Mountaineer Trip Report- WV

[Spiffysean]

Well yeah, as much as I love PLO, playing it in that kind of setting is sick. Why play a game where you can't ever be a 4:1 favorite? It gives bad players too big of a shot to pick you off, and unless you have a roll of around 4k for a 1-2 game, you are better off reeling in at the 1/2NLHE game.

Since the casinos are equal distance from me, I'm looking more for the type of action, game spreads, and overall quality of the room. Anyone who has been to both care to compare?

[frommagio]

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Since the casinos are equal distance from me, I'm looking more for the type of action, game spreads, and overall quality of the room. Anyone who has been to both care to compare?

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If you're in Robinson, Mountaineer has got to be closer, right? Still, worth the drive to Wheeling if you don't like cigarette smoke.

[Spiffysean]

Ok, here is the report from last night:

I got there around 9pm, and it was fairly open. I splashed around at a 3/6 limit game, waiting for a seat at the Omaha H/L game. Even at 3/6, it was amazing at how bad the players were. Standard 7-9 players seeing every flop, raised or not - it gave a LOT of potential to flop a monster, and make some great money - Which I did. Nobody folds! Granted, you get sucked out on (guy with 4-3 catches up to my kings on the river with a board of 4-6-9-J-4) but overall, you can make money if you play A-B-C poker.

The Omaha game was tight, but beatable. I was card dead for a few hours, but ended up squeaking out a small profit.

I ended up knowing some of the dealers/floor from playing in games around Pittsburgh (papoker.com and similar firehall tournies) At any rate, I started picking their brains for some of the better action there since I was in laid-back limit mode for the evening.

The 2/5NL game is just as sick as everyone says. So much so that with my reputation alone I was offered to be staked in the game, because it was so easy to beat. I might have to take them up on that. Expected profits of around 2k a session are not unreasonable. The issue is having the roll to do it - since it's likely that you will get busted out by some donkey chasing a naked flush draw or something against your set... costing you 500 bucks. I'd say 1500 is a good roll if you plan on playing 2/5NL for the night.

For 1/2NL, there is no way to describe how bad it is. People shoving pre-flop with pocket 4's, calling down with bottom pair, etc. And it doesn't matter what you bet! You can fire 40 dollars into a 15 dollar pot, and still get 3 callers.

The smoke sucked. I would not be shocked if they change it so that you can't smoke anywhere on that floor. What is the point of having a non smoking poker room if the railbirds can literally stand on the rail blowing smoke in? I'd recommend a smoking room or section in that building - it's big enough.

Anyway, the bad stuff:

The TV's were small, and non-existant. They really need to get bigger screens, and get them on the pillars around the room. a few 20 inch TV's on the far walls doesn't do 75% of the room any good. The cocktail service was not bad, but paying for booze is bad. It didn't deter a lot of people who felt like just literally handing me all of their chips.

Good room, with a lot of potential. I might have to check out Wheeling, just for the contrast. I hope it's helpful.

BTW - They are having a weekly 10/25 game on Fridays, I believe. Not a bad game, and they run a 5/10 must move alongside it. Great higher limit action that you would not expect, and they seperate the good dealers/staff on the other side of the room with the higher altitude games.

Overall the dealer quality was average, but improving. I had a few dealers through the night (thanks Eric) that I've played with, and know that they knew what they were doing.

Hope this helps!

[wiper]

there was a 10/25nl game going yesterday afternoon, too...took a little doing, but it was going.

as a smoker, i love the fact that i had to take literally 7 steps from my table to smoke, but i completely understand non-smokers at a table along the rail...you can smoke literally in an entire circle around the tables, just not at the tables. my brother (nonsmoker, usually) was happy being 'it could've gotten ridiculous if everyone could smoke at the tables', but again, i see the point. there has to be room somewhere in that big room for us to go...

again, to me, i loved it. i could leave and be back for the next hand. but if you despise smoke, it's a little strange...

[frommagio]

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there was a 10/25nl game going yesterday afternoon, too...took a little doing, but it was going.

as a smoker, i love the fact that i had to take literally 7 steps from my table to smoke, but i completely understand non-smokers at a table along the rail...you can smoke literally in an entire circle around the tables, just not at the tables. my brother (nonsmoker, usually) was happy being 'it could've gotten ridiculous if everyone could smoke at the tables', but again, i see the point. there has to be room somewhere in that big room for us to go...

again, to me, i loved it. i could leave and be back for the next hand. but if you despise smoke, it's a little strange...

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Yes, it is pretty good for smokers. But for nonsmokers, there's unfortunately nowhere to hide at Mountaineer. It would be good if they could throw up glass around the rail, so that smokers could still grab a quick smoke, and the rest of us could have a smoke-free environment.

Right now, the smoke is the most intense along the rail, of course. But realistically, playing a session anywhere in that Poker Room means that you'll be immersed in smoke. When I visit, I dress in really old clothes, and I dump them in the basement as soon I get home so that my house doesn't smell. And a quick shower is mandatory.

[wiper]

haha..being a smoker, i didn't really notice it in the poker room NEARLY as much as i did in the slots area...

but yeah, i got a chuckle out of my brother saying...'so what, you stand here, on the carpet, you can't smoke, but move 2 feet over, you can??'it got to a point where i was literally taking a quick, 2 minute smoke break just about every 2 rounds of so..folding, quickly getting up, hotboxing a marlboro, and sitting down with time to spare before the next hand, especially because i was along the rail, and could still watch the hand in play...

and there really is no barrier between the areas...i played on a table right along the rail all afternoon, and people were literally hanging over the rail, smoking, about a foot behind the players..

i smoked cigarette after cigarette at the bar there, paying WAAY too much to get drunk and watch football while my brother finished...

again, i'm a smoker, but i understand the strangeness of it all...

i'm thinking that [censored] cafeteria they have could be halved, one half being tables to eat, and the other could be some sort of enclosed area, maybe with glass most of the way up to the ceiling, and lots of ventilation??

edit: also, the tv's SUCK. hard. get some bigger [censored] tv's please, so i don't have to have railbirds checking scores on the teeny tv's all the way across the room...a 50+ incher on the wall in front of the men's room is needed, for sure..

[evagaba]

I made my first trip to Mountaineer on Saturday. I sat at 1/2NL table 28 from 2-6PM and wore a Red Ohio St t-shirt.

Anyways, the play was god awful. I have played many hours of live casino poker, mostly at Seneca Niagara, and this was BY FAR the worst play I have ever seen. I never really got any cards to play, but I did win $165 in my 4 hours there. I bought in for $300 and left with $465. Most of my profit was one pot in the SB with T2 when I flopped 2 pair and rivered a boat.

Here is a list of mistakes I saw players make.

-Guy buys in for $75. First hand he is dealt, calls $15 Pre Flop Raise, calls $15 flop bet and folds on the turn. Very next hand, he takes the SAME EXACT LINE. He then puts his remaining $10 in on his BB, calling a PFR and loses it. 3 hands, GG him. Thanks for adding $75 to the table.

-Another than myself, only 1 other person at the table of 10, bought in for the MAX $300. Most bought in for around the $100-$150 range with probably at least HALF the players buying in for the min $75. Unreal.

-A guy sits down with $75 and is now in his 2nd orbit. He doubled up quickly by calling a $25 bet, where the pot was $30, with a gutshot. He caught his gutshot on the turn and of course another bad player paid him off.

The gutshot kid then raises another hand preflop to $15 and gets one caller. "Gutshot" is first to act and goes ALL-IN for $125 into a $30 pot. The board is T24 rainbow. Gutshot's all-in is called by AT. Gutshot turns over AdQd and is currently crushed. Turn 3, River 5, split pot. Gutshot stands up and flexs his muscles yelling "YEEEAAAAHH".

As I was leaving I passed "gutshot" who was on his cell-phone. He is talking to his friend and says: "Yeah dude, this is a great place as long as you know how to play". That amused the hell out of me.

-I saw a player I will call "Station" call a PFR of $15. Flop comes JT4r. A players bets $20 and Station is the only caller. Turn is 3, goes check/check. River is another T. Station checks, Player bets $50, Station calls $50 and shows down with A7 off (Board is JT43T). The other player had pocket Jacks.

-This is not a particular player, but MANY of the players would bet or call with Top Pair Tiny Kicker (K7 was the nuts on a KT5 board). Even middle pair was being bet and called by several of the players.

80% of the players had NO concept of Position, Bet Sizes, Stack Sizes or any of the other "basics" learned here at 2+2 or Cardrunners.

There was only one person at the table who was even close to being a semi-decent player and he was on my immediate right. He was also extremely loose and if the situation came up, Im sure I could exploit him.

-I also wanted to point out the dealers. While I hear they have gotten better, most of them still needed tons of practice.

In one pot, Player A goes all in on the turn. He pushes all of his chips past the white bet line. Player B calls the All-In and IS COVERED by Player A by about $60. Player B does not move his chips, he just calls the all-in. Players B wins the pot. The dealer then proceeds to push Player A's entire stack into the pot. He is just about to push the pot to Player B and I stopped him and explained that Player A has more chips than Player B and should not get all those chips. He did not understand what I meant. I had to explain it to him and then replay the betting lines on each street to figure the pot and figure how many more chips Player A had than Player B. 2 hands later the dealer thanked me for helping him.

[ThunderEagle]

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Right now, the smoke is the most intense along the rail, of course. But realistically, playing a session anywhere in that Poker Room means that you'll be immersed in smoke. When I visit, I dress in really old clothes, and I dump them in the basement as soon I get home so that my house doesn't smell. And a quick shower is mandatory.

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Wheeling Island's Poker room is in the middle of their non-smoking slot machine section. Not much chance of any filtering into the room. Smaller room with 20 instead of Mountaineer's 37 tables, but you might like it better.

[frommagio]

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Right now, the smoke is the most intense along the rail, of course. But realistically, playing a session anywhere in that Poker Room means that you'll be immersed in smoke. When I visit, I dress in really old clothes, and I dump them in the basement as soon I get home so that my house doesn't smell. And a quick shower is mandatory.

[/ QUOTE ]

Wheeling Island's Poker room is in the middle of their non-smoking slot machine section. Not much chance of any filtering into the room. Smaller room with 20 instead of Mountaineer's 37 tables, but you might like it better.

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Yes, I've been posting in the Wheeling thread also. It's a much nicer environment - at least, for me.