Thursday, June 15, 2006

When in Rome...

...or at Caesar's Indiana, do as the Romans do. I ventured over to Caesar's while I was working in Lexington this week. Caesar's is a riverboat casino on the Indiana/Kentucky border just outside of Louisville. It's a pretty nice facility. The theme is that of ancient Rome, much like Caesar's in Las Vegas. The hotel that's here in Indiana is huge. The casino boat itself has 4 decks. You enter the casino on the top deck, and the poker room is on the lowest deck. Their poker room is rather large for a riverboat. It has 33 tables! When I was there they probably had about a dozen tables running. I got myself signed up on their $1/$2 No Limit table list, and on a $2/$5 No Limit table list. They didn't have the $2/$5 game running yet, but once the list had enough players they were going to open up the game.

After about 20-30 minutes, my name was called for the $1/$2 game. I bought in for $200. I started out by playing pretty tight, and wasn't able to see too many flops because there were always 3 or 4 players entering the pot prior to my being able to get a raise in. Eventually I decided I was going to have to change gears if I was going to get any good action going. I did manage to get lucky in one pot where I played 5-7, flopped a gutshot straight draw, and hit it on the turn with two players still in the pot. It wasn't a huge pot, but it had me on the plus side of $200 when I got called for the $2/$5 game that was opening.

I almost forgot to mention how they handle the rake at this casino. They do it a little different. Instead of taking a percentage of the pot every hand up to a designated maximum, every time there is a dealer change, which occurs every half hour, they collect $6 from each player. Now, I don't know if the rate collected varies based on the table stakes, but the two No-Limit tables collected $6 each dealer change. The nice thing about that is that the pots aren't raked and everyone then shares the rake evenly. I was trying to determine if the house makes more this way, but I think it comes out pretty close to even. The local casino at home collects the percentage of the pot up to a $4 maximum. They probably get about 30 hands/hour in, so they are probably collecting very close to the $120/hour that Caesar's collects on their system.

All right, back to the game. I sat down at the $2/$5 game with about $235 in chips. We started with seven players. This game was even looser than the $1/$2 table. There were usually 3 or 4 straddles per orbit. Well, as the title of this blog states, when in Rome do as the Romans do. I opened up my game a little bit and decided to start taking some more flops. I've got three hands that I'll describe here. These three hands made most of the money that I won this evening. The first hand was in a straddled pot. A straddled pot means that the player that is first to act (under the gun [UTG]) puts a bet of double the big blind out prior to the cards being dealt. Players are required to at least call that amount or fold, and the straddle is still allowed to raise when the action gets back around to him or her. I found myself holding Kh-Th this hand. I limped in from early position with this hand and one other player called prior to it getting back to the straddle. The straddle raised it to $40. Now, usually I don't consider a straddle's raise to be too much of a threat. The whole reason a player straddles is to build a pot and gamble a little bit, so in a pot with a smaller number of players it shouldn't be too surprising that the straddles raises. After all, they are trying to build a pot. I decided to call, and so did the other limper. The flop came:

Kc Tx 3x

flopping me two pair. The straddle bet $75, so I moved all in. I had $122 in addition to the $75 bet. The limper folded, and even though the straddle really looked like he did not want to call he made the call. He showed KQ, and saw that he was in bad shape against my two pair. Neither the turn or river helped him out, and I was able to double up through him.

I then started to give back most of the chips I had won in the double up to a player who kept coming over the top of me. It was usually when I would have a mid to low pair and 2 or 3 overcards would hit the flop, forcing me to release my hand. As it turned out, I did notice that every time this player would get to a showdown he was showing the best hand, and usually it was a monster hand at that point, so I was beginning to feel better about my reads on him when he would go over the top. I did get AA in a straddled hand, but got no action on my $30 raise. It was shortly after this when I ran into my next big pot of the night.

It was another straddled hand. This time I was in the small blind with 9s-Th. I would normally release this hand, but there were already 5 limpers when it got to me, and I didn't think that the big blind or straddle would raise it up so I called. The flop came:

3x Tx Tx (sorry, don't remember any of the suits, not that it matters here)

I led out and bet $15, which was almost ridiculously small into a straddled pot with 6 players. The straddle folded, and the next pre-flop limper raised it to $75. All the other players folded back to me. Now, I counted my chips, and I had $209 left in front of me. To call $75 just meant that I'd have to call the remaining $134 on the turn or river, and I did think that I had a better than average chance of having the best hand so I decided to raise. By raising I at least gave myself another chance to win the pot if he would decide to fold. I moved all in, and he called instantly. He turned over 3-3 showing me a full house and earning the quietly spoken, "nice hand, sir" from me. I hadn't shown my cards yet, and the turn came 9, giving me a higher full house. I turned over my hand at this point. The river didn't bring the case 3 so I was able to win that double up. Now, where it does appear that I got lucky keep in mind that there was almost going to be no way I was going to fold for $60 at the flop. If I had just called my opponent's raise, I would have seen the turn card, and all of the money would have gotten in on the turn anyway. So yes, I got lucky after all the money was in, but all the money would have gotten in there anyway.

That was a substantial pot, and I was able to coast most of the way from here. My last substantial pot was against the player I had initially doubled up through. This hand was NOT a straddled hand. I was in the big blind with Ad Kh when the button raised it to $35. I decided to just call, and one other player called. The three of us went to the flop, and the flop came:

Kd 7d 2s

This particular flop is one of four unique flops. What makes it unique is the fact that no player can be holding two cards that can make a straight with the turn card. The other three flops are: Q-7-2, K-8-2, and K-8-3. Anyway, this flop gave me top pair and top kicker. I decided to check, the preflop caller checked, and the preflop raiser bet $75. I just called since I felt comfortable with my hand being the best, and no card on the turn that could really hurt me. Even if a diamond came off on the turn, that would mean I would have the nut flush draw because I had the Ad. I didn't think the raiser would bet that much on a draw if it wasn't the nut draw. The other player folded, and we went to the turn. It was the Jd. I checked again as I now had top pair, top kicker, and the nut flush draw. My opponent led out with $100, and I moved in at that point. There was a possibility that my opponent may have had KJ, but with my re-draw to the flush I knew that I still had an extremely strong hand. My all in was $320, so he would have to call $220. He laid it down, and since I knew I was leaving soon I decided to show him. I had already picked him off a couple times in big pots, and I was feeling a little bad for the guy.

My last hand of the night had some fireworks, but it wasn't a huge pot like the other three. I had announced to the table prior to the deal that I was leaving after this hand. I had started to rack my chips when I was dealt 9-9. I decided to limp and see if I flopped a set. Five of us went to a flop and that flop came:

Jx Jx 8x

I bet $50 to see where I stood, and was called by one player. It was the player on my immediate left. The turn was a K, and now I had to make a decision. I was pretty sure my opponent knew I didn't have a Jack, so I was a little nervous that he could be trapping me. I bet $100, and would have been willing to fold had he come over the top of me as I didn't want to get crushed in a big pot as I was heading out the door. He asked me if I could beat Kings, and I just told him that "I just have to play the cards I'm dealt". He laid his hand down, and since it was my last hand of the night I showed the 9s. He did tell me that I had him beat anyway, so I guess he had AQ, AT, or a lower pair than me. When I got to the cashier window I cashed out for $748, so I had a nice little profit of $548. It was a good time at the table, as I always enjoy going to different casinos and see how different games are run. It's always more fun when you win. If I ever get near that Caesar's again I'll make sure to stop in again.

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