Wisconsin Potowatomi players: Suggestion

[ChicagoTroy]

During the time you wait for a table on Saturday in Milwaukee, you could drive to Chicago and back. Why not get a few guys in the car and come to Harrah's some Saturday? It'd be good to get some 2+2ers together.

[Toonces]

I don't know about you, but I play at Potawatomi to get away from other 2+2 players. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[chrisdhal]

How far away is Chicago/Gary from Milwaukee? I'm going to be in WI this weekend and heading to Trump in Gary on Saturday. I am actually going there for a race in Elkhart Lake, so it's an hour North of Milwaukee, but I'm getting conflicting reports on how long the drive from Milwaukee to Trump is on a Saturday night.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

[deacsoft]

Road America, eh? You're a couple hours from Chicago from Elkhart. Gary is about another 30-45 mins. A very easy drive though as long as you miss rush hours in Chicago.

[Odder]

I'm prolly gonna head up to Potowatomi on Saturday for some 5/10.

[deacsoft]

I very much hope that your screen name on Party Poker is not IllinoisTroy.

[chrisdhal]

Great, thanks! Yep, heading out there for the Champ Car race, then meeting a couple of friends down at Trump. I'll be leaving RA at about 3 on Sat. Thanks again!

[ChicagoTroy]

It's not, it's the same as here.

[deacsoft]

Thank God.

Anyway, you should track that guy down and savagely beat him for stepping on your name. /images/graemlins/smile.gif (or you could just add him to your Party Poker buddy list and sit at his tables. he's a horrible player)

[Odder]

ChicagoTroy, what time are you heading to harrah's? I might make a trip down there instead of potowatomi. always nice to meet new people /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[ChicagoTroy]

I'll be there Saturday from about 2 to 7 p.m with Kleinstadt at $5-10 or $10-20. Bad beat should be about $30K if it doesn't hit over night.

I play with a little brass pig as my marker. Feel free to say hi, or PM me if you want to coordinate hanging out some time.

[Odder]

I'll look for the pig then /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[chrisdhal]

You are exactly correct. I decided to try Potawatomi on Friday afternoon since I was there and had a 2 hour wait at 3pm. The room is small and super crowded. I did pull out a nice session though (enough to pay for my race weekend tickets if I didn't keep it in my "live" BR).

Saturday night found me at Trump and it was much better. Room was great. I called ahead while on the freeway and got seated within 5 minutes of walking into the room. Service was a little slow, but that's more or less the norm I think. The one thing that was "bad" was that the chips were super dirty. They would just stick to each other, it was pretty gross. Had a good session there, broke even for the night (7 hours) after I missed my draw on a kill pot.

Your advice should be taken though, the 2 hr drive is worth it IMHO to play in a better room with virtually no wait (if you call ahead).

[ChicagoTroy]

Trump's chips are disgusting. You need a Level 5 Hazmat suit to handle them.

It still strikes me weird that so many people around here go to Trump, when Harrah's games are softer and dealers faster.

What limit did you play?

[chrisdhal]

I played 3/6. The game was pretty soft, plenty of calling stations. Typicaly LLHE though, people calling PF raises with 83o and suckouts were plenty. I basically misplayed the hand that brought me even for the night, but I'm not used to kill pots and I honestly got freaked out a bit (I play live at Canterbury and they don't have kill pots).

I have no experience at either Harrah's or Trump as this was my first time in the area. I was supposed to meet somebody there, but he called me when I was outside of Chicago and said that he busted out and was heading home. Nice. It was -EV to turn around so I went on. While there somebody who read that I was going to be there came up and introduced himself and got the floor over to me. They comped me a meal and got me a poker rate room for the night. This all happened within the first three hours I had ever played there. That put a "regular" who was sitting next to me on tilt when he started complaining to me that he never gets comped anything /images/graemlins/smile.gif It was kinda funny.

I thought the room was fine though, MUCH better than Potawatomi. At least you could walk between the tables at Trump. I should have probably tried 5/10, but I've never played that so I was a little gunshy. The dealers at Trump, on the whole, did seem a little slow. A couple were really good, but for the most part they were distracted and didn't really keep the action moving as much as I would have liked. Of course, a couple WPT wannabe's didn't help either when they would stare at the board and then back at you for about 30 seconds through their mirrored sunglasses before making a $3 call..

The fact that you can grab a stack of 10 or so chips, squeeze them together for a second and then grab just the top one and all the rest stick together is truely disturbing.

[namknils]

The chips at Trump are disgusting. My friend likes to make up new "chip tricks" while he's there, he basically gets about a half dozen chips to stick together because of the filth and tosses them around. /images/graemlins/crazy.gif

[MrGo]

Why not play at Potawatomi? The games are much softer than those in IL.

[chrisdhal]

[ QUOTE ]
Why not play at Potawatomi? The games are much softer than those in IL.

[/ QUOTE ]

The wait would be the big thing I would think. Friday afternoon at 3pm and I waited 2 hours. Ug. I thought Canterbury's waits were bad, but then I witnessed 3+ hour waits on Friday. Plus the room is so packed it's unreal, very uncomfortable. And it was like 40 degrees in there, I was freezing /images/graemlins/smile.gif

The game I played there was super soft, granted it was only 2/4. I understand the rest of the games aren't any better, or at least the 5/10 isn't. I kinda wish I would have tried that, I could have gotten in a lot quicker.

The rake, however, is better than Trump. 10%, max $5? WTF? That alone should have made me step up. Of course, $4 at 2/4 is still horrendous. I gotta move up... /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[MrGo]

Yeah the waits are horrible, hence why I play/host home games /images/graemlins/smile.gif

Waiting 2-3 hours for a table doesn't seem right to me. Oh well.

[Kevin J]

Lower limit players go to Trump for the rake which is a better deal at 5% up to $5 (rather than 10% up to $5).

For higher limits, Trump takes a time charge. We've tried several times to get a 20-40 off, but the dealing was pitifully slow and they refused to go to a rake despite all the player's objections to paying time and having to wait 5 minutes every time the dealers push and count down a $1000 tray. They were also incredibly slow during the down as well (I don't know if this has improved).

The bottom line is that Harrah's with it's shuffle machines and -I can't believe I'm saying this- better dealers, is by far the better place to play for your money even though the Trump is a nicer room in general. IMO-

[chrisdhal]

[ QUOTE ]
Lower limit players go to Trump for the rake which is a better deal at 5% up to $5 (rather than 10% up to $5).

[/ QUOTE ]

I played 3/6 at Trump on Saturday night and it was 10% to $5. Plus there's a jackpot drop too, right? That's just outrageous. I know the lowest limits take the brunt of this, but man, it was bad. It may drop to 5% higher up, did you mean to say "higher" instead of "lower" or am I the one who is confused? /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Kevin J]

Sorry. I forgot that the lowest limits get the WORST deal of all at Trump. It's only 10-20 that gets the 5% rake to $5 deal. I guess they did this to steal all of Harrah's 10-20 players.

No offense, I know you guys have to play somewhere, but I don't get it. Hollwood (Aurora IL) charges $5 just to get on the friggin boat, $3 to park you car and walk a block, $1 for water, AND a $6 friggin rake! And you know what? Their 5-10 and 10-20 games are PACKED with players!!! I can't figure out if it's because they don't realize they're being robbed, or just don't mind being sheered like sheep.

[chrisdhal]

Ha, "we" get the worst deal everywhere...

Somebody at my table at Trump brought up Hollywood (I had never heard of it). The dealer explained exactly what you said and the whole table just sat there in awe, as in "Why the hell would you play there?". That is unreal.

Why do we suffer? Bankroll is a big reason I would think. I haven't had a losing live session in a long time, and am about to go to 4/8 (at Canterbury). I've built up enough "live" BR to play that and handle a couple down sessions. I anticipate some getting used to time. I really need to get to 6/12 (the next level past 4/8 at Canterbury) as the rake goes down there (to 5%) and the game, from what I hear, is no harder (plays like 2/4 online which is what I play).

Some of it is mental, although it is directly related to BR. This weekend when I played at Potawatomi and Trump was the first time I had every played with a kill pot. For some reason playing 2/4 kill (ie. 4/8) didn't bother me, but when at Trump when it was a kill (playing as 6/12), that "bothered" me. I wasn't quite ready for that. I totally misplayed a strong draw and threw away my winnings for the night. I should have raised pre-flop, but was not quite ready for it. I ended the night -0.5BB (for 7 hours) so I don't feel too bad, but I was up 6BB before that. I played well (except maybe that hand) so it's OK.

I know I'm getting screwed, but without pulling out money from "real life", I just can't afford to move up. I have built up my B&M BR by grinding out once or twice a month live sessions and will probably do one more 3/6 before going to 4/8. I don't want to pull out more money, so I am eating the rake for now. Does that kinda make sense?

(Woo hoo, 100th post!)

[Schneids]

[ QUOTE ]

The wait would be the big thing I would think. Friday afternoon at 3pm and I waited 2 hours. Ug. I thought Canterbury's waits were bad, but then I witnessed 3+ hour waits on Friday.

[/ QUOTE ]

Consider yourself lucky.

30/60 last Saturday night = 5.5 hour wait.

[chrisdhal]

WOW! Did they just have 1 table? Damn, the longest I have ever had to wait is 3.5 hours for 2/4. I've had much better luck at 3/6, depending on the time. 5.5 hours...wow, that's dedication, hope it worked out for you /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Kevin J]

I certainly didn't mean to imply you're doing anything wrong. It's a good idea to leave the mortgage money out of your bankroll. I'd just like to see all the low limit players (particularily at Hollywood) boycott the friggin place for like 3 weeks. Make a statement. Like I said, I'm not sure if they really don't mind paying it, or just don't realize how much they're getting raped.

It sounds like you've got a good plan. Just move up in lmit as soon as possible (as long as your confident you can beat the game). It might even be worth it to forego playing a month or two and build up your bankroll in other ways. Good luck!

[Schneids]

[ QUOTE ]
WOW! Did they just have 1 table? Damn, the longest I have ever had to wait is 3.5 hours for 2/4. I've had much better luck at 3/6, depending on the time. 5.5 hours...wow, that's dedication, hope it worked out for you /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, only 1-table. And it was definitely worth the wait. Even if I posted a stellar -$550 on the table.

[Odder]

Potowatomi wasn't bad tonight. I only waited 30 minutes for a table. Took down $500 in the 5/10 in about 3 hours. Think I played a total of 8-10 hands /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[ddollevoet]

I'm going to be in Appleton in September. The drive to Keshena is shorter than Milwaukee. Are the waits shorter too? I know they only have 4 tables.

[Toonces]

Oh, man. Yesterday was an awful wait at Potawatomi. I arrived at 6:30 PM. They were short a dealer and were using one of the tables for Omaha. That left 4 2/4 tables, 2 5/10 tables and a single 10/20 and 20/40. In addition, I think lots of people from the golf tournament were hanging out at the casino at night. On the list i was 23rd for 2/4, 32nd for 5/10, 27th for 10/20 and 14th for 20/40. After an hour for dinner, we had moved up 5 spots on the busier lists and no spots on the 20/40. So we packed it up to try again another day.

[Odder]

damn thats long. I'm heading there tonight but im going to try and get there before 3pm so hopefully there wont be as bad a wait.