Not a Vegas report but it is as near as I have gotten recently. I have been playing NL online for several years now and even won enough money back in the old Paradise Poker days to pay for a couple of Vegas vacations. In Vegas I only played 2-4 limit for a few hours. I was thinking that the live players in Vegas must be much better than online so I stayed away from the NL tables and played mostly BJ, with predictably bad results.

Since the gov’t lockdown I have played at FT (.25/.50 NL) and gone back and forth. Currently I am ahead but not by much, which is disappointing considering I have had an account for a couple of years. The games seem aIot tougher since the crackdown and the truth is that I haven’t worked on my game much so don’t think I’m complaining.

Anyway, I had to attend a trade show in St Louis this week. My wife and daughter had to stay home so I went solo with my mom and stepdad. They love to play slots/vp and get comped rooms at Harrah's. Monday we drove from Tennessee to the Horseshoe in Elizabeth, IN, right outside of Louisville. We arrived about 8pm. The place was nice and had recently converted to Horseshoe from the Ceasars brand.

We headed off to the diamond lounge on the boat and they had a decent little spread with BBQ and meatballs on the hot bar and veggies/fruit to go with it. After loading up I headed down to the poker room. It is on the bottom floor of the boat (4 floors). It was a nice big place that took up about 1/3 of the floor, lots of room between tables, a cage right at the entrance and bathrooms in the back. The poker area is non-smoking but it is not a separate room and there is smoking outside the rail. They had an electronic board showing what was being spread at which table, the wait list and also the interest list.

I had never played NL in a casino and after walking through I could see that there were some big stacks and very chatty players. It made me a bit anxious. So I went to the bar and got a drink to chill out. After a belt I went back and asked to be put into a 1-2 NL game. I arrived at the same time as 2 others who wanted to be seated together. The brush (who also seemed to be the floor manager) looked over the room and sent them to the 4th table behind the desk and sent me to the 3rd. I got there and found a seat with no chips on the table but a coat on the chair. I asked if the seat was empty and was told by a couple of the players that it was taken. WTF? The dealer looked a little confused by my presence there but after a few uncomfortable seconds of my looking at him for some help he confirmed that it was taken. Shit, thanks for that…so back to the desk. I tell the mgr that the seat is taken and he puts me back on the top of the list.

I am even more unnerved by this turn of events so I head back to the bar and belt myself again. OK, much better. I am quickly called and pointed to the table behind the desk in the 3 seat. I move to the table and nobody offers me any chips. Uh-oh…another gaff. I quickly surmise that they have no chip runners and head to the cage. Not sure what the min is but the max is $300. I buy $200 and sit down.

My initial impression is this: $200 is a little above average as most have between $100-$200 with the exception of the 5 seat who has more that $1000. Everyone seemed very familiar with each other and although there was plenty of trash talk it seemed to be good-natured. I was prepared to be played back at hard so I wanted to wait for a good hand to start with. After about an orbit and a half I was dealt KK in MP. The regular raise seemed to be about $12 so I went with that after only one limper in front. It folded around to the button who just called and the limper folded. The flop came unconnected off-suit junk. I bet out $15 and the button folded. OK, I survived my first hand of NL.

After that I relaxed and got into the game. The dealers were excellent and the autoshuffler kept the game moving. They take a time rake of $6 every 1/2 hr. and drop $1 for the bb/hh jackpots, not sure which. Everyone was cool. I took a couple of smoke breaks with the regular players and they were very nice guys. Some of the players were a little obnoxious with their chatter but nothing too crazy. The dealers were very good, very friendly. I got some good hands and played only ABC poker. Only showed down winners and didn’t try any big bluffs. I played until about 3am and cashed out with +280 profit. Winning was nice but it would have been a good time regardless, cool players, good staff.

Next morning we drove into St Louis and checked into Harrah’s Riverport Casino. This is a nice place. Overall, I was very impressed. The place is very clean and employees are friendly. We headed downtown and registered for the convention. Then we went to a cocktail party and had a few drinks.

After getting back to Harrah’s I headed to the poker room. It’s a separate room off the casino floor so smoke is no issue. Very nice with lots of tables and a cage in the room that is shared with the main casino. They have the same electronic wait list as the Horseshoe. I was 3rd on the list for 1-2 nl and was seated in about 15 minutes. Again, no chip runner and I had to get my chips at the cage. The buy-in was $60-$200. The table had an autoshuffler so things moved quickly. The dealers were outstanding. No mistakes and very friendly. They do a pot rake but for some reason I didn't ask what it was. They rake for a bb jackpot as well.

I settled in and folded for awhile trying to figure out what was what. I was in the seat across from the “Big Captain” (BC) who was a real big talkative guy who raised almost every pot and wanted to know what cards everybody had. He was a nice guy and very respectful, just…well, you know…kind of obnoxious. He had about $400 behind which was the biggest stack at the table. After folding for an orbit or so I was dealt AQ on the button. BC raised $15 in mp, which was pretty standard for him. I raised $15 more and he called before sitting back to stare at me. The flop was middle crap, like 10 high. He checked and I continued for $25. He thought for like 10 seconds and folded. Then he said “Good bet sir. Did you have it or was that a position play?” I told him “It was pretty good”. And so we danced…

The table was very fun/interesting as BC would tangle with anybody who challenged him. He was digging for information constantly but never pushy or disrespectful. There was one guy with a bit of an attitude who seemed annoyed by BC and played a lot of hands with him. He showed down several big bluffs and seemed to enjoy rubbing it in BC’s face but ended up leaving down 2 buy-in’s. That show kept things interesting but my stack went down trying to find a big hand to tangle with. Finally, I got some cards late and got up to a little over $300 when…

Now here is the hand that has been driving me crazy. It is 4 in the morning and I am needing to wrap it up. There is a young guy (villian) in the 8 seat who moved from another table with about $150 that he lost rather quickly just gambling against the table. He rebuys for $150 and quickly triples up against BC and another player with AA. I don't have much of a read on him except that he has been a bit wreckless and it paid off when he had the goods. He hasn't been around long enough to know much more. So he has @450 and I have a little over $300 when it plays out.

As I write this out I realize that I was not thinking deeply enough about the hand before the river so I am going to just write it out as it happened and then tell you my thoughts when I get to the moment of truth. I am dealt KJo on the button and raise to $12 behind BC’s limp. The villian calls from the bb and BC folds. (Pot @$30)

The flop comes AKQ rainbow. Villian checks and I raise to $20 to see if he has an A. Villian calls without much thought. (Pot@70) I am thinking he has A-J or A-10 maybe not that good, but an A anyway so…Oh well, I am ready to shut down unless something good happens.

Dealer puts out another K(no flush possible). Hmmm…interesting. Now in my mind I am sure I’m ahead. Villian checks and I bet $50 which he calls with only some deliberation. Then he announces “check in the dark”. Does he have 10-J thinking I have only an A or K and only 4 outs??? Oh Crap, AK or KQ for a made boat hoping I have 10-J???

The dealer peels off an A. Not good in my mind. Shit I had him on an A before that…

Confused and tired, hoping he has 10-J, I elect to bet $40 to look like a value bet and he immediately sets me all-in.

Why did I bet? Like I said, I didn’t think it through at the time.

…Unless he has 10-J…

I hem and haw for a while but didn’t call. He didn’t show so I don’t know if he had the A, or maybe a K, even 10-J…whatever, I couldn’t call, or was afraid to call, so more power to ya brother.

After a few more hands and a little talk back and forth to try and figure out what he had I finally picked up and left with $15 less than I sat down with.

Comments welcome.

I didn’t have a chance to play Wednesday night as we were out very late and had to get up early to drive home.

I have a whole different feeling about live play now. It was so cool. The players are not nearly as good as I thought they would be but much nicer than I expected. The interaction made the game 100x better than online.

Good Luck,
Scott