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Poker in Goa, Part III: Playing

2011-12-10T13:22:00.000-08:00

I had planned to play poker during my last two days there. I hired a driver to take my daughter Hannah and me to the airport on Thursday morning. She was departing on a 7:00 AM flight to Thailand. We arrived at the airport at 6. I dropped her off and had the driver bring me back up to Panjim -- the capital city of Goa and home to the casino boats that housed the poker rooms in which I wanted to play. By 6:30 I was walking up to the Casino Royale -- the largest boat and the busiest poker room.

Sadly, by the time I reached the shuttle boat, that would have taken me out to the main boat in the harbor, I was feeling sick -- with a very queasy stomach, a feeling of nausea, and a feverish and headachy feeling. I made a last minute decision not to board the boat right away -- but rather walk around for a while to see if I would feel better -- being out of the cab and breathing in fresh air.

I took a walk by the harbor and into the city itself. The harbor has the potential to be one of the most beautiful places in the world. The wide harbor, the tropical landscape, the picturesque boats cutting across the water -- all could combine into one spectacular view. Unfortunately, the entire area is marred both by the horrible smell of sewage and the visible examples of it and other garbage in the water. This was especially troubling to me -- as the smell and sight of refuse augmented rather than diminished my feeling of sickness and nausea.

After an hour's stroll I decided that I truly was sick and needed to spend my remaining energy on finding a decent hotel room. This I did, remembering the name of a place that had been recommended by a poker player who had visited Goa and written about it in a blog I had read in preparation for this trip -- a place named "Ginger". I found the hotel, checked in, bought some bottled water and some aspirin, and stayed in my room from 8:00 AM until 6:00 PM -- intermittantly sleeping, swallowing aspirin, and drinking bottled water. I didn't eat anything -- but had no appetite. By 6 I was a little less quesy, no longer feverish, and just barely able to get up and walk back to the shuttle boat to the casino.

The walk to the harbor did me good. The shuttle ride was mercifully brief. And I arrived right at 7:00 PM in time for my appointment with the poker room manager -- Craig Wildman. He proved to be a great host -- answering all of my many questions about poker in India, in Goa in specific, and at this particular poker room the Casino Royale. I learned that casino poker was very young in India -- only about 2.5 years old -- that poker was only legal in the state of Goa and in a state up near the Chinese border in the northeast -- and that the Casino Royale hosted five tournament tours -- including the Asian Poker Tour.

When I arrived there were a couple of turbos going for seats in the nights main tournament. A cash game started up with me at 7:45 or so. They spread the Indian equivalent of $2/4 no limit with a $200 minimum buy-in. Most of the players bought in for either the minimum or close to it -- though a couple of players bought in for about $500 or so. I bought in for $400.

The game was not tough to beat. There were two solid players -- who were fairly tight and fairly aggressive. Three or four of the players were absolute rocks -- and very timid in the face of any serious action. The remainder were loose and timid -- calling nearly every hand pre-flop unless there was a 3-bet -- but then folding to any serious bet on the flop or turn -- unless they held a monster. My initial plan had been to play all night and then take a cab to the airport for my 4:00 AM flight. But my illness changed all that. I left after only two hours -- retreating to my hotel room for more rest and sleep before my flight.

As it was I managed to make $50 or so in my 90 minutes or so of play. I would have liked to stay and play longer -- for a few days. I'm certain that this would be a very profitable room for even a fairly skilled regular player. There was one shortcoming, however. The rake was 5% with a $100 maximum. I can't be certain, but if ever there were a huge rake that might still be overcome because the game was super soft, this would be it. But still -- a $100 maximum is so absurdly huge of a rake that I'm not really sure that it could be overcome -- no matter what the skill differential was.

I was told that there were often larger games available -- with lesser rakes -- still $100 maximum but only 4% for the $4/8 blind game and 3% for the $10/20 blind no limit game (played in their two table VIP room upstairs).

Poker in Goa, Part II The Set Up

2011-12-04T23:04:00.001-08:00

I was a tourist in Goa for three days with my daughter Hannah. We stayed in Baga Beach for the most part -- taking day trips to interesting tourist attractions including an amazing waerfall, a spice plantation, and a huge flea market on the nearby Anjuna Beach. We went out to restaurants, took long walks along the beach, watched some amazing sunsets, and in general saw the Goan sites. What we did not do was play poker. That I saved for my last day -- after Hannah had departed for points east in Thailand.

I planned my poker for Thursday, my last full day in Goa. After dropping Hannah off at the airport I took a cab back to the main city in Goa, Panaji. It is about 45 minutes north of the airport and 20 minutes or so south of where we stayed on Baga beach. It is a coastal city -- the ideal location of gambling boats that dot the harbor.

This week, in fact, there was an article in a local newspaper about the dangers posed by the many casino boats in the Panaji harbor -- increasing as they do the regular boat traffic across and through the waterways.

The scene is very interesting. Panaji sits on the south side of a large inlet that feeds into a long river. At its mouth the harbor is many miles wide, but in Panaji the harbor is roughly half a mile across. A large roadway spans the harbor over a bridge -- connecting southern and northern Goa.

Panaji is a city surrounded by a rich tropical environment. Trees, bushes, vines, and thick greenery are everwhere. People still fish regularly in the harbor. I watched them bring their daily catch into the marketplace -- displaying dozens of variety of fish in baskets and on blankets. The scene was fascinating and not appealing to my western sensibilities. The streets are strewn with garbage. The aroma of the harbor is quite foul -- smelling of sewage and waste. The place has the potential of being a glorious tropical paradise. Sadly, it isn't that at all.

Along the southern coast of this harbor, for about a mile stretch, are ferry boats that transport people out to large casino boats that stay semi-permanently moored in the harbor. There are now about five of these boats. While a few offer live poker, the main place to play is the Casino Royale.

The Casino Royale hosts five different tournament tours throughout the year and has the most consistent live cash games -- that run 24/7. They have ten tables in their main room and two "VIP" tables in a private area upstairs from the main room. I visited and played in the main room (the VIP room was not in use when I visited).

The main room is richly appointed, powerful air conditioned, and is a notch or two fancier than the typical casino poker room you're likely to play in in the United States. There is more a private club feeling to the place -- with a complimentary full bar and food set out in steamer trays for patrons to enjoy at their leisure.

The only game offered on the Casino Royale is no limit Texas Hold'em -- though another boat offers a local game called "Flush" that I did not learn about (an adventure for another trip perhaps). They regularly spread many variations in stakes, however. I'll include more of the specifics about the games themselves and the players in my next entry.

Poker in GOA, INDIA Part 1 Preface

2011-12-04T04:28:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since my last post. Sorry, I've been busy. In fact, I'm posting this out of order -- skipping over two tremendous poker trips -- one to Colorado and another to Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and Missouri. They'll have to wait. (Or you can check them out in Poker Player Newspaper and on www.pokerplayernewspaper.com). I want to write about the trip I just came back from in Goa, India.

If I took hallucinagetic drugs like LSD or mushrooms and had a wild trip about some tropical world with people who didn't look like, sound like, or act like me, with the strangest driving I've seen -- it might look something like India. But that's as close as I could get to imagining what this place was really like. I'll describe it in more detail as I go along. But know this -- inside of this completely foreign and strange cocoon is a poker room that is complete familiar. It is the comforting aspect of being a poker player. One can swim in the most foreign waters and find these islands of the familiar.

I flew to India on the day after Thanksgiving -- leaving at 11PM on Friday night -- after celebrating a Sabbath dinner with my older daughter Rebecca (of poker dealing and poker writing fame) and my lovely wife Debi. I wanted to experience, first hand, poker in the small state of Goa. My younger daughter Hannah had been studying in Delhi and wanted to take a vacation when her term was over. So this beach resort of a place, with what I thought was the only legal poker in India, seemed like the logical place for us to meet up. It turned out to be ideal.

The flight from New York to Goa is not for the faint of heart or antsy of foot. I have restless leg syndrome (RLS) -- a real disease that afflicts millions I'm told. It's symptoms are exactly as its title describes -- feet and legs that can't rest for very long. Diet and medication can make a difference -- but I'll be damned if I'll take any more pills -- and I haven't figured out what to eat or not eat to lessen the ailment. So I look at a two hour concert as a very difficult experience. A flight to Vegas can be torture. So 14 hours followed by 4 hours seemed like complete, unbearable agony.

In reality, thanks to the wonderfully distracting luxury of a seatback TV screen and 300 movie to choose from -- it turned out to be bearable agony.

I arrived at 4:00 AM on Sunday (Indian time is 10 1/2 hours later than Eastern Standard time -- so my trip only really lasted for a total of about 18 hour). My beautiful daughter Hannah (whom I took to the Rio in Las Vegas for her 21st birthday) greeted me at the airport. We immediately got in a cab to go to our hotel in Baga Beach, about an hour north of the airport -- and about 15 minutes north of the casinos in Panaji. The drive was something surrealistic.

First of all, I was in INDIA -- this complete foreign-to-me land. "I'm in India" I kept saying to myself as I looked out the window of the cab. I tried to soak in all of the sites. Though it was dark, there were many. First, there was the vegetation. It was lush, over grown, filled with palm leaves and broad fonds of many varieties I couldn't identify. There were all of these dilapidated buildings and shacks by the side of the road -- storefronts in English and Hindi and languages I couldn't identify (I later learned they were local dialects of the region). And there were signs in Russian of all things! (I later learned that there are many Russians who regularly vacation in this area). I couldn't get enough of the many people either -- many walking in sandals and barefoot, carrying baskets on their heads -- at 4:30 in the morning no less. And the cows! Big ones, horned ones, humped ones, all sorts of cows -- not just one or two -- roaming everywhere I looked -- crossing the street, eating by the side of the road, stopping traffic, wandering through traffic. I had heard about this but to see it -- amazing.

But as fascinating as all of these sites were, I hardly noticed them because of the driving! It seemed insane -- maybe even suicidal at first. The roads we traveled from airport to hotel were, at their widest, about 18 feet of pavement wide. And yet, often, there were at least four vehicles abreast. Cars passed each other with little or no regard to oncoming traffic. Cars were often squeezed on to the dirt shoulder or forced to quickly apply their brakes to avoid onrushing traffic.

All this while my daughter was eagerly sharing her experiences with me. So I had one eye on my daughter (and both ears), one eye on the scenery, and both eyes watching for what I feared might be a fatal head-on crash. You can see why I was nauseated and had a headache during the trip.

Even so, no worse for the wear, roughly 60 minutes later we arrived at the Colonia Santa Maria, our lovely hotel in Baga Beach, Goa. Unfortuately, since it was about 5:15 in the morning, and check in wasn't until noon, they didn't have a room for us -- even though both of us were completely exhausted. Even so, we set out to walk along the road and then the beach to kill time. We walked for two hours, as the sun finally rose and we got to see the beach. It was weirdly beautiful -- with a slightly frown sand, beautiful and fairly large waves (about 6-8 ft I'd estimate). There were also dozens -- perhaps even hundreds of stray dogs running up and down the beach. They weren't threatening or aggressive -- very timid actually. Still, they were annoyingly plentiful. There were also cows on the beach -- and even a ram! It was early, so the hawkers weren't yet out. But there were already quite a few walkers, as we were. Only most of them carried thin sticks -- about 5 feet long. I learned that they were for the dogs.

No one cleaned up after the dogs or the cows (or the ram) so we had to watch where we stepped. There was also quite a bit of refuse and garbage among the shells and waves. And the aroma was more of a dump than a beach. Cape Cod it surely wasn't. Still, when I focused on the waves, and I contemplated that I was in India, it was a beautiful and awesome experience.

Still, I was happy to be back the the airconditioned, tidy lobby of our hotel.

Honey Pots

2011-09-12T11:13:00.001-07:00

I've been playing $1/2 no limit at Foxwoods lately -- having gone down a few times since my return from the midwest. I've also been able to contrast it with a few "house games" I've been in. There's quite a difference. I prefer the former over the latter as I'll explain.

Foxwoods has been great. There's a wealth of game selection, loads of deep pocketed players who keep replacing losers at the table, and that's not to mention how well the games are run -- compared with "house games". The key for me has been my willingness to take advantage of game selection by moving tables that I judge not to be as profitable as other tables. Here's an example.

I arrived late on a Saturday morning. The place was about one third full -- that is to say that there were only about 30 tables going. Of those a few were low limit and medium limit stud, a few were high limit mixed games going from the night before, a few were limit hold'em, and the remaining 15 or so were no limit hold'em. Of the no limit games, one was a $5/10 game from the night before, four were $2/5, and ten were $1/2 no limit -- my game of choice.

There were two empty seats among those games. I eyeballed them quickly, given that there were a number of folks coming in when I arrived and I didn't want to have to go onto a list and wait for a seat. I noticed that one table had a couple of white young women, a young male African American, a white senior citizen, and five youngish white guys, two with baseball caps and one with a headset. There were a bunch of stacks in the $100 to $200 range, a very short stack, and, in front of one of the youngish white guys with a headset, a very large stack. The seat was just to his left. The other table had nine young guys, three with baseball caps and two with headsets, a couple of whom seemed to be half asleep. A couple of the young guys, each with short stacks, were Asian. No one had a huge stack. The seat was to the right of one of the short-stacked Asian guys.

This was a no brainer. Though the second table looked sleepy -- something that I coudl exploit -- and though no one seemed to be a tough aggressive player who was likely to put regular pressure on me (judging by stack size and the quickly-glimpsed demeanor), the other table looked much juicier -- given the gender and racial stereotyping that I quickly allow myself before seeing anyone actually play. Also, the seat selection at the first table was ideal -- to the left of the one player who might cause me some trouble. I'd get to see him act before I decided to enter the pot.

So I took the seat at the first table, with the presumably deep stacked tough player on my right -- ready to get a read on him and take his money whiel dominating the other players. Such was my plan. It was not to be.

No sooner had I sat down then the deep stacked player literally stacked up all of his chips and left the game, with nary an apology to me for bait and switch. Alas. Even so, as I looked around the table, all was not dispair. There were still a few players with fairly decent stacks. I figured they were beatable and their stacks worth winning.

Thirty minutes at the table disabused me of the notion. Two of the bigger stacks left shortly after my first hand was dealt. They were replaced by two guys who looked to be at least halfway decent -- who bought in for about $100 each. The two women at the table turned out to be very strong. And the rest of the players were as rocky as they could be, typically folding pre-flop even for the unraised $2 big blind.

So I looked around for a better spot. I did this by literally getting up and walking around. I was not disappointed. I noticed a table in the back of the room that had clearly been going all night. There were three guys who appeared to be very tired who had mountains of chips in front of them. They also seemed to know each other. My thoughts were "bachelor party"! Though they didn't yet have an empty seat, the game looked like it had been going all night -- so I figured a seat might open up soon. I went to the floor and asked to transfer to that taable as soon as a seat opened.

Ten minutes later I thought my prayers were answered. As I got up from my rockfest of a game the floor nodded me over. She told me that there was a seat open -- though not in the game I wanted. Disappointed, I looked at the game with the open seat. I had the luxury of watching it for nearly a full orbit. Sure enough, it was a great game -- many deep stacks, many tired and bad players, and what appeared to be an action freak spewing chips. He had plenty to spew (nearly $1,000) so I locked up the seat.

It proved to be a bonanza. I took the seat two to his left. The guy to his left also had a deep stack but was extremely tight. I was fortunate to hit some very strong hands. Three hours later I was enriched by $500 or so of the spewer. He left shortly thereafter.

The game changed markedly by his leaving. It was no longer a profitable table for me. Besides, I was hungry. So I found my buddy who was laying limit and we left the poker room floor for dinner.

When I returned I was faced with no dilemma about where to sit. There was only one seat available -- back at the table I initially had sat down in. A couple of the guys were still there and welcomed me back. The quality of the game had improved; and the stacks were still relatively short. So I started hunting a better game. I found one -- a table with only six players that had been started new about an hour earlier. But a few players had busted. Their chips were congregated in front of two players -- a middle aged fat white guy with a beard, long straggly hair, and a head set; and a young Asian woman. I took the seat as near to the left of the big guy with the chips. The Asian woman was immediately to his right. That way I had a shot at both of their stacks before I commited any money to the pot.

My seating choice seemed to make sense -- though they did not turn out to be the easy opponents that I had initially gauged them to be. Four hours later I left, having won about $200 from them -- plus another $60 or so from the rest of the table.

Going to Goa?

2011-08-28T19:14:00.001-07:00

My younger daughter Hannah is spending her first semester of her senior year in Delhi India. I'm planning to visit, though I don't know exactly when -- probably November some time when she has a vacation. I've heard that there is poker in Goa -- a state on the west coast. It's said to be the nicest and cleanest of all places in India. My daughter has suggested it. Anyone know of any poker there? Anyone know of any decent and not terribly expensive places to stay? I'd appreciate any information any of you have.

I'll provide a long and possibly boring report upon my return if I go. Any information would be helpful.

Home Games

2011-08-28T19:06:00.001-07:00

I've been playing in home games. I have long had the attitude that I will play in any game, no matter the stakes, the structure, or the company, provided the rake is not too high. It has found me in all sorts of games that I might not normally seek out -- and I've enjoyed every one.

This past couple of weeks found me in a game in western, MA. It is a $5 limit dealer's choice game with a bunch of guys in their 60s, 70s, and perhaps older. I may be the youngest player at the table. They call games with wild cards as well as more conventional games. They like a lot of high low games. One of their favorites is 7-card stud hi-lo with the low card in the hole wild. Many of my casino-playing buddies will turn up their noses at games like these. But I love them. They make for loose, wild play. My strategy is to play about one or two levels more conservatively and to pay attention. It usually hs me on the winning end of things after a long night of play. No so here -- but I'm looking to be invited back. So we'll see. But even with a loss, it was fun. And no rake!

I also played in one of my favorite local games -- a game at a Greek Club in the Greater Boston area. They play a rotation of 7-card stud, hold-em, and a variation of Omaha (hi only) called Miami. The stakes are generally $10/20, thought he Miami game is played $10, $20, $30 (with a "bet or get" rule). The players are as friendly and easy going as folks can be -- with the occasional hot headed argument thrown in once or twice a night just to spice things up. There are a few good players and some very wild and aggressive players -- so the swings are extreme. I'm working on moderating my generally tight/aggressive style to take advantage of the looser and wilder opponents. I lost about $100 the last time I played -- but I'm looking forward to going back again and doing better. The rake is a very beatable time charge of $5/hour (if the host remembers to collect).

I think one negative side effect of the spread of casino poker is the diminishment of home games like these. Going to a casino or other public poker room is so easy, that these private games tend to dry up. All the serious action really likes being able to go to a casino 24/7 with no problem collecting. Even so, I'm eager to encourage those who want to spread private games. It's good for the poker economy not to have some huge extraction of the poker dollar every pot.

Poker Road Trip Part IV -- Return of the Native

2011-08-28T18:54:00.000-07:00

I left Minnesota and began my journey home. I had planned to drive to Detroit and play in the three rooms there: MGM, Motorcity, and Greektown. I failed in my efforts.

The problem was that I stopped at three rooms on the way and arrived too tired and too late to mmake another sojourn out into the poker world. My first stop was at about 10:30 AM in Hammond -- right over the border from Chicago -- in Indiana. What a nice room. It's the Hammond Horseshoe -- has about 18 tables I think (I'm doing this from memory so I may be wrong) four of which were going when I arrived. There were two $1/2 no limit tables and a couple of other tables -- one higher and one limit table I think. There were two regulars at my table who were conservative, tight, and somewhat timid. They tended to believe my raises meant strength and didn't want to risk looking me up. I stole a couple of pots, played for a total of about an hour, and then left for points east.

I arrived in early evening at the Four Winds Casino, right over the border in Michigan off route 94. It is a beautiful newish room in a spectacular casino. The room has recently gone from only having Poker Pro machines to actually having a few tables with cards, chips, and dealers. There was but one short-handed table when I arrived. The shift manager assured me that the tournaments, played on the Poker Pro machines, were well attended -- and that the live cash games were starting to catch on. I believed him and would have liked to have stayed for more than the hour or so that I did. But I had places to go.

I stopped 90 minutes later at the Firekeepers Casino in New Buffalo, I think -- about 100 miles east of Four Winds. It was also a great room -- with about 10 tables, a very accomodating shift manager who answered all my questions. The room also had the distinction of being the best illuminated poker room I had ever been in. Bright light made for easier card reading -- soemthing that these 50+ year old eyes truly enjoyed. The players were friendly, relaxed, and just about as passive and manipulatable (if that is a word) as I have ever seen. I feel certain that a skilled player could well beat the 10% $5 rake of the room. It's well worth a follow up visit.

I spent the night just west of Detroit, pigging out at a Middle Eastern restaurant nearby. I left early the next day, arriving at 4PM or so at Turning Stone Casino in Verona New York. I played a couple of hours -- but had one of those rare negative poker experience. I don't mean that I lost money -- I actually won a few bucks. But I found the room to be an awful place. First of all, they charge a $2 membership fee -- part of their compact with the state I gathered. The game itelf was ridiculously tight. A typical hand went: SB, BB, fold, fold, fold, fold, raise to $7, fold, fold, fold. I won a hand like that and the dealer raked $2. I asked him what he was doing and he said, politiely and firmly that he had to rake every pot, not matter how small. The minimum rake, he informed me, was $2. The game grew short handed and I eventually left. No fun at all.

Poker Road Trip Part III -- the best comps in the US!

2011-08-02T13:28:00.000-07:00

The Best Comps in the United States!

I stayed west of Toledo late on Saturday night, after driving through blistering rain on my drive away from the profitable Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh. I had toyed with the idea of driving all the way north to Presque Isle Casino near Erie, but found out that though they had gotten approval for table games including poker, they wouldn't be starting to spread poker for at least a few more weeks. I supped on a box of spicy boneless chicken wings I picked up during a stop for gas east of Toledo. It was not a memorable stay.

At 6:00 Am I left and drove straight through to my brother's house in Dayton, Minnesota -- about thirty minutes northwest of Minneapolis. I booked a nice and inexpensive room in nearby Elk River. I spent the better part of Sunday evening, Monday, and Tuesday with him and his family. I managed a small stakes three person tournament with him and his younger son Calvin (I put up $5 and had each of them put up $1. Hey, don't laugh. In the immortal paraphrased words of Jimmy the Greek, "It's action ain't it?!")

My brother, a sometimes poker player himself (and former host of the short-lived TV poker show "Poker Beat") and I drove up to Running Aces Harness Park in Columbus, Minnesota -- the place with the best hourly comps I have ever seen. They pay $5 an hour for all games -- and the comps can be redeemed for cash!It's about 30 minutes northeast of Dayton -- under an hour north of downtown Minneapolis. What a beautiful place to play poker. It's slogan is "Cards with Horsepower" -- and that does it justice. Under Minnesota law, a poker room can be built only on an Indian reservation or a gambling venue. It seems that the owners of Running Aces created an entire race track just to have a legal way to have a poker room. The result is a very fresh, modern facility for two of my favorite hobbies. Thank you very much Running Aces.

Minnesotan gambling law is unusual in another way -- as are many state laws related to poker. $30/60 limit poker is allowed -- and you may buy in for as much as you like. But no limit is prohibited -- except in tournaments. The maximum bet in a game is $60. So at none of the poker rooms in Minnesota will not find the most popular form of poker these days, $1/2 no limit hold'em. However, to get around the ridiculous restrictions, some of the rooms run widely spread limit games -- in the case of Running Aces that's $2-$60.

We went for the tournament action. We bought in to a $125 no limit hold'em tournament with no rebuys or add ons. 55 folks entered. The tournament was conventionally structured for a deep stack -- with 20 minute blinds and $10,000 in starting tournament chips.

Experts that we were we lasted, oh, about two hours; my brother and I finished in around 32 and 35th place respectively. Nothing particularly dramatic. I played TT pre-flop nearly all of my chips and lost a coin flip; he had the same experience with an AK that didn't improve against QQ. Such is poker life.

I'd played poker at Running Aces a couple of years ago, right back when they first opened. I remember the action was loose and wild back then. I didn't have a chance to play in any of the cash games during this trip -- but I sure would like a chance to try my hand at it. I'd have to brush up on my limit poker skills. But with a $5/hour comp, the 10% $5 maximum rake is much, much less offensive. And the possibility of doing some harness handicapping when I'm not playing poker even more attractive.

I left Minnesota very early Wednesday morning with the intention of driving to and playing in Detroit. I almost made it there -- but poker rooms along the way delayed my arrival to the point that it was too late and I was too tired when I arrived at my motel room to venture forth. More in Part IV of this road trip.

Road Trip Part II

2011-07-31T14:44:00.000-07:00

I spent a couple of hours touring Pittsburgh, where my wife and I lived and worked for about six years when we were first married. It was 16 years since I had last visited -- and 23 years since I had lived in Pittsburgh. It was disappointing to me that I could recall so little. I expected instant recognition and the old road map of my brain to immediately flash back on. But honestly, it was like driving to an all-but-brand new city. I don't know if I would ever regain my old sense of Pittsburgh -- and how it felt to drive through the streets in my neighborhood, or in the places I organized. But the two hours or so left me feeling very much like an outsider. I was surprised and unsettled.

I drove down to Canonsburg, PA where the Meadows Racetrack and Casino is located. Back in the day, this was a routine trip -- one I made at least a couple of times a week as the union representative for the hospital workers at Canonsburg General Hospital. But I made this trip as if I had never been to Canonsburg. I had no idea how to find my way onto the highway, or where the turnoffs and merges and exits were. Nothing looked familiar.

That all changed as I entered the Meadows poker room. Now THAT looked familiar -- though I had never set foot in it before. But the entrance and the brush and the cashier and the tables and the chatter at the tables and the play of the hands -- that was all routine. This was very familiar territory.

The room is a very nice place to play. The 26 tables are very well spaced. The table lighting is bright and nearly shadowless (though the lighting for the room in general is a little too dim for my taste). Though the room is only a couple of years old, it seems more worn than that -- with the felt less than new looking and the reddish-brown chairs and carpet suffering somewhat from wear and tear. There's table-side food and beverage service -- with attentive wait staff regularly approaching the table and bustling around. Poker room management seemed a bit harried -- as they ran a major two-day tournament and a dozen or so cash games. They had just discharged their poker room manager -- so that may have added to their workload.

They were spreading $1/3 and $2/5 no limit hold'em and $2-4 limit hold'em. That was usually all they got during the week, the acting poker room manager told me, though they get a $5/10 no limit game with a maximum $5K buy-in on Friday and Saturday nights. They hadn't had a stud game in a long while -- and they didn't spread a higher limit hold'em since most folks who wanted that tended to go to the other poker room in the area, the Rivers up in Pittsburgh.

They have daily tournaments including occasional freerolls for frequent players. I'd suggest checking them out directly to find out what tournaments they have going.

The Meadows Racetrack and Casino
210 Racetrack Road
Washington, Pennsylvania 15301
724-503-1200
www.meadowsgaming.com

The players at my table were timid, loose, passive, and generally inexperienced. I found them manipulatable -- though some were so loose that fancy play was a mistake -- the better hand usually won at showdown. They were all generally good-humored, friendly, and welcoming to their game. There was one solid player, sitting immediately to my left -- and another guy who came late into my session. But other than that, for the two hours or so that I played, I saw no one who seemed to play the game well.

Players earn $1 an hour in comps ($2/5 and higher earn $1.50). Motel rooms in the area are not especially cheap -- at about $100/night. I think it would be a profitable room for the good $1/2 player -- even with their 10% $5 maximum rake.

I left the room with my buddy Blaine, who is from Western Pennsyvania. Normally, we meet up at Foxwoods. I thought I'd return the favor and meet him here. He is a stud fancier -- and is always trying to find a stud game. Unfortunately, though I started a list for $5/10 stud with both of our names on it -- no one else signed up and Blaine was forced to play $2-4 limit hold'em. Even so, we both had a good time and mananaged a nice meal up in the food court out by the race track. My grilled chicken was excellent and well priced at under $7 for two large breasts and two side orders.

We drove up to The Rivers Casino -- which sits on the northside of Pittsburgh, right next to what has been described to me as the nicest baseball stadium in the United States. There was a lot of traffic getting over the bridges and eventually into the parking area of the casino. This may have been made more difficult by some event that was going on in the nearby stadium.

The room was well worth the drive. At 30 tables, it wasn't much larger than the Meadows -- but to me it seemed much bigger. I'm not sure why. Perhaps it was because the ambiant lighting in the room and the general color of the place makes it appear much darker and deeper. Maybe it was because the place was noticably busier (of course the hour of my visit could have had much to do with that -- it was 6PM Saturday night by the time I got to the Rivers -- I had been at the Meadows at 1PM until about 4). Maybe it was just in reaction to having been cooped up in a car for over an hour waiting in traffic to get in -- so the expanse of the large room seemed even larger when compared to the narrow confines of my little car. But no matter. It was a large bustling room -- 'nuff said.

The room also has nicer amenities than the Meadows. The tables have cup holders; the seats are adjustable; the tables, carpeting, chips, felt, and cards appear newer and fresher than those at the Meadows. In general, the place felt more alive, more modern, and hipper. Perhaps this was because there was a more urban mix of players than in the Canonsburg room.

The mix of the players was younger than those of the Meadows. While the Meadows only had about 10% of the customers in their 20s, at the Rivers it was more like 30%. That's still relatively low by Las Vegas or California standards -- and even by AC or CT standards. But the room seemed younger, hipper, and more action-oriented. That was certainly true at my table -- where a couple of young guns, with their head sets, sun glasses, and baseball caps, tried to at least look intimidating. Fortunately, though the play at my table was more aggressive, on the whole it was not much better than that of the Meadows. There was one excellent player at my table, seated to my right. But other than he, the players did not appear to be very skilled or experienced. There was one young woman, for example, who seemed to have learned the game from TV. She three bet pre-flop, got called by the initial raiser who had her outstacked, faced her cards -- the Kd Jd, and was disappointed and surprised to see that she she lost to QQ. "Bad beat" she said to console herself when the hand was over and she rebought eagerly. No one corrected her. Perhaps they were more skilled than I gave them credit for.

The session was profitable - though brief. I wanted to drive to Toledo that night -- a good four or five hours away. I left at about 7:30, said good bye to my friend Blaine, and left at about 7:30 PM. It took me about 20 minutes to finally find my way to the highway north and then west. I managed to check into my motel at a little past midnight. It had been a very long and profitable day. For more information you can check out the following:

Rivers Casino
777 Casino Drive
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15212
412-231-7777
www.theriverscasino.com/gaming/table-games

Poker Road Trip Part I

2011-07-28T18:42:00.000-07:00

I decided to go on another poker road trip -- this time alone, visiting my brother Lee who lives in Minneapolis, and my friend Blaine, who lives in Western Pennsylvania. I figured I'd take in the two relatively new rooms in the Pittsburgh area, then a room in or near Minneapolis, and finally the three rooms in Detroit.

Things didn't quite work out as I had planned -- though now, as I'm in the last leg of the trip, I'm not complaining.

I'll summarize where I visited here, and then in subsequent entries, spend a little more time on each of the places I visited. Finally, I'll distill all of this into an article or two for Poker Player Newspaper and/or www.pokerology.com -- where they actually pay me for what I write!

Friday night, July 22, 2011: With my wife in West Springfield, MA -- no poker.
Saturday July 23, 2011: Drove to Pittsburgh, PA and Canonsburg, PA and played at the Meadows and the RIvers. Stayed near Toledo, Ohio.
Sunday, July 24, 2011: Drove to Dayton, MN (northwest of Minneapolis), hung out with my family, and did not play poker.
Monday, July 25, 2011: In Dayton, MN. Did not play poker.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011: Visited Running Aces Poker Room north of Minneapolis and entered a tournament.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011: Left Dayton and ended up in Canton, MI, 20 minutes west of Detroit. Played in three rooms en route: Horseshoe in Hammond, IN; Four Winds on the Michigan/Indiana border (in Michigan); Firekeepers,Exit 104 on route I94.
Thursday, July 28, 2011: Left Canton, MI and drove to Canastoga, NY near Turning Stone Casino. Played there.

Tomorrow I'll drive to Lenox, MA where I'll meet my wife for a concert at Tanglewood. I'll stay over night in Williamstown, MA and then travel Saturday to Foxwoods before heading home.

More details to come.

Edinburgh Poker Adventure Part V -- Tournament Action

2011-07-05T16:14:00.000-07:00

There are two public poker rooms in Edinburgh: the Circus Casino near the center of the city, and the Maybury out near the airport. I decided that after three sessions at one place I should at least visit the other. I heard from some of the cash game players at Circus that the Maybury had an uncharacteristically large tournament on Saturday night that started at 7 or 8 PM. Though it was the night before I was to leave for home, I figured that this would give me the best chance of sampling what the room had to offer. I was right.

This really is no place for cash games. Though they spread $.50/1.00 no limit hold'em, the game does not consistently run during the week. It is always available, I was told, on the weekend when there are sometimes $1/2 games as well. Even so, the game is no bargain, with the pot being raked up to a $6 maximum. With Circus in town, charging only $3 for an hour of play -- about 1/5th the amount taken from the Maybury game -- is there any doubt where players get the better deal?

Tournaments are another matter entirely, however. Both places spread them -- and the house takeout varies wildly. You'll have to check for each event. But the Maybury event was very player friendly. It was $165. And the casino added $2,500 to the total prize pool. With 56 players or so that raised the prize pool from $9,000 or so to about $11,500.

Sadly for me, however, the tournament started not at 7 or 8, as I had been told, but at 5PM -- to accommodate the very deep stack of 12,500 in chips. Though I thought I was arriving especially early at 6:45, in reality I was there nearly 90 minutes late (they delayed the start by thirty minutes hoping for more entries). I was the last one to enter -- and happy to find out that my stack was not blinded off at all. "That's not the way we do things over here" I was told. Who was I to argue.

The structure was very slow. 30 minute levels, 25/50 to start, increases to 50/100, 100/200, but then 150/300, 200/400, 250/500, 300/600, 400/800, 500/1,000. They started 25 antes at the forth level, but even so, I knew that this would not be the typical three or four hour tournament. If I was lucky, I'd be in for a long night.

The length of the tournament was also a product of the speed of play by the players. Though things didn't slow too much during the first three hours, when the tournament got down to two tables, at about midnight, the pace of play became glacial. I am not exaggerating when I write that I clocked two hands in a row at over 5 minutes each. I went one hour with only 14 hands being dealt.

The level of play was fairly high. Players tended to be tight and aggressive -- with a couple of guys playing loosely and aggressively. It was rare indeed for a hand to go by pre-flop without a raise. There were many three bets pre-flop. Players tended to be aggressive after the flop as well -- and hands rarely went to the river. I judged myself to be no better than in the top quarter of players -- perhaps just the top third. And I didn't see more than 2 or 3 complete fish.

My performance was enhanced by a couple of great pieces of luck and some solid play. The single best decision I made was on the flop in about the seventh round, when I had about $20,000 in chips against a much larger stack. I was in the big blind with Kd3d -- normally a hand I'd discard. But everyone had folded to me, my image was extremely tight, and I thought I might win if I took a stab at the pot. So I raised 3X the BB. The small blind folded but the big blind, a loose and erratic player, called. The flop came QhJd3h. The BB checked. I bet roughly the pot. My opponent check raised me all in! I thought and I thought. What might he have? If he had a Q or J I didn't think he would have been so tricky. I thought he probably would have bet. If he had two pair or trips, I think he would have just called my bet and perhaps try to crush me on the turn. But the check raise shove made me think that he probably had some flush draw. Sure enough, he revealed a couple of middle hearts. Neither the turn nor river helped him and I doubled up -- at just the right time.

I tightened up for a while and saw the number of active players diminish to about 25-- playing at three tables. I then decided, based on the nature of my opponents, that I needed to get much more aggressive. Partly this was because I thought that I needed to build my stack or perish in the process if I was going to make the money. But, admittedly, I was also eager to get back to my room so I could get a few hours sleep before leaving for the airport. As it was, I found myself, on three occasions, shoving for my tournament life when I was at least the slight underdog. On all three occasions I hit the cards I needed and either doubled up or won a significant amount in the process of knocking someone out. These hands allowed me to stick around until the final table.

Ironically, when I got knocked out(at 2AM) I did so as the heavy favorite -- with an AJ against a K9 -- only to have my opponent, who had me covered, spike a King on the flop. Even so, I took home a prize of $300. It wasn't the kind of reward that I would have liked for my 7 hours of play.

A few more comments about the Maybury Casino. It is a much more upscale and glamorous place than the Circus Casino. It reminded me of the more stereotypical European casino -- with the dark colors, the rich fabrics, and the attentive staff. Circus had more of a honkey-tonk circus feel to it -- a workingman's night out more than a rich man's club. That kind of stuff doesn't matter to me at all. I play poker where I think the poker game is best. I'd play in the back of McDonalds if I could get a good game there.

The dealers were trained by different casinos -- and they did not even shuffle the cards consistently. Their quality was generally better, I found, than that of the cash game dealers at Circus -- but that could have been because they came into town especially to deal this tournament. Perhaps the casino was more highly selective for this particular event than they were for their cash games. For all I know these same dealers might deal tournaments over at Circus as well. I'm really not sure.

The chairs were not uncomfortable -- padded nicely. But they were not adjustable -- a major drawback for a fidgety someone like me. The lighting wasn't great -- but it was better than Circus. And the free cookies were a nice little touch that I appreciated.

All in all, I'd recommend any tournament here where the house was adding $2,500. But I don't think I'd come out here for the cash games unless my hotel was within walking distance. The other players all agreed that the place to play cash was the Circus Casino -- and I agree with them.

Edinburgh Poker Adventure Part IV -- Great Cash Games

2011-07-05T14:41:00.000-07:00

I woke up a little before sunrise on my fifth day in Edinburgh, walked over to the Circus Casino's poker room, and found a nearly full table at 3:20 AM. Is this a great trip or what! The game was not the standard $1/2 no limit but $1/3 -- having followed a large Thursday night tournament that attracted a slightly more deep pocketed crowd than the typical mid-week event. There was one empty seat that I took. On my immediate right was a guy with about $1,200, and with the stripes completely aligned. It didn't take a brilliant reader of tells to figure out that he was likely to be very tight. To my immediate left was a short stacked player. And to his left was the other large stacked player -- a very young guy with about $1,500 in chips. The rest of the players had $400 or less -- soem with only $50 or so.

I bought in for $500 (read "pounds" for "$"). Circus Casino doesn't require the posting of blinds, so I took my first hand in the cutoff position. I was dealt 92 off and folded to the $20 bet made by a player in mid-position. The pot was reraised to $60 by the young guy with the big stack to my left. He ended up hitting a straight, having raised with 47. While I was getting set up with chips and the like I noticed he made other very aggressive moves. I put him down in my mental book as a loose and aggressive player.

On my next hand I was dealt A-10. Two players called the $3 big blind. I was two off the button and made it $20 to go. The young aggressive player called as did another player. Everyone else folded. The flop came T-9-2. The young guy tossed in $25. I figured he was just being his typical aggressive self -- trying to buy the pot. The next player looked at his down cards, thought some, didn't seem to be acting, and finally called the $25. Having top pair and top kicker I made it $100 -- hoping to take the pot right there. The young guy quickly said "All in" and laughed. The third player folded and I thought briefly about what I had seen. Could this young gun really have me beat or was he just making a move on a new guy at the table? I didn't want to lose my stack -- but then I knew that he knew this -- had seen him play aggressively with little before, and figured that this was just the kind of situation I should not back down from. If he had an overpair I still had the three outs with my Ace. So I boldly called.

He flipped over AA. I didn't improve (in fact the case Ace came on the River but that gave him a set). So on my second hand I was down $500. Aaargh.

I did not put my tail between my legs and leave -- though part of me wanted to do just that. I immediately went to the cashier, changed $1,000 US into pounds and received $580 in pound chips to resume my battle.

I sat back down and, unintimidated, fought my way back. After an hour or so, stealing some pots, making some tough calls, and in general playing solid no limit poker, I was back up to even. One hand in particular stands out as memorable.

I was dealt 8c6c in the small blind. The young player to my left, under the gun, raised to $20 -- his standard raise at this hour. Three players, including the tight player to my right called as did I. The flop came 8h7d2c. I bet $50. The young turk called. The tight guy to my right folded -- as I hoped he would.

The turn was the Ad. I bet $100 -- hoping the young guy didn't have an Ace and would assume I did -- and would fold. He called. The river was the beautiful 8s. I bet $200. The young guy thought for a long time -- nearly three minutes, before finally calling me. He had AJ. Lucky me.

They closed for the morning a few hands later. It had been a great session. Though I left down about $40 for the session, I felt great for having clawed back up from such a large deficit in one session. I wasn't sure if I would be playing at this place again during this stay -- but I was certain that I wanted to return. With a
$3\hour table charge and a line up of largely beatable and readable players, I thought that this would be a great place to play regularly. I might make a trip to Edinburgh JUST for the poker.

Edinburgh Poker Adventure Part III -- Animals at the Circus

2011-07-04T13:11:00.001-07:00

I took a day in the Scottish countryside to give me a flavor for the land. What a beautiful country. My wife and I drove to the seaport of Oran, on the western coast of the country -- a little north and west of Glasgow. We arrived back late to Edinburgh, had a nice supper of Nepalese food, and went to bed early. Good thing -- because it allowed me to wake with the sun at 4:00 AM. I walked over to the Circus Casino, where a game was still in progress. I had 90 minutes to try my hand again at no limit poker in Edinburgh.

The game was very different from my last one. Where that was a tight and relatively passive affair, this one was rocking and rolling. There was one seat available, between the two largest stacks at the table -- each about $800 (I use the "$" to mean pounds -- about $1.70 per pound). I quickly saw that the player to my right was an excellent young gun. He was a tourist from Texas, here in Edinburgh with his college class from Austin. He knew the game, played a lot on line, and was running over the game. To my immediate left was another player with about $600 in chips. He was drinking, had a pint in front of him, but was no fool -- acting much more drunk than he really was. As soon as I said one sentence he leaned next to me, smiled broadly and said, "So you know Clint?" and then laughed as if he had just said the punch line to the funniest joke in the world. Three other players joined in and laughed loudly. I smiled and laughed as well, responding (rather lamely I thought) "No, but I'm John Wayne's nephew". This was, by the standards of the table, a great one liner I guess, because everyone cracked up -- and I was welcomed to the early morning poker Scottish pokerfest.

I played a pair of Jacks aggressively, re-raising the player to my right after he raised the BB to $20. I made it $70. Everyone folded but the initial raiser who called. The flop had an Ace and two low cards in it. He checked. I bet $100 and he folded, showing me KsQs. I rocked around some and then had an interesting hand against the drinking player to my left. I had noticed that though he often bet largely and loudly pre-flop, raising to $25 or so, he seemed to respect large bets after the flop. I thought he was trying to steal for short money when the betting was light and he was in position -- even when he had nothing. He made continuation bets -- and then showed his cards when he was bluffing a couple of times. But he made some lay downs as well when he was reraised.

I was dealt a pair of sevens in early position and called. He raised to $25 and was called by the button and by the player to my immediate right, the young Texan, who was in the large blind. The flop was 865 with two spades. As it turned out I had the suited 7. The big blind checked, I checked, and the drunk guy bet $50. The button folded; the Texan called and I called. A suited 4 hit on the turn. The Texan checked, I checked and the drunk bet $75. The Texan folded. I had about $400 left. I had been playing tightly, figured the drunk was trying to steal the pot, but that he'd lay it down if I raised. So I made it $200. Sure enough, he showed me the spade Ace as he tossed in his hand. Nice one for me.

After about thirty more minutes, at about 5:15 AM, the game was down to three players. I had about $100 profit, would be playing pretty much heads up against the young turk from Texas, and decided to call it a morning. We shook hands and I went for a two hour walk all around Edinburgh -- seeing the city before it really woke up -- even though the sun was shining brightly. It was the perfect way to start the day.

I returned once more to the Circus Casino and will report on it in my next blog post.

Edinburgh Poker Adventure Part II -- Circus Casino

2011-07-04T12:28:00.000-07:00

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.

Edinburgh Poker Adventure Part I -- Arriving and Staying in Scotland

2011-07-04T04:42:00.000-07:00

I'd played at the Victoria Ladbrokes in London back about nine years ago or so. That was back before the poker craze. I played some self-dealt pot-limit 7-stud and some pot-limit Omaha. (high only). There were only a couple of public poker rooms in the United Kingdom at the time.

Since then there's been a poker explosion throughout the UK and Ireland. I'd heard of all sorts of rooms in Ireland, Scotland, and England. But I hadn't had the opportunity to check them out -- until just now.

My wife and I usually take a summer trip. At first we thought about Barcelona, Spain where I had played poker before meeting up with her in Madrid this October. I had played in all sorts of rooms in Spain during that trip and thought it might be nice to spend six days with my wife in this beautiful place. I was a little discouraged by what I remembered to be an outrageously raked poker game at the Casino de Barcelona, but I thought all of the other tourist trappings of the place might make up for it (plus, the poker games were often so wild, aggressive, and big that I might be able to overcome even the big rake).

But then we focused on Edinburgh, Scotland where my first cousin Colby and her husband live and where neither my wife nor I had ever traveled. A little research revealed that the city had at least two poker rooms with regular tournaments and cash games. Knowing that my cousin was there and would be familiar with the place was the final determinant. So we booked our trip.

Getting to Edinburgh from Boston is not too difficult. Though we found no direct flights, the one-stop trip through Dublin proved relatively painless. We flew coach on Air Lingus. Prices were quite dear -- especially when compared with our last trip to London. Back in 2002 I flew with my entire family of four to London for just about $1150 RT including all taxes and fees. This trip was just shy of $1,000 each -- and that rate, gotten through FLY.COM was only after digging around on every on-line consolidator I could find. Still, the five hour flight to Dublin was remarkably easy for me (I have restless leg syndrome and generally find flights of more than 3 hours to be torturous). I think the Jetblue-like individual TV screens and wide movie selection really helped keep me occupied. With the comfortable seat, major meal, snack, two movies, sleeping, and Ian Rankin detective novel I hardly noticed the time. The low elevation 40 minute hop from Dublin to Edinburgh was delightfully scenic.

We stayed at Martin's B&B, a lovely place that was, literally, a leisurely four minute walk from a poker game at the Circus Casino in the Fountain Park shopping area. It was also a two minute walk from my cousin's flat and either a five minute bus ride or a fifteen minute walk to famed Edinburgh Castle and the Royal Mile -- the symbolic center of Scotland's capital city. It could not have been more convenient. It was also, I think, a relative bargain -- just $120/night for the two of us including a varied and full breakfast daily. Such a deal!

The B&B business is quite competitive in Edinburgh. There were no fewer than 15 B&Bs within a half mile stretch on Gilmore Place where we were staying. Our owner/operator, new to the business, was most pleasant and eager to make a good impression. She asked us what we were looking to do, offered many suggestions, gave us travel guide materials, made calls for taxis and reservations, and, in general, acted as our private concierge. So when I told her that I was looking for poker she even went to far as to hook me up with her poker playing brother. Talk about accomodating!

Nice as her personal connection to the Edinburgh poker scene was, however, she needn't have bothered since, as I mentioned earlier, there was what proved to be a great poker room about 400 yards away. It did not take me long to get over there, change some money, and play some no limit hold'em. In Part II I'll give you my impressions of this room.

WSOP Report Day 4 June 7, 2011

2011-06-07T07:23:00.000-07:00

Not enough poker but great bonding time with my daughter Hannah. I walked through the large tournament area. They spread a mix of the day's tournaments, mega satellites, and cash games. I paused to watch Greg Raymer take down a couple of large pots in a mega. We chatted in between hands. I was struck by a couple of things while I watched. First of all, he picked off two blufs by seemingly reading the cards of his opponents. This is a skill that I marvel at -- getting a read and trusting it enough to risk large calls. The set ups were similar in each hand. The opponent had bet strong on the turn. In the first instance a third club had turned; in the second instance a possible straight had turned. Greg examined his opponent carefully and made the call. Then, on the river, his first opponent made a pot sized bet -- with a very large stack remaining. Greg though, riffled his chips, looked at his opponent with quick glances, paused some more, and then called. His opponent had garbage; Greg had two pair. How did he know? In the second instance his opponent shoved on the River -- not an insignificant sum -- about a quarter of Greg's large stack. Greg went through the same routine -- though not for as long -- and called. Greg didn't have the straight or even trips. He called with two pair -- and his opponent had garbage. Amazing!

The second skill was his ability to move from serious, focused, expert player to chatting pal. He did it effortlessly and with no transition. One minute he was making what seemed like an amazingly tough call; the next he was chatting with me. When I make tough calls it drains me -- whether I win or lose. I can't bounce into and out of seriousness as easily.

I paused to watch a $5/10 NLHE game for a short while. Can we players lighten up -- just a little? Folks are so serious and remote. Ear buds, head sets, sunglasses, baseball caps. If I were a new player I sure would be reluctant to sit down for some poker with folks who looked like that. THe number of friendly, happy faces seems to be diminished every time I come into a poker game. There are exceptions. My friend Andrei keeps his opponents laughing and smiling. But too few others have any consideration for attracting "live ones".

Hannah and I paid a visit to one of my favorite people in this town -- the great gambling writer Ed Silberstang. He has gotten more frail since we saw him last, but he was hugely entertaining and engaging, with stories of his writing adventures. Hannah, I think, was especially impressed by this vital and warm man. I'm glad they got to meet.

The rest of the day was fun -- though not as much as I had hoped. We drove to Hoover Dam. I like going there and soaking up some American history and engineering. My daughter seemed less impressed. Matters weren't helped by elevator trouble that prevented us from getting a tour of the innards of the place -- something I have found fascinating in the past. Nevertheless, the day was beautifully temperate -- not intense Las Vegas 100 degree melting.

We ate at an Ethiopian restaurant on Convention Center drive in what was a nearly empty small strip mall. The food was copious if not delicious. But he atmosphere was very stark and unappealing. I wouldn't go back -- even though the prices were very modest.

We capped off the day with Penn and Teller. I'd seen a couple of their tricks before -- though never the whole show. They are extremely skilled magicians, and their act is well polished. Though I was blown away by the technique, I was a little disappointed by the pacing of the show. I felt rushed. Not enough time for sufficient ooos and aaaaahs I guess. And the next time I see the show, if there is a next time, I'll pay the extra price to sit up closer. We weren't very far away -- it's not a huge arena. But I felt that I missed some of the smaller bits because we were too far back to see the details that made the trick work (a cigarette and pencil trick didn't work from where we were because we couldn't make out the difference between the two devices in the act).

We had had such a large and late lunch that neither of us were hungry for even a late dinner after the show. I was exhausted from my early rising and long day. So we retired for the evening at 11PM or so. Some wild Vegas guide I am!

Today we'll have a meal somewhere near the airport and depart. I came to Las Vegas during the WSOP and won a tournament. I got to introduce my daughter Hannah to my poker world -- while introducing her to some interesting and warm friends from this town. I didn't get to play any live poker -- and I feel like I'm leaving a couple of days too soon -- with many spots still left unseen by my daughter. But all in all a great trip to Las Vegas. I can't wait until I come back.

WSOP Report 3, June 6, 2011

2011-06-06T07:28:00.000-07:00

It has been an eventful two days. Yesterday, June 5th, included a terrific lunch with professional and amateur poker players. It was convened by Linda Johnson, the First Lady of Poker, and included my friend Jan Fischer, the psychologist and poker thinker Arthur Rebber of Washington, and four others from the Las Vegas Monday or Wednesday poker discussion group -- and a couple of their spouses. My daughter Hannah also joined us. I was regaled with stories of no limit hold'em and pot limit omaha hands of note, played in recent weeks, in tournaments and live games,the players who played them, stupidly and well, and what happened to our heroes and heroines. I also heard about the many great scenic places I could take Hannah to expose her to the true natural beauty that surrounds Las Vegas in is too rarely seen by tourists.

There was also more sushi served to the ten of us than I had ever seen in one meal. It was fresh, served promptly, very tasty, and, unlike most of my sushi meals, ample. I surely ate too much -- 55 pieces by my estimate.

I shared the story of my tiny triumph the night before at the Poker Palace. Listeners pretended to be impressed. "There are no small tournaments -- just small players!"

Hannah and I left, eager to try out a drive suggested by Jan, that she had just completed on a motorcycle. We drove out Lake Mead Blvd all the way to Valley of Fire, and then circled back on to route I15. We stopped and slowed and filled the car with some ooos and aaaahs (at least I did), gaping at the beautiful color and formation of the rocks. My color vision is not good -- so I didn't see the intense and bright hues that were described to me by others. But Hannah seemed impressed by it all.

It was a long drive -- about three hours from start to finish. I was very tired when we returned and took a nap. I was so full from sushi that I didn't really think about eating until much later in the evening. Hannah and I had tickets to O, the great Cirque de Soleil show at the Bellagio. We headed over at about 7:45, found out that the restaurants there had dress codes and didn't allow me to dine with my shorts. Though I offered to take them off, they refused to relent. So we stood on line and eventually got in to the upscale coffee shop Cafe Bellagio. Our dinners were large and tasty (I had chicken with penne; Hannah the Fettuchini Alfredo). They were just the right preface to a great show -- though I must confess to a very small degree of disappointment. The acrobatics were astounding; the costumes, swimming and staging incredible. But for me, the clowns grew tedious, and the pacing seemed slow. There seemed too much filler and not enough meat. Also, our front row seats proved to be slightly obstructed. We missed nothing but the early opening in-front-of-the-curtain theatrics. But still, shouldn't all seats get the benefit of the entire show?

We dropped off quickly to sleep upon returning at about 12:15 or so. I woke up this morning at 5:30 and walked for an hour before making this post. It will be a beautiful and unseasonably cool day in Las Vegas -- clear skies and highs in the low 80s. It was about 55 when I walked. We're looking forward to a trip to Hoover Dam.

WSOP Report #2 June 5, 2011

2011-06-05T07:33:00.000-07:00

What a great night our first night in Las Vegas proved to be. It never ceases me how much I can enjoy even the little places in this grand gambling city.

My daughter Hannah, who is here in Las Vegas for her coming of age trip with Daddy, needed a few things so we stopped at a drug store on the way to my favorite used clothing store in the world -- Savers Thrift Store. We stopped in Savers on Charleston and I filled in my missing wardrobe (I don't pack clothes when I travel -- I just buy them used and then leave them behind when I travel home). I picked out a new pocketed short sleeve shirt and a nice pair of walking shorts -- all for the low, low price of $6. Such a deal.

We then made our way gradually to North Las Vegas, stopping at an antique car show at the police station. Great vintage, cherry vehicles from the 1930s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s. Can the 1980s be an era of antique cars? Hard to believe, but of course. When I was a youngster, in the 60s, cars from the 30s were surely antique cars. The 1980s are as far removed from today as the 1930s were in the 60s. Duh!

We arrived at Poker Palace at 6:00, to register for a 6:30 $20 tournament. It's strictly a local affair. Hannah and I were the only tournists. We got 4,000 chips for our $20, and there were $5 rebuys for $1000 in chips and a $10 add on after the first three 15 minute rounds that would give us 3,000 chips. The structure was relatively fast, starting at $50/100. It was a throwback to the short stack era. The key would be for us to survive until the first break at 45 minutes, so we could add on.

I had given Hannah a brief summary of a very tight and aggressive tournament strategy. She read it, and I went over it with her, but I had no confidance that she really internalized any of the lessons. I annoyed her by going over to her table (there were 40 contestants at four tables, and we were seated at different ones) and saying, with a punch on the arm, "don't be afraid to be aggressive". She saw it as an announcement to her tablemates that she was a complete novice. She was right; and I felt bad about it.

THe tournament progressed quickly. Few were knocked out by the first break, however, given the rebuys. We each made the break and added on. Hannah's stack seemed to be diminished and then well enriched as I periodically glanced over to her table. I held my own for the first hour and a half. After two hours, at 8:30, the four tables were merged into three. Hannah and I were still on separate tables. By 9:00 we were down to two tables -- and low and behold, my lovely daughter was seated four seats to my left. She had a fairly large stack, considering that she had been down near the felt. I'd say she had about $20K. I had about $40K. Par was about $20K at this time.

She and I tangled on a hand. I raised on the button hoping to steal the blinds and antes when two players, including Hannah, had called the blinds. I got called by the large blind and by Hannah. ON the flop they checked to me. I judged the big blind to have missed the flop. I couldn't be sure about Hannah. I had told her, in my earlier instructions, to shove if she improved. So I figured she didn't improve when she checked (I would have folded to a bet from her since I had absolute drek). When she checked I bet large and she folded. Yeah, I felt a little sheepish.

Hannah was knocked out shortly thereafter -- having made place 17 out of 40 and having lasted longer than the five other women who entered the tournament. I was very proud of her. She then managed to meet and chat with a couple of the guys who had gotten knocked out but who were sticking around to watch their friends. I was impressed with how easily she had conversations with these folks who, seemingly, had very little in common with a 21 year old vegetarian, philosophy major from Temple University. But she seemed very relaxed and happy to meet new and interesting people -- just as I would have been in her shoes. It made me very proud.

I continued to play -- and did fairly well -- catching a nice piece of horseshoe when my QJ went up against a raising KQ, only to hit JJ3 on the flop and win a huge pot. When the tourney got down to one table by 9:45 or so I suggested a 10-way chop. Two objectors. I eliminated one in short order, and kept offering to chop as we got winnowed down. I tripled up against two rivals, one of whom didn't want to chop, and then made an offer they couldn't refuse, since they would have been blinded out within the next round or two. I took home the HUGE CHAMPIONSHIP and a prize of $250. I can now say I that in the last two years I have twice come out to
Las Vegas for the WSOP and twice gone home having won a tournament! (not a WSOP tournament mind you -- but a tournament nevertheless).

After basking in the glory of the moment for a short while, Hannah and I, both very hungry, found our way to a Mexican restaurant near the Stratosphere. We ate Mexican food until we could eat no more and then, bloated, drove ourselves back to the Rio for some much needed rest. We went to bed at midnight or so -- about 3:00 AM on our east coast clocks.

I'm up today, having walked five miles in the cool early air of Las Vegas. It is a clear day with nothing but promise in the air. What's not to like?

WSOP Report #1

2011-06-05T07:21:00.000-07:00

I left Saturday, June 4th. My daughter and I flew out of Logan and arrived in Las Vegas at noon. It is her coming of age trip with daddy. Corny, I know, but meaningful to us both. I'm looking to show her my adult poker world; she's curious to see it and to experience some of it for herself.

We rented our car at Fox Rentals after a ridiculously long wait for a car (about 45 minutes). Something about arriving in Las Vegas that has me itching to get on my way -- and makes waiting in line seem even more frustrating than normal. I think it's the psychological trap that many tourists to this town fall victim to at the poker table. They may have the patience of the Sphynx at home -- when games and action are at their own pace -- but come to LV and they are just burning to play -- and jettison their patience at the airport.

We met Alan Schoonmaker -- the psychologist and poker writer -- for lunch at what turned out to be an excellent Indian lunch at Gaylord's restaurant at the Rio. I tried to use my $25 gift certificate that I purchased for $2 on restaurants.com -- but the fine print only allowed it at dinner time. And this was a late lunch so, as they say in this town, no dice. No matter, the lunch was a well-stocked, delicious buffet that was reasonably priced. And the conversation with Alan was, shall we say, priceless!

After lunch a leisurely stroll through the poker excitement that defines the Rio during these six glorious weeks of championship action. We walked to the media room -- all the way in the back of the convention center off to the right. It was depopulated of media folks, save for three WSOP employees working the desk. Though they had my name and my clearance as a poker journalist, they apologized for not having my credentials ready. I asked if Seth Palansky, the able media guru for the WSOP, was about and was told they'd give me a call when he came in. I never got the call. (What, with a thousand journalists and many bracelet events a day, he doesn't have time to stop what he's doing to make this minor journalist happy!) No matter. I dropped off my laptop, plugged it in to recharge, and was off with my daughter to take a look at the tournament and live action.

She was not disappointed. I bumped into a couple of folks who knew me, establishing my poker bona fides for her I guess. We briefly watched some live action and then went off to check in at the registration desk. Folks complain about the long waits here. I guess the key is checking in at about 3:45 on a Saturday. Absolutely no waiting. A lovely Rio employee welcomed me, had my name ready, gave me my two keys, asked if there was anything else we needed, and sent me on my way with a smile in under three minutes. Life is grand. Thank you Caesar's.

Our room is spacious, high up on the 21st floor. We have a southwest facing view and thick blackout curtains to keep the sunlight from greeting us too early in the intense Las Vegas morning. Good thing. We plan to be up late -- with a small tournament at the Poker Palace planned -- and some late night action after that.

The Long Run

2011-03-29T07:31:00.000-07:00

My father, Herbert R. Adams, died on Friday March 18, 2011. His death inspired me to write a column for www.pokerology.com. I hope you will find it worthwhile. Here's the link: http://www.pokerology.com/poker-articles/the-long-run/#more-2201

The Poker Scene in Eastern PA, Delaware, and AC -- Part 1: OVERVIEW

2011-02-27T05:04:00.000-08:00

My friend and fellow poker player, Andrei suggested we go on a poker-playing vacation during Massachusett's school vacation week -- also known as President's Day Week. We considered warm weather places like Florida, Las Vegas, and Southern California. But airfare costs were higher than we had expected -- and we opted for a road trip instead. The plan was to visit all of the new rooms in Eastern, Pennsylvania and Delaware and then shoot over to Atlantic City to see if their poker scene had been hurt at all by the new rooms opening up.

We succeeded in our mission, playing at the following Pennsylvania poker rooms: Mt. Airy Casino in the Poconos, Mohegan Sun Casino in Wilkes Barre, Hollywood Casino outside of Harrisburg, The Sands Casino near Bethlehem, the Parx Casino about 30 minutes north of Philadelphia in Bensalem, and Harrah's Casino about twenty minutes south of Philadelphia in Chester. We also visited all of the following public poker rooms in Delaware: Delaware Park Casino near Wilmington, Dover Downs in Dover, and Harrington Casino at the State Fairgrounds in Harrington. We ended our trip by playing at the busier rooms in Atlantic City, specifically, Harrah's, The Borgota, The Trump Taj Majal, Caesar's, and the Showboat. The room at Bally's and the room at the Tropicana had only one table going and a list (and I didn't want to wait) and the Hilton never had a game (and only got them occasionally on the weekend).

I'd like to give you my overall impression -- but I need to preface it with a disclaimer. I am relying on conversations with patrons and staff and my brief observations during my admittedly brief visits. I have no hard data to back up what I observed. And my observations may not be representative of the true strength or weakness of a room's poker business.

That being said, for what my impressions may be worth, I observed the following. In general, poker is thriving in Pennsylvania, and to a lesser extent in Delaware. Though one or two of these new rooms may not be open a year from now, overall these PA and DE rooms are a great success and will continue to thrive. There is no doubt but that Atlantic City poker has been hurt by these rooms -- with a lot of poker traffic from Baltimore and DC being diverted to the Delaware rooms, and Philadelphia and New York traffic diverted to the eastern PA rooms. Though the larger rooms in Atlantic City will surely survive the reduction of traffic, there will almost surely be some consolidation of the rooms in Atlantic City -- with a couple of the smaller rooms either closing outright or relocating to a smaller space, or just moving out on the table game floor and operating part-time. I would estimate (based on conversations and observations) that the overall hit on AC has been in the 20% range or so. Even the biggest rooms have been hurt, significantly, during the slower periods during the day, though their tournaments still attract a large number of patrons. The PA and DE rooms seem to have chiefly cut into the daily visitors -- the regulars -- much more than in the weekend or vacationing poker players. Husbands and wives who want a weekend away are still picking Atlantic City over the newer closer rooms. But the daily grinder is staying closer to home for his daily or weekly fix of his favorite game.

These changes have their positives and negatives for the players. If you are a regular player in PA, DE, Baltimore, DC, or Staten Island, you've now got what is probably a more convenient place to play poker legally. That's a positive. If you live in AC, your morning poker action has probably been so curtailed as to be frustratingly thin -- there are many fewer games so game selection is severely limited. On the other hand, the regular player in AC is probably getting better comps -- as the casinos give out free rooms much more liberally than before (one poker room manager said "if they have a pulse they get a free room". This means that you can stay in AC longer and cheaper than before. In addition, some of the AC rooms have been amping up their hourly comps. I was told that there were some two hour periods when the Taj offered 5X comps -- so players in the $20/40 stud game, for example, who normally earn at the generous rate of $3/hour were earning $15/hour during these augmented periods.

On the other hand, the rake in most of the PA rooms, and one of the DE rooms are 10% up to a maximum of $5 a hand (plus a $1 takeout for a bad beat jackpot if offered) --that's $1 an hour more than in AC. (At the Hollywood Casino in Harrisburg the rake is a whopping $6 maximum). Comps in Pennsylvania are very, very small -- as little as $0.00 an hour, and with most rooms at $.40/hour or so. Pennsylvania takes a much, much larger bite than New Jersey out of the gambling profit so the Pennsylvania rooms can't be as geneorous as their NJ competitors. So poker players are often paying for the convenience of having a nearby room.

Overall, my experience was tremendous. I'm very glad I visited all of these rooms -- and I'm very excited to see poker expanding in this region. In my subsequent blog entries I'll focus in more detail on each of the rooms I visited -- and some of the interesting experiences I had in and out of the casinos while I stayed. But for now, just know that the rooms varied greatly in quality. Some places I can strongly recommend -- others are probably not worth your time unless you live very near to them.

Visiting rooms in Eastern PA, Delaware, and AC

2011-02-18T16:32:00.000-08:00

My friend and fellow poker enthusiast Andrei are going to be visiting poker rooms in PA, DE, and NJ during the next six days. If any of you would like to say hello, here's our tentative itinerary.

Saturday 19 Feb
Leave Boston early morning and drive to the Mt. Airy Poker Room in Mt. Pocono, Pennsylvania. Leave and drive an additional 44 miles/53 minutes to the Mohegan Sun Poker Room in Wilkes-Barre.

Sunday 20 Feb
Drive to Grantville and play at the Hollywood Casino. Drive to Bethlehem and play at the Sands Casino. Drive to Bensalem and play at the Parx East Poker Room.

Monday 21 Feb
Drive to Chester and play at Harrah’s.

Tuesday 22 Feb
Drive to Wilmington and play at Delaware Park. Drive to Harrington (and play at Harrington Raceway and Casino. Double back to Dover (17 miles/23 minutes) and play at Dover Downs.

Wed 23 Feb
Drive to Atlantic City and play there for two days. Stay at the newly purchased Resorts.

Thu 24 Feb
Still Atlantic City. Play a little more in Atlantic City or stop at Foxwoods on the way home.

If anyone has followed this and wants to meet up, please feel free to call me on my cell: 617-935-1256.

The Poker Room in Hampton Falls, NH

2011-02-13T18:01:00.000-08:00

I stopped at the brand spanking new poker room, called THE POKER ROOM, in Hampton Falls, New Hampshire. It's almost exactly one hour from my house in a southern part of the city of Boston -- though my GPS spotted it two miles down the road from where it actually is. I dropped in today, Sunday, on my way back from Scarboroug, Maine at about 3:00 PM.

The new room was very busy. Downstairs, in the tournament room, was a women's only event. There were eight full tables of ten and a waiting list of a few more when the tournament kicked off at 4:00 or so. There were a few males playing in the game looking slightly sheepish. But I understood why they were playing. Great tournament, great structure: S$60 for $10K in starting chips, with 20 minute blinds and an 80% payout for a prize pool. Every female entrant received a long stem red rose. Classy fellows Les and Tony who run the place -- very classy. Les even made a very brief opening speech where he welcomed the women to the room, noted that he really worked hard to make the place comfortable for women, with attention given to comfortable chairs and new carpeting. Oh, and it's a charity room so you can do good while doing well.

Upstairs was the 1 PM mega-mini tournament. It started at 1PM, was $50 to enter with no rebuys, with 12K in starting chips and 20 minute levels. In addition to the tables for the tournament upstairs, there were also a fwe cash games going. The room is limited by state law to $4 maximum bets, so they only offer relatively low stakes affairs. But the rake is, by charity gaming standards, almost reasonable -- at 10% with a $5 maximum (other rooms in NH rake as much as $7 -- while rooms in Massachusetts have been patting themselves on the back for lowering their rake from $10 maximum to $8 maximum).

They started a $4 limit Omaha8/Stud8 game. I joined it when it was short. The dealer very nicely kept the rake low. The level of play was, generally, awful. A couple of players really did not know how to play at all. The floor came over and started to explain the rules to a couple of inebriated prospects. They declined to sit down saying that it sounded "way too haaaaard". Everyone was very friendly. None of the macho shit that goes on among young hold'em players. Folks were generally quite and respectful of their opponents' play -- maybe because they really didn't know how to play either. For my part, I played pretty awfully, losing out on a large pot by folding on seventh street with what would have been the winning high hand. I wrongly convinced myself that my pair of Jacks could not possibly have been the winning high hand with one player betting and the other calling. Foolish. I would have finished the one hour session up $9 instead of down $30.

The room is expertly run. The room extra clean and well attended. There is a full menu with a wide range of appetizers like popcorn chicken, chile, fried ravio, and hummus ranging from $4.95 to $6.95, hot and cold sandwiches and subs for $5.95 to $79.5, burgers and salads for about $6 or $7, and drinksfor $2 to $4.50 or so. Coffee is free for seated players.

The house is running a bunch of promotions that they, and not the players fund. There are high hand jackpots, royal flush payouts, Aces cracked, and an $8 food coupon throughout the week and weekend. Check with the floor to find out the specific times and days of the week. They also run four or five tournaments $40-80 every day of the week, as well as special tournaments with buy-ins that range from $150 to $250.

The ambiance, value, and general atmosphere of the place is surely at least one or two cuts above the other rooms in New Hampshire. I'll surely be back.

The Poker Room at One Lafayette Road (Route 1) in Hampton Falls, NH. 603-601-2486,

Poker in Nashville? Yes, sort of.

2011-01-25T04:07:00.000-08:00

So I'm here in Nashville -- working hard for my union doing a training on power. In my late night off hours I always try to find a poker game when I'm in a new (to me) city.

So here I've been the last few days trying to find a poker game in this fair city. I called my union friends in the area; I emailed all of my poker connections in the US -- asking, pleading, BEGGING anyone for a connection to a poker game. No standards here -- anything would do -- from penny ante to $5,000 buy in.

No dice. "It's illegal" said a helpful but unhelpful union friend. "You have to drive to Metropolis, Tunica, or Louisville" said a hotel staffer. Well I'm not driving three hours each way at night to play poker (at least not during a short conference like this). Even I have my limits (on a work day).

So I pressed on. I kept calling, emailing, surfing. I saw tales of games busted in North Nashville. And I saw postings about how there USED to be games. But nothing, nada, zilch.

So I dropped my standards.

I decided to accept games with lower stakes than penny ante.

Are there such things?

You bet (sort of). There are, in the Nashville area and throughout the United States in fact, free poker league games. They have free tournaments in bars, pubs, and restaurants. You don't win cash, exactly, but points that can be used to win a seat in some event or a trip someplace. But you really can't win anything of value in an individual tournament. You can't turn those points that you accrue into cash. Well, with one exception. You can win bar credit, good for drinks and food, and that's sort of like cash. Except in most of them you can't even win this unless you actually win the tournament.

No matter; I was desperate; I needed my poker fix. (Notice friends and loved ones -- it wasn't a gambling fix. I didn't jones for a crap game or a race track or lottery tickets or the money riding. I just wanted my game, my hobby, my pasttime, my poker).

And so I found it. I asked around and found that the closest game on a Monday night was at a bar and grill named Johnnies -- about a ten minute drive away. They had two tournaments -- one at 7:00 and one at 9:30. Each was free. Neither paid any cash prizes.

I signed up and then had my really fun experience. I sat down while I waited in a game of "Big Deuce". I had never played Big Deuce before, of course. But there were three friendly fellows who needed a fourth and were happy to teach me. What beats learning a new game in a strange (to me) city while waiting for a poker game.

It turns out that Big Deuce is really Chinese poker. Each player gets a quarter of his deck, and then in turn plays a one card, two card, three card, or five card poker hand. Each player must play in kind a better hand until three players pass. Deuces are high. Suits count. Flushes and straights only count for five card hands. You get one point for every card in your opponents' hands if you are the first player to use all of his cards. There's probably a more deft explanation of the game, but there you have it from a complete novice.

There's surely strategy invovled -- enough sothat I couldn't seem to win in the brief session I played. But I had a fun; and now I won't be intimidated with complete ignorance if I'm asked to play Chinese Poker or Big Deuce in the future.

Then, finally, the tournament. A bunch of friendly locals drinking beer, talking, sharing hands from time to time, self dealt, exposing cards. About thirty folks eventually entered. 9-10 minute blinds, $10,000 in starting chips, $100/200 blinds. Blinds went up from that to 200/400, 300/600, 400/800, 500/1,000. It was designed to get everyone out of the restaurant by the midnight closing time -- ending absolutely no later than 11:30.

I think I was the only unknown. Mine was an interesting table. There were three guys from Uzbeckistan speaking what sounded to my untrained ears like Uzbeck? There was a guy who maintained a constant expression of bewilderment -- made none clearer by his constant swigs from a Miller bottle.

I played my typical free poker league game. That is to say that I tried to take advantage of what I presumed to be my earnest, serious, rock like image (that of course I didn't have since no one had ever seen me play before) by playing wildly and manically. Fold, fold, fold, Raise 6X. Win. Fold, fold raise 6X. Win.

"Hey, this is easy" I said to myself.

Well, not exactly.

Oh and one other thing. There was rampant, unfettered, thick smoking going on. Special cigarettes that emitted extra tar and extra nicotine. Smoke so thick that even second hand it stained people's teeth. Serious smoke. Room obscuring smoke.

So I was eager to leave. Yeah, a great excuse to play a suboptimal game.

And so I did.

AT, early position? No problem. 8X. Raised 3X in early position, JT suited? No problem. 10 X.

Oddly, my wild play was rewarded. Not every hand but enough so that six levels in I was at $30K -- the second largest stack at the table.

And then, after establishing myself as a lucky fish, having shown down Q9 that I shoved with on the button only to out draw AK when a 9 hit the river, I was dealt black Kings. I shoved of course after three played called the $2,000 or so large blind. The small blind, who was perceptive enough to have seen my fishy play on the earlier hand, thought and thought and thought and finally, as I'm chortling to myself, calls. he is the only played who has a larger stack than mine. Even so, I'm happy. He flips over A7. And Ace on the flop and I'm gone. Even so, better than reading in my room.

Tonight, perhaps, a hospitality guy at the hotel may set me up with a real game, a cash game, a $1,2 game with a $300 buy in in someone's basement. We'll see. I'll report.

Hurray for Harrah's (Chester)

2010-11-22T19:47:00.001-08:00

I visited my daughter in Philadelphia this past weekend. Nearly all of my time in the area was spent with her -- watching her spit poetry, eating, walking, and the like. But late Saturday night, after her poetry performance was done and we had finished a very late dinner in Philadelphia's Chinatown, I drove down to Chester to try out their new poker room at the Harrah's property there.

I had a great time -- the poker and the poker room were terrific.

Chester is probably known to few people outside of the Philadelphia area. It used to be a big ship building city. But things started to go downhill in the late 1950s and early 60s. There were some stabs at urban renewal, but the city pretty much continued unabated on its downhill slide. Gambling was seen as a possible fixer. In 2008 Harrah's opened up its race track and slot parlor. In July they got table games and turned themselves into a full fledged casino.

I can't comment on the racing or the non-poker table games. I haven't experienced anything but the poker at Harrah's Chester. And I may never experience anything but the poker -- because the poker there is really, really good.

What makes it so good? Hmm. Lots of new players, a great selection of games, 35 tables, a floor and administrative staff who really know what they're doing...that about covers it.

If I hadn't known this was a Harrah's property, I wouldn't have guessed it. You know the many rules that Harrah's is known for having and enforcing? No reading at the table, no writing at the table, no phones, no headsets -- all of that. Well not here. Here there's a player friendly, easy going, relaxed, happy, and even festive atmosphere. There are a few serious regulars, but most of the players I encountered were happy-go-lucky, easy going folks out ot have a good time and a good gamble. Sure, there were a few headsets, but I only saw one guy in sunglasses. As one of my fellow players put it -- "I like it here much more than A.C. -- fewer loud New Yorkers and no hats!"

I had a very good session -- playing $10/20 stud (with a weird $20/40 structure of $3 ante and $5 bring -- go figure). I don't know if it was the structure or the players styles, but the game was very loose and a bit wild -- which suited me just fine. The first $2/5 no limit table was uncharacteristically aggressive -- like many of the Foxwoods games now. But I moved quickly to a very passive, timid, and profitable affair. I then sampled a couple of the $1/2 games. Very soft and friendly -- with timid, passive, and loose players. What's not to like about this place.

The rake is a fairly hefty 10% up to a $5 max -- with a $1 take out for the bad beat. But there's very good news for high rollers. The $5/10 no limit and up has no bad beat take out and no rake -- just a $5/half hour time charge.

The room was also spreading a $1/2 pot limit Omaha game. I didn't get to play it but I'd like to.

I stayed at a nearby, lovely, new Best Western. Harrah's put me up, but I noticed that the rack rake was quite reasonable -- even without the comp. About $90 or so including a breakfast. And this was on a Saturday night.

I recommend the room to all of you. www.harrahschester.com

Being Back is Beautiful

2010-11-13T05:36:00.000-08:00

Sure Spain was great -- amazing, scenic, historic, cultural, and all that. Worth another trip to be sure. There's also a lot of poker. And though the rake is pretty steep in every place other than the cash game in Aranjuez, the was pretty damn terrific and the skill level pretty low (except perhaps in Barcelona).
That all being said, though variety is fun, and a change of pace is sometimes called for, the poker is better here in the gold ol' US of A. Drove down on Veteran's Day to play at Mohegan Sun with my buddy Andrei. I found a nice passive $1/2 game. Had a nice conversation with the veteran on my left. He was strictly old school and played a very tight and pasive game. We talked about his style. He plays daily and uses this style to "just about break even". That plus the comps he gets at Mohegan Sun give him a hobby that he enjoys. But he's not maximizing his opportunity. In games like this, if you only play premium pairs and AK and AJ you're giving up a lot -- especially if you have even moderately attentive opponents. He mentioned that the big problem in his game was getting away from cards that started out powerful but didn't improve. I saw this in action when I stacke dhim when he had AQ, the board was KQT2T and I held AJ. He led the betting pre-flop, and on the flop, then check called my large bet on the turn and on the river. It is a problem I see every so often among tight but timid no limit players. They are afraid to play medium and low strength starting hands no matter what their position, image, or reads of other players are. And they are afraid of being bluffed out when they develop pretty strong holdings. They view their hand strength in absolute rather than relative terms. And they think the key to winning in the long run is just to be more selective than their opponents up front. It's a strategy that may work in really weak limit hold'em games. But in games with even barely competent no limit players it is self defeating.
I capped off the session with a foray into $5/10 stud -- something that usually doesn't go at Mohegan Sun (unlike Foxwoods -- that always has a decent mid-sized stud game of $5/10, $10/20 and $20/40). The game was a nostalgic affair for me. This was the game I cut my teeth on. It was six or seven handed. Two of the players really didn't know the game at all -- and would call me down and chase me with short pairs. One player did not know that check-raising was allowed. I sat mutely as other players and the dealer explained the rules to him. As I walked away up a rack or so I thought back to the glory days of stud when players like this filled stud seats everywhere. No longer, I'm afraid. The remaining folks in the rare $5/10 stud games are usually very tight and fairly aggressive. Few if any new and bad players are taking their seats when they leave. Too bad. Stud's a great game. But then I imagine there are a few oldsters around who have the same lament about the demise of 5-draw and 5-stud.

Tarragona Tragedy

2010-11-03T23:21:00.001-07:00

Well, not really a tragedy. That implies something epic. This was over too quickly to be a tragedy.

There´s a five or six table poker room at the Casino de Tarragona (about an hour south of Barcelona). It´s run by the same company that runs the hugely raked Barcelona Room. 5% up to a €20 max. I went for the cash games that I was told started at 9PM. No go. No cash at that time. They did have a sit and go. I was player 10. $30 plus 5. Not a horrible rake. But the structure was humorously quick. 8 minute rounds, 1K starting stack, 20-40 blinds to start that double as they go up. I won the first hand in the 4 seat with AQ. One caller on the flop when I raised to 200. A fold with a low board when I bet 400. A few hands later. I´m the big blind with A7. Five callers to me. I check. Flop is KK5. Check to me again. Come on. I can´t say no. I bet the pot-- about 200. One caller to my left, my immediate left. Turn is a 7. I have 750 left. I shove. What the Hell. He calls and stifles a laugh, being the considerate player that he is. He has K2 for Kings full. I go out to eat in Tarragona now. Good night casino.

Dinner was about the best I´ve had on this trip -- cod...and some humble pie.

More later. Off to the Barcelona airport where I´ll fly to Zurich and then back to Boston late tonight.

Poker in Torrequebrada; A Fight In Casino Gandia

2010-11-03T12:00:00.000-07:00

It has been a tiring and eventful three days. Not surprisingly, there has been a lot of driving and eating. I´ll save the amazing tales of the sights and bites in Granada, Tarifa, Miramar, Valencia, and Tarragona for those who want them. Let me know and I´ll send you my account of what is truly spectacular.

For now, on the night before my departure to home, let me account some interesting poker and pugilism.

First the poker. There are many poker rooms here. I wanted to see all of them. That proved absolutely impossible, as there were just too many in and around the areas I drove through -- let alone those in places like San Sebastian and the islands that I never reached. But even in cities and towns I passed through there were rooms that went unvisited. Rooms in Cadiz, Valencia, San Roque, Marabella -- tons of rooms. Worthy of another trip (do you hear that Spanish tourism office_).

But I did manage to fit in two in the last two days -- and I hope to find a game in one final poker room tonight.

The first of the rooms was in, or actually near, Malaga, at the Casino Torrequebrada. It´s a beatiful casino with the characteristic Spanish set up: a few American Roulette tables, some blackjack, some slot machines, and a whole mess of tournament poker tables. The ambiance is first class --tons of felt, crystal, shiny metal, comfy chairs -- the whole nine yards. Curiously, except for the poker area, the place was practically empty. Go figure.

Fortunately, and unplanned, I arrived just in time for the tournament of the night -- a €50 affair with a rebuy of €50 and an add on of €50, with a double rebuy available for €100 if and when you hit zero during the first four levels. I managed to play good solid poker for the first 78 minutes, increasing my stack to about 4,000, from a starting stack size of 3,000, then went up againt AQ with a pair of Jacks for my entire stack with one minute to go. He spiked an Ace on the flop and I failed to improve. The structure was interesting and I réally didn´t mind the double rebuy, since it gave me 8,000 and the ability to buy another 6,000 with the add on. When we came back after the break I was far above the median stack size of about 8,000.

I developed a reputation for playing "tranquil" -- that is to say like a rock. Nor surprise there. But I noticed that someone would invariably call down raisers -- so I didn´t try to exploit my tight image with too much aggression -- unless I had very solid cards. I hit a pair of 9s, had oen player who called with practically anything on my left. He and I saw the flop after I raised 4X preflop and he called. He had about 3K remaining when the flop went 665, two spades. I put him all in and he called with As7c. No help for him and I moved on.

I did the same an hour or so later against a good player when I had raised 3X pre-flop and the flop was three babes. I had Jacks and found myself all in against a mighty stack with AQ suited. No help for him and I doubled up. "Now your´re back in business" said a 6´6" guy across the table from me who had played basketball in the states for some college back in the 60s. We exchanged pleasantries in our respectively bad second languages.

Back in business I was. But I couldn´t sustain anythign as my stack slowly and not so slowly dwindled as I got outdrawn and as my draws didn´t come in. With 12 of us left, and the tournament paying 5 places I finally had to shove my 6BB stack with 33 under the gun. I got two callers -- both with hearts: Q7 and 83. A 7 hit on the turn and I was cooked. Alas. I found out that they typically made a save to pay the entire final table, but no matter.

Fortunately, during the first break of 45 minutes, I sat in a cash game that proved briefly remunerative. So I earned back half my €200 buy-in/rebuy/add-on. The players were not to be taken likely. No poker backwater is Spain. These players were as aggressive and thoughtful, it seemed, as all but the toughest Foxwoosd $2-5 game.

I decided that at 1:30, when I busted out of the tournament, that I was too tired to sit down into a cash game again. So I took my slight loss for the night and retreated to my hotel.

The following morning, bright and early, I left for Valencia, having booked a room in the sunny resort of Miramar. Prices are way down as the tourist season is pretty much over for the year. So I actually had an upscale place in each city, for about $40-night. Not bad.

After stopping in what may be the most amazing cities I have encountered, Granada, I eventually arrived, tired and hungry, in Miramar, only to find out that the casino I had been told was in Valencia, was actually in Gandia. Gandia proved to be just 5 kilometers away (as opposed to 60 kilometers for Valencia). I drove over only to find that they were midway through a tournament. I asked about cash games and was told that they didn´t have any -- that they were just a small casino that only had poker tournaments. But they mentioned that they would have sit and goes as soon as they had enough people knocked out of the tourney.

This room was a real contrast with the room in Torrequebrada. This room was more like some guy´s garage -- with cheap foldable tables crammed together behnd a roped off area. Players were sitting very, very close to each otehr. Unlike all of the other rooms, they were dressed in beach casual -- t shirts, shorts, seatshirts, rumpled clothes. They looked like we look at Foxwoods -- only sitting much, much closer together.

The room was also very boisterous. Folks were yelling and cursing and drinking and smoking. I witnessed a near-fight. One guy stood up at his table and pointed to the guy on the otehr side, yelling loudly -- words I didn´t understand, thuogh I imagine they were the equivalent of "you´re a fucknig donkey". The other guy, about 60 or so, pointed back and then pointed outside, saying, I guessed, "you want to fight me outside asshole" The other younger guy yelled back. The floor came over. That was funny. This older guy with a suit and tie (whom I later spoke to and found out was the poker room manager and a very nice guy) said absolutely nothing. He just walked over and clasped has hands in front of him and looked down quietly. The two guys yelled for a bit longer and then the older guy pointed, yelled, and marched outside, with the younger guy following him. A couple of his buddies restrained him so he just walked over to another area and lit up a cigarette. Meanwhile, the poker room manager continued to just stand on the floor saying and doing nothing, but looking official. He then went over to the younger guy, shook his hand, and gestured that he sit down -- which he did. The older guy came back. The poker room manager then slowly approached him, said nothing, shook his hand, and he sat down. No blows exchanged. No harm done. Fight avoided -- or postponed.

I left shortly thereafter, after speaking with the poker room manager who told me that yes, people do get into fights in this room. He also told me about three other rooms in nearby Valencia. Unfortunately, it was midnight, I was tired, and I was leaving before either of them opened for poker the next day (at about 4PM).

Now I am in Tarragona -- a city about 100 kilometers south of Barcelona. The poker starts at 9PM. I hope to find a game there and report back when I´m back in the states tomorrow or Friday. Wish me luck.

Almost Poker in Seville

2010-11-01T11:47:00.000-07:00

I tried. Really I did. I actually found the damn Seville casino, which wasn´t easy. I go there just as poker was to begin, at 8PM. There was none going on either of their two cash game tables. The tournaments don´t run on any night other than Thursday and Saturday. This being a Sunday night (Halloween no less) I was out of luck on that front. Even so, not to be deterred, I interviewed the poker room manager -- who was very grumpy and seemed to be completely preoccupied. I wondered why but didn´t dare try to find out.

When we were done I headed back to the poker area and asked the floor if there would be a game. He said he was just about to call it. I gave him my name and he said that I was first on the waiting list. They seated ten players and I waited.

The game was 2.50-5.00 blind no limit holdém with a 100 minimum and no maximum. The house raked 5% up to $10. They dealt it in the conventional clockwise direction. The players were all middle aged guys -- that is to say between 30 and 60 or so. No young internet guys (unlike the tournament the night before). There was one guy with a headset, no sunglasses and no hats. Everyone was dressed in what the Brits call smart casual. Everyone was pleasant, so it seemed.

I watched for two damn hours. No seat openned up though a few players lost their stacks, only to rebuy. I got tired of waiting and joined an Italian guy who was sitting out to eat dinner. I had a very plain chicken sandwich with french fries and a small salad and water. big whooop! I never got in, though I did get a one euro chip.

Tonight I´m hoping to play at the poker room near Malaga, Spain -- at the Torrequebrada casino. It opens at 8PM and it´s now just about 8, so I´m heading over. Wish me luck.

Luck Bag or.....

2010-10-31T15:16:00.000-07:00

OK, so I didn´t win the tournament. But with the early luck that I had I probably should have at least cashed -- which I didn´t do. So that takes all of the drama out of the story. You can concentrate on just how lucky I was.

200 players are seated in this 35,30,30 (buyin, 1 rebuy, 1 add on) tourney. 2,500 in chips to start, 2500 for rebuy and 4,500 for add on. 5 for the house. Sweet deal. As players are knocked out during the first three hours waiting list players can enter. There were 236 total.

Big Blind is to my immediate right on first hand. Garbage and fold. Very next hand I am the BB and I get 7h8h. Five players call me. No raise. Flop is 6h9d2s. Everyone checks to the button who bets 200. I figure I´ll steal this bad boy since he´s probably on a button steal with garbage. I raise to 1,000. He shoves. Ooops! Even so, I quickly estimate that with 8 outs and maybe a half an out for runner runner hearts or trips I am only about a 2:1 dog. I´m ready to rebuy as I call his shove.

The turn is a blank and the river is a 5. Ding ding ding. Double up.

Two hands later I am the button. I am grampa crazy to these teens and 20 somethings. Grampa crazy with the WPT jacket and Poker hat. Who is this nut must be my image. I pick up KK. One player calls the BB and the next player raises to 300 (my wildness must have been infections). I shove, laughing, like I just love to raise, what the Hell, I might win again. The raiser things for about one quarter of a second and calls, smiling as he turns over AK. Flop has a K, so does the turn. Quads win. Ding, ding, ding, ding. Can anyone say chip leader.

Pure luck bag, yes? I should win this thing. Just tighten up, change gears, wait for my spots, and let the field grind down until the add on.

But no. I have to stay cute.

I get a little adverse luck when my AQ hits an Ace on the flop, a guy goes all in against me, I call, and he has A7, only to hit a 7 on the river. Live by the sword and all that. Still, I´m doing veeeeery well.

I overplay AJ and a guy with AK takes another large chunk out of my stack as I fail to improve.

I rock around for oh, about two hours, making the occasional stab, losing more than I win. I rebuy when I´m 25 below the $2,500 starting stack. I add on. I build up my stack to par again -- which is about 8500 with 140 players left and blinds at 300-600 (nice 30 minute levels and a slow escalation of blinds).

I can only put this down as temporary insanity or undo eagerness to double up or die. I end up with all of my chips in the pot on the flop after lead raising pre-flop on the button with AsTs. I am against the best player at the table. He instantly calls my shove with AQ and he allows me to donk myself off to him as neither of us improve beyond Ace high.

One key lesson for me that I should have learned, oh, about 10 years ago. I need to be more patient. big whoop.

out

Aranjuez was Aranmazing

2010-10-31T04:42:00.000-07:00

What a great experience, though I didn´t cash. I have a much longer account of the tournament that I entered (my plans to play cash went for naught since there were no cash games until well into the evening). I met a quartet of interesting Spanish players and had a ball. Many stories to recount, but not until later. I will be playing tonight at the Gran Casino Arafe and staying in Seville as well. Today has been spent in Cordoba, home to Maimonides -- whose home, statue, and shul I visited this morning. Life is grand, no?

More later

Pre-poker time near Aranjuez

2010-10-30T05:16:00.000-07:00

So I decided to play at the Casino de ARANJUEZ Saturday night. They have a tournament that gets 200 people I´ve been told. That doesn´t really interest me as much as the cash games that are only lightly timed (€5 a half hour). So I booked a room about an hour south of the casino en route to Seville, where I plan to stay and play tomorrow. Only one problem. When I booked the room I failed to account for how I would spend the entire day before the poker begins at 5PM. I should always have such worries.

I decided not to stay in Madrid, even though the free museums on Saturday presented a seductive target. But I´ve had enough of museums -- and enough walking around -- especially in the rain. So I decided instead to got to go to Chinchon - a large town or small city about 30 minutes east of Aranjuez.

I drove there, via backroads. A bit about some weird driving demarcations here. There are two symbols that nearly got me killed. The first is the indication of which way to enter and leave a rotary (there are many rotaries in Spain -- at nearly every large intersection). You know the shape of an arrow, with a head that comes to a point in the direction you are to go? I don´t know how to draw it on this blog, but imagine it. If it goes to the right then the road is oneway to the right, right? Now imagine just to head of it painted in the road, like a lane marking but in the middle of your lane. One would imagine that if this shape is in front of you with the narrowing point pointing away from you that you are going in the correct direction. On the other hand, if you notice the arrowhead pointed toward you as you drive down the road then you better turn around quickly because you´re clearly headed in the wrong direction.

But no! Here in Spain, if the arrowhead is pointed toward you as you enter your street and enter a rotary then you are heading in the correct direction. If, on the other hand, you follow the arrowhead, driving over one that is pointed ahead of you then you have just entered in the wrong direction and may soon end up with a headon collision. Fortunately, I learned this before killing myself and some unfortunate Spanish driver.

The other weird road sign that I regularly encounter is the symbol for no passing and passing zones. There are two symbols that appear regularly on the two lane highways that crisscross all of Spain. They appear before and after curves. Here´s what they are. You tell me what they mean. The first is a circular sign with two symbolic cars next to each other, the one on the left a faint red; the one on the right a dark black. The other sign is identical, except there are five or six dark black lines going diagonally across the circle and the two cars. What do they mean_

It seemed fairly clear to me once I thought about it. Two cars next to each other means that passing is allowed; and two cars next to each other with the black lines through them means no passing. Right? Wrong! The opposite is true. If you see the symbol of two cars it means you are in a no passing zone. And if you see the two cars next to each other with the black lines through them it means that the no passing zone has just ended. Dangerous for the uninitiated US driver.

A few other things. I finally reached my destination of Chinchon. Curiously, the route that I was on was posted with signs that said, repeatedly, "Ruta de LAS VEGAS". Was someone trying to tell me something about my true mission? Quien sabe! At any rate, I arrived in Chincon, found a 16th century castle, walked around, took in an amazing view of the area, and then noticed a decidedly 20th and 21st century addition -- an open condom wrapper and used condom. Guess the castle is used as a lover´s lane of sorts by locals -- or visitors.

I drove on, parked on aome back alley, and walked down toward the Plaza Mayor. There was a market going on -- overpriced new clothing, some expensive fruits, nuts, and vegetables, and about ten different restaurants with chairs set up outside. There were no customers -- it being around noon and much too early for anyone to have their comidas. But some of the bars seemed to be doing a brisk trade in the local beverage CHINCHON -- an anis drink that comes in three strengths: 35 percent alcohol known as Dulche, 45% alcohol known as seco, and 75% alcohol known as seco especial. 75%!!!! Especial indeed. It´s simply known as CHINCHON, being manufactured here, and it´s very popular. I also noticed a local pastry called leche frita "fried milk". I couldn´t resist (twice). It was one of the most delicious desserts I had ever sampled -- a bleached white interior tasting like vanilla creme custard currounded by a very thing dusting of flour and flavored sugar -- like frenchtoast around custard. Out of this world (and not cheap at between $1.50 and $2.25 a pop for a 1.5 inch square of the substance).

The area must have been a stronghold for the Franco supporters because there is a plaque in the center of town that commemorates the murder of someone at the hands of the Marxists hordes. Go figure.

I´m now on my way to the casino and will report in tomorrow on how I fared. Buena Suerte to all of you!

Aranjuez Poker Looks Inviting

2010-10-27T13:12:00.001-07:00

The Gran Casino Aranjuez is a magnificent place to gamble. Just 30 minutes south of Madrid, en route to Cordoba, on either the superhighway E5 and A4 or the superduper highway R something, this is an easy place to get to. It´s situated just 3 kilometers from the historic city of Aranjuez (where the Kings and Queens of Spain during the 18th and 19th Century partied and decked out a 16th Century palace). The casino is a palace of another sort, filled with the zenith of casino-do -- immaculate, sparkling restaurants, the latest in gleaming and noisey high-tech slots, an automatic roulette wheel with an automaton voice announcing the actual spinning of the wheel and the spinning of the ball that is hooked up to a dozen or so computer monitors for instant wagering, the beautiful carpet, shiny hand rails, and two poker areas. And that´s just in one side of the casino. Another huge side and small private gambling areas were left curtained off during my hour-long stay.

The poker is of two sorts. There is a 20 table tournament area -- that has weekly action and really gets going on Saturday, I was told by the PR Director. He said they regularly get 200 players for their tournaments on Saturday. They didn´t have any going on Wednesday, the day I stopped down, but he assured me that they would have cash games in the tournament area starting at 8PM.

They spread no limit holdém and pot limit Omaha, with blinds of 1-2, 2-4, and 5-10.

His explanation of poker made complete sense up until we started walking away from this poker area and toward the huge, beautiful, glistening bar in the center of the casino. I then noticed another area, with a dealer sitting at a single table. I asked my host what that was for. He remarked, somewhat surprised it seemed, that this was another poker area run by another company. Huh? I remembered that in Las Vegas there were poker rooms that were run as concessions by outside operators. But I had not heard of any modern and new casinos doing that. And to have two concessions in one large casinos? Unique?

I went over to this area. They were scheduled to open at 5PM (it was then 4:30). They spread holdém and omaha, just like the other area. But unlike the other area, that raked at 5% up to €20 (again, if my Spanish comprehension was correct), this area charged a flat €5 a half hour. The structure was weird for the first game that they wre going to spreat at 5PM. It was going to be €5/10 blind pot limit Omaha with a €50 buy-in for the first hand and then no limit on the buy-in. I figured that my Spanish was not up to the task of translating some sophisticated rule variation, but the dealer confirmed what the PR guy was telling me.

I decided to wait until 5 for the game. At 5 on the nose I went to the cage to buy chips with my American dollars. (they had the same deal of buying back my Euros at the same rate they sold me Euros initially -- so the exchange wouldn´t cost me anything). I walked over to the table with my €675 ready to play.

I wasn´t allowed to sit down. I was told that the game really wouldn´t get started until the five guys who had signed up for the game, who were seated in the lounge, had finished their drink. "They always take a drink before the game" I was told in Spanish, "so we won´t be starting for one or two minutes". I learned something about the meaning of time in Spain -- at least in this casino in Spain. At 5:20 they were still drinking and smoking cigars and ordering more to drink. I thought about the prospect of playing pot limit Omaha with no cap on the buy-in with some inebriated Spaniards -- but then I also realized that I was so impatient and eager that playing at that limit might be just as likely to torpedo my bankroll as theirs. And so, after not seeing any progress toward getting the game together I cashed in my unused chips and left. Maybe Saturday.

Even so, it was an interesting experience that I thought you might enjoy.

Looking Like a Fool, Having Last Laugh

2010-10-27T01:03:00.000-07:00

I know that there are many home game players who are nervous about going to a casino and playing poker there, anxious that they´ll make mistakes and look ridiculous. I want you all to know that this anxiety is natural and that it should not deter you if you´d like to try out casino poker. I just had an experience, playing poker in Spain, that drives home this point.

I was in Madrid and had heard that there was a casino that spread poker there. I looked around, and learned from a Madrid resident whom I had befriended that the casino with poker in it was not actually in Madrid (though there was a Casino de Madrid in downtown Madrid that he took me to that was just a private club and not really a casino). It was in Torreledona -- a small rich city about 30 kilometers north of Madrid. No matter, on my first free afternoon I drove there.

Poker didn´t start until 4PM. I arrived at 4:45 and found a long list. I also found that there was a €3 charge to enter and a €3 sport jacket rental fee. (I guess they felt that my WPT Poker Jacket wasn´t sufficient). No matter. I paid the tax, donned the ridiculously jacket, and went in to wait. I had brought a book, BROOKLYN, and didn´t mind the wait. I had asked, as I recommend others to do, to watch the poker game into which I would be seated. No dice. No non-players are allowed in the playing area.

Thirty minutes later I was seated. Players immediately nodded at me and attempted to engage me in some small talk. I did not understand what they were saying, but that didn´t stop me from talking in my bad Spanish to the dealer, asking if I could buy chips from him. He understood. As I attempted to sit down in the crowded table I knocked over someone´s drink. Nothing like an inconspicuous entrance into a new game I always say. I apologized, everyone laughed and pointed at me, making me feel a bit uncomfortable. No matter. I sat down. I had learned that the buy-in for this 2-4 no limit game was between €100 and €500. I had just about €260 I thought and proceeded to hand it over. Everyone guffawed as the dealer said, in Spanish, that they couldn´t take CANADIAN MONEY. I had inadvertantly handed over my stash of Canadian bills (left over from a trip to Fallsview Casino in Niagara Falls)thinking them Euros. The dealer, without a smile, pointed to the cashier. No matter. I walked over to the cashier, asked if he coudl change my dollars and was told that he was the wrong cashier for that -- that I would need to go to the cashier in the other part of the casino. No matter. I walked all the way through the nearly empty casino, past the roulette tables and then the American roulette tables (why would any European play at a double zero wheel when a single zero wheel was readily available). I handed over $1,000 in American currency and received €680 or so, and was told that I could exchange them back for dollars with no vig. Sweet deal. I changed one of the €250 chips I was given into smaller €5 chips. I walked back to the poker table, sat down, put €300 on the table, and proceeded to post €5 chip for what I thought was the big blind, since I was two players to the left of the button. The dealer wagged his finger at me and grabbed a €50 chip. He told me that they did not play with €5 chips but only with €2, €10, and €50 chips -- since they didn´t use €1 chips. I was confused, everyone at the table was either pissed or amused by this moronic Canadian who didn´t know anything about the game and who didn´t even know what chips to play with. The dealer called over the floor to change up my €5 chips to €10 chips -- as the game was delayed. I could not have been more ridiculous -- with an overly tight house jacket, Canadian money, incorrect chips, and also not initially understanding that I was not in fact the big blind but in the hijack seat in this backwardly dealt game. If ever there was a moment to be humiliated at the table and to leave out of embarassment, this was it.

I didn´t leave. I stayed. With the little Spanish I had I tried to let everyone know that I was sorry for being an idiot and that I really had never played poker in a casino like this one ever before. I explained that I wasn´t a Canadian but an American with Canadian money (which no one understood). And then I proceeded to blend into the background by folding every hand for about 30 minutes. I the proceed to win two very large pots from players who figured I had no idea what I was doing. I also managed to steal a few pots by acting like I had a monster and was unable to conceal my delight. Cornball stuff to be sure. But with an image as a moron it worked well.

I left €200 or so to the good after a couple of hours. They all wished me well and welcomed me to return. I hope to see them again tonight. And if they still think me the fool, all the better. I´m not running for office or trying to sign them up as poker students. So my image only matters as it is exploitable my me.

Looking for more rooms in Spain

2010-10-26T02:05:00.000-07:00

Today I´ll drive first to the Valley of the Fallen (where I´ll spit on Franco´s tomb on behalf of all the thousands that his fascist forces murdered in the Civil War) and then Debi and I will drive to Toledo to look at the two synagogues that remain from before the Jews were burned alive, forced to convert, or exiled during the Inquisition. Along the way, and later this evening I will try to line up a few other poker rooms in Spain in which to play during the last week of my stay, after Debi flies home on Saturday. I´ve heard there is one not far from Toledo, and also in a few other southern cities. But I´m not sure they have any games off season as it is. We´ll see. In the mean time, I´m taking in as many sites as I can -- not knowing when I´ll have another opportunity to visit this amazing land.

One quick poker story (of sorts). Debi and I are staying in a monastery in El Escorial, where her conference is being held. The nuns there who run the place are very strict -- locking the doors so no one can enter after 11PM. I had plans to go to the nearby casino for some poker after dinner, but since dinner isn´t over until 10 or so, it didn´t make any sense with the ridiculous curfew. Today I arranged for something unconventional so I could still have a relatively lengthy poker session tomorrow night. I will return on Thursday morning at 7AM, when the nuns prepare breakfast. They assured me that I could gain entry at that time -- after staying out all night to play poker. Not a bad deal, though I´m hoping they´re quiet enough in the morning to let a guy get at least a few hours rest after an all night session.

Casino de Madrid -- WOW

2010-10-24T13:34:00.001-07:00

Yes, it´s just like every other public poker room, except..... Sure. They have cards and chips and a beautiful carpet and very elegant ambiance. They charge 3 Euros to enter unless you have a special card that you can get from any hotel -- in which case it´s free. They require all visitors to have a sports jacket or suit jacket (though I noticed that some of the locals had jackets that were more like army jackets. And everyone took them off at the table. Weird, no?). I had to rent one for 3 Euros. It was black and too small and I viewed it simply as the price of admission.

But here´s the thing. This may be the only poker room in the world where the action goes counterclockwise. If anyone has heard of such a thing please let me know. I have never seen it or heard of it. And their tourneys are all clockwise. Go figure.

I had a short and sweet session. I learned an expression. Es mejor tener suerte que tener abilidad. I´ll let you translate it after the quick hand history.

I was on the button, after a round or so of folding. I had AsTs. Six people called the big blind -- which wasn´t typical as there was usually a raise and a three bet pre-flop. I made it $24. Players folded after me until it got to a loose and very aggressive player (I had seen him play KT off suit for a three bet). He shoved all in for $100. I thought for two seconds or so before calling him. The flop was Js 8h 3s. The turn was the Qs, the river a blank. I had the nut flush and he flashed AK. That´s when someone said the quote above.

I played tightly (2-4 game by the way with a 500 cap -- I bought in for $300). I played really only one more hand for the remainder of the hour I was there -- AK. Four people called my $20 bet. The flop was A 7 5 rainbow. I was under the gun and bet the pot. Everyone folded. I left up a couple of hundred Euros.

And now I´m staying with my lovely wife in a monastery. More later.

Now in Madrid -- poker on Sunday night

2010-10-22T05:16:00.000-07:00

I´ve done an enormous amount of driving - no surprise - leaving Barcelona yesterday morning and driving up the coast to Figuere to see the absolutely amazing, mind numbing, hilarious, Dali Museum. It was well worth the cost of the entire trip. I recommend it to any of you who are even slightly more than brain dead. It will make you think about giving up poker and starting a new hobby -- learning more about this amazing artist (at least that was the initial reaction I had -- I wanted to drop everything else in my life and just invest the next ten years figuring out all of these incredible paintings and sculptures.

I left Figueras after a late lunch and then had the most exhausting, white knuckle drive of my life (and it has been filled with trips like this). I took the ¨direct¨route through the mountains to Zaragosa --taking more hairpin turns than are in a large box of paperclips. The 200 or so kilometers took me 5 hours -- as I rarely could go faster than 30 miles an hour. Beautiful pine forest scenery, dozens of near headon collisions, and my mouth is only now starting to recede out of my mouth.

So here I am in an oddly luxurious hotel that I thought was a cheap hostal. They make up for the cheap price of the room by charging an arm and a neck for parking and for Internet use. But both of you readers are worth it (Mom, I´m counting you so I hope you´re still reading this).

I will have poker adventures to report, but not until Sunday night. And even then, if I don´t find a good and cheap Internet Cafe, I may have to save up the stories for a mammoth post from somewhere else.

Buena Suerte Amigos!

Great City -- not great poker

2010-10-20T15:18:00.000-07:00

So I sat down at the $2-4 no limit game at the Casino de Barcelona. I expected it to be a honey pot -- instead it was a briar patch. Not that everyone wasn´t friendly and eager to make me feel welcome. The house couldn´t have been nicer. For a $20 rake they had better be.

That´s right -- 5% up to $20 in th $2-4 no limit game and th $1-2 no limit game. No matter. If the players are really awful, I can make money even with the rake that high.

Awful? Soft? Not here. First hand -- the the next eight or so were three bet pre-flop. Five were folded to the three bettor. So we´re talking ultra tight and agressive. No softiesñ not one (except maybe me). All serious. The type of game where everyone is looking at you for a tell when the hand flops. There´s about a five second delay as players only reluctantly make the first glance at the flop. $4 big blind, raise to $12, re-raise to $35, fold, fold. Etc. At least I got three rounds of J3 so it was cheap. I left to play in the easier $1-2 game with a $200 maximum.

That was only slightly better. At least there was some smiling and an occasional loose call. I was also lucky enough to meet two nice guys -- Raphael from Brazil (but who has played all over the world) and Parker who was returning to SoCal after spending a month or so traveling the world. Nice, nice guys.

The game was not profitable. I won a couple of hands -- getting lucky when my QQ was up against good player Raphael´s TT. I took his stack and made up for some earlier losses to other good players. I left down $25 but with a great recommendation and directions for what turned out to be the best meal of my trip --at the Salamanca restaurant down on the water. Amazing seafood stew. They threw in some extras (a liquer and some great almond mini pastries). It set me back about what my losses were for the playing session. Not a bad deal at all.

I was told that poker in Madrid was much better --with a $4 max rake and bad players. Also, from what I´ve been told, they deal and bet counter clockwise. So I´m definitely looking for a game when I´m in town for a week. I´ll report back.

Poker at the Casino de Barcelona

2010-10-20T01:43:00.000-07:00

I´ve learned that there´s really little to distinguish poker rooms by nationality. There´s variety among them, to be sure. The Aviation Club in Paris is different from the Concord Club in Viena or the Vic in London. But there is nothing particularly French about the Aviation Club nor Austrian about the Concord Club. If you only played at the Bike in LA you´d be right at home in any of them.

And so it is with the Casino de Barcelona. It is beautiful, located right on the coast of Barcelona not far from the Picasso Museum on the eastern fringes of the old city -- the Bari Gothic neighborhood. But if it weren´t for people speaking Spanish you wouldn´t know you weren´t in a high end poker room anywhere.

There was a 7PM €115 tourney on Monday night. I played in it. I finished 65th or so out of 130 entrants. The prize pool was very shallow, paying 18 places -- the last ten of which got $230. First place was something like €3100. 15 percent juice for the tournament was a good deal -- an amazing deal when compared with the vig on the cash games. It was unintentionally deceiving. It looked great at first. Only 5% rake (games under 5/10 no limit --and all games are either no limit hold em or no limit omaha). 5/10 is only 2.5%. But up to a €20 maximum. As I said, not cheap.

I´ll be headed back today to try out the cash games -- and the nearby great seafood restaurants. Yes, I can say paella.

Poker in Spain -- Leaving Soon

2010-10-17T04:18:00.000-07:00

I'm leaving soon on a trip to Spain. I intend on finding out where the good games are -- and playing in them. My first stop will be the Casino de Barcelona. They have a Monday night tournament at 7PM that I plan to play in. In the old days, back when rgp was going strong, I would have made a post there looking for home games in Spain. No longer. RGP is nearly all spam, from what I can tell. There is so much noise that I don't visit it any more. Even so, if someone in Spain wants a visitor in a home game, I'm happy to oblige. Just contact me through this site and I'll respond when I find an Internet Cafe to check my email. I hope to be updating this blog while I'm there, but I decided to travel light and not bring my laptop. So it will all depend on the availability of computers and Internet service. At he very least, I'll give a full report when I return.

FARGO AT FOXWOODS

2010-09-29T17:03:00.000-07:00

I'm going to FARGO tomorrow. Not the city in North Dakota (nor Fargo, Georgia nor Fargo, Texas for that matter). No, I'm going to FARGO in Ledyard, Connecticut -- at Foxwoods Resort Casino to be precise.

FARGO is a destination, though it isn't a place. It is an acronym, standing for Foxwoods, Annual, Recreational, Gambling, Outing. It is part of the somewhat vast group of get togethers that recreational poker players, writers, and other miscreants who met on the Internet have at gambling destinations across the United States.

FARGO started more than a decade ago, launched from the loins of a nearly expired Internet poker discussion group called RGP (standing for Recreational Gambling Poker) -- where poker players of all stripes, interests, and intelligence posted ideas, comments, questions, answers and opinions to other similar-minded sorts.

FARGO consists of four days of poker play and general merriment -- commencing with what used to be called a "smoker" -- a relaxing dinner and social time, followed by a Heads Up poker tournament, and then late night games of every description (or not if you elect to just play poker at the casino instead). The next day starts in the late morning with a pairs tournament -- two players on a team, alternating between limit hold'em and limit Omaha8. The following day is a breakfast, followed by a No Limit Hold'em Tournament. And the final day is a mixed event -- typically a HORSE tournament.

In between the events -- before and after folks bust out -- is time for socializing and playing ring games with kindred poker souls

Think of this event as a sort of Star Trek Convention for we nerdy poker players -- not necessarily the best of the poker breed but almost surely the most zealous.

If anyone from the general Foxwoods area reads this I hope you'll stop down at the tournament tables on Saturday and Sunday to wish me well and say hello. I'll also be having breakfast Saturday and Sunday at the Foxwoods buffet -- and would enjoy meeting any of you who happen to be around.

2010-09-09T18:44:00.000-07:00

Learning but Lost

2010-09-09T15:24:00.000-07:00

It was a session worth having, even if my bottom line was in the red.

I drove down to Foxwoods with my friend Andrei. He recruited me -- for you wags out there who think I serve to corrupt my non-poker playing friends. I thought of going to Mohegan Sun -- which tends to have livelier $1/2 games in my recent experience. But the extra fifteen or twenty minutes drive served as sufficient disincentive to steer me to Foxwoods. And so we went.

We arrived with about 90 minutes to go until the noon $230 ultra deep stack. Or was it a mega or uber deep stack? I'm not sure. But the 15,000 in chips had been upped to 20,000. A good structure for the relatively conservative skilled player that I consider myself to be.

I lasted 4 hours -- missing the money by quite a bit. I played well, I think, mixing very conservative periods of being patient with the aggressive play with drawing hands necessary to do well. Any generalities seem a bit thin and irrelevent now. Leave it to say that I got it in with the best of it a few times -- and with coin flips a few others. I won until I lost -- losing out when my AQ vs. JJ lost as the board progressed from Q72 (YAY) to Q72J (BOO) to Q72JA (BOOHOO). Alas.

I went to play stud. $20/40 was full. I took a seat in a short-handed $10/20 game. Two players were perpetual walkers and two seats were empty. I don't think my game was weak -- but I had a relatively long and surely annoying string of either not having drawing hands completed and having leading hands getting outdrawn. In about three hours I was down about $300.

I switched to $1/2 NL -- hit a nice string of winning hands to put me up $500 -- and then suffered a long string of losing hands to put me up $100. Here are a couple that caused me to ponder.

I raised to $14 in late position with AhTh. Three people had called the blinds. I had a pretty rocky image, was up a fair amount, and thought that I might cause all but one or two to fold -- which would be advantageous to me in case an Ace or a Ten hit on the flop. Sure enough the flop was Ad9h7h. Two players checked to me. I bet $25. I got one caller. Weaker Ace? Lower flush draw? JT? I wasn't really sure. My opponent had been fairly tight and quite passive up until then.

The turn was 6s. It was checked to me again. I decided to force the issue with a fairly large bet. I bet $100 -- about the size of the pot. He shoved for about $200 (my $100 plus another $100). I was getting just about 4:1 for my call. I was not quite getting sufficient pot odds for a call -- if I looked only at the flush coming in. But I figured there was enough of a possibility that he was either overplaying something or bluffing that a call would be warranted. And so I called.

The river was the 6h. Yay, I win, I thought, as I turned over the nut flush.

Not so fast, Mr. Adams He flipped over 6c7d for a full house. Ouch.

Loose passive players at the table equals high variance, no?

Anyway, I didn't mind. I figured I'd get it back. Sure enough -- an hour or so later, when he was down to $100 or so, he uncharacteristically three bet shoved his $100 stack before the flop, after a wild player the gun had made it $10.

Kings or Aces I figured. I looked at my hand only to see Aces. "What the Hell -- I call" I said mildly -- knowing that it looked like I was acting but not caring. The initial raiser folded. My nemesis turned over Kings as I turned my Aces. No help for him on the flop turn or river.

What did I learn? I think I learned not to mind the variance -- even though my bankroll took a hit. I strenthened my desire to play in some more no limit tourneys -- enjoying the experience and not finding myself outplayed. And I learned to trust my reads at no limit. I found that I was right on the money -- correct on the range I put my opponents most of the time.

Think I'll play some more this weekend.

Ashley

Home Games are Great

2010-08-26T21:48:00.000-07:00

Yeah, it's fun to go to the casino and play when you feel like it and not have to worry about getting paid off, leaving early, etc. I know that. I love poker rooms and have been to hundreds of them.

But truth be told, the best place to play is probably in your kitchen -- or in someone else's. Home games have been, for me, by far the most profitable places to play -- at least if measured in big bets per hour. True, it may not always be possible to find a safe, convenient game at the stakes you can play in a casino. But if you are persistent, and open minded, and good natured, and in quisitive without being pushy or overbearing, you can probably find enough home games to keep you in fairly good action.

I've played in a couple in the last few weeks. They've been great. Not just because I've won but because they are more convenient than driving the 90 minutes to the nearest casino room. And the house rakes hardly anything -- so there's more money for profit. The guys are interesting. Conversations are worthwhile. And reading them has become easier with each visit to the game. There's something much more satisfying about playing with guys I really like to play with -- as opposed to strangers I may never see again.

I realize that in today's poker age, it is often very easy to find a legal, public room within driving distance. To some extent, that has diminished the many good private games. But I urge you all to see what you can come up with or create in your backyard. Not unlike farming, it's a good idea to shop locally for poker action -- diminishing our carbon footprint by using less gas, building relationships that might sustain us away from the poker table, and keeping the money in the game instead of in the pocket of some heavily raking poker room, casino, or house game operator.

Foxwoods Is Amazing -- Eager for PA too.

2010-08-22T18:37:00.000-07:00

I'm eager to get to the PA casinos, especially The River. The folks there expressed an interest in having me host a stud tourney -- maybe putting a bounty on my head or something. I'm ready and eager to go. Justneed the word and I'll be out there. In the mean time, I have to make do with the largest casino in the United States, Foxwoods. That's where I was today.
The action at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Ledyard, Connecticut was, in one of the most overused words in our contemporary poker vocabulary, "SICK". There were lists for games two hours long and longer. My friend Jim, who came down with me from Boston along with Howard and Andrei, couldn't get a seat after he busted out of the tournament -- that's how busy it was. Sick, sick, sick, sick. Folks were milling around in such thick clusters that it was hard to navigate from one table to another.
Stud wasn't as bad, but it was very tough as well. I had to wait about 45 minutes to get called to a $20/40 game. Unfortunately, it was a group of the same old faces (at least as old as mine). There were two players who gave a small sliver of action every once in a great while. The rest were the regular fair of pretty tough players. Little profit for me there. In an hour or so I dropped $140 and left to a new $1/2 game. It was before the huge rush -- so I was lucky to get a seat. By the time I left there were over 75 names on the sign up list -- with more than 15 tables going.
No limit was amazing. The table was fairly short stacked. I bought in for $300 and within thirty minutes I had the largest stack at the table with $400 or so. I left two hours later with over $900. I played some hands well and got very, very luck. Let me share with you a few hands.
I played fairly tightly for the first round or so. I folded my small blind on the second hand even though it was not raised -- and with six players already in. Normally I wouldn't do this -- I'd call even with 7-2 off. The implied odds are astronomical, even with mostly short stacks. Still, I was working on my image as a tight player -- hoping I'd be in a position to pick up some pots with some aggression later. So I folded my 5-2 off. And then I folded aroudn again until I was the big blind. I had Q-T spades. Someone unchracteristically raised to $12 (the hadns were often called for $2 pre-flop). I called as did three players. The flop was 2-5-7 with two diamonds. It was checked to the pre-flop raiser who was the last to act. He bet $20. I raised to $40 and was awarded the pot for my efforts. No wizardry but a nice feeling nevertheless.
On the next hand, on the button, I was dealt AcKc. The three seat called $2, the 4 seat raised to $10, three callers to me and I called. The big blind called as well. Five of us saw the flop. The flop was As9s6c. Check, check, and then a loose and fairly poor player bet $25. One player folded. I raised to $50. Folds until the initial bettor who thought for a long time and then called. I put him on a weak Ace or maybe a flush draw or even a pair of 9s -- maybe 9T or 9Q. The turn paired the 6. The other player paused a while and then checked. I bet $100. He thought a really long time and then called. The river was the 3s. He checked quickly and looked away. I didn't know him well enough to know if he was an actor and so I checked behind him. Maybe I missed a bet. He turned over 7h8d and said "straight draw" -- as if he had to explain why he called my bets. He didn't have to explain. The dealer pushing me the pot was enough.
And then I really got lucky. I was dealt pocket tens on the button. Six players were in for $2 in front of me. I raised to $20. I got three callers!
The flop was 6sAcTs. I hit trip tens! The player to my left bet $50, with about $150 remaining. The player to his left went all in for about $240. The other player folded. I called the all in bet, which was enough to put the third player who made the initial bet all in as well when he called. My two optimistic opponents were each on flush draws. No spades came. I won a tidy sum.
I rocked around for a while -- winning some small pots, losing blinds and a few small calls. And then about an hour later I was dealt AK in the 8 seat. The six seat raised the blind (called by three others) all in to $58. It was folded to me. I called with my AK. Everyone else folded. I quickly turned over my AK. He held on to his hand. The flop had an Ace. he then threw down AQ. No help for him. UP another $60 or so.
Raised to $22 with a pair of 8s on teh button after nearly everyone called $2. Nearly everyone called the $22. Flop came AQ8 two suited. A bet of $40 to my left, a raise all in to $240, a call for $150. What could I do. I called. My 8s won me a pot of $390.
I left about 3 hours after I sat down, up over $600. Good play? Come on. I got hit by the deck and by overly aggressive, particularly unlucky opponents. Yay team!
I cashed out, wrote down my wins for the day, and then joined my friends Andrei and Howard for an ice cream before the rainy drive home to Boston. We talked poker and politics the whole way home -- at least I and Howard did. I suspect that Jim and Andrei were asleep much of the time in the back seat. And who could blame them.

Working on My Trip Report From Foxwoods

2010-08-22T18:36:00.000-07:00

Hi all,
I just posted on Facebook that I had a complete report on my Foxwoods journey today. Untrue. I am working on it and it will go up as soon as I am done -- probably by 10:30PM tonight, Sunday. Come back then. Thanks.

Poker Vacation

2010-08-12T08:16:00.001-07:00

I just got back from a trip to Vermont where I played in a small local tournament (with only 5% juice!). It was a beautiful drive. It got me to thinking about poker vacations -- trips that involve playing poker while on vacation.

I'm going to be writing an article for www.pokerology.com on the subject. So I'd like to start by asking all of you what your thoughts are on what makes a good poker vacation. Do you have any favorite spots?

Here's my initial thinking. Poker vacations are primarily, but not exclusively, about the poker. There needs be decent poker at the end of the rainbow for the poker vacation to be worthwhile. But the journey and the non-poker surroundings are important as well. Do you agree?

For example, an obvious "top ten" poker vacation location would surely be Las Vegas. That's easy. There's more poker variety than in any city in the world. But that's not all that makes it a great destination for a poker vacation. There are also many other things to do, many great places to eat, and -- at least for now -- absolutely rock bottom hotel accomodations.

Other places seem fairly obvious as well. Southern California, surely, with its huge poker palaces and big city attractions, would make the list. So too would other large gambling meccas like Atlantic City and Tunica. But then I'm having a hard time figuring out where to draw the line. The Seattle area seems like a great place for a poker vacation -- with all of the many small rooms. But there's really no big action. But then Seattle is a great tourist destination in its own right. So Seattle? What about Vancouver? There's poker, though not a huge amount of diversity -- even less than Seattle. But the city is stupendous. Hmm. What about the Gulf Coast? Some poker -- and New Orleans -- but maybe not enough poker. And is New Orleans enough of a draw when the Gulf Coast really is Gulfport and Biloxi -- not great (but still good) tourist destinations these days.

What about a place with an absolutely top flight casino and poker room but little variety and little else around -- like southeastern Connecticut. You have only Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods. But writing "only" next to those huge casinos with large poker rooms seems unfair and inaccurate. But do they make it a great poker vacation site? Not much else to do in the area -- unless you broaden the area to include Providence and Boston. What is the definition of an area anyway?

What about New York City? There are dozens of underground clubs but no legal poker. Does illegal poker count for this comparison? The city itself is surely worthy of a vacation. But a poker vacation? Is Atlantic City close enough? Hmm.

I'm also wondering about tradional tourist spots that now have poker -- like Niagara Falls and Vienna and Miami. The poker may not be world class, but the destinations are fascinating, beautiful, and rich in activities.

There's also some question in my mind of what constitutes a destination. Is the state of Oklahoma a vacation destination or is it just too damn big? Would I have to focus on Tulsa or Oklahoma City (in which case they'd almost surely be left off the list). At the other end of the spectrum is a poker cruise too small to serve as a vacation destination? Or rather is it too vague and broad a category. Maybe a cruise to Bermuda with a heavily raked $3/6 limit hold'em game would not be a worthy poker vacation but a 10-day Card Player Cruise through the Caribean, run by Linda Johnson and Jan Fisher, with 25 tables, a large tournament, a boot camp, and a few poker celebrities would be top of the list.

So I'm torn and unsure and stumbling around for some reasonable way of coming up with a top ten poker vacations list. Can any of you help me out (ideally, in English).

Thanks.

More Poker Travels: Montreal and Vermont

2010-08-11T08:21:00.001-07:00

It's a long and beautiful ride from Williamstown, Massachusetts to Montreal, Canada -- especially if you take some back roads and stop for interesting sites along the way. That's what I did during my training conference for teachers at beautiful, bucolic Williams College. I had a couple of cancelations and so, after a morning meeting, I left for points north. I wasn't really sure where I'd end up. But I had heard that the Casino de Montreal had opened up a poker room not that long ago. And I figured that if I actually made it that far that I'd try it out.
I did and I did.
I'll report in my detail in some article in the future, but for now leave it to say that the room is beautiful, stylish affair, with a colored neon tubular escalator bringing patrons to the room. The room is darkly appointed, with silver highlights and a feeling of newness and luxury. There are high intensity lights on dark scaffolding above the room. 20 tables. Only no limit action, from $1/2 to $5/5 during the week and a high limit room for $25/50 and some uncapped games. No stud, Omaha, or anything for that matter other than No Limit Hold'em.
The room was 2/3 full when I arrived at 2:45 on Monday afternoon.
Beware of the rake. It's huge. 10% up to $7 in the $1/2 game, up to $10 in the $2/5 game, and up to $20 in the bigger games. Plus a $1 bad beat/high hand jackpot drop. You pay for the glitz, glamour, and monopoly on legal poker action I guess. It reminded me of France in that regard.
I didn't stay long. I was lucky, hitting two hands and roughly doubling up my $450 buy-in. But I didn't want to rake to grind down my winnings so I left after little more than an hour. For those of you afraid of a language barrier, don't be. The cards are a little different (D for a Queen, R for King, V for a Jack), and some of the dealer commands won't make sense. But the game is exactly the same in the states -- even the conversations in Chinese by some of the Asian players.
All in all, a great room. I only wish they had a reasonable rake. (Is that like saying the play was great, if only it weren't for the shooting Mrs. Lincoln?)
The following day, when my duties of the day were done at Williams, I headed up to a home game tournament in Vermont. I was invited by someone who told me that the game was but 15 minutes north of Williamstown. Three hours later, I realized that he meant Williamstown Vermont, not Massachusetts. Even so, the drive was lovely, the game filled with interesting local Vermonters, and the result positive. I had to leave at 10PM to get back in time to get some sleep before my morning class the next day. So I bought myself out of the tournament. I was the chip leader among 5 remaining players and proposed that I take $200 (First place was $450 -- fourth place paid $75 for this $50 event). I told them it was the best deal they'd ever get -- and it may have been. But it was also a good deal for me, though not financially. But I really needed to leave to avoid the possibility of falling asleep on the way home, or being seriously exhausted the following day. They let me out, gave me my short money, bid me a safe journey, and went back to their game. I wonder what they did with my huge stack of chips.
I'll be writing an article for Pokerology.com about great poker vacation spots. I might have to include an honorable mention to Vermont -- having discovered that this is one of dozens of great home games and tournaments in the north country.

Mohegan Sun/ Foxwoods on Wednesday

2010-07-27T17:45:00.000-07:00

I'm taking a vacation day and going down to one or both of these casinos with my friend Andrei. I plan to play $2/5 or $5/10 NL at Mohegan if we go there, or $20/40 stud if we go to the Woods. I'll see. And I'll report back.
By the way, I did not fare well during my Sunday trip to the Woods. I got smoked on a hand in NL whenI misread the board and saw two eights when there were in fact an eight and a nine -- giving my opponent as straight and NOT giving me a full house (did I mention that I was very tired). Goodbye $100. I did not recover from the loss and left the table to play $10/20 stud (there were no seats at $20/40 for four hours). I played for six hours and lost another $120. I also played in a HORSE tournament, made it to ninth out of 24 players, and missed cashing. Alas. I hope tomorrow is better.

Mystery of CHinese posters solved

2010-07-27T17:43:00.000-07:00

Many of the responses to my posts are in Chinese, I just learned (I wasn't sure what the language was until I checked with my daughter). I just had the Chinese translated (very roughly). Thank you for your interest and general support. I hope to be able to communicate with you better in the future. If you would like an answer to any specific questions, I'll probably need something in English. But in the mean time, please continue to enjoy the blog.

Final 9 set

2010-07-18T06:06:00.000-07:00

Well it was a very long night. Those guys have a lot of stamina. But it's finally set, at 5:30 AM Eastern Time. Here's the line up for the "November 9". Top 8 get over a million for their efforts.

http://www.wsop.com/tournaments/chipcounts.asp?grid=764&tid=10878

Brandon Steven was the bubble boy. I'm trying to set up an interview with him. He's a car dealer from Wichita, Kanasas. His web site is filled with motivational quotes. Seems like a very interesting guy. I wonder if he's relieved, disappointed, thrilled at his $650K+ prize, or just exhausted. Maybe I'll find out.

Ashley

OFF TO FOXWOODS

2010-07-17T22:50:00.000-07:00

My friend Andrei and I are driving to Foxwoods Sunday morning, July 18th. Happy to meet up with anyone who is down there at that time. Let me know. I'll report on what happens when I return.

Bust out in NH -- But self discovery

2010-07-06T04:21:00.000-07:00

Barely rested from my two week trip out west, I was seduced by an email to try my hand at the super-mega-deep stack up at Rockingham Park in nearby Salem, New Hampshire. Less than an hour's drive, this seemed like a convenient way for me to have a good shot at a large tournament score. The structure suited me, I thought, with enough chips and a slow enough escalation of blinds for a serious and conservative player like me to do well. So I went to the $250 event.

I'd ideally like to report that I cashed -- finishing well into the money. Short of that, I'd like to report that I busted out when my opponent hit a two-outer on the river -- in an awful bad beat. Neither report would be accurate.

Truth be told, I played poorly -- overplaying borderline hands, not showing enough restraint, plunging in with low percentage over-the-top plays against loose and passive players who were ahead of me. Truth be told, I exhibited many of the traits I take students to task for.

Even so, the experience was worthwhile. I learned something that I should have already knwn but did not know -- and that is that I am by inclination not suited to long tournaments. Though I like to think of myself as a careful, thoughtful, conservative player -- relying on strategy over impulse and unbridled aggression -- by disposition I am not that way. Simply put, I get antsy early. And so, out of boredom, I throw away chips after a few hours of trying to be patient. I come up with good excuses at the table for this. I convince myself that my image is so rock-like that I'm unlikely to get callers when I have a hand. Or I mistakenly see myself in a shove or fold situation -- when in fact I am far from that point in my stack size relative to the blinds. I forget the nature of my opponents -- when they are too loose for my aggressive bluffs to work. And then I fail to take into consideration how my image has surely changed after my futile attempts to steal pots with drek.

It's funny and weird. Were I giving myself advice, I would logically point out the errors in strategy and tactics that I have employed. And yet, after four or so hours of sitting, all my self-tutelage would be for naught -- since my impatience and boredom would trump my better judgment.

I'm not sure what the remedy is. It's surely one of two things, I think. Either stop playing in long-structured tournaments, since my nature seems against them. Or play in more so I can assiduously work on improving my game.

WSOP Last Day -- I end on up note

2010-07-03T18:54:00.000-07:00

It was Thursday, my last day in Las Vegas. I take my time checking out of my beautiful $8 room. I went for a long walk while reading Lee Child's third or fourth book of the Jack Reacher series. What a great writer and what a great character. I recommend these books highly (even if they're not quite as terrific as the best Michael Connelly or Harlan Coben books in my opinion).
No matter. I drive down out of the mountains and into typical one hundred degree temperatures of Las Vegas. I head into the Rio parking lot, park, walk the 100 yards that seems like a mile across the sticky-hot pavement, and head in to the media room. I write an article about poker instinct, hold off on sending it until I can reread and edit it, and get a $10 food voucher from the Rio (available each day of my stay -- but this was my first). I do my daily blogging and then head to lunch. I use my $10 and eat at Rio's Mah Jong noodle place, get a dumpling noodle dish that is tasty but not as good as similar fare either in Chinatown or at the places at Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, and walk back outside into the inferno that is my car.
I'm torn between heading back to Aria or heading over to the Venetian. I figure that I have some player points and enjoy playing at both rooms. I think about playing for the rest of my stay and then ending with a dinner before it's time to go return my car and fly home. But then I think about driving from either of those locations to the airport through the awful traffic on the strip. I decide to go south of the the airport and play at M.
I drive down, grab the only open seat in a $4-8 game, and win $100 in about an hour. I then move over to the $1/2 no limit game. It is the loosest and most passive game in the world pre-flop, and then the tightest game in the world after the flop. SB, BB, CALL, CALL, CALL, CALL, CALL, CALL, CALL, CALL. flop CHECK, CHECK, CHECK, BET $10, FOLD, FOLD, FOLD, FOLD. FOLD!!!!!!!!!!!! No joke. Five or six hands in a row just like this. I decide to get cute. So with nothing I raise the raiser. He folds and I win $30 or so. Then I fall back to the habit of the game. A few hands later, UTG, I pick up a hand and raise pre-flop to $10. Everyone folds and I win $3. They don't rake. A couple of hands after that I pick up KK on the button. I raise to $10 after everyone calls. I get one caller. The flop is AJ3. He checks. I bet $12. He folds.
The game proceeds like this for a couple of hours. I lose a little back when I raise with AK on the button after everyone calls and I get raised all in to $30 by a nice old lady on my left. I fold and she shows me Aces. A few hands later I have QQ and the same thing happens. I raise to $15 or so and she goes all in with $40 or so. I figure that the chances of her having Aces again are fairly slim so I call. She shows me Aces again. I don't improve. So a couple of hours in I'm up $100 or so.
I make a little progress with a few steals -- but I'm not making much progress on my stack. And then a guy sits down on my left. He has a German passport and two WSOP entry tickets in it. I can't see if they're both his but there they are, liek book marks in his passport. He puts a headset on and stacks up $300 in front of him.
His very first hand he's the big blind. The action is called around to him and he shoves in $25. Everyone folds. The next hand, in the small blind, he does the same thing with the same result. He's then on the button. There are a few less callers -- afraid of being raised pre-flop. He shoves in $30. Everyone folds. I realize that what may have been the softest game in the history of the world is in teh process of changing -- maybe for the better, maybe not. But it's about 6:30 PM. I could stay an hour or so more before going to eat, figure this guy out, and maybe make some serious money. But then, maybe not. I'm up a couple hundred from my play at the M. I'm up for the trip quite a bit. And I decide to head out, call it a day and a trip, get some dinner, and then fly home.

That's exactly what I do. So now I'm back, well rested in Boston, and enjoying the relatively mild 90 degree temps of New England. I haven't fully recovered from my trip just yet -- still with books, magazines, and receipts to file, categorize, and put into my bookshelf. It was a great trip, profitable, full of friendship renewals, good food, and great poker. I'm exhausted and I'm not yet thinking about my trip back next year. That can wait -- at least a day or two more.

WSOP Day 13: Poker Thinking

2010-07-01T11:04:00.000-07:00

Went to a poker discussion group with Jan Fisher and Linda Johnson (First Lady of Poker -- and it's right on her license plate). It's the Wednesday group -- a larger version of the Monday group that I had been at before. So here are a couple of questions that were discussed for about 45 minutes each.

You're under the gun with AhKh. For purposes of discussion imagine a ten person game, all at about $200 in a $1/2 no limit game, and you know nothing about your opponenents -- and they nothing about you. You called UTG and someone in seat six raised to $12 -- the standard pre-flop raise in this game. Two callers, one on the button and the big blind. You called.

Now it's the flop. The flop is Ks 9d 2c. What do you do?

That wasn't really the question of the group, however. The question was whether or not you bet all the time. Is it an obvious bet for you. Or do you have to think first. The discussion that followed was about how to extract the maximum amount of profit from that hand.

Interesting. Don't worry, I'm not going to post all of the different opinions. Leave it to say that there were many views, strongly expressed.

Here's a more specific hand situation that actually came up. One of the participants took the stage and diagramed it for us. (I may have some of the specifics wrong -- but the general and important details are correct)

$2/5 game at Aria. Our hero is in the 4 seat. We are told that she controlled the three players after her -- that they feared her and would fold to a sizable bet or raise from her. We are told that the UTG is an unknown who just sat down and who looks like a young aggressive internet player.

UTG sits down to his first hand and immediately straddles. No raise pre-flop. Five players see the flop -- BB, UTG, Hero in the 4 seat, 6 seat and Button. Flop is: Js 6c 5s.

BB Checks, UTG checks, Hero checks. 6 seat bets $15. 7 seat calls. Button calls. BB folds. UTG calls. Hero calls.

Turn is 3c. Board is now Js 7c 6s 3c.

Action: UTG Checks. Hero Checks. 6 seat bets $20. Button Calls. 7 seat calls. UTG calls. Hero raises to $120. Everyone folds to UTG who shoves. Hero folds.

UTG and Hero had $500 or so before the hand.

Question for us all was, What do we think initial bettor had. More important, what do we think hero had and what do we think shover had?

Thoughts?

There was a lot of discussion. People ventured opinion of whether hero and/or shover were strong or weak, had made hands or were on draw. Some thought that the shover must have had two pair -- hitting second pair on turn. I ventured that I thought the shover had a big suited Ace -- Ax spades.

The hero told us that the initial bettor had J9. He wasn't trying to get action with the small bet but was (wrongly we all agreed) betting weakly with a pretty weak hand -- the wrong tactic. We all talked about how ridiculous the initial and the second small bets were. And then we got back to what we thought the other two players had.

Care to venture a guess?

Our hero had AsQs. She raised after checking looking to take down the pot from the wimps. She figured that even if her raise didn't work (she thought she had a strong likelihood of it succeeding though she didn't quantify it -- I'd put it at about 80% over all put the UTG player who had just sat down), she had two overs and a flush draw. She was a favorite heads up against a player with a pair of Jacks or a pocket pair. She was a dog if someone had trips -- but not a total dog.

We continued to talk about what we thought the shover had. Our hero told us that after the hand was over, and after he had mucked his winning hand, he specifically came over to her and took her aside to talk about the hands. He told her that he had Qc 6c.

One guy kept insisting that he couldn't have had this hand and must have been lying to her. There was a lot of discussion about what he was doing and what she was doing and whether she should have folded. A few thought she should have called for the $300+ it would have been to see the river. Most of us (and I) disagreed, thinking it made sense to fold -- and that his raise was very strong.

What do you think?

I left at about 5:00 and drove over to the Green Valley Ranch for a HORSE tournament. It was a very unusual and interesting experience. I literally did not win one hand and busted out 35 minutes or so into the second round of the game. There were 15 minute blinds, a $2,000 starting stack, a $45 entry, and three tables of 9 players. No rebuys or add ons but the ability to reenter the tournament during the first hour.

Not one hand.

I played a little cash $1/2 waiting for and then after the tournament. I didn't do well -- basically rocked around and made a few attempts at the pot -- winning and losing small amounts -- never being stacked and never stacking anyone. Grind, grind grind. Down about $75 for the three hours I was there. It happens.

I tried the highly recommended Broadway Pizza on my way back up the mountain. I never think of eating pizza in Las Vegas. I'm not planning on eating it again. This pizza was about average for Boston -- sub-par for New York or Connecticut. Too much oil, not enough flavor to the sauce, and clearly kept warm for too long. To be fair, dough had a nice crunch to it and it wasn't nearly as oily as some pizza I've had in Boston -- the "Greek style" stuff that some rave about. For me, I'll take any of ten dozen pizza places in Manhattan over anything I've had in Boston -- and now Las Vegas.

I will be flying out tonight at 10:00 PM. I plan to play live at the Venetian before I go. I'll report on that tomorrow. IF you have any thoughts about the hands I've posted, please shoot me a line and I'll print them here if you'd like.

Day 12: A lot of play

2010-06-30T01:19:00.001-07:00

I started this morning with a breakfast with some poker writers including my friend Lou Krieger. Good for the mental appetite. We answered the question posed by Lou, "are our generation of older (over 50? 60?) poker players redundant (obsolete)?" Nearly everyone present said that they thought we older players were -- that hte younger players had passed us by. I strongly disagreed. I didn't see anything inevitable about the situation of young players dominating many games. I thought that we could focus, learn, play, and win as well. Of course there are barriers, but there's no reason why age needs to be a barrier, imho.

I took my wife to the airport and then drove up to the beautiful Aria to play in their $1-$3 NLHE games. Only two were going when I go there at about 11:30 AM. I was soon seated and managed to play impatiently. I stole some pots early in the brief session -- when players assumed that I was a tight oldster. But then a couple of them got wise, saw that I was trying to take advantage of my position and the power of a three bet. They set me on my heels by calling and then betting a substantial amount into me on the flop or turn after my 3 bets pre-flop. In simple terms, they helped me donk off $50 or so in the hour I was there.

I went to the Excalibar for their 1PM tourney. Two tables. I knocked myself out after being the chip leader. Impulse control problems -- it's all I can come up with. I played too aggressively. Who would have thought that would be my problem. And then I compounded it with similar play in a $1/2 cash game. Same pattern as the Aria game with opponents who were surprising observant (or was I that obviously bad?).

I left for a dinner meeting with Kathy Raymond, poker room manager extraordinaire of the amazing Venetian poker room. I'm not exaggerating by saying that she has truly transformed it into the leading poker room in Las Vegas. In the process she has also transformed poker around the world -- by initiating the concept of deep stacks that have spread everywhere. In the old days, tournaments were largely quick marketing devices meant to get players in so they would play cash. That may still be the intent. But as tournaments have become more and more popular -- with the WPT and the WSOP on television, players have demanded more play -- and have appreciated those tournaments that gave them more play. Kathy was the key initiator of tournaments with much bigger chip stacks and longer structures. And its paid off. There are now over 100 tables at the Venetian -- with games spilling out all over the lobby of the place. Quite a scene.

After dinner I entered an $8/16 HORSE game. The game started out soft enough -- with some very loose players happy to call their way into penury. As the night progressed, the games got tougher -- with pros taking the seats of the busted. By midnight or so the games were too tough to be profitable. I left with my $150 profit between my legs -- glad to have posted a winning session for the day.

I'm now back at the Rio, exhausted and ready for the 45 minutes trek up the mountain to bed.

WSOP Day 11 -- Is a $1 million for the top pros a good thing?

2010-06-30T01:05:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed some time watching the final two tables of the Tournament of Champions at the Rio. The tourney was into day two, having started with 27 players picked mostly by the tournament operators, with a few left for the public at large to choose. The idea of such an invitational is controversial in poker player circles -- with many thinking it isn't fair that "famous" players should be rewarded with a $1 million freeroll. "Let them put the $1 million into the prize pool for the main event" these critics say.

But to me, a freeroll for the "elite" makes perfect sense. Poker is trying to insure its status as a spectator event -- pumping up television ratings. So what's wrong with cherry picking the best known pros to compete for a large prize? It brings attention to our game -- and that brings players and their money. From my perspective, a million invested in this way does a lot more for the poker industry than increasing by the same amount an already huge prize pool to be shared by largely unknown players.

By contrast, this was a collection of A list players -- the ones the public immediately knows and wants to watch: Matusow, Grospelier, Seed, Clotier, Negreanu, "Jesus, Johnny Chan, Jennifer Harman, Annie Duke, Barry Greenstein, Joe Hachem, Eric Siedel, Scotty Nguyen, Antonio "The Magician", Allen Cunningham, Phil Helmuth. And they were so close and seemingly accessible. This is what sets poker off as a unique type of competitive endeavor. We all can play with each other. In no other activity is this true -- where the rank amateurs and the top pros can so closely interact.

But enough about them. They're competing as I write this, down to 17 or so, well into the third day of the event. For more detailed information (and better spelling) check out www.wsop.com.

Chalk one up for Harrahs poker promoters!

WSOP Day 10 (Skipped 3 days)

2010-06-28T14:19:00.000-07:00

I'm back at the Rio, after a three day break from poker in Los Angeles with my incredible wife Debi. We visited her family and I didn't play a hand of poker. I just enjoyed the best hand I've ever been dealt. I was only slightly tempted by the nearby Hawaiian Gardens, Hollywood Park, Commerce Casino, Normadie, Hustler, Bike, and Caribe Club. But I never once, not ever, snuck out in the middle of the night -- though I was frequently awake then and thinking about playing.

I'll play some tonight, and then, after dropping off my wife for her flight back to Boston, tomorrow, Wednesday, and Thursday. No time for a multi-day tourney but plenty of time for cash games and daily tournaments. I'll also be meeting some poker writers for lunch tomorrow (Lou Kreiger among them) and Venetian Poker Room Manager Kathy Raymond on Wednesday or Thursday. I'll report on this and whatever else crosses my path.

Oh, and Day 2 of the WSOP $1,000,000 tournament of Champions All Star Event is proceeding as I write this. I'll report on the results tomorrow.

WSOP Day 6 Ivey takes title number 8; Ashley does OK

2010-06-24T15:05:00.000-07:00

For those of you looking for a WSOP info fix -- but who haven't yet checked out the World Series of Poker site, here's some news about Phil Ivey's recent victory in the $3,000 HORSE event.

http://www.wsop.com/news/2010/Jun/2922/ELITE-8---PHIL-IVEY-MOVES-INTO-TOP-5-ON-ALL-TIME-WSOP-BRACELET-LIST.html

For those of you interested in the more mundane affairs of my visit, here's my account of yesterday.

I played at the Palms and the Imperial Palace. With all due respect for the enormous action and great poker scene at the Harrah's-owned Rio, why would anyone play regularly in any of their properties? Their rake is the highest around -- at $5.00 with an additional $1 drop for the player-supported bad beat, high hand, and other promotions. Their tournaments are heavily raked as well. And, most important, there are plenty of other great rooms with lower rake around.

Yesterday, I ended my day by playing in the 8PM tourney at the Imperial Palace. Here's the structure. Buy-in $40, One optional re-buy $10, One optional add-on $10. $16 comes out of the $40; That's a 40% rake of the buy-in. Compare that with the Venetian, for example. They rake $4 from their cash games. Their $120 tournament is raked $20. That's 20%.

Yes, true, but I can hear you saying that the key is the level of opposition. On that front the Imperial Palace has its positive points. Even so, I was knocked out after two hours: 12th of 33. It paid 5. Alas.

The Imperial Palace is a curious property. It is run down, very dirty, weirdly laid out with three levels and small compartments rather than large expansive spaces like most casinos. I remember thinking that when Harrah's took over they would clean it up, smooth out the rough edges, and upgrade it. They haven't.

The play in the tournament got a bit crazed as the blinds went up in the final hour. How's this for a blind progression that encourages aggressive play.

$500 $1,000
$1,000 $2,000
$1,500 $3,000
$2,000 $4,000
$4,000 $5,000
$5,000 $10,000
$15,000 $30,000

At the $2K, $4K level, at about 60% par with 12 of us left and $14,000 in chips, I shoved in fourth position with Js8s. I got called by the big stack who had KhQd. I didn't improve and was out.

My earlier poker experience of the day was better -- at the Palms. They have two rooms, only one of which is in use during the week. THeir rake is 10% up to a maximum of $4. They typically spread $2-4 and $3-6 limit and $1/2 and $2/5 no limit. There were two tables going when I arrived at 2PM on a Wednesday afternoon -- a 2-4 and a $3-6 limit hold'em. I was promised a no limit game would be starting shortly.

The players were all, or nearly all, regulars -- mostly seniors with a couple or three off duty casino employees passing the time. No pros. No very strong opponents that I witnessed.

I sat in the $3-6 game (with a kill). I played more aggressively than normal and, managed to become the table bully. I won $175 in less than an hour, was called to no limit, and left -- only to find that the no limit game did not have enough players to get started. Rather than go back to the limit game, I elected to leave the room and head over to the Paris to meet my brother for dinner.

Dinner was at Nora's -- a nice local Italian place, moderately priced, with large portions, and inoffensive decor. I'd recommend it.

Today I've played at Santa Fe station up in North Las Vegas. At noon. They had a $2-4 game, short-handed, and nothing else. I hope to stop in at the M while I wait for my wife's flight ot arrive. And then dinner at the Mt. Charleston Lodge at 7:30. I'll report further tomorrow.

Ashley

WSOP Day 5 -- (Very, long entry)

2010-06-23T12:27:00.000-07:00

Another day in Las Vegas -- another day in poker heaven.

I start the day hiking into the Mt. Charleston hills. The elevation where I'm staying is about 7,500 feet -- so my lungs burn somewhat when I start a quick walk into the hills. That's okay. I want to get my heart beating -- so I know I'm actually exercising. It's a simple routine. Up the mountain for 30 minutes then down the mountain. Coming down is harder, hurting my right knee and reminding me of the surgery I've been putting off. Well, as long as I'm able to walk an hour a day in the mountains, even if there's some pain, I guess I'm not in immediate need of a new knee. Ever the optimist.

After changing into my new-to-me $.49 Texas Station polo shirt (bought the prior day at Savers) I had a late breakfast with poker author, writer, teacher, and former broadcaster and actor: Roy West. We dined at the local chain Marie Callender's -- a popular spot among locals. It's the fourth such breakfast I've had in recent years -- in the same spot. It's also the place where the Wedneday poker discussion group meets.

Roy and I discussed his poker tutoring -- and how he instructs his students. We disagreed on some strategy matters. He is much tighter than even I am -- and does not believe in being aggressive ever pre-flop. He calls with Aces! He also dismissed (politely but firmly) my suggestion that there were many more hands that he could play -- especially in late position and without a raise. He firmly disagreed, maintaining that he will only play pairs down to 7s and ten or so other big cards. I think he sticks to 15 or so total. "What if you're the small blind with the ace and four of diamonds and there hasn't been a raise?" "Fold" he said.Though he added that he might occasionally stray from these requirements if the game was especially soft. "It works" he said.

I left there for the Rio. After checking email and blogging I checked out the poker action. I saw what I believe to be the largest pot limit game I had ever watched. It was $100, $100, $200 pot limit. The player to the left of the dealer posted $100, the player to his immediate left posted another $100, and then the posted $200. In the game I watched, the player three to the left of the button routinely posted a straddle of $400. This allowed the first player to act to raise to $1,600 -- which they frequently did.

The game was seating 7 active players when I watched. Each of them had a minimum of $40,000 in front, with some having ten times that much. I don't know what the mimimum buy-in was -- but there surely was no maximum. Here's a hand I observed.

Button $200
Small Blind $100
Large Blind $100
UTG $400
4 Seat - Fold
5 Seat - Raise to $1,500
6 Seat - Fold
Button - Call
SB - Fold
LB - Raise to $5,000
UTG - Call
Button - Call

About $20K in the pot.

Flop 8c8s9c

LB - Check
UTG - $10K
Button - Call
LB - Fold

About $40K in the pot

Turn 8c8s9cKc

UTG - $25K
Button - Raise to $50 or so -- all in
UTG - (pauses a long, long time) calls

River 8c8s9cKcAd

UTG shows: 7c8dJhJc for trip 8s. Wins
Button shows: Ac9s5d5s for Aces up. Loses

As I saw the hand I couldn't understand the button's action. But upon review I see that he was desperately trying to steal the pot by representing the nut flush. But it was a foolish representation since, with a paired board from the flop, he could have been raising dead, no? Or maybe there's some higher level thinking that I'm just too inexperienced to appreciate. Help me out PLO experts. What do you think?

I then wandered through the tournament area -- as cavernous a poker ocean as I have ever seen -- with 257 tables (holding 2,570 players when all the tables are going). That's over two and a half times as large as Foxwoods enormous room. I visited briefly with Jan and Linda who were just starting out on day two of the $3k Razz event. En route I briefly chatted with Greg Raymer and Daniel Negreanu. I spyed Huck Seed, Jennifer Harman (who made it to day 3 I later learned), and a dozen or so other "famous" pros. As I've mentioned before, if you are the type of poker player who likes literally rubbing shoulders with the most famous and the best of the best, there is nothing like the WSOP.

This observation got my competive juices flowing. So I signed up for games that were more my speed: $1/2 and $2/5 no limit. Thirty minutes later and I had a seat in a $2/5 game.

No honey pot this. A woman to my left (Beth) was a dealer from Dallas and clearly knew about aggressive thoughtful play. Three or four other players seemed to also have serious game. The rest were just playing to pass some time in between tournaments. They weren't awful -- but bought in short, were timid, and were surely exploitable.

I played for a couple of hours, went down $250 after an awful battle. I started with Ad6d in the small blind and called an unraised five-way pot. The flop came seemingly perfect: As6c5c. I bet $35 and got called raised to $75 by the woman to my immediate left. Everyone folded. I put her on a big Ace. I reraised to $150. Leaving me with about $200. She called. The turn was the 7c. I checked. She checked. The river paired the 7 for As6c5c7d7h. I realized that her big Ace just beat my hand -- so I checked. She bet $250 -- putting me all in. I thought and then folded.

I gave her the hand by not shoving on the turn. Easily exploitable timid play on my part I guess. Alas.

I bought another $200, stole money from the timid players (maybe I was more like them than I gave myself credit for), and managed to finish the session down $100 or so. Well, it could have been worse.

I left for a late lunch at a great little hole-in-the-wall Vietnamese place on W. Flamingo (a huge bowl of seafood noodle soup for $6!) I then drove around trying to decide where to play. I opted for the Venetian (I had considered going back to the comp rich Wynne, but Roy West told me about the owner's hostile, anti-worker tactics -- nixing the plan). I was looking at their 7:00 $120 deep stack. I was also interested in playing in their $8/16 cash game. It was cited by players I met at the Rio and at the Orleans as a juicy game. So I headed over.

I waited in a long line but was immediately seated in the $8/16 HORSE game. It was no honey-pot either. It took me about 30 minutes to fairly size up the game. The huge stack was to my immediate right. One point for me. He was a very aggressive and seemingly skillful player in the flop games, and very aggressive but too loose in stud. His aggressive style worked well in Razz, it seemed to me, but he also went too far with his stud8 hands that didn't improve. I figured that my position would eventually prove profitable.

The player to my immediate left was not very skillful -- not quite a calling station but of that ilk. To his left was a very aggressive player who knew Hold'em and Omaha but really didn't have experience with stud. The players to his left did not impress me at first. But as I played with them I began to see that they were experienced casino players who knew all of these games. Where they learned them I hadn't a clue. But they combined caution and aggression in just about the correct dose. The next player was loose and soon left and was replaced by someone I had no read of. The final player, two to my right, was the best stud player in the game -- a pro who made his living in the $20/40 stud game at the Bellagio. His razz was suspect -- but then so was mine. His stud8 was very strong.

This was supposed to be a juicy game? I wasn't the fish - but I didn't see a whole lot of profit. Even so, I had position on the big stack -- who seemed more engaged in a hand-held video game than in the poker game. Even so, his automatic pilot hold'em and Omaha was probably at least equal to my fully attentive game. So again, where was my advantage?

I pondered this question at least ten times over the three hours I played. I got up for long spells and considered leaving for good a couple of times before I did. I sagged down to -$300 or so and then flourished to up $200 at one point. I left even -- winning a large hold'em hand of all things -- when my pair of Jacks caught trips on the flop and held up to win against two opponents.

I might well have retired for the evening then. I had decided against the 7PM nlhe tourney (it went until 3-4 AM I was told) It was 9:30 or so. I was hungry -- more hungry than tired. I thought about Chinatown. But I still wanted to play. So I opted for the Gold Coast, right next door to the Rio, and home to Ping Pong Pang -- a very good Chinese restaurant (I know, you thought it was Mexican).

I had Princess Chicken -- a delicious cold steamed chicken with a powerful ginger sauce. I augmented it with a hot chili paste -- and dined in culinary heaven while reading a mediocre novel by Christopher Reich.

I left the restaurant at about 11 PM, found the 6 table poker room, sat around waiting for either a limit $2-4, $3-6 or $1/2 no limit game. In 20 minutes or so I was called to $2-4 game. My third hand was Q7 in the big blind. No one raised. I saw a pretty flop of 377. I bet and got called by five players (these were not the best $2-4 players I had ever played against). The hand held up as I bet it to the river with two opponents calling all the way. I won and was called to the no limit game. I managed to continue my winning ways -- though modestly. I left up over $100.

I ended my long day by driving back up the mountain and to my, have I told you lately, splendid $8 room at the Mount Charleston Resort. I slept deeply and for a full 5 hours. What's not to like?

WSOP Day 4, Post 2, C-Bets REVEALED!!!

2010-06-22T12:07:00.000-07:00

The Las Vegas Monday Night No Limit Hold'em Discussion Group met last night. A member of the group was charged with leading the discussion. He presented, and fascilitated a discussion on continuation bets -- known colloquially as "C-Bets".

I shall not recite all of the information he and the group imparted. Leave it to say by way of preface that a C-Bet was defined as a bluffing bet on the flop by the pre-flop aggressor -- a continuation, if you will, of his pre-flop action.

The presentation and discussion focused on when and whether this strategy makes the most and the least sense. We looked at the role of position, number of opponents, quality and type of opponents, image of the bettor, general type of game, and quality of the flop. We then analysed specific hands and compared notes on whether or not we would c-bet -- and why.

I did not take copious notes. But here's a rough example of a hand we discussed.

It's a $1-2 cash game with everyone having roughly $200. You have JhTh in mid-position. You raised to $10 and five people called you, three after you and the small and big blind. Six of you see the flop.

The flop is Qs 9s 2c. The small and large blind check to you. Do you make a continuation bet? If not, why not, if so why -- and how much of one?

We also talked generally in this discussion of what percentage of the time we c-bet and what percentage of the pot we bet when we do so.

I'd be interested in your take on this hand and the questions in general. If any of you are interested I'll let you know my thinking on it.

All for now -- off to poker at the Red Rock.

Ashley

WSOP Day 4: The Good, the Bad, the Beautiful

2010-06-22T11:33:00.000-07:00

I had a broad range of experiences in the last 24 hours. I began yesterday, Monday, in the embrace of victory -- waking up with the knowledge that I had done well the night before. Results shouldn't matter as much as they do, I suppose. I should feel best about excellent play -- regardless of outcome. If I made a good fold, if I executed a well-timed bluff, if I actually picked up something on an opponent that might serve me well in the future -- these are the things that should really matter. Even so, looking at the product of both good and bad play is all too compelling. I am happy when I win; sad when I lose. So yesterday started with happiness. That was good.

It was also good -- great in fact -- to attend the Monday night poker discussion group at the Steak Out last night. I brought my doctor friend -- an eager student of the game. The group of twenty or so poker players, writers, and other enthusiasts, meet weekly to talk about no limit hold'em (there's another similar group that talks about all poker topics on Wednesday night). For the evening, one of the group took the role of teacher and we had a fascinating, illuminating, and engaging discussion of continuation bets (a more technical post follows for you serious poker players -- the rest of you can either skip it or use it as a soporific).

I did some shopping for poker books at the Gambler's Book Store (now on Eastern Ave -- and owned by Cardoza Publishing). I love them for their wide variety of new and used poker titles. I managed to buy $100 worth of books, 95% of which were cheap used copies. That may be a record for cheap me. Howard Schwartz, the former owner, would be proud. I had them shipped home -- all but one, a poker novel by Pete Hautman. I took that one with me for the plane ride back to Boston. I'll post their titles when I get home. Leave it to say that they were chiefly strategy books from the 70s and 60s -- with a few general interest titles as well.

I also shopped for clothing. This was part of my overall, ultralight, travel plan. I packed hardly any clothes -- but one pair of pants and one shirt. That was it. So I went to a huge used clothing superstore looking for cheap "pre-owned" clothes I could wear here and leave here. I fulfilled my plan, purchasing two pants and three shirts all for $4.75! I'm wearing a very respectful, collared polo shirt that was $.49. I wore my $.99 sweat pants this morning for my walk. And I'll leave them behind in the resort room when I go back to Boston -- and save my back and neck from carrying a heavier-than-desired suitcase. What's not to like?

There was bad, though, as prefaced in the title. The bad was the poker. I took my guest back to the Aria where he was staying, and then played poker in their beautiful new room. I moved from one table to the next, but nothing seemed to work. I waited for quality starting hands, raised with them, got called, and then got either bet into or raised after a continuation bet -- when the board provided no help. I called a few times with draws that didn't come in, folded much of the time, and managed to lose over $100. It wasn't the sum that troubled me but the choppy and distracted manner of my play. On reflection, I can't pick up anything concrete that I did incorrectly (though had I been less aggressive I would have lost less). Even so, once again, results influence my state of mind.

I left the room after a failed bluff on the river, down precisely $139. It was 9:45. I was feeling a bit out of sorts and should probably have driven up the mountain and gone to bed. But it was only 9:45 -- surely early enough for some more play on the way. So I detoured to the Aliante Station casino, one of the few places in Las Vegas that I hadn't yet visited. I found two games -- a $1/2 no limit and a life-support version of $2-4 limit hold'em. The $1/2 game was full so I sat in the $2-4 game -- with 6 and then within 20 minutes 5, 4, 3, and 2 other players. I won $35 or so by playing straightforward ABC poker and getting a few good starting hands -- one of which improved to a flush and won me a large pot. The field was tired, passive, soft, and friendly.

I took an open seat in the $1/2 game just as my short-handed game was dying. My play followed the same pattern as my earlier session at the Aria. I was aggressive early, didn't improve, got outdrawn or outplayed, and lost another $140 or so in a little less than 90 minutes. Aaargh. I was surely tired, though I am not sure how that contributed to bad play. Maybe I was too aggressive. Maybe I misread players for weakness -- or they correctly sensed my weakness. But I drew a lot of return fire and had to release my hands after initiating the action. It wasn't pretty. I should probably have followed my own advice of not playing when tired. But I was too tired for the requisite discipline to follow that advice. A viscious cycle, no?

So the poker was bad.

The beautiful was my the setting of my motel room. The resort is beautiful. This morning I went for another walk/hike in the mountains. Nothing very strenuous -- just walking uphill on a trail for 20 minutes; and then walking downhill for another 20. But it's beautiful country, cool, clear, and scenic. Oh, and if I haven't mentioned it enough yet, cheap -- very cheap.

Now it's exactly noon. I just finished a late breakfast with fellow poker author and former broadcaster and actor Roy West. I'm a bit groggy from all of the consumed calories of the meal -- and smiling at his wit and quirkiness. Tomorrow my brother Joshua arrives with his partner Jon. I'll take them out to dinner to celebrate their engagement. That's beautiful too.

WSOP Day 3 -- accomodations

2010-06-21T12:39:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note about my great room at the Mt. Charleston Resort. It's a great room -- truly. Two queen sized beds, very neat, very clean, a nice bath room, a plasma screen TV, and a beautiful view of the mountains (that are still snow capped). There's a large coi pond in front, a nice lobby with antique pinball machines and a piano, and a convenient restaurant. The staff are friendly and helpful (they agreed to switch my room to a quieter spot)-- and the place is well populated and vibrant -- and relaxing at the same time. All for, yes, $8 a night! What's not to like.

WSOP Day 3 -- Blogging at the Golden Nugget

2010-06-21T12:27:00.001-07:00

The IT guy at the Golden Nugget has been gracious enough to set me up with an internet connection -- as I elected to blog from here instead of the Rio and the WSOP. The Golden Nugget has its own poker tournament series, known as "The Grand". It consists of twice daily tournaments, with more than the typical weekly buy-ins. Today they are offering a noon $225 NLHE and a $230 HORSE event. They are something between the tournaments at the Orleans, that I played in last night, and the WSOP, with buy-ins ranging from $125 and the main event of $1,080 -- a two day event. Blinds last 40 minutes, rather than the 20 minutes of typical weekly games or 90 at the WSOP. The events typically last 14 hours.

The room is spacious, seating 600 players at 60 tables. It is done up with nice warm earth tones, excellent lighting, and banners announcing prior winners of GRAND events. As I am writing this I've decided to pass on the noon HORSE tournament, in spite of my success from last night. I just can't see sitting for another 14 hours when there's so much to do. Maybe a nice 4 or 5 hour nlhe tourney somewhere. But for now -- lunch!

WSOP Day 2 -- Hey, I won one

2010-06-21T11:51:00.000-07:00

It was a long day -- a very long day. I started with a tutoring breakfast of sorts -- a great poker conversation over a delicious Aria breakfast with my poker-playing doctor friend, met the prior evening. We talked about hand strategies including the question from my last brief post. I left to play in what I saw as a noon HORSE tourney at the Wynn. I walked the 2 miles or so up the strip from Aria, only to find, upon arriving, that HORSE had been cancelled. Not to be shut out, I played $1-3 NLHE for a few hours, losing around $100. I enjoyed the room -- as much as I had remembered -- maybe more. They had a great promotion going -- effectively $4/hour comps. $2 players comp and then $50 in cash for playing 25 hours during June. With a 10% $4 max rake and no bad beat or high hand take-out, I'm thinking of making this my regular room. I was also fortunate enough to sit next to Jan Newton (who took a couple of large pots from me). She's a friend of Jan Fisher and Linda Johnson -- and we had met a few years back at Foxwoods. It's nice renewing old acquaintances.
I walked back to the Aria in time to get my car, have a huge Roberto's dinner of Mexican delights, and then drive over to the Orleans for the 7PM HORSE tournament. I played a little $1-2 no limit (with a $3 rake and a $1 take out for the huge $150K bad beat) and won a few bucks. I had one memorable experience -- capturing the essence of a local's game.
I sat down with my typical gregariousness -- immediately meeting the players to my left and right. An older white male player at the opposite end of the table -- -- looked on with what appeared to be silent disapproval of my chattiness. No matter. I smiled and, a little less enthusiastically, continued to converse. I also took notes after a few hands, which drew a supercilious gaze from him. The friendly player to my left asked why I was writing and I, eagerly, explained that I wrote for poker magazines and had a radio show. This did not make me more welcome at the other end of the table -- but my seat mates, left and right, seemed appropriately bemused.
About 10 or so hands into the session I was dealt a pair of 9s. I had noticed, in those first nine hands, that these players, all locals, were very conservative in their betting. They would either call or raise to no more than $7 or $8 pre-flop, and then often check the flop or the turn. It was the opposite of aggressive. Players were stone faced, for the most part, and relatively loose pre-flop and passive.
I was the small blind and posted my $1. Three players called the big blind. The next player, my stern opposite, raised to $7 -- and seemed a bit tentative doing so. A couple of players called his $7. I decided to be aggressive and raised to $21 -- manly just to see what would happen. Sure enough, everyone folded and I won what someone said was "a pretty nice pot young man" -- all of about $25. Keep in mind that at the Wynn or the Aria or Foxwoods for that matter, this would have been viewed as a paltry pot. Players typically raise to $20 or so right off the bat.
We played a couple of hands after that before my opposite made a comment. "You may have raised us out of the bad beat" he said somberly, with more than a hint of anger. He then stared at me fiercely. I guess I pissed him off for exerting more aggression than he was used to -- thus prohibiting him from playing his pocket pair at least long enough to see if we both might have hit quads -- qualifying us for the monster bad beat jackpot. For those of you readers who are not experienced casino poker players, his comment said to me, without using the precise words, "Schmuck -- we are here just to pass time and see if we can hit the bad beat jackpot-- that's about $150,000 in case you didn't notice, you tourist rube, you! At the very least you should let us see a flop cheaply so we can see if we each might get four of a kind -- which is what it takes to win this enormous luckfest. If you want a rocking and rolling game -- beat it!" I returned his stare with a smile and, uncharacteristically, made no comment.
A few hands later, up $10 or so, I left for my HORSE tournament.
I will save the hand analysis for a later date. Leave it to say that 94 people entered the tournament for $75 each. $60 or so went into the prize pool, the rest going to the house. We played 20 minute rounds of limit hold'em, omaha8 (Omaha hi lo with an 8 qualifier for low), razz (7-card stud low), stud, and stud8 (stud hi lo with an 8 qualifier).
I would like to say that the field was every bit as tough as the World Series of Poker field I played against last year. It surely wasn't. It was a mixture of regulars, who often really didn't have a clue, a few good or even very good but non-expert regulars, a couple of good tourists, and a large number of clueless and playful players.
We started with $7,500 in tournament chips, blinds going up every 20 minutes and starting at $50/100. I figured out the playing styles of the players at my table -- well enough to exploit them much of the time. The guy to my right called just about every hand -- EVERY HAND! The woman two to my right called just about every hand -- EVERY HAND! The guy sitting opposite me was wound up tighter than a golf ball and couldn't refrain from exploding at the players who called every hand drawing out on him. He berated them openly and mercilessly. "How could you call with that crap!" he'd shout. "You are such a luck bomb -- this is sick!!" And so it went.
I spent the first five hours playing my standard tight and aggressive game. I couldn't get cute and raise or re-raise myself to pots when I didn't have the best hand -- because there were two calling stations. Fortunately, they came into some chips early and continued to build their stacks as their loose play paid off. I say fortunate because they provided deep caches of chips for me to raid later, when the stakes went up and I caught some cards. I was skillful, in so far as I didn't blow my chips with over aggression or fancy plays -- so I had enough ammunition to capitalize on my decent hands later in the tournament.
I also benefitted from awful stud player from a majority of the players. It wasn't that they had never played stud before -- it was more that they had no clue about stud8 and razz strategy, had no ability to remember cards or calculate their odds of improvement, and just called waaaaaay too much. Even a barely decent stud player would not have made the many mistakes these folks made repeatedly. When it counted, during the last couple of hours, I made those mistakes pay off big time.
I went down to the felt four times in the tournament -- all during stud play. I was fortunate that my hands held up each of those four times. But they should have -- I was ahead each time and stayed ahead. Of course, I easily could have gotten out drawn -- and left without making the money.
I entered the final 9 at about 1:30 AM. We actually made a deal to pay 10th. Fortunately, we hit the razz round at about the time we made the final table. When it really mattered I was playing my best games (relative to the field).
I ended up second in chips at 2:00 AM. By 2:30 it was just the chip leader and me. He was ahead by about 2:1. First paid $1800 or so, second 900 or there abouts. Had it been earlier, had I not had a 45 minute drive up the mountain to my room, I might have been more eager to see if I could take first place. As it was, he proposed a chop -- giving me $1100 to end it all. That seemed a little light to me but, honestly, I wasn't in negotiating mode. So I just shook his hand, took my $1100, and drove sleepily to my room. Not a bad day's work.

Question for all of you

2010-06-20T07:29:00.000-07:00

So you're in early position, relatively early in a tournament -- blinds at $100/200 (they started at $25/50 and have doubled twice). Under the gun raises to $800. You look down and see QQ. You have about $8K -- a little less than par. You raise to $2K. Everyone folds to someone in late position -- the cutoff. He raises to $4K. He has just about exactly what you have $8K give or take. The initial raiser folds. Do you fold your Queens? Re-raiser is not a maniac but not super-tight. A regular, fairly straight-forward player. Do you go all in? Do you call? What are your thoughts?

WSOP Day 1 Post 2

2010-06-20T00:16:00.000-07:00

I did finally get in some poker today -- though not nearly as much as I might have, given the circumstances.

After having a late lunch with my good friends from the poker world, Jan Fisher and Linda Johnson, I left to relax and check into my room. But before I did I planned to get a long massage -- as recommended by Linda and Jan. Alas, my car was acting too poorly (a SMART car) so I decided not to risk driving it further than necessary. I returned it to Hertz. A painless procedure, with minimal delay, that netted me a nice Toyota Corolla in the process. And, since I was near my Doubletree hotel (I'm staying here one night only, before checking into my $8/night room atop Mt. Charleston) I decided to go there sans massage.

I left about an hour later, refreshed and ready to try out the new Aria poker room -- one of only very few that I have not yet visited.

I was not disappointed. Beautiful, yes. Attentive, absolutely. Comfortable seats and great lighting. But of course. Even so, this isn't what impressed me the most. The best part of this room, and something I haven't read in anyone else's review, is the relatively cheap rake. 10% up to a max of $4 (actually a lower percentage in the $2/5 and larger games -- a time charge of $6/half for $5/10 for example) and NO BAD BEAT JACKPOT!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh joy -- no money taken out of the pot and put into a lottery. No players talking about the size of the jackpot. No jackpot and no deduction from the pot. Not that $4 is chicken feed. But it's so much better than the many $5 plus $1 or even $2 for the bad beat.

I played in the 7PM $120 ($20 to the house) nlhe tourney. Great structure, with $8K in chips, $25/50 to start, and 30 minute levels. Sadly, with all of my chips (nearly $10K) I went into the turn a slight favorite but lost the near coin flip to the slight underdog. (His JJ versus my KdQd and a board of Td6d7s.) No matter, without even so much as a rub of my injury, I sat down in a nice $1-3 no limit game, bought in for $300, and enjoyed some ups and downs for two hours, leaving $70 to the good. I also managed to make a nice acquaintance -- a doctor from Winston-Salem now putting his considerable brain to the task of learning this great game. He seems to be well on his way. We'll meet for breakfast tomorrow.

I couldn't drive back to my room after playing without sampling some Mexican food. But I didn't need to go to the two tacquerias that I visited. The first, Roberto's, is consistently good and didn't disappoint as I splurged $4.50 for two heaping tostados. I managed three jalapenos for my efforts as well. But that wasn't enough. As I was driving back to my room I saw another place -- El Tortillo, felt that two tostados wasn't really enough for a full dinner, and so downed a couple of tacos. Sabroso!

Now to sleep and, perchance to dream.

WSOP Post 1, Day 1

2010-06-19T12:37:00.000-07:00

I have just arrived. Mundane details below. No action and nothing dramatic yet.

Flight out of Boston on time at 6AM. Stop and change in Minneapolis. Arrive in LV at 11AM. Rental car -- $12/day -- with good reason. It's really half a car -- a SMART car. A convertible and it looks cool but it is really a lemon when it comes to acceleration and steering. Considering returning it for a real car (only two seats). I have to make it up Mt. Charleston every night, after all.

In the press room. Larger and much darker than last year. College baseball and the World Cup are on the two large plasma HD screens. There's also a tournament clock at the ready for today's events. A large white board has hand printed announcements of today's major tournaments. Noon is the $1,000 NLHE Day 1A event in the Pavillion. 2:30 is event 34, day two. The seniors NLHE Championship (a senior is anyone over 50 -- so I could have qualified -- but it started yesterday).
At 2:30 is the final table of the $5,000 NLHE 6-player max event (only six players per table). At 3:30 is the $2,500 NLH/Omaha Final Table At 3:00 PM is the $10,000 Heads Up NLHE Championship, and at 5:00 PM is the $3,000 HORSE event. Quite a full schedule.

I had considered playing in the HORSE event. I played in the $1500 last year. But at 3K it's too much for me to feel comfortable spending. (Hell, $1,500 was almost too much as well). Maybe the 7-stud razz event tomorrow. It's $2,500.

Off to lunch with Jan Fisher and Linda Johnson -- two great poker players, personalities, boosters of poker, and operators of great poker cruises. We're meeting in Chinatown -- which is right nearby -- so I have some time to roam around.

Erev WSOP

2010-06-18T15:21:00.000-07:00

It's Friday night. I am getting ready to have my Shabbat dinner with my wife. I leave tomorrow for the World Series of Poker at the Rio in Las Vegas. There's a 6AM flight so we'll retire early. There's still some packing, list checking, and last minute details to attend to.

It's never a simple task -- going out to the WSOP. What events, if any will I enter? Where will I stay? Who will I meet up with? Where will I eat? What casinos will I visit? What tourneys will I enter away from the WSOP? Will I have time to visit all of my favorite restaurants, book stores, gambling memorabilia places? How much will I blog? Will I write any articles? Do I really need to lug out my lap top? What clothes will I bring? Etc.

I always travel light. This year, it's ultra light. I've decided to buy my clothes once I get there, to save on how much I have to carry. I hate carrying more than one small bag. Since I've decided to blog regularly, I need my laptop. So I'll stuff the few basics I need into my computer bag and just take that. That means no pants, shirts, books, extra shoes, hats, or anything but the very basics of medication and a few pair of underwear and socks. I can buy the rest and do a wash if I want.

I have the full LV tourney schedule -- for all the casinos. It's from www.allvegaspoker.com. I recommend it to anyone interested in playing in tourneys in LV. They list the place, type of game, date, time, buy in, fee, and the percentage of the total that goes into the prize pool. It's invaluable for charting out where I want to go. I want to play in the few stud events (there's one at Green Valley Ranch, Orleans, and the Wynn) and those events that give back at least 80%. I also need to visit the two rooms I have never been to: Alliante Station, Terrible's, and Aria. I'll check out the new rooms at properties I've been to before as well. That's Excalibar, Gold Coast, and Planet Hollywood. If I have any time for any other visits I'll go back to the rooms I haven't been to in a few years like Circus Circus. And I think I'll spend the bulk of any remaining time playing in the few rooms I really enjoy -- just for the softness of the games and the comfort of the room: MGM, Caesar's, the Venetian, TI, and the Palms.

I'm looking forward to eating well. That means many stops in Chinatown and at the many cheap Mexican places around the city, like Roberto's. I also hope to sniff out other places of similar ilk. Throughout it all, I'll be going to the Rio to check on the WSOP, perhaps enter the $2,500 Razz or $3,000 Horse, or $1,500 NLH Shootout. I'll use their press room to do most of my writing, but I shall take my computer with me this year -- since there is free internet access at my hotel (The $9 a night Mt. Charleston Resort).

I hope I remember to take all the paperwork and contact information I've sorted in my email file cabinet.

Finally, if any of you who are reading this want to meet up, just send me an email or give me a call on my cell: 617-935-1256.

Louisiana Poker Part III

2010-06-09T13:34:00.001-07:00

Last I reported in I was leaving the poker table at Coushatta, having enjoyed a great dinner at the steak house. The poker proved satisfying as well -- with rocking $2/5 action. When I departed at 1:00 AM, one of the players asked what my plans were. I told him that I was headed over to Marksville to play at the Paragon Casino there. A few of the players chimed in that I was crazy. "Stay where the action is" they advised.

I'm glad I didn't listen to them. For me, poker is about more than just the profitability of the games. I like to experience the full variety of poker -- from its biggest and grandest rooms like the Commerce, to the smallest and most obscure rooms like the Club Caribe and the Palomar. The Paragon Casino was off the beaten path in Marksville -- in the eastern and central part of the state. And it was just the type of place that folks might normally miss when they visited Louisiana. So I wanted to try it out.

It turned out to be a great place to visit. First of all, the hotel is beautiful. They've clearly gone out of their way to make it a destination for folks -- not just a gambling hall. The ground floor is arranged around a mini aquatic nature preserve of sorts -- a faux Cypress swamp, complete with huge largemouth bass and alligators. It provided a nice diversion from all the of the slots and cards. I paused in front of it for a few minutes a couple of time, watching the wildlife. There's also a movie theater and a few restaurants. I sampled the $16 Cajun Buffet the one night I was there. They had every type of Cajun food including crackins, gumbo, an entire roast pig, shrimp and crayfish prepared in many different ways, and even hog head cheese. I didn't really like the hog head cheese. When I returned to the poker room I was told that the cajun food wasn't nearly up to their local standards. I was told to sample Juneau's across the street. I did. It was fantastic. Try their boudin, hog head cheese, and crackins. Out of this world. Only don't wolf down the 3 or so pounds of the stuff as I did. It was great going in -- but two hours later I felt a little unstable.

The poker room was large and the bed about as comfortable as any I have slept in -- and I've slept in a lot. I actually had that rare treat -- a good night's sleep in a casino.

The poker was $4/8 limit hold'em. They didn't have a no limit game while I was there -- though I was told that they get one from time to time as well as a $4/8 half and half game of hold'em and Omaha (high only). The table was populated with a bunch of local guys (known familiarly as "coonasses"). You have to be careful using the term "coonass". It's a friendly term among some and an insult to others. Something akin to "redneck" I guess. If you're a redneck, you can kid others with the term. If you're a Yankee, avoid the term.

I played my typical tight and aggressive game -- tending to loosen up pre-flop, especially when there hadn't been a raise. I found that at least half of the table would call bets on the flop and turn with nothing -- as long as there wasn't a raise pre-flop. I actually managed to steal a few pots by raising pre-flop on a draw and then betting until the river. I finished my three hours of play up $90 or so.

All in all, I strongly recommend the room -- for its nice blend of friendly low stakes poker, a rich cultural experience, and a great hotel room.

Louisiana Card Rooms Part II

2010-06-06T12:59:00.000-07:00

Coushatta

I left the Isle of Capri and drove east and then north to Kinder, home of the Coushatta Casino. The drive was relatively uneventful, save for passing many roadside stands and restaurants advertising in large letters "Boudin and Cracklins". The area roads are often elevated, perched on stubby concrete legs as the road transverses swamps and bayous -- overgrown with dense vegetation. I saw dozens of egrets and other similarly shaped but differently colored birds (how's that for my expert ornithological description). I couldn't help but wonder how these vast and beautiful stretches might soon be contaminated by the nearby oil spill to the south and east. One large hurricane and all of that oil would surely wash up and through this whole area.

I arrived at Coushatta at about 5:00 PM and quickly met up with the extraordinary Director of Table games Richard Tesler. I will save further information about him except to say that he was a great story-teller, had been all over the poker world, and will make a great guest on the show in the near future. He took me out to dinner and I could have listened to him talk for hours.

The poker room seems to be the best place for mid-stakes action in the area. There were three rocking $2-5 no limit games going when I arrived. They were still cooking at 1:00 AM when I left. There were also five $4-8 limit games. They occasional have a $5/10 game and sometimes a $2-5 Omaha game -- though one should probably go to the Isle of Capri for Omaha.

I met some very interesting folks at the $2/5 game. One who stands out is a doctor from Leesville who invited me to his home for a Korean dinner. He was generous with his time and his money -- and seemed to be a genuinely very nice guy. Hell, they all seemed very nice. A couple of them offered to get me into a huge private game in Lafayette at a restaurant. They said it was a $10K buy-in cash game. They seemed interested but not overly impressed with my writing and radio gigs -- and they knew their way around the no limit hold'em table. Once again, I demonstrated enormous skill by getting myself dealt pocket Aces and then an Ace on the flop that also gave an opponent trips. This allowed me to win a pot large enough to cover for my relatively large losses earlier -- and leave the session a small winner.

Before I left, Richard took out me and shift supervisor Randall to Coushatta's great steak house. I sampled a crayfish appetizer that I didn't like -- because of all the breading (how can you taste crayfish that's hidden in the core of a mass of batter) and a sirloin steak that I loved. I ended my diet on Friday and so was happy to indulge myself with the steak. Huge and perfect -- served with asparagus. Too bad I didn't have a room with a microwave and a refrigerator. I would have brought half of it back for a midnight snack.

As it was, I left the table stuffed and without being able to finish my steak. Alas, the troubles of living on the road. I left the room at 1AM, drove south a couple of miles to my motel room, and crashed.

Card Rooms in Louisiana part 1

2010-06-06T12:29:00.000-07:00

Beautiful Isle of Capri -- Lake Charles

I'm in the Middle of my second day playing cards in Louisiana. I flew out yesterday into New Orleans. I fly back on Wednesday morning. This means little if any time to do anything but drive around the state visiting card rooms. Not such a bad gig.

Yesterday, after touching down in New Orleans shortly after 10 AM, I drove west on Interstate 10. I didn't stop in Baton Rouge, deciding instead to head for the room furthest west -- the Isle of Capri in Westlake, just outside of Lake Charles. It's the largest poker room in the Mid-South.

The casino sits just to the south of the steep bridge leading into West Lake. The bridge resembles some massive launching ramp for a daredevil, sharply inclining to a peek that could be a takeoff point for a souped up Evel Knievel. As I reached the apex of this bridge I saw a spectatular site -- acres and acres of oil refineries -- with all of their attendant holding tanks, culverts, connecting pipes, and electrical wires. It looked like something we might see on a a human outpost on Mars in the distant future. To the south, right on the shores of Lake Charles, sits this modern, glistening casino -- the Isle of Capri.

I entered on the second of four levels -- into what is technically a riverboat. It resembled Caesar's Indiana -- the huge "riverboat" that sits between Elizabeth Indiana and Louisville, Kentucky. I was escorted by a helpful executive to the poker room, on the third floor. We walked past large windows looking out over the beautiful Lake Charles.

The 28 table room was about half full when I arrived there at about 2PM. The tables were split between $4/8 limit hold'em and $2-5 no limit. They also spread a $2-5 pot limit Omaha that they were just getting going. A morning $100 tournament was underway as well -- with the final two tables going.

I spent about 30 minutes chatting with the Isle of Capri managers Matt Dodd and Bobby Thornton. They were very helpful.

They told me that the room has a "stay and play" rate for poker players. 8 hours of play qualifies players for a $45 room rate -- Sunday through Thursday. (Even so, they couldn't or wouldn't score me a room for the night -- boohoo). Rooms typically are $60-$150 a night (threre were many motels in the area advertising $39 nightly rates on a Saturday). Players also earn about $.50 an hour in compts that can be used anywhere in the casino.

The room recently hosted the Louisiana State Poker Championship -- filling all 28 tables with tournament and non-tournament action. The entries for these bracelet events ranged from $75 (typically for satellites) to $500 for the main event. They're planning a heads up championship and a Fall Classic Tournament series -- with qualifying multi-tables starting soon.

There's no table-side food service, but players can and do bring food from the conveniently located snack bar. There is full beverage service -- with alcoholic drinks served freely (just make sure to tip the waitress). There are also four restaurants on the premises, including two fast food places, a mid-priced steak and seafood place and a buffet.

The casino has a large event center, featuring well known headliners like all major casinos do these days. Brad Garrett recently appeared. Peter Frampton and the Commodore are coming soon I was told.

This is a resort area -- with fishing and hunting popular. This casino generally draws in gamblers from Houston and Beaumont Texas -- with New Orleans serving as the other nearby urban center.

I sat in on a $4-8 limit hold'em game. It was populated by good old boys from the area. They were very, very friendly -- kidding me about being a Yankee -- speaking to me in French, laughing when I tried to pronounce local words and expressions, and punching me on the shoulder to get my attention as they traded stories about the area. I learned, for example, that Boudin is a local sausage (that I tried later in my journey) made from rice, pork and spices. Cracklins is deep friend pig skin. And crayfish is the most popular seafood in these parts.

Their play was that of a slightly tighter than average home game -- with three or four players typically seeing the flop, a lot of checking and calling, and two out of three hands or so showndown on the river. There were surely no pros or even particularly tough amateurs at this table. There were three or four players just out to have fun -- and a couple of regulars passing time.

The rake is a fairly steep 10% to a $5 maximum with another $1 taken out for the bad beat jackpot. This is actually not the highest in the area -- with the nearby Coushatta casino, where I went when I left the Isle of Capri, adding an additional high hand takeout at $50.

Even so, by being skillful enough be get dealt KK, I managed to win one fairly large pot and finished my hour's session up $12. I'd gladly go back, if only to try the seafood buffet and the $2/5 pot limit Omaha action.

Recent Play

2010-05-25T20:55:00.000-07:00

It's not always about the money. Or am I rationalizing.

I play with a very nice, smart, and interesting group of poker players who play weekly. This is not your typical weekly game with a bunch of chums who just like getting together. This is a group of smart guys who are serious about their poker. Some have won large sums of money in major championships. Others have won large sums of money in cash games for years. Others have done both. Others are serious students of the game. Sure, there are fish. But it's not nearly as soft as many other games available to me.

So why do I play. My records show that I am up about $3.90 an hour over the games I've played in the last 6 years. I played before that too, but I didn't save my records back that far. I think it was a softer game back then -- or I was more attentive or better, because my recollection is that I was up over one big bet an hour (this is a $5/10 game).

I don't play regularly -- perhaps twice to four times a year. Even so, I love to go -- if only for the two or three hours that my short attention span can take. There's often good food. There's always interesting conversation. And even the frequent inance humor and jibes are worth sitting through.

No, poker isn't always about the money. If it were I'd probably never go back. And that would be a shame. Oh, and though I lost $125 this evening, I enjoyed losing it -- though I would have surely preferred to win.

Travels in the Future

2010-05-20T18:30:00.000-07:00

Hello Blog Readers,
I'm going to be on the road in June -- and I'd like to meet up with any of you who might be around where I'm visiting. I'll be in and around the New Orleans area starting June 5th and leaving on June 9th. And then I'll be flying into Las Vegas early on June 19th and staying until Friday June 25th, driving to Los Angeles and possibly San Diego until June 29th when I'll be back to Las Vegas until July 1st when I'll be back in Boston. If you're going to be around please let me know -- either hear or by emailing info@houseofcardsradio.com.
I'll be reporting on my progress and travels from the road. So keep checking back if you're interested in knowing how this poker journey develops!

It's all about game selection

2010-04-25T08:12:00.000-07:00

It was a late Saturday night and early Sunday morning when I ventured down to the Woods. Things got off to an inauspicious beginning as I was stopped for going through a Stop sign when coming off of route I95. Alas. Not sure whether to contest or pay. Even so, I arrived by just about midnight.

The place was very busy -- not completely packed but one level below. There were four $20/40 stud tables, three $10/20 tables, and a $75/150 table going. They were just announcing a $40/80 hold 'em game. There was also a $75/150 OE or HOSE game -- I wasn't sure which. The $20/40 was full (and juicy looking to me). So I put my name on the 4 person list and sat down in the open $10/20 game.

There were seven regulars and me. Two of the players I recognized as poor players. There was an absent player with a large stack. The rest were grinders like me.

I was lucky enough to win a few early pots against one of the grinders. I actually continued to bet a second-best hand of low pair iwth an exposed Ace kicker that improved on the river to two pair, against his higher pair. I was up about $100 or so when three of the players (including two of the fish) picked up and left. With my profit potential greatly diminished, I went over and got a seat in $1/2 no limit.

They sat me at a table of short stacks. After my second hand I finagled my way over to an adjacent game I hadn't scopoed out -- but that looked better than my short-stacked game. Many of the players at the other game were very deep. There were four guys with stacks over $1K -- very unusual for $1/2 no limit at Foxwoods, since you can't buy in for more than $300. I moved over to that game to take advantage of what I thought would be deeper and easier pickings.

It turned out to be very atypical of the $1/2 games. Of the first ten hands I played, 9 were three bet pre-flop. None of those hands were checked on the flop. Every one had a continuation bet. Six had someone come over the top of the continuation bet! I didn't have to see any more. It may have been an anomolous 15 minutes, but with 30 or so other $1/2 games to pick from, I figured I could find an easier game.

And so I did. I hit a game with three players from a bachelor party, three folks who were at least tipsy from alcohol, one ultra weak-tight woman, and only two good players. I stayed for about 2 hours, found myself able to manipulate my opponents with relative ease, and left up about $300. By a little before 3 AM, three of the bad players left, and the rest of the table was short stacked -- except for the one very strong player left. Between he and I, we had the bulk of the chips on the table. The game was short-handed; there was no list; so I left.

I quickly checked out the $20/40 stud game -- just in case. Sadly, the only one with an open seat had turned into a four-handed must move. Three of the four players were tight-aggressive regulars. The fourth I didn't know -- but he only had about $60 in chips in front of him. So I called it a night.

Game selection is so important in raked games. At my level of play, there need to be at least a couple of bad players in the mix for me to beat the rake.

Small stakes, small gains

2010-04-24T03:48:00.001-07:00

It's been a frustrating April -- not because of any losses. Far from it. Each session has been positive -- in the Charlotte house game, in my Mohegan and Foxwoods sessions, and in my Brookline home game. They've been fun too. But the size of the victories have been small and thus the joy diminished. The 20/40 stud games, where I usually play, have been dead and dry -- while I haven't yet become good enough in my mind to steadily take on the bigger no lmit games, that seemed to be much tougher that last few times I've tried them. Can I be getting bored with the low stakes that I can beat? Hmm. Cause for reflection.

I'm traveling down to the Woods and/or the Sun today. I'm h oping for a little more action and somewhat better lineups than I've seen the last few times I've been down. And then, in a couple of weeks, on to New Orleans, Las Vegas, and Southern California. If anyone is interested in meeting up in any of those locales, please let me know.

Charlotte, NC Poker?

2010-04-01T04:38:00.001-07:00

I'm traveling to Charlotee, NC this weekend to visit my elder daughter Rebecca. She's relatively new to the city and may not know of any underground poker games. So if any readers can oblige me in that department, I would be most appreciative. I'll have a car and can easily drive up to an hour or so for a game. But it must go late into Saturday night. The Cherokee Reservation in the western part of the state is too far. Anyone?

Home Games Still Best

2010-03-27T08:44:00.000-07:00

Say what you want about the great poker rooms you might know. I've played in plenty -- and I agree that many are terrific. Even so, in my book there's nothing like a good home game. By "home game" I don't mean "house game" -- where the game operator rakes the game. I mean the old fashioned type of game, typically among friends and acquaintances, in someone's basement or kitchen, where the action is sometimes secondary to the comraderie. I love those.

I had an opportunity to play in such a game the other night -- in a western Massachusetts suburb. The "big winner" picks up the tab for the snacks and the beer. Other than that there's no charge. The players were friendly, but still competitive. It was the type of game where guys wisecracked and insulted each other for fun and with a smile.

I had a ball. Though I lost a not inconsiderable sum, I'll surely go back because it was fun, potentially remunerative,and had no build-in disadvantage like a rake. I'm concerned that these types of games have been drying up -- destroyed by the easy availability of action in legalized poker rooms, on line poker, and house games. It would be a shame. To me, there is no better place to play poker.

Delaware Poker Room Fantastic

2010-03-21T19:23:00.000-07:00

I visited my daughter Hannah in Philadelphia yesterday. I left at 2AM, drove to Foxwoods first for three hours of great stud and no limit hold'em. I then drove to Port Chester to meet a friend. En route I stopped for a nap (about 15 minutes) and had my daughter's bike repaired. I reached Philadelphia a little after 5:00 PM -- time enough to chat and eat with Hannah. I left her at about 8:00PM, arriving in Wilmington at the Delaware Poker Club at 9:00.

What a great place. They have 9 high quality tables in a well lighted, roomy space on the second floor of a small strip mall off of route 7 on in Wilmington. They are technically a private club, but anyone may join for the day. Membership is $30. It seemed steep until I was told that there was no rake or time charge for any of the games! $30 for as long as anyone wants to play for the day and night. The club stays open from 1PM until 3AM or so. And that's the rate for all of their games. Not too shabby. I think they're trying to position themselves as the place to go in Delaware -- so they'll be the number room when poker is legalized come June. We'll see. They're likely to have competition from some large destination casinos that are gearing up now (Harrah's is one). I have my money on this place. They're well run, the charge is a huge bargain, and the games are great.

Did I mention that the games were great. They are. I played $1/2 for about three hours. I found very, very friendly and laid back players at my table. They were an unusual mix of seniors and young guys. Typically I am the oldest or nearly the oldest no limit player in the game at Foxwoods, Mohegan, or anywhere else I play. (And in stud I'm usually among the youngest). Not so here. There were four playres older than me -- three older than 60, and one who was over 80. The play tended to be relative passive and unaggressive. Players were fairly tight and predictable. I think it would be a profitable place for many of the players in Foxwoods who are losing to the rake -- and it surely would be profitable to the players in house games in the Boston area who are nearly break even.

The place has tournaments as well.

Bottom line: if you are within an hour or so you have got to check this place out.

Delaware Poker Room
Limestone Shopping Center
2060 Limestone Rd.
Wilmington, DE 19808
302-593-9422

Poker in Delaware

2010-03-19T22:14:00.001-07:00

I have discovered a "private club" in Wilmington, Delaware that spreads poker. Delaware is one of the states in which I have not yet played the mighty game -- so I plan to visit while visiting my daughter in Philadelphia. I'll report back on the games and any other information that I think you will find useful. If any of you might be in the Wilmington area on Saturday or Sunday of this weekend, or if you have any experiences there that you think I might find interesting, please let me know.

Once I have played in Delaware, my next goal will be to play in Michigan (most likely Detroit) and then Kentucky. I'll keep you posted.

Poker in Spain

2010-03-14T18:39:00.000-07:00

I'm now booked to travel to Barcelona on October 17th, returning on November 4th. In between, I'm looking to play throughout the country (in the cities too for that matter). I'm looking to build an itinerary -- hopping from one poker venue to another -- from casino to home game to tournament site etc. I figure I'll take in all of the beauty and history of the country along the way.

You can all help. Any contacts you have in Spain would be useful -- if only to track down interesting places to play. Please share with you what you know -- and I'll return the favor with wonderful tales of derring do when I return. It's not for a while, so I have plenty of time to accumulate contacts and information for my trip.

Thanks all.

ODD ODDS

2010-03-07T04:17:00.000-08:00

I had some strange dreams last night. Dreamed I was teaching a class on poker. I guess I wanted to be in a casino. My planhad been to get up at an ungodly hour -- about 3AM, and drive to Foxwoods. But a bad cold and sore throat dissuaded me. So I had a poker dream instead.

Poker Dream: I was lecturing. No one was paying attention. They were talking quietly among themselves as if I weren't even on the stage. About 30 inattentive students.

My subject was odds (this may also be because I am editing my hold'em book for publication. I read a few pages, edit them, and then walk away for a while. Maybe this was that).

I was lecturing on odds. I was telling anecdotes -- not very compelling ones to be sure. "I had a pair of Kings. I raised 5X the big blind in early position and the SB called me. The flop was AKK. The SB checked. I bet the pot. The SB called. The turn was an unsuited Queen, making the board AKKQ. The SB checked. I bet the pot. The small blind raised me the pot. I shoved. He called. We faced our cards. He had AA for Aces full. I showed KK for Quad Kings. The river was...
an ACE! What are the odds of that?"

I then went on to explain that with one card to come, and 44 unseen cards, the odds were exactly 43:1 against the case Ace hitting on the river. I added that though we poker players think of it as rarity, that isn't really an incredible longshot for a horseman. Sure, it's not a favorite to win, but it's not the longest shot there is. Horses that go off as 40:1 underdogs win sometimes.

But no one cares. They just keep talking.

Join the House of Cards Poker Team!

2010-02-25T18:32:00.001-08:00

House of Cards is looking to put together a poker team to compete in Team Tournaments. Specifically, we're looking to compete in the Wednesday night team tournaments up in New Hampshire. So if you're an MA or NH poker player and would like to join, please send me an email at info@houseofcardsradio.com. We're thinking of going up and challenging other teams in late April. No cost to be on the team -- just an interest in playing. Let me know!

Back From Florida

2010-02-24T17:22:00.000-08:00

There was not nearly as much poker as I would have liked. I spend my last day in Florida with my cousin and his family. Hopes to play in the Fort Lauderdale, Miami, and surrounding area poker rooms were dashed as I wasted hours in awful traffic between the cities. Even so, I did manage the two sessions I reported on already -- in Sarasota and in Brighton. I also got a sense of the poker scene elsewhere from reading the great poker publication in the state -- Ante Up. I managed to meet Scott the publisher while I was rocking around in a $1/2 game in Sarasota. I'm hoping to have him on as a guest of House of Cards in the future.

Do you know how many places there are to play poker in Florida? I know I was surprised when I learned. It's either the third or fourth largest state in that regard. Sadly, the state still hasn't lifted the cap on the maximum buy-in -- though rumors abound that it will be done by June, or July, or January 11, or --- a different date every time I have a conversation.

Here's Ante Up's list of the places to play poker in Florida. There are 30 on this list. (No boats are listed) I've played in 22 of them.

Calder Casino
Dania Jai-Alai
Daytona Beach Kennel Club
Derby Lane
Ebro Greyhound Park
Flagler Dog Track
Ft. Pierce Jai-Alai
Gulfstream Park
Hamilton Jai-Alai
Isle Casino
Jefferson County Kennel Club (operations temporarily suspended)
Mardi Gras Casino
Melbourne Greyhound Park
Miami Jai-Alai
Miccosukee Resort
Naples-Fort Myers Greyhound Track
Ocala Poker & Jai-Alai
Orange Park Kennel Club
Palm Beach Kennel Club
Pensacola Greyhound Track
Sarasota Kennel Club
Seminole Brighton
Seminole Coconut Creek
Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood
Seminole Hard Rock Tampa
Seminole Hollywood
Seminole Immokalee
St. Johns Greyhound Park
Tampa Bay Downs
Tampa Greyhound Track

Tomorrow night I'm going to tape a discussion of home poker variations with my friend PS, who often hosts a very low limit affair -- akin to the high school games I remember fondly. The stakes are lower (when accounting for inflation), the camraderie the same, and the alcohol intake a wee bit higher than I recall from my youth -- but the games are very similar: Follow the Queen, Shifting Sands, and the like. The main difference is that unlike the other home games I play in, these guys have added even more variations -- with lots of wild cards. I figure that it will make for an interesting show -- at least to the listeners who might normally feel excluded from the serious talk about the more conventional games of hold'em and stud.

No Limit Book Finally Bound

2010-02-24T17:18:00.001-08:00

So I just received my first bound proof of my no limit hold'em book. I wrote it in 2005 when nearly all the capped by in games were $1/2 $100 max. Now they're generally $200 or $300 -- with maybe 30% still at $100. I'm updating it to account for the changes and to correct errors, typos, and the like. I've found that my take on the game has changed as both I and the game have changed.
I'm also going to add some graphics and charts -- to make it a better book. I'm hoping it will be ready for purchase by Christmas of this year. Anyone interested in purchasing it? I'll probably post the Table of Contents early on just to give folks some flavor of what's in it. It's 350+ pages. I'm thinking $20 as a sale price for the final product. I'll keep you all posted.

One Eyed Jacks in Sarasota

2010-02-22T19:44:00.000-08:00

I drove to the Sarasota Kennel Club -- home to One Eyed Jacks Poker Room. It's open from 1P to 1A. They begin each day with a $60 tourney. I arrived a little later. They were already operating full bore -- with many straight 2, 2-5 spread limit, 1-2 no limit 2-3 no limit and even a spread limit stud game going. I was seated in a $2-3 no limit game with a $100 maximum buy-in. It is all they allow, alas. All of the players at my table and the dealers were eager for the lifting of this low cap. No one knew anything but rumours.

The play was relatively soft. There was some overplaying of mediocre or even bad holdings but little legitimate pressure. I rock around for an hour or so, winning soem small pots, folding after calling a couple fo pre-flop raises. After 90 minutes or so I stood at about even.

I was dealt Aces. I'm never sure if I've extracted maximum value with them. I raised in late position pre-flop -- to $15. I got four callers (as I said, the opposition was pretty soft). The flop had a Queen and two fives. A check and then a bet to $35 from a young woman player with a head set and, apparently, some decent skills. I put her on a big Queen -- but surely not trips of any kind or a full house. I thought about just calling -- hoping she'd bet the turn. But then I didn't want her to improve at all so I just pushed. She folded and I won a ncie pot. I left shortly thereafter.

It this short stacked game should I have just called and gone for her entire stack on the turn when she might have bet into me again -- or when she might have been less inclined to believe me if she checked and I shoved? I'm not sure. What do you think. I figured better safe than sorry -- but then, again, I'm never really sure.

My Dad did not fare well at the $2 limit table. He illustrated one of the bets lessons I can give on hold'em. If you are getting bored and noticing that others seem to winning with junk -- and you are tempted to start playing junk too -- then leave the table. He didn't leave, gave in to temptation, and lost much more than he needed to.

FLORIDA POKER UNCHANGED FOR NOW

2010-02-22T05:06:00.001-08:00

I'm in Florida, playing in Seminole rooms down here. I had hoped that by the time of this visit the laws would change and real no limit action would now be gracing the poker rooms in Florida. No such luck. Florida poker, nice as it is to have at all, is still stuck in 2004 or so before folks all figured out that the game is diminished with only a $100 maximum buy-in.

I went to the Brighton Seminole casino last night. They started with three tables and ended with one when I left at midnight or so. The game may be unbeatable -- with a very sturdy rake and bad beat. The take $1.00 out of the pot immediately and then $1 for every $10 until the rake reaches a $5 maximum. They also yank another buck at $10 for the bad beat -- a tough-to-crack quad tens (with both hole cards having to play). For those who like that sort of lottery, it is an enticing $250K or so. But I ask you, is that poker? Why not have 90% of the pot go into a bad beat?

I ground my way four or five hours of nittery until I finally got lucky and won a substantial pot, finishing my session up $75. I hit a flush on the river when my opponent allowed me to draw on the flop and turn by betting little. I doubled up when he called my all-in bet on the river for my remaining $57. He knew what I had but, in the beautiful parlance of these games, he "couldn't fold".

I like the players in Brighton. Many are stern faced, serious, but not humorless. They take some getting used to, but Hell, there's nothing else to do for hours and hours while waiting for decent hands. The smoke is annoying -- as players stand near the poker table (which is smoke-free) and catch a butt between hands. Not that there's anything wrong with that...

Off to Fort Lauderdale tomorrow for some more action. I'm hoping to visit a few rooms to report on. More then.

Stories Yes; Profit No

2010-02-16T14:04:00.000-08:00

It's been a good month for stories so far. But I'm under water when it comes to my bottom line (is that a mixed metaphor?). Let me share with you what's been going on.

I've travelled down to Foxwoods, gone to Mohegan Sun as well, hit a low limit "friendly" (truly friendly -- not implying otherwise with the quotes) home game, and had a session up at the Rock. None were remunerative, all were interesting, and all were either instructive or worthwhile for other reasons.

First my two straight cash sessions on tribal land:

The crowds were slightly thinner than mobbed; the players slightly better than poor; the atmosphere at least a few notches above dead. So where, oh where were the drinking, wild, loose, easy pickings I had grown so used to? No matter the inter-table travel I employed, I could not find the kind of game I had grown used to exploiting. Even so, I thought myself the best of the bunch. But my bottom line told me that I may have been overestimating -- or getting supremely unlucky. Nothing particularly noteworthy; just hands like:

AJs in late position. Four calls. I raise to $10 -- just to keep myself from my natural inclination to be a nit and call. One caller before the blinds; the big blind raises to $40. Hmm. I fold. One caller. Raiser eventually shows down AKo. Good fold from me. Still, bad raise from me in the first place?

A little later and 8h7h in mid position. I gladly call the $2 with two callers in front of me and four after me. Wow. 9 of us see a flop. It is encouraging: 6h4h2d. Check, Bet $25, fold, fold -- and my action. Do I really want to play this? Bettor could be semi-bluffing with a higher flush draw (just about any flush draw is bound to be higher). He could have trips and I could hit my flush and he could hit a full house. But what kind of a wimp am I? I have four to a flush, a shot at a straight flush, a gut shot straight draw...and I suspect there may be a few callers to engorge the pot. So I call. The button raises to $100. The initial bettor calls. Can I call here? No. I fold. Turns out the initial bettor had Ax of my suit and was doing just what I thought and the button had a set. Set filled up and won a very large pot. I would not have hit my one outer straight flush. Still...

A few hands later, I'm dealt AsKs on the button. Three callers to me. I raise to $12. I'd been fairly tight and I get only one caller -- the UTG guy. Flop is Js8h8s. I have two overcards with the nut flush draw. UTG checks. I bet $25. He raises me to $50. What, 98? J8? 78? Would he have called my raise with that crap? Could he be gambling that I wouldn't have bet if I had an 8? Is he bluff raising here -- figuring I'd slow play a monster but fold to his representation of a monster?

I don't really know what to do. he had been a loose player, not particularly aggressive. And now he pulls this raise. I have about $250. He has me covered. I can't put him on J8. He wouldn't be raising me with that would he. He'd call and then bet the turn or let me bet the turn. Hmm.

So I called -- figuring that if I hit a spade I'd be ahead -- unless he made a full house. Not very scientific deduction -- but there you have it.

Turn is, in fact the 2s -- giving me the AK-flush. He checks. I don't think he's acting. But I really can't tell anything by looking at him. Just a young guy with a beer in front of him. Was he screwing around with the raise? Does he have trip 8s and does he think I have a flush. I bet $150. He shoves all. Shoves all in? What the Hell. It's only another $60 or so to me. The pot has about 8 times that amount. I can't fold. I call. He flips over, yes, J8! The river can't help me. Stacked!

I buy in again and make somewhat of a comeback but manage to leave down $200. Alas.

The Woods was similar -- though nothing dramatic. Just a slow grind of my unsuccessful attempts at pots that I was either behind in or pushed off. The stakes were small, the amounts much smaller than in the $2/5 game, but the action was similar. Every time I tried to make a move someone would come over the top -- or call me with a better hand. Every time I was ahead, nearly every time, my caller outdrew me. Down $150.

And then the friendly home game. Playing $.25--$1.00. Wonderfully intricate home game variations including lots of wild cards. A pyramid that starts at the base and escalates to the top card -- the last card revealed -- and it is wild. Not much you can do about the banging reverberation of luck on the last card. Even so fun and sporting and good company and smiling poker players. Still, down $16.25 (the equivalent of $1,284 in a $20/40 game I tell myself.

And finally a tourney up at Rockingham -- under new management since I was last there (Granite State Poker is now in Plaistow -- in a great room -- but for that you'll have to listen to my radio broadcast -- interview with Dan Brown).

I played solidly for the first five hours of this deep stack. Really deep deep stack with 30,000 in tournament chips, 30 minute blinds, and the first blind starting at 25/50. Nu? A skillful and patient player can't get it this good.

So for the first five hours I was appropriately patient -- if not terribly lucky. I folded about 90% of my hands, made a few successful plays, and stood at a little below par at $25K or so with blinds at $800/1,600 with a $200 ante when I was dealt my best hand of the day: AsKs. I called a small pre-flop raise. The flop was 6s5s6d. The small blind bet fairly large. I reasoned that he couldn't have hit trips, since he called a raise, and was relatively tight. He wouldn't have called pre-flop with a 6 but maybe he had two spades and was making a semi-bluff at a time when the table had tightened up? I decided to push him off his hand with my nut flush draw. I think he bet $4,000 or so and I raised to $12,000-- about half my stack. Everyone folded around to him. He called. Wow. I must have misread him? Still on his flush draw? I was confused and stayed confused when the turn was a seemingly useless off suit 9. He checked. I was confused and did not do what I realize I certainly should have done. I did not bet. I checked. The river was a Jack. He checked. My thinking shut down and I impulsively thought that I might win in one desperate bluff with just my AK. So I shoved in my remaining $12K or so. He didn't fold. he called me for his remaining $7K or so. Sure enough he had Jx of spades and was betting as a semibluff. Had the flush hit I would have gotten all of his chips. The Jack and my bad play gave him mine. I was out shortly thereafter when my top pair lost on the river to a flush. Aargh.

Still in all, it was an interesting time. More if there's any interest out there. But enough for now. I'm still a little woozy from the reliving of it.

WELCOME NEW FACEBOOK FRIENDS

2010-02-02T19:19:00.000-08:00

Greetings to all of you new Facebook Friends. I realize that some of you are serious poker players, others just friends who are checking out my favorite hobby and sometimes profession. To all of you, and to all of my older readers of this blog, a hearty welcome.

I'm eager to get ideas for the show -- what you would like to hear on the radio. We have much to choose from in the poker world. Would you like to hear from poker writers? poker authors? professional tournament or cash game players? regular Joes and Janes who are just crazy about poker and who are trying to get better? Are there any particular people whom you'd like to ask questions of? My producers, who generally book the guests, have been great about getting all sorts of people on. I'm also thinking of having a regular feature where I just talk to folks I regularly play with and talk poker with.

So let me know your thoughts -- and I'll see what I can do to give voice to your particular interests. And as Garcia Mulroney used to say to his butler before taking a bath, "I'd rather be playing poker".

Hungry for Poker

2010-01-31T13:48:00.001-08:00

I've spent the last few days visiting college campuses with my nephew Tucker. We've spent a lot of time eating out. I'm not sure why, but this experience has increased my appetite for cash games. Wish there were a regular poker venue near me that wasn't raked to death. The Chinatown scene would have been ideal. They raked up to a maximum of $4 -- which struck me as about right. Unfortunately, all of the private house games I know of rake higher than that -- a rate that strikes me as unbeatable and unfair (not to mention unwise -- gradually killing the game from my experience).
What's especially irksome is that Massachusetts just announced with great pride that they are now having Powerball tickets sold here. The jackpot is expected to reach $100 million or more -- and Massachusetts residents are now able to buy tickets at outlets all over the state. What a crock of stinking hypocrisy. Encouraging our citizenry to make the worst bets in the world 9a lottery ticket has about a 50% house advantage) -- that's okay. But allow legal poker rooms or casinos, with bets that are much more favorable to the player -- that can't be done. And we wonder why our population becomes increasingly disenchanted with their elected leaders.
If I were in charge there would be a poker room anywhere where there was someone who wanted to open one; the rake would be small and the service excellent as the product of competition; the state would have more revenue from all of these clubs -- money that could go into better teacher salaries and health care; there would be more jobs as people got work as dealers, cashiers, and floor people; and there would be many more happy poker players willingly buying poker magazines and visiting on line poker sites -- who would in turn eagerly purchase articles from poker writers like me. As Louis Armstrong used to sing -- "What a wonderful world it would be"!

Poker in Plaistow

2010-01-18T14:15:00.000-08:00

Plaistow is a small town just north of the MA/NH line -- about 15 minutes from Rockingham Park. It's home to a former function hall that is now a full-fledged poker room. It's run by Granite State Poker, the folks who successfully ran Rockingham until a few months ago when the track decided to run things for themselves.

Here's their website: http://www.granitestatepoker.com/dnn/new/.

I drove up late on a Wednesday afternoon, arriving at about 5:30. I was told that things start slowly in theh afternoon, with action really only hopping when the tournaments begin in the evening. That was indeed the case, although they had three games going by 6:00. The games were all $2 limit hold'em -- though they tried to start a $4 limit game. (I was told that there's usually one going by the time the tourney starts at 7PM).

The quality of play was, in general, quite poor, I thought -- with many loose passive and passive timid players that were easy to dominate. Wait for strong cards, fit or fold, and bet it when you get it seems the ideal strategy for this room. The rake is 10% with a maximum of $5 -- tough to beat at these low stakes. A very good, tight-aggressive player might be able to eek out $2-4 an hour, but surely no more than that over the long haul I'd guess.

The tournament was a team tournament. Five team members all shared in the winnings of all team members. There were eleven teams the night I was there -- 55 players. Not a bad number considering the poor weather and how new the room was.

THe room has its own kitchen -- left over I'd guess from its days as a catering hall. Players get very cheap and good food, from what I could tell. Potato skins and sausages were free prior to 7:00. A full buffet with a other dishes is put out at that time for $6 or so. There's also a long sandwich and bar menu, with most items between $5 and $7. Alcohol is more pricey than most casinos -- with beers in the $4-5 range.

I made a little money in the cash game and elected not to play in what was predicted to be a 4-5 hour tourney. I'd like to go back some night with a regular, non-team tourney. With the level of play that I expect, I don't want to share my winnings with anyone.

Bottom line -- a good new addition to the poker menu in New Hampshire. I'll be back.

MLK Weekend, Friday Night and Saturday

2010-01-17T18:55:00.000-08:00

It was a rare evening at Foxwoods on Friday night. Normally I am home and with my wife -- or travelling and with her in some motel. But this past Friday afternoon, my wife was driving back from Philadelphia where she had dropped off my daughter Hannah at college. Not wanting to drive the entire six hours home to Boston, my wife asked me if I would be willing to meet her instead in Connecticut -- only four or so hours from her departure point. The plan was to meet up Friday night, celebrate Shabbat, stay in the Super 8 Motel in Groton, and then depart the following morning -- she to Boston and home, me to Foxwoods and poker.
I left my office at about 5PM, planning on meeting her at 6:30 or so in Groton. Sadly, she got a late start and hit bad traffic. At 6:15 she called to tell me she would be delayed. Not to worry, I dropped in at Foxwoods instead -- willing to sit out her delay in one of my favorite haunts.
I stayed until she called from New Haven. By that time I had won $300 or so and was ready to leave. We met up, later than planned, at about 8:45. We had a delightful dinner at a great little Japanese/Asian Fusion place called Kawa. We stayed the night at the Super 8 and then had breakfast at the neat new diner in town called Sal's. It has a 50s spaceship theme, complete with posters of flying saucer and futuristic robot advertisements from the 50s. She then left and I went to Foxwoods. I had a wonderful session of 6 hours or so, going up and down the great roller coaster. I had two 15 minute massages, ate a quick lunch of Asian noodle soup, and left with a mighty profit of $3.00. But I managed to spread good will, cheer, and business cards for House of Cards during my stay so it was profitable in unmeasurable ways.
I'm thinking of playing on Martin Luther King Day -- but I'm not sure yet. It will be an early morning decision.

Playing in 50 states

2010-01-10T17:52:00.000-08:00

In my last post I explained that I have a plan -- a mission really -- to play in all fifty states. I posted about my most recent experience playing in state number 34 -- Rhode Island. That leaves sixteen states. I don't know the exact order I'll play in. And I'll need some help in a few states that do not have any public poker rooms. But here's what I'm thinking about for the future.

Delaware seems to have a quasi-public room in Wilmington, Delaware. It isn't open 24/7 -- and I'm not sure how long it will continue to operate. But it seems to be open enough of the time for me to sneak in a game the next time I visit my daughter Hannah in Philadelphia (where she attends Temple University). If anyone knows about that game, please let me know. And if anyone in Delaware knows of another home game, I'm up for anything at this point. Delaware looks like my next destination. That would be 35.

(As an aside, I've played in Pennsylvania in a home game among students at Drexel University. It was like many such home games of $1/2. So I count Pennsylvania. Even so, I'd really like to play in public poker rooms when they open up in a few months. Look for me to visit the Keystone state as soon as the casinos start spreading table games including poker -- probably around May or June.)

My wife is probably going to visit her brother and his family in Santa Fe in March. I'm thinking that this would be a good time for me to go on a driving trip, with a stop for a couple of days in Santa Fe when my wife is there. If I turn the trip into a 12 day affair, with 2 days over Shabbat in Santa Fe, I can make a grand circle of 10 states (CO, KS, NB, SD, ND, MT, ID, WY, UT, TX) where I haven't yet played including: Colorado, which has public poker rooms near Denver; Kansas which has public rooms but none of them are near highways so a private game might make more sense if I can find one near KC, Lawrence or Topeka; Nebraska, which has one room in the middle of nowhere I believe -- so a private game might make more sense; South Dakota, which has public rooms, including some in Deadwood -- that I'm eager to play in now that I've red Les Wilson's book on poker's history; North Dakota, with public rooms; Montana, which has public rooms; Idaho, which has no public rooms and where I'll surely need a personal contact; Wyoming, which has no public rooms and where I'll surely need a personal contact; and Utah, which not only has no public rooms but which is one of only two states where gambling in all its forms is illegal -- so a personal invitation would be most welcome. I might also try to swing into Texas, where poker is only played publically in one room way down in Eagle Pass on the Mexican border -- so an invitation for a game in more convenient Amarillo would be great. That's 10 states total. I do not think I could realistically expect to hit a game in each of those states even with very ambitious planning and driving. Still, I'd try for all and settle for as many as I could get. I could leave the SD, ND, MT, NB, and KS rooms for a trip to visit my brother and sister and their families in Minnesota in the summer.

By this summer's end, then I might have played poker in 45 states. That would leave the five states of Kentucky, Arkansas, Oregon, Michigan, and Hawaii. Michigan is the easiest of the lot. It is a 13 hour drive from Boston and has public poker rooms. I could do it in a long weekend. Oregon is not difficult. It would just require a plane trip out there. There's a great room in Pendleton, where they regularly host tournaments worthy of a cross-country flight. Arkansas is more difficult. Up until recently they had no poker. Now, I think, they may have a room that spreads it occasionally in Hot Springs. It's beyond a day's drive from Boston. And it's not near a major airport. I'd have to make a special trip, probably to Memphis and then drive. Perhaps I could combine it with a trip to Tunica or, from a different route, fly to Tulsa and drive east from there.

The most difficult place of all is, of course, Hawaii. All gambling is illegal, so there are no public venues -- not even charity tournaments. I'd need a contact -- and a reliable one, since I'd have to fly the nearly 16 hours to get there. I would probably have to plan at least a week, meaning I'd have to bring my wife so we'd be together on Shabbat (something we have done every week since we were married 26 years ago). That's twice as expensive. And we'd have to coordinate our schedules. Considering the cost and the trouble I'd probably want to make it at least a 10 to 14 day trip -- meaning more of an expense. But then I've always wanted an excuse to get to Hawaii. Maybe in the summer of 2011! Let me know if you know of any games there.

50 State Poker Mission

2010-01-10T17:29:00.000-08:00

One of my friends thought I was engaged in a religious endeavor when I spoke of my mission. It's not religious. It is poker.

I am now dedicated to the mission of playing poker in all fifty states. I'd like to finish it by 2013. I'm fairly well along in my goal -- without even thinking about it until recently. I added one to my list today.

Prior to today I had played poker in 33 states (in rough chronological order):

New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Nevada, Maine, Arizona, New Mexico, Minnesota, Maryland, Indiana, California, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Washington, Tennessee, Mississippi, Florida, Ohio, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, Illinois, Alaska, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Wisconsin, West Virginia, and North Carolina.

I had planned to fly to Florida for a few days. But my flight was cancelled. So I decided to stay home. With no where to be today, I decided to attempt to find a game in nearby Rhode Island. I did. There was an Eastern Poker Tour tournament planned for late this afternoon in the small town of Kingstown, Rhode Island, about 70 minutes from my house. It was open to the public, so I went down.

A very interesting scene. There were 49 players who each posted $15 for a buffet dinner and free poker tournament. Players compete for points that, at the end of the season, are used to determine who sits in a large free roll. They also compete for first place which paid $150 and a seat in the $30,000 free roll this month. Second place paid $50. Third place won some bar comp. And Fourth place was a free buffet next week. I finished 16th.

Players started with $15,000 in chips. Blinds started at $100/200 and went up every 15 minutes. They proceeded rather steeply. The buffet wasn't much ( a legal excuse for a free tournament that wasn't really free I think) but it was still a very fun time. I paid $15, met some interesting people and a couple of good tournament players, had a sausage sub with a salad, and spent 3 hours or so competing in poker in Rhode Island. What's not to like. I would have liked to win it all but you can't have everything.

These tournaments go off every night of the week all over Rhode Island and Southeastern, MA. If this sort of poker interests you, check it out at: http://www.easternpokertour.com/index.php.

For the record then, I have played in 34 states. 16 to go. My plan in the next blog entry.

...You Lose Some

2010-01-03T08:45:00.000-08:00

Not a great way to start the new year. Even so, I must confess to enjoying it -- even, in retrospect, the two horrendous beats.
I left at 10:30 AM or so with my poker buddies Andrei and Jim. We drove through light snow to Foxwoods. It was not extremely crowded but still somewhat vibrant when we arrived at noon or so. I was hungry, having skipped breakfast, and stopped for some great dumpling noodle soup. I would have liked two of them, but one of my goals this year is to lose some weight. (By the way, if anyone is interested in a weight loss bet, let me know). So I resisted.
I went down to the room and joined an open $2/5 no limit game. I figured I'd try to start things off by moving up a bit in my no limit game.
I didn't stay long enough to test much of anything. It became quickly apparent to me that the table was filled with solid players. Three bets nearly every hand. I quickly lost $85 and couldn't see where any profit would easily come from. I was called to $1/2 and joined a relatively somber table.
Appearances are sometimes deceiving. And I can sometimes work my magic -- in lightening up a table. One of the two occurred. I saw relatively quicly that three "serious" players were awful. A few others were gabby about the game but not very good. A couple easy-to-exploit weak-tight players. I waited and got a couple of hands. I didn't stack anyone off, but managed to win $200 or so with small ball and good reads -- building the pot and then stealing the pot.
My friend Jim was at an adjacent table. A seat opened up. I joined the game. A similar set up. Grim, somber folks whom I loosened up with some comments and play. Or maybe they just weren't as grim as they seemed at first. I screwed around with some small pots and then, against a very weak player, goaded him into giving me his stack when I had a strong hand. I love that move, perhaps, more than any other -- looking engaging a player to push with his testosterone, not his brain.
I left for dinner after that -- up a few hundred. I joined my friends; we ate at the Golden Dragon. My friend Andrei was up quite a bit in his $2 - $4 game so he and I split dinner (Jim contributed the tip). The food was, I found, uncharacteristically poor. My hot and sour soup was tasty, but my kung pao chicken hat stale peanuts, a sauce too gloppy and sweet, and Jim's noodle dish looked overcooked and gelatenous. It wasn't great, but we managed to enjoy each other's company.
We returned and played after dinner until about 11:00 PM. I suffered two awful beats that I won't bore you with. Leave it to say that I was way in the lead, convinced two awful opponents, in two separate hands, to go all in for a few hundred, and then they outdrew me. Instead of being up $1,000 -- which I would have been had I won -- I finished down $360 for the night. Alas.
Even so, I am now home after a brisk and long morning walk in the snow. My feet are wet, but warming, my arms and legs are sore, my nose is running and I have a headache. Even so, I feel great. It's good to be alive, no?

New Years Eve Day at Foxwoods

2010-01-01T07:54:00.001-08:00

I wanted to end the year with a victorious bang. I had to return by 6:00 PM to take my wife to the Boston Pops with Amanda Palmer. So I left early in the day and drove the two hours or so to Foxwoods, stopping at the "Middle of Nowhere" dinner in Hope Valley on route 3 in Rhode Island for breakfast. It is a great little place, worth the ten minutes of detour to get there. I had what appeared to be a seven egg omelette. It was delicious -- though I didn't finish it. I had decided to eat aplenty -- starting my diet on Monday, January 4th (I'm still waiting for the weight loss bet invitations).

I arrived to a very thinly attended poker room, at about 10:15 AM, New Year's Eve day, 2009. This would be my last playing session of the year. (I'm now wondering in how many conflicting tenses can I write this blog).

There were roughly four $1/2 no limit hold'em tables going, a couple of $1-5 stud tables, maybe two low limit hold'em tables, a couple of mid-limit hold'em tables, one $20/40 stud table, and a half-filled $10/20 stud table. That was it. It had just started to snow, lightly at first. The floor expressed surprise at the low turnout, noting that the prior day was absolutely packed and rocking. "It will pick up later" they said.

I sat down in the short-handed stud game. There were two young players to my right, a poor if seasoned veteran to their right, and three solid players to my left. I would have preferred to switch seats to I could reverse their seating order, so I asked for a seat change button. THey were all out -- possessed by the good players (no surprise). Were it not for the two younger players and the older fish, I would not have sat down.

It turned out that I should have passed on the table -- and gone right to the $1/2 game. One of the young players left as soon as I arrived -- called to $10/20 hold'em -- his regular game. The other younger player went for a walk, and the fish busted out on my third hand (not to me, sadly). So I was left competing with the three solid stud players whom I had played with many times before -- with only a slight edge for me, in my opinion.

I played a slightly more aggressive game than I normally play in that tightly structured stud game -- hoping to knock people off drawing hands and pick up some small pots early -- given my rocky image. Such was not to be. I ended up being the victim to a couple of nice moves by my skilled and observant opponents (I was check raised by a player to my left when I hit an open pair of Jacks and Jacks up and he hit Aces up after starting with a split pair with an Ace kicker. I then was called down in a large three-way pot when I was hoping to win with aggression what I could not win with my cards. Ouch!

I ended up bluffing my way to a couple of fairly large pots that put me only $40 down in this relatively tight and small-staked game. I left then for $1/2, hoping my no limit hold'em game would go a bit better and I'd be able to add to my win for the year.

The experience wasn't much better -- though it was still very pleasant. The table consisted of nine serious, often somber players. Some may have been up from the prior night, but if they were they didn't betray it in their play. They were all, to a fault, cautious pre-flop, but hardly timid post-flop. I tried a couple of moves -- trying my small ball tactics that had worked so successfully in North Carolina at Harrahs. I first establsihed a fairly rocky image -- helped to it by a dirth of decent cards. I then decided to be selectively aggressive -- occasionally raising pre-flop. I'd raise from late position to $7 or $12, get a couple of callers and then bet when it was checked to me on the flop, hoping to take down the slightly inflated pot. My first venture worked. My next couple had my opponent(s) reraising me with a check-raise. Hmm. On to my game? Hit really good hands? Both? I conceded.

I had no stack exchanging drama but managed to win back what I had lost in stud. Nothing very dramatic, but still a nice and easy way of spending the early part of what would be a late day.

I drove back to Boston after the early snow had abated and the roads were fully clear. I stopped at JC's Tavern, somewhere near Warwick I think, and had a great chil burger and steak fries for my penultimate meal for the decade. I arrived home in time to take my wife to the evening's festivities -- and didn't come home finally until about 1:00 AM -- awake enough to log onto the computer, delete a day's worth of spam and read and respond to the few legitimate emails. I was pleased to see that my poker playing friend, Jim R., had taken a picture of me at the poker table at Foxwoods (something that the powers there usually do not allow). I sent it to family members, entitled "Daddy at Work".

I begin the new year with this missive -- and with warm wishes to all readers for a productive, happy, and profitable 2010.

More Poker Travels

2009-12-26T04:36:00.001-08:00

I left West Virginia early Sunday afternoon, having played in the new poker room in Nitro. I drove west on Interstate 64 through West Virginia, Kentucky and finally Indiana where I stopped at about 6:30 PM to visit family in DePauw. I resisted the temptation to play at the mighty Horseshoe Casino (formerly Caesar's) in Elizabeth, across the river from Louisville, Kentucky. I had been to that room half a dozen times or so and thought that my time would be better spent getting on with my journey

I left DePauw at about 8:00 PM and drove south through Kentucky, stopping for some great Mexican food, a rich caldo de pollo, near the Tennessee border before stopping for the night en route to Alabama. I awoke early on Monday morning and drove straight through to Tuscaloosa, Alabama to visit my cousin. I stopped en route north of Birmingham for some grits and eggs -- saving up my appetite for a large seafood lunch with my cousin and her husband. We ate at Wintzell's Oyster Bar -- a cavernous restaurant right on the river. I had the fried oyster poboy -- a hoagie, submarine, grinder, hero, torpedo, wedgie, bomber, Italian sandwich, zeppelin, by any other name. I also sampled the oyster stew. Both were delicious.

I left Tuscaloosa at 3:30 or so and drove east, stopping in Atlanta to visit a high school friend, and then spending the night a bit further east, eating at a college-oriented sports bar for dinner in some college town. I awoke early and left for Liberty, South Carolina to visit a guy I worked with as a head waiter in the college dining hall. He moved south to avoid the high taxes and cold weather of Massachusetts and found himself a nice home on a beautiful piece of property in the rural area around Liberty. It's a lovely part of our nation that I would probably never have seen were it not for this trip. I left at about 2:00 and headed north through the mountains west of Asheville, North Carolina, to the large Cherokee reservation in the western part of the state. The best route was made impassable by a fairly large snowstorm that had not been cleared by the North Carolina Department of Transportation (one of the deficiencies of a state with a low tax base I'd guess), but I managed to arrive at my ultimate destination, Harrah's Casino, with about a one hour detour.

Harrah's had generously comped me the room, so I wasn't worried about arriving a little later than I had intended. As it was, I got there before dark and saw the gorgeous scenery of the area. The casino is nestled ("nestled" is too relaxed a word to describe this place) into the Smoky Mountains, that rise up in all directions. This time of year they are especially scenic, with their snow cover and low hanging clouds that look like smoke. There is a ski resort that sits just outside of the reservation to the east. In the summer the area is touristed as well. The snow had cut down on visitors slightly, I'd say, but the poker room still managed to have three full tables at all times during my stay from Tuesday afternoon until Wednesday morning.

The poker room is set to expand into the newly expanded casino. When it does -- in 6-12 months or so according to the local gossip at the tables -- it will be a full fledged poker room. But for now, the room is filled with Poker Pro machines. For those of you who have never experienced it, imagine a poker table with no dealer, cards, or chips -- but a huge computer screen that simulates them all. Each player is "dealt" two cards that he can view by clicking the screen. Five cards appear in the center of the screen for all to view. Money is also handled electronically. It's a cross between playing on your home computer and playing in a casino. I'd played on these machines in Las Vegas, Valley View in Southern California, and at Mohegan Sun casino when they tried them out a few years ago. It's better, for me at least, than playing on the Internet, but it's not as good as playing with a dealer, in my opinion.

Curiously, a couple of the players said they preferred these machines to live dealers. They said it was because the machines were much faster than playing live. They pointed to the 32 hands an hour that were currently being dealt. I said that there are many dealers who average at least that many hands an hour -- from 16 to 22 a half hour. A large argument commenced -- where someone proposed a $1,000 bet that I was wrong. I was tempted to make the bet -- but realized that it would be tough to verify. His larger point, that machines are faster than people, is probably true. But I've found that good dealers, in low limit no limit games, can speed the play of the worst players -- who often sit around not knowing it's their action. In games with no live dealers, as in this Harrah's casino in North Carolina, slow players slow the game more, in my opinion, than the speed that is saved by having automated deals and shuffles. An interesting debate, no?

The qualifty of play was quite poor. There were roughly two or three "good" players at each of the tables, from what I observed. But the good players weren't great -- were not very aggressive. Their chief strength was their willingness to wait patiently and then prey off of the two or three awful, drunk, fish who floated into the poker room from time to time. Other than that they tended to be passive and relatively timid.

I played a sit & go (they go off on Tuesdays and Sundays only) for $115 -- with $15 going for the house. I was the chip leader when it got down to three. I agreed to an equal chop just to get into the juicy looking cash games. They were good, though in a grinding sort of way. Few huge pots. But the players, generally very inexperienced, were very timid. I made another $300 or so scaring folks off pots that I had inflated with a pre-flop raise from good position. This small ball technique was never challenged. Four or five players would call my raise to $10. And then they'd check the flop and fold to my bet of $25.

The rake was steep for an automated game -- with 10% up to a maximum of $5. This may be offset by the huge number of folks who have no other public poker room within a 300 mile radius. There's also the advantage of not having to tip the dealer. Still, $5 strikes me as about $1.50 too much for these machines.

I stayed in a beautiful room. The king-sized bed was as comfortable as any I have slept in. The shower had great water pressure. The view from the tenth floor was spectacular. I would have liked to stay here a few more days, but duty called. I headed back on Wednesday morning -- stopping for breakfast as I left the reservation. There was a lodge for skiers and hikers that had a restaurant. I had a modestly priced order of poached eggs, pancakes, and home fries for a few bucks -- while looking out over the snow-covered Smoky Mountains. It was worth the price just for the view.

I continued east and then north on route 81 through North Carolina and then the entire state of Virginia, diagonally, before passing through a brief stretch of West Virginia and Maryland. I ended up for the night in Carlisle, Pennsylvania -- staying across the street from a 24 hour diner. I feasted on a well prepared Delmonico steak with mushrooms -- and even managed to have an enormous hunk of carrot cake for desert. I stary my diet on January 4th -- if anyone is interested in a weight loss bet!

En route to Carlisle I passed the Charles Town Casino. They are scheduled to have poker in the near future, as is the mighty classy Greenbreir Resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. I don't know when this will happen -- reports vary -- but when they get poker I'll have to make a return trip.

I left Carlisle at 4:00 AM on Thursday morning. I had to stop in Danbury, Connecticut to retrieve my Doyle's Room baseball cap -- that he had given me at some promotional event in Las Vegas this past summer. I left it at a Japanese restaurant where my wife and I had had our Shabbat dinner the prior Friday night. I had called ahead to make sure they had it. They opened at 11:00 AM, but I thought I might catch someone going in early. So I arrived at 8:30 AM and camped out at a diner across the street. Sure enough, at 9:15, the owners arrived to prepare for a busy Christmas Eve. I retrieved my hat and drove without stopping until I was safely home in Roslindale. Five poker rooms, 3,100 miles of driving, up $350 or so for the trip, 15 states, and a lot of restaurants. I can't wait to try it again.

Poker Travels

2009-12-25T08:38:00.001-08:00

I've just returned from a week's driving vacation. I mixed poker with family and managed to play in five different rooms. Here's an off-the-top-of-my-head account of the trip. Feel free to post questions if you'd like more details or more stories about my poker experiences.

My wife and I stayed in Danbury, Connecticut on Friday night so we could spend Sabbath together and she could get a little closer to her ultimate destination of Philadelphia, where she was going to retrieve my daughter Hannah for winter break (I favored having my daughter come home by bus -- but that's a tale for another blog).

I left at 4:00 AM to meet my brother and his extended family for breakfast in his adopted home town of Ithaca, New York. We met up, I had a nice breakfast and some nice family time, and then left at about 11:00 AM for points west and south.

I first stopped at the Seneca Indian reservation in Salamanca, New York -- right off interstate 84 (also known as route 17) about 40 minutes or so east of Erie. They have a modest poker room, nicely appointed but not fancy, that features low limit and small no limit hold'em. The players were all fairly experienced, moderately aggressive, and observant. As one regular told me, the players in this room are the survivors -- with the poorest ones having long since busted out of the game. Another player, exiting the room, mentioned that what was left were the "best of the best". I don't know if I would go that far, but the game was fairly tight and tough. I managed to lose $89 over the course of the hour or so that I played. Playing with a clock in the back of my head isn't good for my game -- as I become unduly aggressive, just to have something to do while I'm playing a short session. My moves did not pay off, alas. Had I just played my typical patient game, I would have lost closer to $12 or so -- but I wouldn't have had as much interaction.

I left and drove through what became something of a snow storm. After many hours and a couople of stops I eventually landed in the northern tip of West Virginia, in the Mountaineer poker room in Chester. This is one of three West Virginia casinos that offer poker. It's about an hour outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The poker room is in the grandstand -- apart from the main casino. It was another fairly tough room -- not very welcoming to me, an outsider asking questions. Even so, there were definitely more fish in the game than in the Seneca's room -- though the game was not nearly as friendly. The room did offer soem free food. I had a big sausage that I enjoyed. My questions paid off for the table, afterall, since it was only by asking the floor about comps that I found that they offered free sausages. The players at the table didn't know anything about it. They weren't grateful, alas, and seemed genuinely glad to be rid of me after a couple of hours of play. I left up $200 or so.

I made the 45 minute drive down to Wheeling, West Virginia. My plan was to find the poker room at Wheeling Island Casino, play for a while, then find a cheap motel room for the night. I was fortunate to meet, in the poker room, the owner of the Wheeling Inn. Though he was a little too aggressive in getting me to agree to stay at his place, everyone assured me that it was a legitimate place and a pretty good deal at $69 a night.

My poker session cost just about the same amount as the room, as I lost $70. I enjoyed the room more than the Mountaineer room. It was more vibrant . Gracing the wall was the larger-than-life sized poster of its most famous player, WSOP Main Event runner up Darvin Moon. It also had a full $2/5 game going when I was there. Though I couldn't get into the game, I watched it for a while. It seemed to be a fairly tame affair -- at least for the 15 or so hands that I observed.

After spending the night, I drove about 2.5 hours to Nitro, West Virginia, to visit the newest poker room ,"The Big Easy" . It's in the Tri-state Casino and Track -- a large complex about 20 minutes west of Charleston.

The room is expansive, new, and was not very busy when I was there late on a Sunday morning. There were two tables of $1/2 no limit when I arrived at 11:30 AM. There was a 2:00 PM tournament set to go off when I left at 1:45 -- and jsut three tables going then. I was told by the players that they sometimes filled up the room of a dozen or so tables. But the weather was keeping attendance down lately (a snowstorm had come through the night before).

The game was very good, though sadly not profitable for me during my stay. The players exhibited the trait of many players new to a casino. They were overly cautious, for the most part, loose before the flop but very timid afterwards. I'd say that only one or maybe two of the players at my table would make a profit in the long run. I was only sad that I couldn't stay longer to take advantage of their passivity.

In general, I didn't like the relatively high rake in West Virginia. All of the rooms take 10% up to a maximum of $5 plus a $1 for the bad beat jackpot. I figure that this may well dry out the rooms in a year or so -- though I hope not. I'd like to return and stay a while longer.

ENDING THE YEAR WITH A BANG!

2009-12-14T18:21:00.000-08:00

It's been a good final month so far. The interview of Jim McManus was a success, I think. I got to listen to the show and enjoyed it. I have not gotten much feedback from listeners -- but what I've heard has been positive. The same week that the McManus interview aired, I interviewed Mike Sexton (the show will air the first Monday in January I believe). I went very well. He is truly poker's ambassador -- a very classy guy with nothing but positive things to say about anyone or anything in the poker world that he talks about. As you'll hear on the show, the poker world really reflects his vision of what it could be -- so much more than it was when he started out in the business.
I've managed many winning sessions at both Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods lately. The $1/2 no limit games continue to filled with low skill players. Interestingly, however, I've noticed that there even in those games there are more players who know what they're doing. Losers are getting weeded out, survivors are learning and getting better, and fewer clueless players are starting up the game (though many still are visiting for the first time).
I had the interesting experience of playing next to a student of my book and articles. He didn't let on that he had read my no limit book and articles until I had announced my final hand. He was sitting on my right -- so either he didn't respect me as much as he said, or he didn't take advantage of that piece of advice. Even so, he seemed fairly strong, and very engaging. I wish him well -- just not at my expense, thank you very much.
I'm leaving this Saturday for a trip to the West Virginia rooms. I am especially interested in the newest room, in Nitro, West Virginia -- just outside Charleston. I've been to Nitro -- back when I was a union organizer with the clothing workers union and with 1199, the Hospital Workers Union. I imagine it is very different from how I remember it, lo these 25 years or so since I've been there. Hard to imagine that a quarter of a century has passed since I organized in that neck of the woods -- up in Ritchie County mainly, but also throughout the state. Things were really tough back then, economically. There was nearly 25% unemployment in West Virginia during the worst of it. I remember the poverty very well -- not tar paper shacks but small, awfully small trailers. I wonder how bad things are now for the rural and semi-rural working poor there.
I'm also travelling west to Caesar's near Louisville and then south to Alabama. There are no public poker rooms in Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, or Delaware -- all states I'll be driving through on this trip. But I'll be keeping my nose up for home poker games. If any of you reading this report have any suggestions, please email me and I'll follow up with you. I'll give you a full report when I return.

Free Poker Vacation ALERT!!!

2009-11-27T07:29:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note to all who might be reading this blog entry -- the deadline to submit your entry for the vacation giveaway is nearing. We close off all entries at midnight, November 30th. This is the entry into the prize pool to win a free netry into the $1,000 Ladies Tournament on January 9th at the Atlantis Casino in Nassau, Bahamas. The prize package also includes $1,000 for travel expenses, a free three-nights stay at the luxurious Atlantis Casino and Resort, $250 toward a special spa treatment, and a free entrance into the 1/2 day poker boot camp. What's not to love. Enter the Code PSM002 when signing up for your new Poker Stars account (go to www.pokerstars.net to enter). Good luck.