The Terms of the $500 Poker Challenge: Start with $500 and build your poker bankroll over a period of one year into a substantial bankroll. You may only play live games in casinos and poker rooms; no online or home games.
 
In business, location is critical for success, whether it is real estate or a doughnut shop. Playing poker seriously is, or can be, a business. So today’s column is about optimal locations for playing poker.
 
Reminder: the challenge is designed to reproduce the conditions encountered by most novices, amateurs, and aspiring semi-pro poker players, as well as railbirds and bust-outs. So as a player I am not walking into town with twenty- or thirty-thousand dollars, instead I am learning how to get a stake together by playing with an initial investment of $500.
 

 
There is an ongoing debate in the poker community as to whether there is more action and profit to be had by playing in Southern California or Las Vegas.
 
My research supports the conclusion that Los Angeles is the best place to learn new poker trends and playing styles while Las Vegas is the optimal location for grinding out a living.
 
When I lived in Los Angeles, I played primarily at Hollywood Park Casino, The Bicycle Casino, The Commerce Casino, and Hawaiian Gardens. The biggest financial obstacles are fuel, vehicle maintenance, depreciation, and travel time. Compared to Las Vegas, there are more regular weekly players but fewer new players and tourists.
 
Before going on a working vacation to research casinos and poker card rooms in the New England area, I decided to explore Las Vegas for one week.
 
Compared to anywhere else in the world Las Vegas has multiple times the poker action. Within a 25-mile radius of the Las Vegas Strip there are more poker rooms than in the entire state of California.
 
After my week in Las Vegas I headed to South Burlington, Vermont, to explore poker in the northern New England area. Vermont and Utah are the only two states in the contiguous US that do not have casinos.
 
My reason for picking a location with no casinos was to experience first-hand an unfavorable poker-playing environment and what it takes to overcome such conditions.
 
Here are three primary elements to consider in deciding if a location is playable:
 
1) Money. There has to be money available in the community where you are going to play. Do not expect to sit down and win $1,000 if there is only a total of $400 among the eight other players.
 
2) Proximity. The location must be accessible. If it is double- or triple-digit miles away, then calculate your fuel, food, and miscellaneous expenses. If your cost to play is $100, then a $100 win is necessary simply to break even. If the poker room is too far, then a lodge, veteran’s hall, poker league, or recreational center becomes the location of choice; always try to find a more formal setting than a home game.
 
3) Multiple Games. Due to the changing face and maturation of poker as a true game, there should be a variety of games available, hold’em, 7-card stud and 7-stud/8 Omaha high-only and Omaha/8, and so on. Encourage providers to spread a variety of games. My suggestion is to expand your poker skills and learn to play all eight games spread in the WSOP $50,000 buy-in event.
 
I invite you to take the $500 Poker Challenge with me and report your results!
 
John “The Scientist” Hayes hosts Ask the Scientist, a live call-in poker instruction show on www.hpstv.tv at the Hollywood Poker School in Hollywood Park Casino. Contact scientist@hpstv.tv.