My wife and I were met at the Edinburgh Airport by my cousin Colby and her husband Keith. They served as the best tour guides one could ask for -- people with a broad and deep knowledge of the area and a personal interest in helping us enjoy ourselves in their fair city. We started our tour immediately, at about 10:00 AM. Since this is a poker blog, I shan't go into detail concerning the non-poker activities. Leave it to say that they were numerous, usually involved food of some sort, and were well worth the cost of the trip even if it weren't for the poker. If any of you are interested in a more detailed account of what to see and do in and around Edinburgh -- and my general impressions -- just ask and I'll gladly fill in the blank space surrounding my poker adventure.
After seven or so hours of touring about, I managed to make my way to the nearby Circus Casino -- less than a half mile from where we were staying. The casino itself is, by American standards, a most modest affair. The entire gambling area is in one large room -- perhaps 1,500 square feet or so. At 5:30 on a Sunday evening there were only two or three table games occupied -- as well as a few of the slot machines. I counted about 15 patrons, not counting those who were seated off in the back around a poker table. Fortunately for me, at the one table in action, there were a few seats available.
The game was $1/2 blind no limit hold'em (I'll be using the $ to mean pounds just because my computer does not have the appropriate sign for pound -- and I'm too lazy to write out "pounds" every time I want to refer to currency. The exchange rate was about $1.70 US to each pound). There was a $100 minimum buy in and no maximum. During this, my first visit to the room, two players had stacks of about $300, two players had about $150 to $200, and the rest were at under $100. I bought in for $300.
The players were all relatively tight and straightforward during the two hours I was there. Even so, about half the time there was a straddle. The rules allowed continuous straddles if the players wished: $4, $8, $16, etc. No hand was straddled more than once during my first experience at Circus' poker room (in later sessions there was much more and much larger straddling that went on). Few hands made it beyond the flop. Betting often went something like this: $1, $2, fold, fold, fold, raise to $12, fold, call. Flop: check, bet $25, fold.
There were a few interesting practices that I noted. First of all, you have to join before you can play. Joining is free -- essentially signing up for a player's card. Hats may not be worn in the casino, except in the poker room. So I signed in upstairs wearing my baseball cap, took it off when I walked downstairs, and then donned it again when I walked into the poker area. I had to take it off to walk over to the cashier to change my dollars into pounds, and then put it back on when I sat down. I had to take it off to walk to the bathroom. Weird.
Changing money was easy, but you need to know that the exchange rate is awful. At a bank or any of a number of money changing offices in Edinburgh the rate fluctuated between $1.67 per pound up to about $1.74 per pound. In the casino it was $1.80. However, the advantage of changing your money at the casino was that you could change it back into dollars at the same rate. They kept track of the transaction and even paper clipped my $100 US bills together for redemption later. Had I lost my money I would have been out of luck.
The cost of playing poker at the Circus Casino is its biggest selling point (other than its convenience to where I was staying). There is no rake. There is a time charge. The standard rate is $3.00 an hour! On Sunday they have a special, early start time of 2:00 PM (Typically, cash games start only after people are knocked out from the 8:00 PM) and a special hourly rate of only $1.50/hour. There is no public poker room in the world, that I know of, with a lower rate.
The dealing was not the best I've seen -- though the dealers were friendly and eager to please. They didn't have a standard practice of collecting the blinds. Sometimes they would bring in all the bets as they were made -- making it unclear how much more it was for players to call or raise a bet. Similarly, some of the dealers weren't expert at pitching the cars low to the table -- flashing cards (unintentionally I'm sure) much of the time. Even an untrained player could see about 5% of the down cards from one dealer. The cards were all jumbo index, making it slightly cumbersome to easily see the corners of the cards without lifting a lot of the card off the table. This was fine for me, as it caused some of my tablemates to flash their cards when they viewed them.
The chairs are comfortable but not adjustable. The lighting is not very good. There is table-side food and drink service -- with standard sandwiches, salads, and the like available. Sorry, no haggis, neeps, or tatties. For that you'd have to go to a shop down the street or have someone deliver it for you.
I found out that there are daily tournaments. Best to check the website if you're planning to play. They are all small stakes affairs of $10 to $50 affairs -- some with rebuys and add ons. They're structured to be done in three or four hours at most. There are also some nights with $1/3 and $2/5 no limit action. They never spread stud or limit hold'em and rarely spread Omaha.
I played my typical tight and aggressive game -- folding nearly all of my hands for the first 45 minutes or so as I checked out the game. I was dealt AQ in late position, raised to $12, got two callers, made a continuation bet of $20 when it was checked to me on the flop and I missed, got one caller; fired a second barrel of $35 on the turn when it was checked to me again, and had one 60ish regular say to me, laughing sarcastically, as he folded, "You finally get a premium pair and no one wants to play with you."
I rocked around and stole a couple of small pots for the next thirty minutes or so before I left for dinner, down exactly two pounds. I took off my hat, cashed my chips, but did not change my pounds back to dollars, promising myself that I'd have to come back in a day or two, later in the poker day, when there was bound to be some loose action. This was Scotland after all; and there was surely drinking of something other than water, coffee, and tea I figured. I wanted to be there at a time when I could take advantage of it. Fortunately, my instincts were correct, as I found out the next time I played.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment