Snickers99

Tuesday was the day I decided to try playing live poker after work. I want to see what it's like to drive there right from work...how long will it take me to get out of Pittsburgh with rush hour traffic, how long will I be able to play before having to leave, etc. My deep down feeling is this is something I can't see myself doing very often. Once I'm in a poker room, I like playing for a long time. I think I'd rather wait and spend an entire Saturday or Sunday playing instead of rushing down there for a 3 hour session (70 minute drive from my house on a Sunday) during the week.

I just thought of something. Luckily, I felt like playing poker Tuesday. That's good since I planned on going. I just remember one trip to Niagara where I didn't really feel like playing but felt forced to since I drove 4 1/2 hours and got a hotel room (trip planned in advance). What I'm getting at is maybe I should keep some money at work in case I get the itch in the middle of the day and want to go after work. The highway is right outside work...it's not like I'll be passing any ATMs on the way there. Maybe I should keep a stash of cash at work. Just something to think about. Is this a sign of a problem? :D

Wheeling almost got me to go to their poker room with the promise of a key chain and hat in the poker room Sunday thru Wednesday or Thursday (I forget which). But I tracked down some Trip Reports online and the one thing they had in common was complaining about the crowds and long waits. I don't know what it would be like on a weeknight, but I don't want to risk getting there and having to sit for 2 hours waiting for a table when I figure I'll only be able to be there a total of about 3 hours. And do I really need another key chain? And if I wear a hat, it's usually a Penguins cap. With the way Mountaineer was on the Sunday I went (busy, but not crowded...sat right away), and since Mountaineer has almost double the number of tables, I'm assuming Mountaineer will offer the best chance to maximize my playing time.

That being said, the other thing the Wheeling trip reports had in common was claiming the games were soft while the Mountaineer TRs I read said the games were a little tight (which was my experience as well). My next weekend day trip will be to Wheeling to check out the rooms and games. It might even be this weekend. The GF's Mom is coming to town and I usually hang around with them. But the GF said I don't have to. Immediately, I thought IT'S A TARP!!! So we'll see how things go. Usually, they go shopping to these craft-type stores Saturday and I don't go anyway. I usually take that time to play online. Maybe I'll head down then. We'll see.

It's a business casual dress code at work. So, I'm not wearing a shirt and tie, but I want to be more comfortable than my golf shirt, pants, and dress shoes. Monday night, I pack a bag with jeans, my Tight Poker long sleeve t-shirt, socks, and sneakers. The cat looks nervous. She knows that when I start packing this bag, I'm gone for a couple days either to Niagara Falls or home to NJ (what can I say...I'm her whole world!). Not to worry, kitty cat. Just a little trip after work and I will be home. I make sure I pack my Mountaineer players card and my pad for notes. Tuesday morning, I remembered to grab my watch before leaving for work. I usually don't wear a watch (there's enough clocks on my PC, my work phone, my cell phone, the little clock on my desk, in the car, the iPod, etc), but I like to have one when in the poker room.

Work was boring. I actually started writing this TR Tuesday morning at work. AAMOF, I'm at work as I'm typing this sentence! Store it in Notepad, will finish it later. It's almost lunch time and I have some small things trickling in that I should take care of. So, I will wrap it up now and add stuff later. OK, it's later...2:00 and I still have 2 1/2 hours of 'work'. The day is dragging.

Finally, 4:30 arrives. I shut down my PC, lock everything up, head to the bathroom and change. I'm out the door, into my car, and leave the parking lot at 4:46. It takes a while to get out of the city, but traffic soon lightens up and once I get onto 22/30, traffic is light. I'm in Weirton at 5:31 and reach the parking lot of Mountaineer at 5:55. So, leaving from work takes the same amount of time as leaving from home with no traffic...about 70 minutes. And this time, I went in the other enterence and parked by the door that leads right to the poker room instead of being on the wrong side and having to work my way thru a maze of slot machines and stairwells. The parking lot seems crowded, but I don't know if that's for the poker room, the slots, or the horse racing. I later learn that the horses are running tonight, so that accounts for part of the crowd.

I don't know what it is about casinos but usually when I walk into one, I have to hit the bathroom. And this one isn't going to be pretty. I can thank all the chocolate I've been eating at work as several people brought in candy for Halloween. On my way to the bathroom, which is very conveniently located right in the poker room, I take a look at the wait list. 1/2 is open! Cool. No wait. I walk into the bathroom and they only have one stall. The guy is taking forever. I wait. Then, screw it. Let's play poker. I leave the bathroom and my body tells me no, we're not waiting. I go back in the bathroom and wait. Finally, he's done. Some old guy. Didn't flush. Looks like it might be clogged. Damn it. Fuck this shit, I'll go to another bathroom. As I walk out, I find myself behind the old guy from the stall. He greets someone and shakes their hand. I want to tell the other guy he should go wash his hands because the old guy just came from the bathroom and didn't wash his. Gross.

Finally, back from the bathroom and waiting at the desk to get my name added. Unfortunately, there is now a list for 1/2. The whole bathroom fiasco took about 15 minutes and I'm mad that in that time, there's now a list. But I can't be too mad...I'm third and the guy says to not go away very far. While I'm waiting, I see a list of the games and min/max buyins. As I mentioned in my last report, 1/2 the min/max is 75/300. For 2/5, it's 100/500...5/10 is 300/1000. Tonight, they have 1/2 and 2/5 NL, 2/4 and 3/6 Limit going, and a 5/10 NL game starts up while I'm waiting. There is also an interest list for 3/6 O8, 3/6 7CS, and 5/10 LHE. I don't think these games got going while I was there.

About 10 minutes later, they have 8 names for 1/2 and decide to open a new table. I mentioned in my last TR that I hate that they are so quick to open a new table...especially when it seems like there are tables with openings. But I do see a few dealers sitting at tables with no players. Perhaps they are quick to open new tables to get the dealers to work. I believe the dealers work for close to minimum wage and really rely on tips. Maybe they're trying to get tables going so the dealers can at least make a little something.

When the guy said he was going to open a new table, I made my way to the cage. I remember they were very slow and I wanted to get in line. They opened the table and it's basically right behind me. I'm second in line for chips, when the floor guy announces the table, calls the names, then adds "and anybody else who wants to play". Whoa. Wait. My name was on the list. If I lose out on a seat because I'm standing in line to get chips and somebody who just happens to wander in takes my seat, I will not be happy. Plus, I want to pick my seat. So I get out of line and put my players card in front of seat 9...my favorite seat. I turn around and now there's about 8 people in line for chips. Oh well. At least I got my seat.

The line for chips goes surprisingly quick. They are getting much better at doing things from the last time I was here when they were only open for 3 days. I have $200 set aside for poker and decide to buy in for $160. It's 6:25 when I sit down and I notice the dealer's tray no longer has those $3 chips. Another sign that they are learning. It takes maybe 5 more minutes before everyone settles and the cards are in the air.

First hand, I'm the CO and get JJ. Table is your average table...some younger guys, couple of older guys. Stacks range all over the place...one or two look like they bought in for the full $300. Since this is just my second trip, I don't know what a 'standard' raise is. There's too many limpers in front of me, so I chicken out and don't raise. As the dealer deals the flop, my inside-my-head chant of JACK JACK JACK is not answered as the flop is A-10-x with two diamonds. There's a bet and at least one call when it gets to me. Somebody has an ace. I fold. Sure enough, some ace-rag hand takes it. Sure, maybe he folds preflop if I make a big enough raise. But I don't know anybody or how they play.

I'm getting good cards, but not hitting any flops. A lot of low-mid pocket pairs...33, 99, 55. AQo. Table seems looser than the last time. Early on, we have three people all in preflop. They flip up AK, AJ(!), and JJ. Seems the standard preflop raise is between $7 and $10.

One of the guys at the table is a horse trainer at the race track there. He's pretty much a donk. He stayed in with pocket sixes on a flop of J-J-K and calls a $20 raise of his little $3 bet. He gets his 6 on the river for the FH. Other guy had a jack and checked the turn, giving the guy a free card.

Last time, I was a little warm in my Penguins long sleeve t-shirt. Tonight, I'm shivering in my Tight Poker long sleeve t-shirt. But I will let you in on a weird quirk of mine. Almost every time I sit to play poker online, I start shivering. I have no idea why. I'm not cold. I just start shivering. So while it may be a little chilly in the poker room tonight, I wonder if this weird quirk is happening live now. I was going to ask the guy next to me if he was cold, but didn't.

I'm playing a few hands, but not winning. I seem to be in a little rut both live and online. Lots of crappy hands and the good hands aren't hitting. Finally, I peek at my cards and have AA in the SB. While the other players are acting, I peek again. Isn't it great pealing up your cards and seeing those two A's? Beautiful. Anyway, Altoona guy (more on him later) raises to $7 from MP. Folded to me. I make it $20. Perhaps a bit too high. He's the only caller. Flop is A-x-x with two clubs. SWEET! I bet $20, hoping for a raise. He calls. Crap. NO CLUB...NO CLUB....NO CLUB...turn is, not a club. Another low card...I bet $50. He thinks for a while. I can only think he has an ace, a high pocket pair, or flush draw. He calls. NO CLUB...NO CLUB....NO CLUB...river is not a club, but any 7 makes a straight. I have $57 left in front of me. I'm all in. He thinks for a while. He has me covered. He counts out $57. Thinks. Plays with his chips. I'm staring at the board praying for a call. I have to have him beat. If he had a 7, he'd insta-call. Finally, he pushes the $57 forward. I flip over my aces. He says good hand, and mucks. I double up in what is probably my biggest pot ever.

This guy was a grade A fish. The worst player at the table. We learn he is from Altoona, Pennsylvania. I'm guessing maybe 3 hours away? He's a craps player, but no craps at Mountaineer yet (probably by the first of the year...along with BJ and roulette). It became apparent that he would pretty much play any two and stay in with any little piece. Of course, I didn't know that at the time and now have no idea what he could have had in the hand above. For all I know, he could have had a pair of nines. He went thru about $300, then tightened up. Glad I got my money when I did. He ended up being all in for his last $50 or so when he hit a set on the flop. He went all in on the turn and the other guy called him with 2 pair...jacks and queens. Jack on the river...GG Altoona guy. He leaves and the table pretty much agrees he was feeding the table. One guy joked to the guy that rivered him that he wasn't supposed to win because now there's no bad players. The guy that won apologized and said he did the best he could to give him some money. Everyone laughed.

The dealers are now making change at the table. Last time, they pretty much refused and as I learned from other trip reports at other sites, it may have been the gaming board saying they couldn't make change. By make change, I mean people adding to their stacks, buying back in after busting, etc. The dealers we had tonight were 100% better than the last time. They really improved. The last dealer...some blonde chick who looked great from the side (what do you want...I'm in seat 9)...made a couple mistakes. Like, someone went all in and she counted the money and said $122 when it was actually $77. And she did something else, but I forget what it was.

One small almost controversy. They have the auto-shufflers and it screwed up once. No biggie...dealer took the cards out, tried again, and it was ok. But later, with another dealer, it happened again. A red light flashes to let you know something is wrong. So the red light is flashing and the dealer calls the floor. WTF? Just reset the cards and let's move on. But wait...the shuffler is saying there's a card missing. Hmmmm. I guess that's a good reason to call the floor because if I was the dealer and the thing said there was a card missing, I wouldn't do anything without the floor being there either. The floor comes over, takes the cards out and counts them on the table behind us. 51. Hmmm. He spreads out the other deck to see if it got mixed in. Nope. Of course the jokes start about someone sticking a card up their sleeve. Ho ho ho!!! Hee hee hee!! Good one. We're all looking around for a missing card when the floor counts the cards again and comes up with 52. We're good to go.

There's five limpers, guy raises it to $7 and is shocked that nobody folds. :roll:

I'm not really getting any hands. Some more pocket pairs that go nowhere. A suited connector or two. But no big pairs or strong ace. Finally, AQo in MP. Two limpers and I make it $10. Mock Oooohs and aaaaahs from the table as I have been very tight and the only hand they remember is the AA hand where I doubled up. Regardless of this, I get four callers. Flop comes ten high, checked to me, I c-bet $15, all fold. One guy makes the comment that since I wasn't afraid of the ten, his eights must not be good. I say nothing. This pushes me to having a little over $300 at the table.

When Horse trainer guy looks at his cards, I am almost certain the guy to his left can see them. This guy was an ass. He says nothing. I will admit that I would look at the other guy's hand once because I think it's just natural to look...like a reaction. But when the hand was over, I would tell the guy that I could see his cards. This asshole (he was an ass for other reasons too) said nothing during the whole session. Should I have said something? I think if horse trainer guy would have gotten up to use the bathroom, I might have followed him and said something. I hate that shit. Play the game fair.

The dealer changes are now every 20 minutes. They were 30 minutes. That's too quick. Slows down the game as each dealer has to check the tray and I think they're supposed to count the cards in at least one deck. 30 minutes was fine.

It's closing in on 8:30 and Altoona guy busted out like 20 minutes ago. Horse trainer guy, who I thought was a donk, wasn't as bad as I hoped. There are no real fish and I have to leave at nine anyway. I look at my pretty stack...three stacks of 20 reds and three single whites...$303. Sweet. Let's take my profit and run. I officially stop at 8:30, up $143. Not bad for two hours work.

I get up and grab a rack, rack up my chips, wish the guys luck and head to the cage. I cash out and head to the snack bar. I didn't have dinner and want to get something for the road. I decide on a soft pretzel. They warm them up as people order them, even thou they have one of those pretzel things that spins around with a heat lamp in it. Apparently, this is just for show or something. I thought about getting a hot dog, but it was like $3.25 or something. Yes, even thou I have like $400 in my pocket, I'm balking at spending $3 of it. The other reason? There's flies flying around the hot dog grill. I hate to stereotype, but it really gave off a West Virginia vibe. And a couple of the women working behind the counter had the kind of teeth you think about when you think West Virgina.

It takes four minutes to get my pretzel. No, I wasn't timing it...the lady told me that's how long it takes to warm them up. I finally get my pretzel and head towards the exit. I decide to stop at the front desk and ask about the players card and what you get with it. Oh, that reminds me. Some guy sat down in seat 10 next to me. The dealer asks him if he has a players card. The guy says no. Then he mutters under his breath that he's not supposed to be here. Another problem gambler? I don't get to find out as I left about 15 minutes later.

So, back to the front desk. The woman behind the desk is helping someone else, so I look at the wait list. There's currently 8 tables of 1/2 going and 8 people waiting. I turn to look at my old table. My seat is still open. I know the dealer opened my seat when I left with the little electronic thing in front of him. This is supposed to tell the front desk there's a seat open. Yet, there's 8 people waiting and at least one open seat. And it probably was ten minutes from the time I left, cashed out, went to the snack bar, waited for my pretzel, and walked back to the front desk. They need to fix that. I think in the future if I am there and on the wait list, I'm going to wander around the room. If I see a seat open, I just might ask a floor guy if I can grab it. They need to be speedier on filling open seats.

The lady helping the guy in front of me is taking forever. I think she's trying to get some information or something. All I want to know is what's the deal with the players card. I get fed up and leave. I'll be back sometime and will ask then.

The night before, the GF warned me to be on the outlook for deer crossing the road. It's that time of year and they are all over. It's a real problem as car/deer accidents are way up this year. On my way down, I see no less than three dead deer on the side of the road. As I pull out from Mountaineer and go down the road a bit, it gets dark. Not many street lights. Out of the corner of my eye, in the other lane, I pass a big ass deer. Just standing there. Didn't see him until I was passed him. Well, I suppose it was really a her since I didn't see antlers. That made me slow down as the area around Mountaineer is rural with woods all over. Unfortunately, some ass decides to tailgate me the whole way down Route 2 as I'm trying to eat a pretzel and not crash into deer. We get to a passing zone and I slow down hoping he takes the bait and passes me. He doesn't. Ass. Finally, the road opens into two lanes and he whizzes past me. As I get to the 22/30 on ramp, there's a cop who pulled over a white car...and it was a white car that was tailgating me. As I mentioned in the other TR, the speed limit is anywhere from 25 to 55 on this Route 2 and I was trying to stay within the speed limit while this guy was on my ass. So I was hoping he was speeding and got caught. But as I pass them, it wasn't him. Dang.

So, I end up winning just 2 pots in two hours. But one was huge and after I thought about it, the other one was around $40 before rake & tip...so that one was an ok pot as well. I don't think I got past the flop in any other hand. I know I didn't go to showdown on any other hand. Driving down there after work wasn't too bad. Of course, I say that because I won and didn't have to worry about leaving at 9 being down...feeling like I would have to stay. But, even thou it worked out, I can't see myself doing that very often. I like getting there and knowing I have lots of time, like early on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. And if I decide to play for 2 hours and stop for whatever reason, it's because I'm deciding to stop...not because I have to drive an hour to get home and go to bed.

A couple of us are planning on a Niagara Falls trip in a couple weeks. That will be 3ish days of poker, so I don't know if I'll have the money to get to WV between now and then. I think my next trip down will have to be Wheeling to see what their room is like. I need to chill with the live poker talk with the GF so she doesn't get too worried. And I decided not to keep money at work. What I will do is keep a poker money stash at home. If I wake up and decide I want to play that day, I'll take the money with me to work.

__________________
"I'm disappointed in you, Scotty" -- Michael DeMichele at the 2008 WSOP HORSE Final Table
Check out My Blog, updated 8/24/08

Terminal

You give very detailed reports. Very nice.

sfustsh

__________________
Carrera: fuck you

as just above it means big bet.
so again fuck off

johnny

That's good news!

Nice report.. I'm looking forward to it. Carrying 3 buy-ins seems like a lot of cash so I'm not sure what I'll do. Freakin $300 buy in. I'm no Ugi!

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Blog Updated 6/21, Oooops, I'm goin to Vegas in a few days.
11:09:32 PM Randy: limit poker is easy
11:19:03 PM Randy: ok, i suck at teh limit

Mirage: FU PKOER
Mirage: F
Mirage: U
Mirage: FUFUFU
Mirage: up a $1.45 still YES

Ugignadl

$300 buyin at 1/2 NL?!? Do they rake it in the ass?? Sounds like a great game. Damn. You guys.

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I have been blogging. Last updated April 29th. http://www.feltpoker.com/blogs/ugignadl/

Snickers99

Yeah, I don't know what I'm going to do either. I think for now I'll just bring what I can afford to lose at that time. With my nitty game, I could see me buying in for $300 and it lasting quite some time. Not everybody buys in for the max. Saw some $100, $150 buyins. Of course, chips = power, so I don't know. I mean, with it an hour away, it's not tragic if I lose a buyin in 10 minutes and have to turn around and come home. Not like I'm in Niagara and am 4 1/2 hours away.

We'll have to work on a day to meet up there.


Rake is 10%, up to $5 max.

__________________
"I'm disappointed in you, Scotty" -- Michael DeMichele at the 2008 WSOP HORSE Final Table
Check out My Blog, updated 8/24/08

Ugignadl

OMG is there any time charge? Those n00bs are seriously making a great poker game.

__________________
I have been blogging. Last updated April 29th. http://www.feltpoker.com/blogs/ugignadl/

Snickers99

No, no time charge...at least at 1/2.

__________________
"I'm disappointed in you, Scotty" -- Michael DeMichele at the 2008 WSOP HORSE Final Table
Check out My Blog, updated 8/24/08

thebatsman

Don't yo' Yankees haf ATM machines. Lookin' fo'ward t'gittin' some of yer cheap money. Kinadian dollar closin' at $1.06 an' still risin'

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Eruu

Good stuff. I finally got through the whole thing.

I enjoy the reports but I had to set aside time to finish it in one sitting and I'm usually playing poker if I have free time. I post all day at work but I only read the short posts because I think I have ADD or mad cow disease or something that keeps me from paying attention to any one thing for over 3 minutes at a time.

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Bernie Wayne - You stick with me kid. In a few years you'll be wearing diamonds big as horse turds and farting through silk.