Happy Anniversary

One year ago today, I turned off of I-80 with the U-Haul, and arrived in Reno to start my new life. So, was it worth it? Am I happy that I did it?

In a word, abso-fucking-lutely.

The best thing about living in Reno has been the weather. It's always sunny in Reno, as the Sierra Mountains block most of the storm fronts that come off the Pacific Ocean. Even during the winter, it's sunny most days. That is a big difference from the Cleveland area, where the sun might shine 5-7 days from November to March.

As a mailman, I love the lack of rain. During the summer, there was a three month period of no measurable rainfall. Yesterday, we had our first storm system in months. The amount of rain falling from the sky was not that much, and it was gone in a few hours, followed by more sunshine. It's a big difference from the all-day soakers that we would get in NE Ohio.

Since there no rain, there is also no humidity. The summer temperatures are in the mid to upper 90's, but it doesn't feel like it. Yes, there were a couple of days when it was damn hot out there, and that sun can be very intense with the higher elevations. But overall, it's much better to be outside all day in Reno rather than Cleveland.

Even the winters are milder. The coldest that the daily high temperature got was around 25 degrees. Back east, it was not uncommon to have a full week with daytime temperatures hitting the 10's or even single digits.

Up in the mountains, they got buried in snow last winter. It was so much, that the ski resorts were still open on Memorial Day weekend. But down in Reno, we only had a few snowfalls that added up to around 12 inches for the entire winter. Cleveland had at least five different blizzards that dropped more than 12 inches of snow each.

Anyways, this isn't "The Biggest Little Weather Blog In The World", so it's time to talk about the main reason I moved across the country. Living five minutes away from the two best poker rooms in Reno has been glorious, especially after being used to drive 2+ hours to either Detroit or Mountaineer / Pittsburgh.

However, I'm now playing less hours per week than I did back in Cleveland, and that is because of work. Back in Ohio, I was Regular Carrier. I had a route, no mandatory overtime, and a set schedule for off days. Since I transferred to a new office, I had to start over on the seniority list as a sub, I am working six days a week, 55+ hrs each week. I haven't had a day off since June.

I was playing cards on my off day, and maybe the night before when I headed up for an overnighter. I also had my Saturday nights home game, and sometimes on Sundays. Now, I'm trying to play on Thursday and Saturday nights for a couple of hours, and on Sundays. But some weeks, that doesn't even happen. These days, a four hour session at a $1/$2 table is a long session for me.

Unfortunately, I don't see my work schedule improving much in the next year or two. At least I'm getting a huge paychecks every two weeks. "Money won is twice as sweet as money earned, but money earned is guaranteed."

One thing I do miss about living back east is having buddies to talk poker with. I don't have anyone out here to discuss poker, and that's probably why I'm still doing this blog.

As far as my results for the past year, they've been good and bad, as you loyal readers have noticed. How much of that was variance and how much was me is anyone's guess.

Because of my lack of free time, I really haven't been trying to get better or focus on bigger games. I guess you could say I'm now a "Recreational Bumhunter". I play for fun when I have a chance. When my work schedule improves, then maybe I can take poker more seriously, by focusing on bigger games and trying to become a better player.

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On a side note, the Grand Sierra is having their Fall Pot Of Gold tournament series now. On Sunday, they're having a $400 Bounty tournament at noon ($50 Bounty). I haven't done a Live Blog since the WSOP, so I'm gonna do one for this tournament. Tune in at 12n (3pm EST) for the first entry. Hopefully, I can actually make it to the dinner break this time.

Home Sweet Home

We arrived at the apartment complex about 2pm. After signing around 37 forms in the Office, we started to unload the U-Haul, which took about an hour. It was kinda difficult for two reasons. First, my apartment is on the second floor, so everything had to be dragged up the stairs, including dressers and couches. Second was the elevation of Reno was making it difficult to catch our breath.

Our next stop was to drop off the U-Haul, and head over to the Peppermill. I received an offer in the mail for Two Free Nights in a suite during weekdays, or a regular room on weekends. So I got the suite for my Road Crew, and it's a posh room. It's got a jacuzzi and TV in the bathroom.

After dropping them off, I headed home to do a touch of unpacking, since I will be sleeping in my own bed. I also grabbed a shower, and some clean cloths.

I headed back to the Peppermill to have some dinner with my uncle, and then off to the Poker Room to play some poker. The games they had tonight were $1/$2 NL, $2/$4 Limit, $4/$8 Limit, and $15/$30 Limit. Since I'm in Reno, I figured that I might as well start playing Limit, so I sat down at a new $4/$8 table. We started short handed, and the table filled up within 30 minutes.

One guy at the other end of the table looks like he was "Separated At Birth" from Andy from Deadliest Catch. And he was in Stone Cold Maniac mode tonight. He was raising about half the hands, along with betting and raising on the Flop. And, as usually happens when I'm at the table, he was hitting everything. I think he had five Full Houses and a Quads while I was there. Fortunately, he was on the other end of the table from me.

Unfortunately, I had a horrible session. I had very few playable hands. And when they hit something, someone else had a better hand. I even had a Set vs Set cooler, which was my second this week. I flopped a Set of Fours, and his JJ hit the Turn. The Turn and River were both 3-Bet. My first Set vs Set was in Council Bluffs. My 55 vs an old geezer's 99 on the Flop. The Flop was checked. I bet the Turn, and he put out what was a big raise for him. I thought I might be behind, but he only had around $85 total, and I'm not folding a Set for $85 in a $1/$3 game when he might have Top Two Pair. I even called out his hand before he showed it.

One of the problems with Limit Poker is when you have bad cards, there's nothing you can do about it. In No Limit, you can do some small bluffs to maintain you stack, or even hit one hand and crack someone's AA for a double up.

After I left the casino, I headed to Wal-Mart to do a little grocery shopping. My apartment complex is right behind a mega-shopping area, including a Super Wal-Mart that's Open 24 Hours.

On Thursday, I took Doug Poker to the airport. (My uncle heads back on Saturday morning.) I then began the process of becoming a Nevada resident. I switched my car insurance, and then headed to the DMV to get my license and license plates. Reno & Sparks makes for a good sized metropolitan area, but they have only one DMV for this area.  The place is mamoth, but so were the lines. It's also more expensive then Ohio. It ended up costing me almost $300 to get everything done, with most of that going to the plates. But Nevada doesn't have a State Income Tax, so they have to get their money somehow.

I also went to the Main Post Office to get a new a new ID badge, and find out where I'll be working. As I suspected, my station is on the northern edge of town, and it's the farthest one from my apartment. Fortunately, my drive to work is all highway. It's also a smaller station, and seems to be all Mounted delivery and CBUs (Cluster Box Units) with little or no walking.

The last of my errands was to go get a new TV, since I didn't lug the old one across the country. I wanted to keep it in the $400 range, and ended up with a Samsung 32".

I'm not getting TV & Internet installed until Friday, so I decided to sleep at the Free Suite in the Peppermill with my uncle. So we had some dinner, and then I went to the Poker Room, and sat down at the only $1/$2 table. (But there was two tables of $20/$40 Limit.) But I'm having trouble adjusting to the time change, and I was falling asleep at the table. I didn't even make it two hours before I gave up, and went to bed up $87.

Have You Ever Used a $500 Chip For A Card Protector?

On Sunday, we finished loading up the U-Haul and hit the road at 11:30. After we got checked into the motel, headed up the road to the Horseshoe Hammond, and ate dinner in the Buffet, I got a seat in a $1/$2 table about 5:15 local time. Within an hour, I ran into a nasty cooler for my first buy-in. I had K9 on a KK5 T 5 board against 55. Ouch.

After that I went really card dead and was slowly bleeding chips, which always seems to happen right after I get in a hole. As we're getting close to leaving, I was down to $135 of the $500 that I brought, and got a double up. I limped with 88. The Flop of Q66 was checked around. The beautiful 8 came on the Turn. The SB bet $20. I figured he had a 6, since the Trips always seem to be in the Blinds. So I raised to $50, and he called. I went All-In for $83 on the River. He was surprised when I said Eights Full.

I won a couple more pots before we left, and finished down $132, which isn't bad considering I had $500 on the table. Everyone else left Hammond down a little.

On Tuesday, we got to the Horseshoe Council Bluffs at 3:00 local time. After checking in, I went with my uncle to do some gambling. He doesn't play poker, but he does play Craps and other table games. We found a $5 Craps table, but it was ice cold. I end up dropping $195, but my uncle bet more aggressively and lost $350. We then headed over to a 3-Card Poker table. I bought in for $250. I lost the first four hands when the Dealer got Pair, A-high, Pair, and Flush. I immediately got up, and left the table. I've ran into to many Hot Dealers this year to lose the entire buy-in.

I left my my uncle in the Pit, and headed over to the Poker Room. It's a nice room with around 25 tables. However, they were only using two of them, a $1/$3 NL and a $3/$6 Limit. Even in the evening, they only got a second $1/$3 game started, but it was never full.

The Poker Room had a couple of unusual rules. First, the max buy-in for the $1/$3 is $200. Second, they have the NL straddle from UTG, just like Greektown used to have. Third, they use yellow $.50 chips. This is because the max rake at the $1/$3 is $5.50, and $4.50 for the $3/$6.

After waiting for a bit on the list for both games, I finally got a seat at the $1/$3 table. There were a few players with some large stacks, and few young "Internet Geeks" at the the table. I decided to buy-in for the minimum of $100, and short stack.

Shortly after I sat down, a guy sits down on my direct Left, and buys in with two Black $100 chips, and starts using a purple $500 chip for a card protector. It was very obvious he's a regular in this room. He's been at the casino since late last night, and had just come from playing a long session of Craps that went very, very well. As soon as he sat down, I assumed that he would start throwing money around, and I was not wrong. He was definitely Action Guy at this table. He even got some of the Nits to play more hands than they normally would.

Because he was on my direct Left, I went into Super Nit mode. I didn't try to gamble with him. I simply was very patient and waited for a hand. It got even worse for me when the seat on his Left was taken by a "Local Pro". Fortunately, I did manage to get a couple of hands before I left the table up $201.

Because my seat sucked at the $1/$3 table, I put my name on the List for the $3/$6 game. One of my Road Crew, DougPoker, was at the table, and I wanted to play some hands against him. But he had some horrible luck, and busted out. I ended up taking his seat. I was only there an hour because I got really tired. I had some good hands, and some annoying ones. I ended up $26 when I went back to the room.

On Tuesday, we put on the miles. 958 to be exact. It was a rough day. We'll be pulling into Reno sometime this afternoon.

The Great Exodus

The Countdown is almost over.

The cupboards are bare. The boxes are all packed (well, almost all packed). The reservations are made. And today is my last day of work in the State of Ohio.

Tomorrow morning around 10am, we will load up the U-Haul, hop on to I-80 right around the corner, and head West towards Reno. It will be a 3-man crew for this road trip. I was hoping for a fourth, but it just didn't materialize. So we'll be driving the U-Haul and my Prius, with the 3rd riding Shotgun in one of the vehicles.

The first stop on the Great Exodus will be at the Horseshoe Hammond, just outside of Chicago, which is about 304 miles away. For whatever strange reason, there is no hotel at this Horseshoe, so we'll be stay at a place four miles away, and right off the highway.

On Monday, October 4, we will get back on to I-80, fight Chicago traffic, and head 478 miles West to the Horseshoe Council Bluffs on the Iowa / Nebraska border.

Tuesday, October 5, we hit the road, and put on the miles. The next stop is Reno, but that's 1455 miles away. I figured we'd do 2/3 of that (941 miles), and stop at a hotel in Salt Lake City near the airport.

Hopefully, we'll be getting up bright and early on Wednesday, October 6, and drive the 516 miles to Reno. We should get there late in the afternoon, unload the U-haul, and head over to the Peppermill. They sent me an offer for Two Free Nights, so I booked it for my Road Crew. After we get them checked in, it's off to the Poker Room for a few hours before I got to sleep in my new bedroom.

I'm not sure how much Blogging will be done during the trip. I might have time to post an update or two along the way. I may also just do some Twitter-like updates with my cell phone. Either way, I do have a Rants & Raves scheduled for Tuesday.

Camped Out At Harrah's

First, the important stuff. I did sign a 12 month lease for an apartment in a large complex on the south end of town. It's a 2-Bedroom with Washer/Dryer in the apartment. I haven't used a laundromat in over 10 years, and I'm not about to start now. I'm also about a five minute drive from Peppermill and Atlantis.

I stayed at Harrah's Reno, since I had a 3 Free Nights offer. I also tried to do all of my Poker and Pit play at Harrah's to help build points for my cross country road trip when I haul my junk across the country.

The best word to describe the Harrah's Reno Poker Room is "Pathetic". They have six regular tables and one small table for Stud games, except they have no Stud games. In fact, the room has only two tables with Shufflers because the other table are never used. In my various sessions, there was never two full tables of Cash games (1/2 NL). Often, they start a table with only four players, and use a single $2 Blind. The tournaments I played didn't have two full tables, and they usually broke the Cash game, because there just weren't enough players.

As for my Poker, the Cash games were profitable (4 session, +$335, 10.75 hrs). They best way to describe the quality of players is to use a word that some of the Internet players use ... Droolers. There were a couple of decent 20's kids, but most of the players were either really tight or just really bad. I hit a few big hands, and most of them got paid off. If all of the local "Pros" will be at the Peppermill, then I will definitely be visiting other rooms to grab the "low hanging fruit".

I played in two tournaments. The structures were horrible with the blinds doubling every level (25/50, 50/100, 100/200, 200/400, 400/800, 500/1000, 1000/2000, 2000/4000... ). Being Harrah's, home of the World Series of Poker, they didn't even have any Tournament software. They were using a mechanical timer which looked like the timer that Wendy's uses to remind the employees to stir the Chili. (That was my first job in High School). They also used the bare minimum number of chips to run a tournament, and the Dealer started coloring up chips on Hand #2. It's really pathetic they don't have enough chips to run a two table tournament.

The first tournament (Mon night) was a $65 Bounty, with $10 for the Bounty. It had 18 players, so I tried the "Fold To The Final Table" strategy. However, I didn't do a very good job of it, and was the first one out. The second tourney (Tue night) was their Deepstack. This one started with 9k chips, but only had 13 players. I made it to the Final Table. But as often happens in the Shove-Fests, the Shortstacks just kept doubling up, and the Blinds got retarded. I ended up in fourth place when the BB, who was the tightest guy there, woke up with QQ. Harrah's only paid two spots, and nobody ever mentioned the Chop word.

Although I was hoping that I wouldn't do this, I ended up dumping a lot of money in the Pit. The main reason for this was because there were stretches of time when there was nothing to do. My Body never switched over to Western Time Zone. So I was in bed by 11pm, and was up at 4:30am. Not too many Poker tables open at 6am in Reno. Also, if I signed up on the List at the Poker Room as the second or third player, it was up to an hour wait due to only having one table running. After I move there, this shouldn't hopefully won't be a problem. I can just hop in my car, and make the 10 minute ride home.

Today Is The First Day Of The Rest Of My Life

OK, it's time to get a little personal.

Unlike some of our Home game players, I have no interest in becoming a Pro Poker player. First, I don't think I'm good enough. If I had to survive for a month or two between jobs, then I probably could grind it out.

Second, I just cleaned out all of my debt in the spring, and I don't have any interest in getting back into debt.

Third, I already have a good job. For those who don't know me personally, I'm a mailman in the city where I live, Elyria, OH. I've been with the USPS since January, 2004. I'm making between 55k - 65k a year depending on overtime.

Living in NE Ohio all of my life, I really want to get of here. This area is dying. The political leaders are completely clueless, and only care about getting re-elected. In any of the "Top Ten Cities" lists that are published about anything negative, Cleveland always seems to be in the Top 5. It's also 2+ hrs drive to any casino. Yes, Ohio finally approved one casino to be built in Cleveland. But as things usually go in Cleveland, it will be the last one built, and it will probably be two years behind schedule, like 2014.

Working for the USPS, I could transfer anywhere in the country as long as there is an opening. So where do I want to go? Obviously, somewhere with casinos near by. While I don't want to go Pro, I would like to play more, and eventually play bigger than I am now.

Being a mailman, the weather is a big factor. I hate walking in the rain. An all-day soaker is just the worst. I'm not thrilled with the Heat, but I can live with it. I actually prefer working in the Cold rather than the Heat. I can always put on an extra layer when it's cold outside.

I know that Dry and Casinos sounds like Las Vegas. As a Poker Player, I would love to live in Sin City. But as a mailman, it's just too damn hot in the summertime. This year they had temperatures in the 110+ range. In early July, they had a stretch of five or six days that the low temperate at night didn't drop below 90.

On Saturday, October 9, I will be reporting to work at the post office in downtown Reno, NV. Yes, I know that will technically be the first day of the rest of my life, but you get the point.

For those who haven't been to Reno, it's sort of a cross between Downtown Las Vegas and Niagara Falls. There a lot of small casinos, and a few mid-sized ones, but no mega-resorts like Bellagio or Venetian. It's also about an hour north of Lake Tahoe.

As for the weather, the temperature is basically the same as Cleveland with winter and summer. There is just no rain (or snow or humidity).

As for the Poker, Reno is not the Poker town that Las Vegas or Atlantic City have become. All of the casinos have a poker room, but most of them are really small. Limit Poker is big in Reno, with most places having 3/6 Limit and maybe some 1/2 NL. Bigger games like 2/5 NL are rare, with only two or three rooms spreading it. The biggest regular game in town is 20/40 Limit at the Peppermill, which is the premier room in Reno.

As for the tournaments, many poker rooms have smaller tournament series throughout the year. The buy-ins in the $100-$500 range and a variety of games for these tournaments. But the Daily Tournaments leave a lot to be desired. Here's an example:

Daily Tournament Schedule

Daily at 10:00 a.m.

Texas Hold'em 1 Hour Shootout

We start taking sign-ups at 9:00 a.m.

    * $16 buy in for $500 in tournament chips ($15 buy in + $1 entry fee)

    * No rebuys

For an extra $2, get $200 more in tournament chips. All monies go into dealer's pool. Add-on must be taken at table before tournament starts. If we have a live game that goes all night, the tournament will be cancelled.

No phone-in allowed for morning.

Blind Structure: 25/50 for 30 min. round of Limit and 100/100 for 30 min round of No Limit Distribution of Prize Pool varies by the number of players.

Payouts: 2-22 players 65/35%; 23-30 players 50/30/20% 

I will be flying out to Reno on Sunday morning (August 22), and flying back home on Wednesday evening (August 25). While out there, I will be checking out apartments, and I'll be visiting my new Post Office to meet my new bosses. If there is any time left in the day, I may be able to get in a few hands of Poker.

With this little life change, this blog will undergo a few changes as well. I'm not exactly sure what changes will happen, but it will still be a Poker Blog primarily. I do know that there will be a name change for the blog. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to let me know. Right now, the only two candidates are "The Biggest Little Poker Blog In The World" and "Her Name Is Reno".