So I take my laptop thinking I'll have it made in the shade with the (paid) wireless at the hotel. Having the connection to the "outside" will be invaluable when the boredom sets in during hour three of "Droning Workshop 101." All is good. By the way, BG, et al, - it's a good thing I wasn't in the midst of a workshop when I saw your comments on the "pit stop" pic - all eyes would have been on the lady in blue at the back of the room falling off her chair from laughing so hard.
I skipped the opening general session - never get anything from those - to scope out the room for Wednesday's seminar. I found a nice spot at the last table by the wall and an outlet (only have a 3 hour battery on my machine). I get all set up and, frack, no connection. Damn, damn damn. No surreptitious surfing on the boss' dime. Ah well.
As soon as this afternoon's session is over, I will be zipping out to Cherokee Casino to try out some Tulsa Poker. Not surprisingly, the conference has organized a trip to the casino on Thursday eve. Heh. Cool. I gave a crash course in hold-em to a co-worker, but then strongly advised her to stick to the slots. Another co-worker who has a little bit of home-game poker prowess is going to give the tables a try. It looks as though the lowest limit is $4/8 - a tad out of my bankroll comfort zone - but I'm not going to let that stop me.
Cherokee Casino is Vegas huge. The poker "room" was about mile from the entrance we used. It's not really a room - partially walled off from the slots it's non-smoking, but you don't escape the residual smoke coming from the slot/blackjack area. There are 27 (?) tables, comfortable chairs and directional halogen lighting over the tables - much nicer than the T-Bird.
We put our names on the list for 4/8 and didn't have to wait long to get seated. They start at 4/8 limit, 2/5 nl. They were also spreading stud and omaha.
I got the 6s at table 19 which had just been vacated by an unhappy player who I guess had just gotten a particularly bad beat. On my right was a jolly fellah from Ghana with extraordinarily bad breath and was somewhat "handsy" with me. Fortunately, he departed within about 20 minutes so I didn't have to endure the halitosis for the evening.
On my left was a gravelly voiced fellah who liked any two suited and played a lot of hands. He was down to his last $6 and ready to leave when he started to win a series of lucky pots.
The first hour was unremarkable. A few players left. The 1s was replaced by a guy who said it was his first time to play live. The 2s received a guy who was serious and unsociable (the gravel-voiced guy couldn't get the guy to reveal his hole cards after exacting a bad beat on him). After the Ghana guy left a young kid sat next to me. A player - able to make the hard folds, groaning all the way. We commiserated after several hard folds only to learn we'd folded the best hand. I quietly would say "discipline - it's a good thing over the long haul." He lost his stake.
Mr. Gravel left and was replaced by a happy guy who straddled nearly all of my blinds. I had a good time joking around with him. The 9s was Steve from OKC who was genuinely sorry after busting my full house with his quad kings. Live poker is soooo rigged. He got a frackin' cap and I got squat. He offered to buy me a beer, but I declined as I was driving and in unfamiliar territory. I expect he'll be frequenting the T-Bird now that he knows it's poker room is open.
I was up and down throughout the session. Finally leaving up about $60. Hey, up is up! I played tight and aggressive - no fancy plays and no bluffing. You just can't bluff at this level.
But I wondered if on a couple of hands I shouldn't have seen another card and not folded so soon or if I shouldn't open up the range of cards to play. A few hands I observed that were getting capped pre-flop were junk hands - premium pockets and pre-flop raises just wouldn't get respect. Do you just hold your breath and play it to the river anyway? Or do you play as you would against knowledgeable players?
I folded AQ preflop after a raise and re-raise. I know that in the long run I make money folding that hand in that situation. But knowing that doesn't help soothe the sting when you see that you had the best hand pre-flop, on the flop and to the river and would have scooped a monster pot against those junk hands.
My two co-workers were at a different table - the one poker lesson newbie (who sat at the table with the "How to Play Poker" pamphlet the casino gives out) netted about $100, the home-game player lost her stake... heh.
I'm contemplating returning this evening - we'll see how I feel following the afternoon round of yawn-a-thons, er, seminars.
