Gemini Report

Had a good night overall. MUCH better experience than Nautica. No parking fees, no hourly $15, etc. The place is nice and clean with free snacks and soft drinks, though I had to pay $.50 for bottled water. I only had a couple bananas as snack because of the diet. The dealers are pretty fast and very courteous. Card shufflers would be a great addition.

Sat down at a $1-2 immediately after getting my membership papers, and chased a few hands that didn't pan out, and was down almost $70 when the tourney started. The tourney sucked, only because I got jack shit for hands, and only won the blinds 3 times before busting out after almost 2 hours. NOTHING hit the flop when I was able to see it. I only folded 1 hand that turned out to be a winner. 7-8 off. So, down $50 from the tourney. With the membership fee, I was down almost $145, and sat at another $1-2 after about a 20 min wait. One thing they do correctly is keep the main table full with must-moves. I wish they did this at Nautica. You often have several tables with 6-7 people, and sometimes very few chips in play.

I sat down with $150 and slowly built it up to almost $700 over the next 3 hrs. Played fairly tight for a cash game, but loosened up after I figured out who the donks were, and there were certainly a few at my table. One hand, I tried river bluffing a $30 pot by tossing out $20, and got called by A9 high (I missed an open-ender). I got it back a bit later after hitting a flush.

I hit 4 flushes and a couple straights to make most of my money. I cashed $690, up almost $550 with in that session, and up almost $400 on the night, even after the tourney, initial $1-2 loss, and membership fee.

There were some familiar faces there; some Nautica regulars, Riegler, Chan, Linda, RR Dave, Grayday, and Gross were all there. Even Pavel the Russian kid that used to play at Ken's was playing $2-5 and had a nice stack built up.

So, my initial thoughts are that this is a great idea, but it's hard to say how long it will last. I think that when the casino is built, legal or not, the state will find a way to shut them down if they feel money is being diverted from the casino. Until then, I'll play there before going to Nautica. It's cheaper and closer to home for me as well. The area is safer. One thing that worries me is the fact that the restrooms are open-air at the ceiling. A Doug Poker, TK, or MEATS could really cause some damage to the room if they have to do the nasty.

Tonight...cooking chili.