After getting settled in the hotel I decided to dip my foot into the shallow end of Bally's modest poker room, playing some 1-2 No Limit. In about 2 hours I ran $200 up to about $850, basically winning every time I put money in the pot. It was nice to start with a good session, but I wished I had it at 2-5.
There are a lot of differences between online and live poker, but I'm starting to feel like the biggest is that live players are far more honest. If you ask me, poker is a game of deception. It's all about misleading your opponents as to what cards you really have. Most online players would agree with me. But most live players cheerfully tell you exactly what they have with their bets. Strong hand? Bet a lot. Medium hand? Bet a little. Weak hand? Check and fold. I guess they don't see poker as a strategy game so much as a casino game where the cards fall however they fall and whoever has the best hand gets the money. There may also be a moral grounding behind the honest approach. When Michael showed a bluff in the Motor City game, a large woman of color opined, "He plays that bullshit poker."
After my session I met up with Michael and Blinder for dinner at American Fish in ARIA where I had one of the finest (and most expensive) meals of my life: Kobe beef and abalone shabu shabu, various shellfish, and cornmeal-crusted rainbow trout. We then smoked some cigars outside, another new one for me. Finally I tagged along as they tried their luck at the craps table.
Even though table games generally don't do it for me, craps is definitely one of the better ones. It's actually a brilliantly designed game. Even though, as with all table games, you get the short end of the odds, there are enough twists and turns to keep things interesting. The best part is that the table plays together, as a team, which creates a nice community experience.
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