The BPT and my first Casino visit

Alright, the first order of business is an update on the Blogger Poker Tour. As I mentioned yesterday (see this post) Skinski, of The House of Poker Blues, was hosting the 5th event of the BPT Season 2. Though I wasn't able to watch any of the event (I'll say why in a bit) and I wasn't able to play (I guess my blog isn't up to snuff or something, oh well), I can certainly report the results. They money was played out to the following people:

iyatoni          $125.00
skinski          $100.00
JayNYC           $75.00
freeroll26       $55.00
Enortone         $45.00
winaa2233        $30.00
cerberi          $25.00
astinaguy        $20.00
luckylulo        $15.00
ReplicantPoker   $10.00

With Skinski finishing second in his own event he picked up an amazing 636 points to catapult himself onto the top of the leaderboard with 1002. The leaderboard looks as follows after event #5:

Skinski's Blog                1002
Irongirl01                    719
Freerollcalendar Weblog       642
Peetscheet                    598
Perfectly Beastly             597
Poker Athletes Blog           556
Poker Pub                     550
Royal Poker                   522
astinaguys poker blog         518
Gamingology                   515
Alex                          500
ReplicantPoker blog           474
elc3105s blog                 430
I hate money                  415
11ave.blogspot.com            411
5TH Street Forum              403
riverdemon                    387
free poker                    363
PearlSnapMan Plays Poker      350
the life of a don             346
Counting My Outs              344
EgonOlsenPoker                343
From school boy to pro        340

The top 20 on the leaderboard are numbered above but I thought it pertinent to show those just outside the top 20. Since they are so close all they need is a good performance in the final event and they will be in the final event. Since I wasn't able to see the final table I cannot give specific hands but I imagine it was a nice final table. I would go down the leaderboard to check those blogs for details about the FT (I know I will be).

Yesterday I went to a casino for the first time. I went with my friend Dan after work for about 4 hours or so. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. First off, we headed right to the customer service desk to sign up for our players club cards (Resort Cards at Riverside). As incentive for joining the Resort Club we were credited with $10 credit for the slots. To release this credit we had to play $1 so we did. I had not really had intention of play much (if any) slots before we got there, but to play mostly for free was worth it. My goodness are slots boring. I don't know if it's just the fact that I had no idea what the machine in front of me was doing for the most part but sitting there pressing a button over and over again was not exactly fun. However, I only lost 65¢ of my own money and still have $7 or so of the free credit they gave me. Maybe I'll go try to will that car they had on display with that $7.

Please note: I am not very good at blackjack. I sat with Dan at a blackjack table for a little bit. I figured I could at least hold my own (I know a little bit of blackjack strategy) but I was gravely mistaken. I lost $40 pretty quickly before I left the table. That is when we parted (Dan and I). I went to the poker room and he stayed on the floor. I was seated immediately at a $2/$5 table with $100 in red $5 chips. I got rags for a while and folded every hand until I got an Ace/10 offsuit. Now, I don't usually put too much stock in that hand but I hadn't seen anything playable until that. I shouldn't have played it (especially the way I did) because the BB saw a free flop and in the end came up with a full house. I was down to about $45 or so in chips and was played quite tight for some time. I picked up some blinds with an all-in and then eventually doubled up with pocket queens (who calls a $50 all-in with jack/3 of clubs. I worked my way up to about $210 before I had to leave. I was at the table for about 3 hours but I feel like I could have sat there for another 5. I learned that they have tournaments a few times a week so I might just have to play 1 or 2 of those. Overall, I had a blast. I feel much more comfortable in a live game than I did yesterday morning (I was quite nervous for a bit, which probably wasn't good) and I made a few bucks at the same time. I will certainly be heading back there again.


EDIT
Notes about the poker room:

• 14 tables
• Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Omaha Hi/Low, 7 Card Stud, 7 Card Stud Hi/Low
• tournaments Sun/Mon/Wed/Thurs
• not in a separate room (but in a nook as to reduce noise from the rest of the floor)
• there were about 6 or 7 full tables going on a Sat. afternoon
• some dealers better than others but none were incompetent (not major mistakes and all personable)
• rules loosely enforced (swearing, player mistakes, etc.) but dependent on the dealer