Hooray for Hollywood

I arrived at the Hollywood Casino at about 4pm. It's formally known as Argosy Casino, down by Cincinnati. I took the long walk down to the Poker Room, which is one of the best Poker Rooms in the Midwest. There was a long list for the $1/$3 game (they don't have $1/$2). While waiting, I put $50 into a slot machine. I ended up playing for a while, and cashed out for $65.

4:30 $300 - Finally got a seat. There are some big stacks at this table, so I buy-in for the max. The guy to my right has about $900.

5:00 $270 - Very first hand, I limp & called a $15 raise with 55. I missed the Flop. I got to the Turn for free, but missed. There are some really big raises preflop ($20-$25). The big stack to my right is an Action guy. He made a terrible call with K9 to a check raise All-In on a 9 7 7 Flop. This could be a great session.

5:30 $356 - Action guy left with about $800. Drat! A few other players are walking around, so we are playing 6 or 7 handed. The table got very passive. I won a two pots with AK and 88.

6:00 $383 - Won a nice pot with KJ by hitting two pair on River. Lost half of that when I chased a flush draw on the Button, and stabbed on the River when I missed.

6:30 $310 - Card dead and bleeding chips. Calling too much. This table is very loose, with an average of 6-7 players in every limped pot, and 4-5 players in the raised pots.

7:00 $303 - Lost $15 with a stab on the Flop with a gutshot. Two players called, and I missed and gave up. I won a small pot with KK.

7:30 $0 - I got frisky with 54 in late position, but ran into a Nit with big hand. Later I flopped two sets in one orbit, and lost both of them. The last one was against a flush draw, and the money got All-In on the Flop ($180ish). He hit his flush draw on the Turn, and I missed my boat draw on the River.

When you flop two sets in one orbit and they both lose, it's time to walk away. So I put that $65 slot ticket into a random slot machine, and lose it way too quickly.

My next stop was a 3-Card Poker (3CP) table. A very important factor in 3CP, as well as Video Poker, is the pay table. And Hollywood has a crappy pay tables for their games. But they also have a Video 3CP machine, just like a Video Blackjack machine that some casinos have. The pay table is a little better at the Video 3CP machine, so I buy-in for my standard $300.

As bad as my last session was in Detroit, this one was the exact opposite. I don't think I've ever seen so many Flushes in one session. I got my stack up to $500, and upped my bet. My stack floated between $450 and $550 for a while. I finally hit a Straight, so I upped my bet again. The next two hands were a Straight and Trips. I played a few more hands to see if this rush would keep going, but it didn't. I ended up cashing out for $1020, a new record for profit. Since it was a Video machine, I didn't need to tip the dealer.

After cashing in all my chips and tickets, I headed to Buffet for a free dinner. I must say that Hollywood has one of the best buffets that I have ever seen in a casino. They have the largest variety of food that I have seen outside of Las Vegas. And the Sunday Dinner is only $19.21 with tax, which is a fairly good price compared to the Detroit casinos.

After gorging, it was almost 9pm. So I just went back to my room. I'm up $370 for the day, which pays for the hotel, and covers my buy-in for the 11am tourney tomorrow ($125).