Official HO CHUNK is back thread

[NuklearWinter]

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By the way, I think telling 2p2ers where the good action is is a stupid thing to do generally because they're usually good players but it would be nice to see this room fill up a little more and i think any business at this point will help.

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I agree with you there, but I was curious.

I played Friday from 3pm-6:30pm $5/10. Rake was $4 per half-hour. At one point I left 3 minutes before the dealer change to take a piss and get some food. I came back 10 minutes into the new dealer and posted big blind + $2, which was cheaper than the $4 rake.

The table was average. There were 2-3 young guys besides myself (I'm 25). The rest were older guys with a few loose and few tight. Lots of 4-5 way limped pots, but also lots of tight play.

Some interesting stuff:
5 people limp, I complete small blind with K-J. Board comes K-7-7-7-10. I bet on every street and get raised only on the river and I pay off Q-7suited.

In middle position I have 2-2. Friendly, fat guy on my right who has been losing raises an early limper to $10. I flat call. SB, BB, and early guy call. Flop is A-4-2. SB bets, fat guy raises, I call, SB raises, fat guy and I call. Turn is the case 2 giving me quads! The next two streets get capped (neither guy folded) and I rake in a nearly $300 pot. SB had 3-5 for the flopped nuts and fat guy had AK.

At one point the conversation turned to online poker and ZeeJustin and his cheating exploits came up. One young guy actually thought it was impossible to play more than one account at a time in a tournament.

I left down $3 and decided to play some blackjack. 15 minutes later I'm up $90 after hitting BJ on a $40 bet. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[Yo Adrians!]

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I plan on going Saturday night after work ... I'm a little nervous, as I've heard horror stories about the $5 time charge per half hour, and the pathetic dealers.

Still, I'll check it out. It would be great if they could get some 1/2 NL going there ...

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how was the trip? how many tables? what limits?

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Well friends, I went. All in all, a mixed bag. When I arrived at a little before midnight, there were 9 tables running - five 2/4s, three 5/10s, one 10/20.

First of all, let's focus on the positive:
1) There IS, in fact, a poker room there [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] Very nice.
2) Lots of space ... very comfortable with a bar right in the middle of the room. I like that.
3) They were spreading 2/4, 5/10 and 10/20. No Stud or Omaha, but there were interest lists.
4) I didn't wait to play at all ... I left work about 10:45 p.m. in Madison, called before I left for all three lists, and was immediately seated at 5/10 when I arrived. So, the wait wasn't long.
5) The 5/10 played like a 2/4 or 3/6 ... very, very passive, for the most part. Me like.
6) The floor managers were very organized and friendly ... much more so than at the friggin' Potawatomi.
7) Profitable trip ... I finished the night up (just about 3 hours ... the room closes at 4, and I left at 3 because I heard it was starting to snow) about $120, so it was a good trip.
8) Like I said, you can drink alcohol at the table ... something you can't do at Potawatomi


That said, there is room for improvement.
1) The dealers are BRUTALLY slow, especially when collecting the half-hour rake ... which is $4 every half an hour and takes at least five minutes every time the new dealer comes in. So, basically, you only get about 50 minutes of poker every hour, and since the dealers are slow, you probably are getting in about 20 hands in an hour ... which is awful. Plus, one time, the dealer called for the floor 3 times because he was out of white chips to pay us our $1 change from the rake, and we waited five minutes before we got him to agree to deal the friggin' hand and pay us back. It was like explaining something to a 2-year-old (OK, sweetie ... yes, yes, just deal the hand ... vvveeerrry goooooddd! yes, yes, just pay us baaack when you get the lil white chippies [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
2) I don't mind the timed rake for 5/10 or 10/20 ... but at 2/4? That seems nuts. You have to pay two big bets every hour to play ... so you need to average beating the game for more than that to make a profit. IMHO, if you're playing 2/4 there, you are throwing money away.
3) A couple of times, we got 5- and 6-handed, and I asked for a reduced rake for the half an hour and was denied. They should've dropped it to three.
4) More on the dealers ... they need to pay attention. It seems like some of them are wondering off into space, or talking with people they know in the room, and you have to say, 'Dealer, we're ready for the turn.'
5) You can't close a poker room down at 4 a.m. on a Saturday night. That's fine for Sun-Thur, but on Fri and Sat, you need to be open 24/7.

Overall, once they get NL and tournaments started (I heard March 1), I will never go to Potawatomi ever again. As long as the dealers continue to improve (they will) and the room continues to become more organized (it will), this has the makings of a fine room. There's lots of space, a good game selection and, let's face it, at least for now, the players they are attracting are not very strong.

Overall, I'd give the room a C- to a C right now, but it does have the makings of a B room when it's all over and done with.

[Shoe]

Do you know if they are using the same room as last time, or if they have moved the room to a new location?

[Stellastarr]

Is the poker room non-smoking?

[thedorf]

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Do you know if they are using the same room as last time, or if they have moved the room to a new location?

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different

[thedorf]

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Is the poker room non-smoking?

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you can't smoke in the section that is sectioned off for poker but you can smoke all the way around it. So, essentially, you can smoke in the poker room.

[thedorf]

Adrians,

Good post. I agree. i would just add that I think they should start spreading games short handed whenever they can if players want to. The reason behind this is that players don't join lists, they join games. So, especially those omaha and stud games they should play whenever the players are willing. that way people waiting for other games will play in them and they will at least give off the appearance of being regular occurrences.

[deepdowntruth]

Wow. This means I could move back to Madison if I wanted to. I've got some thinking to do.

[Yo Adrians!]

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Adrians,

Good post. I agree. i would just add that I think they should start spreading games short handed whenever they can if players want to. The reason behind this is that players don't join lists, they join games. So, especially those omaha and stud games they should play whenever the players are willing. that way people waiting for other games will play in them and they will at least give off the appearance of being regular occurrences.

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I couldn't agree more. I totally would've sat Stud the other night if it had been running ... and my guess is that several players would've, too.

I seriously can't wait for them to start a 1/2 NL game there ... although I can see why they're waiting. The dealers already are so slow, that with NL being a slower game overall, I think if they started it now, they might average 12 hands per hour [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

I can wait.

[Shoe]

I played there last saturday night (1/27). Was at a really good 5/10 table, won a little over $200 in a few hours. They had 10 tables running while I was there.

2 $10/20's
3 $5/$10's
3-4 $2/$4's
1 Stud
Maybe 1 Omaha -- they had 9 on the list not sure if it started or not.

The wait lists for the hold'em games were all pretty long when I got there around 8:00 PM. I had called in ahead of time so only had to wait about 20 minutes or so.

As soon as I got there, I heard "Shoe, please report to the poker room" announced over the PA system. I thought some friend saw me and was playing a joke. It turns out someone else there is stealing my glory and going by the name of shoe, and putting that as his name on the waiting lists. I use my real name, but it caught me a little off guard at first! lol.