Well, sort of.
While playing poker in casinos has been legal as long as I remember, Washington has a screwed up set of laws. First the maximum poker bet in tribal ("Indian") casinos has been $500, but in card rooms the max was $20 when I started playing several years ago. They upped the maximum to $40 about 3 or 4 years ago which led to a bunch of 20-40 limit games, which is actually decent stakes, and some 2-40 spread limit. The 2-40 game was a huge improvement over the 3-6 and 4-8 limit games that dominated the area. Not only could you bet enough to get people to fold but you had huge implied odds which made it "correct" the play a lot of speculative hands, even against raises. This led to much more action and much more profit. But still it wasn't even close to no limit -- the $40 max came into play in almost every raised pot.
The Washington Gaming Commission has been debating higher limits probably since the day they upped the limit to $40. Finally a month ago they decided to allow a trial of hold 'em with a $100 max bet with the law going into affect 30 days later. Friday the 15th was day 30 and The Hideaway was one of the places that got a 3-100 spread game going. It's still not true no limit but in playing a few hours I only saw one hand where the $100 max came into affect. With a $200 max buy-in, you run out of chip before you run into the cap. Note that if someone bets $40, you can then raise to $140. It's really hard to have a deep enough stack and big enough pot that you'd want to bet more than $100.
Anyway, I played in the inaugural game after work on Friday. Lots of people were interested in playing or at least willing to try. The game was really good. I doubled my buy in over 3-4 hours and it would have been much, much better had I not lost a huge pot on a bad suck out. But that's poker.
I expect I'll still play at Snoqualmie with the 2-5 no limit, but this game is a good alternative.
Sunday, October 17
Sunday, October 10
Hideaway Fall Classic
One of my disappointments in the local poker scene is the lack of reasonably priced deep stack events -- tournaments where you actually play some poker before you get to the stage where everyone is shoving all-in every hand. Either you have daily $30-60 tournaments that are fast with little or no skill or $500+ special events like Tulalip's 10-10-10 $1010 event. So I was excited when I saw The Hideaway was having a Fall Classic with a series of reasonably priced events $60-120 and $240 for the main event with a lot of chips to start with and 20-minute rounds.
I played in a few of these. The first was a $60 buy-in tournament starting with 30K chips (100-200 blinds) and 20-minute levels -- their normal tournament but twice as much play. I didn't play very well and went out early. The second event was an interesting twist on a team tournament. Normally in a team tournament, the teammates switch who's playing every level (15 - 30 minutes). In this tournament each team member was part of a pool of 20 players. Each pool played its own tournament with the top 3 getting paid. Then the top team, based on the ranks of its team members, wins 25% of the total prize pool. I finished 4th in my pool and Meier got 3rd in his pool, which made us the top team. We'll take it but we both feel like we could/should have won our individual pools as well. Meier in particular got unlucky on his last two hands or could have been heads up with 2/3 of the chips.
I had a Mariners conflict and missed the Omaha/8 tournament which I wanted to play. I played the NL bounty tournament Friday AM and finished with two bounties and go unlucky and busted at the final table.
Then I played the HORSE tournament on Saturday. HORSE is a mixed game where you play Hold 'em, Omaha/8, Razz, Stud, and stud/Eight. (Yeh, the "E" is kind of a stretch.) Anyway, the tournament sucked and everyone who played in it thought so too. Basically they started with too many chips for everyone given it's a fixed limit structure and raised the blinds too slowly. I played 6 hours before busting at which point they got to the final table of 8 from 24 who started. A tournament of this nature shouldn't take 6 hours to complete much less to just get to the final table. We spent 3 hours just passing chips back and forth when the blinds were tiny. Then played some poker for a couple hours, then hit a shove fest where it came down to who caught cards. Oh well. Was fun to play HORSE for real and I'd probably go back for their cash game. But I'd never play a structure like that again.
For the series, I think I wound up slightly ahead -- cashing once in the team tournament to pay for my four entry fees and having the bounties as profit.
No poker as I'm busy at work. Played a silly social game Sunday night. I'm not even sure you could call it poker. Looking to play on Friday when the card room max jumps from $40 to $100 and there's going to be 1/3 "no limit" at the Hideaway.
I played in a few of these. The first was a $60 buy-in tournament starting with 30K chips (100-200 blinds) and 20-minute levels -- their normal tournament but twice as much play. I didn't play very well and went out early. The second event was an interesting twist on a team tournament. Normally in a team tournament, the teammates switch who's playing every level (15 - 30 minutes). In this tournament each team member was part of a pool of 20 players. Each pool played its own tournament with the top 3 getting paid. Then the top team, based on the ranks of its team members, wins 25% of the total prize pool. I finished 4th in my pool and Meier got 3rd in his pool, which made us the top team. We'll take it but we both feel like we could/should have won our individual pools as well. Meier in particular got unlucky on his last two hands or could have been heads up with 2/3 of the chips.
I had a Mariners conflict and missed the Omaha/8 tournament which I wanted to play. I played the NL bounty tournament Friday AM and finished with two bounties and go unlucky and busted at the final table.
Then I played the HORSE tournament on Saturday. HORSE is a mixed game where you play Hold 'em, Omaha/8, Razz, Stud, and stud/Eight. (Yeh, the "E" is kind of a stretch.) Anyway, the tournament sucked and everyone who played in it thought so too. Basically they started with too many chips for everyone given it's a fixed limit structure and raised the blinds too slowly. I played 6 hours before busting at which point they got to the final table of 8 from 24 who started. A tournament of this nature shouldn't take 6 hours to complete much less to just get to the final table. We spent 3 hours just passing chips back and forth when the blinds were tiny. Then played some poker for a couple hours, then hit a shove fest where it came down to who caught cards. Oh well. Was fun to play HORSE for real and I'd probably go back for their cash game. But I'd never play a structure like that again.
For the series, I think I wound up slightly ahead -- cashing once in the team tournament to pay for my four entry fees and having the bounties as profit.
No poker as I'm busy at work. Played a silly social game Sunday night. I'm not even sure you could call it poker. Looking to play on Friday when the card room max jumps from $40 to $100 and there's going to be 1/3 "no limit" at the Hideaway.
Saturday, October 9
Toronto and Buffalo
Before going back to work I got in one last vacation. My friends Meier and Nanci were going to Buffalo for a week with a two-day side trip to Toronto in the middle. Having never been to either or Niagara Falls, at least that I remember, I decided to join them for part of the trip. When am I ever going to have a chance to see Buffalo or Toronto?
Flew into Toronto on Monday and they met me at the airport after I passed through customs. We drove to downtown Toronto and wandered around. Perhaps the most interesting things we saw was Paws Way, which is as cute as the pictures on their web site. It's part dog history museum, part educational facility, part shop, and part training center. They also have a little cafe in the front. I had no idea such a thing existed anywhere. Had dinner at Il Fornello. Went back to our hotel, which was all the way back by the airport, but not before driving through the large Jewish neighborhood of Toronto. Next day we got a late start, saw Casa Loma (house on the hill) which is a famous historic castle. After being there and watching some house hunters, I decided our home should have a fancy name. So now we live at "Casa Oso" or perhaps we should call it "Casa Oso de miel".
We had a late lunch then spent an hour at the Shoe museum which was surprisingly OK. By pure coincidence the Mariners were in town, so we went to the Blue Jays game that night. We had checked ahead and thought it would be fun to see a game in Toronto. Of course, the Mariners lost and looked terrible, but made it interesting in the 9th. Ichiro had 4 hits. And the stadium was empty. We complain about the Mariners drawing 10-15K, but there must have been only about 4000 people at the game though the Jays reported 12K paid. Before going to the game Nanci and I went up the CN Tower and had great views of the city and a cool view looking straight down on Rogers Centre (nee the Skydome).
Went back to the airport hotel, got some sleep then got up the next "morning" and headed to Niagara Falls on the way to Buffalo.
Niagara Falls was awesome. A picture is worth 1000 words.
We had hoped to play poker at Casino Niagara but they had a couple of dealers call in sick and had 15 names on the wait list. I found this stunning as I'm sure they could have found back up dealers. In this economy every dealer is looking to pick up extra shifts. Then back to the US of A. Buffalo isn't very touristy. After Meier and Nanci dropped me at my hotel I walked around downtown for a little bit and saw some of the historic buildings. Meier picked me up later and we went to Duff's for buffalo wings with Nanci's family -- how can you go to Buffalo and not have wings?! Wings were good but we all ate too much. Meier and I headed back to the Falls to play some poker, actually wound up playing on the New York side and had an interesting border crossing at 2:30 AM when we wanted to go back to pick up poker chips. Ended OK but got home very, very late.
Thursday I got up and wandered around town by myself. Walked down to Coca-Cola Field, then walked along the waterfront and looked across to Canada. Meier met me and we discovered that City Hall has a free viewpoint on the 28th floor so we got a good look at the city. Then it was back to eating -- some famous hot dog place that didn't impress me at all and Anderson's for custard (soft serve ice cream) which was pretty good. Then airport and home.
Lots packed in in just four days.
Flew into Toronto on Monday and they met me at the airport after I passed through customs. We drove to downtown Toronto and wandered around. Perhaps the most interesting things we saw was Paws Way, which is as cute as the pictures on their web site. It's part dog history museum, part educational facility, part shop, and part training center. They also have a little cafe in the front. I had no idea such a thing existed anywhere. Had dinner at Il Fornello. Went back to our hotel, which was all the way back by the airport, but not before driving through the large Jewish neighborhood of Toronto. Next day we got a late start, saw Casa Loma (house on the hill) which is a famous historic castle. After being there and watching some house hunters, I decided our home should have a fancy name. So now we live at "Casa Oso" or perhaps we should call it "Casa Oso de miel".
We had a late lunch then spent an hour at the Shoe museum which was surprisingly OK. By pure coincidence the Mariners were in town, so we went to the Blue Jays game that night. We had checked ahead and thought it would be fun to see a game in Toronto. Of course, the Mariners lost and looked terrible, but made it interesting in the 9th. Ichiro had 4 hits. And the stadium was empty. We complain about the Mariners drawing 10-15K, but there must have been only about 4000 people at the game though the Jays reported 12K paid. Before going to the game Nanci and I went up the CN Tower and had great views of the city and a cool view looking straight down on Rogers Centre (nee the Skydome).
Niagara Falls was awesome. A picture is worth 1000 words.
We had hoped to play poker at Casino Niagara but they had a couple of dealers call in sick and had 15 names on the wait list. I found this stunning as I'm sure they could have found back up dealers. In this economy every dealer is looking to pick up extra shifts. Then back to the US of A. Buffalo isn't very touristy. After Meier and Nanci dropped me at my hotel I walked around downtown for a little bit and saw some of the historic buildings. Meier picked me up later and we went to Duff's for buffalo wings with Nanci's family -- how can you go to Buffalo and not have wings?! Wings were good but we all ate too much. Meier and I headed back to the Falls to play some poker, actually wound up playing on the New York side and had an interesting border crossing at 2:30 AM when we wanted to go back to pick up poker chips. Ended OK but got home very, very late.
Thursday I got up and wandered around town by myself. Walked down to Coca-Cola Field, then walked along the waterfront and looked across to Canada. Meier met me and we discovered that City Hall has a free viewpoint on the 28th floor so we got a good look at the city. Then it was back to eating -- some famous hot dog place that didn't impress me at all and Anderson's for custard (soft serve ice cream) which was pretty good. Then airport and home.
Lots packed in in just four days.
Sunday, September 26
Crazy Hot Poker Session
Spent most of last week in Toronto and Buffalo -- more on that later -- but wanted to share about a wild thing that happened to me playing poker. Meier and I were at Seneca Niagra Casino, on the US side of the Falls, playing 1-2 NL. After being down quickly, then building back my stack to be ahead, I'd been whittled down to about $65. Meier and I had already decided this was going to be our last orbit and we'd pick up and check out the other casinos. Warning: lots of poker content follows.
I'm under the gun (first after the blinds), so this is my "last" hand. I raise to $10 with TT and get three callers. The flop is 5-4-2 (or similar), I bet $30 and get one caller who we'll call Loose Gambler (LG) because he's a gambler as we'll see. The turn is a jack and I push my last $25 in and LG folds. I'm up to $125 now and it's time to go. However Meier suggests we play one more orbit and I say OK.
BB: UTG+1 raises to 5, not a play I'd seen him make before, and a strange range because anyone who would call 2 will call 5. Action comes to be and I re-raise to 20 with JJ. Honestly I had checked out and hadn't realized that three people had called and thus my raise was too small. Three people called the $20 making an $80 pot. Flop 9-9-7, I bet $45, LG shoves for $25 more. I think a bit and call and he shows K7 for a worse too pair and says "I hoped I could push you off AK". My jacks hold and in two hands, I'm up to $255. LG rebuys for $60.
SB: Meier raises to $8 UTG+1, there's a re-raise all-in for $20, I fold T8o, Meier calls. Flop J-7-x, turn 9. river blank and Meier shows T8s to snap QQ. (I think this was my SB hand.)
Button: I limp KJo behind several limpers. Flop K-J-T. SB leads for $6, three callers, I elect to just call; I'm probably best but it's possible there's a straight out there. I'll see the turn and re-evaluate. Turn K. SB says "I don't like the king" and checks. Everyone checks to me and I check, hoping to peal off an A or Q and have a straight pay me off. River 4. LG bets $10, I raise to $30, LG folds J4 face up. I show a jack. ($300)
CO: With about four limpers, I raise to $15 with KQ, LG re-raises blind to $36. Loose donkey in EP calls the $36. I re-raise to $100 to isolate. EP thinks for a while and calls his last $64 (Oops). Board runs out Q-4-x-J-x and EP shows K4s (yes, really he put his whole stack in with that). Blind LG flipped over his cards and had paired the board too. MHIG. Meier criticized my play but I didn't think the limp $2, call $36 was a trap with AA/KK from this guy and wanted to get my money in good. ($440)
HJ: With a few limpers, I limp TT (I know a raise will get called 4 ways). Meier raises to $12 and given his style his range is wide, he gets 4 callers and I bump it to $90. If he has AA-QQ, so be it. He folds and everyone folds being him. I show TT. ($490)
MP: I open raise to $12 with KQ, Meier calls on the button and we're heads up. Flop A-Q-Q. I figure Meier will bet the ace whether he has it or not, so I check but he checks behind. Turn is a blank. I bet $15, he calls. River K, I bet $25, he thinks for a long time and calls with an ace. ($540)
I may have the previous two hands reversed. Or it's possible I folded from HJ and these are both MP hands.
MP: I limp 77 after several limpers. Flop Jd-7c-4d; bingo, I hit my set. It checks to me and I check. The player to my left bets $6, a few people call, and I call planning to make a move on the turn. Turn is a diamond, everyone checks to me, I check, the flop bettor checks. River is a 4th diamond everyone checks. I turn over my hand, declare a set of 7s then realize I have 7d for a diamond flush; either is good. I played this hand terribly but still won $40. ($580)
UTG+1: I fold
UTG: I limp 5s4s. Several limpers behind me.Flop 4-4-3. Blinds check, and I bet $8. Slow playing is just a bad idea plus there are draws on the board. UTG+1 calls, UTG+2 thinks a long time and folds (77), BB calls. Turn 5, BB checks, I bet $20, UTG+1 calls, BB shoves for $15 more and we both call. As the river is coming out, UTG+1 says "who gets to check first?". River is a blank (high card I think). I bet $65 and UTG+1 folds. BB shows 43 for the flopped boat. Wow, not only did I flop trips but then I hit the three-outer I needed to win the hand. ($675)
Overall in one orbit plus a hand I won 8 of 10 or 11 hands, folded the others pre-flop and went from $65 to $675. I'll probably never have a run like that again.
I'm under the gun (first after the blinds), so this is my "last" hand. I raise to $10 with TT and get three callers. The flop is 5-4-2 (or similar), I bet $30 and get one caller who we'll call Loose Gambler (LG) because he's a gambler as we'll see. The turn is a jack and I push my last $25 in and LG folds. I'm up to $125 now and it's time to go. However Meier suggests we play one more orbit and I say OK.
BB: UTG+1 raises to 5, not a play I'd seen him make before, and a strange range because anyone who would call 2 will call 5. Action comes to be and I re-raise to 20 with JJ. Honestly I had checked out and hadn't realized that three people had called and thus my raise was too small. Three people called the $20 making an $80 pot. Flop 9-9-7, I bet $45, LG shoves for $25 more. I think a bit and call and he shows K7 for a worse too pair and says "I hoped I could push you off AK". My jacks hold and in two hands, I'm up to $255. LG rebuys for $60.
SB: Meier raises to $8 UTG+1, there's a re-raise all-in for $20, I fold T8o, Meier calls. Flop J-7-x, turn 9. river blank and Meier shows T8s to snap QQ. (I think this was my SB hand.)
Button: I limp KJo behind several limpers. Flop K-J-T. SB leads for $6, three callers, I elect to just call; I'm probably best but it's possible there's a straight out there. I'll see the turn and re-evaluate. Turn K. SB says "I don't like the king" and checks. Everyone checks to me and I check, hoping to peal off an A or Q and have a straight pay me off. River 4. LG bets $10, I raise to $30, LG folds J4 face up. I show a jack. ($300)
CO: With about four limpers, I raise to $15 with KQ, LG re-raises blind to $36. Loose donkey in EP calls the $36. I re-raise to $100 to isolate. EP thinks for a while and calls his last $64 (Oops). Board runs out Q-4-x-J-x and EP shows K4s (yes, really he put his whole stack in with that). Blind LG flipped over his cards and had paired the board too. MHIG. Meier criticized my play but I didn't think the limp $2, call $36 was a trap with AA/KK from this guy and wanted to get my money in good. ($440)
HJ: With a few limpers, I limp TT (I know a raise will get called 4 ways). Meier raises to $12 and given his style his range is wide, he gets 4 callers and I bump it to $90. If he has AA-QQ, so be it. He folds and everyone folds being him. I show TT. ($490)
MP: I open raise to $12 with KQ, Meier calls on the button and we're heads up. Flop A-Q-Q. I figure Meier will bet the ace whether he has it or not, so I check but he checks behind. Turn is a blank. I bet $15, he calls. River K, I bet $25, he thinks for a long time and calls with an ace. ($540)
I may have the previous two hands reversed. Or it's possible I folded from HJ and these are both MP hands.
MP: I limp 77 after several limpers. Flop Jd-7c-4d; bingo, I hit my set. It checks to me and I check. The player to my left bets $6, a few people call, and I call planning to make a move on the turn. Turn is a diamond, everyone checks to me, I check, the flop bettor checks. River is a 4th diamond everyone checks. I turn over my hand, declare a set of 7s then realize I have 7d for a diamond flush; either is good. I played this hand terribly but still won $40. ($580)
UTG+1: I fold
UTG: I limp 5s4s. Several limpers behind me.Flop 4-4-3. Blinds check, and I bet $8. Slow playing is just a bad idea plus there are draws on the board. UTG+1 calls, UTG+2 thinks a long time and folds (77), BB calls. Turn 5, BB checks, I bet $20, UTG+1 calls, BB shoves for $15 more and we both call. As the river is coming out, UTG+1 says "who gets to check first?". River is a blank (high card I think). I bet $65 and UTG+1 folds. BB shows 43 for the flopped boat. Wow, not only did I flop trips but then I hit the three-outer I needed to win the hand. ($675)
Overall in one orbit plus a hand I won 8 of 10 or 11 hands, folded the others pre-flop and went from $65 to $675. I'll probably never have a run like that again.
Tuesday, September 14
Trip to Chicago (Vacation)
We spent most of this past week in Chicago. We went for Monica's niece's first birthday party. Her actual birthday was two weeks before, but they scheduled the party around when we could be in town. How nice.
Usually when we go to Chicago for a family event, our trip is all spending time with family and not really a vacation. The most touristy thing we do is "go to the mall". But we actually managed to combine a bit of vacation with this trip. With three young kids in the house, Monica and I wisely chose to stay in a hotel, which gave us some space but also meant we weren't tied to the family schedule. In part because of that, we actually got to play tourist.
Sunday was about Lily's birthday party, a nice brunch buffet at a local hall, which coincidentally was a 5-minute walk from our hotel. Then we headed to Monica's sister's house to watch the Storm-Mercury game (well, I watched) and hang out. Monday we went to the Cubs game which was a unique experience. Monica got tickets at Costco to sit on a rooftop across the street from the ballpark. The provide an all-you-can eat and drink menu along with first-come, first served seating. We were on the lower roof deck, protected from the weather and with a surprisingly good view of the field from beyond right field. They also have TVs set up so you don't miss anything and bathrooms and what not. Between the four of us, we had one beer, but a lot of people must have run a beer per inning. It's come a long way from when people used to sit on the roofs with lawn chairs and a charcoal grill. I'd certainly recommend trying it once and it's probably a great way to see the game when the Cubs make the playoffs again. But I think I prefer to be in the ballpark, closer to the action.
We drove back after the game and since it was Labor Day, there was surprisingly little traffic. Was actually a pleasant drive rather than a long aggravation. Went out to dinner at Claim Jumper (Monica's favorite) and had salads, since none of us were very hungry after lunch.
Tuesday we went to Long Grove and walked around the shop with Sandra and Ariana. Had a nice lunch and bought lots of stuff (see clothes, Monica) but it was sad to see the place basically deserted. Spent Tuesday evening cooking brisket for Rosh Hashanah and cooking dinner (pasta, rice) for the sick bay. Wednesday Monica and I went downtown to the Planetarium and then browsing along the Miracle Mile. We saw social networking at its best. After I posted on Facebook that I was in downtown Chicago, one of my poker buddies saw it and text messaged me about meeting for lunch. We were able to meet him without any advance planning -- the way Facebook places should work. Raced home later than we planned and got to Sandra's for a nice holiday dinner.
Thursday AM we were up before the crack of dawn to catch our plane home.
Seems like we did a lot in what was really four days in Chicago.
Usually when we go to Chicago for a family event, our trip is all spending time with family and not really a vacation. The most touristy thing we do is "go to the mall". But we actually managed to combine a bit of vacation with this trip. With three young kids in the house, Monica and I wisely chose to stay in a hotel, which gave us some space but also meant we weren't tied to the family schedule. In part because of that, we actually got to play tourist.
Sunday was about Lily's birthday party, a nice brunch buffet at a local hall, which coincidentally was a 5-minute walk from our hotel. Then we headed to Monica's sister's house to watch the Storm-Mercury game (well, I watched) and hang out. Monday we went to the Cubs game which was a unique experience. Monica got tickets at Costco to sit on a rooftop across the street from the ballpark. The provide an all-you-can eat and drink menu along with first-come, first served seating. We were on the lower roof deck, protected from the weather and with a surprisingly good view of the field from beyond right field. They also have TVs set up so you don't miss anything and bathrooms and what not. Between the four of us, we had one beer, but a lot of people must have run a beer per inning. It's come a long way from when people used to sit on the roofs with lawn chairs and a charcoal grill. I'd certainly recommend trying it once and it's probably a great way to see the game when the Cubs make the playoffs again. But I think I prefer to be in the ballpark, closer to the action.
We drove back after the game and since it was Labor Day, there was surprisingly little traffic. Was actually a pleasant drive rather than a long aggravation. Went out to dinner at Claim Jumper (Monica's favorite) and had salads, since none of us were very hungry after lunch.
Tuesday we went to Long Grove and walked around the shop with Sandra and Ariana. Had a nice lunch and bought lots of stuff (see clothes, Monica) but it was sad to see the place basically deserted. Spent Tuesday evening cooking brisket for Rosh Hashanah and cooking dinner (pasta, rice) for the sick bay. Wednesday Monica and I went downtown to the Planetarium and then browsing along the Miracle Mile. We saw social networking at its best. After I posted on Facebook that I was in downtown Chicago, one of my poker buddies saw it and text messaged me about meeting for lunch. We were able to meet him without any advance planning -- the way Facebook places should work. Raced home later than we planned and got to Sandra's for a nice holiday dinner.
Thursday AM we were up before the crack of dawn to catch our plane home.
Seems like we did a lot in what was really four days in Chicago.
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