Sunset Station

I hadn't been to Sunset Station in years. Nor could I remember why. Chemo has wiped out so much of my memory that I kind of float around in this dream world where something is always on the tip of my tongue, but I can't get it out.

So last Saturday we were in Vegas and I was kicking myself because I hadn't read 7CSFAP recently, and was making many, little mistakes at 20/40 Stud. I finally got wise enough to kick myself to the curb, although Glenn had almost tripled up in the 2/5 blind NLHE game.

I suggested to Glenn that we start heading south, back towards the hotel in Boulder City, but stop at Red Lobster, gorge ourselves, then hit Sunset Station and monkey away a couple hundred at the crazy 4/8 Omaha High game.

Yes, there is a psychological reason why I like Red Lobster, but let's leave that analysis alone for now, because what the real issue is about, is going to Sunset.

First off, Omaha High is a wacky game. The luck factor is so high that up until the poker boom, it was pretty much even money, a zero sum game. Once you paid the rake, tipped the dealer and tipped the cocktail waitresses, you could only hope to break even. Bad game for serious players. Horrible game for tilt-prone players.

I am a serious player, but not prone to tilt. When things get to the point that I want to play for "fun" and actually don't mind giving some money away, a game like OH is fine for me.

I went through a period a few years ago being hooked on OH at Boulder Station. The only thing I hated about the game is that they still accepted and encouraged dealer abuse, as well as gender abuse and any other kind of abuse they can think up ;) Boulder Highway is kind of the white trash area of Vegas. It's blue collar, working class. While you won't find tons of welfare families or gang warfare, you will find trailers, cars on blocks and washing machines in the front yard.

After watching a drunk guy burn the female, Asian dealer horribly on the arm, and feel up her breasts without getting booted, I couldn't take Boulder anymore, and have never been back.

Sunset is in a better neighborhood, but also offers OH. I'd never played it there, and had only been to Sunset once, years ago. Once we walked in, I remembered why we'd never gone back.

Some cardrooms just have that "cold" feeling. That, "you're not welcome" aura. At Sunset, no one was happy. Not the floorman, brush or dealers. Definitely not the players. For hours, not one laugh was heard in a very crowded room, on a Saturday night, to boot.

I found out they'd crossed my name off of the OH list when the floorman said, very rudely, "You didn't show up, so we crossed you off." This, even though Glenn had told them we were stopping at RL first to get food and it may be a couple of hours.

No, this is not a big deal to me. I'm pretty easygoing about game lists. Sure, I'd prefer they just roll my name, but I understand that being on the floor is a horrible, thankless job, with lots of responsibility and pressure, but little gratitude and no salary. Even so, he could have been a tad less curt.

So they decided to get a small buy-in NLHE game going. The blinds are 1/3 and the max buy-in is $300. I told them I would prop it until I got called to OH.

At first the game was really tight. The locals were just feeling each other, and us, out. I was worried that it was going to be a fold-fest, but that soon changed. What didn't change is that they were the nittiest bunch of guys I've ever played against in my life. The had a rulebook for their rulebook, lol. I would consider myself a very rules-oriented person, in both poker and life, but this bordered on the ridiculous.

In any case, it turned out to be a very good game. What started out as me monkeying around turned into making some real money. I busted a guy when I had aces and flopped another one. The guy mucked on the turn, so he must have been drawing dead.

Glenn tripled up and stayed in the game until we left.

I got called for OH, but those players were just as silent and unhappy as the NLHE players. They didn't seem quite as nitty, but they were definitely grumpy and not there to have any semblance of a good time.

Oh, well. Can't win 'em all. Now I remember why we didn't like Sunset. Cross another one off of our list, we won't be going back.

Felicia :)