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4/3/2022
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There are 5 poker rooms in the Atlantic City area, and we at PokerAtlas provide complete and up-to-date information about every room in every location including Boardwalk and Marina District.

Where to Play Poker in North Metro Atlanta

Catch me playing free poker in the Cherokee County area of Atlanta. I play games at locations in Canton, Woodstock, Kennesaw, and Marietta. Sometimes I catch a game in Atlanta, Alpharetta, Marietta, Smyrna, Roswell, or Dunwoody.

I have played in several different Atlanta poker leagues.

Most of the time these days I'm playing in Full House Holdem or Interstate games.

Atlanta Poker League Review

Here is my experience in several different Atlanta area poker leagues. Since I'm in Cherokee County, I enjoy playing close to home most of the time.

Interstate Poker Club

Interstate Poker Club seems to be the biggest poker league in the Atlanta area. They conduct more games daily than any other league I have found. Their games are spread out geographically and the monthly tournament never seems to be particularly convenient for players in Cherokee County.

Interstate, as their name states, is a club. Everyone who comes gets a free membership card. But players who either pay a fee or win in certain games get a special membership card which awards them double chip ups before and during the games.

Interstate is probably the best organized league I have played poker with in the Atlanta area. The dealers are better than the random dealers I've encountered in other leagues. And the tournament directors seem to be better trained than other leagues too.

I don't play enough Interstate games to gain enough points to qualify for their monthly tournaments. In addition to their monthly tournament, there are other opportunities to qualify for tournaments.

Top 3 Poker

Top 3 plays in more venues in the Cherokee County area than the other leagues I've played. They also have games in Cobb County.

The blind structure includes antes after the blinds have gone up several times. This forces players to eventually bet more aggressively as the game progresses.

The bonus chip up rules prevents any one play from accumulating a huge chip stack by ordering a ton of food and drinks. I like this feature, as other leagues allow players to get a huge stack of bonus chips that way out of proportion to the starting chip stack.

The Top 3 Poker league rewards all players coming in the top three positions in any game with a seat to their monthly tournament. They also have a quarterly and yearly tournament.

The tournament structure and chip up rules of Top 3 makes it fairly easy for players to have a shot at making it to a tournament. Just be one of the top 3 players in a game and you have made it to a tournament!

Full House Holdem

Full House Holdem has many venues throughout North Metro Atlanta but few venues in Cherokee County. Because they are spread out geographically and have so many venues, I can usually catch a game somewhere after a day of home inspections or showing homes to clients that are not near my home.

The bonus chip up rules allows players to accumulate huge chip stacks before the game starts and allows for a huge chip up during the game. This often results in some players having a chip stack way out of proportion to the starting blinds and way out of proportion to the other players even before the game starts.

Full House Holdem conducts a quarterly tournament. Winning a seat at the quarterly requires a minimum number of points which are accumulated throughout the season. Players must come in the top 8 in order to get points. Making it to the tournament requires playing a lot of games.

Any Two Cards

I'm less familiar with Any Two Cards and have played very few games. They don't have a presence in Cherokee County.

Their chip up rules are similar to Full House Holdem, but it seems like they reward players who order any food or drinks with a generous chip up. This makes the chip up slightly less out of proportion to other players compared to the Full House Holdem chip up rules.

The generous chip up before the game means all players have a big chip stack at the start of the game. And the games last longer compared to games in the other leagues.

The Any Two Cards game is one long game while the other leagues usually host at least two faster paced games.

Winning Poker Hands - Texas Hold'em

Here are the winning poker hands in Texas Hold'em. For a PDF copy of these hands to print and use as a reference when you are playing poker, download Winning Poker Hands here.

High Card: If no one has any of the below winning hands, the winning hand is determined by the highest value card in the hand. If the highest cards are a tie then the tie is broken by the second highest card. Suits are not used to break ties.
Pair: One pair of two equal value cards.
Two Pair: Two separate pairs (eg. 4,4,Q,Q). The pair with the higher value is used to determine the winner of a tie.
Three of a Kind: Three cards of the same value. The highest set of three cards wins.
Straight: Five cards in sequence, but not in the same suit. A straight cannot wrap, meaning it is not a straight if you have a Queen, King, Ace, Two, Three. The higher straight wins if two or more people have a straight.
Flush: Any five cards of the same suit, but not in sequence. The high card determines the winner if two or more people have a flush.
Full House: Three of a kind combined with a pair (eg. A,A,A,5,5). Ties on a full house are broken by the three of a kind, as you cannot have two equal sets of three of a kind in any single deck.
Four of a Kind: All four cards of the equal value (eg. J,J,J,J).
Straight Flush: Any five card sequence in the same suit. (eg. 8,9,10,J,Q and A,2,3,4,5 of same suit) All the cards are of the same suit, and all are consecutive. Ranking between straights is determined by the value of the high end of the straight. When the Ace is the high end of the straight in the same suit (10,J,Q,K,A) it is called a Royal Flush and is an unbeatable hand.

For a PDF copy of these hands to print and use as a reference when you are playing poker, download Winning Poker Hands here.

  1. Atlanta Poker Club If you want to play Texas holdem poker locally in and around Atlanta, you can find some decent action through the Atlanta Poker Club. This club runs a series of poker games at restaurants and bars around the greater Atlanta area.
  2. Where To Play Poker With The APC. Dillon’s Sports Bar. No Limit Holdem.
  3. The Atlanta Poker Club is proud to announce their first venues popping up in Marietta Georgia. We are playing our brand of texas holdem at Sportsline Bar and Grille in Marietta. This is the first of many places to play poker with the APC coming in the I-75 N of I-285 including Marietta, Smyrna, Kennesaw and growing out towards Woodstock and over towards Roswell and Sandy Springs.
  4. 2500 Cobb Place Ln NW Ste 100. Kennesaw, GA 30144. From Business: Our family owned and operated business has been helping customers save money and make the best choices on pool cues, billiard supplies, dart supplies and game.

John Marion is the agent who buys houses in Cherokee County Georgia and throughout North Metro Atlanta
Call or TEXT John @ 703-371-9548

Important GA Notes

  • Residents from GA can play legally at offshore poker sites
  • iGaming is a longshot for the foreseeable future in Georgia
  • Live poker is available on cruise ships
  • Lottery and charitable gaming are legal forms of gambling
  • Land casino expansion may happen in 2016
Atlanta
Georgia’s state lottery set a record in tickets sales in the 2017 fiscal year with $4.55 billion in total revenue. GA has been getting closer on approving a large expansion in land-based casino gambling (up to five casinos) in the state over the past two years. Studies are in the works to try and determine how much of an economic impact these casinos could potentially have. On another note, state Senator Renee Unterman has introduced legislation to regulate online daily fantasy sports (DFS) betting. Currently, around 1.5 million people in Georgia engage in this activity.
RECOMMENDED POKER WEBSITE FOR Georgia
Instead of crossing the border into Florida to play live poker, players are instead continuing to play on the internet. BetOnline is recommended for players in Georgia, and all 50 USA states, as a legit offshore site procuring all payments.

“Reviewed by Chuck Humphrey – 50 year Gaming Law Practitioner”

Poker is illegal under Georgia law because it is a game played with cards. Though no specific reference has been made to online poker in the statutes, it is understood to be legal because playing poker is legal on a Federal level. The law does mention that transmitting gambling information over the internet is illegal within the state of Georgia. However, as elsewhere in the United States, Georgia residents continue to play online poker at offshore sites.

Future Outlook of Online Poker in Georgia – Estimated date of legalization: 2020-2021

The following graph tracks our expected legislation of online poker in Georgia on a state law level. It is currently already legal on a Federal level. This graph monitors the current rise or fall of expected legalization.


Attempts last year to introduce sports betting in Georgia did not succeed, but...

Places To Play Poker In Atlanta


Senate Bill 79, a bill that would've seen the beginning of a legislative...

Recent Activity
Future outlook of online poker is bleak in Georgia. There have been no bills introduced in the legislature for legalization of online gambling. There is even no discussion at any forum to push ahead for such legalization. The best thing that can be said about the outlook of online poker in Georgia is that there have been no arrests made for playing poker online. In comparison, gambling raids followed by arrests is not uncommon for land poker games as reported in this article on Patch.com[A].

Current Gambling Laws in Georgia

In the Official Code of Georgia[B], gambling laws are covered under Chapter 12 of Title 16 which reads, “Offenses against public health and morals”. Article 2 covers gambling in Part 1 and bingo in Part 2. Section 16-12-20 defines a bet as “an agreement that, dependent upon chance even though accompanied by some skill, one stands to win or lose something of value”. Insurance and contests of only skill are specifically exempted.

Under Section 16-12-21 a person commits the offense of gambling when he places a bet. This section describes different types of bets including, “Plays and bets for money or other thing of value at any game played with cards, dice, or balls.” The section goes on to state that a person who commits the offense of gambling shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. An aggravated gambling offense is a felony. Under section 13-8-3 gambling contracts are void and, “money paid or property delivered upon a gambling consideration may be recovered from the winner by the loser”.

Bingo for charity is permitted. State Lottery has been permitted under Chapter 27 of Title 50.

Section 16-12-28 of the Official Code of Georgia states, “A person who knowingly communicates information as to bets, betting odds, or changes in betting odds or who knowingly installs or maintains equipment for the transmission or receipt of such information with the intent to further gambling commits the offense of communicating gambling information.”

Places To Play Poker In Atlanta

History of Gambling in Georgia

State Lottery launched.
Video poker machines specifically banned.

Places To Play Poker In Atlanta Ga

Online sale of lottery tickets allowed. Bill to allow pari-mutuel wagering on horse racing introduced but stalled.

Atlanta Poker Club

Coin operated amusement machines allowed under Lottery Corporation oversight.
State Rep. Ron Stephens has proposed two bills to license land-based casinos and change the state’s constitution to allow casino gambling. However, on February 29th House Speaker David Ralston mentioned that neither bill will be voted on this year.
The state lottery set a record in tickets sales with $4.55 billion in total revenue.

Land Based Poker in Georgia

Georgia covers the apparent loophole of poker being a game of skill in its laws. Gambling is defined as placing a bet on an outcome even if some skill is involved, and is illegal. Only if the event is based on 100% skill then it would not be gambling. And it would be difficult to convince any court that poker is based on 100% skill.

Poker at home would be legal only if there are no stakes or prizes involved. It has to be played purely for fun. Some states that have banned poker commercially, allow home poker with stakes if no rake is taken. Georgia is not among them.

Charity Poker Tournaments

Though some forms of gambling have been allowed for charity, poker is not included.

In Georgia there is only one place to play live poker. That is on the cruise ships that host cash games and tournaments. There is a charge to be paid for boarding the cruise ships.

Gambling Laws in Georgia

Summary

Georgia is one of the most anti-gambling states in America. Land casinos, including Native American casinos, are illegal under the sections described earlier. The exception is cruise ship gambling. In 2011, the Georgia Lottery Corporation commissioned a report[C] that recommended setting up three casinos to generate $1 billion a year for the state. No action was taken on the report.

Poker

Though horse racing is permitted and is popular[D] to some extent, wagering on horse races is currently prohibited because it involves gambling. However a bill, HB 4[E], was introduced in the House for the 2013-14 session of the general assembly but nothing came to fruition. Lawmakers in the state continue to seek to allow regulated pari-mutuel wagering on horse races.

In 2000, there was a boom of video poker machines in Georgia. Though video poker machines are gambling devices and illegal, the operators found a loophole in the state law that allowed hosts to legally pay out prizes, including cash, for video poker wins. The legislature passed a law in 2002, explicitly banning video poker machines. The operators went to court and a Superior Court judge held the law illegal. Ultimately, the Supreme Court of Georgia overturned the decision and the ban went into effect. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ran an article in 2011 that reported video poker machines were rampant despite being illegal.

Georgia residents can engage in casino gambling on cruise ships like the Emerald Princess Casino. Patrons have to be 21 or more to enter these cruise casinos. These cruise casinos offer the complete range of gambling activities that include slots, blackjack, craps, roulette, poker, and video poker. The ships cannot offer gambling while docked. They have to sail three miles into International waters where casino gambling is legal. One of the cruise ships operates from Savannah and the other from Historic Brunswick.

Charitable Gambling in Georgia

Places To Play Poker In Atlanta Ga

Nonprofit, tax exempt organizations as defined under section 16-12-51 of the Official Code of Georgia are allowed to legally conduct bingo games and raffles to help raise money for charity. They are required to obtain a license from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The terms and conditions of the operations are specified in the statute. People under 18 years of age can participate in raffle or bingo games as long as the prize is not more than $5 in wholesale value.

The state lottery was established in 1992 and started operating in 1993. It is conducted by the Georgia Lottery Corporation[F] with headquarters in Atlanta. Georgia residents have to be 18 or more in order to buy lottery tickets. According to the laws and regulations governing the lottery, half the money collected will have to be paid back as prizes, a third will be “used to support improvements and enhancements for educational purposes and programs” and the balance will be for meeting operational expenses. A number of games and draws are restricted for Georgia residents, but the Georgia Lottery Corporation also subscribes to the national Powerball and Mega Millions.

In 2012, Georgia became one of the first states to start selling lottery tickets online. A report in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution informs that this was enabled by the Federal government stating that the Wire Act applied only to sports betting. The legislature granted approval in July 2012 and online sales commenced in November 2012.

An article in the Savannah Morning News reported that in March 2013 the Georgia legislature permitted the operation of bona fide coin operated amusement machines that did not pay out prizes in cash or kind. These machines would be under the oversight of the Georgia Lottery Corporation. Tickets sales in the 2016 fiscal year were $4.55 billion, an all-time record.

Author:Joseph Falchetti (twitter)
(C) Copyright PokerWebsites.com, 2018

References and Citations

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