(A trip report using the "BobbyD Framework".)

I had been planning to spend the weekend at the Taj when I was unexpectedly needed in Chicago on business. My flight was rather uneventful other then being hijacked by militant anti-casino faction of the religious right. A trip through my bag and my wallet provided them with all of the information they needed to brand me as the devil (My Taj Card, Caro's 12 days...). This was a mild inconvenience as I had a fair amount of work to do and my Jockey’s were giving me a wedge. Eventually I was able to wrestle the highjackers weapon of choice out of their hands (a ball point pen), and landed in Midway airport without further incident. Woohoo! At lease it was not all-bad as I was seated next to Elle McPhearson who gave me a hummer and a pass into the mile high club as a reward for saving the day. But enough of these redundant hijacking stories time to w00rk. I had to put in about 8 hours of work before heading to the Poker Room, but this finally ended!

The boat (Harrah's East Chicago in Indiana) was about a 40 minute drive from my hotel, and I arrived just after "boarding" was closed so I had 90 minutes to kill. The boat does not go anywhere actually but you can only get on for half an hour every other hour. I killed time in the Grandstand Cafe. The cafe was really nice, and the food was great. Truth be told it would have been perfect if not for the rotting corpse under my stool. I had a nice basked of hot wings and downed a couple pints of Bass while killing time. Then I made the mistake of taking a cat-nap on a park bench in the waiting area and got harassed by some security guard who thought I was some sort of vagrant with no place to go and briefly tried to kick me out of Harrah's. This potential disaster avoided 9:00 finally rolled around and I gained entry onto the boat.

Actual Poker Content Ahead

Friday Night

I only suffered one bad beat all weekend when KJo caught a runner runner str8 to beat my pocket Aces. Also they have a bad beat jackpot for Aces full of 10's getting beat. My first hand after moving from the lower limit game to 10-20 my Aces full of 10's get beat by Aces full of Jacks. "Sorry sir the bad beat is only for the low limit tables".

The 10-20 game was the softest I have seen in my relatively short poker experience.... And the 20-40 was even softer. The 20-40 had a consistent cycle of players who had lost big in 10-20 and figured this was the quickest way to get back to even was 20-40. One player would consistently call me down on the river with nothing and comment "we have to keep you honest".

{{{Tiger Facts}}} The room was relatively small and the ceilings not that high. Nonetheless smoking was not much of a problem... largely because very few folks were smoking. The chips here are clay, and cash does not play. The seats on either side of the dealer are non- smoking. They use the dead button rule here. The rake is 10% up to $5 and they drop another dollar into the bad beat jackpot in the low limit games. I saw Holdem and stud up to 20-40, Omaha8 to 10-20 and a 40-80 HOSe game. I guesstimate about 16 tables though I vaguely recall playing on table 19. This room would really benefit from a betting line as ANYTHING goes here... string bet no problem, start to bet and change your mind no problem, throw out a raise instead of a call and retrieve the extra no problem! Bet out of turn fine! Dealers share their tokes here. One complaint about the room is that it could use a little more light.

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I got checked into a hotel about 6:15 AM and figured I should catch a couple of hours of sleep since I had to work again at 10:00 AM. Unfortunately the "Houston 500" was on pay per smut in the room and I lay awake in strange wonder watching Houston take on more then 500 men in a row!

I woke up (after an hour of sleep) feeling like a crack dealer had shot me in the head with a 44 Magnum took 7 Advil and headed back to work. I spent the day "working" and playing Paradise Poker and then headed back to the Boat (after a two hour nap).

Actual Poker Content

I stayed in the 10-20 the second night, the game was not only soft and profitable but very friendly, with everyone getting along and I saw no reason to move into the 20-40 where everyone looked ready to beat each other senseless. I had been playing for about an hour when someone beat AK by flopping a set with pocket 5's. Presto I spat out and found out that Michael [ The best dealer in the place by about 10 hands an hour ] is a r.g.p. lurker, and we had a nice conversation until he had to move on. The best opportunity both nights came at about 4:15 when the casino is getting ready to close. Several folks just can't fold with so few hands left and 6-7 way capped preflop action is not uncommon!!!

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I was supposed to have a 7:30 AM flight home, but this got cancelled and the next flight was at 3:30 PM. I found a hotel room and figured I would crash for a couple of hours and get in one last session before heading home, but I ended up sleeping until about 2:00. Anyway my flight was delayed another half an hour which I burned in the Airport bar watching the Packers roll over da Bears!

This was the first time I have played above 5-10 in a casino (I play in a 5-20 home game). I really tightened up my game and my concentration level and was rewarded for it! It was a good lesson that I think I can take back to the lower limit games! It did not hurt that the games were super soft, but whose complaining. The only table I lost at all weekend was the 3-6-12 game.

Sean

p.s. Any and all similarities to the post How to write good (RGP Trip Reports) is purely intentional.

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