ProfessionalRakeback.com is dedicated to providing accurate and pertinent information about online poker sites, but we also review live poker venues from time to time. Our staff consists of professional poker players and gamblers with years of experience playing both live and online poker. Indeed, it is a welcome change of pace to jump into the live poker streets after grinding at a computer.
We recently visited Ontario, Oregon, and played poker at two local live venues. This article will focus on Action’s Card House, a small social poker room located in the somewhat remote town of Ontario, OR. Although the room is small, it does boast consistent action and provides an excellent environment to play live poker. Read on in this review to learn all about this small, local cardroom and what it has to offer.
Website: https://www.actionscardhouse.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/actionscardhouse/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/actionscardhouse
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@actionshouse7775
Location: Ontario, Oregon
Hours: Opens at 5:00pm Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday; Opens at 3:00pm Monday; Opens at 12:00pm Friday and Saturday; Cash games run as long as there is action.
Promos: $2,500+ Progressive Bonus Board, Monthly Freerolls, $100 High Hands, $50 Quads w/pocket pair. Earn points to redeem towards free play, ACH swag, and more. 1 Hour of cash play = 1 point; Each tournament entry = 1 point
Tables: 5
Rake: Technically no rake…but 10% up to $5 will be converted into unique chips, and it is then up to the player to decide if he or she wants to donate those chips to the house(this is basically mandatory, I have never seen a player attempt to keep or cash these chips, although technically allowed)
Miscellaneous: No smoking. Uncapped buyins with a $40 minimum for $1/$2 games, plenty of TVs around the poker room
Food/Beverage: Bar attached serves beer and other alcoholic beverages at the tables, food is also available. A full-service bar next door/attached featuring off-track betting and video lottery terminals(basically slot machines)
Pros: Plenty of TVs to watch sports, very friendly environment, and plenty of beatable players
Cons: Little action besides $1/$2 NL and the game can be aggressively straddled at times, raising the stakes far beyond $1/$2
Contents
Action’s Card House Location
Action’s Card House is located at 490 East Ln #9 in Ontario, Oregon. The room sits in a receded parking lot alongside a few other local businesses including the attached bar. The windows are almost entirely covered, so it isn’t possible to see play from outside of the venue, which is generally a good thing for player comfort and safety.
Ontario, Oregon is a small city alongside the East Oregon border. Ontario is about a 50-minute drive northeast from Boise, Idahoand therefore is definitely the closest place for people in Boise to play real-money live poker. Despite the small population of around 12,000 people living in Ontario, Action’s Card House manages to have solid action and consistent play almost every single day.
Action’s Card House Poker Games
Cash Games
Cash games are offered almost every day at Action’s Card House. On Mondays, Action’s runs a $1/$2 No Limit Omaha game starting at 3:00 pm. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays Action’s opens at 5:00 pm and primarily offers $1/$2 NL Hold’em, although other games and variations like an Omaha Hi/Lo button are often thrown into the mix. Tuesdays also list a $2/$4 Limit Hold’em and a $4/$8 Limit Omaha game.
A cash game table at Action’s Card HouseOn Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays the action gets started at 12:00 pm with tables featuring both $1/$2 Hold’em and $1/$2 NL Omaha Hi/Lo. Higher stakes tables of $2/$5 or $5/$10 also run occasionally if enough players want to play.
The minimum buyin for all $1/$2 games at Action’s Card House is $40 and buyins are generally uncapped. Action’s offers generous promotions for cash games players including a $50 quads bonus with a pocket pair, $100 high hands, and monthly freeroll tournaments.
A view from a cash game table facing the cage at Action’s Card HouseTournaments
Action’s Card House offers tournaments five days per week. The tournament schedule is provided on their website and we will include it below:
- Sunday, 1:00 pm: NLH Tournament, Buyin: $50.
Starting stack of 10,000 with $10 dealer incentive for 5,000 chips.
1 Rebuy allowed until the first break, $20 add-on at the break for an additional 10,000 chips. - Wednesday, 7:00 pm: Unlimited Rebuys, Buyin: $30.
Starting stack of 7,000 plus $10 dealer incentive for an extra 3,000 chips.
$20 rebuys give you 10,000 in chips until the first break. $20 add-on at the break for an additional 10,000 in chips. - Thursday, 7:00 pm: Mystery Bounty Tournament, Buyin: $60.
Starting stack of 10,000 $10 dealer incentive for 5,000 additional chips.
2 rebuys allowed until the first break. $20 add-on at the break for 10,000 additional chips. - Friday, 1:00 pm: NLH Tournament, Buyin: $50.
Starting stack of 10,000 with a $10 dealer incentive for 5,000 chips.
Unlimited Rebuys until the break and a $20 add-on at the break for an additional 10,000 in chips. - Saturday: 1:00pm, Tournaments: 1st-3rd Saturday, Freeze Out, Buyin: $100.
15,000 Starting stack with a $10 dealer incentive for an additional 5,000 chips
3rd Saturday will feature 1 optional rebuy costing $110 for 20,000 in chips.
4th Saturday, Free Roll Tournament Featuring a 10,000 Starting stack with Unlimited Rebuys until the first break. $20 add-on at the break for an additional 10,000 in chips.
Qualifications are 20 hours of cash play or 8 tournaments from the prior month.
Buy-ins are also allowed for $50 with a $10 dealer incentive for 5,000 additional chips.
Some of the poker tables at Action’s Card HouseIn addition to the daily tournaments, Action’s makes it a point to put on special events with significantly larger buyins and prize pools from time to time. A good example of this is the January Deep Stack Tournament which will feature a $300 buyin and at least $10,000 in guaranteed prize money. This tournament will take place on January 21st at 1:00 pm.
Action’s Card House has also run special satellites to propel members to play at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas and other large events like the Poker Round Up Events at Wildhorse Casino and Resort.
Promotions
Action’s Card House features a number of solid promotions partially due to its partnership with Caesar’s Entertainment. Through this partnership, Action’s Card House is able to reward dedicated players with excellent comps at Caesar’s properties in Las Vegas. You will be able to earn 1 point for every hour of cash game play as well as 1 point for every tournament entry. The points can be redeemed for swag, hotel stays locally, and more.
Another unique promotion offered at Action is a monthly freeroll tournament on the 4th Saturday of the month that usually boasts at least $1,000 in guaranteed, house-added prize money. To qualify for the freeroll, you’ll need to play eight tournaments or 20 hours of cash games during that month.
Poker Room Feel and Environment
Action’s Card House boasts a professional and sophisticated feel, especially considering it is in such a small town. The room is primarily red and black and the walls feature portraits of professional poker players including Johnny Chan and Antonio Esfandiari.
Action’s Card House has an ATM on site near the cage. TVs plaster the walls so you can always keep an eye on your favorite sports while you play poker. There is also a small table with free snacks like chips and candy as well as free coffee. There are plenty of other beverage and dining options that you can purchase from the table through the adjacent bar, which we will cover in slightly more detail below.
Dining and Beverage Options
In addition to the free snacks and coffee provided at Action’s, there is a bar next door called Action’s Sports Bar. Action’s Sports Bar serves plenty of affordable, quality food that you can enjoy at the bar or in the poker room. Action’s Sports Bar also boasts Off-Track Betting and Oregon Video Lottery Terminals where you can enjoy Vegas-style slot machines.
Other Important Information
One other important thing to take note of is the unique manner in which cash games are handled when it comes to charging rake. Raking games is illegal in the state of Oregon. Rooms in larger metropolitan areas like Portland tend to employ a daily membership fee as opposed to charging rake. At Action’s, 10% of every cash game pot up to $5 will be converted from standard chips into unique, plastic ones.
The player who wins the hand will then be able to choose if they’d like to donate those chips back to the house. If the player doesn’t want to pay rake, technically they are entitled to keep and cash out those chips. We would not suggest attempting or doing this. The loophole in the law works in this small town because everybody is on the same page, it is likely that attempting to keep any of the converted chips would result in issues or at least a bit of animosity.
Action’s Card House History
The Devil’s Poker Room
Action’s Card House used to be called The Devil’s Poker Room. The Devil’s Poker Room seemingly only first opened for business in 2020 or 2019 at the earliest but unfortunately, we weren’t able to find too much information about its history. We do know that the name was changed to Action’s Card House sometime in early 2021.
Player Opinions of Action’s Card House
The general consensus is quite positive when it comes to player reviews and opinions of Action’s Card House. We always like to see what other, real players have to say. Feel free to review a few real player reviews below:
As you can tell from the reviews, Action’s maintains a pretty solid reputation for operating professionally and offering excellent live poker. Most of the drawbacks to this room are simply due to it being located in a small city, but considering that fact, Action’s Card House boasts premier live poker action, especially for players who may live near Boise, ID, or in the Treasure Valley.
You Can Play Online Poker Now
We would certainly recommend visiting Action’s Card House if you live near Boise, Ontario, or plan on visiting the area anytime soon. With that being said, you don’t need to wait as there are numerous options to play online poker from the safety and comfort of your own home.
Here at Professional Rakeback, we specialize in providing detailed information regarding online poker and the best sites to play poker safely online. If you reside in the U.S. and wish to learn more about your options for playing poker on the internet, please feel free to peruse this extensive article covering our top recommendations for US online poker sites.
Other Live Poker Room Reviews:
- The Lodge (Round Rock, TX)
- Texas Card House (North Austin, TX)
- Shuffle512 (Austin, TX)
- Canterbury Park (Shakopee, MN)
- Beautiful shoreline (Biloxi, MS)
- Borgata (Atlantic City, NJ)
- Tropicana (Atlantic City, NJ)
- Turning Stone (Verona, NY)
- Tioga Downs (Nichols, New York)
- MGM Grand (Detroit, MI)
- Golden Nugget (Downtown Las Vegas, NV)
- Mandalay Bay (Paradise, NV)
Jake Rake is the head poker writer at ProfessionalRakeback.com.
He eats, sleeps and breathes poker and online gaming. This is a man who reads every online poker forum morning, noon, and night, for the last 17 years, trying to find fun and interesting information to share with our readers.
Jake has become an ardent student of crypto-currency since it was first introduced in the online poker world in 2013 and he thus has eight years experience covering this field!