Trump, IN $200 NL trip report

[CMP]

Limit HE student of a few years, NLHE total noob - actually, first time playing NLHE cash game in a casino with such a large (compared to online and home games) buyin and blinds.

I played in the $200 buy-in $2-5 blind game at Trump in Gary, IN on Saturday. I arrived around 4 and left around 10. When I arrived, there was only 1 NL game going, the $200, and I took 1 of 2 open seats. By the time I left, they had started the big game ($400 min buyin NL), and had a must-move game for the $200 NL. Needless to say, the game was much better when I left than when I sat down, as I came to find out that my game was full of regulars, about half of whom were waiting for the big game to start, but I was on a bit of a timeline.

There were a few identifiable weak spots, and one certifiable maniac for a while. Overall, it seems like all the trickiness in the game came pre-flop, and that the post-flop play was either exceptional or very straightforward (my guess – the latter). There were some pre-flop bluffs picked off, but all the big post-flop moves either went un-called or were backed up by the strength of what they represented. To the latter point, it seems like you could get paid off if you made a good hand and someone else made 2nd best.

Casino poker is rigged! On consecutive hands, we saw:

1)a one-outer; 3-way pot, A-J-3 flop, bet-raise-all-in-call-call (2 shorter stacks all-in vs. one of the big stacks) – big stack w/AJ, both short stacks w/A3, turn was a blank, river was the case 3
2)a flopped royal with another made flush out against it

When I return to the game in the future, my strategy will be to play small pots in good position, but with the underlying thought of looking for a double-up hand. Once you had a bigger stack (2x, 3x, 4x buyin), it seemed easier to play in and purchase a lot of small/mid pots from those with just one buyin. Is this sound thinking?

This time around, it didn’t go as well as I would’ve hoped – I played break-even poker, which means I left down an amount equal to what I paid in time and tokes.

CMP