Poker Field Trip

[jducoeur]

Oh, right -- almost forgot to write a diary entry on playing hooky.

Last Friday, several of us from our regular Poker table took the day off to go visit Mohegan Sun's new Poker Room. Overall, I found it an educational and not *terribly* expensive experience. General summary: real-money poker is a bit different from either small-beans poker or funny-money LARP poker. But it's not *dramatically* different.

I played in two "sit and go" (SNG) tournaments, with the rest of our group: each had a $75 buy-in, which isn't too bad for a couple of hours' entertainment at a casino. I played decently well in the first one, making it about halfway through; while I was incorrect on the play that knocked me out, I still believe that it was based on a reasonable assessment of the situation. (That is, I was wrong but not stupid.)

I probably shouldn't have entered the second one, because I was already both tired and a bit stressed from the first -- in that one, I got knocked out early because I *did* make an utterly bone-headed play. Note to self: if your internal monologue is saying, "Yes, I know that you really *want* this to work, but it is patently dumb", it's probably telling the truth.

After that, I decided to go back to the land I was comfortable with: small-stakes seven stud. I got some chips and hung out until a $1/$5 stud table opened up (which took about 20 minutes, giving me to time to calm my nerves), and played there for the remaining couple of hours. That was much more in my zone -- while I may be a fish, I'm not quite as small a fish as some. (This was helped by getting a couple of nicely-hidden hands, and the apparent assumption by many at the table that, since I wasn't a regular, I didn't know what I was doing.) So I gradually won back most of the $75 I'd lost in the second tournament, doing much to improve my mood.

Dinner was at the Long House restaurant inside the casino, and was quite good, but in reverse order of cost. That is, the steak was very good, but the Country Fried Onion String Brick in Honey (improbable as it sounds) was better, and the escargots appetizer, with a crunchy layer of parmesan baked on, was utterly divine.

Overall, a pleasant day out. I'd agree with the general consensus that the company was more interesting than the poker itself, but it confirmed my fondness of small-stakes poker as a recreation for its own sake. Not really worth the two-hour drive in and of itself, but a good field trip with friends...

Comments

[querldox.livejournal.com]

They spread stud in CT? In the rooms I've played in in CA and Vegas, you might find it in a (relatively rare) mixed game, but no longer spread on it's own. Pretty much Hold'Em (mostly no-limit, some limit mostly at lower stakes) with a smattering of Omaha and the occasional mixed game. Sometimes you'll see something odd, but it's usually because a group large enough to fill a table made a special request.

[herooftheage.livejournal.com]

This is the East Coast. Stud is still the norm on this side of the continent, though Texas Hold'em is what they play in tourneys, and is making inroads in the cash games.

[etherial.livejournal.com]

I'm not a regular, but I got the impression that the tables at Foxwoods are a mix of "what is popular" and "what people ask for".

[jducoeur]

Yeah, as herooftheage says, it's pretty common out here. I'd say that the Hold 'Em tables probably outnumbered anything else, but there was Seven Stud available at pretty much all price points, as well as a variety of other options...

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

I found it impossible to bluff in funny-money (online) poker, because everyone would always pay to see your cards. Kind of a turn-off, there.

[jducoeur]

Ah -- actually, I'm not talking about online. I've played in two live, largish-scale poker tournaments before, both with notional but limited money. One was at Dexcon: 50 person tournament, ante doubling every 20 minutes or so. The other was part of the Four Aces LARP. In both cases, it was a true tournament: play badly, and you'll get knocked out. That concentrates minds a lot more than casual online does, I suspect.

(I came in fourth in the Dexcon tournament, just out of the money. I won the Four Aces one, apparently because I decided that, for story purposes, my character *had* to win -- there's nothing quite so dangerous as a writer/player who is confident that story karma is with him. Totally not what the GMs had intended, but it was required to give my character a satisfactory arc...)

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

That last story's awesome. ("I *am* Bond. Of course I will win. And so, my opponent must be bluffing.")