03-31-2002, 12:01 AM
Here is my trip report from Casion Arizona.
We made it through the rain into the girlfriend's sister's house about 10PM. A bit of chat and I was off to gambool.
A few overall impressions before I detail my trip and sessions:
1. Everytime I am in California, and now add Arizona to the list, I am struck by just how poorly the Vegas rooms are run. The level of professionalism and courteousness exhibited by the staff here, as well as in the LA cardrooms puts the Vegas rooms to absolute shame.
2. Eating at the table and eliminating the 1.25 hours away from the game is excellent. On a similar note, I'd rather have good cheap food daily than a damn buffet comp every 4th day.
3. More on this later, but I have now decided that I am in favor of a bad beat jackpot drop. I think that the additional buck per pot (if there is a flop) is worth the cost if it brings in more casual and recreational players. Call it a fish recruitment fee if you will, but damn it livens up the games.
4. The regulars in Vegas, even the poor ones, are so much better than the average players elsewhere. I don't think its close. I feel like the chains are off in these games.
OK, back to your regularly scheduled trip report.
So I get there Thrusday night at 10. The cardroom with 50ish tables is packed. Full. Jammed. The bad beat is sitting at 62k. The allegedly rockish 9-18 game is live as can be. I get right in and promptly get dealt no hands. Zip. Zero. Zilch. Im stuck a buck. two bucks. I am playing so tight that it hurts. I decide to not push some marginal hands early to maintain this rockish image. I sit. I steal a few blinds. Meanwhile, I meet a fellow Las Vegan who plays alot of pot limit. We chat while I muck. I raise UTG and everyone folds. The game is very passive and people are open limping on the button all the time. I suspect the rake and the $3 small blind have something to do with this. Anyways, its an honest poker game. If they have it they bet, if they don't they check.
The game gets shorthanded.
I go "Meister" on them.
The table rock simply starts to rob them blind. I start pushing every marginal hand. I raise their probing flop bets with nothing. They fold. I get out of the hole and up a bit. I take down one nice pot where I raise 5 limpers from the BB with KdQd. Flop is KhTh6h. I bet, UTG raises, all fold. I check-call him down and beat his KJ.
I get to play my highest limit hand ever during someones kill, making the game 18-36. One limper to me in the BB with TT. I raise, the killer and limper call. Flop is J-x-x, I bet, killer calls. I bet the turn and take it down. Woohoo. Sure didn't want to get popped on the turn.
4AM the girlfriend is about to pass out. I rack up with a $384 profit. Good start.
The jackpot is now at $77k when I leave.
I come back Friday afternoon to play for an hour or two before dinner with the parents of a friend of mine. At the 9-18 table is Chuck, a friend of mine who plays at the Mirage in Vegas with me regularly. This makes for good conversation. I need to make an Aneheim Angels future bet for him when I get in town Sunday night. I posted a hand from this session in Medium Stakes. The room is really getting full. I hope the action tonight is rocking as I leave with a small $47 profit for my 1.5 hous at the table.
After an enjoyable dinner and conversation, the woman and I make it to the casino at about 8:00PM. Ummmm, its crowded. Real crowded. How crowded, you ask? Well, the jackpot is 77k. I am about 50th on the 4-8 list, 35th on the 6-12 and 25th on the 9-18. Every table in the house is full. Every slot machine in the casino has a line. A FREAKING LINE TO PLAY A SLOT MACHINE!!! Not good ones either. The double double bonus video poker pays 7-5 full-flush. Ugh. Double Ugh. Not good for the video poker playing girlfriend.
I wait 2 full hours to get into a game. Finally I am called for a 4-8 table that is very Commerce-esque. I jam it up with AKs, I lose. I jam it up with AQs. I lose. I'm stuck $200 in a 4-8 game in like 30 mins. Ick. Then I catch a few small ones. Then I limp with pocket 3's in a family pot in MP. the A-5-6 flop is checked around. The turn is a 3. I raise an EP better, the button cold calls and then disgustedly pays me off with his A-5 that flopped 2 pair. Slowplaying sucks doesn't it buddy? Thanks for the pot. Got a hand from this 4-8 session that I'm gonna post in a bit. I claw my way back to exactly even when they call me for the 6-12 game.
The table is loose by Vegas standards. Did I mention that I love jackpot players? I win a nice one with 66 that I posted in small stakes. An unremarkable session somehow gives me a $192 profit in about 1 hour. At midnight the girlfriend is tapped and I am off. I later find that the jackpot was hit at that table 3 hours later for 85k. Ugh. Honey, couldn't you have won? We'd still have been there! Oh well.
This morning I am off again. I get to play with Chuck again. I make a poor river play that pisses me off and I walk for a minute. I come back and take down back to back monster pots. One I am going to post in Small Stakes. The other one I complete in the SB with 66 after 4 limpers. I bet the flop of 8d-6h-5h. 2 callers. Turn is the 5d. I check, next bets, button calls. I checkraise. next calls, button declares raise. Once she gets enough chips in the pot, I cap. Both call. I bet the river dark and the button calls with her A-5. I love it when they are drawing dead and get there. We finally get the 9-18 game going and I rack up a $393 winner for the table.
I walk for a minute and get to meet Brad, who posts here under the handle "brad" oddly enough. Very nice guy. We bullshitted for a bit and entertained a few old ladies sitting next to him in the 15-30 stud game. Was a pleasure.
Right before I finally move all my chips from the 6-12, I meet another 2+2er who lurks. Tom is very nice. Sadly I have to go to the new 9-18 and don't get to play with him. Nice job by him of picking me out and approaching me at the table. I think there are a ton of "Toms" out there who lurk, only they don't introduce themselves. They probabaly just play with me and silently laugh at me. Tom says he isn't good enough to post yet. I tell tom that you get better by posting. It's a participatory sport my friends.
The 9-18 game we start is tight. Vegas tight. Clark steals the blinds with anything until they stand up to him tight. Thank god for blind stealing because I never got a single real hand the whole session. I steal, I win. I get a hand, I lose. I pay off a guy with an obvious flush with AQ and open trip queens. Ugh. Muck that crap on the turn Clark. I burn through $218 in about 1.5 hours and leave to watch the NCAA tourney. Up about $800 for the trip. Not too bad.
What is bad is that I had Oklahoma v Maryland in my girlfriends office pool. Well, she had it, I picked it. OK chokes and blows a chance for her to win the whole banana. OK, you caught me. I just wanted to say "banana" in a post.
Nice meeting Brad and Tom. Nice room. Catch you all next time.
We made it through the rain into the girlfriend's sister's house about 10PM. A bit of chat and I was off to gambool.
A few overall impressions before I detail my trip and sessions:
1. Everytime I am in California, and now add Arizona to the list, I am struck by just how poorly the Vegas rooms are run. The level of professionalism and courteousness exhibited by the staff here, as well as in the LA cardrooms puts the Vegas rooms to absolute shame.
2. Eating at the table and eliminating the 1.25 hours away from the game is excellent. On a similar note, I'd rather have good cheap food daily than a damn buffet comp every 4th day.
3. More on this later, but I have now decided that I am in favor of a bad beat jackpot drop. I think that the additional buck per pot (if there is a flop) is worth the cost if it brings in more casual and recreational players. Call it a fish recruitment fee if you will, but damn it livens up the games.
4. The regulars in Vegas, even the poor ones, are so much better than the average players elsewhere. I don't think its close. I feel like the chains are off in these games.
OK, back to your regularly scheduled trip report.
So I get there Thrusday night at 10. The cardroom with 50ish tables is packed. Full. Jammed. The bad beat is sitting at 62k. The allegedly rockish 9-18 game is live as can be. I get right in and promptly get dealt no hands. Zip. Zero. Zilch. Im stuck a buck. two bucks. I am playing so tight that it hurts. I decide to not push some marginal hands early to maintain this rockish image. I sit. I steal a few blinds. Meanwhile, I meet a fellow Las Vegan who plays alot of pot limit. We chat while I muck. I raise UTG and everyone folds. The game is very passive and people are open limping on the button all the time. I suspect the rake and the $3 small blind have something to do with this. Anyways, its an honest poker game. If they have it they bet, if they don't they check.
The game gets shorthanded.
I go "Meister" on them.
The table rock simply starts to rob them blind. I start pushing every marginal hand. I raise their probing flop bets with nothing. They fold. I get out of the hole and up a bit. I take down one nice pot where I raise 5 limpers from the BB with KdQd. Flop is KhTh6h. I bet, UTG raises, all fold. I check-call him down and beat his KJ.
I get to play my highest limit hand ever during someones kill, making the game 18-36. One limper to me in the BB with TT. I raise, the killer and limper call. Flop is J-x-x, I bet, killer calls. I bet the turn and take it down. Woohoo. Sure didn't want to get popped on the turn.
4AM the girlfriend is about to pass out. I rack up with a $384 profit. Good start.
The jackpot is now at $77k when I leave.
I come back Friday afternoon to play for an hour or two before dinner with the parents of a friend of mine. At the 9-18 table is Chuck, a friend of mine who plays at the Mirage in Vegas with me regularly. This makes for good conversation. I need to make an Aneheim Angels future bet for him when I get in town Sunday night. I posted a hand from this session in Medium Stakes. The room is really getting full. I hope the action tonight is rocking as I leave with a small $47 profit for my 1.5 hous at the table.
After an enjoyable dinner and conversation, the woman and I make it to the casino at about 8:00PM. Ummmm, its crowded. Real crowded. How crowded, you ask? Well, the jackpot is 77k. I am about 50th on the 4-8 list, 35th on the 6-12 and 25th on the 9-18. Every table in the house is full. Every slot machine in the casino has a line. A FREAKING LINE TO PLAY A SLOT MACHINE!!! Not good ones either. The double double bonus video poker pays 7-5 full-flush. Ugh. Double Ugh. Not good for the video poker playing girlfriend.
I wait 2 full hours to get into a game. Finally I am called for a 4-8 table that is very Commerce-esque. I jam it up with AKs, I lose. I jam it up with AQs. I lose. I'm stuck $200 in a 4-8 game in like 30 mins. Ick. Then I catch a few small ones. Then I limp with pocket 3's in a family pot in MP. the A-5-6 flop is checked around. The turn is a 3. I raise an EP better, the button cold calls and then disgustedly pays me off with his A-5 that flopped 2 pair. Slowplaying sucks doesn't it buddy? Thanks for the pot. Got a hand from this 4-8 session that I'm gonna post in a bit. I claw my way back to exactly even when they call me for the 6-12 game.
The table is loose by Vegas standards. Did I mention that I love jackpot players? I win a nice one with 66 that I posted in small stakes. An unremarkable session somehow gives me a $192 profit in about 1 hour. At midnight the girlfriend is tapped and I am off. I later find that the jackpot was hit at that table 3 hours later for 85k. Ugh. Honey, couldn't you have won? We'd still have been there! Oh well.
This morning I am off again. I get to play with Chuck again. I make a poor river play that pisses me off and I walk for a minute. I come back and take down back to back monster pots. One I am going to post in Small Stakes. The other one I complete in the SB with 66 after 4 limpers. I bet the flop of 8d-6h-5h. 2 callers. Turn is the 5d. I check, next bets, button calls. I checkraise. next calls, button declares raise. Once she gets enough chips in the pot, I cap. Both call. I bet the river dark and the button calls with her A-5. I love it when they are drawing dead and get there. We finally get the 9-18 game going and I rack up a $393 winner for the table.
I walk for a minute and get to meet Brad, who posts here under the handle "brad" oddly enough. Very nice guy. We bullshitted for a bit and entertained a few old ladies sitting next to him in the 15-30 stud game. Was a pleasure.
Right before I finally move all my chips from the 6-12, I meet another 2+2er who lurks. Tom is very nice. Sadly I have to go to the new 9-18 and don't get to play with him. Nice job by him of picking me out and approaching me at the table. I think there are a ton of "Toms" out there who lurk, only they don't introduce themselves. They probabaly just play with me and silently laugh at me. Tom says he isn't good enough to post yet. I tell tom that you get better by posting. It's a participatory sport my friends.
The 9-18 game we start is tight. Vegas tight. Clark steals the blinds with anything until they stand up to him tight. Thank god for blind stealing because I never got a single real hand the whole session. I steal, I win. I get a hand, I lose. I pay off a guy with an obvious flush with AQ and open trip queens. Ugh. Muck that crap on the turn Clark. I burn through $218 in about 1.5 hours and leave to watch the NCAA tourney. Up about $800 for the trip. Not too bad.
What is bad is that I had Oklahoma v Maryland in my girlfriends office pool. Well, she had it, I picked it. OK chokes and blows a chance for her to win the whole banana. OK, you caught me. I just wanted to say "banana" in a post.
Nice meeting Brad and Tom. Nice room. Catch you all next time.