While I was in Vegas for the AEE convention, I decided to checkout some of the poker rooms in Vegas. A guy at a tournament in LA told me to go see the Hard Rock poker room so I did.
Even during a big convention weekend, there were only about 4 or 5 tables open so it wasn’t very busy. However, there were a lot of action players throwing money around. They have $1-2 and $2-5 no limit tables. The $1-2 is $100 to $300 but the $2-5 is $200 to $2,000. No, that’s not a typo. $2,000 with $5 blinds. This makes for some really interesting poker when a guy walks up with $2,000, while other guys are playing with $200, and the $2,000 buy-in raises to $100 pre-flop every other hand.
Another interesting rule is their “Hard Rock Straddle.” This is a live straddle on the button, who will act after the big blind, if there are no raises. However, if the big blind were to raise, all the others go in turn, all the way around back to the button. It’s very strange but it gives the button a huge advantage. Many people raise on the button just to inflate the pot for themselves, but people often get suspecious. You don’t have to worry about that because you are blind raising before you see your hand.
Basically, unless there are super aggressive people at the table, you should always do this straddle on the button. Even if somebody raises out of position, you can flat call and still try to flop something and be in position to take advantage.
While I was there, most people bought in for $500, but a few came in for the maximum $2,000. Be ready for action, especially when drunk people come to the table.
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