My trip to New Orleans (Long)

[CCass]

Following is the poker related account of my recent business trip to New Orleans. Harrah's in downtown New Orleans has a nice poker room with about 20-25 tables. The HE they spread is 3/6 and 6/12 all the time, 10/20 or 15/30 as needed, and 1 or 2 tables of NL with two $5 blinds and a minimum $200 buy-in. They also spread 15/30 Omaha Hi as needed, 1-5 Stud, and 1-4-8-8 half and half. Unless otherwise stated, all games I played in were very loose and pretty passive. All wins/losses reported include rake, tokes, cab fare, etc...

Thursday night - I arrive at the hotel, and by the time I get my wireless connection issues resolved and logged into Stars, I am already down to T1,410 in KOTZ. I play horribly and exit KOTZ early. I decide to go to the casino and check out the poker room. I am quickly seated in a 3/6 game, play about 2.5 hours and win $70. I had AA twice and KK once, and all 3 hands held up (more on big pocket pairs later).

Friday - I decide to try 6/12, as it looks pretty loose/passive, and proceed to go card dead and horribly play the few decent hands I get. Loose $400 in 3 hours. I decide to go back to 3/6, the cards are no better (nor is my play) and loose another $86 in 3 hours.

Saturday - 8.5 hours of 3/6 won $63, had AA cracked 3 times.

Sunday afternoon - I had a couple of hours before taking a tour of the Garden district and sat back down at 6/12 (I knew I could beat this game?). Played 2 hours and won $300. Two hands of interest. Hand #1 - I was UTG +2 with pocket 5's. Two limpers to me, I limp, player to my left limps, and the next 3 players proceed to raise, re-raise, and cap. 1 of the blinds calls the $24, both players that limped in front of me called, and I thought I was getting the implied odds to call the $18 as I expected a couple of more callers behind me. We take 7 to the flop with $162 in the pot after the rake and bad beat drop. The flop is 5K7 rainbow. Checks to me and I bet, 2 callers to the CO who had capped pre-flop, and he raises. I call the raise and two other call the raise as well. Pot is now $210. Turn is a 9, checks to the CO, he bets and I and 2 others call. Pot is now $260. River is a 7 filling me up, but I am concerned that CO has KK, and I check. He bets and the 3 reamining players all call. Pot is $308. CO shows pocket Tens, no other players show and I drag the monster pot!!! Hand #2 - I get JJ in CO and raise. SB and 2 others call. Flop is J44. SB bets, other 2 call, I raise and SB re-raises. Other 2 drop out, I re-raise, and SB caps. Turn is a blank, SB bets, I ask if he just wants to push our stacks in, as Harrah's allows unlimited raising if a pot is heads-up. He calls. River is a blank, he bets, I raise, he re-raises and I just call thinking that he could concievably have the Quads. He shows K4 and I drag the huge pot!!!

Sunday night - I return to Harrah's at around 10PM and the room is pretty quiet, maybe only 8 or 9 tables going. I get into a 3/6 game waiting for a 6/12 seat, and in 30 minutes loose $35. I get in a 6/12 game with a couple of super loose aggressive players. After we had been playing an hour or so, they start talking about playing with "overs". 6 or 7 at the table agree to play (including me as I thought I would just sit around and wait for premium hands). I won 4 of the 5 pots that I was in that included overs. I played for 5.5 hours and won $518. A great game.

Monday - Longest poker session of my life (13 straight hours). 30 minutes of 3/6 (waiting for a 6/12 seat) won $53. 8 hours of 6/12 with a win of $2. The players at the 6/12 table wanted to bump it up to 10/20, I agreed because I thought it was a good table, and I wanted to see how I would react in a bigger limit game. One memorable hand. I get KQs and call pre-flop. The flop is QAQ, I bet, player 2 to my left raises, all others fold, I call. Turn is an A (ugghh!!!) I bet player to my left raises, I realize his A's over boat beats my Q's over boat, and I call. The river is the case Q. I check, he raises, and we raise back and forth until he is all in (only about $120). He had an A. Thank you river. However, all in all in 4.5 hours of 10/20 I lost $355. I think my play was ok, but I got rivered 3 or 4 times in big pots. So much for the 10/20 expirement.

Tuesday - I went back to Harrah's tonight to play for a few hours before leaving early in the morning. 30 minutes of 3/6 waiting on a table, lost $79 in 2 hands where I was rivered both times. 4.5 hours of 6/12 for a $139 dollar win. One memorable hand. The last hand I was going to play before leaving, I was under the gun. I decide to straddle, and it is capped before it gets back to me. I look down and see Q9o, and decide what the heck, lets go out with a bang and call. Flop is 259 (two hearts). I check, UTG +2 bets, 3 callers, I call. Turn is a blank, I bet, all 4 players call. River is a K (no flush), board checks around, and my 9's are good.

My win totals for the trip.
3/6 - 15.5 hours and a $21 win.
6/12 - 23 hours and a $559 win.
10/20 - 4.5 hours and a $355 loss.

A grand total of 43 hours of poker, and a net win of $225. Overall, I think I did a good job of adjusting to the games here, but struggled with big pocket pairs. Many times 6 or 7 players were going to the flop, which raised havoc with big pocket pairs. For the 6 days I played, my pocket A's held up less than half the time. More players to the flop means more opportunities to draw out. Pre-flop and post flop raises did little to thin the field. But when I did win with big PP's, it was usually a good sized pot.

[HUSKER'66]

Good trip report Cass, thank for the post. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Husker

[Oski]

Nice report. I have to ask: When did you have time for the business part of your business trip?!

I don't know much about poker in those parts. Do the card rooms run 24hrs, and are there a variety of card rooms there, or only Harrah's?

[Thythe]

nice report. What are the "overs"?

[n1stunnor]

It means that if the remaining players in the pot all have overs(you get a little over button),the game then becomes whatever the over is.I've only played with NL overs,not sure about anything else.

Example:5 players in a 10 handed 5/10 LHE game have overs.We'll say the over is NL.At any point in a hand,if only players with overs remain in a pot,that hand then becomes a 5/10 NL game for the conclusion of that hand.

That's the only way i've ever played with overs.

[Oski]

[ QUOTE ]


Example:5 players in a 10 handed 5/10 LHE game have overs.We'll say the over is NL.At any point in a hand,if only players with overs remain in a pot,that hand then becomes a 5/10 NL game for the conclusion of that hand.


[/ QUOTE ]

Since its such a hot topic tonight... This game seems ripe for collusion, especially when it goes from limit to NL. All you would have to do is have your partner be an "under" and you be the "over" (or vice-versa).

The "under" can always protect the "over" for draws, etc.; when the "over" hits, the "under" folds and (if only overs left) the "over" gets to unload.

[MicroBob]

Harrah's is the only casino actually IN New Orleans and it draws a ton of tourists and conventioners.
i imagine the action is fairly busy there 24 hours.

during busy times there (mardi-gras, etc) it can get quite crowded.

it's right at the end of canal street and is probably only about a 10-15 minute walk from Bourbon St.


i agree that it is a fairly nice room...although others have disagreed with that sentiment.


Boomtown has a poker-room about 20 minutes drive outside of New Orleans (i think, maybe longer) but that is more of a local's crowd.

Gulfport, MS is less than an hour drive away and has a Grand Casino with a poker-room. not sure if the other Gulfport casinos have poker.

but harrah's is really where the action is when it comes to New Orleans...especially because of the convention and tourism factor.

[TheArtist]

What do you think of New Orleans? Are people there are as laid back as they are rumour to be?

TheArtist

[MicroBob]

i'll chime in here and say that New Orleans is my favorite city for a variety of reasons and my GF and I plan on relocating there at some point when the timing is appropriate.
this is partly dependent on how successful this online poker thing goes.


yeah, the people are pretty laid-back in my opinion. and there is such terrific history in the city. my enjoyment goes far beyond the touristy Bourbon St scene....but that can obviously be fun too...just not every night.

the cuisine in new orleans is positively outstanding by the way.

okay....enough of my NOLA promoting.

[gabyyyyy]

Actually, there is a bally's casino in New Orleans also, it just is not downtown.

New orleans, is a really great place to visit. Harrah's is just huge, and I cannot wait until they build the hotel on site. The poker room when I went there was kind of small, and the playing area was poorly lit. They may have moved the room since when I was there last. One thing Harrah's could improve on, is the food. The food @ Harrah's, is just gross. They have this little fast food corner with a popeye's, and some italian place, or you can go to the buffet. The buffet food ain't so hot for 18.00/person. Other then that it is a fun place to gamble.

Great shopping, great people, wonderful culture. However, that said do not walk downtown alone at night. While New Orleans may have friendly people, they also have one of the highest crime rates in the country.