So you’re going to try your luck at poker at a casino. Where should you go? Well, in this Golden Age of poker, you have a lot of options, whether you’re in California, Nevada, or New Jersey. Here are a few good possibilities.1. The BellagioThe Bellagio, in Las Vegas, is every poker player’s dream casino. The casino itself is gorgeous and palatial, more reminiscent of a sprawling European estate than a spot for tourists to try their hand at blackjack. Featuring one of the largest and nicest poker rooms in Las Vegas, this casino holds the World Poker Tour’s Championship event and is regularly host to the “Big Game” where the country’s greatest poker professionals lock horns at stakes as high as $4000/$8000 limits. They cater to more reasonable limits as well; if $3/$6 Hold`em, Stud, or $100 buy in No Limit is your game, there’s a seat for you at the Bellagio poker room.2. The VenetianIn April of 2006, the Venetian is opening a 10,500 square foot poker room which they promise will be not only the largest, but the most beautiful and technologically advanced in Las Vegas. The room will feature 39 poker tables for Texas Hold`em, Seven Card Stud and Omaha, food service and 21 large screen plasma televisions. It is sure to be a one of a kind poker experience.3. The BorgataThe Borgata hotel and casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey is the first casino in Atlantic City built with the poker player in mind. The poker room is spacious and attractive and easy to read computerized screens show you how soon your seat will be available. The Borgata is host to the World Poker Tour’s Winter Poker Open and has daily, reasonably priced poker tournaments.4. The Bicycle CasinoThe Bicycle Casino, or simply “The Bike” in Los Angeles, California is one of the oldest and most popular card rooms in the state. The Bike is host to the World Poker Tour’s Legends of Poker event and regularly holds exciting tournament series with buy-ins ranging from $200 to $10,000. They also hold daily tournaments for as little as $20. The Bike recently expanded its No-Limit section and now features “Live at the Bike,” a “TV Table” of sorts, where the play is webcast on the Bicycle Casino website.5. Commerce CasinoCommerce Casino, also in Los Angeles, is one of the most famous casinos in the world. It is home to the World Poker Tour’s L.A. Poker Classic and the Poker Hall of Fame. It’s also the casino where you’re most likely to meet a celebrity. If you want to rub elbows at the table with James Woods, Lou Diamond Phillips, or Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss, you’ll want to stop by Commerce. Commerce has a whole floor dedicated to tournament play and two huge rooms for cash games, one side for high limit and one for lower limits. They feature Hold`em, Omaha and Stud at virtually any limit you can think of.Poker is becoming more and more popular every day and these casinos give you a poker experience you’ll never forget. If you get a chance, try to get to all of them.

If there is one thing that most new players really struggle with it is proper poker bankroll management. They get on a hot streak or want to “run it up” and before they know it, they are re-depositing. Now, poker sites love this, but this is no way to become a great poker player. Learning the basics of Hold’em is fairly easy and most players who put in some time to study strategy can beat micro-stakes in a short time. However, most of these same players completely underestimate variance. One horrible session can decimate your bankroll if you are not practicing proper bankroll management.Since it can be a struggle, I’ll try to lay it out as simply as possible. Remember this is just a guide. You may decide you want to be a little more aggressive with your poker bankroll (not recommended) or maybe a little tighter with your roll (good choice). Also, depending on your game choice, full ring versus six-max for instance, and your style of play, you may adjust the rules accordingly.Cash Game Poker Bankroll Management:- At stakes up to $10 no-limit you should have a minimum of 20 buy-ins for your level. If you have $50 bankroll, you should be playing $2 NL with 25 buy-ins until you get to $100 in your roll. Then you can move to $5 NL.- At stakes from $10 NL through $100 NL you should have a minimum of 30 buy-ins. So to start playing at $10 no-limit you should have a $300 bankroll. You can move up to $25 NL at $750, $50 NL at $1,500 and $100 NL at $3,000.- You should play $100 NL until you get $8,000 in your bankroll. This is 40 buy-ins, which should be sufficient for levels above $200 NL.- Six-max players should use at least these buy-in rules as a guide. Some would argue this is not enough for six-max games, as they are more “swingy” than full-ring games. Heads-up players should definitely have much more in their roll, possibly even double the rules laid out here.Sit and Go Poker Bankroll Management- Sit and Go’s are more volatile than cash games in general. 50 buy-ins should be plenty at most buy-in levels. If you start with a $50 bankroll, plan on playing $1 Sit and Go’s until you get to $100, then move up to $2 buy-ins and so forth.Multi-table Tournaments Poker Bankroll Management- Grinding multi-table tournaments is a hard way to build a bankroll indeed. However, some people love the thrill of the huge field of players and large prizes relative to the buy-in. If you plan to play MTT’s, you should have 100 buy-ins for the level you want to play. If you are fortunate enough to land a big score, don’t simply jump up to the level that your bankroll supports. Move up slowly to make sure you can beat each level in turn.Again, this is a guide, you can adjust it according to what you feel comfortable with. The biggest key is to have rules, so that when a downswing comes, and it comes for everyone, you have a plan. Speaking of that, you should move down when necessary.For example, say you have a $100 bankroll and you play cash games. You would probably be playing $5 NL with a 20 buy-in bankroll. If you have a run of bad cards and lose 5 buy-ins or more, don’t be ashamed to move back down and build it back up. There are very, very few people who have never had to move down after trying to move up. The ones who never move down are the ones who are constantly making deposits.If you follow these rules strictly, you will never go broke and likely never have to make a deposit again!