Greektown Trip Report - 1st time B&Mer

[jskills]

So I'm in Detroit for business for two days and one night. What can I do alone at night - go to Greektown and play limit HE I guess. I have been playing low limits online for a year now, moving up to 2/4 and taking cracks at 3/6. But I've never played poker in a casino.

So on the advice of a fellow 2+2er , I made sure to call ahead to get on the list. I showed up an hour later to check in and found I was still about 10 people back. I eventually got called about 30 minutes later to play 3/6. I thought about playing 5/10 or higher since it was live, but being risk averse and having had my ass kicked a little by 3/6 online, I figured I'd start small.

So it was just like I was told it would be - superdonktastic fantastic. Sure at first I was trying to size people up. The three old guys in baseball hats limping in every hand and calling every flop and turn were clearly what they appearted to be - fish. There was a busted up Sammy Farhah with a mustache guy across the table from me who I thought might know what he was doing. The guy two to my right was sharp dresser bookworm guy, but he just seemed to limp in every hand. Same for the guy to my right, although he seemed to play better cards, but had no concept of position whatsoever (no QTo is not a UTG hand to limp with). There was a college dude sitting to my left who was very quiet and intense, so I figured I'd better keep an eye on him. He quickly put that worry to rest as I saw him burn off his stack in anger and rebuy and do it again, just calling all the way to the river and folding.

So yes, it was a soft ass game for sure. Minimum 6 to the flop every time. People limping in UTG with any A, K, or Q in their hand. People always completing the SB no matter. People playing hands with no regard for position. A bet meant someone actually had something, a raise meant they had a monster. It typically went a bet on the flop and then everyone would just check it down with bottom pair vs. Ace high.

I watched time and time again as someone with a big pocket pair or flopped trips would bet (a rare show of aggression) all the way only to get called down by one of the old dudes who would river a straight or a bizarro boat. Incredible.

I had only a couple of hands of note, since I was only there for a couple of hours and only entered aboout 10 pots or so. The first pot I played was QJo in the BB. The flop comes

2 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] K [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 8 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].

Checked around. The turn was 7 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].

Checked around again. The river brought a Q, I bet and everyone folds.

Other hands I won were a couple of AQo hands. Once I got heads up against sharp dressed bookworm and bet the flop and turn and got him to fold with a board of bricks. I would never even try it unless it was heads up on a table like this. The other AQ hand I actually hit top pair on the flop and keep betting and have several people coming along and then all three fold on the river chasing flushes I guess.

At one point college boy split as well as an old dude. Two cute young girls sit down in their place. They were also on the 5-10 list. They seemed eager to move to 5-10. The one next to me really made me want to bite her hiney [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] But before she could even be dealt in, she split for 5-10 land. Her friend stayed and played a while. She seemed better than the rest of the clowns (at least in terms of hand selection), but no agression at all. She eventually also went to play 5-10. I think I should have gone too ...

The best hand of the night for me was where I looked down at 2 red jacks in the CO. I raise and of course I get a bunch of callers including Sammy Farhah in the SB. The flop comes

J [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 9 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 8 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]

Yes it's nice to flop a set, but does the board have to be so coordinated? Checked to me and I bet, Sammy and two old dogs call.

The turn comes the Q [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] I grit my teeth and bet.

Bang! Sammy raises. Old dogs fold and I curse under my breath and call. "Pair the board please" I'm hoping.

And sure enough the river brings a 9 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] Sammy checks, I bet, he calls. He shows a T2o and shows great anger on how I "sucked out on him". "Sorry" I say, "you had me there". Pot was nice too.

Then LAG boy from Canada sits down to my direct left. He is a boisterous table captain. I made an ill advised preflop raise with ATo from UTG+1 (no excuse, but I was bored and was wondering with the complete lack of preflop raising coupled with my table image that maybe I could get it heads up against the BB). No such luck. The TCLAG immediately reraised. Then like 4 people cold call! The flop comes 2K7 rainbow. Checked to LAG who bets and I fold. Sammy ends up beating him with a runner runner straight. I see TC LAG cards as he feigns showing his cards Q [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 2 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] Wow. He 3-bet me preflop with that? He went on and on about how he "flopped 2 pair". I said nothing. I thought about getting in another hand with him. It was not to be. I went card dead and time ran out on me, as I had to get up early the next day.

I ended up leaving up 6 BB. I had a decent time, although it was pretty numbingly slow. The level of play was shocklingly bad (I feel like I could have done better). I though the dealers and staff were ok, although the smoke was killing me and man the casino scene itself is pretty depressing, especially outside the poker room.

[magoo]

"Depressing?" I assume you mean the "decor" of the poker room. I can't play in that room, because of the way it's layed out. Too strange for me.

Outside the poker room? What's strange about that? Did you see the high limit blackjack area? Nothing "strange" about that. That's the FIRST thing I ever noticed about Greektown. The ENORMOUS physical contrast between the high limit area and that bizarre looking poker area.

you wrote:

"the smoke was killing me and man the casino scene itself is pretty depressing, especially outside the poker room."

[jskills]

[ QUOTE ]
"Depressing?" I assume you mean the "decor" of the poker room. I can't play in that room, because of the way it's layed out. Too strange for me.

Outside the poker room? What's strange about that? Did you see the high limit blackjack area? Nothing "strange" about that. That's the FIRST thing I ever noticed about Greektown. The ENORMOUS physical contrast between the high limit area and that bizarre looking poker area.

you wrote:

"the smoke was killing me and man the casino scene itself is pretty depressing, especially outside the poker room."

[/ QUOTE ]

What I was saying about the area outside the poker room was the scene, the people, were extremely depressing to look at. The casino itself is actually pretty nicely laid out (although they sure do make it hard for you to find your way out), but all those poor ass looking people hopefully dumping their money into the slot machines or trying to beat some pit game where they're completely overmatched by the house odds is just sad to me. So many people who looked like they should be saving their money or thrying to work a second job, but instead are dumping money into a slot machine. So many of them had that lost glazed over look on their faces.

This is obviously not unique to Greektown, but to all casinos. We stayed in the Sands in Reno two years ago (not to play poker, but to hit the various ski mountains in the Tahoe area) and the sight of people at 7 am still there from the night before drunk and trying to beat some game they cannot win is just sad. Sorry if I'm getting all girlie here ...

[Toonces]

[ QUOTE ]
Outside the poker room? What's strange about that? Did you see the high limit blackjack area? Nothing "strange" about that. That's the FIRST thing I ever noticed about Greektown. The ENORMOUS physical contrast between the high limit area and that bizarre looking poker area.

[/ QUOTE ]
To understand the goofy layout of the casino at Greektown, you need to understand that it's former life was as a boutique downtown mall, called Trapper's Alley. It was a 5-story mall and the casino now uses the 1st and 3rd floor of the mall for gaming space. The 2 poker rooms each used to be mall stores, as were the two rooms to its right. The 2nd floor is now used for administration. The big open areas where the table games are were part-store and part business area.

[Koss]

I just heard yesterday that Greektown wont be building a permanent casino, but will just be putting in a hotel across the street and building a new parking garage. Shame, I was really looking forward to a nice new poker room too.

It's funny hearing you describe the players at your table. I can kind of picture the busted up Farha with a moustache. There's a 3-6 regular that plays 80% of his hands, smokes like a chimney, and smells like dried up urine. It's probably him. I haven't been to Greektown in about 3 months, but I'm sure he's still there. It sounds like you had a pretty good table. I used to play 3-6 there almost every weekend, and all you'd have to worry about were the few other regulars. They were just rocks, but with the rake Greektown takes there's no point in playing at a table with a bunch of them.

[MrDannimal]

They're building a big expansion to the casino in addition to the hotel/garage (which is rebuilding an existing garage). So there is still hope for a new/re-located poker room.

[Aces McGee]

Might as well place this here. I was there two weekends ago for a short session before I made my way up to Ann Arbor.

I've got some major complaints about how the place is run.

My cousin picked me up from the airport and we called in and got on the 3/6 and 5/10 lists. We got there about 30-45 minutes later, and there were still several names ahead of us. We hung out and watched a little of the "50/100" game which, it turns out, is what every other place in the country calls "1/2 no limit." What the heck is up with that?

Eventually, the brushes started calling initials really fast for 3/6 (major complaint number one with this place -- they don't give anyone any time to claim their seat, particulary since the room is divided in two -- more on this later). They managed to screw up both of our initials, but we recognized that it would be unlikely for there to be an "HBA" followed immediately by a "TAH" that wasn't us (our initials are "HSA" and "IAH.") They sent us over to the smoking side of the room to find the ONE floorman for the whole place. We found him, he pointed at our seats, and off we went...except that when we got there, there was a third gentleman who they had called before us. I wanted to play 5/10 anyway, so I let him and my cousin take the seats and explained what happened to the brush, assuming that I'd get a 3/6 or 5/10 seat pretty quickly.

Mistake. For whatever reason, I got skipped on the 3/6, and 45 minutes later, I still didn't have a seat. I was just hanging around and the floorman, who must've sensed that I had been skipped since I had been waiting around for so long, asked what I was waiting for. I said pretty much anything (I was on the 3/6, 5/10, and 10/20 lists) and he slid me into a 3/6 seat on the smoking side. I sat just as a new dealer came in for her down, and she was incredibly slow. I folded like three hands before they started calling names for 5/10. I heard my initials and looked for a floorman to alert that I was going to take the seat, but there was no one. So I had to run over to the brush and tell them I was taking the seat. By that time, of course, the brush had called two other names, but thankfully I got my seat.

I just didn't understand the way the room was set up. It's divided into two, which means one side really can't see the other, and yet there was only one floorman and he didn't have any way of communicating with the brush. No walkie talkie or anything.

There were two young women handling the lists, and then a couple of other guys in baseball warm up shirts just hanging out back there, seemingly not doing anything. It just seemed incredibly inefficient.

The 5/10 was a must-move, and like all must-moves, they did a horrible job keeping track of who was supposed to move. Two guys who arrived at the table after me were sent to the main game, and there were still two guys at my table who had been there since before I sat down.

The dealers were okay. I was really surprised that they let the following incident go, though: a young-ish guy to my right bluffed an Asian regular (old guy, looked to be Chinese, I think his name was pronounced "Yen", for all you Detroit regulars) out of a pot, and showed the bluff. The older guy got pretty pissed, pulled an impressive amount of chips out of his jacket, and said "You made a play, and you want to rub it in my face? How about you rub this in my face!" or something like that. That was pretty tame, but the young guy started berating him, swearing, calling him a motherf*cker, telling him to take his money and fix his teeth, etc. Really uncalled for and no one said a thing.

Not too many notable hands, as I only played for a few hours and I was pretty card dead. I lost the first few hands I played to turned two pairs. I won a nice pot with jacks on the button when five or so limped to me, I raised, we went to the flop 7 ways, and it came down 543r. Checked to me, i bet, and eveyrone called. Turn paired the five. Checked to me again, I bet again, and nearly everyone called. River paired the three, the dude on my right (bluffer from the confrontation with the older guy above) bet, I grit my teeth and called, everyone else folded and he showed T6o.

Having a hand there really helped my image against him, and I was able to take down some pots against him with pure snow by bluffing all three streets HU.

All the players were very readable, and once it got a little shorthanded, it was pretty easy to take down pots uncontested. Like I said, I was card-dead (those jacks were the best hand I saw; I didn't have another PP over sixes and the best ace I got was AJo), but by taking down a bunch of small pots, I ended up about $75 after 3 hours or so. The game broke around 2:30 a.m. as they consolidated into one table. The 20/40 every other round game had broken around 11 pm, I think.

-McGee