2024 poker discussion thread......

[proximity]

greetings felt fanatics!!

we kickoff 2024 with a trip to local racino, penn national, the flagship property of penn entertainment. after decades of housing only live racing and simulcasting, the grantville facility opened its doors to slots gaming in the late 2000s and table games in the early 2010s. a cozy 16 table poker room soon followed but was shuttered during the 2020 pandemic and never reopened.

of course a casino without a poker room isn't a real casino and despite penn national being a very aesthetically pleasing property i cannot in good conscience recommend such a soulless facility anymore than say, taking on kim kardashian as serious relationship material.

however there are rumors that the property is once again considering spreading our great game at least on weekends to start.

https://www.pennlive.com/news/2024/0...g-absence.html


this seems promising but i must say that our visit offered little in the way of clues that there will be springtime poker at penn national. i've heard rumors of ten tables being spread against the back wall between the high roller slots area and the espn zone (or whatever they're calling it this week) but the area is still packed with operating slots as our calendars ready to flip to march.

what i would do: just open the old room. limit the tables and hours if you must but really there was nothing wrong with this. if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

anyhow, good luck to all in 2024!!

[hracingplyr]

What's one of the best blackjack books to read?

[davew]

Penn National opening poker again?

In NW Washington there are a few Indian casinos. One by one, the live poker tables disappeared to make room for 'slot machines'. Now the trend is to get rid of live table games (blackjack, craps, spanish blackjack, roulette) to make more room for slots. The appeal of not having to pay employees to sit around waiting for players is too great wen the slot machines just take a little electricity.



blackjack books? what do you want to learn?

[thaskalos]

Originally Posted by hracingplyr

What's one of the best blackjack books to read?

The 21st-Century Card Counter...by Colin Jones

[proximity]

Originally Posted by davew

Penn National opening poker again?

the ice is thawing as pen has sent me a half birthday e-card and i've moved into grantville city limits. so we're kinda becoming friendly neighbors maybe?

as for the poker, ten tables are supposedly opening in the back of the casino between the high roller slots and ESPN zone (?) but I have not yet been back to see if there's any progress?

as for blackjack, i'm just a ploppy but blackjack autumn by Barry meadow is my favorite gambling book.

[proximity]

greetings felt fanatics!

we start off today's adventure in the pits at a local bobby rahal dealership. they've failed our brakes for pa state inspection and are out of brakes even if we wanted to replace the apparently fast wearing brakes that THEY put on the car to begin with (no thank you!)...but we've been out of action way too long so we risk it and roar towards the shore driving like the great michael andretti! (sorry bobby!)***

we are joined again by my amazing girlfriend estrella so we opt for a nice mid-boardwalk room at exciting (but poker less) Caesars.

after some token slots play at Caesars, I suggest heading over to Bally's
(they are connected)so we can get new players cards and inch closer to the Irish pub, potentially avoiding some of the rain flooding the boardwalk?

estrella strikes quickly, racking up over 100 free games on a machine so I take a walk to the dunkin' donuts to get us some coffee. i'm joined in the slow moving line by a woman who is bally's management and a resort guest who identifies as a "poker player."

while we wait for our coffees, the poker player engages the management woman in conversation. usually i'd cringe at such talk but the poker player really does an eloquent job of explaining why bally's should get a poker room without coming off like the raving lunatic that most of us actually are. so hopefully bally's will take his ideas into consideration!!

earlier I tease estrella that she looks like a "Latina lumberjack" wearing boots, jeans, and flannel; really the woman is dressed like she should be on a box of pancake mix lol but back at the machines she has attracted a don Juan....and maybe one with actual working brakes on his car?

she can't leave me now can she? when there's a 5x tier credit multiplier at Caesars properties?? really???

join us next time to find out!!

tomorrow: advance to free parking, collect $$$???

game: no game
season: 0-0 (---)

***I have to pay for the inspection, but another garage passes the car, no problems (!!) the following week!!

[proximity]

ok poker fans we are back in rainy Atlantic city at exciting bally's on the center of the famous boardwalk!

when we left off a strong case was made for bally's poker in the dunkin' donuts line while a slick don juan who looked like burt reynolds and probably had a speedy black trans am with working brakes in valet parking was busy wooing estrella.

I start to worry that it'll be back to chasing cocktail waitresses, staking out g-a meetings, or watching lady trooper videos all night like your average live poker stroker, but estrella decides to stay because i'm a "pace advantage member."
I guess this proves that even the dumbest and ugliest paceman is still a paceman, kinda like the guy who graduates last in his class at medical school is still a doctor?
anyhow on our way back over to Caesars don Juan seems to be having more success with a cute Asian woman, perhaps proving that women, like "advantage play" is a "numbers" game?

unfortunately we have no advantage back at Caesars although we have earned enough tier credits for free parking and the next morning we decide to head over to harrah's to see if our luck changes in the marina?

I kick off the season in 3/6 company but am relatively card dead for the first couple hours of the session. my stack is dwindling but eventually I catch a little luck when TT flops a set and fills up on the river; getting a crying call from a tight, competitive player. that pot and a couple well timed steal raises from the highjack and cutoff positions ends up making the difference as I really for a humble $3 victory, the $$$ literally being a trio of white chips over where we started. of course for a long time it was looking a lot worse!

back in out in the casino, the kiosk says we've used our "free parking" for the day (harrah's is a Caesars property) but I ask at the players rewards desk and they make us a pass in a nice gesture!!

next time: this too shall pass?

game +3 (3/6 lim)
season +3 (1-0)

[proximity]

ok poker fans, we are back in exciting Atlantic City where the rain has finally decided to take a break, just before we started building another ark.

someday we'll receive 5x tier credits for our action but unfortunately we will have earned it the hard way with my $3 poker profits at harrah's being our lone Caesars success. maybe today our luck will turn like the weather did?

after a boardwalk stroll down to tropicana's Gilchrist restaurant for breakfast we check out the outlet mall before heading over to harrah's again. estrella hits the slots while I try and pick up where we left off at the 3/6 tables.

yesterday I was card dead but at least had a lot of easy folds that kept me in the game. today I get the cards but middle pairs 77-jj consistently see AKX flops and I lose at least twice with each of those hands without picking up a win. a buxom beauty enters the game with a tattoo that says "this too shall pass." when a suited ace rivers a flush, I'm wondering if these inked words could prove prophetic but alas the flush only gives me a false hope although we at least limit the loss to double digits.

on the ride back to grantville we discuss where Dallas patriarch Jock Ewing would rank among the great pacemen of this website. I say midpack but estrella actually goes with 75th percentile, mumbling something about modern fluoride in the water lowering testosterone?

thank you for reading!

game -98 (3/6 lim)
year -95 (1-1)

[thaskalos]

Get back to no limit. That's where the "easy money" is.

[proximity]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

Get back to no limit. That's where the "easy money" is.

when/if it comes back to pen, the toughest part may be getting a seat?

I heard a rumor that they may take my advice and just reopen some tables in the original room? hopefully that is true?