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Don Juan Club in Rancho

14K views 51 replies 9 participants last post by  partykid707 
#1 ·
I finished off a great 3 day weekend at the Don Juan today. Played from 1-5PM after buying in for $100. They do a side high hand twice a day, and caught quad kings with ace kicker for a nice $100 bonus. Played 4 hours and cashed out $393 in total.
A lot of easy, loose play to be had. No real need to drive all the way to Cache Creek with this $3/6 game less than 3 miles from my house. All in total, a nice $1188 weekend for me, with the win in the Lucky Derby tournament. Don
 
#7 ·
The game during the day (at least when SJ and I have been there) has typically been the same people. Same people, making the same bets, making the same mistakes.

Best time in there seems to be around the first of the month when checks are sent in the mail.

There were a couple of nights in there where some new blood showed up and wore out a path in the carpet from the table to the ATM machine. Each of them (I think there were 4) must of hit the ATM for 300 bucks in about an hour.
 
#8 ·
I went by there today, instead of my usual Wed. golf. God my cards were frickin' cold. God most of those guys were bad. God I hate that. Dropped 2 racks in 5 hours. I drug exactly 4 pots during the whole session: 1- blind steal, 1 - $4 battle of the blinds, 1 real pot (maybe $40) and chopped one when 2 of us had QQ! Every time I caught anything, some jackass would suck it out, and I didn't have that many chances to play. I'm going back again, because that should be a god damn gold mine, but you do have to have the cards cuz they call down with anything. One odl fart (90 years old!) was in every hand and would bet or call with any pair. Just kept getting more chips.

They almost always had at least one house player at the table most of the session, but it wasn't a problem.

They have a special that runs from 10:00 - 10:30 and again at 5:00 5:30 where they give you an extra $25 with at least a $25 buy in. You gotta play for 3 hours, but that ssshouldn't be a problem.

Pretty decent sandwhiches for $4 too.
 
#12 ·
Well, my drought continues in DJ's. I went by there yesterday (7/21) to give it another go. Don was there, and when I walked in he seemed to doing pretty well already.

About my fourth hand after sitting down, Don raised preflop (I got the hell out of the way with my 82ish hand) and he got some calls. The flop was Q68 (or something like that). I don't recall the specific action on the flop, but it didn't seem out of line. On the turn, a T hits and Don and this other guy go at it - the betting is capped on the turn. I thought for sure the other guy had the 79 and Don was gonna get his Queens cracked. The river brings a K and they go 3 bets before the other guy finally conceded and called. He shows a set of queens and Don flips over KK for a set made on the river. Well, this other guy just starts going off on how poorly Don played his hand. On and on whine, whine, whine. Blah, Blah, Blah. What an ass. "I've had 8 pocket pairs so far and none of them held up". Blah, blah, blah. (I happen to agree that Don was being a little over-aggressive in that spot, but I sure wouldn't have said anything about it. I might have cursed my luck, but I sure wouldn't have started blathering on about how poorly he played.) Anyway, this guy was like that all day - if he got beat he'd educate the table, but if he won (no matter how stupid his win was), well it was the best play ever made. What an ass. HE was such a good player. Always posted a live 6 (blind betting a double BB when UTG) and he played bunches of hands blind (which seemed to be the only hands he could win) and that make a big point of telling us he started the hand blind. We had a bit of fun mocking this guy at our end of the table. The guy to my left was actually very obvious about his mocking when he stood up and slammed his cards down and said "how can you suck me out like that!", when he was flushed on the river.

My cards fell right into the usual icey pattern that I'm accustomed to at this place. It was actually a little better than usual as I actually got ahead about $6 a one point. Then my nemisis (Sam - the guy who "can't beat anyone else", but always finds a miracle against me) took on his usual role. I rasied from late position with AK and got 4 or 5 callers. The flop brings ATx with 2 spades. I bet and was called. The turn brings another spade and I bet, fully expecting to be check raised by Sam, but he just called. The river brought another T and it's checked to me. There were just too many ways he could have sucked me out, so I just checked through and sure enough he was chasing tha 3rd T. 2 outer. Can it get any worse?

Well as a matter of fact it did. I was into my second $50 (the last I was going to put on the table that day) and pretty much flailing along. I get AA and raise. Get the usual compliment of 4 or 5 callers, even though I havn't seen a flop in an hour. I spike an A on the flop and it holds up. I'm a bit confused, escpecially when I look down and see QQ on the very next hand. 8) :!: 8) :?: Maybe I can make this game work after all. Again, my raise gets the 4 or 5 callers including the 90 year old antique (Milt) who lives in the #4 chair. Sees every flop, bets or calls every pair. Just bad. The flop again spikes my set along with a 8 and some other crap. (Q8x) I bet and get a couple calls. The turn brings an 8 filling my boat. Wow. Well Milt bets into me and I just call hoping to get some other callers that I can punish on the river. Everyone else folded. The river brings another 8 (Q8x88) and I knew immediately that Milt just caught his one outer. He bet and I called (just in case he happened to decide to bet something else, because he's very capable of doing so). He shows 78o to take down my boat in a really ugly 1 out suckout. Great, now the furniture is beating me. I would have felt bad if I had any belief that a raise on the turn would have dropped him, but there's no way he would have gone anywhere. He's just not that much in tune with signals.

So I slowly bleed away most of what I had left, basically looking at the door. I get down to 5 chips and look down to see AA again. Someone raised ahead of me and, of course, I call all-in. The flop is something like AKQ. No bets. My case A comes on the turn. No bets. I think the river was a J or a T that could have completed a flush draw - but still no bets. Very strange. Somehow, it's possible that I wouldn't have made much even if I had more chips. Anyway, my quads held up (obviously) and I drag a small pot, but luckily, they have a high hand jackpot that closed in about 45 minutes. My chips lasted just long enough for me to collect the $50 and I just left. Down $50, which is a slight victory for me in this place.

I somehow managed to suck Don into my vortex of rags, belly flops and suckouts, because his stack had dwindled away and he had to buy-in again. AS I left (about 3:00) he was protecting his second rack. I found out later that he managed to get all but $10 back before he left at 5:00. Good for him.

I know I have to go back to this place, but it may take me a couple of weeks. For some reason, the cards there just brutalize me. It's not just me. There was another reasonably strong player (Thor) at the other end of the table who was just getting the crap beat out of him. He played a lot of hands, but had a lot of good hands sucked out. He was tilting - big time. He actually left the table on the button to go out and have a smoke.

Then there was this guy who came in and had absolutely no clue how to play the game. My god. What in the hell are you doing in here? I mean it's not like you're in a casino and just decide to give poker a try. He specifically came here from somewhere just to get in a game. He was just playing in a seat that was being held for a returning player, so he was only in the game for about 20 minutes, but man, this guy was clueless, and I guess, he had even been there before! Anyway enough about DJ's....
 
#13 ·
In what my very well be my final chapter in the Don Juan log, I experienced another mind-numbing, crushing defeat, which inspired my Open Letter... post in the other forum.

I got there about 10:30 and got 80 chips for $50, their standard special. I sit down to a table of regulars and house players. In a matter of 4 hands I managed to catcha few hands and was actually up about $40 very quickly. Hmmm, maybe today is going to be the start of me recouping my dontations from previous trips there.

10 minutes later I was $40 DOWN after having aces cracked and another suck out of some sort or another. A wade throught the rest of my first buy-in over the course of the next hour or so and buy-in for the other half-rack that I intended to invest.

I managed to slowly build my stack back up. I actually caught a river card that crushed Sam (my suck-out buddy) when his 4 cards straight (delivered on the river) also made my nut flush. Yahoo. I again started to feel that this was gonna be my day. The 90 year old peice of furniture (Milt) was replaced by his 75 year old female counterpart (Rita). God she was bad. She bet and called anything. Of course, she managed to crush my aces with a flopped set, which she managed to extract the absolute minimum. She went on a couple of rushes, but always gave it back and then some. And then some more. Aftre her cash ran out she started writing checks. She was into the game for over $300 (in about 2 hours) before she finally surrendered.

Then this other guy comes in at about 3:00 and sits in the seat to my right which had already paid 2 of the regulars off very handsomely. This guy was greener than grass. A really nice guy, but had no clue. He bought in for a rack and went through all but about $6 in a half an hour. Saw every flop and bet even if he had nothing. He was having fun.

I mention that he was down to about $6. I happen to know this because we were in a hand that I could have busted him, but made the mistake (it turned out to be a big one) of taking it easy on him when I flopped a monster. On the BB I get 33 and the flop comes 33Q. Bingo. He bet into me and I just called hoping the otheres would come along. Unforunately they all but Rita folded (they pick THIS hand to play smart!?) . The turn brought nothing. Again he bets and again I call hoping that Rita would come along, but even she can't find a reason to stay. The river brings another blank and again, Brian nets into me. I looked over and saw he was about down to the felt and decided to take it easy and just call him. (This place has a real "family" feel about it - many will tell you what they have and not to call if you can't beat them and you should believe most of them.) Hoping not to scare Brian away, I decided not to take him down to the felt. I obviously took the pot (which also put me on the high-hand board) and got a warm fuzzy feeling for having not busted this kid out onto the street.

Well that was a good deed that didn't go unpunished. This guy went on a rush of cards that even his extrordinary poor play couldn't stop. HE didn't even have any good cards - he just kept landing pots with bad 2 pairs and straights. He went from the felt to UP almost 2 racks in about an hour.

I did manage to beat him up pretty bad on one hand, but that was the end of my glory. I was up about $60 and then I returned to my normal pattern of icebergs and suckouts. Drain, drain, drain. Bleed, bleed, bleed.

I watch my few good hands get cracked and sucked and my stack slowly dwindle away. Come 5:00 I get the high hand jackpot $50 (yes it actually held up!) whcih put me back to a little ahead and I started thinking about taking my profits, not much, but profits none the less and heading out to have a nice burger and fries dinner to celebrate my moral victory.

But, hey, this guy is still here. He should be buying me steak and lobster, if not a new car. The conditions of the game told me to stay. Of course, about this time, the rounder crowd starts showing up becuase they run another special $80 for $50 at 5:00. I recognized that the flow would be different and that got my attention as well.

I get Big Slick and raise in late position. The flop comes JAA! What more could I ask for. Check to me, I bet and the button raises me! Everyone else folded and I think for a few seconds. He was new to the table and didn't seem too fishy. I liked my hand, but gave him enough credit that he might have AJ or JJ so I just called. Raising here would either just cost me 2 more bets or fold him away so I just decided to call along, hoping for my 3 or 4 outer to give me a litle more confidence. The turn and river didn't bring any help. I called and showed him my cards, half-expecting him to groan and curse, but instead he showed me that he did indeed have AJ. I pat myself on the back for a good read and not overplaying my hand as (good as it was), rap the table, "nice hand", and go back to cursing the poker gods under my breath.

Later I get QQ and raise from LP. Get several callers. Flop comes blankity, blank, blank. Brian bet into me, I raise get a couple of reluctant calls from the rounders (they knew I had a strong hand and were probably cursing the lucky idiot who kept betting into me). The turn another blank. Agian, check to Brian who again bets into me and again I raise. The rounders reluctantly muck. The river briings an Ace. Oh geez, not again. This time Brian checks into me and says I'll play along. I bet.

Now, for all of you who wonder why we're so particular about talking about hands that they're not in, here's why: He looks at me and asks "Do you have the flush?" I look at the board and there's no 3 card flush and while deciding what to say some other broke dick asshole laughs and says "there can't be a flush!"

He laughs and says he misread the board (there were 3 red ones!) and then that fucking cocksucker had the nerve to checkraise me! I call and he shows me A2. He had a 2 that matched the board and figured that was enough ammo to keep betting into my raised hand. The river brought him deliverence and I just about went beserk. I didn't know whether to kill the bigmouth motherfucker who opened his yap or the stupid lucky jerk who had his ass spared a couple hours ago. Thank you gods.

I look down and there's still about $60 left inmy stack and I start telling myself to leave. Next orbit. I can still beat this game...

Well this stupid fool just kept playing and betting. His stack did start to dwindle (he didn't care, he was just having fun. Every fucking hand he'd bet. I'd get a slim chance to catch something and he'd fucking bet so I couldn't see another card. All the others were checking into his sloppy ass and they would call him (because I guess they were on more than draws) and everyonce in a while they'd pounce on him for a check raise.

On the few hands that he did fold he'd sit there and say, "Damn I'd have had 2 pair.", "Dammit, I woulda had a (gutshot) straight draw - I should have stayed in." I'm thinking to myself "Why in the fuck are you folding anything - you can't miss!" (Sound familliar Dodger?).

Next Orbit. I look down and somehow there's only $20 left. ? How is this even possible? My cards have been so bad that I havn't been able to even see many flops. I didn't have the sense to pick up my last few chips (despite being quite disparraged, I still managed to believe that I would get my turn) and eventually bled my chips into obvlion.

My BB produced a KQ which looked like UNO cards compared to the board. As one good parting laugh, the poker gods dealt me a T3 in the small blind. As much as I was ready to just throw my last chips away on the SB and get home, I somehow convinvced myself that that would be tilting - wait a few hands (like that's not tilting). Sure enough the flop comes TTx. turn blank. river.....3. Fuck.

A few hands later I tossed in the rest on a couple of black suited broadway cards and watched board come all red with 2 aces on it. Buh bye. I actually picked up a gutshot draw on the turn, but it was just more hope to be cruelly dashed. No help (and it would have been good). Buh-bye.

Don't know if I can walk in that place again. They have to find someone else to fund their fishies........
 
G
#14 ·
i know it's probably not much of a concession but everytime i read your recaps i learn something new about poker. everytime i read something you have posted i learn a new word......hehehehe........."rote"? very nice!!

the poker gods have seemingly turned their backs on you......but if it's ANY help at all.......there are people who are learning from you..... :p
 
#15 ·
So Thursday night, I took Heather the "black widow" and cruised into this joint which most of you have been talking about. It didn't exactly look like the Bellagio! In fact , i was afraid of my car getting jacked outside, but nothing happened.

I was surprised that: there was only one table. and everyone seemed to know each other. Heather dropped $80 but I mostly made up for it.

I have to agree that the guys there don't play worth crap. One guy kept drawing amazing cards on the turn and river, but wouldn't bet them!! Twice he checked with the nut flush after being checked to!

I may venture back, but i'll surely be packin some heat....
 
#18 ·
As SJ and I were finishing our power lunch, Dodger was walking in the door as we were on our way out.

I took a full rack out with a 40 buy in. I think SJ took a rack plus some out with the same buy in.

So, I think with our power lunches, then Dodger coming in behind us to clean up the scraps, we pretty much got your money back Hagar. It's in good hands now.
 
#21 ·
Another day, another rack.

(again...) Power Lunch at the Bellagio and it seems when you buy in for a rack, it always seems to mate with the chips next to you.

One rack in, two rack out.

SJ did a little better than I did. I think he was about a rack in a half. He busted a flush of mine with a full hizouse.
 
#22 ·
I think I can retire and make a living at Rancho Bellagio...

Smack Daddy ain't kiddin'... seems like every time we go in there at lunch, we double up...or, as in my case today, triple up. Those fools call, call, call... beautiful! Now I have my buy-in for the Tuesday night derby covered....then on to the limelight. I need to stop by the bank and deposit this shit before I get hit over the head.

Free money for all!

Steve.
 
#23 ·
Yeah they call, call, call - it SHOULD be the easiest gam in the worls - except that I miss, miss, miss.

Trust me, loosening up is not my problem Dr. Hollywood. Catching a reasonable anmount of playable hands and making some of them hold up IS. Losing to 1,2,3 and 4 outers is a regular occurance for me. I guess I am the odds evener. I'm the "1".

I'm starting to think you guys are just making up stories to torture me now.
 
#24 ·
Well, I finally took a bad beat last night in the (Rancho) Bellagio.

I was kicking it at home with a beer and I got a call from James "Heat Packin" G., who asked if I was interested in going to catch a few cards. I figured, why the hell not, I had a good set of cards over the lunch hour I spent there so I'll take some of their chips back to them.

James was seated when I arrived. I sat down at the same table he was on and we were graced with two other guys that at best, looked like they 'might' be able to spell poker, let alone Texas Hold'em.

Other than that, it was the typical situation with the typical people. I gave a few pots away and took a few nice pots and was maintaining around even for about an hour. Then I took a few nice pots when I was moved over to the other table right after sitting down. I had a little stack to work with and was figuring I'd go one more orbit and then bounce out and head back home. "Heat" needed to catch a flick with his girl, so he was on about the same schedule.

I get a decent hand, A/Qh and most everyone calls. There was a raiser, on the other end of the table who raised (come to find out raised with 6/7s under the gun... go figure) Flop came blank, A, J. Wrong color for my flush, but gave me top pair and a straight draw. Betting continues and turn gives another A. I check it around to get the opportunity to raise someone who bets. No betters. River comes K. Didn't make my straight, and nobody was betting like they had the straight, but there was a 2 card flush out there which was interesting. Interesting in that I didn't see it until after the hand. A big mistake I've made a time or two. Not being on my game 100% and missing what cards are out there.

Well, someone bet's into me, I raise him, he counts people and counts what goes on at the turn. (remember I checked, which proved to be a mistake) and he raraised me. I reraised him, and I think I almost got him out, but he called. He immediately showed his flush. Holding 6/7s and was curious to know that I had. I told him I had a set of aces and was on a straight draw, and he made an unsuspecting flush. RATS! That was a sweet pot that I fed quite a few chips into.

So, I sit for another orbit or two, and try to (re)build my stack a little, which I was able to add to it with smaller sized pots which soon bring me back to the blinds, where I chip out.

Going in I bought a rack.
Coming out, I had exactly one rack.

Poker Lessons tonight in downtown Sac. I think I'll go give some schooling to a table.
 
G
#25 ·
So it seems as though if someone were to spent a few hours a day in there, there would be no reason to work. I am probably no where near goodneough to pull the cash that you gusy do out of there.....anyone looking for a stakehorse? hehehehee...........

hey.....anyreports on the Lucky Derby on Greenback? I had no idea how close it was to my new digs.
 
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