Coushatta Trip Report - First time at B&M

[Lost Wages]

Warning:
The following is very long, boring and contains some non-poker info.

Background:
Until early last year I knew absolutely nothing about poker (seriously, I didn't even know the hand rankings). I decided to learn after my last trip to Coushatta. I have been playing poker online at Paradise for about 8 months, approx 8 hours per week. I started at .5/$1 and moved to $1/$2 and $2/$4. My previous casino table game experience is limited to blackjack in Vegas.

The Setting:
Grand Casino Coushatta is located in southwest Louisiana about 45 minutes from Lake Charles or about 3 hours from my home near Houston. I am traveling with my wife, 5 year old daughter, mother-in-law and father-in-law. We arrive on the afternoon of December 29th (Sunday) and check into our rooms at the Super 8 ($55/night, higher on Fridays and Saturdays). I have tried to get reservations at Coushatta itself several times but without success. A free shuttle bus runs 24/7 to all the nearby motels and is as fast or faster than driving, parking and walking to the entrance. Security at the casino is tight. There are guards at all entrances checking bags, purses and ID's. For kids there are two options. One is a video arcade where kids 12 and older can play unaccompanied when signed in by a parent. Kids under 12 must be accompanied. They have the latest games and all are 25 cents, which is nice. This is the option my daughter prefers and over the course of several trips I have calculated that it costs about $8 per hour to keep her happy here. The other option is a "daycare" that looks more like Chucky Cheese with tubes, video games, computers, Legos etc. The cost on weekends is $4.50 per hour with everything but snacks included. All snacks and drinks are $1 and are just added to your bill when you pickup your kid (you can set a limit).

Scouting the Poker room:
After playing with my daughter for an hour in the game room it is my wife's turn and I checkout the poker room. I only have an hour so I won't be playing this time. It is located in the farthest recess of the casino in a metal circus tent, which was an addition to the original casino. The smoke level in the tent is much higher than in the main casino. There is a row of nickel slots adjacent to the poker room and the noise is loud and endless. I nervously enter the poker room and linger at the desk trying to get a feel for things. There are 6 tables going, 4 hold'em and 2 $1/$5 stud. I ask the floorman if they offer any comps and he explains that if you present your Player's Card when entering you will get a voucher for $5 off food when you leave. You do not get any points for your play as you do with slots or other table games. I watch a game to see the mechanics of betting, mucking, etc. I am surprised at how haphazardly players put in their chips; some making one stack, some two stacks, some just flinging them in. In blackjack, anything other than a single neat stack will draw an admonishment from the dealer.

The Game:
Coushatta spreads a 3/6/12 hold'em. Pre-flop, flop and turn betting are the same as a 3/6 game. On the river you have the option of betting or raising $6 or $12. Betting is capped at one bet and three raises unless heads-up. The rake is 10%, $4 max plus a $1 jackpot drop (the jackpot was $51,000 at the time of my visit). The blinds are $1/$3. I am aware of the strategy changes with the 1/3 SB blind but I am curious whether 2+2ers prefer it to a ½ SB blind. It seems to me that it favors the tight player since your orbital fee is lower. As for the 3/6/12 there is a good section in "Middle Limit Holdem Poker" on this structure. Brier and Ciaffone argue that it favors gambling players over good players. They also point out that the value of drawing hands is increased since you implied odds are greater. It certainly changes the feel of the game.

Session 1:
After dinner my daughter is bribed, I mean volunteers to go to the daycare so I'm ready for my first B&M poker session. I check in at the desk and they have a seat available so I buy my chips and head to the table. When I sit down in seat 4 the button is on my immediate right and after the hand the dealer moves it to my left so that I am in the cutoff. I don't post, intending to watch the action for a few hands and come in on the blind. I am quite surprised when the dealer gives me cards anyway. I have nothing so I muck and during the shuffle ask the guy on my right if coming in for free is the usual policy and he says it is. I had considered telling the dealer that this was my first time but decide against it. I am glad of this because there are several other players who are totally clueless; trying to bet $6 on the flop or $3 on the turn is common. One player tries to raise a $6 turn bet to $9. Another guy bets $3 on the turn and is told he must bet $6. He tries to retrieve he bet but is told that is not allowed. He is totally flustered now and mucks his hand! Overall the table appears to be mostly tourists with a couple of locals. I am 40 years old and the youngest by at least a decade. There is one woman who I later decide is the most competent player at the table beside myself. The guy on my right is friendly but a very bad player. The guy to his right (VVBP) is worse, seeing almost every flop and overcalling on the river with 3rd pair. The play is much more loose passive than Paradise .5/$1. Eight to the flop is common with 7 about average. There is almost no preflop raising. If someone does raise, everyone groans and cold calls anyway! Check-raising is almost unknown. At least 90% of the hands go to the river with probably 90% of those going to showdown often with 3 or 4 players. On my 3rd hand I pick-up AcTc in MP. The flop is 5c4c3c. My hand is good and I win a nice pot getting one $12 caller on the river. Nice to start out ahead! A couple of hands later I get KK in EP and open raise. They groan and cold call. Flop is K99! I probably should have slowplayed but I get aggressive and take it down on the turn. I make a couple of orbits not getting past the flop and then pickup red aces on the button. I raise multiple limpers and VVBP limp reraises! Flop is T74 all hearts . Checked to me, I bet, several callers. Turn is Jc, checked to me I bet and only VVBP calls. River is 2h. Now VVBP bets $12! I silently give thanks for what I am about to receive and raise to $24. He calls and I show him the nuts. He shows 87o no heart. Nice limp reraise with 87o! I guess when you are seeing every flop 87o looks like a monster. Later I see this guy call a $6 turn bet with $7. The dealer either doesn't notice or care as he sweeps his chips into the pot. The rest of the session is uneventful and my wife comes to get me about 9:30pm and we head to the hotel. Results: 2.5 hours +$154.

Session 2:
After putting my wife and kid to bed I head back to the casino at about 11pm. There is only one hold'em and one stud table going now. I am 3rd on the waiting list. While waiting I chat with the floorman. He says they have tournaments the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of the month and the place is a lot busier then with a $15/$30 game usually going. It is about an hour before I am finally called to the table. I sit down and the big blind is mine immediately. Lesson learned; as you're heading to the table look for the button and time your arrival so that you come in at the cutoff. The game has changed quite a bit. Gone are the tourists (it's late Sunday night) and in their place are a bunch of regulars who the dealer knows by name. I take this as a bad sign but my fears are put to rest when I see their starting hand standards are as bad as the tourists. The game is a little more aggressive though. I win a pot early, and then I enter the twilight zone. A horrendous run of starting hands leaves me mucking over and over. Perhaps I've had runs like this online but didn't notice since I'm playing 2 tables at 60 hands per hour or about 3-4 times the B&M hand rate. My stack starts to melt to the blind grind and I'm getting really bored. It gets so bad at one point that when I finally limp with 66 in the cutoff the players on my left and right simultaneously say "Uh-oh" out loud. Finally I get KK and win unimproved to get almost even. I leave a short while later. Results: 3 hours -$66.

Session 3:
Monday evening I play again. After a short wait I am seated in seat 1 which is absolutely horrible. The dealer is a large man and I cannot even see players 9 and 10. I am terrified that my hand will be mucked by accident. To make things worse, the player in seat 2 is chain smoking and raising preflop with garbage. I move as soon as a seat opens. The lineup is about the same, mostly players known by name to the dealer (and each other) including one off duty dealer. A couple of funny incidents ensue. On one hand the flop is three to broadway. Everyone folds except for three players. The turn makes it so that any Jack is the nuts. A raising war breaks out and the betting is capped. The river is a blank. A bet, a raise, everyone calls and all three players show a Jack including the button with J3o. The pot is chopped 3 ways and all three players tip the dealer $2 for their "win". Later, a drunk sits down and waits for the big blind. He puts a stack of chips on his cards without looking at them. When he has the option he raises blindly. He bets the flop and turn and takes it down without ever looking at his cards. I don't think anyone but me noticed that he had never looked at his cards. On the next hand he calls a $12 river bet with King high. I have only one memorable hand form this session. UTG limps, several call and I raise with QQ on the button. The BB reraises and UTG now caps. Flop is three low cards and the turn is blank leaving my Q's an overpair. The river is a Q. BB checks, UTG bets $6, I raise to $18. BB mucks in disgust. UTG calls and has AA. BB says he had AA too. Results: 3 hours -$21.

Conclusion:
The games are really loose passive but the rake is horrendous. In 8.5 hours of play I saw the blinds chopped once. I never had a blind steal or defense opportunity. I never saw a reraise on the river. Not many hands are won with top pair. If the backdoor flush comes in someone will showdown T2s. If a straight is possible, someone has it.

For the one masochist who is still with me a question. What strategy changes do you think are appropriate for the 3/6/12 structure? I had originally intended to always bet or raise $12 on the river, however, situations occurred where I think a $6 bet may have been correct. On is when trying to induce overcalls.

Lost Wages

[sucka]

The games are really loose passive but the rake is horrendous. In 8.5 hours of play I saw the blinds chopped once. I never had a blind steal or defense opportunity. I never saw a reraise on the river. Not many hands are won with top pair. If the backdoor flush comes in someone will showdown T2s. If a straight is possible, someone has it.

I've played at the Coushatta many times and I concur with your above assessment. When I first started watching these games my mouth was watering - I couldn't wait to get a seat. Then after getting sucked out on time and time again with your above mentioned T2s it gets a little frustrating. The game is definitely beatable - I don't know for a BB an hour (because of the $5 max $1 jackpot rake from hell), but you can come out ahead in the long run there - the players are just that bad. The problem is the variance is super-high, so you have to be prepared for that. I've been up in the $400 range for a session there - and down as much as 2 racks - in just a couple of hours.

Be glad that you played over there instead of at the Capri - if you want to know what it's like to play poker in a dump, go play there. [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img]

Glad that you enjoyed your time there though. Certainly, playing there and braving the rake and the suckouts beats not playing at all. :-)

[johnb]

I will start this post off by saying that I hate 3-6-12. You think that is wild though, I know of some 10-20-40 games that go in home surroundings around the south.

You seem to have a real good feel for the game. The structure favors loose and passive play especially before the flop since the size of the bet on the end is so much bigger than the initial bets. Some things to keep in mind....
1) Big pairs go down in value. I tend to slow down on raising with hands like 9-9, 10-10 and even J-J especially if you already have a lot of limpers.
2) Big unsuited cards go way down in value. Unless you get the occasional tight game, I seldom raise with K-Q, A-J etc.
3) Drawing hands go way up in value as you are getting correct odds to chase.

The main advantage I see to this structure is that you can play more hands as you are getting the proper odds to draw. The main disadvantage is that you can have some big fluctuations in win/loss.

When you have a little extra time drive up to Marksville, just east of Alexandria off I-49 and try the 4-8 game. It plays in much more 'traditonal' fashion. You can usually get a room on site.

[texag97]

Thanks for the trip report. You were right in that it was long, but I found it quite interesting. GCC is where I nearly always go to play B&M poker (been to Isle of Capri in Lake Charles once), so it was good to see another player's view of the games.

Your results are quite typical when comparing to my results. I have some big wins - biggest is $392 profit in 4 hours - and a lot of smaller wins and small losses (-$124 loss in 9 hours is largest loss). I played there for two days just after New Year's, and had a "winning" trip - $40 up - in about 25 hours of play. Of course, $40 is not much for as much time as I spent at the tables, but getting run down time and time again and getting out flopped on my good hands kept killing me over and over again. I am averaging about $6 per hour over 115 hours of play. I don't have enough hours to know if this is too high or too low, but I don't get to play as much as I would like.

When I play, I am probably the tightest player at the table, and I still play looser than I do on Paradise. I see the flop with most pocket pairs, most suited Aces, and suited connectors and some higher suited one gappers (J9s, Q10s, etc.) What I found amusing though is that raising preflop creates a frenzy of betting and it is usually capped preflop because people want to gamble...they are not there to play poker. Twice on my last trip, I raised with KK preflop and got called and beat by 10/4 offsuit on a 10 x 4 flop, and 10/7 offsuit on a 10 x 7 flop - by the same guy. When things like that happen, it is hard to book any win.

I will say that I sometimes get gunshy with my bigger hands preflop, and I don't raise when I should. A raise preflop does nothing to thin the field, and if anything it ensures that everyone with any peice of the flop will be calling down to the river. It seems like raising preflop decreases your edge with your better hands because you need a lot of help to win the pot. I have seen many call downs with bottom pair turning to trips on river despite many bets and raises, just because it was raised preflop and the pot was huge. This may be close to correct strategy though, even though I seriously doubt that any of those players know that it is close to correct. Like I said earlier, they are there to gamble, not play poker.

This is a long reply, but congratulations on your win, and hopefully we will run into each other there sometime. I will be one of the youngest players in the room, as always.