On a whim I decided to leave work early on Tuesday and visit the Limelight card room, (Alhambra and J Street in Midtown) which is not far from my office. They made some changes since I was last there. They added two tables (5 total) and now the whole back area, including a service bar, is dedicated to the card room. The cardroom is open 11 am to 6 a.m. Monday through Wednesday and 24 hours a day the rest of the time. They seemed to be pretty well staffed in terms of dealers, manager types and wait staff, although a couple of the dealers seemed new and made some mistakes.
At 3:30 p.m., they had two tables of $3-$6 going. I played at the Limelight a couple times before and it was usually a raise-fest with people capping the pot before the flop every time and playing any two cards to the river. Lots of college students and young 20-somethings who were drinking and showing off for their girlfriends and didn’t really know what they were doing.
This afternoon crowd was much different – lots of older professionals and people who looked like they just got off work, maybe a couple of younger kids or students. There also wasn’t much reckless raising. Typically there was one, maybe two raises before the flop, and often the pot was unraised. When the hands got shown down the raiser usually had a pocket pair, high cards or suited connectors. There just didn’t seem to be as many bad beats as you’d typically see in this kind of low-limit game. Don't get me wrong - people still called all the way to the river. Example: I held AQc in the big blind and raised. Got maybe five or six callers. The flop came three clubs. I bet, everyone called. Turn, another club. Again, I bet, everyone calls. The river was a non-club, non-pair card and I bet again. A few people folded but a couple called, with one guy grumbling “let’s see if she got the flush.”
I won several big pots at this table by raising with legitimate starting hands and catching a good flop. After about 90 minutes they moved me over to the “main table” where the action was a little different. The guy to my left literally saw every flop, and he raised every time, no matter what two cards he held. More than half the time, pots were capped pre-flop. He rivered so many people by catching trips on the with a hand like 2-5os or a flush with 5-8os. Basically, he epitomized why most people hate low-limit hold ‘em!
About 5 o’clock, a guy comes around and asks if anyone wants to sign up for the 6 o’clock tournament. It’s a $25-buy in, freeze out, with alternates allowed during the first three rounds. Starting stack is $1,000 and the blinds double every 15 minutes. I won a couple of pots and doubled up around the third round, going all-in with QQ and getting called by 99, but then started getting blinded to death as the timer ticked off the rounds. They probably seated around 8-10 alternates. I went out in seventh place at 7 o’clock, so I would guess the entire tournament was over in 90 minutes. I think it paid three places.
On Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays at 6, they have World Poker Tour satellite tournaments. I think the buy-in is $40, and the winner of each satellite gets a seat in the final tournament, the winner of which gets a seat at the WPT at Bellagio.
