TAJ MAHAL - $1/$2 NO LIMIT HOLD EM CASH GAME
Arrived at a motel outside of A.C. Friday night and headed to the Taj for some 1/2 NL action. The Taj is very nice, with lots of chandeliers and fancy decorations. The chairs were comfortable and the tables also very nice. They had cupholders, good, new cloth, and leather rails, all very comfortable. I bought in for $100 and played pretty tight for awhile. There were a couple of loose-passive older guys who would call a lot and fold on the flop. There was one young guy playing very loose and aggressive, and had about $350 in front of him. There were a few others who were not very good or bad either way. I took a nice pot when I raised in early position to $10 (the standard preflop raise seemed to be $10-$15) with
. I got one caller on the button and the flop came
. I check-raised all-in for $80 and got called. The other player didn't have to turn his hand over but I showed my jacks and he said I was ahead. I won the hand with blanks on the turn and river and he told me he had two nines. Later I was down to about $80 after taking a bad beat on the river, and after an
flop I pushed all in with
. The same guy from before called and when a
hit on the river he mucked. He later said he had a
for a straight flush draw that didn't hit. I double up to $160 and after about 6 hours of play (9:00-3:00) I headed to bed up about $60. The red bull (and vodka) was a plus, and so were the brand new $5 chips (Paulson house mold with faux? shaped inlays). The dealers made very few mistakes but were not very friendly either. All in all, a good first game in a casino.
SHOWBOAT - $50 + $10 NO LIMIT HOLD EM FREEZEOUT TOURNEY
I had read good things about the Showboat tournaments as far as structure, and was pretty pleased with it. The room was on the second floor, away from the other parts of the casino. It had a smaller, more private feel to it, much better than the Taj which was partially open to the chaos outside. Everybody started with 5,000 in tournament chips (which were solid Paulson giant inlays with the WSOP logo) and there were no rebuys, no add-ons, and no antes (huge plus). 95 players were there and most of them were pretty bad. It didn't take long for a dealer to screw up though. In the third level with the blinds at 100-200, I raised under-the-gun to 800 with
, and the player in the cutoff called. The player in the big blind raised to 1,000 total. I asked the dealer if this was legal, and he went into a schpiel about raises. Meanwhile, the player in the cutoff called the 200 more chips out of turn. The dealer called the floor, who directed the action to me. Trying to appear frustrated, I raised allin and pushed all my chips in the center in one high-stacked tower. The floor allowed the player in the cutoff to remove his 200-chip call, and then fold, which he did. The player in the big blind called immediately and turned over
. He was surprised I had aces but was a good sport when the board did not improve either hand. That hand propelled me up to about 17,000 in chips and I was in good shape. I continued to hover around the 15,000 mark before busting a player with queens against his top pair of jacks-nine kicker on the flop. By the time we were down to two tables, I had 23,000 in chips. That's when the blinds combined with the bad run of cards I was about to get chopped me down. Folding relentlessly I mucked preflop for about 15 hands in a row. With 17 players left and the blinds at 2,000-4,000, it was down to the blinds. With 19,000 in chips in front of me I went allin from the small blind with
. The big blind, with 14,000 chips total, called with
. A king came on the flop and, despite picking up a straight and flush draw on the turn to go with my ace (which would also have won it for me), I was crippled to 5,000. I moved allin with
against two other players who checked it down. I had nothing, one had AQ for a straight, and I was gone in 15th place. Not bad for my first casino tournament, but no money. Still felt okay.
CAESAR'S - $1/$2 NO LIMIT HOLD EM CASH GAME
I headed to Caesar's about 10:00 for a cash game and stepped up to the poker room, an elevated section open to the casino slots area. It was very noisy and active here and there were people smoking right next to the poker area. Luckily I was tucked away in the farmost corner of the room. After about ten minutes of waiting a new game was started and we played shorthanded for a few minutes until the table filled. I played very tight aggressive poker, playing a few premium hands and winning some small pots. After about two hours and with $125 in front of me ($25 more than my original buyin) I called a preflop raise with
and saw the flop come
. I bet into an opponent $15, and did so again when the turn was the
. On the river, a
, I made a $25 bet and was called by the other player holding K7. Nice pot for me. At about 2:00, the UTG player raised to $15, two middle players called, and the button went all-in for $60 or so. I went allin for $150 with the
and the first three players all folded. Again, I was up against KK, and again, I held on to win. Shortly thereafter, I left Caesar's up about $160. A very nice four-hour session for me. The dealers here were fine, as was the table, chips, etc. The only negative was the short wait, which wasn't really that long.
TAJ MAHAL - $60 + $15 NO LIMIT HOLD EM SIT AND GO
I decided to play something that wouldn't take long before I left so I played a sit and go at the Taj. Played some steady poker and made it to heads-up play with a little bit more than a 2:1 chip disadvantage. The other player and I agreed to split it $400-$200 and that was that. Very pleased with the outcome as I had to leave and was happy to walk away with $125 more profit.
All in all, I enjoyed all three poker rooms. The players were about what I expected; not too great, not too bad.
Taj- These are both house mold Paulson but the $5 has a shaped inlay. I don't know if it is true shaped or not but it looks like the real thing. It is however slick whereas the white chip has a textured inlay.
Bally's- Paulson house mold giant inlay (slick)
Showboat- Paulson house mold giant inlay (slick)
Caesar's- Paulson house mold giant inlay, but textured. This is the nicest chip of the bunch in my opinion.
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