Sloe Times

Announcing your plans is a good way to hear god laugh. -- Al Swearengen, Deadwood
 
I went to the local B&M casino this evening and made two major mistakes.  The first mistake was not walking right the fuck out when I learned that the limit was higher than I really wanted to tolerate, and two assuming that in a $5/$10 game the level of play would be better than say the $0.02/$0.04 table on Party.  I'll chalk the first mistake up to peer pressure.  I was their with a friend and this was something that I did want to do, just not at $5/$10 (the lowest limit available).  The second mistake.... well, you would think that sort of thing would be self correcting in that those people would bust out rather quickly, but it just didn't work that way.  The worst hand I voluntarily put money in the pot on was KQo.  I got to play some crap as the BB a few times, but other than that it was premium hands the whole way.  I was even aggressive with them, raising pre-flop to try and ward off the folks who would limp in with any two cards.   About the worst thing that could have happened to me this evening was to get playable hands pre-flop.  Flops completely missed me no matter what I was holding.  I had AK 3 times in the span of an hour and the flops were complete rags.  The only winning hand I folded was 36 off (folded pre-flop) that made a house by the turn.  Again, I appreciate cold cards and all but the betting limits were too high to be missing so often, and when I did catch...  Well, here's a classic example.
 
The table is limping in and I look down to see KQs on the button.  I raise, the maniac to my left calls and the rest of the table folds.  The flop is Q-8-9 rainbow.  Maniac checks and I bet, which he calls.  The turn is a J completing the rainbow on the board.  Maniac checks and I bet, which he again calls.  The river brings a 3.  Complete junk really but the Manic bets.  Did he slow play a T on the turn for the straight?  or was he holding an 8 or a 9 and a 3 to give him two pair on the river?  I call because I can't believe that someone would call a preflop raise with anything like those combinations and figure that if he has something like KT he played me like a fiddle and I'll just have to deal with it.  So I call to see what he has and turn over my KQ.  He then turns over his 89 off.  :(  In case your wondering, this fellow got busted out later in the evening, along with a number of other people who were loose and, frankly, stupid.  I didn't fair too much better, after having my good hands shredded by rag flops but this last hand that I described pissed me off, and rather than tilt and play mad, so I got up and quit playing poker for the night.  Unfortunately the bankroll damage had already been done.  
 
I must not be a 'lucky' person.  After walking away from the poker room I decided to give craps a go.  I figure I'll take it easy and just bet the pass line.  Everyone around that table, including myself, had the nasty habit of rolling the point, and then rolling a seven.  I was a minor exception in thinking that maybe I was lucky after all because when I got the dice, the first roll was a seven, nice.  Second roll was a 10.  Two rolls later I hit the 10, nice another winner and the table is starting to perk up from the string of losses.  Next I roll an 8, ok that's usually a fairly easy number to hit, and so I pick up the dice for my next roll and hit a 7.  The curse continues.
 
All in all, my impression of B&M card rooms is that they fucking suck.  Now, that may be a bit extreme since I can't compare my local facility with anyone else, but just to give you an idea, the play is slower than a three toed sloth in the middle of it's afternoon nap.  Maybe 30 hands an hour?  On top of that, you've got a target rich environment, loose fish, that also happen to be extremely aggressive so getting tangled up with them and not being able to come out on top is extremely expensive.  The environment itself sucks starting with a multi-hour wait to get on a table, sub-arctic temperatures in the poker area, and the place stinks.  Literally, it stinks of cigarette and cigar smoke.  The worst part about that is, it's a non-smoking area.  Go figure.  The rake is atrocious by any standard but then again, since most pots are >$50 it's hard to miss the 10% or so that they scrape off when you win.  On top of that, don't forget to tip the dealer. :(
 
Needless to say, I won't be going back there again.  Of course I said the same thing the last time I went, but this time it will stick.  There is no reason for me to ever step into that casino again.  It's a shithole, and I've donated enough money there for a lifetime as far as I'm concerned.  I don't think I played poorly, in fact, I ended up folding the majority of the hands I played after the flop.  I was tight as a steel drum and aggressive, but apparently I need to work on that whole ESP thing.  This evenings fun inflicted a $400 hit to the bankroll.  So much for the $1k milestone.