The TBC Talking Stick/Wild Horse Pass Challenge

Recently, Tony Bigcharles has been posting about some of his exploits in the Phoenix area casinos. This should primarily mean Talking Stick Resort and Wild Horse Pass casino. I have played at both over the past few years and can attest that they are great rooms for a number of reasons. I know that Tony previously played at The Stick, but I was unsure about Wild Horse Pass.

In a recent public post on Twitter, Tony stated "Phoenix is one of the last places remaining in the US where the lowest stakes are weak as hell and still beatable for over $1000 a week if u have the proper bankroll, which i doubt." I responded: "Tony, an experienced gambler like you should understand that you can't use a few days to make that kind of determination. If you play a few more sessions, I predict: you will lose several hundred dollars and: 1) no longer think the game is "beatable;" and 2) run somewhere else."

I thought it was foolish of Tony to make such a statement based on a very small sample. I was predicting that variance would soon bite him in the butt. I do acknowledge, as others such as AlaskaGal1 pointed out, that the games at The Stick have a reputation of being good, loose games. Even when I got my lunch handed to me a few times on my last trip to Phoenix, those beats were a result of a tremendous cooler and instances where I had my money in good and had people suck out on me. But a guy like Tony pulling down $1,000 a week? I asked for input from WECpoker, probably the person I am acquainted with who would be most the most knowledgeable about poker in the Phoenix area. Among other things, WEC tweeted, "I have to agree with Tony Bigcharles! He is echoing many things I have messaged him the past few days concerning some if the best games in US in Phoenix. As far as $1k a week in smallest games? Sure, very achievable+  more I think if playing 40 hrs. Lots of loose calls, over calls, & calling stations to help profit. If yer trying a lot of bluffing I think profit goes down. Lot of people calling you light, even some Ace High heroes. $100,000+ yearly earnings from poker in Phoenix? Yeah, no doubt easily within reach. Prolly not for Mr Bigcharles, but for a dedicated high level player it's a reasonable goal imo."

Okay -- so it looks like poker in the Phoenix area appears to be as several people have stated. If that is truly the case, why would Tony want to move anywhere else at this time? Northern casinos will start getting bad weather, options in Las Vegas are now few, Los Angeles casinos have a buy-in that makes games challenging. Why not just stay in Phoenix and watch the sockroll grow?

Some things to factor into the equation: 1) Tony reports that he is spending about $24/day on Uber. Not bad. He sometimes fails to consider that those of us who drive cars have a large built-in cost (buying the vehicle/monthly payments, insurance, gas, regular maintenance, unforeseen problems (like my $500+ repair from just over a week ago) ... 2) Food. Those of us who work regular jobs either have to buy lunch or make it ourselves. Same thing with dinner and maybe other meals. If we have a spouse/partner, kids or dependents, hike that figure up tremendously! Tony survives on the barest of food expenses. He stated in his blog: " theres a ton of self entitled spoilt rich people who order food at the table here and ive never understood why so many do that." Well, I guess Tony doesn't know the answer to that. At Talking Stick, the food is very good, inexpensive, delivered right to the table, and oftentimes paid for with casino comps. At Wild Horse Pass, unless things have changed, players have a poker menu from which to select meals and only pay 1/2 the listed price. Again, the food here, in my experience, has been good. So Tony can actually eat pretty well in the poker rooms for next to nothing. 3) Housing. This might prove more challenging because of the location of the casinos, but perhaps if Tony were to make a long-term commitment to stay in one place, he might find a decent deal.

So Tony, as I see it, here is your chance to grow that sockroll that once went over $45,000 and looked to be heading up to $50,000 (and a pox on Pete Peters, who declined to take my bet on the direction of the sockroll, saving himself from losing a nice wad of cashola). You stayed in Reno for a pretty long time. Commit to staying in Phoenix for six months. If you really can win the money you speak of, at the end of six months, the sockroll, which has stayed about the same for some time, should grow enough for you to then decide what your next move will be, and you will have a much bigger sockroll to then increase or decrease.

This all seems easy enough to me. Tony - what do you say?