....after leaving the Derby on Saturday morning, I headed off on my original mission to take in a day at Cache Creek. It took about an hour to get there and arrived at about 1:00.
Made my way to the poker room in the new building (which is pretty impressive, BTW) and got on a short list for a 3/6 game. I told the brush I was going to get some lunch and he gave me one of those electronic paging devices you get in restaurants when you're waiting for a table. I headed off for the buffet, but they wanted $16 for lunch and it somehow taking forever just to get in depsite a short line. I decided that it just couldn't be worth it (as much as I do enjoy a good buffet) and went over to the Mexican restaurant instead. I got seated and no sooner had I placed my order ( a taco salad and Lemonade Marquarita), the pager went off. "beep, beep, beep your hostess is ready to seat you" 10 seconds later it went off again. Every 10 seconds for the next 10 minutes this thing kep going off. Pretty damn annoying. I asked my waitress if she could contact the pokre room ask them to stop paging me. She did and siad they would stop and it did - about 10 minutes later. It was off for about 5 minute and then it started up again. They need to fix those things.
Got seated about 1:45 at a new table they were opening up. There were a couple of decent players and a bunch of fish. I was licking my chops. There was one fish in particular that was just a complete fool. He was an Asian fellow (maybe Chinese with a particularly neanderthal look about him - I came to nickname him Shrek, not outloud of course). This guy was an absolute hoot. He didn't seem to know much about the game. He would fold without having been bet into (sometimes he even folded after raising) and try to bet 6 when the bet was 3 or vice-verse. He would inadvertantly raise from the big blind (thinking he was calling) (they take the big blind as the drop and just leave the BB button - they really need to stop that) and then he'd fold. When he actually improved his hand he wouldn't raise, but would bet right along with any prayer in sight. Whenever a card hit the board that he didn't like it was pretty obvious, but that was the only thing you figure out about him. But he was having a grand old time he drug just enough pots to keep playing and was there for about 4 hours.
When we started the table there was on older gentleman (about 65-70) who clearly had a clue. He was cold carded as bad as I was and ended up changing tables after about a half hour. There were 3 or 4 other who had half a clue (they'd snicker about other's poor play, but commit some pretty bad judgement themselves). The guy to my right kept getting 2 pair cracked all day. He was a little fishy, but it was still pretty ugly to watch.
My first decent hand came about 1/2 hour into the game. I'm in the SB and find the rockets! Of course 7 of the 9 players had limped, but I'm just not going to let them get to the flop cheap. I raise and, of course, they all call. Flop brings nothing particularly problematic - I bet and most call. Turn brings another blank which creates a flush draw. I bet and a couple call. The river brings a 3 flush rag. I bet and get raised by the quiet Asian a few seats behind me. I knew he caught a flush, but paid him off. He shows something like 34s. He caught a 4 on the flop so he felt compelled to stick around. (This guy would go on to be basically unbeatable for the entire time he was there. Always fishing and always catching. He cashed out over $400 from probably a $100 buy-in. He wasn't complete fish, but close enough.) Oh, well Aces get cracked all the time and with that many to the flop, it was pretty much who was going to do it rather than if.
I was in one of those grroves that anytime I caught decent starters they wouldn't get any help for a while. I managed to land a decent pot when my pocket 5s caught a set, which improved to a boat, which got me pretty much back to even. After that I pretty much flailed away my rack and had to get a re-buy.
As soon as I got that second rack, I landed 2 good pots which actually put me ahead about a $100. (These pots were consitently big, so when you won, you won.) I got a pair of Qs which improved to a set on the turn. The river brought 3 to a wheel and I got raised by one of the fish. I thought I was dead (the flushes and straights were relentless) but I called and he showed 2 pair Ts and 2s. My god, these guys were bad.
I went into another tailspin for about an hour (QQs cracked AQ, AK just never got any help etc, etc) then landed another couple of pots to get back to about $100 ahead again. I flailed away and started to feel like it was just time to go. I racked up at dead even ,cashed out and got a $5 meal coupon from the brush. Went to the Cafe, got a burger and headed for home at about 8:30.
I kept looking around for David and Cristano who indicated they might venture down there, but didn't see them.
I have to say that the food and the service was excellent. All the servers were very warm and freindly. Quite a difference from Reno/Tahoe casinos, where all the servers seem burnt out from dealing with drunken gamblers all their lives. I hope Cache Creek can manage to maintain this attitude, because it really does make a difference.
All of the dealers were very competent. Most had some personality, but didn't try to "be the show" - they did their jobs and most were very patient with Shrek and the others who just couldn't figure out how blinds and betting worked. There were a couple with zero personality and a couple that were a little more "prominent" than the others, but they were all very competent. There was one dealer (a young Asian guy) who had a bit of a "wish I was somewhere besides work" attitude and there was one lady who was kind of a commendant, enforcing betting rules that hadn't been enforced before and really taking control of the table. There was exactly one misstep the whole day (burn and turn before action had closed) and that was because the player's hand was kind of out of sight. It was handled properly and the game moved on. There was once (when I was in the BB) that I somehow missed the table checking right through me. (The gal to my right had the habit of just waving her hand in the air instead of tapping the table when she checked.) I must have fell asleep or something, because while waiting for her action, the dealer flipped the turn card. Huh?, "Don't I get to act?" , it was no big deal, but it was kind of wierd.
There was one "incident" at another table. (it's the first time I've ever seen anything resembling that something that might turn into a problem in a poker room.) I never did figure out what happened but one guy was standing up argueing with the dealer about something that had happened. They called a couple of floor guys over and there was comotion for about 15 minutes. The guy seemed to be wanting "proof" about one of their policies (that's all I could make out). I guess it was handled to his satisfaction because he was right back in the game.
The pots were very big. Most were easily $50 and many were over $100. Almost every hand went to showdown. There was maybe 10 hands all day that took down the pot without showing. Insane, loose, crazy betting. Any pair would call down. Catch enough decent cards and this is easy money. Get a little bad luck and it's frustrating as hell. Luckily I caught enough fortune to break even, but it could have been much, much better with just a little more luck. It also could have been much worse. Any sets I hit held up and a couple of top pairs. Anything else was sucked out and shot down, alot of times by people who didn't even know they had a winner.
One more note on Cache Creek - they offer NL poker now. I wasn't able to get the particulars on it, but there were a couple NL tables spread.
Made my way to the poker room in the new building (which is pretty impressive, BTW) and got on a short list for a 3/6 game. I told the brush I was going to get some lunch and he gave me one of those electronic paging devices you get in restaurants when you're waiting for a table. I headed off for the buffet, but they wanted $16 for lunch and it somehow taking forever just to get in depsite a short line. I decided that it just couldn't be worth it (as much as I do enjoy a good buffet) and went over to the Mexican restaurant instead. I got seated and no sooner had I placed my order ( a taco salad and Lemonade Marquarita), the pager went off. "beep, beep, beep your hostess is ready to seat you" 10 seconds later it went off again. Every 10 seconds for the next 10 minutes this thing kep going off. Pretty damn annoying. I asked my waitress if she could contact the pokre room ask them to stop paging me. She did and siad they would stop and it did - about 10 minutes later. It was off for about 5 minute and then it started up again. They need to fix those things.
Got seated about 1:45 at a new table they were opening up. There were a couple of decent players and a bunch of fish. I was licking my chops. There was one fish in particular that was just a complete fool. He was an Asian fellow (maybe Chinese with a particularly neanderthal look about him - I came to nickname him Shrek, not outloud of course). This guy was an absolute hoot. He didn't seem to know much about the game. He would fold without having been bet into (sometimes he even folded after raising) and try to bet 6 when the bet was 3 or vice-verse. He would inadvertantly raise from the big blind (thinking he was calling) (they take the big blind as the drop and just leave the BB button - they really need to stop that) and then he'd fold. When he actually improved his hand he wouldn't raise, but would bet right along with any prayer in sight. Whenever a card hit the board that he didn't like it was pretty obvious, but that was the only thing you figure out about him. But he was having a grand old time he drug just enough pots to keep playing and was there for about 4 hours.
When we started the table there was on older gentleman (about 65-70) who clearly had a clue. He was cold carded as bad as I was and ended up changing tables after about a half hour. There were 3 or 4 other who had half a clue (they'd snicker about other's poor play, but commit some pretty bad judgement themselves). The guy to my right kept getting 2 pair cracked all day. He was a little fishy, but it was still pretty ugly to watch.
My first decent hand came about 1/2 hour into the game. I'm in the SB and find the rockets! Of course 7 of the 9 players had limped, but I'm just not going to let them get to the flop cheap. I raise and, of course, they all call. Flop brings nothing particularly problematic - I bet and most call. Turn brings another blank which creates a flush draw. I bet and a couple call. The river brings a 3 flush rag. I bet and get raised by the quiet Asian a few seats behind me. I knew he caught a flush, but paid him off. He shows something like 34s. He caught a 4 on the flop so he felt compelled to stick around. (This guy would go on to be basically unbeatable for the entire time he was there. Always fishing and always catching. He cashed out over $400 from probably a $100 buy-in. He wasn't complete fish, but close enough.) Oh, well Aces get cracked all the time and with that many to the flop, it was pretty much who was going to do it rather than if.
I was in one of those grroves that anytime I caught decent starters they wouldn't get any help for a while. I managed to land a decent pot when my pocket 5s caught a set, which improved to a boat, which got me pretty much back to even. After that I pretty much flailed away my rack and had to get a re-buy.
As soon as I got that second rack, I landed 2 good pots which actually put me ahead about a $100. (These pots were consitently big, so when you won, you won.) I got a pair of Qs which improved to a set on the turn. The river brought 3 to a wheel and I got raised by one of the fish. I thought I was dead (the flushes and straights were relentless) but I called and he showed 2 pair Ts and 2s. My god, these guys were bad.
I went into another tailspin for about an hour (QQs cracked AQ, AK just never got any help etc, etc) then landed another couple of pots to get back to about $100 ahead again. I flailed away and started to feel like it was just time to go. I racked up at dead even ,cashed out and got a $5 meal coupon from the brush. Went to the Cafe, got a burger and headed for home at about 8:30.
I kept looking around for David and Cristano who indicated they might venture down there, but didn't see them.
I have to say that the food and the service was excellent. All the servers were very warm and freindly. Quite a difference from Reno/Tahoe casinos, where all the servers seem burnt out from dealing with drunken gamblers all their lives. I hope Cache Creek can manage to maintain this attitude, because it really does make a difference.
All of the dealers were very competent. Most had some personality, but didn't try to "be the show" - they did their jobs and most were very patient with Shrek and the others who just couldn't figure out how blinds and betting worked. There were a couple with zero personality and a couple that were a little more "prominent" than the others, but they were all very competent. There was one dealer (a young Asian guy) who had a bit of a "wish I was somewhere besides work" attitude and there was one lady who was kind of a commendant, enforcing betting rules that hadn't been enforced before and really taking control of the table. There was exactly one misstep the whole day (burn and turn before action had closed) and that was because the player's hand was kind of out of sight. It was handled properly and the game moved on. There was once (when I was in the BB) that I somehow missed the table checking right through me. (The gal to my right had the habit of just waving her hand in the air instead of tapping the table when she checked.) I must have fell asleep or something, because while waiting for her action, the dealer flipped the turn card. Huh?, "Don't I get to act?" , it was no big deal, but it was kind of wierd.
There was one "incident" at another table. (it's the first time I've ever seen anything resembling that something that might turn into a problem in a poker room.) I never did figure out what happened but one guy was standing up argueing with the dealer about something that had happened. They called a couple of floor guys over and there was comotion for about 15 minutes. The guy seemed to be wanting "proof" about one of their policies (that's all I could make out). I guess it was handled to his satisfaction because he was right back in the game.
The pots were very big. Most were easily $50 and many were over $100. Almost every hand went to showdown. There was maybe 10 hands all day that took down the pot without showing. Insane, loose, crazy betting. Any pair would call down. Catch enough decent cards and this is easy money. Get a little bad luck and it's frustrating as hell. Luckily I caught enough fortune to break even, but it could have been much, much better with just a little more luck. It also could have been much worse. Any sets I hit held up and a couple of top pairs. Anything else was sucked out and shot down, alot of times by people who didn't even know they had a winner.
One more note on Cache Creek - they offer NL poker now. I wasn't able to get the particulars on it, but there were a couple NL tables spread.
