I returned yesterday morning from my trip to Dallas and the Winstar Casino in Oklahoma. I decided to scuttle the trip report due to privacy issues. I did have a blast at both locations.
I can relate my poker experience, however. Christopher and I arrived at the casino around 12:15 PM and put our name on the list for the $1-2 No Limit Hold'em table. There was already 6 ahead of us, but it wasn't until the list grew to 14 that they decided to open up a new table some 25 minutes later. We watched the Cowboys-Lions game while waiting. So they seat us and we sat two seats apart with a middle aged dowager between us. The table was mixed with regulars and tourist, who all possessed roughly the same skill level. They had varying styles of play, though, with some real loosey goosey types in seats 1, 2 & 3. First hand, I find myself with a pair of 10's in the hole. I intended to make a minimum raise of $4, but grabbed the red chips and bet $20. I got one caller. Flop comes A - J - 8 rainbow. I bet out $15 and get called. I check the turn and river (as does my opponent.) I show my hand and he flips over two Queens. Had I paid attention to what chips I was grabbing, I could have saved myself ~$25.
An hour later, I get AA and raise to $8. I get two callers, including the woman to my right who had called the blinds. Flop comes 9-10-J. I bet $24. Next player folds and the woman raises me $40. I put her on a set and folded, showing my Aces. She shows me her 7-8. BAD BEAT.
After that hand, I was down to $65 of my $200 buy in. I slowly crawled my way back and caught a rush to bring myself back to even. Soon afterwards, this young Asian kid sits next to me to my left. He was playing very aggressively. Until he arrived, the whole table was pretty passive. Lots of calling (which helped me get back to even) on questionable hands. He was ramming and jamming and soon tripled his buy in. He bluffed a lot. He admitted to me that was the only way he could win. He was also started putting a straddle on my big blind. The third time he did it, I called with a suited connector, with the intention of bluffing him. The flop missed me, but I led out with a $24 bet and he raised me. I folded, with my little experiment having failed. A couple of hands later, I lost $25 more to one of the loose guys after he hit the case Queen to win with 3 Q over my pocket Kings. I decided to leave at that point.
Except for the hands I have outlined here, I played very well, I just wasn't getting good cards and neither was Christopher. Table was easily beatable, and I would have done so except for the aforementioned hands.
The poker room was very nice with plenty of screens and fast dealers. I will definitely return to this fine poker room.
