Return of the 50 Cent Blinds
July 9, 2009
Now that the Excalibur electronic poker tables are gone, a certain void has been left in the Vegas poker community.
It’s not necessarily the electronic poker tables that will be missed (although this will be the case to some extent), but rather the extremely cheap No Limit Hold ‘Em that was a mainstay of the room.
I very much liked the $.50/$1 tables, as they enabled me to muck anything short of premium hands at the low, low cost of $3 per 20 hands. If you sat down with a C note at this game, you had one hundred times the big blind, and were the master of your own miniscule domain for a little while.
Because it enabled me to be super-patient, I often made a few dollars at this particular game. When I learned that the X room was being re-tooled, I figured the days of online poker limits at brick and mortar casinos were over.
I was wrong.
Today, I happened to go to Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall twice (long story), and on my second visit, there were two poker tables with full action running. I have not played in Bill’s in a very long time, and I am admittedly more unfamiliar with this “room” than most. This being the case, I have little point of reference on which to judge today’s crowd.
Given the sudden rush of action between my first and second visit, my assumption was that a tournament was taking place. Upon querying one of the players, he informed me that it was not a tournament but that both tables were running $.50/$1 NL games.
At this point the dealer piped up and said, “We also pay $100 if your Aces are cracked, and $50 if your Kings are cracked until 2pm”.
Bill's Gamblin' Hall
I had not come to Bill’s to play poker today, but this sounded like a rather attractive proposition. I get my Aces and Kings cracked quite often, and a one dollar big blind is hard to beat. Given that it was Bill’s, home of 6/5 everything, I also assumed that I would be playing with complete and utter idiots.
For the second time in the same article, I was wrong.
As the puck made its way around the table, I closely watched the players to size them up. After about 10 minutes, I realized that not only could I not spot the fish, but most of the table knew each other by name. To make matters even worse, most of the players knew the dealers by name as well.
Oh holy mother of sweet baby Jesus from South Central Nazareth … I had stumbled into a full-blown locals NL game. Listening to the other players while I sat back and waited for a hand, I was impressed with the conversation and camaraderie. Everyone was very cool. They asked me where I was from, what I did, and all the usual “Norm from Cheers” stuff, but I wasn’t in a social mood today. I wanted my F’ing money.
Bill's Gamblin' Hall
Alas, it was not to happen. When I finally caught a hand and put a few chips out in front of me, the table folded around. Apparently, these guys actually noticed that I was mucking every, single, solitary hand. This would never happen at Mandy.
Fortunately, half an hour into the game I was saved by the bell. I got a phone call, stepped away from the table, acted like I had to leave in a hurry (I didn’t), rolled a couple of chips to the dealer and took my leave only a couple of dollars lighter. I love $.5/$1 poker, but only if ESPN-watchers are at the table. I used to play the locals game at the Hilton because I was friends with the cast of characters that was there on the weekend, but I also lost a lot of money in the process.
As much as I miss the Hilton Room, I don’t want to make buddies anymore. Instead, I want my freaking money.
I can’t help but wonder why so many local grinders have gravitated to Bill’s (maybe the cracked hands?), but I will probably avoid it in the near future. I don’t care what the limit is … I don’t want to play with 9 other people who play like me. Everybody is very nice in the room, but if players live within 100 miles of Flamingo and Las Vegas Boulevard, aren’t falling over drunk, or they aren’t pecker-swinging frat douches with bubble-headed girlfriends looking over their shoulder … I’ve got no use for them. No offense.
Anyway, for you cheap mofos that want to transition from training wheels (limit) to actual poker, this may be a viable option. I just wouldn’t go during the early afternoon. Unless you have a rabbit’s foot jammed up your ass, you will get slaughtered.
I may try to play at Bill’s during more traditional poker hours, but as much as I love the high-pair “crack”pot, I just can’t afford it in the long run with the type of play I witnessed today.
A 50 cent small blind and a $1 big blind is good, but only if someone calls your raise.
Unless you’ve proven yourself to be a pretty bad player, that just isn’t going to happen at Bill’s on a routine basis.
Written by Minton on July 9, 2009 at 6:49 pm
I play quite a bit at bills, during the day it’s the Running of the Nits, they all grind at the IP for their aces/kings cracked promo, then the minute it ends they all rack up and head down to bills to play in that one, it’s always the same uber tight players almost daily.
The game on the weekends at bills can get really juicy, there is never a ton of money at the table but lots of people who want to give poker a try and will sit down with $20-$60 and donk away their chips with any two cards. Also most nights there are table shots and the waitresses hardly leave the poker room since it’s about the only place they make decent tips. It’s a good place to play some cards and not have to over think anything, anything above A level play goes way over their heads.
Written by FoolsGold on July 11, 2009 at 9:20 am
“I closely watched the players. Not only could I not spot the fish, but most knew each other by name and most knew the dealers by name. I had stumbled into a full-blown locals NL game. I waited for a hand, was impressed with the conversation. They asked me where I was from, what I did, but I wasn’t in a social mood. I wanted my money. Alas, it was not to happen. When I finally caught a hand and put a few chips out in front of me, the table folded around. Apparently, these guys actually noticed that I was mucking every, single, solitary hand. This would never happen at Mandy.”
Are you saying that the players at Mandalay would not have noticed your previous mucking behavior and concluded that your suddenly betting betrayed your holding a good hand because they lack poker skills or because their alcohol and vacation-orientation makes them more willing to lose despite having noticed your sudden willingness to bet?
Would you describe these ultra-tight players as simply poker players whose style is quite similar to yours but who play against other sharks rather than looking for a loose-playing fish? If so, do they ever actually wind up ahead or are they simply trading their various bankrolls amongst themselves while waiting for the appearance of a hoped-for fish?