TR: donkey times at seneca
so i found myself in niagara falls over the weekend. i don't know what i was thinking but i went to casino niagara in the early evening to see if i could get into a game. wow, they had 1 2/5nl table running and a handful of 100max and 200max 1/2 tables with a lineup of dozens! rather than wait for 2 hours, i headed outside, wondering how long it would take to walk to fallsview. then i wondered if i could get into a game there or if i should just walk over to seneca.
it was a beautiful evening so i decided to go for the thrill of a border crossing on foot for the first time. the walkway is not that easy to find. i crossed the street and was going to go into the duty free shop to ask, when lo and behold, i saw the sign for the pedestrian crossing behind the shop. it is 50 cents to go from canada to the us. cdn or us currency is fine. they even have a change machine right there in the un-manned toll booth.
i'm not sure how long it took to walk across the bridge. a few minutes i suppose. i was alone with my thoughts on this trek. there was a huge lineup of cars coming into to canada but absolutely no one heading into the states. no lineup for me at customs and in about 30 seconds i was IN!
from CN, you can see the lights of seneca. from outside the us customs, you cannot. ah well, i knew the general direction and headed off. after a couple blocks, you can see the lights again so no biggie. i was at seneca within minutes. the scary part is there is absolutely no one on the streets on the us side. this is a huge contrast to the hustle and bustle on the cdn side and a bit disconcerting for someone walking around with cash in their pocket...
i was seated at the lone (at that time) 2/5nl table within minutes. it seemed there were a large number of regulars there and judging by the stack sizes, they had been there for some time.
this was absolutely the most loose-aggressive table i have ever sat at. pretty much every pot was a minimum 35 to see the flop with 3 or more players. some truly horrific play from many but also some pretty good play from a couple of them.
to make it even more interesting, i have never had such a string of bad starting cards in my life. i would have left but you are pretty committed if you make the trek ON FOOT to seneca, now aren't you? i sat there for hours folding shitty hand after shitty hand. no point in bluffing as you will get called by at least 3 and the max starting stack is a mere fraction of what several of them have. in the span of several hours, i believe i had a total of 3 or 4 hands worth remembering.
first one: i limped in LP with a few other limpers with 22. flop came Q82 all hearts. checked to me, i bet pot, guy behind me smooth called quickly and the others folded. i put him on TP perhaps with a flush draw or just the draw. turn came with an offsuit 6. i overbet the pot and again he smooth called quickly with only about 40 back. the river came with an offsuit K and i bet what i thought was the rest of his stack. turns out he had $1 left and pushed. he had KK with Kh and managed to hit his overset on the river. as i found out, this guy would limp from any position with any number of players with huge hands and he didn't mind calling large raises OOP once he was in the pot. hee haw! game on. time for a reload.
second one: after hours, i am finally dealt AA but UTG. one maniac in LP has been bombing the pot every hand with absolute garbage and calling any re-raise. i figure if i raise here, it is pretty obvious what i have so i limp. just as i'm throwing my chip in the pot, the maniac gets up to go to the washroom. dammit! i end up taking the $17 pot on the flop with a small bet. what a fn waste.
third one: i raise UTG with a big PP. 4 donkeys call me. (ok, so maybe i should have raised with AA before...) BB, a good and very aggressive and lucky player (who has accumulated about 1500 in the past 2 hours) says "you haven't put money voluntarily in the pot in 3 hours and now you raise my BB. i should fold." but of course he called. flop comes T76 rainbow and he leads out for 75. i look at him and say "i hate fn donkeys who call an obvious big PP with shit like 98s" and then i fold. i guess the others caught on and they folded too. he said "you must really hate me then" and showed 98o.
finally the lucky aggressive guy raises it to 40 again from LP. i'm on the button and push with JJ. all fold back to him. he asks if i want a call. i say sure, i could use a double before i quit. he says he has crappy cards and i tell him i can virtually guarantee he has outs so he calls and shows QJo. somehow my hand holds up.
the game starts to break up around 2. there's no way i'm playing short-stacked against 3 maniacs so i cash out, down a bit and head for the bridge. it is a bit cooler now and a light snow is falling. very quiet. i ponder how many people leap off the bridge on nights like this. the crossing is uneventful and the cool air clears my head. no charge to walk from us to canada...
since i'm outside the doors, i decide to check out the action at CN. i get a seat in the 2/5 game in minutes and recognize Cary from the georgetown game. this is a much 'saner' game. i'm actually able to win a few pots on bluffs before this hand comes up:
i'm in the BB with A2s. i have limpers from UTG and 4 others. i'm tempted to throw in a raise but don't want to risk getting re-raised out of it. flop comes 345 rainbow. i check. UTG leads for 10, called in LP then the SB raises it to 50. i'm a bit leary of someone limping with 67 (or 26?) but i decide to raise it up to 125 in spite of my better judgement. folded to the SB who quickly calls with around 175 back. turn comes with a fn ace putting 2 spades on board. SB checks and i push and hope he has a set or overpair. when he asks if i have a set i figure i'm good. he calls and shows 56o. my hand holds up.
not sure i can remember any other pots. i cash out near 5:30 up a few hundred for less than 3 hours of 'work'. almost makes me want to play CN over seneca but that is not likely. i think i'll look at CN as my backup plan when things aren't looking rosy at seneca. i'll have to check out fallsview again to see how that fits into the pecking order, too.
it was a beautiful evening so i decided to go for the thrill of a border crossing on foot for the first time. the walkway is not that easy to find. i crossed the street and was going to go into the duty free shop to ask, when lo and behold, i saw the sign for the pedestrian crossing behind the shop. it is 50 cents to go from canada to the us. cdn or us currency is fine. they even have a change machine right there in the un-manned toll booth.
i'm not sure how long it took to walk across the bridge. a few minutes i suppose. i was alone with my thoughts on this trek. there was a huge lineup of cars coming into to canada but absolutely no one heading into the states. no lineup for me at customs and in about 30 seconds i was IN!
from CN, you can see the lights of seneca. from outside the us customs, you cannot. ah well, i knew the general direction and headed off. after a couple blocks, you can see the lights again so no biggie. i was at seneca within minutes. the scary part is there is absolutely no one on the streets on the us side. this is a huge contrast to the hustle and bustle on the cdn side and a bit disconcerting for someone walking around with cash in their pocket...
i was seated at the lone (at that time) 2/5nl table within minutes. it seemed there were a large number of regulars there and judging by the stack sizes, they had been there for some time.
this was absolutely the most loose-aggressive table i have ever sat at. pretty much every pot was a minimum 35 to see the flop with 3 or more players. some truly horrific play from many but also some pretty good play from a couple of them.
to make it even more interesting, i have never had such a string of bad starting cards in my life. i would have left but you are pretty committed if you make the trek ON FOOT to seneca, now aren't you? i sat there for hours folding shitty hand after shitty hand. no point in bluffing as you will get called by at least 3 and the max starting stack is a mere fraction of what several of them have. in the span of several hours, i believe i had a total of 3 or 4 hands worth remembering.
first one: i limped in LP with a few other limpers with 22. flop came Q82 all hearts. checked to me, i bet pot, guy behind me smooth called quickly and the others folded. i put him on TP perhaps with a flush draw or just the draw. turn came with an offsuit 6. i overbet the pot and again he smooth called quickly with only about 40 back. the river came with an offsuit K and i bet what i thought was the rest of his stack. turns out he had $1 left and pushed. he had KK with Kh and managed to hit his overset on the river. as i found out, this guy would limp from any position with any number of players with huge hands and he didn't mind calling large raises OOP once he was in the pot. hee haw! game on. time for a reload.
second one: after hours, i am finally dealt AA but UTG. one maniac in LP has been bombing the pot every hand with absolute garbage and calling any re-raise. i figure if i raise here, it is pretty obvious what i have so i limp. just as i'm throwing my chip in the pot, the maniac gets up to go to the washroom. dammit! i end up taking the $17 pot on the flop with a small bet. what a fn waste.
third one: i raise UTG with a big PP. 4 donkeys call me. (ok, so maybe i should have raised with AA before...) BB, a good and very aggressive and lucky player (who has accumulated about 1500 in the past 2 hours) says "you haven't put money voluntarily in the pot in 3 hours and now you raise my BB. i should fold." but of course he called. flop comes T76 rainbow and he leads out for 75. i look at him and say "i hate fn donkeys who call an obvious big PP with shit like 98s" and then i fold. i guess the others caught on and they folded too. he said "you must really hate me then" and showed 98o.
finally the lucky aggressive guy raises it to 40 again from LP. i'm on the button and push with JJ. all fold back to him. he asks if i want a call. i say sure, i could use a double before i quit. he says he has crappy cards and i tell him i can virtually guarantee he has outs so he calls and shows QJo. somehow my hand holds up.
the game starts to break up around 2. there's no way i'm playing short-stacked against 3 maniacs so i cash out, down a bit and head for the bridge. it is a bit cooler now and a light snow is falling. very quiet. i ponder how many people leap off the bridge on nights like this. the crossing is uneventful and the cool air clears my head. no charge to walk from us to canada...
since i'm outside the doors, i decide to check out the action at CN. i get a seat in the 2/5 game in minutes and recognize Cary from the georgetown game. this is a much 'saner' game. i'm actually able to win a few pots on bluffs before this hand comes up:
i'm in the BB with A2s. i have limpers from UTG and 4 others. i'm tempted to throw in a raise but don't want to risk getting re-raised out of it. flop comes 345 rainbow. i check. UTG leads for 10, called in LP then the SB raises it to 50. i'm a bit leary of someone limping with 67 (or 26?) but i decide to raise it up to 125 in spite of my better judgement. folded to the SB who quickly calls with around 175 back. turn comes with a fn ace putting 2 spades on board. SB checks and i push and hope he has a set or overpair. when he asks if i have a set i figure i'm good. he calls and shows 56o. my hand holds up.
not sure i can remember any other pots. i cash out near 5:30 up a few hundred for less than 3 hours of 'work'. almost makes me want to play CN over seneca but that is not likely. i think i'll look at CN as my backup plan when things aren't looking rosy at seneca. i'll have to check out fallsview again to see how that fits into the pecking order, too.
Comments
Had the exact same experience walking over. Was the haunted music playing at the haunted mini-putt? Me and my buddy were just waiting for a chain-saw wielding masked man to jump out of the shadows. NF NY is creepy!
Money to be made here.... I would have stayed.
Stupid ? as it may not have come up, but, there used to be a rule about crossing the border with >400.00. Did it come up?
Walking seems to be the plan. Either way I guess an ATM card would solve the $ problem.
The cash declaration limit is $10,000. If you win big at the casino (or if you are Brian Mulroney meeting with Karlheinz Schreiber >:D ) with over $10,000 cash, then you supposed to declare it.
There is an ATM outside the poker room, where you will be charged fees. The casino cage exchanges Canadian dollars at around par.
On top of that; I am usually going over at 4pm and the lines have been at least 20 minutes so walking is faster.
Also in addition; the walk gets your mind going. State has alot to do with your abilities and a little physical exercise helps get you into that state and give you a clearer mind.
When we went down two weeks ago, I was thinking that the nice light exercise and fresh air got the mind clear and the blood flowing well.
Mark
A brisk walk from Casino Niagara is great for the body and soul. The hike we did from Fallsview to Senaca was a bit much