laughlin edgewater part two

BACK AT THE EDGEWATER

GAMBLING

I checked into the Edgewater for my second weekend of comps and proceeded to immediately lose $300 in video poker I would not have played had I not had a host. I followed it up with $200 more. It all drained in the volatility of this game without a single quad. I was on a bit of a video poker tilt hoping that I could get some of my earlier losses back. Hoping for the elusive royal, then for the elusive aces, and finally just for any quad at all.

So if you are reading this Edgewater, keep hosting.

I did discover that I don't enjoy the video poker when I am losing and that changes my game plan there. I'll play much less, quitting after small losses. It also means that I may by chance catch some free nights here or there, but I won't try to keep the offers.

The live poker went well, but I still was down a few chips when I left. I expected to see some tourists, but for the most part I just saw the regulars. A couple were poor players, but most were super cautious and because I was playing very tight, they knew when I had cards. I played four hours and just stayed about even. However, I can enjoy the poker when I am losing too and I can't imagine losing $500 at live low limit poker in one day.

PS After coming home I discovered that a regular poster on the LVA board was playing against me at the Edgewater and sort of recognized me but did not say anything. Too bad.

So I am learning this trip again, but it is very costly.

I will skip the Laughlin segment next time. It is just too hard to find a game with tourists and then they don't last very long. This is the exact problem I had playing up the Mississippi River. In Vegas I can move from game to game as I size up the players. Here, having eliminated the 2-6 as beatable, there is just this 2-4-6 at the Edgewater and to find that filled with locals on a Friday night is just too discouraging. Tourists came to play, but not enough to start a second table.

Saturday I won the $25 tournament in the morning. It is a nice event with no rebuys. I almost did not get in as I was an alternate and not signed up early enough. Players were good enough to be fooled. I played tight until the loose folks left, then got aggressive and came from way behind to be top chipped. The best player lost when he went all in with an ace sometime and I called with suited connectors and caught the flush. The last opponent lost when he kept trying to get caught up to my chip lead by going all in to steal my blind. He did it finally when I had pocket aces and they held up. Since he was doing this I just called my small blind, showing no strength, and he bit hard.

VIDEO POKER TOURNAMENT

I was only in two tournaments. I paid for a $25 tournament and won that one. I also earned a $100 freeroll. They started with 12 tables and I managed to get down to 12 players before I was eliminated. They paid 10 and the lowest pay was $187 so that would have been a fine no risk win.

I would have won more than that had I simply gone all in on one hand.

Three players were in the hand at a time when we had to try to get some chips before another blind raise. One guy went all in. A second guy called. I held pocket tens and had to either go all in myself or fold. I folded. One guy had pocket nines. Another caught his ace for a pair on the flop. The turn was a ten. The river was a ten. I'd have had quads and enough chips to put me in the running for more than just the tenth position.

ROOM

I did not get a safe this time. I did not need one at all as I don't need even one day of room service. I leave for the Tuscany on Sunday. Otherwise my room is the same and just down the hall from my old room: riverview, coffee maker, everything ship shape. Janella took good care of me again.

COMPS

My last visit I got a free VP tournament ( top pay $10,000), a free comedy ticket, and a free buffet in addition to my rooms. This weekend I won't need anything as my poker comps will take care of my food. There I can use comps I know I have rather than charge meals and then have to pay. Our first trip all our food was comped so easily, we thought that would happen again. But this time the Boileroom did not count. It is all very confusing.

Generally I want to use up my comps because I doubt I'll make the trip again for a while. The 2-6 games, especially on weekdays, are just much tougher to beat than I expected. The players are good and the pots are small and the tables are not filled often enough. So it becomes a repeat of my experience playing poker up the Mississippi. Even at the Edgewater, where there is a game I can beat, I should not try to start the day there but wait for other visitors and tourists and full tables. Then I am not the fish.

It has cost me a bit to learn that this trip.

Also, I do want to find some no limit niche where I can feel comfortable. This trip it will be hard when I get back to Vegas to play no limit as I will be down bankroll, but I'll try somewhere. I just wish I knew where that should be.

So I am using up my comps and feeling a bit sad to be leaving this river strip of casinos perhaps for the last time. There EW things I like here very much.

Friday night I hoped to play some tourists, but it was the usual players. After ten Amber and her husband joined the table. She deals at the Belle and I remembered her as a player at the Edgewater as well. She was ruthless. Unlike the others Amber was aggressive so that I'd not be able to get free cards or know what was up when she acted. She also would keep up a banter that would distract. So I was smart and headed back to the room.

FOOD

I used my poker comps to buy a fine pecan pie to take to my room. I added two dollars to the ten in comps and it made a fine late night snack. I'll have it for my extra meal until I leave on Sunday.

RIVER PALMS

My last morning I took a walk along the river and I walked far enough to reach the River Palms where I went in to find the poker games in full swing, so I played for an hour waiting for Granny's to feed my that fine gourmet buffet.

At the table was Grif from the Laughlin Trip Advisor board only I did not know it until I left. I asked when I arrived, but no one seemed to know he posted on a board (or what a board was) They were all grieving the end of the room coming this August. It was sad. Some had played there regularly for many years.

I played poorly, much too loose, chasing all sorts of things. One hand with Grif, however, I slow played a flopped fullhouse until he caught his flush and raised me. I reraised. It would have been a better play in a structured game where the bet was higher on higher hands, but I never sensed any strength. I might also have give Grif time to catch a larger full house that my sixes full of aces, but that seemed unlikely to happen. More likely was that a six dollar bet in the beginning would just grab a small pot.

Sitting next to me was a woman with the most interesting voice. She was beach blonde and while she did not sound like Betty Boop, her voice approached that sort of tone. I kept thinking she would be perfect playing along side Dick Tracy.

I left after my bad play up $8.

GRANNY'S

A second fine meal at Granny's. I wanted to eat there before I left in case I don't get to Laughlin for a while. Lamb chops and snails sure beat the medicre food at the other buffets I tried in Laughlin. Everyone raves about Harrah's, but everyone has a car. In August heat I was happy to make the walk to the River Palms in the morning. Harrah's is just too damn far.

Well, so long Laughlin. I'll miss you, but I just don't play well enough to do the weekdays and it is too expensive to come just for the weekends unless I happen to be here with a car.