Hand of the Week -- Flopping the Nuts

Playing 10 -20, I'm in the cutoff seat and pick up Ad Qd.
UTG limps, a middle position players limps, and I raise it. Button cold calls, big blind calls, and all limpers call.

$100 in pot and 5 of us see flop of; Td 7d 2d.
UTG bets out, and middle limper calls. I call (we'll discuss this later) and the button raises. Blind folds, UTG and Middle limper calls. I call.

$180 in pot and 4 of us see turn of a black 2. UTG bets out (again) and now the quiet middle limper puts in a raise ! --- "Action is to you, sir."

I'll put in a comment with my action and reason. Also - a discussion of the flop call (S) and will tell the results of the hand.

You think about this hand and put in a comment too.

Poker in Southern Indiana - 4 Poker Rooms

ARGOSY - LAWRENCEBURG
This casino has been open for 10 years and is the closest to Cincinnatti Ohio. The poker room opened 6 months ago and has taken most of the players from the next two listed rooms --with good reason.
Nice new facility with 15 tables - 10 in play on a Thursday evening. Four tables of 1-3 NL, and one table of 2-5NL. Four tables of 3-6, and one table of 6-12. Bigger games and Omaha on weekends.
A big surprise! Both the manager and the day shift supervisor (Robert and Terry) used to work in similar positions at the Gold Strike in Tunica. Much asking of; "What are YOU doing here?"
I liked this room. Got to play 6-12 while watching the Cards beat the Mets for the National League Championship too. This is only a 5 hour drive from Springfield and could easily be base for a Cincinnatti Reds game.

GRAND VICTORIA - RISING SUN
10 miles down the river road, and its a ghost town. A nice separate 7 table poker room. Completely empty on a Thursday afternoon - no players, no dealer, no floorman. Had a "sign up list" though. 2 names on it.

BELTERRA - BELTERRA
Another 20 miles down the river road. A beautiful facility out in the middle of nowhere. A 12 table poker room with 3 in play on a Friday afternoon. 1-2NL, 2-4 and 3-6. The dealers we saw were excellent and the players were pitiful.

CAESARS - ELIZABETH/NEW ALBANY
Over the bridge from Louisville, KY. Another set of huge new buildings out in the woods. Then a walkway over the highway and you step onto the boat. Biggest damn gambling boat I've ever seen. A 30 table poker room everyday. Supplemented by another 20+ tables for the WSOP circuit event. Poker room has ists own cashier, snack bar, and bathrooms.
Big lists for a dozen different games. NL Holdem was 1-2, 2-5, 5-10 and an interest list for higher. Limit Holdem was 2-4-4-8, 4-8, 5-10 w/K, 10-20 w/K, 20-40. PLO at some different limits, and 30-60 stud. Interest lists for Omaha/8 and mixed game.
Tournaments running at noon, another at 3, megasats later, and single table sats running most of the time. Cash games were pretty squeezed out. Big waiting lists from 10am to midnight. And the staff seemed to have great difficulty making the transition from breaking a tourney table thru all the details to starting a new cash game table.
One funny story - althought I have seen this a lot in the last year or two. Dozen different games on the list. 150 names on the 1-2 NL list. Couple of young guys get in line, look at the list, and tell the brush; "I wanna play 1-2 No Limit". She writes their name on the bottom and asks them if they want on list for any other games. They stare dumbfounded; "Duh? Huh?"

Poker in Southern Indiana - general

CT and I went on a driving tour of some Southern Indiana poker rooms. Got to play in four different casino poker rooms, see the WSOP Circuit event, and then visit our ole buddy Randy.

My first time in this part of Indiana and in these poker rooms. Some general comments first:
--Indiana has been very clever in its location of casinos -- right over the border from Cincinnatti Ohio, and right over the bridge from Louisville KY.
--All had a huge, nice, expensive physical plant (hotels, central building, restaurants, shops, golf courses, etc) and then a walkway to the gaming area -- on a BOAT. Thats right - an actual boat. Usually in a separate landing area (moat) but sometimes actually on the river. No cruising though - it just has to be on a boat.
--Poker available 24/7 in most. Good variety of games/limits. $5 rake everywhere + $1 for BBJ. Yow - thats pretty hefty for the low limits. Soft drinks are complimentary, beer and cocktails you pay (a lot) for.
--Poker rooms all had nice facilities. Nicer than Ameristar in St Louis, not as nice as Harrahs. Nicer than the Grand in Tunica, not as nice as Horseshoe.
--Dealers were surprisingly good in all locations. Only had one bad dealer, and he was an extra hire for the WSOP tourney.
--Players were pretty unskilled. A little rural, but nice and polite. Not as nice as Tunica, but much nicer than the goons in northern Indiana.

This was way too long, so I'll do a separate post about the individual poker rooms.

Ladies Poker Night -- Oct 17th

The next Ladies Poker Night will be Tuesday Oct 17th, from 5:30 to 7:30 at the Knights of Columbus on west Iles.

Poker Tournament in Springfield

Sunday Oct 15th starting at 6pm. At the northside VFW, located on Stockyards road just 1/2 block north of Sangamon Ave.

Entry fee is $50 and the tourney will be limited to 12 tables.

This tournament is sponsored by ABATE and is a charity gaming event. Its 100% legal - with a license from the Dept of Revenue. Its perfectly ok, you can bring your aunt, your minister, or your policeman neighbor. ABATE will be having three more of these in the upcoming few months.

Final table will start about 9 and tourney will be over by about 10. Those of you with jobs to go to on Monday can still get lots of sleep. (Man - I sure wish I still had a job to go to on Monday mornings)

Food and bevs available at the VFW.

To get a seat, you can show up the day of the tourney and hope. You may want to be a little early - cards will be in the air right after 6pm. Or you can pay me. Or you can contact Sandy Barnett (891-6297 and pay her.

The Nation's Ports are More Secure Now !

Congress passed the Port Security bill over the weekend.

At the last minute, Senator Frist snuck in 30 pages of prohibitions which will make it a lot harder for online poker players.

Playing online poker was not and is not against the law. The new legislation attacks the funding of accounts - and perhaps the cashing out as well. Some online sites will shut off service to USA customers.

Keeping you from playing a Party sit-and-go will certainly make our Ports more secure. International terrorism will be defeated by keeping you from that H.O.R.S.E. game on Stars.