2020 Poker Discussion Thread
 

Here is the place to discuss all things poker for the year 2020.

blowing away the sands???.....
 

took to the road with pen based pro the lion for a day trip to the sands (Bethlehem, pa) to kickoff the season's action.

but in a continuing theme of change being the only constant, the sands is no more as the facility now goes by the name WIND CREEK.

indeed the name of the casino wasn't the only change as the room itself has moved from its unique mid casino floor location (I liked that) to being in one of the actual rooms on the side of the casino floor. (enter casino, turn right, on right). kinda reminded me of a busier golden nugget ac?

the lion's been struggling; only winning about 2/3 of his outings recently (instead of his normal 85%) but he brings his A game to da creek and prevails over a table of rocks despite falling behind early. unfortunately for me I see more dealers than I drag pots and fall to 0-1 on a campaign that probably has about as much of a chance as Elizabeth warren. I do make one nice play against a frustrated player to my right to keep the losses to double digits.

thank you for reading.

game -73 (0-1)
year -73 (0-1)

I had a very long session (about 10 hours) at the Hollywood Casino @ Charles Town races last night that was great. I have not updated my records yet, but I should now be around the breakeven point or slightly up for 2020, including earned promotions.

About a week ago I was in a session where I was down around $240 with dim prospects of any recovery, then in one hand I had pocket Jacks and flopped J 5 2 rainbow. I ended up stacking a lady who had pocket Aces. Two hands later a guy to my right raises $16 UTG and I go all in with pocket Aces. He has about $70 left and given my "image" is that of a pretty tight player, he delays for about 90 seconds, then finally convinces himself to call with pocket Kings. We both turn up our cards for all to see.

The flop comes 8 7 K rainbow.

As is usual the table reacts to a huge change in fortune caused by the flop, and then reacts again with the turned Ace that saves the day for me. It sure is good to be lucky. :)

I finished with +$22, and was very satisfied with that as the final result.

While I have not hit any High Hands to date, which are of course, essentially due to good luck, I have been taking advantage of the recently instituted weekly playing hour bonus. I frequently qualify for the 15 hours played between Sunday 12 a.m. and Friday 6 a.m. (bonus = $50), and once and a while like for this week 25 hours (bonus = $100). One requirement for the bonus is that it can only be picked up on Friday/Saturday of the same week the bonus is earned, otherwise it is forfeited.

Glad to see a report from proximity with him back on the felt. I hope he is able to do so more frequently and is successful!

I was thinking of going to a tournament series for a couple days next month, but am now reconsidering. Some tables I have been at in the past have included people that did not look too healthy. Packed poker rooms with everyone touching cards has to be a nice environment for virus and bacteria transmission.

Anyone else cutting their card playing for health precautions?

that is an excellent point dw.

the chips are always a big threat although maybe the tournament chips aren't as bad at some casinos?

If the chips are a big thread...what about paper currency?

https://abc7news.com/5941406/

out here in civilian life I pretty much forgot paper currency existed. :blush:

With the losing streak that I am in...I will soon be joining you. :ThmbUp:

Bookies take plastic...:cool:

thanks for the link Thask


from now on after ordering my fast food, I will go wash my hands as I wait

the doctor showed an example that I did just yesterday - pay in cash, get change, and then eat burger



I agree with proximity though, I have played at places before where some of the chips had stuff on them I could scrape with my finger nail.

One of the casinos I have a card at sent me an email that describes all of the things they are doing to help protect patrons during corona virus time. A couple of the points caught my eye (they have both casino and poker).

• Our chips are being continuously washed with an onsite chip cleaner on a daily basis.

• Playing cards are replaced multiple times per day reducing the amount of times guests touch the cards.

Never played in a home game my entire life.

Was invited to one relatively close to my house about a week ago.

It is run very well with a small rake (to fund the purchase of pizza, drinks, and other snacks.). I have played 3 times this past week! :)

i think this AWESOME post should inspire the next modelo commercial! :cool:

Might need to hold up on the commercials for a bit.

Here have been my session results (in date order):
+ $145
+ $ 84
+ $171
+ $ 54
+ $248
- $188
- $393
- $ 66
- $193
- $188

I don't think it is a case of players now adjusting to me.

Some of the play by me has been bad no doubt, but unfavorable variance has not been my friend either. At least 3 times in the past 5 sessions I have flopped trips only to lose on the river. Also in another all-in, I was about a 3-1 favorite when losing to an overcard + gutshot straight draw. Over time you WANT to be in these types of situations.

Like all regular players I need to stay strong emotionally to make good and sound plays. Variance will "someday" be kind to me again. :)

Today I went to play poker at the Maryland Live (MDL) casino. My last poker room session was about 3 1/2 months ago. MDL is allowed to run 25 tables, with a maximum of 7 players each. It was a nice setup where players are separated by plexiglass. Players still had to wear masks, and only drinks were allowed at the table.

My 1/3 NL session ran very card dead for the first 2 hours, but I won 1 hand with the nut flush to get up to about +$140. My pocket pair of aces got cracked by pocket 2's with a 2 on the flop, so at that point I was about -$50. I rallied to +$50 with a few good hands, then began a steady downward slide over the next few hours to finish -$59. Still, a very enjoyable experience.

I did run into some regular Charles Town regulars who were able to get an update on poker there from a dealer/floor supervisor. In a nutshell, not good. The earliest they are thinking about re-opening their poker room is November, but that could easily move to sometime in 2021.

Hey guys hope all is well with everybody, glad to see people returning to do battle on the felt!!!!!!

Ahhhhhh, track collector entering the home game scene😎😎😎😎 I’m shocked you didn’t get hung up in the online game that somebody handles all payouts and transactions

I stayed away from gambling in a whole from late feb through till I discovered nascar wagering, I can’t be any worse at it, also back on board betting horses which is a horror show in its own respect

It’s very bad what happened to poker as we know it and any room that wasn’t turning a big profit now have the excuse to close up shop, tables ripped outta parx and Wynn encore for slots and table games, if either are doing good would they ever bring back poker, that I don’t have any answers to

Weds I finally go back to work at mgm, so very soon we’ll be up and running, I’m just shocked no other rooms have tried to capitalize on the lack of places open, especially Delaware

Great to be posting on here again, and hopefully see all you guys soon!!!

hey charm...welcome back! :ThmbUp:

Welcome back! Hope things have been ok while you have been away from work.

I see MGM is open for poker again this Friday starting at 4 p.m. Tables will be 6-max and players separated by plexiglass. What days/shift will you be working? My maiden voyage to MGM may be very soon.

Regarding the on-line poker, yes, I have a lot of trust in my "agent". Been doing well too, so we will see how reliable payment requests are handled.

Now about 7 weeks until Timonium. Currently cautiously optimistic about a meet running and fans being allowed to attend. The Maryland State Fair website has a countdown clock, and their Facebook page proclaims "Prepare For The Fair", so one would think a final/official decision is going to be made within a few weeks.

the MAN is back!!! :cool:

I periodically check my Bravo, and the Commerce has closed again after re-opening :(

Say It Ain't So Joe
 

RIP Charles Town Poker Room

Rumors which have been supposedly confirmed by multiple sources per posters on the Two Plus Two Poker forum.

For me this is terrible news.......as I used to average about 4 nights per week there. Now my live poker activities will have to be shifted to Maryland Live, the Horseshoe (when they re-open), or MGM (which just re-opened but I have never been there yet). My commute just doubled from about 40 minutes one-way to 80 minutes. I will especially miss many of the dealers, wait staff, and a number of local players, some of whom I may never run into again. :(

where on 2 plus 2 does it say this???????

the waiting list was a mile long when it opened with tons of tables behind the grandstand......and now the game is eliminated totally?

if this is true then rocky gap should get a little room going.

Too bad, I enjoyed my 2 visits to Charles Town poker room and met some nice characters

Check here:
https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/1...3-18-a-821950/

And yes, maybe Rocky Gap should consider bring poker back. I had never been there when they had it. Supposedly only 1-3 tables and on weekends. They would need a few more tables and run it more regularly to make it go. I doubt they reconsider though.

It's a long thread started many years ago, so go to the very last page or two.

if i'd only known how the king(s) would fall.....
 

if this is true i am deeply sorry for the dealers, staff, regs, and everyone like me for whom charles town was an enjoyable stop on the circuit. :rip: :(

In particular, there was one very nice older gentleman in a cowboy hat, for some reason he thought I was a retired "G-Man" . . . I got a kick out of that and was sorry to disappoint him.

yes!!!
 

played cowboy many times there in both limit and no limit and i'm sure track collector has too. a lot of great people in the room and in the dealer box.

this is very hard for me to believe because of how absolutely crazy it was in the beginning with the enormous waiting lists and unbelievable action.

pen gaming could have fought harder for the player base and with the track and later sports could have been an amazing gambling destination. certainly they never would have remained the home room of most md and va players but they would have stayed in the loop at least instead of becoming an afterthought. that they want to just be a smoky slots pit seems criminal to me given the high barriers to entry in the business. jmo.

Maybe Joe Says It Ain't So
 

Today my wife and I were shopping for two particular chairs that need replaced soon in our "computer" room. These efforts took us to the Martinsburg, WV area. I decided while I was within about 15 miles of Charles Town, I would go to the casino and cash out a significant number of chips I had accumulated over the past few years. Subject chips had been in my dresser drawer for purposes of replenishing my poker bankroll if/when need be. No need to keep Charles Town chips if their poker room was closing for good.

While at the cage I mentioned the permanent closing of the poker room to the lady there, and she mentioned she was not aware of any specific plan to do so. Given that she was not in any type of supervisory role, I considered her statement in that light. It did give me a tiny little bit of hope though. And before I went to the cage, I went over and walked thru the poker room. In the middle I saw a bunch a slot machines awaiting movement somewhere. I was surprised though to see all the poker tables and chairs looking clean and exactly where they normally would have been. I had expected to see everything pushed out of the way and perhaps in one corner.

Then another lady in the cage (perhaps a supervisor) overheard our conversation and mentioned that one of the higher ups (who would definitely know about things involving the Poker Room) was on duty in the table games area. After waiting about 20 minutes I was finally able to locate him.

And.......per his understanding there is NO current plan to discontinue the Poker Room at Charles Town. They are still waiting on approval/authorization from the Governor to re-open. (I know that things can change at any time, but I believe that this upper management person would have told me so if he knew otherwise.). It would seem the significant issue preventing re-opening is allowing players to touch the cards, which is driven from the Governor's office. And as to the slots machines in the poker room, he told me they were just being stored there temporarily, and were eventually going to be installed upstairs.

So, it still may be a long time, but my level of hope is MUCH higher now then it was yesterday regarding the return of poker to CT. :)

now "that other site" seems bearish on the room again? :confused:

Yes I saw that too. I guess we will have a better idea in the next 10 days.

it's now been more than a month since there's been a charles town post on "that other site." i found this statement from the vice president and general manager of ct on their own site:

Is the Poker Room open?
No. Per the reopening guidance from the State of West Virginia, we are only to allow table games where the cards are not touched by the guests, therefore the poker room is not authorized to operate at this time.

mike sexton....
 

sad news about mike sexton:

https://www.pokertube.com/article/mi...ing-of-support

hope everyone here is well.

---proximity

mike sexton rip
 

mike sexton died late last night but his contributions will live on.

RIP, enjoyed his work on WPT and from what I’ve read about him, a good man

Other Poker News
 

I see now that as of 09/04 the Horseshoe Casino Poker room in Baltimore has reopened. Plexiglass at 15 tables with 8 max. As expected, masks are also required. In addition and different from MDLive, players required to sanitize their hands every 30 minutes, which would make sense to do when a new dealer comes to the table.

Although my results have not been good, I have grown to like MDLive, so it remains to be seen which room I will visit the most.

No news out of the Hollywood Casino regarding their poker room, which at least gives a glimmer of hope of an eventual reopening.

Baby Mario (a/k/a the Nana-Killing Governor) has allowed NYS casinos to reopen with 25% capacity. Resorts Catskills is already open but not the poker room yet. However, the Resorts website says that the poker room will be re-opening at a later date. The state re-opening protocols require tables 6 feet apart and plexiglass between players at same table.

Plexiglass, masks, and table participation limits are certainly the norm at all the poker rooms that have reopened so far.

I did find an exception during some recent play at Oxford Downs in Summerfield, FL. I was quite surprised that they did NOT have any plexiglass dividers, especially given that this place is close to "The Villages" which means many of the players are older/retired. Entry into the poker room did require masks, a temperature check, and the one-time signing of a liability waiver.

I’m concerned about how rusty I’m gonna be when I finally get to play in poker room again. I had been in a pretty good groove before the shut down happened but then knowing I would not be playing anytime soon I shut down all of my poker studying and practice exercises, so now I feel as if I’d never played. I need go back to basics, starting with re-reading all of the books I accumulated during my previous studying.

Anyone out there back playing poker with the various restrictions in place in the poker rooms that have since reopened? Fortunately more and more rooms are beginning to reopen like in Vegas.

My much softer 1/2 NL game at the Charles Town races is still in limbo, so I have been chosen to play the much more aggressive and better player pool 1/3 NL game down the road.

Currently losing about $1 per hour (near 900 hours total playing time), but still on the plus side with the winning high-hand promotions which are essentially non-skill related. Trying to improve my game so that I can achieve a moderate level of success at the 1/3 NL level, and subject changes often require moving out of one's "comfort level". :)

Still waiting for poker room at Resorts World Catskills to re-open. Poker room at MGM in Springfield Mass is also still closed.