Trip report - Greektown Casino

[IMRichB]

I’ve always enjoyed reading trip reports, now I finally have one of my own to share.

I made a trip to the Greektown Casino in Detroit last weekend. This was only my second time playing poker in a casino. Overall a great time and a win of $130 in under 5 hours at $3/6.

I found out that you can call up to one hour ahead to get on the waiting list. Being that it was Saturday evening and that I didn’t want to play at higher limits than 3/6, I decided to take advantage. I arrived around 7:30 and still had to wait 30 minutes, but calling ahead definitely helped as I was seated at the same time as my friend who arrived 30 minutes earlier and didn’t call ahead.

The poker room was very nice, somewhat isolated from the rest of the casino and fairly quiet and relaxed. There are 16 tables divided into two rooms, one smoking and one non-smoking.

After being seated, I sat for two hands waiting for the button to pass me, and then I posted a $3 blind. I looked at my first hand – AQo. There were a couple of callers to me and when I raised I heard a bit of good natured grumbling from the group, which immediately told me this was a passive bunch. This was more than confirmed over the next couple of hours. Amazingly, I recall seeing only one preflop raise that wasn’t mine during that time. Later in the evening a few young college guys sat down and started playing more aggressively.

Interesting also that the table would swing from average to tight to very loose. For the first hour or so there were typically 3 or 4 players seeing the flop, then there was a period where 7 or 8 to the flop was common, then it kind of settled into an average of 4 or 5. A couple of times the table actually folded around to the blinds.

I had a tremendous run of cards over the five hours I sat there. AA three times, KK twice, JJ once, TT once, AK twice, and AQ/AJ/AT probably another five times. And amazingly nearly all of my big hands held up. It started becoming a joke at the table because I was raising so often before the flop. The three people to my left all had a lot of respect for my raises, which resulted in usually 2 or 3 people to the flop besides myself. This seemed to work out perfectly for me in reducing the number of suckouts.

Here was my third AA hand. I raise UTG, folded around to a passive, fairly tight player in LP who calls along with one of the blinds. The flop was junk, something like 862. I bet, he calls, blind folds. Turn is another 8. I bet, he raises. Uh-oh, I think I may lose this one. I call. The river is another 6. He bets. I am now almost sure he has a full house, but I have to call. He turns over JJ and can’t believe it when I turn over AA again.

The dealers made quite a few mistakes. One dealer who said he had come from dealing Omaha started dealing a third card before the flop. Another time he indicated that it was a player’s turn to act, when several of us pointed out that instead it was the dealer's turn to deal the flop. I saw another dealer lay out 6 twenty dollar bills in a row and count it as $100. A few times I saw dealers incorrectly attribute a winning hand to a loser, and several times it took them much longer than it should have to figure out which hand was the winner.

There was one sort of controversial hand I was involved in. I had ATo in LP. A couple of callers to me, I raised and there were three to the flop. The flop was something like 38J, all spades. I looked and my ten was a spade. The guy in EP bets out, MP calls and I call. The turn was junk, something like 2h. Again EP bets and we both call. The river is the 6 of spades, putting four spades on the board. I figure that my ten is not going to hold up, but it’s probably worth calling a bet anyway. The first guy bets, and out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw the second guy fold, so I throw in my 6 chips to call. That was my mistake, because instead of folding, the second guy was actually throwing a twenty dollar bill on the table, which the dealer allowed him to exchange for chips that he used to raise. When I realized he was raising I folded, figuring I was beat. As it turns out I would have won the hand. The first guy had 88, with one of the eights a spade, and the other guy had two pair with no spades. Since I haven’t played live much before, I wasn’t sure but I thought that the rule was you couldn’t bring out cash during a hand. That started a discussion at the table and the floor manager, who happened to be walking by, confirmed this ruling. Of course it was too late at this point for me. And to complicate matters further, it turns out that the second guy did have a $100 chip in front of him, but for some reason thought it would be better to take out a twenty instead of break the $100 chip. So technically I guess he was covered but it still didn’t sit right with me.

Celebrity sighting side-note: At some point in the evening, Darren McCarty (hockey player for the Detroit Red Wings) sat down at the next table, a slightly higher limit table of course. The dealer said he played there often and was quite good. After an hour or so he moved over to the no limit table.

One realization I had is how much more fun it is to play live versus online. People are in general very friendly and fun to talk to. It’s also much easier to get an impression of a person’s playing style and factor that into your play. That is one of my biggest challenges online, that I tend to play against everyone exactly the same because I have a hard time tracking individual player styles. Unfortunately, with the casino being an hour away and having a wife and two young children at home, I’ll have to stick with online poker as my primary venue.

I feel that I played well, although much of my success was due to the quality of cards I was dealt. The last time I played at a casino (in Vegas) I found it difficult to play disciplined and to adjust my play for things like position or number of callers, because it was too easy to be distracted, or not see everything that was going on, or feel pressured to keep things moving. This time I felt much better about my play.

Five hours went by quickly and by 1:00 I was feeling extremely tired and went home. One warning - if you use the valet parking (which is free) be prepared to wait awhile to get your car back during peak hours.

Rich

[CORed]

In live games I have played, and I think this is pretty standard, you can play cash that you have put on the table prior to the start of the hand. You cannot take cash out of your pocket during the course of the hand, nor can you take cash or chips off of the table at any time.

[beerbandit]

cash was able to be left on the table and in play before the new room opened. now you must exchange it quickly. i believe cash does not play in the nl or pl games either.

beer

[Sponger15SB]

[ QUOTE ]

it turns out that the second guy did have a $100 chip in front of him, but for some reason thought it would be better to take out a twenty instead of break the $100 chip.


[/ QUOTE ]

at my casino anything over a $5 chip doesn't play. you can hav $1k in chips on the table and have 1/2 in $25 chips, but they don't play, its just easier to mange a big stack as you (obviously) cant take chips off the table.

[Illininate]

I'm confused - by saying large chips on the table don't play, every time you color up you're effectively taking chips off of the table - which you said you can't do.

Further, if big chips don't play, why have them??

[Loci]

Cash does play in all high lim games at greektown, however, you are only allowed to have bens at the table. hundreds can be exchanged between players as active money, but it is not allowed in the pot... for instance, if I went all in(or was pushed all in) for my thousand in chips as well as my thousand in bills, I do have two thousand active dollars on the table, but before the hand is finished, another player must exchange the bills. When there is a lot of money on the table, the bill folds make the table a little less crowded, as people generally prefer the nickles and bills to having a full store of quarters and hundreds... you tend to get a little too lose when it's just a green stack to call as opposed to five red stacks. In any case, glad you had a good run of it. Say hello if you see a guy at the no lim with an ugly hat!
Loci

[Loci]

greektown excepts all chips at all tables. Commerce is commerce regardless of denomination. It's a 3/6 table, so it's mostly 1/5 chips, but they allow you to exchange all chips on the table as needed.

[westwingsw]

A quick question for you since you were playing the 3-6 dollar tables.

My experiences with poker are pretty much limited to multi-table tournaments and sit-n-go's online and a home game with four or five of my friends playing no-limit freezeout, so I'm not used to 3-6 limit games.

My question is, how much money should I start with to play? Just from what I know, even at 3-6, it could expensive each hand. I don't gamble to make money, I gamble for fun, so I don't go to the casinos with tons of money. How much would I need to bring so if I lose a few hands, I won't have lost all my money? What were the pots like? How much was being wagered per player would you say?

I think playing at Greektown would be fun, but I don't have the money to be throwing away either.

Thanks a lot.

[westwingsw]

I'm sorry. I'm now reading about how limit hold 'em works and I think I my orginal post/question may be pretty dumb.

So, let me see if I understand this. At a 3/6 dollar table, like at Greektown, the small blind is $1.50 and the big blind is $3? After the Flop the first bet is $3, and after the turn and river the first bet is $6?

Raises pre-flop and post-flop (but pre turn) are $3 each raise for a max of 4, and $6 post turn?

So, it can still get expensive, just not nearly as bad as I thought (I thought $3 was the SB and $6 was BB with betting going from there, which is what scared me off a bit).

I guess I'm still curious what I can expect as far as how much to bet if I play a hand all the way though if you don't mind. Sorry again for the newbie mistakes, I should have looked this stuff up first.

[Michael Davis]

The small blind is only $1, which is significantly different from $1.50 and means you should play less hands out of the SB.

You have the betting right. The first two rounds are $3 each bet, with a maximum of three raises (four bets). The last two rounds are $6.

If you are a decent player, you will not lose over $200 playing 3-6 very often. If you have not played much limit poker, however, be aware that it is nothing like no limit.

-Michael