Found this particular article in the latest CardPlayer magazine interesting and wanted to share with you all what I read. (Tried to put this in my own words the best way I could, but just remember, this is Card Players findings.)

#5. Baltimore, Maryland: The state's largest casino, Maryland Live! in Hanover, is placed 20 minutes away from the state's largest city, Baltimore, and has 52 tables, making it one of the largest rooms in the mid-Atlantic region and also among the top 15 in the nation. In another area, there will be the future site of the Horseshoe Casino Baltimore, which is under construction at the moment and scheduled to open in mid-2014. The casino will house upwards of 110 total table games, including a WSOP branded card room. Other choices are Hollywood Casino Perryville, Delaware Park Casino, Hollywood Charles Town and Parx Casino, which has 61 tables and annually hosts a WPT event. There are over 200 poker tables within a 90-minute drive with more coming soon. Downside to Baltimore is the taxes. Their property tax rate is among the highest in the nation, making it a somewhat expensive place to live.

#4. Atlantic City, New Jersey: Of the 12 casinos licensed to operate in AC, 8 still operate poker rooms, with the largest being the Borgata. It has 85 tables and spreads a variety of games as one of the best, if not the best in the country. Mixed games as high as $200-$400 run on a regular basis. Limit Hold'Em players can play anywhere from $2-$4 to $40-$80. Other casinos are nearby as well such as Ballys, the Showboat, the Trump Taj Mahal and Harrah's. On an average weekend, one can expect more than 50 games of $1-$2 and $2-$5 NLHE to be going in AC. At the Borgata, players can jump up to $5-$10 NLHE and above with PLO games running as well. Tournaments are great there also. WPT makes 2 appearances at the Borgata annually and was granted the upcoming $25k WPT Championship event for April. Harrah's and Caesars Palace host WSOP Circuit stops  each year too. NJ is 1 of the 3 states in the US to license and regulate online poker. NJ isn't great when it comes to sales tax (7%) and personal income tax (6.37%). NJ has the highest median property tax in the nation.

#3. Las Vegas, Nevada: Although only 1 Las Vegas poker room ranks in the top 10 for most tables in the nation, the city has just shy of 50 card rooms. In total, the city has over 800 poker tables. Biggest room goes to the Venetian, (59 tables). Next The Bellagio, (39), Orleans, (35), Caesars Palace, (30), Wynn, (26), and Aria, (24). Most common games spread in almost every card room is $1-$3 or $2-$5 NLHE. High Stakes games are very common there as well. 500 tournaments run weekly with buy-in's ranging from $20 to $500. WSOP, WPT, WSOP Circuit events, Heartland Poker Tour and Card Player Tour all take place there. Nevada, along with New Jersey and Delaware have licensed and regulated online poker. Lack of state income tax. Sales tax is high at 8.1% but the states low tax burden and modest cost of living makes up for that.

#2. Fort Lauderdale, Florida: Quality is key in this area. Though the biggest card room (72 tables) in the state is 6 hours north at bestbet Jacksonville, those who live in Fort Lauderdale have the most poker options available to them. 2nd biggest poker room in the state, the Palm Beach Kennel Club (60 tables) is minutes away, as are the Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood (41 tables), the Isle at Pompano Park (38), the Miccosukee Casino Resort (32), and the Mardi Gras Racetrack (30). State of Florida has 32 poker rooms, 5 of which are among the largest 15 in the nation. Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood hosted a $10M Gtd. tournament and wants to bring it back in 2014 with a smaller buy in and $5M gtd. WPT stops, WSOP Circuit stop, an HPT stop and 2 CPPT stops. Florida has no state income tax and Fort Lauderdale collects a low sales tax rate of 6%.

#1. Los Angles, California: More poker tables, more tourneys and game options than any other in the region in the country. Commerce Casino, Bicycle Casino, Hawaiian Gardens Casino, and Hollywood Park Casino have a total of 492 poker tables currently in use which is a little more than the top 25 cardrooms in all of Nevada have combined. Limit Hold'Em does real well in LA, and NLHE does fantastic, (low to high stakes). More than 60 daily tourneys than run each week in the city. LA is home to the WPT LA Poker Classic. Small tourneys do well there too. Last January, a $150 buy in event at the Commerce drew 8,133 entrants. Gamblers in Cali have a wide range of state income tax brackets ranging from 1% to 12.3%. Most players fall into a 9.3% rate which is taxed on earnings of $50k to $250k. Bad thing is LA residents struggle to find affordable housing and have to deal with a high 9% sales tax. With over 38M residents, California is the #1 most sought after online poker market in the US. Many believe 2014 may be the year that online poker comes to Cali with 2 separate bills introduced in February.