There were also other new technologies available, including a kios to rent phone chargers…

… and a demonstration of a $12,000 digital poker table from Galshan Digital shown below. I’ve seen similar systems that were more animated so I wasn’t impressed by this one.

Some of the tournaments were using the “new” large big blind method of collecting the ante. This makes it much easier and faster for the dealer. I’m going to predict that this will be used more and more in the future. All-in-all, the WSOP seems to be doing fine as evidenced by the fact that there were more main event entries than last year.

Now for an update of the Rio Hotel & Casino review.

Back in 2014, I reviewed the Rio Hotel and gave it less than a glowing review, to put it mildly. Upon entry, like last year, I noticed that they had kiosks for check-in. I was unable to make it work last year, but this year, I was able to check-in completely using the kiosk without talking to a live person. So there was no standing in line at all. The kiosk gave me my card door keys and off to my room I go.

That ends the good part of the review. Now for the bad.

The first thing I noticed when I got to my room was this apparent hole that was covered up with a metal plate next to the door. It was very strange looking but I guess it’s better than a hole.

Next, I walked to the small area where the closet is located and I noticed that the carpeting had worn out against the corner. It’s a little messy and could easily be fixed by cutting the falling piece.

In the closet, there is a complimentary safe, as in most hotels these days, to avoid having to lock up valuables for the guest. However, under the safe, there was a hole in the wall with an AC outlet. Nothing was plugged into this outlet and there didn’t seem to be any reason why it was there but it sure looked ugly.

Next, I went into the main area to sit and noticed that the desk was scratched up. In fact, it looked more than just scratched up. It looked like it was used for some other purpose. At least it looked like it was cleaned.

Now I look up at the ceiling next to the bed and see what appears to be water leakage that has rotted. Considering that the Rio had a legionnaires disease scare last year, this is not a good look. In fact, I was scared to sit near that part of the room.

Next, I went into the bathroom and noticed the same calcium deposit on the faucet that I noticed 4 years ago. Apparently, in 4 years, they have decided not to do anything about it. I know that housekeeping probably are not given the tools needed to clean something like this, and it would have to be done by a maintenance staff. Needless to say, I did not drink the water from the faucet.

Finally, I looked in the shower and there were what appeared to be mold and mildew on the ceiling and tile.

After seeing the mold, I wasn’t at all surprised at the calcium deposits on the shower head. In fact, I fully expected it.

It’s clear the the Rio Hotel & Casino is not doing very well. In fact, other than the WSOP, I suspect they might be losing money. Everything seems to be falling apart and getting extremely old.

Previously, there was a casual restaurant that was located on the way to the tournament area. It has been changed to a chain called “Hash House A Go Go,” and breakfast only place that closes at 1pm. I realize that normal people eat breakfast but most poker players can’t even get up by the crack of 1pm.

This year, like last year, room service was not available after lunch, before dinner time. Since dinner break for the WSOP is between 3:30pm and 4:30pm, there is no way to pre-order food and have it delivered to your room. That used to be one of the big perks for staying at the Rio during the WSOP, but no longer. Now, you will have to endure uncleanliness and worn out rooms in order to save about 20-30 minutes of travel time to the tournament room from another venue.

I wish Caesars Entertainment, the parent company of the Rio, would change their priority and put some money back into the Rio for the poker players. It hasn’t happened in at least a decade, if not 2, so I doubt anything will change in the near future. It’s more likely that they will move the venue to Caesars Palace than throw money away on the Rio. If legionnaires disease didn’t force them to clean things up, I don’t think anything will. Maybe they’re just waiting for the building to implode on it’s own and collect on the insurance.

Sad indeed.

The post WSOP 2018 Wrap Up & Rio Re-Re-Review appeared first on Cochinoman.

But I digress.

As in past years, I once again stayed at the Rio Hotel and Casino and unlike in 2012, I asked to be in the main tower because the newer tower is farther from the tournament area. However, I noticed that the main tower, which is much older, is now badly in need of a remodel. First off, some of the elevators were not working, and many of the buttons in the elevator were either not working, stuck, or the light was not working or some combination of the above.You can see an example of what I mean below.

On top of that, the room itself was looking like it really needed a big cleaning job. I know that the maids are not equipped to do heavy duty cleaning and can barely do light cleaning with the items they have on hand. As you can see below, the shower head looked like a glazed doughnut with the calcium deposits.

In fact, both faucets had the same “frosting” that looked really nasty. The one below is the one in the bathroom.

Even with my complaints about the cleanliness of the room, I would still recommend that players stay in the main tower during the WSOP because of the incredible convenience and advantage it gives the player. As before, I was able to go up to my room and use my own bathroom during the 20 minute break, instead of having to wait in the long lines. That alone was worth the price of the room. Of course, relaxing during the 90 minute dinner break in my room was just extra frosting on the doughnut.

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While chatting, I noticed WSOP 2006 Main Event winner Jamie Gold sitting at table 6, seat 9 nearby.  Around the same time, I also observed Men “The Master” Nguyen buying in 2 of his “horses” apparently on credit. I’m not positive but I didn’t see Nguyen playing himself, but one of his horses came to my table later in the tournament. With all the controversy regarding Nguyen being accused of collusion, I’m glad he was not at my table.

I’ll spare you the boring details of how I got knocked out, except to say that I had top pair on the flop, and the big stack went all-in with his open ended draw and got the straight on the river.

On a side note, Jamie Gold ended in 6th place in the tournament.

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That’s also the reason why I’ve been going to the once a month Hawaiian Gardens deep stack tournament.  Once again, I went down there for their 2pm once a month, Saturday tournament.

This tournament starts you off with 3,000 in chips and the rounds are 30 minutes long.  I actually got up to about 31,000 in chips at one point, but managed to throw away most of my chips by slow playing pocket Kings.  What a disasterous miscalculation that was.  My mistake was not taking into account how tight of a player my opponent was.  There’s no need to slow play against a tight player.  Another expensive lesson for me.   But because I got up to such a large stack, I managed to hold on to make the final 2 tables and cash for the first time at this tournament.  I wasn’t happy with my play but at least I made money.  I’m going to try again next month.

The very next day (Sunday), I went to the Hustler deep stack tournament for the first time at 3pm.  This one starts you off with 5,000 in chips with 25 minute rounds.  Compared to the 3,000 chip tournament, this gave me lots of playing time.  I made 2 mistakes early on, and still managed to come back from less than 10 times the big blind back up to 16,000 in chips.  You can only do something like that in a deep stack tournament.  In one of those Commerce 1,500 chip tournaments, 1 mistake and you’re out.  I’m going to try again next week for sure.  I love the structure.

After the tournament, I tried my hand at the cash game there at the Hustler on the $300-$500 no limit table.  At this table, they give you free food so it’s as good as the Bike.  I doubled up on one hand with a flush, which gave me room to experiment.  One one hand, just for another $20 on the flop, I could have gotten runner-runner diamonds to make the nut flush against the winner (and chip leader) who had the King high flush.  I’m pretty damn sure he would have called all in for $1,000 on the river. Woulda-coulda-shoulda.  Oh well.

After more than doubling, I had already decided to play just before my big blind and got pocket Aces.  I hate it when this happens because I’ve had bad luck getting big hands right before leaving several times.  I was in late position so I didn’t try to do any stupid limping like on Saturday.  However, when I made a raise, 5 people called me out of position.  Crap.  That’s waaaay too many callers for pocket rockets.

The flop is Jack high with no flush draw but with a straight draw.  It was checked all the way back to me, so I came out really hard and bet more than the big pot that was there.  I managed to get everyone to fold except the last guy who flat called me.  I was hoping he had Ace-Jack which would make him drawing to 2 cards.  I bet again on the turn and he again check called.  On the river, he checked again and I decided to wimp out and check behind him.  He showed Jack 8 off.  WTF?!  Jack with an 8 kicker??  Damn!  I’m lucky he didn’t hit his kicker because I would have never thought he had an 8 kicker.  Even a 10 kicker would have surprised me with all the money going in there.

Well, that was a great way to end my day with pocket Aces holding up.  For once, I made enough money to leave early, instead of staying all night to try to break even.  I need to come back here for some more live action.

Hustler Casino
1000 W Redondo Beach Blvd.
Gardena, CA 90241
(877) 968-9800
(310) 719-9800
hustlercasinola.com
Map

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The buy-in was $120 (including fees) and there were about 297 people in the no-limit, Texas holdem tournament. It was $10k for 1st palce. We started with only 1,000 in chips but the blinds started at a low 5 – 15, and went up every 30 minutes.

My first big hand was early and I had pocket aces against pocket queens and almost doubled up. I remember a similar situation at another tournament and knocked out a player on the very first hand I played.

Unlike other tournaments, I decided to play super tight. My next big hand was pocket 10s aginst 2 players. One was the chip leader at the table and the other guy was the short stack all-in. I went all-in, and the chip leader called. They happen to both have King – Queen off suit, so I was happy to see that, and I more than doubled up there.

Near the money (they paid to 27), I tried to steal the blinds with an all-in holding Ace – 6 off suit and ran into AK. Damn. I figured I was out and stood up to get ready to leave. The flop brought me an open ended straight draw and got the needed 2 on the river. Wow. What a suck out. This kept me alive to make the money.

At the end, a guy with pocket 9’s goes all-in and I look down to find pocket Kings. Nice. I go all-in, then the button with the big chip stack also goes all-in. Unfortunately, he had pocket Aces, a 9 flops and I come in 3rd in this last hand. Well, at least I made the money.

On to some live game action.  By the way, they are finished with the expansion of the upper area and now goes all the way to Yosh’s sushi restaurant. In fact, there’s an entrance directly from the poker side to the restaurant.

Anyhoo, coincidentally, several of my friends were playing live at the Bike. Ted and Hugo were both at the same $80 no-limit table, and David was at the $100 table. I started at the $200 table and moved to the $300-$500 table (blinds $5 – $5) after a few hands. One of my big hands came up like this:

Cochinoman			Small Blind Player

Flop				Turn	River

Everybody limped in and I also limped in with a terrible 4 – 5 off suit on the button. With a hand like that, you really should raise on the button but I don’t play that way. The small blind wakes up with aces and pops it up to $40. The big blind calls, and another guy calls.  According to Cardplayer’s odds calculator, 4 ways, pocket rockets is about 54% to win, and I’m about 13.9%. Heads-up, aces would be 81.93% and I would be 17.70%. Frankly, I thought I might be able to steal after the flop, since I had position.

Before I called, I asked the small blind if he wanted me to call. He rightly says, “No!”, but the big blind says “Yes!” Heh, heh. With those pot odds, the money looked too delicious, and I called.

A dream flop came for me. In fact, I looked at my hand again to make sure. That was a tell, if anybody was watching me. As the small blind got ready to bet out, I said, “Be careful.” Which he ignored, and bet out $160. Big blind calls quickly. The 3rd guy folds, and now it’s to me.

If the big blind didn’t come in, I would have slow played it, but with the flush draw, I felt I needed to get rid of him drawing on me so I poped it all-in. I covered both players with over $500. The small blind with aces thought long and hard and made a big fold and showed me his hand. The big blind calls about $260 left of his stack.

I don’t know what the big blind had but I know I don’t want to see any clubs. When the 8 comes on the turn, I’m not really happy because he could have had 9 <club> – 10 <club> , and made a higher straight.

The Ace comes on the river, with no clubs and the big blind mucks his hand. He told me he had 2 pair but I’m not sure that’s what he had.

In any case, I was happy. Kept getting lucky at the table and made more money but that hand was sweet.

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Cochinoman			Player

Flop				Turn	River

I raised from middle position with pocket 4s. Only the button called me. I flopped middle set and came out betting $650 into a pot of about $800. The player flat called me with the nuts. I didn’t think there was any way that he had the straight with 3-5 because he called my pre-flop raise so I put him on an overpair to the board. He must have gotten a boner when he saw the flop. When you call a raise with 3-5, that’s a dream flop.

But next, the board paired with the 2 <heart> which gave me a full house. I didn’t even realize that I sucked out on him. Anyway, I didn’t want to scare him off so I checked and he bet only $500. At this point, I wasn’t sure if he was betting small hoping for me to come over the top (because he had a monster), or because he didn’t like the board pairing. I made a comment about the strange bet and flat called.

The river brought my dream card giving me quads. As I started to think about how much I should bet to get a call, the player went all-in out of turn. As the dealer started telling him that he bet out of turn, I quickly called his all-in. The player took back his bet and the dealer had to call the floorman, who ruled in my favor. It was a nice double up early in the tournament. In hind sight, I guess he went all-in out of turn as a defensive bet, hoping I wouldn’t be able to call.

Unfortunately, a few hands later, a lady with AQ went all in when the ace flopped, which I called with my AK. But then got her Q on the river and took a bunch of my chips.

I returned to this tournament again yesterday and got further but still didn’t make the money. My friend Cheryl was also playing and we busted out almost exactly at the same time. During the break, she and I talked about Arial Clark who we both knew from Caribe Casino who died in a car accident with his producer/director father Bob Clark. Ariel was so talented and taken so early. He’ll be missed by many.

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