Woodbine Raceway Poker Room

PocketsTwos

Banked another decent profit last night at Mohawk. Arrived around 9pm and there was one full table and another table starting up. We were shorthanded the whole way, only getting up to 7 players at one point. Within two hours the tables were combined and the other sat empty the rest of the night. Casino was busy, UFC fight night...just wish there were more poker players at Mohawk. The drive from Kitchener is waaaay better than the commute to Niagara Falls. Speaking of which - I was in NF for three days over March break with family and played at Casino Niagara three nights and there were never more than 3 tables going....Woodbine effect?

DataMn

Since I had some free time on the weekend I decided to try out the poker at Mohawk and Woodbine...

Friday night I got to Mohawk about 11pm. There were 2 games going - one with 6 and one with 7 players. I was then told about the hoops I had to jump through....

WARNING TO NEWBIES - You can't just sit down at these tables. You have to go get a winner's circle card if you don't already have one, and then fill out a "Poker Pro" form. Once that is done and they have checked it over THEN you have to go to the cashier and actually put money on the card. Only then can you sit down at the table.

Once I loaded my card then I could sit down and play. Look and feel were pretty simple for anyone used to internet poker. Was card dead for a while, and my stack went from $150 to $100 pretty fast.

After about 1.5 hours there were only 10 players left on the two tables. They combined us and I loaded back up to $200 since the table seemed to have a lot more newbies. It was obvious from looking at the table who the loosest player was - young guy trying to show off for his girlfriend who was sitting beside/behind him. A chair was open to his left so I took it right away. Pretty well the first hand there I got pocket 9s. Playing 1/2 there were 4 callers (including myself) and then the button raised to $11. Both blinds folded, but all 4 others called the $11. Flop comes Q 7 4 rainbow. It gets checked the whole way around (?!) A beautiful 9 comes on the turn. I put in a bet of $30, the button now raises to $60. I raise all in for about $150 more and he calls. The Villain had AQ and had decided to slow roll it on the flop :-). Just to add insult to injury for him another Q came on the river - it had to be explained to him why he didn't win.

I won a couple more big pots to go up to about $600, and then was card dead and lost a couple of coin flips against the short stacks to go down to about $550. I cashed out at 3 for a profit of $200 over 4 hours - not bad.

Saturday night my wife and I were in Toronto with the girls, and we had gone out for dinner since "Grandma" had the girls. It didn't take much to twist my wife's rubber arm to go check out Woodbine (she loves her slots). Got to the poker room around 9:30, asked for 1/2 and they told me they had a seat for me right away - not what I expected from other accounts on here.

Went to the cashier and then found out that I would have to fill out and sign another Poker Pro account for Woodbine!! (Even though they are by the same company, apparently they are not linked). I had to sweet talk the cashier to let me fill out a form there at the cage instead of going to the Winner's Circle desk because the Winner's Circle line was lined up pretty well across the casino! (I guess getting $10 in free slot play is worth waiting in line for over an hour to some people). Finally I got the card loaded up and was able to sit down at about 10 pm.

The Woodbine table was a lot more "nitty" than the Mohawk one, but luckily my seat was to the left of the "cannon" at the table. Played fairly tight, but made some money moving the cannon off of hands. Players were easily married to top pair, no kicker so it was easy to make money if you had top top or another good hand.

Was up about $200 when the GSP fight started. I should have checked out then, but I did have a fairly good seat to watch the fight [Except the big screen in front of me would cut out every 30 seconds or so for 2 seconds and then come back on - annoying!]. Went down another $40 or so just paying the blinds and losing one call of an all in with AQ against KJ. Still cashed out $160 ahead for 2.75 hours play.

I would recommend the tables to most players that I know here. I found the games really soft - and saw some absolutely atrocious play along the way (Blinds 1/2 2 callers and the big blind goes all in for $305. Guess he had Aces or he REALLY wanted that $7).

Al

holychow

DataMn;350064 wrote -- snip --
Went to the cashier and then found out that I would have to fill out and sign another Poker Pro account for Woodbine!! (Even though they are by the same company, apparently they are not linked).
-- snip --

And you have separate "accounts" for your money as well. Money from one location isn't usable at another. I find that very annoying. You can't use Mohawk money at Woodbine and vice versa.

dcarson

Just drove all the way to the race tracks from the beaches to find out you need "two pieces of ID when you are under 25." Is this a new rule? I've never been asked for another piece of ID when I show my Ontario Drivers license.

compuease

dcarson;350158 wroteJust drove all the way to the race tracks from the beaches to find out you need "two pieces of ID when you are under 25." Is this a new rule? I've never been asked for another piece of ID when I show my Ontario Drivers license.

I know I have seen young people asked for two valid proof of id's at at least Casino Niagara more than once.. Maybe someone else can verify.

Curious, what do you need to buy liqour or cigarettes here in Ontario? It's been a while since I have been asked for id. :(

[deleted]

dcarson;350158 wroteJust drove all the way to the race tracks from the beaches to find out you need "two pieces of ID when you are under 25." Is this a new rule? I've never been asked for another piece of ID when I show my Ontario Drivers license.

i ran into this crap alot on BC.. i finally smartened up and got a BC id card to go with my ontario dl (was weary of walking around with my passport)

here in ontario Ive only ever had to use my DL .. for bars, LCBO, even casino's

i get id'd alot because of my boyish good looks :)

:laugh:

GTA Poker

compuease;350160 wroteI know I have seen young people asked for two valid proof of id's at at least Casino Niagara more than once.. Maybe someone else can verify.

Curious, what do you need to buy liqour or cigarettes here in Ontario? It's been a while since I have been asked for id. :(

You don't get asked when you go for dinner at 4 pm?

compuease

GTA Poker;350162 wroteYou don't get asked when you go for dinner at 4 pm?

Only to get my seniors discount...

holychow

compuease;350160 wroteCurious, what do you need to buy liqour or cigarettes here in Ontario? It's been a while since I have been asked for id. :(

I'm sure the last time that happened you were buying both with spare change. :)

Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk 2

dcarson

compuease;350160 wroteI know I have seen young people asked for two valid proof of id's at at least Casino Niagara more than once.. Maybe someone else can verify.

Curious, what do you need to buy liqour or cigarettes here in Ontario? It's been a while since I have been asked for id. :(

18 to buy lottery tickets and scratch cards
19 to buy tobacco, alcohol and participate in "gambling" (even though I don't consider poker gambling)

I'm going to go back over the weekend and bring my passport with me, maybe I'll see some of you there!

compuease

dcarson;350169 wrote18 to buy lottery tickets and scratch cards
19 to buy tobacco, alcohol and participate in "gambling" (even though I don't consider poker gambling)

I'm going to go back over the weekend and bring my passport with me, maybe I'll see some of you there!

What I asked was, what proof of age do you require legally, I knew the age...

[deleted]

just a drivers license is fine in ontario.

westside8

First time for everything - saw a guy wearing sunglasses at the 1/2NL table at Woodbine.

Shortstack_Maverick

westside8;350217 wroteFirst time for everything - saw a guy wearing sunglasses at the 1/2NL table at Woodbine.

Actually seen sunglasses at this electronic poker room many times since I started playing in January. Bet I know exactly who you are talking about! LOL

Gonna be there right after work tonight instead of coming tomorrow. Friday nights are too damn busy avoid at all cost!!!:arghh:

PocketsTwos

I've also seen a guy at Mohawk bring his own stack of chips to the electronic tables to riffle, flip and play with.

Heading there tonight - hopefully can get a table going. I'm a little surprised that Woodbine sounds like it is super busy and Mohawk is empty most of the time. I thought they'd be drawing more players out west of Milton.

Milo

westside8;350217 wroteFirst time for everything - saw a guy wearing sunglasses at the 1/2NL table at Woodbine.

PocketsTwos;350266 wroteI've also seen a guy at Mohawk bring his own stack of chips to the electronic tables to riffle, flip and play with.

I hope you pointed and laughed . . .

EdPlaysO8

I played for 2 hours early this morning. Got there just after midnight.

Played PLO shorthanded for about 10 - 15 minutes. The table broke and then I found out that there were many open seats at the 1-2 NLHE tables. I felt like we were just donating to OLG playing PLO so shorthanded.

Booked a small win, but I felt like a bit of a donkey playing NLHE. Too many loose calls. I am trying to get back into the HE frame of mind. I've stayed away from it so long online, but I enjoy playing at Woodbine.

It would be amazing to get a PLO8 game going there.

BlondeFish

EdPlaysO8;350847 wroteI felt like we were just donating to OLG playing PLO so shorthanded.

Is there an option to get the rake lowered, just like any shorthanded table with a human dealer?

westside8

BlondeFish;350883 wroteIs there an option to get the rake lowered, just like any shorthanded table with a human dealer?

It's been asked, doubt they care because people will keep playing. Or I don't think reduced rake would keep people playing once it gets to 4 or 5 players from experience.

EdPlaysO8

I was about to go to the front desk to ask about reducing the rake, but then we went down to heads up and the game broke. I see now that it's been asked before.

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