DZgroundhog
09-17-2005, 04:09 AM
Just got back from Casino Niagara's new poker room...Normally I play at Seneca Niagara but my girlfriend's little brother just turned 19 today (as in four hours ago) so we went up there at midnight with him. Now that's a gambling addiction...
New room was really nice; it's out in the open but there aren't many slots or tables near it so it's pretty much in the best possible spot. They were spreading 2-4, 3-6, 1-2 NL, and 2-5 NL across twelve tables. They were absolutely terrible trying to get people signed up for lists but at least you get a nice pager so you can wander off while you're waiting.
I played 1-2 NL for about an hour and half and the play was incredibly bad as usual. It seemed worse than the other times I've played 1-2, but at least half the table was hammered so that contributed to it. It must've cost them a fortune to get drunk since a bottle of beer costs $5.50.
The one downside is that they charge a $5 session fee per half-hour which was absolutely brutal tonight with the Friday night drunks. We only got eight hands in during the first half-hour (slow dealer and she didn't try very hard to keep the game moving) and then the next dealer tried to speed up the action and he got a whopping ten hands dealt. He noticed I was getting frustrated and asked if I wanted a table change, but the play was so bad that I figured it was worth a shot to stay because I would've been paid off very nicely if I hit any sort of hand. Plus I asked one of the drunks for five $5 chips for a $25 and she gave me an extra chip for good luck so that paid for one of my session fees.
I guess this room is okay if you're 19 or 20 as its way nicer (and from what I could tell, softer) than heading down to Irving, but if you're old enough to gamble in the U.S. and you're considering playing poker at Casino Niagara or Fallsview, just come four blocks across the border and play at Seneca Niagara. You get free drinks (so that cancels out the $2.50 border toll) and you can drink for an extra two hours instead of getting cut off at 2:00 which is surreal for us Buffalonians who are used to the 4am last call.
DZ
New room was really nice; it's out in the open but there aren't many slots or tables near it so it's pretty much in the best possible spot. They were spreading 2-4, 3-6, 1-2 NL, and 2-5 NL across twelve tables. They were absolutely terrible trying to get people signed up for lists but at least you get a nice pager so you can wander off while you're waiting.
I played 1-2 NL for about an hour and half and the play was incredibly bad as usual. It seemed worse than the other times I've played 1-2, but at least half the table was hammered so that contributed to it. It must've cost them a fortune to get drunk since a bottle of beer costs $5.50.
The one downside is that they charge a $5 session fee per half-hour which was absolutely brutal tonight with the Friday night drunks. We only got eight hands in during the first half-hour (slow dealer and she didn't try very hard to keep the game moving) and then the next dealer tried to speed up the action and he got a whopping ten hands dealt. He noticed I was getting frustrated and asked if I wanted a table change, but the play was so bad that I figured it was worth a shot to stay because I would've been paid off very nicely if I hit any sort of hand. Plus I asked one of the drunks for five $5 chips for a $25 and she gave me an extra chip for good luck so that paid for one of my session fees.
I guess this room is okay if you're 19 or 20 as its way nicer (and from what I could tell, softer) than heading down to Irving, but if you're old enough to gamble in the U.S. and you're considering playing poker at Casino Niagara or Fallsview, just come four blocks across the border and play at Seneca Niagara. You get free drinks (so that cancels out the $2.50 border toll) and you can drink for an extra two hours instead of getting cut off at 2:00 which is surreal for us Buffalonians who are used to the 4am last call.
DZ