Took my off day and decided to check out JR again. I got a late start and got up there around 3:00.
I was very surprised to see that they had 5 tables running full. I think they had 3 3/6 games and 2 4/8 games. I got on both lists and got seated in a 3/6 game in about 15 minutes.
My personal game report isn't much more than a rerun from several posts so I'll keep it short: Wait a little while to get involved, get a little hot for 20 miutes then someone turned the "switch" and I couldn't drag a pot for the better part of 2 hours.
As a rule the play was pretty poor. It wasn't real aggressive, and there was very little show of any skill for the most part. There was this one kid who just didn't seem to get it and he's been playing there "every week". He didn't seem to understand "check" or waiting for his turn. If he didn't like his cards, he just threw them away (even in the big blind); if he did he'd always bet regardless of how they fit with the board. And he was s l o w. Every bet, he'd pick up his chips one at a time. Then he'd get them stacked all neat in his hand. Then he would slowly put them 6 inches out on front of him. Every time it was his turn (and he was in 90% of the hands) was like going into a a time warp. But, he was dragging pots. He just kept betting and stumbling onto something good enough. He took a pot from me which turned out to be the turning point for me. Eventually he stopped hitting his cards and was down to the felt (after having ~$400 in front of him) and he just couldn't figure out why - very frustrating not to have gotten a hold of a few pots that he was involved in.
About an hour into my session, Party Kid (Mike) sits down at my table. He sets right in and drags 2 monster pots (~$150 each) in about half and hour. He was good to go for the rest of the time I was there.
Here's an example of how truly bad the table was as a rule: One hand ended with the board showing all spades with the A on the board (river). There had been a little jousting between a few players and the pot was pretty decent. The little 20 year old gal opened the betting on the river got a call and got raised from the monkey who I was talking about above. She looked at her hand and said: "Well, I have the nuts I'm gonna raise." (loud enough for me to hear 3/4 of the way across the table). "We can hear you ya know." "Oh - I was just talking to this end of the table." She still got 2 calls. Neither caller could even improve the board - but one did have a straight!
Of course this little 20 yr old just raked in the chips. She wasn't a really good player, but she was at least reasonable. She just managed to be in the right hands at the right time to drag a series of prety good pots. She was up about 3 racks after about 2 hrs play, when I left.
I'm sure you've noticed that I made the point to mention "20 y.o." a couple times - they allow 18 and up gambling in this place. I don't know how they get around that particular state law, but they do. So if you have any minor friends that need a public cardroom fix, there ya go.
During my session, they filled both of their remaining open tables. They spread one 6/12 game (I wish I had a little more BR with me) but it didn't last but about an hour before it broke up.
Dealers: I saw several new dealers on thid trip. As a rule, this place is very slow paced. They don't have the auto shufflers, so that slows things way down. In general the dealers all felt pretty new to their trade and I noticed that the poker dealers also do shifts down at the other "table games" (BJ, 3 card poker, Let It Ride etc) so they're not poker "specialists". My firts dealer was reasonably competent, but did a poor job of directing traffic and got way to cuaght up in the table conversation. Maybe 20 hands an hour. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
There was one guy who we dubbed Poker Nazi. He was a little too bossy about everything. Everytime he went around the table, he'd make people put a chip on thier cards. Now this is a very good practice for the player to the imediate sides of the dealer, but other than that, it takes some effort for the dealer to accidently pick up someone's hand. But it didn't matter if you were way over in one of the "corners" of the table where he'd have to actually standup to reach their cards: "Put a chip on your cards sir!" When it came to showdown, and someone would go to expose his hand "out of order", he'd shove his hand out palm up very abruptly and say (almost yell) "Wait! It's not your turn!" or "Hold it!" as if it mattered in some way who turned their hand over first. He did this 5 or 6 times and it was actually pretty funny (I was looking hard for entertainment by this point) and we all did the soup Nazi bit after he left the table. I got the impression that he was working hard on memorizing poker procedures and just didn't understand what the real purposes of the procedures.
Anyway, ths place is worth checking out unless you prefer the maniac games they tend to have at most of the places around town.
I was very surprised to see that they had 5 tables running full. I think they had 3 3/6 games and 2 4/8 games. I got on both lists and got seated in a 3/6 game in about 15 minutes.
My personal game report isn't much more than a rerun from several posts so I'll keep it short: Wait a little while to get involved, get a little hot for 20 miutes then someone turned the "switch" and I couldn't drag a pot for the better part of 2 hours.
As a rule the play was pretty poor. It wasn't real aggressive, and there was very little show of any skill for the most part. There was this one kid who just didn't seem to get it and he's been playing there "every week". He didn't seem to understand "check" or waiting for his turn. If he didn't like his cards, he just threw them away (even in the big blind); if he did he'd always bet regardless of how they fit with the board. And he was s l o w. Every bet, he'd pick up his chips one at a time. Then he'd get them stacked all neat in his hand. Then he would slowly put them 6 inches out on front of him. Every time it was his turn (and he was in 90% of the hands) was like going into a a time warp. But, he was dragging pots. He just kept betting and stumbling onto something good enough. He took a pot from me which turned out to be the turning point for me. Eventually he stopped hitting his cards and was down to the felt (after having ~$400 in front of him) and he just couldn't figure out why - very frustrating not to have gotten a hold of a few pots that he was involved in.
About an hour into my session, Party Kid (Mike) sits down at my table. He sets right in and drags 2 monster pots (~$150 each) in about half and hour. He was good to go for the rest of the time I was there.
Here's an example of how truly bad the table was as a rule: One hand ended with the board showing all spades with the A on the board (river). There had been a little jousting between a few players and the pot was pretty decent. The little 20 year old gal opened the betting on the river got a call and got raised from the monkey who I was talking about above. She looked at her hand and said: "Well, I have the nuts I'm gonna raise." (loud enough for me to hear 3/4 of the way across the table). "We can hear you ya know." "Oh - I was just talking to this end of the table." She still got 2 calls. Neither caller could even improve the board - but one did have a straight!
Of course this little 20 yr old just raked in the chips. She wasn't a really good player, but she was at least reasonable. She just managed to be in the right hands at the right time to drag a series of prety good pots. She was up about 3 racks after about 2 hrs play, when I left.
I'm sure you've noticed that I made the point to mention "20 y.o." a couple times - they allow 18 and up gambling in this place. I don't know how they get around that particular state law, but they do. So if you have any minor friends that need a public cardroom fix, there ya go.
During my session, they filled both of their remaining open tables. They spread one 6/12 game (I wish I had a little more BR with me) but it didn't last but about an hour before it broke up.
Dealers: I saw several new dealers on thid trip. As a rule, this place is very slow paced. They don't have the auto shufflers, so that slows things way down. In general the dealers all felt pretty new to their trade and I noticed that the poker dealers also do shifts down at the other "table games" (BJ, 3 card poker, Let It Ride etc) so they're not poker "specialists". My firts dealer was reasonably competent, but did a poor job of directing traffic and got way to cuaght up in the table conversation. Maybe 20 hands an hour. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
There was one guy who we dubbed Poker Nazi. He was a little too bossy about everything. Everytime he went around the table, he'd make people put a chip on thier cards. Now this is a very good practice for the player to the imediate sides of the dealer, but other than that, it takes some effort for the dealer to accidently pick up someone's hand. But it didn't matter if you were way over in one of the "corners" of the table where he'd have to actually standup to reach their cards: "Put a chip on your cards sir!" When it came to showdown, and someone would go to expose his hand "out of order", he'd shove his hand out palm up very abruptly and say (almost yell) "Wait! It's not your turn!" or "Hold it!" as if it mattered in some way who turned their hand over first. He did this 5 or 6 times and it was actually pretty funny (I was looking hard for entertainment by this point) and we all did the soup Nazi bit after he left the table. I got the impression that he was working hard on memorizing poker procedures and just didn't understand what the real purposes of the procedures.
Anyway, ths place is worth checking out unless you prefer the maniac games they tend to have at most of the places around town.
