Finally, I did it.

Finally, I got myself to a casino that spreads poker and sat down and played with other people. Not friends or coworkers, but random strangers that occupy a card room. Was it everything I ever dreamed it would be?

That’s difficult to answer, because I don’t quite remember what I thought it would be. But I do know that the experience itself was awful. Just god awful. Maybe I was unlucky with the timing, maybe things are better at other casinos, but… I dunno.

I got there at 4:15. Spoke to the brush, got on the waiting list for the 3/6 (the only other game running was a 2/10 spread limit game - no thanks) limit game. Got a seat at 5:20. Yay for waiting 1:05 just to be dealt in. And then I got to play a whooping 20 hands before the table broke, all in the cosy atmosphere of cigarette smoke and loud slot machines. I dunno, I don’t see the fascination with playing live poker that some people have.

Play was bad, though, don’t get me wrong. Before the table broke, the players dwindled down to five of us, and we saw quite a few flops five-handed. Loose/passive, the lot of them. And had I played for more than 20 minutes, I would presumably have been a pretty big favorite to win a decent chunk of money. But the problem still remains; it’s not a pleasant environment.

No real noteworthy hands to speak of, either. Everyone surprisingly folded to me in the small blind and I opened with A8s, and the big blind called. The BB was a kid who, in my first hand at the table, had bet/3-bet a flushdraw+pair on the flop out of position. That itself is not a bad play, in fact a pretty good one, but then he for some reason decided to check the turn, and c/c the river. So I figure him for a worrier, someone who has trouble firing the second barrel.

The flop came K-high, I lead out with my high card ace, and he folded. Not very interesting, but it was the only pot I won.

Two hands later, I was in the cut-off and opened with KTo. Game had just gotten five-handed, and since everyone had folded to me in the SB just two hands earlier, I figured the table for relatively tight. Imagine my surprise when I open to $6 in the CO and get three callers.

Flop comes J-8-4 rainbow, the players in the blinds check to me and I notice the kid on my left checking his cards. Online, I would have bet without hesitation. Now, I thought for two seconds about what kind of hand that he would feel he needed to peak at his cards with on this kind of flop after cold-calling preflop on the button. I figured that range was pretty big, but I could exclude stuff like AK since he wouldn’t need to check his cards with a hand like that. Still, I also noticed that after checking his cards, he pulled them towards him. He wasn’t going to fold.

So I checked. The turn was checked through as well, (another 4 came off) and the river, a deuce, got checked to the kid on my left who bet, and everyone folded. A guess - since he checked behind on the turn - is that he had a weak top pair and was worried that I was either slow playing, or just wanted to see the river before committing more money to the pot.

I get why people have such an easy time beating live poker, given the quality of play at a table like this. It really is horrible. But at the same time, the joy of having to drive for over an hour to get there, and then wait for another hour to get a seat only to find the table breaking after 20 hands, is not something I’m likely to get nostalgic about. I used to nurture the idea of some day going to Vegas as being fun, but I’m not so sure anymore. I mean, I’d still like to go when I get some time over, but my view of casino poker has been a bit tainted, to say the least.

We go back home tomorrow, which means that I’ll spend most of tomorrow in an airport and/or airplane, which means that I’m already starting to get crabby. God bless my Sennheiser NoiseGards, though; I don’t know what I’d do without them.

And in case Tommy happens to read this: I’m a through a third of The Selfish Gene now, and I agree; this book is pretty awesome.