddington RSL, close to the city on Oxford St. Took it down last night. It's a $10 rebuy. Blinds every 30 mins for the first 2 levels which is good and then it's add on and good luck. The standards atrocious so the rebuys make for a very decent return if you do make the money.You just have to play, knowing fully that you are about to be seriously sucked out at any point by any of your 5 pf raise callers. I started the final table last night with about 14k, probably second shortest. Just watched all the lunatics knock each other out, got lucky when I needed to and got $635 for my $20. The standard is really bad. Australia as a country is so mad for gambling and I think the Aussies just consider poker purely as another form of gambling and therefore don't even consider the skill/improvement element of their game.

aodea

this thread could not be any better timed well done.

also thai boxing is awsome.

ditpoker

aodea wrote: »

this thread could not be any better timed well done.

also thai boxing is awsome.

off topic.. anto fix your signature, you KNOW i won 27-26!!! PAY UP!!!! a$$hole fcuks off to australia to avoid debts!! DONT MAKE ME COME OVER THERE!!!!!!!!

StraddleFor6

Daithio wrote: »

Depends where you are. Bondi beach and Bondi junction are jammers with GAA jerseys. No joke sometimes I head to the cinema in Bondi junction and I actually reckon about 50% of the customers are Irish on any given night, and it's a big cinema! But if you avoid those areas you don't notice it at all. Sydney is definitely worth checking out during the summer though. Dave Callaghan is arriving in today actually Eoghan, and Conor Doyle should be here by the time you make it out, so we should catch up for a drink. Will pm you my number etc.

Damn. Already have accommodation sorted in North Bondi. Not to worry.
A pint will have to be had. You based in Sydney for the forseeable future?
Really looking forward to this now.

Bandara

Stay well clear of "County Bondi", Coogee and you'll be fine. Best place to live in Sydney is the North Shore, Kirribilli, Neutral Bay, Mosman and Crows Nest are great, Balmoral is quiet but nice and Manly is good but too far out imo.

Beaches on the NS are fantastic, used to surf everyday on North Curl Curl, sat and sun go to Manly beach. If you have a car drive a bit up the coast to Avalon or Newport Beach, takes about 40 mins but its beautiful and backpacker free.