Etaipo
02-27-2005, 01:01 AM
So a few weeks ago, I arranged to get up for some training through work.
Me: Oh, look, they offer it in Vegas!
Boss: Hahahaha, RIGHT! How about chicago?
Me: *groan*
Chicago? In February? Not a good combination if you ask this FLoridite.
But so it was, ticket was purchased, car was arranged, etc, etc.
But then I says to myself, ''self, I wonder.....''
www.google.com (http://www.google.com)
search: chicago gambling
hmmm, interesting, looks like riverboats are going in IL. Sweet!
I decided to look up more info later, but never got around to it. Monday morning the car picked me up for the airport, and off I went. I arrived at O'Hare, got my rental and directions to Lombard where I was staying. I, of course, proceeded to get lost, but found it (it's about 20-30 minutes from the airport). I get checked in, settle into my room, call everyone I need to call, set up the wireless access on my laptop, and start researching.
After a few minutes, I find that several casino's operate within driving distance, in all directions. However, a few of them only offerred 3 card poker and the like, and many were around an hour drive. One seemed like a winner though, Hollywood Casino in Aurora (http://www.hollywoodcasinoaurora.com/), which was about 20-25 minutes away.
I get the directions, hop in my car, and head to the expressway. OOPS! No attendant, only takes exact change (I'm not a big city kinda guy, I don't know these things). After some driving around, I acquired change, and found my way there without further incident, minus driving around it once before realizing where the entrance to the garage was.
Parking is $2 (pay when you leave). Down the elevator, then out the door, and into a covered (and heated!) walkway across the river, and to the casino. It should be noted that's although all the directional signs said ''riverboat casino'' (and is easy to find once you near it on the expressway, lots of signs telling you where to go), it is not actually a boat....I don't think anyways =/
Check my coat (I tipped $1 when I dropped it off and another $1 when I picked it up. Standard? Again, I'm not used to these things). $5 entry. The security guard called his boss because my ID was out of state, but I got in without further incident.
Immediately made my way to the TINY poker room (6 tables?!?!) which was PACKED. They spread $5/10, $10/20, and $20/40, hold'em only. The wait was two hours (though I got seated a LITTLE quicker than that). It WAS a holiday (president's day) which must have been the reason, plus it was 8 PM or so by the time I got there.
I walked around, got a bite to eat at the cafe (they also have a buffet that I heard was good) and looked around. Table games in the center, and I understand how carribean poker works now from watching a little bit. /images/graemlins/smile.gif
They did have ''high stakes'' table game room. A few blackjack tables were running at all times I was at the casino in there, and there were plenty of poker tables, but I NEVER saw a game running there in the 3 nights I was there.
I finally get seated shortly before 10. I have a half hour drive back to my hotel, and training early in the morning, so I can only play for an hour and a half I decide.
And by the end of that hour and a half, I was droooooooling. The game was so incredibly soft, I KNEW it was a gold mine. Unfortunately, the dealer invented a new suit to insert in the deck, simply so they could find new and creative ways to deal me seven two offsuit! It was just one of those nights where you can't catch a cold, and it was sad /images/graemlins/frown.gif. I only played two hands outside of the big blind, one of which was pocket queens, which held up. I walked away just under break even, but I knew I'd be back as soon as I could!
The next day, training time. However, we were done by 3:30! SWEET!
Back to the hotel, quick phone calls and internet work, change, zoom! Back to the card room!
This time, the wait is minimal. It's before five, and all the tables aren't even running yet. I had just enough time to go the the cage and get chips and I heard my name called.
Here's some notes on the room in general: The managers were professional, courteous, and friendly (as noted in my other trip report, a strange experience for a Florida card room player). For the most part, the dealers were pleasant enough, as well as professional and efficient. There were at least three complete duds, however. One old dude who was completely useless, a super bitchy young woman, and an incompetent lady. Other than that, they were great.
The tables: YUCK! The foam was WAY too thick and soft, and at the edges near the rail, had loosened, so the edge angled down towards the rail. That meant if you wanted to stack your chips, you had to do it several inches away from the rail. Some people just kept their chips stacked HORIZONTALLY against the rail, and that seemed to work well enough, but that's just not right, damnit! Several players used chip racks on the table, and no one seemed to mind, so I didn't say anything.
The notable exception to this was the 'main' game, which I'm assuming there is one of for each price level. This was a brand new table with proper padding AND shuffle machine built in, which obviously was a much better experience! More on this later.
The chips: Again, YUCK! Don't know how to describe them, other than TERRIBLE. I prefer my dice chips to these things! Impossible to shuffle, sticky, heavy, plasticy, TERRIBLE!
Back to the story. Again, the table is just like the night before: SWEET! 6-7 to the flop on average. Juicy! This time, time is on my side, and the cards start falling as they should. Before I know it, I've got a nice stack, and all is well with the world.
There are 3 5/10 tables, two feeders to the 'main' table that I talked about earlier. After about a half hour, I get moved to the second table, which is juicier than the first, and about a half hour later, they move me again. ''damnit'' i think, ''I don't want to leave''!
At first, the main table is a little intimidating. These guys don't seem like tourists. I'm in seat 7, and 8-10 are all older gentlemen (I'm 27). 8 is in his late 30's maybe, 9 & 10 in their late 50's. But ten turned out to be friendly and forward, even if he did seem to look down a little on the new kid. /images/graemlins/wink.gif I think I earned their respect within an hour or so though, and we all ended up conversing quite a bit, and our side of the table seemed to get the best of it for the most part. It was definately tighter than the other tables, but not by much, and the feeder games kept the fish supply fresh.
Finally, I'd had enough (well, not really, but I knew I had to get to bed). It's a good thing I HAD to leave, because I was getting tired, and probably about to start playing very poorly.
Back to the hotel, training in the morning, again it lets out early, and I get to the casino even earlier on my last day.
This time, the wait is a little longer (not enough players to start a new game yet), so I have time to eat and get my chips.
This started off poorly. First hand, AK suited in late position, capped preflop (may actually have been the first preflop cap I had seen since day 1). Flop brings K J 10 rainbow. I let go of the hand when the turn brought a brick and the other two players were still aggressive. AA cracked by JJ, and me down after the first hand.
This night was just not to be. I was soon moved to the main table, (I was getting recognized by dealers and floor personell, which was cool. /images/graemlins/smile.gif ) The cards were just not falling well. I topped off my stack when arriving at the main table, and spent the next several hours working my way back to even, then playing break-even poker for a while, before spending a few hours whittling that stack back down for a loss of a quarter of the previous nights profits. The table was MUCH tighter this night, and I stayed way beyond the point where I was too tired to play. Lesson learned.
I finally decide to leave around 1, and cash out what I have left. It's a long drive back to the hotel. I check out in the morning, make it through the last of the training, reward myself with an awesome meal at Magnum Steak House afterwards, eating and reading SSH (the waiter noticed, said he had been meaning to get a poker book, so I did the decent thing and recommended it to him, he wrote it down, and I tipped him nicely /images/graemlins/smile.gif ). Back to the airport and a long flight home.
Finally, just some notes on some of the regulars there, in case you go. /images/graemlins/tongue.gif
Musical Chair Man: This guy was late 40's, and there with his weird wife who wears glasses, and sits behind him. TERRIBLE player. Would constantly buy in for $40, lose it, then buy in for another $40. EVERY time a seat opened up, he would move to that seat. Every time! With his bitch wife in tow! It was a scene, let me tell you. Real jerk too, and they spoke some foreign language, though I'm not sure what. Him and his wife would discuss his play in varying tones of anger, apparently. Cracked me the hell up. The low point of my trip was losing my last (tired) pot to him.
TT in the SB, Musical Chair Man (MCM) is on the button. Unraised to me, I'm tired, and tired of losing, so I call, BB checks. Flop is AAK. [censored]. There were five people in the hand, and we all check.
Turn is a ten. Now this is interesting. I bet out, folded around to MCM, who raises. Again, I'm tired. I should have known I was way ahead at this point, but I don't. I'm not sure what I put him on. I call.
River is an 8. Check-call. He flips over A8 offsuit. *bang head* *cash out*
Doyle Brunson: Gentleman who very much reminded me of Doyle, except lighter, no crutch, and much grumpier. Was seat 9 in my first main table. I thought he played solid poker, but when he complained because his kings got cracked by some ridiculous off suit holding and said that he'd ''rather play against REAL poker players'', it made me laugh, and I made a mental note of it.
Psycho Weird Bitch #1: Bad crazy weird black wig. Had this horrible habit of after the river, checking then exposing her hand with one player left to act. I was so f'ing tired that I didn't think to even ask if her hand shouldn't be declared dead, and she did it twice, the second time with me left to act! When she did it to me, I said 'I have YET to act! Slow down!' I'm a retard. But like I said, I was half asleep at this point. That's my bullshit excuse, and I'm sticking to it. Then again, maybe that's not a rule in that room anyways....I digress.
Pyscho Wird Bitch #2: CREEPY lady. Walked with a cane, wore weird round sunglasses, and took forever to act. However, she seemed to play solid poker, and was selectively aggressive when deciding to (finally) act. I honestly can't put my finger on why, but the lady just creeped me out, in a ''wow, I think she might be a serial killer'' kind of way.
Okay, enough rambling, you get the gist of it. I had a great time there, met some great people, the floor staff was great and friendly, and I'd recommend it. Minuses are definately the table, the chips, the size of the room, and that they have no call ahead seating.
Me: Oh, look, they offer it in Vegas!
Boss: Hahahaha, RIGHT! How about chicago?
Me: *groan*
Chicago? In February? Not a good combination if you ask this FLoridite.
But so it was, ticket was purchased, car was arranged, etc, etc.
But then I says to myself, ''self, I wonder.....''
www.google.com (http://www.google.com)
search: chicago gambling
hmmm, interesting, looks like riverboats are going in IL. Sweet!
I decided to look up more info later, but never got around to it. Monday morning the car picked me up for the airport, and off I went. I arrived at O'Hare, got my rental and directions to Lombard where I was staying. I, of course, proceeded to get lost, but found it (it's about 20-30 minutes from the airport). I get checked in, settle into my room, call everyone I need to call, set up the wireless access on my laptop, and start researching.
After a few minutes, I find that several casino's operate within driving distance, in all directions. However, a few of them only offerred 3 card poker and the like, and many were around an hour drive. One seemed like a winner though, Hollywood Casino in Aurora (http://www.hollywoodcasinoaurora.com/), which was about 20-25 minutes away.
I get the directions, hop in my car, and head to the expressway. OOPS! No attendant, only takes exact change (I'm not a big city kinda guy, I don't know these things). After some driving around, I acquired change, and found my way there without further incident, minus driving around it once before realizing where the entrance to the garage was.
Parking is $2 (pay when you leave). Down the elevator, then out the door, and into a covered (and heated!) walkway across the river, and to the casino. It should be noted that's although all the directional signs said ''riverboat casino'' (and is easy to find once you near it on the expressway, lots of signs telling you where to go), it is not actually a boat....I don't think anyways =/
Check my coat (I tipped $1 when I dropped it off and another $1 when I picked it up. Standard? Again, I'm not used to these things). $5 entry. The security guard called his boss because my ID was out of state, but I got in without further incident.
Immediately made my way to the TINY poker room (6 tables?!?!) which was PACKED. They spread $5/10, $10/20, and $20/40, hold'em only. The wait was two hours (though I got seated a LITTLE quicker than that). It WAS a holiday (president's day) which must have been the reason, plus it was 8 PM or so by the time I got there.
I walked around, got a bite to eat at the cafe (they also have a buffet that I heard was good) and looked around. Table games in the center, and I understand how carribean poker works now from watching a little bit. /images/graemlins/smile.gif
They did have ''high stakes'' table game room. A few blackjack tables were running at all times I was at the casino in there, and there were plenty of poker tables, but I NEVER saw a game running there in the 3 nights I was there.
I finally get seated shortly before 10. I have a half hour drive back to my hotel, and training early in the morning, so I can only play for an hour and a half I decide.
And by the end of that hour and a half, I was droooooooling. The game was so incredibly soft, I KNEW it was a gold mine. Unfortunately, the dealer invented a new suit to insert in the deck, simply so they could find new and creative ways to deal me seven two offsuit! It was just one of those nights where you can't catch a cold, and it was sad /images/graemlins/frown.gif. I only played two hands outside of the big blind, one of which was pocket queens, which held up. I walked away just under break even, but I knew I'd be back as soon as I could!
The next day, training time. However, we were done by 3:30! SWEET!
Back to the hotel, quick phone calls and internet work, change, zoom! Back to the card room!
This time, the wait is minimal. It's before five, and all the tables aren't even running yet. I had just enough time to go the the cage and get chips and I heard my name called.
Here's some notes on the room in general: The managers were professional, courteous, and friendly (as noted in my other trip report, a strange experience for a Florida card room player). For the most part, the dealers were pleasant enough, as well as professional and efficient. There were at least three complete duds, however. One old dude who was completely useless, a super bitchy young woman, and an incompetent lady. Other than that, they were great.
The tables: YUCK! The foam was WAY too thick and soft, and at the edges near the rail, had loosened, so the edge angled down towards the rail. That meant if you wanted to stack your chips, you had to do it several inches away from the rail. Some people just kept their chips stacked HORIZONTALLY against the rail, and that seemed to work well enough, but that's just not right, damnit! Several players used chip racks on the table, and no one seemed to mind, so I didn't say anything.
The notable exception to this was the 'main' game, which I'm assuming there is one of for each price level. This was a brand new table with proper padding AND shuffle machine built in, which obviously was a much better experience! More on this later.
The chips: Again, YUCK! Don't know how to describe them, other than TERRIBLE. I prefer my dice chips to these things! Impossible to shuffle, sticky, heavy, plasticy, TERRIBLE!
Back to the story. Again, the table is just like the night before: SWEET! 6-7 to the flop on average. Juicy! This time, time is on my side, and the cards start falling as they should. Before I know it, I've got a nice stack, and all is well with the world.
There are 3 5/10 tables, two feeders to the 'main' table that I talked about earlier. After about a half hour, I get moved to the second table, which is juicier than the first, and about a half hour later, they move me again. ''damnit'' i think, ''I don't want to leave''!
At first, the main table is a little intimidating. These guys don't seem like tourists. I'm in seat 7, and 8-10 are all older gentlemen (I'm 27). 8 is in his late 30's maybe, 9 & 10 in their late 50's. But ten turned out to be friendly and forward, even if he did seem to look down a little on the new kid. /images/graemlins/wink.gif I think I earned their respect within an hour or so though, and we all ended up conversing quite a bit, and our side of the table seemed to get the best of it for the most part. It was definately tighter than the other tables, but not by much, and the feeder games kept the fish supply fresh.
Finally, I'd had enough (well, not really, but I knew I had to get to bed). It's a good thing I HAD to leave, because I was getting tired, and probably about to start playing very poorly.
Back to the hotel, training in the morning, again it lets out early, and I get to the casino even earlier on my last day.
This time, the wait is a little longer (not enough players to start a new game yet), so I have time to eat and get my chips.
This started off poorly. First hand, AK suited in late position, capped preflop (may actually have been the first preflop cap I had seen since day 1). Flop brings K J 10 rainbow. I let go of the hand when the turn brought a brick and the other two players were still aggressive. AA cracked by JJ, and me down after the first hand.
This night was just not to be. I was soon moved to the main table, (I was getting recognized by dealers and floor personell, which was cool. /images/graemlins/smile.gif ) The cards were just not falling well. I topped off my stack when arriving at the main table, and spent the next several hours working my way back to even, then playing break-even poker for a while, before spending a few hours whittling that stack back down for a loss of a quarter of the previous nights profits. The table was MUCH tighter this night, and I stayed way beyond the point where I was too tired to play. Lesson learned.
I finally decide to leave around 1, and cash out what I have left. It's a long drive back to the hotel. I check out in the morning, make it through the last of the training, reward myself with an awesome meal at Magnum Steak House afterwards, eating and reading SSH (the waiter noticed, said he had been meaning to get a poker book, so I did the decent thing and recommended it to him, he wrote it down, and I tipped him nicely /images/graemlins/smile.gif ). Back to the airport and a long flight home.
Finally, just some notes on some of the regulars there, in case you go. /images/graemlins/tongue.gif
Musical Chair Man: This guy was late 40's, and there with his weird wife who wears glasses, and sits behind him. TERRIBLE player. Would constantly buy in for $40, lose it, then buy in for another $40. EVERY time a seat opened up, he would move to that seat. Every time! With his bitch wife in tow! It was a scene, let me tell you. Real jerk too, and they spoke some foreign language, though I'm not sure what. Him and his wife would discuss his play in varying tones of anger, apparently. Cracked me the hell up. The low point of my trip was losing my last (tired) pot to him.
TT in the SB, Musical Chair Man (MCM) is on the button. Unraised to me, I'm tired, and tired of losing, so I call, BB checks. Flop is AAK. [censored]. There were five people in the hand, and we all check.
Turn is a ten. Now this is interesting. I bet out, folded around to MCM, who raises. Again, I'm tired. I should have known I was way ahead at this point, but I don't. I'm not sure what I put him on. I call.
River is an 8. Check-call. He flips over A8 offsuit. *bang head* *cash out*
Doyle Brunson: Gentleman who very much reminded me of Doyle, except lighter, no crutch, and much grumpier. Was seat 9 in my first main table. I thought he played solid poker, but when he complained because his kings got cracked by some ridiculous off suit holding and said that he'd ''rather play against REAL poker players'', it made me laugh, and I made a mental note of it.
Psycho Weird Bitch #1: Bad crazy weird black wig. Had this horrible habit of after the river, checking then exposing her hand with one player left to act. I was so f'ing tired that I didn't think to even ask if her hand shouldn't be declared dead, and she did it twice, the second time with me left to act! When she did it to me, I said 'I have YET to act! Slow down!' I'm a retard. But like I said, I was half asleep at this point. That's my bullshit excuse, and I'm sticking to it. Then again, maybe that's not a rule in that room anyways....I digress.
Pyscho Wird Bitch #2: CREEPY lady. Walked with a cane, wore weird round sunglasses, and took forever to act. However, she seemed to play solid poker, and was selectively aggressive when deciding to (finally) act. I honestly can't put my finger on why, but the lady just creeped me out, in a ''wow, I think she might be a serial killer'' kind of way.
Okay, enough rambling, you get the gist of it. I had a great time there, met some great people, the floor staff was great and friendly, and I'd recommend it. Minuses are definately the table, the chips, the size of the room, and that they have no call ahead seating.