Argosy Trip Report (07/20 - 07/21)

[sem25]

I decided to write a Trip Report/Review of the Argosy Poker Room in Lawrenceburg (sp?), Indiana for those that are interested. Sorry if this is too long, there's cliff notes at the bottom. Living in Huntington, WV, the closest "real" poker room is this one here in Southern Indiana (about a 3 hour drive), so I decided to come here for the weekend to check it out.
I came in on Friday Night to a packed room. Though it's a small room, they manage to comfortably place about 15 or so tables together. I came up to the floor to put my name on the list for the 5/10 w/full kill LHE, which happens to be the highest limit game they offer (PokerWiki needs to be updated, as they list 10/20 running every weekend, more on this later). I was really disappointed because I wanted to play 10/20 or higher. They currently spread, 3/6, 5/10 (w/full kill), 1/3 NL (about half the room), 2/5 NL, and 5/10 NL. One unique thing they have hear is they give you a buzzer, similar to those at Red Lobster/Olive Garden/etc, in exchange for you Driver's License, so that you know when you're up. Also, instead of dealers shouting out "seat open", they point a remote to a screen that tells the floor a seats open. That triggers your buzzer if your the first one up, which I find very convenient.
After about a 30 minute wait, I sit down at one of the 2 5/10 games they had. All tables had automatic shufflers and the dealers were very friendly and competent. The games were super soft (I killed the game for 40BB in a total of 10 or so hours playing solid poker). One major negative about the room is the 10% rake up to 5 dollars (+ 1 dollar for the bad beat jackpot). Short handed games go down to 10% to 3 + 1 for bad beat. So, if you're heads-up against one person with a bet on each street, they take out 6 whole bucks + the tip you gotta give you lost .7 BB per pot! I guess I'm just used to the AC standard of 10% to 4 (I avoid rooms that have a bad beat jackpot). Another thing I thought was weird is cash doesn't play on the table, which I think hurts the limit games. If you want to re-buy/add-on, you have to walk to the cage, located outside of the poker room. There were some fish in the games I was in that probably would have stayed and played more if they could simply rebuy at the table. You also have to pay for alcoholic beverages here. They have a deli one floor up from the poker room that serves hot dogs/sandwiches/pretzels/nachos at reasonable prices.
Kill pots were initiated when a person wins two pots in a row, and the second pot most >= 5BBs. Also, another thing that wasn't the norm is that the person to the left of the person posting the kill, regardless of his/her position, is first to act pre-flop, not UTG. So, if the button posted the kill, then SB acts, then BB, UTG, etc. Post-flop goes back to normal. The person who posted the kill has to win the kill pot for the next pot to be a kill pot. Kills certainly bring out the gamble in people. Many people limped/cold-called 2, even 3 bets preflop with subpar hands just because the limits went up.
The regulars were a lively bunch. Another thing I noticed was different here is that the F-bomb is dropped every other sentence by almost everyone. I noticed that the players here a lot more boisterous/rowdy too (might be a correlation with the whole F-bomb leniency).
Small anecdote: A guy sat down at the table who looked EXACTLY like TJ Cloutier. After a couple of orbits, I asked him if he got that a lot. He chuckled and said he gets it all the time. He then said that his last name is Liebert and that Kathy Liebert was his cousin. He then preceded to tell the table that she is a bitch, which caused the table to burst into laughter.
All in all, the room's not bad if you're a NL player. Don't bother coming here (especially if you live 3 hrs away) if you're looking for some middle limit HE. Hopefully Kanawha (sp?) County in WV legalizes table games so I can play there instead.

Cliff notes:
Small Room (mostly NLHE), high rake, met Kathy Liebert's cousin (who looks EXACTLY like TJ Cloutier) and thinks she's a bitch

[JP OSU]

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[ligastar]

Thanks for the review. My folks live in Cincinnati and I plan on checking at the poker room later this year.

ligastar

[PokrLikeItsProse]

I've heard that Indiana state law requires them to charge you for booze.

I've also heard that the cash doesn't play and that they have no chip runners because the cage is outside of the poker room. That might change when they get the new boat in 2009, where I hear they are planning on having at least 30 tables so that they can host a major tournament.

[Bulldog]

[ QUOTE ]
I decided to write a Trip Report/Review of the Argosy Poker Room in Lawrenceburg (sp?), Indiana for those that are interested. Sorry if this is too long, there's cliff notes at the bottom. Living in Huntington, WV, the closest "real" poker room is this one here in Southern Indiana (about a 3 hour drive), so I decided to come here for the weekend to check it out.


I came in on Friday Night to a packed room. Though it's a small room, they manage to comfortably place about 15 or so tables together. I came up to the floor to put my name on the list for the 5/10 w/full kill LHE, which happens to be the highest limit game they offer (PokerWiki needs to be updated, as they list 10/20 running every weekend, more on this later). I was really disappointed because I wanted to play 10/20 or higher. They currently spread, 3/6, 5/10 (w/full kill), 1/3 NL (about half the room), 2/5 NL, and 5/10 NL.


One unique thing they have hear is they give you a buzzer, similar to those at Red Lobster/Olive Garden/etc, in exchange for you Driver's License, so that you know when you're up. Also, instead of dealers shouting out "seat open", they point a remote to a screen that tells the floor a seats open. That triggers your buzzer if your the first one up, which I find very convenient.


After about a 30 minute wait, I sit down at one of the 2 5/10 games they had. All tables had automatic shufflers and the dealers were very friendly and competent. The games were super soft (I killed the game for 40BB in a total of 10 or so hours playing solid poker). One major negative about the room is the 10% rake up to 5 dollars (+ 1 dollar for the bad beat jackpot). Short handed games go down to 10% to 3 + 1 for bad beat. So, if you're heads-up against one person with a bet on each street, they take out 6 whole bucks + the tip you gotta give you lost .7 BB per pot! I guess I'm just used to the AC standard of 10% to 4 (I avoid rooms that have a bad beat jackpot).


Another thing I thought was weird is cash doesn't play on the table, which I think hurts the limit games. If you want to re-buy/add-on, you have to walk to the cage, located outside of the poker room. There were some fish in the games I was in that probably would have stayed and played more if they could simply rebuy at the table.


You also have to pay for alcoholic beverages here. They have a deli one floor up from the poker room that serves hot dogs/sandwiches/pretzels/nachos at reasonable prices.


Kill pots were initiated when a person wins two pots in a row, and the second pot most >= 5BBs. Also, another thing that wasn't the norm is that the person to the left of the person posting the kill, regardless of his/her position, is first to act pre-flop, not UTG. So, if the button posted the kill, then SB acts, then BB, UTG, etc. Post-flop goes back to normal. The person who posted the kill has to win the kill pot for the next pot to be a kill pot. Kills certainly bring out the gamble in people. Many people limped/cold-called 2, even 3 bets preflop with subpar hands just because the limits went up.


The regulars were a lively bunch. Another thing I noticed was different here is that the F-bomb is dropped every other sentence by almost everyone. I noticed that the players here a lot more boisterous/rowdy too (might be a correlation with the whole F-bomb leniency).


Small anecdote: A guy sat down at the table who looked EXACTLY like TJ Cloutier. After a couple of orbits, I asked him if he got that a lot. He chuckled and said he gets it all the time. He then said that his last name is Liebert and that Kathy Liebert was his cousin. He then preceded to tell the table that she is a bitch, which caused the table to burst into laughter.


All in all, the room's not bad if you're a NL player. Don't bother coming here (especially if you live 3 hrs away) if you're looking for some middle limit HE. Hopefully Kanawha (sp?) County in WV legalizes table games so I can play there instead.


Cliffs' notes:
Small Room (mostly NLHE), high rake, met Kathy Liebert's cousin (who looks EXACTLY like TJ Cloutier) and thinks she's a bitch

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