BradleyT
04-27-2004, 02:06 PM
Potowatomi opened up their poker room yesterday at noon. They said people were waiting at 8am to get inside. The room has 10 tables but they only had enough toke boxes to run 5 tables. How incompetent is that?
So I get off work at 5pm and decide to head there on my way home. Traffic was bad so I didn't get there until about 5:40. I had my $10 bonus play and a $100 slot ticket to turn in. Did that and got up to the poker room at 6pm.
It was quite packed. They have a whiteboard they use for signups. When looking at the board I thought they must be forgetting to erase names of players who have been seated - I was wrong. The $2-$4 HE list had about 65 names on it. I figured it might be an hour or two wait. The $1-$5 stud list only had 15 names so I also got on that. The two other games were $5-$10 (two tables) and $20-$40. Although I've never played $5-$10 I'm going to start. That list was going at the fastest rate since they had two tables.
After you get on the list they give you a pager which will beep and glow red when they page you. Standard 5 minutes to get back to the poker room after you're paged - better hope you're not waiting for a slot fill or jackpot payout! Even though the pagers are brand new and supposedly work anywhere in the casino, many of them were brought back up while I was waiting because people said they were giving the "out of range" signal. Since 5 of the tables aren't running at least there's somewhere to sit.
I grab a seat and hear a lady that says she's been on the 7 stud list since 3:00pm and she's still like 5th to go - and this is at 7pm now. But I figure many of those players can't still be waiting - I was wrong. It's as if these people have never played poker or are gambling addicts or something. Waiting 5-6 hours to play a $4 rake $1-$5 stud game. Haven't they ever heard of online poker?? The lady is also unhappy because she blew $200 downstairs on blackjack while waiting for her seat. Now she's only got $50 for poker.
After an hour or two of talking with people I watch some of the $5-$10 action. Players calling with 56o in MP, catching bottom pair and staying till the river. People playing A7o and K9o in EP and paying off all the way. Reminds me of Party when they first started advertising on WPT.
After two hours and only about 5 people getting called for both of my games combined I decide to take a walk. Go and blow $15 on nickel slots in an hour and figure hey maybe this pager isn't working - I better go and check out where I'm at on the list. I don't have enough fingers and toes to count what position I am on the list so I sit back down and chat with some more players. One guy thinks only "pros" can win at poker - I used to think that too until 5 years ago when I found this website. I don't try to convince him otherwise though or tell him about this site - why give my enemy a gun when they're fighting with a toothpick?
The $20-$40 list is by far the shortest and fastest moving. Many college kids go up and get on that list since its the fastest game to get into. I have to believe they have absolutely no idea what kind of BR is needed to sit down in that game. They think they can take a shot with $300 and actually win? Same thing with the $5-10 game. People sitting in with $50. Hello??? You can easily be all in on one single hand before it even gets to the river.
Fast forward now to 10:30pm. Woohoo I'm now 7th on the stud list and 21st on the HE list. People there from 2-4pm are just now getting called. Being the working man that I am, before I left work I told myself I was only going to play until midnight - how wrong I was.
I decide to hand in my pager and tell the guy I hear PokerStars calling my name. All that waiting and didn't even get to play! They are supposed to be getting the additional toke boxes today so that should help somewhat.
They also said they'll be starting omaha hi/lo and maybe some mixed games if there's interest. From what I saw, dealers were newbies and slow and didn't know a lot of rules (like one guy had the manager - no chip runners yet - get him a stack and the dealer didn't know he could play with his $100 behind). They also aren't allowing call-ins which is a bummer. Hours are 9am-5am but soon to be 24 hours once they get things going.
I'll be going back Wednesday after work. Hopefully they'll have things running a bit more smoothly and I'll be able to actually play.
So I get off work at 5pm and decide to head there on my way home. Traffic was bad so I didn't get there until about 5:40. I had my $10 bonus play and a $100 slot ticket to turn in. Did that and got up to the poker room at 6pm.
It was quite packed. They have a whiteboard they use for signups. When looking at the board I thought they must be forgetting to erase names of players who have been seated - I was wrong. The $2-$4 HE list had about 65 names on it. I figured it might be an hour or two wait. The $1-$5 stud list only had 15 names so I also got on that. The two other games were $5-$10 (two tables) and $20-$40. Although I've never played $5-$10 I'm going to start. That list was going at the fastest rate since they had two tables.
After you get on the list they give you a pager which will beep and glow red when they page you. Standard 5 minutes to get back to the poker room after you're paged - better hope you're not waiting for a slot fill or jackpot payout! Even though the pagers are brand new and supposedly work anywhere in the casino, many of them were brought back up while I was waiting because people said they were giving the "out of range" signal. Since 5 of the tables aren't running at least there's somewhere to sit.
I grab a seat and hear a lady that says she's been on the 7 stud list since 3:00pm and she's still like 5th to go - and this is at 7pm now. But I figure many of those players can't still be waiting - I was wrong. It's as if these people have never played poker or are gambling addicts or something. Waiting 5-6 hours to play a $4 rake $1-$5 stud game. Haven't they ever heard of online poker?? The lady is also unhappy because she blew $200 downstairs on blackjack while waiting for her seat. Now she's only got $50 for poker.
After an hour or two of talking with people I watch some of the $5-$10 action. Players calling with 56o in MP, catching bottom pair and staying till the river. People playing A7o and K9o in EP and paying off all the way. Reminds me of Party when they first started advertising on WPT.
After two hours and only about 5 people getting called for both of my games combined I decide to take a walk. Go and blow $15 on nickel slots in an hour and figure hey maybe this pager isn't working - I better go and check out where I'm at on the list. I don't have enough fingers and toes to count what position I am on the list so I sit back down and chat with some more players. One guy thinks only "pros" can win at poker - I used to think that too until 5 years ago when I found this website. I don't try to convince him otherwise though or tell him about this site - why give my enemy a gun when they're fighting with a toothpick?
The $20-$40 list is by far the shortest and fastest moving. Many college kids go up and get on that list since its the fastest game to get into. I have to believe they have absolutely no idea what kind of BR is needed to sit down in that game. They think they can take a shot with $300 and actually win? Same thing with the $5-10 game. People sitting in with $50. Hello??? You can easily be all in on one single hand before it even gets to the river.
Fast forward now to 10:30pm. Woohoo I'm now 7th on the stud list and 21st on the HE list. People there from 2-4pm are just now getting called. Being the working man that I am, before I left work I told myself I was only going to play until midnight - how wrong I was.
I decide to hand in my pager and tell the guy I hear PokerStars calling my name. All that waiting and didn't even get to play! They are supposed to be getting the additional toke boxes today so that should help somewhat.
They also said they'll be starting omaha hi/lo and maybe some mixed games if there's interest. From what I saw, dealers were newbies and slow and didn't know a lot of rules (like one guy had the manager - no chip runners yet - get him a stack and the dealer didn't know he could play with his $100 behind). They also aren't allowing call-ins which is a bummer. Hours are 9am-5am but soon to be 24 hours once they get things going.
I'll be going back Wednesday after work. Hopefully they'll have things running a bit more smoothly and I'll be able to actually play.