For a change of scenery, I decided to
head west to Caesars Windsor casino.
It had been quite a while, maybe a year and
a half ? since my last visit. The change over
from Casino Windsor and the $400 million
in renovations are complete. Everything is
very clean, modern looking.
The usually long and boring drive down
the 401 to Windsor is even longer and
more boring since the province of Ontario,
showing great wisdom and forethought, has
closed the service centre/rest stops (which it owns)
between London and Windsor to "prepare the
sites for redevelopment". Makes me chuckle
when I see the provincial highway signs saying
"Fatigue Kills, Take a Break" but they've
closed the only places in a 200km stretch
for you to do that.
I wasn't really sure what to expect as far as
how busy Caesars would be. I had
forgotten to get the poker room's phone #
at home, so I had to look it up the on my
blackberry on my way down. I called ahead
and got my name on the list, just to be safe.
I arrived in Windsor around 3:30pm and
made my way to Caesars. Everything is well
marked, including street signs directing you
towards the casino and to the valet & self-parking.
I took a quick wander through the casino to
check out what was new and then headed
upstairs to the poker room.
The poker room has been redone.
Looks much more modern and fresh.
It has a WSOP theme with large hardboard
posters of scenes from the WSOP and
poker superstars. The tables are all new
and the chairs, while not my favourites,
are the WSOP branded chairs that you see in
most of the Harrahs casino's in Las Vegas.
Brand new chips (photo above), nice design,
and still clean with crisp edges.
There were 4 tables in progress, all $1/2NL
(200max). I had a seat in the waiting area and
chatted with a couple others waiting for a spot.
One regular said the $2/5 game rarely gets going,
and that quite a few of the players in the $1/2 are
just waiting until there's enough of them to get
a Limit game going. Not so good news about
the $2/5 game, but limit players in a NL game
is usually free money.
It couldnt have been more than 10 minutes
and my name was called. Got my chips
from the cage, which is located right inside
the poker room, and wandered over to my seat.
There was quite a bit of action at my table
and the others as well, more than I expected.
A lot of uncontrolled aggression and all-ins.
That can be really profitable, but it is also volatile
and leads to variance and swings.
In the first hour I built up my $200 buy-in
to about $500. Then disaster. I called a $15 raise
with 99. I flopped top set on a board of 2-6-9.
Raise, reraise, call, all-in, then to me.
I push for about $475. Get one caller who
turns over AA. Turn is a J. River is an...... ACE.
Back to square one, time to start over.
There was a $2/5 game started around 5:30pm.
It appeared to be an action game, similar to
when I sat down to my $1/2 table, so I got
my name on that list and kept an eye on it
in between hands. (It was right behind my table).
My timing wasn't too good, when my name
finally came up, the people who had gotten
most of the chips on the table had turned
super tight (they cashed out shortly after),
and the majority of the players were playing
on short stacks. Didnt feel it was worthing
moving from where I was.
Unfortunately, around 6pm back at my table,
the one big stack decided to hit the road with
his $700. Shortly after, the other big stack
cashed out for a little over $900, leaving no one
at the table with more than $300 and the
average stack about $175. Harder to make
lost money back when all that money leaves.
Wasn't catching many cards, but was
patiently waiting for my shot. The guy
sitting to my immediate right was raising
every pot. Didnt really make much difference
to me since I wasnt playing any hands,
but on my right is a good place for him to be.
Around 7pm, one hand I got some chips back.
I limp UTG with Q-Q knowing that the guy
to my right will raise if no one else does.
2 UTG makes it $5 and there's 6 callers (pot $30).
Not the ideal result, but I get to see cheap flop
with a well consealed hand. Flop is 3-5-J.
The "always raiser" to my right is first to act
and leads out making it $15. I raise to $45.
2UTG and initial raiser both call.
Turn is offsuit 8. I push my last $100 all-in.
I can see out of the corner of my eye,
by the way he's holding his cards that the
initial raiser is going to fold, but 2UTG goes
into the tank. Probably good news, means it's
unlikely he has a set or two pair. I'm hoping
he has AJ or a flush draw and will make
the call because of the size of the pot.
He calls and sheepishly turns over AJ.
River's no help, my Q-Q wins.
Took a dinner break around 8pm.
There's a little cafe right outside the back
of the poker room that has snacks, beverages
and fresh made sandwiches. Nice that it's
not a total gouge either. Had a chicken BLT,
large size with real sliced chicken breast &
a grilled mediteranian veggy wrap.
Both were $4.75ea. Not bad for real food.
I think i paid $9.00 for an egg salad sandwich
one time at Niagara Fallsview.
Made my way back to the tables.
Felt much better after having something
to eat, but I'm always cautious as that's
often the kiss of death for people.
In tournaments, a rash of bustouts usually
happen right after dinner breaks. I've
noticed the same thing in cash games,
guy comes back from dinner break and
gets involved in too many hands and
gets crippled or goes broke. Didn't really
matter though, was totally card dead from
8:30pm to 1am. And when I say card dead,
I mean card DEAD. J2, 93, 84.
No suited or connected cards.
Even the ugly rags I was folding weren't hitting
any of the flops that come out. Which I guess
is a good thing, then I'm not tempted to be
calling raises with useless trash.
Over the course of the evening, I saw two
scetchy rulings made by the floor staff.
First one, was just wrong in my opinion.
It involved a player exposing his cards.
Player in question moved all in, player
behind called. There was a third player
involved who had yet to act.
The all-in player thought the 3rd player said
"I'm out". (I was at the other end of the table,
heard her mumble something, but not
100% sure what).
All-in player, figuring action is complete
rolls over his T-T. 3rd player says wait,
I havent folded yet. Dealer calls floor.
Floor says All-in players hand is DEAD
for exposing his hand with action pending.
3rd player ends up calling, I think just because
she didnt want to give the pot to the other guy
without a showdown. She only had AJ, no pair
no draw. As it turns out, All-in guy's mucked
T-T made a flush on the river and he would
have won the pot if the correct ruling had
been made. I checked the posted rules that are
over by the cage, but there's no mention of
any 'exposing your cards' rules. I asked the
brush if there was a copy of the poker rooms
complete rules, he said No and referred me to
the rules poster by the cage.
The other situation was involving a boxed card
(a card exposed facing up in the deck).
It was the King of Hearts dealt out on the flop.
Again floor called over. He rules because it's on
the flop, it doesnt make any difference, it was
going to be turned up anyways. I'm not in the
hand, but I know this is incorrect. I told him,
sir, the rules state a boxed card is to be treated
like a scrap piece of blank paper and must be
totally disregarded. He calls over 2 other suits
who confir in the huddle and agree with me.
The king is eventually put in the muck and a
new card is dealt out. The pot gets checked down
and 2 of the 3 people in the pot turn over a King...lol.
Two of the regulars said that "how rules are
enforced depends on the day and who's on duty".
I guess thats pretty common in Ontario casinos ?
I kept plugging away for the rest of the evening.
I was starting to feel a bit tired, but really wanted
to get myself to even (atleast take a small profit
to cover my gas). I set a quit time of 1am.
Stretched it out to 1:15am and cashed out $345.
Two buyins ($400), so a - $55 for the evening.
Notes:
- Air conditioning in the poker room wasn't
working, everyone complaining about the heat.
- Beach Boys were the feature entertainment
in the 5000 seat colliseum. Probably accounted
for the older crowd in the poker room.
Most reports from concert goers, Beach Boys
weren't very good. I say give them a break
they've got to be in their 70's.
- Use your Harrah's Total Rewards Card,
you'll earn $.50/hour on a $3/$6 Limit game,
$0.75/hour on the $1/$2 and $2/$5 NL games,
and $1/hour on the $5/$10 No Limit game.
Comps can be earned and used here
or in LasVegas, fully transferable.
(Most of Harrahs LV casino's pay you
$1/hr in the poker rooms).
I don't trust their "no swipe" system.
The staffer often just looks at your card
and says ok, he enters the info manually.
I've gotten screwed by this at Casino Niagara
before. They said right to my face that its my fault,
"you I must have forgotten to swipe in/out".
I wish all casinos that give poker room comps
would use the 'at the table' system that the
MGM Grand employs. The dealer swipes your
card into the computer buillt into each table
which logs you in/out, and is connected to
the desk. This also allows the person in charge
of seating new players to immediately know
when a seat is open.
- Total of 11 tables going by end of the night.
One $3/6 Limit, Two $2/5, and Eight $1/2NL.
- At one point there were 26 people on the
waiting list for the $1/2 game. There were
2 empty tables with dealers parked, but they
never opened those tables up. The one was
likely designated for Sit'N'go tournaments.
They ran 3 sng's during my 9 hour session.
- Caesars runs MTT's 7 days a week at 10am.
Tues/Wed/Thurs $50+5
Fri/Sat/Sun/Mon $100 +10
2000 chips, max 60 players.
20 min blinds for first 3 rounds
30 min blinds for remaiing rounds.
- They have a Bad Beat Jackpot,
it was at $7898. If your Full House
Aces over Tens (or better) gets beaten,
you take half, winner takes a 1/4 and the
table splits 1/4. A week ago it was $27,000.
- Great drink service early. Slowed down later
in the evening. Never too bad though. If you are
really thirsty, there is a drink service bar with
bartender right inside the poker room.
Caesars Poker Room Contact Numbers:
1-800-991-8888
1-800-991-7777 ext 22967 (or press 7 on Menu)
