Just a bit more than 10 years ago it was difficult to find a live poker game anywhere throughout Sydney. Even Star City (now called The Star Casino) didn’t have poker games spread and a decent live cash game or tournament was nowhere to be found.
These days in Sydney the game of No Limit Texas Hold’em and other poker games like Pot Limit Omaha has really blown up mainly due to all the televised events on ESPN like the WSOP Main Event coverage and more recently the $1 million buy-in Big One for One Drop charity event. Other factors have also contributed, such as “the Moneymaker effect” and Australia’s Joe Hachem winning the World Series of Poker Main Event in 2005. You could hear cheers of “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi! Oi! Oi!” from the crowd on the rail after he took it down, and Hachem became the first Australian to win the WSOP main event.
Anyhow all this combined has had a heavy influence on Sydney as it got the attention of casual viewers and the city became hooked on poker. You can find a pub poker tournament almost anywhere in the city everyday of the week and these tournaments in addition to freeroll tournaments pay out cash prizes. If you go to any RSL club or pub in Sydney, you are guaranteed to find a game of poker somewhere in their weekly schedule.
So if you wanna have a fun game of poker or simply sharpen your tournament skills abit visit www.playapl.com and you will find a list of venues where you can play poker tournaments for real money. Another poker league that runs poker tournaments all over Sydney is NPL you can visit their website at www.npl.com.au and check out where you can play. There are various other poker leagues in and around Sydney, although APL and NPL are probably your best bet if you want to play poker in a casual environment and their daily live poker tournaments tend to attract lots of bad players.
If you are a bit more serious about your poker and are looking to get away from your online poker screen for awhile then there are also plenty of decent poker rooms across Sydney that you can check out. The obvious choice would be to head down to The Star Casino in Pyrmont in the city and play some live cash games or tournaments.
It is the second largest casino in Australia and the only casino in New South Wales. Their dedicated poker room on the main gaming floor of the casino has around 20 poker tables and there are always plenty of fishy players that are practically donating their money and you can make a decent amount of money. They also feature a $330 buy-in tournament every Wednesday which has a prize pool of $72,000. If you’re wanting more information about The Star tournament poker schedule you should check out their website at www.starpoker.net.au which has the full schedule.
