Argentina is the eighth largest country in the world, with Buenos Aires being its capital and largest city. It ranks 15th in population among the world’s largest cities, with roughly 15,000,000 inhabitants. It is truly one of the great cities of the world! I visited there recently for a week chiefly to see my daughter Hannah who is living there, but also to try out their poker scene and see what poker in Argentina is like.
Buenos Aires: A Magical Capital City
Buenos Aires is best known as the birthplace and home of the tango. It also has many highly regarded restaurants, especially steak houses. There are many historic buildings of different architectural styles, as well as a variety of beautiful neighborhoods, with large parks, an immense waterfront, a widespread public transportation system, and a vibrant night life. It tends to be more a horizontal than a vertical city, with skyscrapers pretty much relegated to the Puerto Madero neighborhood, where the casino is.
I spent five days in this rich historic city, walking well over 50 miles on their streets, as well as traveling as many miles on their buses and subways. I was guided by my daughter Hannah – now a resident of the city. She and her friend Augustine helped me peer behind the façade of the city, giving me a few peeks into its beautiful core. I enjoyed many fine meals; terrific coffee; and many mouthfuls of medialunas, the local snack of choice, (kind of like a croissant). I also enjoyed, without any tour guide, playing poker at the Casino Buenos Aires.
Where to Play Poker in Argentina? Casino Buenos Aires
There is one public poker room in Buenos Aires. It is Casino Buenos Aires, also known as the Puerto Madero Casino (as it is located in the Puerto Madero section of Buenos Aires). Technically, the casino isn’t in the city itself, but on the water and thereby outside the city limits and under the jurisdiction of the country as a whole. It is on two boats that are moored on the Rio de la Plata – an estuary that separates Argentina from Uruguay. As such, federal law (not city law) applies.
The bottom line is that there is a poker room in Argentina inside a full-service casino. I visited it early on Tuesday morning and then again Tuesday afternoon.
Though the casino itself is open 24/7, and though I was told that they had poker around the clock, it should be noted that the poker room does not open until 2PM. A word of warning. People will tell you that there is poker 24/7. They will even send you to the poker game, to the left and up a level as you enter the casino. But this is NOT the poker that you and I know and love. It is blackjack!
Poker – that is the game we all know that is played against other players – is often just called “Texas” by the locals. That is played only in the poker room, located on the bottom of a four-floor boat. As mentioned, the poker room only opens at 2:00 PM. You enter to the right as you come into the casino. The poker room at Casino Buenos Aires has 29 tables. When I returned to the room at about 2:30 PM, 11 tables were in use for a daily tournament while two were in use for a cash game.
The room spreads only no limit Texas Hold’em. They spread two stakes. The first, and the one that was going when I arrived, is 2,500/5,000 Argentinian pesos (roughly $2.25/4.50), with a minimum of 250,000 and maximum of 500,000 buy-in. (Note: The peso’s value fluctuates regularly and quickly. When I arrived, it was roughly 1,100 Argentinian pesos to the dollar. By the time this article gets published, it may be worse, and by the time you read it worse still. Try not to hold on to too many pesos when you leave the country. Change them back as soon as you can, as the rate may well be drastically different in a week.) The other game is played in US dollars. It’s $2/5, with a $400 minimum and $2,000 maximum buy-in. Though the blinds are roughly equivalent in the peso and US dollar game, the buy-ins allowed in the dollar game make it play much larger.
What Makes Poker in Buenos Aires Unique?
There are a number of peculiarities that a player needs to be mindful of when they play poker in Buenos Aires.
The first is that you’ll need Argentinian pesos to play in the first game I described, and that’s the only game they spread before 7PM. In most casinos around the world that’s never a problem, as the casino will gladly change your currency into local bills. But it’s not nearly so easy in Buenos Aires. The poker room cashier will not accept foreign currency. The casino will not change money for you. And there is no bank or ATM in or near the casino that will change money or dispense local currency. Note, as well, that the ATM machine may not take your card, may have have run out of cash to dispense, or may dispense only very small amounts of cash and charge very high fees. Your best bet is to change money at a bank or “cambio” business.
The second is that, unlike most of Europe and Asia, most of the casino employees speak very little or no English. You may have a difficult time making yourself understood, especially on a subject as arcane as currency conversion. You may find yourself frustrated as you try to find out what you’re supposed to do in order to play. (There is one floor person I found, Nestor, who uncharacteristically DID speak English. He was very helpful.)
Here’s the thing. All that being said, it IS possible to change your money into local currency in the casino. If you don’t have local currency, and you don’t want to trudge back into the city and find a “cambio” store or bank, you may be able to find a casino patron, not employee, in the poker room who will buy your dollars, euros, or pounds in exchange for pesos. Some poker players do this routinely – but only on the QT. I found someone through the floor person. He put me in touch with a player (the one good player at my table) who agreed to surreptitiously change my dollars into pesos, but he also cautioned me to be very discrete, as “we could be arrested if we were caught.” I met this guy and, in secret, made the exchange, at a rate about 20% worse than the bank rate.
Poker in Argentina: The Rake
The rake when playing poker in Casino Buenos Aires is unconventional as well. It is a lower percentage than what you’d typically find in the states – but with no cap – no maximum! It’s 5% of the entire pot, not counting any uncalled wager. For small pots, that works out better than the typical 10% rate with a $5 to $10 cap. But as soon as a pot is larger than $100, the “no cap” rule starts to hurt. I saw, for example, three guys get their $1,000 stacks in. The pot was a little over $3,000. The winner would have won roughly $2,000, but the house took out $150 in rake!!!! He only won $1,850. He didn’t seem to mind a bit, as he was raking in a huge pot. But had he won the same hand at an American casino, he’d have pocketed at least $140 more!
READ MORE: 7 Strategies to Find the Lowest Poker Rake
How good are the poker games in Buenos Aires, Argentina?
It’s always tempting, and often inaccurate, to try and describe how good or bad games are when I travel to play poker. My sample size is generally quite small. I really am seeing a very small part of what is a much larger beast. That being said, during my two or so hours of play in the poker room at Casino Buenos Aires, I’d have to say that if the game I played in is not an exception, it is a place for making money – even when accounting for the rake. The players, with one exception, met the definition of loose-passive calling stations. Most players called the large blind. Few raised it. When it was raised, usually at least one person called. I witnessed no three-betting during my session (except for mine). Players exercised little if any deception. They called each other down with truly substandard hands – and would frequently “check the river”, as a kind of courtesy when it was heads up. Of course, this could have been a wildly exceptional variety of a game that is typically more cutthroat. But from what I viewed, a good, solid, and patient player, playing conventionally, could make money here.
My initial 500,000 cash game buy in (1,000 pesos to 1 US dollar)
I asked about the bigger US dollar game, played at 7:00 PM each night. I left before it got started; so I can’t say this with first-hand knowledge; but I was told that it played much bigger, and had a hard core of dedicated serious players. Curiously, while the percentage of the rake is the same in both games, the US dollar game has a cap of $30. I can only presume that this is because there are frequently larger pots in the dollar game; and the patrons recognized how much was routinely coming out of the pot. Still, a $30 cap is among the highest in the world.
There are no promotions when playing poker in Argentina – and, hence, no promotional drop. When I asked if there were free drinks, people laughed. “No free nada” I was told, not even water, soda or coffee. There is table-side waitress service for drinks. There is a bar in the poker room, with alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks available.
Though there are a few dining establishments on site, they are not in or next to the poker room, but toward the entrance of the casino, a five- to seven-minute walk away. I visited them. There is a fairly wide variety of sandwiches, pizza, salads, and desserts available. The prices are a little bit higher than you’d find in the rest of the city, but nothing like the extortionary prices at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.
The poker room hosts tournaments a few times a week. The venue is also one of the stops on at least one major tournament series each year.
Buenos Aires Poker Room: Playing Conditions
The physical condition of the room is about average. The chairs are moderately comfortable, the lighting good, the ceiling fairly low, the chips relatively clean. The cards, on the other hand, are about as worn as I’ve seen in a public room. They are well used, have myriad dents, dings, and dirty patches on them. For some reason, the floor is unwilling to switch in new decks. The players laughed heartily when I pointed out the flaws and smudges on the cards and asked how we might get a new set up. “They never switch decks!” someone added. Someone with extremely sharp eyes and a keen memory for such things might be able to make out enough soiling and denting on the back to gain an advantage. They didn’t help me a bit.
The dealers were competent, kept the game moving, and called over the floor the one time there was a dealer error (the dealer burned and turned before all action was complete). The mood was light, the players affable and laid back. The two cash games in action when I was there were filled with male senior citizens like me. They all seemed to know each other. It played substantially looser and less seriously than the day-time games I’ve played in the US – that tend to be rock gardens. Stacks here tended toward the maximum of 500,000 pesos. I saw no minimum buy-ins during my two hours.
Getting To Madero Poker Room in Buenos Aires
Unless you live in South America, Buenos Aires is a long way away. It’s further, as the crow flies, from where I live in Boston than Tokyo, Japan – and nearly double the distance from Boston to London. Even so, it is serviced with frequent flights from many major cities. They have two major international airports. In that sense, it’s just a question of how much time you’re willing to invest in the trip there and back. For me, the 16-hour trip was worth it.
Once you’re in Buenos Aires, it’s relatively simple to get to the casino – though it, too, may take some time. Driving or taking a cab or Uber would be the easiest way to get to there. There is a very large parking lot in front of the casino.
Located as it is on the very edge of the city, is not particularly convenient for those without a car. I took a bus to the subway and then walked 15 minutes. There is a shuttle bus to and from the casino that operates after 2PM that will take you across the city. I took it part of the way back to my apartment, stopping at a busy bus stop, from where I caught a bus to my residence. It took a little over an hour.
Poker in Argentina: Conclusion
All in all, I’m very glad I sampled this room. I enjoyed my experience very much. I don’t think I would fly down to Buenos Aires just to play poker (though it might be cool to come down here for a major tournament series). But if I happen to be here for some other reason, I would definitely schedule some time to play poker.
Casino Buenos Aires has a website, presumably with all sorts of helpful and updated information. Unfortunately, their website, which also is a portal to their online gambling site, is blocked for US-based poker players. The Madero Poker Room does have a Facebook page though, which I recommend visiting for up-to-date information ahead of your trip.
Poker in Argentina: A quick summary of my recommendations
- Make sure you have local currency when you arrive at the casino if you want to play before the 7PM US dollar game opens up. If you don’t have pesos, see if you can find a player who is willing to make an exchange. Expect to pay a premium for the convenience.
- Bring your passport.
- Realize that they refer to blackjack as poker, and sometimes poker as “Texas”.
- Make sure you have a proper converter for your phone charger. Plugs here are different from other places in the world.
- Tipping is always welcome but it is not expected, especially for pots under $100.
- The Argentinian peso has historically not been stable. Make sure to convert whatever you can back to your home currency before leaving Argentina. It may depreciate quickly.
- This is the southern hemisphere. They have winter in July and summer in December. Make sure to bring appropriate clothes.
- Buenos Aires is a relatively safe city. Even so, as in many big cities, there is a fair amount of street crime. Be careful when carrying money.
