Rockingham Park TR

[shane88888]

I had my chance to sit at Rockingham Park in NH this evening.

For the unfamiliar, Rockingham is just over the NH/MA border in Salem, NH. It is a harness-racing track.

My girlfriend had a function this evening in Medford, MA. This was convenient, for I needed cigarettes and was already half-way to the border. The great state of New Hampshire is not keen on tobacco taxes, much unlike the lesser Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Live Free or Die indeed.

After making my appropriate life-expectancy-shortening purchase, I had 90 minutes to kill. Ooh. A poker room.

The room is only the lower level of the facility in a room that best resembles a newer high school cafeteria. However, the room is, um, roomy and fairly comfortably, with adequately high ceilings. Also, there are, from what I recall, floor-to-ceiling windows that probably face the racetrack. I'm not sure, it was dark. It's always dark, since the room is only open from 6pm-Midnight Tuesday-Sunday. I could be wrong about this, but they're definitely not open Mondays.

High ceilings and windows were a welcomed change from Foxwoods.

In the middle of the room was a bar with six stools. This is a nice touch. There are also some tables and chairs, which are probably suitable for killing time while waiting for the next SNG.

There was a sign advertising the "Food Court of the World" or some such nonsense. They offered burgers, pizza, and chicken fingers.

Since this is a racetrack, there are TV's everywhere. Strangely enough, though most of the TV's were showing some simulcast action, I did not see a betting window in the room. Though abundant, the TV's are small.

There around probably around 25 tables. The tables themselves are garbage. They have folding legs, and the felt will wear out in a few months (probably less). The Rockingham Park logo was unimpressive.

The tables are weak; the chairs are worse. They are low-quality chairs, with metal legs and padded seats. They cannot cost more than $18 each in bulk.

The dealer chair had three(!) additional cushions on it. These cushions were semi-permanent additions. I was mildly alarmed when the new dealer brought a fourth cushion with him. He looked comfortable.

The chips are plain with a small, and again unimpressive RP, logo on them. Blues are $1 and reds are $2. They were still very new, and difficult to shuffle.

The bathrooms are right off the room, about 15 steps from my table. The highlight of my visit was the old-school, down-to-the-floor style urinals. When I buy a house, I'm having one of these installed. It's the little things in life that give me pleasure.

The main action is sit and go's. I don't know what the juice is or how it relates.

I do not play SNG's, or much no-limit in general. This is unfortunate. One look and I could tell that the action is nothing short of fantastic.

To Do List: Read those HOH's you've had on the shelf for six months.

And now, my games. The cash games.

NH currently offers 1/2 limit cash games. However, these are not true 1/2 limit games. Instead, they are that poker abortion that Florida used to offer. Blinds $1 and $2, and bets on ALL streets $2 with a four-bet cap. Cap is removed if the street starts HU.

Hold'em, Stud, Omahaha 8, and Crazy Pineapple were offered. I do not know what Crazy Pineapple is; I do not want to know.

Dealers were obviously green, and a couple pitched the cards way too high. They were very nice. Most people in New Hampshire are very nice. One of the dealers was actually very good.

The cards are [censored]. The suit is indicated under the rank, so you have to pick your card half-way up to see if you hold a freaking diamond. They also seemed to mark easily; we needed a deck change.

I have no idea what the rake is. I didn't even notice the dealer taking rake, so I guess that's good. If it was abusive, I would have noticed. Basically I thought to myself, "Wow. I could probably beat this game for like $20 an hour."

The action was very loose and passive, mostly older folks. This makes the games ridiculously easy, but unbearably slow.

End result (one hour): +$48, or 1.4 cartons of Camel Lights.

Smoke if you got 'em.