First time in a casino

First time in a casino playing poker, anyway. Until recently I was living in Florida, and nowhere near any of the rooms to go play. Since moving out west though, I’ve got three casinos within 15 minutes of my house. I’ve been playing online for a couple of years now, give or take, but I’d never played live (except for home games).

So, tonight I took the leap. I’ve been in a few casinos before, but never for poker. First order of business - figure out how to get in the game! I learned that the casino offers free poker lessons on Monday nights from 8pm to 10pm. I decided to start there - not to learn the game obviously, but to sit down with a dealer and get a feel for the room and ask my questions about how it all works. Basically, you walk in, tell the person at the podium what game you want to play, and they put your name on a list. Once they call your name, you can either go to the cage and buy your chips, or you can go to the table and they’ll bring the chips to you. After that, it’s the same game we play online, albeit with a slower pace. They’ve also got a bad-beat jackpot, but that varies from location to location. At my location, you need to have aces full of jacks or better and lose the hand to qualify for the jackpot.

Okay, so after 10 minutes of "lessons", I put my name on the list for a $1/$2 NL game. Bought in for the minimum allowed, which is $50. The max buy-in is $200, so I didn’t feel that I was at an extreme disadvantage that way. Most of the stacks at the table were in the neighborhood of $100-$300, but there were one or two stacks that looked to be about $400-$500.

I knew going in that I was going to play a tight game. To anyone with a good eye, I know I must have appeared nervous, because I was! I wasn’t going to get crazy, wasn’t going to try to dominate the table. I was going to play solid, tight poker and if that meant taking down smaller pots, that was just fine with me (this time!).

I sat out the first hand, just wanted to get comfortable and take a few minutes to look over the table. I wasn’t giving up position, so no big deal. The next hand, my first deal, I picked up AQo. Sweet! I was in middle position and raised to $6. I was called by 4 players, much to my dismay. The flop came A-A-9. Super sweet! I bet out, two players folded and one called. Two hearts on the board (my queen was not a heart). The turn was a 6, not a heart, total blank. I bet out and got called. I put the guy on a flush draw. The river came another 9 - full house! I bet out, and got called again. I don’t know what he had in the end, but I had just won my first hand in a casino and was looking down at something like $130. I was doing cartwheels in my head, which almost made me dizzy because I was still a bundle of nerves about being there to begin with.

I continued to play tight, rarely limped, called a few raises (one in particular cost me $17), but didn’t make another hand worth showing down. I was down to about $65 when I was chosen to move to another table. I was down to about $45 when I was dealt KT of hearts. I decided to try a steal, and went all in after 4 people limped (I had position). I was called by one player. Neither one of us connected with the board at all, and I took it down with King high. I suspect people remembered that, because….

From there, I went down another $30 or so, and I told myself I was going to stand up after the next hand so I could walk out with minimal losses. Lo and behold, my soon-to-be final hand… KK. I made the standard raise and got called by two players. The flop came 8-9-T rainbow. What to do? All-in. Double me up baby. I knew I would be weak against a straight draw, and maybe I was too loose with my move… but I knew I had good odds here. So, opponent number one raises. Huh?? Let me guess, you’ve got that straight draw, right? Opponent two calls! Now I know I’m toast. The turn is a 7 and that’s the nail in the coffin. Opponent one makes a substantial bet, and I put him on JT at that point. Opponent two takes his time and finally folds. I turn over my Kings and opponent one turns over… yeah, the Jack-Ten. Top pair with an open straight draw on the flop, completed on the turn, and the river couldn’t help me.

So, I finished the night (after two hours of play) down fifty bucks, but you know, I don’t mind. It was a great experience, and I learned a lot. For a first time in a live casino setting, it was worth it. I feel that I made more correct decisions than bad ones, but in the end, I just couldn’t hold up. Oh, well. Next time I’ll be far, far less nervous, a little more willing to make some plays, and with a little luck, I’ll walk out with a positive balance.

Either way, I had a great time.

[The preceding is a reprint of an article I recently posted at Railbirds.com.]

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June 19, 2007 | Filed Under Poker

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