Ramblin's of RagsPoker (1 Viewer)

[RagsPoker]

Posting random poker chip pics and other stuff here....casino trips, home game stuff, and various chips of mine.

Pt. Edward Casino / Sarnia, Canada 10-22-15
First off, I've had a rather tough stretch at the poker table the past year or so, but finally had a nice session recently at Pt. Edward Casino (Sarnia, Canada). Bought in for $130, cashed out for $759. Couple more sessions like that and I'll get back to even!

 

[spikeithard]

ahhh yes the lovely point edward rounded 'stick together' chips. you can literally press these together and they will stick from all the goop on them.

 

[RagsPoker]

Detroit Lions / Greektown Overnight Trip 11-22/23-15
Took a 2-hour drive for an overnight trip to Detroit over the weekend with some in-laws, going to the Lions game vs. the Raiders. Kind of a dull game with not too much passing or big plays, but it was a rare Lions win, 18-13….not that it matters anymore this season. Pretty good seats as we were in Row 7. (Notice there aren't very many championship banners hanging in the rafters!)

Stayed at the Greektown Casino Hotel Sunday night. This a street scene in the Greektown district, a nice little area of Detroit with some good restaurants and a short walk to Ford Field and Comerica Park which are adjacent to each other.

Nothing too exciting to report as I gambled most of Sunday night and early Monday morning, playing table games. Lost a grand total of $15 gambling on the trip so I look at that as a win! Spent quite a bit of time at the Paigow table where I harvested 18 of the peach quarters (used for commission on winning hands).

Poker room had 2 or 3 games going Sunday night, $1-2 NLHE. Games played bigger than that though as there was always a $5 button straddle with a lot of big stacks. I didn’t get in a game as I had too many Bud Lights and didn’t want to risk my meager bankroll under these conditions! Here's a quick pic of some of the casino's chips.

 

[RagsPoker]

Pt. Edward Casino / Sarnia, Canada 12-4-15
Played a couple hours of 1-2 NL, cashed out $418 which included my $150 buyin. Only had a couple decent starting hands and was fortunate to make the most of them......Q-10 suited as I turned a flush against a baby flush that resulted in about a $300 pot. My only big pair of the night (Q-Q) held up on a board that inlcuded three 6's. Lost a large chunk of that profit at some table games later on as Paigow and Texas Holdem Bonus were brutal. So I walked out with a profit of about $80 after eating a pretty good chicken stir fry meal at the casino restaurant.

 

[RagsPoker]

Currently on plane to Vegas! Flying Southwest out of Flint, Mich. Weather was snowy and windy when taking off, glad to be leaving crappy weather behind. Staying for 6 days, hope my $3K bankroll holds out! I'll try to post a few updates, will plan on writing a decent TR with a few pics upon my return. Staying at the Flamingo, plan on playing mostly poker, blackjack, paigow and VP. Will land in 3 hours, 45 degrees in Vegas, lots better than Michigan right now.

 

[detroitdad]

good luck. Looking forward to reading your trip report

 

[RagsPoker]

My wife, son, mother-in-law and sister-in-law attended The Sound of Music play at Detroit's Fisher Theatre Sunday. I'm not cultured in the arts so I went to Greektown Casino....first casino trip in 3 months and only my second casino trip since going to Vegas in early January (that Vegas trip report is here: http://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/ragspoker-vegas-trip-report-2016.9738/ ). Played paigow for most of the 3 hours I was there. I was able to snag 27 Greektown quarters to add to my collection, need 28 more to fill a rack. For the day, I was a big winner......$9.75 on the plus side!...slightly below minimum wage but I'll take any win in a casino.
Went into the poker room and only 2 cash tables going, one was 6-handed and the other 8-handed. Really disappointed in their poker room attendance, it's been that way for every time I've been there the past couple years (although I only get there a couple times a year).

 

[RagsPoker]

Sept. 11-12, 2016
Took an overnight trip to Caesars Windsor last Sunday with my brother-in-law and father-in-law (a belated father's day present). We had only been to this casino once before (about 10 years ago). Very nice casino/hotel, we'll come back for sure.....love that there's no smoking here.

View from our hotel of the Detroit Skyline (Renaissance Center in the middle).

Didn't start well as I was down $280 after two hours as I had no luck in the pit playing Ultimate Holdem and Paigow.
Walked over to the small sportsbook/bar and placed a small bet. Only parlays are allowed here, so I bet $20 on a 2-leg parlay.

My Parlay ticket: For a change, the Lions came through but Arizona screwed me.

Went up to my room to watch first half of Lions-Colts game. At halftime, I went back downstairs and signed up for $65 rebuy tournament. As it turns out, I had a good run over a six-hour period and chopped first place for an $800 payday....my best run in a casino tournament. I increased my chip stack at each break as my hands held up. During the entire tourney I never had a hand go to showdown except when a player was all-in. One other player and I each had a little over 200,000 chips and two others were very short-stacked with about 15,000 apiece when we chopped. Overall a great experience in a nice poker room. (A few more chip pics are in the "Show Me Your Live Stacks" thread).

Chips at break, coloring up T25's.

Tournament screen when we decided to chop shortly after midnight.

We stayed the night and headed home (two-hour drive) the next morning. Overall, a fun trip....good to leave the casino on the plus side.

Caesars giant inlay Paulsons......hundos are pretty sweet!

 

[RagsPoker]

Greektown / 10-23-16
Made my third annual trip with the in-laws to Detroit Lions game at Ford Field, and stayed the night at Greektown for some gambling.
We had great seats at the game in Row 9 at the 40-yard line. Matthew Stafford led another drive in the final seconds to pull out a 20-17 win over Washington.

At Greektown, I didn't get to the poker room. Instead played a few hours of paigow in an effort to harvest some more quarters, and also played a little Ultimate Texas Holdem.....was down about $300 around midnight but then went on a pretty nice run at paigow and ended up with a profit of $130 for the day in addition to two dozen quarters (now just a few chips short of a second rack of those fractionals).

Street scene at night walking back to casino after a great meal at Fishbones.

 

[RagsPoker]

Soaring Eagle / 11-3-16
My father-in-law was comped a room at the Soaring Eagle Casino in Mt. Pleasant, Mich. so I joined him for the night. Played many hours of blackjack and after many ups and downs finished $245 ahead before going to bed at 4 am. Played $1-2 NL holdem earlier in the night for a couple hours but couldn't catch a hand....in fact, never played a hand post-flop and (obviously) never won a hand, but kept my losses to a minimum by dropping $65.
Finished $190 ahead for the day/night of gambling.
Nothing great when it comes to chips here, so no chip harvesting. But we did have a pretty nice view from our room.

 

[RagsPoker]

Spent a few days in Vegas back in December and never got around to posting anything. Finally going through my notes and pics on my phone, and will post a few day-by-day highlights here as I get time.

Day 1 - Wed., Dec. 7:

Weather was good in Michigan, so we had no flight issues. After a 4½ hour Delta flight from Detroit, I arrived in Vegas in the early evening with my father-in-law and brother-in-law and checked in to the Flamingo.

I soon headed for the pit, sat down and started to unwind at a Paigow table. I ended up playing there for about 4 hours and lost $125 in hands against the dealer, but the bonus bets really paid off nicely. Shortly after sitting down, I was betting $5 on the bonus, when the guy to my immediate left was dealt 5 aces (4 aces plus the joker) which resulted in me getting $250 for the “envy”. Too bad that player wasn’t playing the bonus….5 aces pays 400 to 1. It was the only time I’ve ever seen 5 aces hit. Later on in the session I got quad jacks for $125 (25-to-1 on my $5 bet). After plenty of Capt. & Cokes, I finished +$250 for the session and headed to bed for some much needed sleep.

Five aces hand missed me by one seat which would have been a $2000 payoff. Oh well, $250 for the envy ain't bad! (The dealer was not waving off my phone pic attempt....actually the dealers here are generally fine with taking pics of big hands).

 

[RagsPoker]

Day 2 - Thur., Dec. 8

We drove downtown and stayed the night at The D. Prior to leaving I played some blackjack for an hour and half at the Flamingo and had a good run and cashed out +$150. (My bets are generally between $10 and $30).
At The D I had two more good sessions of BJ, winning $350, and things appeared to be going really well this trip. But then reality set in. We bounced around at some downtown casinos but it was just one long losing streak for me…..Blackjack at the Golden Gate, paigow at the Golden Nugget and Ultimate Holdem at The D, costing me somewhere in the area of $500. I did win a $50 Thursday night NFL bet (Chiefs -3 over the Raiders). I ended up the day at about +$100.

A quick shot of some blackjack winnings.

My room at the D.

My Fremont street room view.

Lots of great neon signage downtown.

Nothing great about Binion's casino, but it does have great color signage.

 

[Sparty]

Go lions! And tigers!

 

[RagsPoker]

Day 3 – Fri., Dec. 9

I took a morning walk down to the El Cortez to check out that casino. The joint is really old school and reeked of smoke, but it was a pretty cool place. Played some single deck blackjack but my bad run continued there. Walked back to The D and lost a little more $$$ there before we checked out of our rooms and got ready to head back to the Strip. We ate a great breakfast at Hennessey’s Taven, an Irish bar/restaurant right across from the Heart Attack Grill (that was place was closed until later in the day).

We got back to the Flamingo and I sat down at the $4-8 limit holdem table with a half-kill but didn’t get much for cards and lost $50. While I was playing I looked over at one of the $1-2 NLHE tables and thought I saw a familiar face…..a lot of facial gestures and not the best set of teeth. His hair was gray and all messed up. He was wearing sweat pants and a wrinkled t-shirt….kinda looked like someone who had given up on life. I asked my dealer if that was Paul Magriel (of quack-quack fame) and he said it was….apparently Magriel had been playing at the Flamingo occasionally, even getting in their Friday Freeroll the week before. Wish I had gotten a picture but he left shortly after I noticed he was there. He was the first ‘pro’ I’ve seen in Vegas (although I don’t get to the Aria or Bellagio often). Clearly, he doesn't feel the need to get dressed up to go out in public.
(Borrowed internet photo below)

At night I played in the $85 tournament at Planet Hollywood but busted out after about an hour and a half. I wasn’t crazy about the tournament setup as the tables were not in a ‘poker room’ but rather on the casino floor roped off. The loud music and low lighting was not conducive to poker playing….or maybe I’m just getting old.

I returned to the Flamingo and my losing continued at a couple table games before placing my final $15 at the paigow table at 2:00 am Vegas time….bam! Hit a straight flush for $250, cashed out a few hands later to end a bad gambling day on a high note. Finished -$250 for the day.

 

[RagsPoker]

Day 4 - Sat., Dec. 10

I wanted to spend some more time playing poker today. The only highlight of the day was flopping quad Kings in the morning at the Flamingo and winning $50 for high hand of the hour and also $50 for flopping quads.
The rest of the day was gambling misery, losing at $2-4 limit, $4-8 limit (w/ half kill) and $1-2 NLHE. Also lost a little at paigow and finished -$450 for the day.

Took a walk in the afternoon just to get away from the tables for a while and get some fresh air.

Snapped a pic of some Flamingo chips in my pocket from earlier in the trip when I was winning.

 

[RagsPoker]

Day 5 - Sun., Dec. 11

I spent most of today in the Sportsbook, betting and watching NFL games. Lost a couple of $50 parlays trying to hit a big payoff, but for the most part I did OK, thanks primarily to the Falcons who blew out the LA Lambs.

I broke even at night in a few table games at the Flamingo and Harrahs, so I finished +$225 for the day.

 

[RagsPoker]

Day 6 - Mon., Dec. 12

My final day in Vegas started out playing paigow and winning $150 in a 1-hour early afternoon session, hitting quad jacks for the second time on the trip. I played at same table with another Michigan couple from Owosso who live only a little more than an hour away from me.

I took a walk along the Strip and sat down for a couple hours at a $2-4 limit table at the Bellagio, my first time playing there. After a couple hours I cashed out +$60 and also pocketed a barrel of their nice $1 chips.

I returned to the Flamingo, watched the rest of the Ravens-Pats Monday night game, and ate at Carlos & Charlie’s before heading back to the tables for one last night of gambling. Nothing too significant for a few hours and was again ready to go to bed about 2:00 a.m. when I hit another straight flush in paigow for a $250 bonus, putting me at about +$400 for the day. That was a great way to end the trip gambling.

 

[RagsPoker]

Trip Review

In 6 trips to Vegas, this was the first time I finished in the 'red' at the poker tables. Generally, I didn’t get very many good starting hands and when I did they were too often second best.

I was happy to finish slightly in the 'black' at sports betting on NFL games.

Table games were pretty much a push. What saved me on this trip was my best run ever of “bonus” hands: quad jacks twice, two straight flushes and the “envy” win with another player’s 5 aces in paigow; and then the flopped kings in the poker room….pleasantly surprised that I won about $1K in ‘bonus’ bets, but struggles at poker and then a two-day drought at some table games brought me down to earth.

Overall, I finished in the black on this trip, clearing approximately $200 to add a little bit to my bankroll, so I’m pretty happy with that for 6 days of gambling in Vegas.

I didn’t harvest too many chips. Grabbed a barrel of $1 Bellagios, a few $1’s from Golden Nugget and Planet Hollywood and about 15 $1 spotted Flamingos.

I enjoyed downtown and would prefer to stay there a couple more nights on my next trip. The rooms at The D have been renovated nicely....not anything top of the line, but not bad if you need a place to stay downtown. And they got it right with some wall art shown here in a bathroom:

The Linq has turned into a really nice area with some good restaurants there and more opening this year. Also a neat souvenir shop right outside the Flamingo there where they had some vintage looking t-shirts of old closed casinos. I picked up a Thunderbird shirt and a Mint shirt.

December weather was pretty decent. A sweatshirt or light jacket was all that was needed most of the time, but it did get kind of chilly at night.

Hookers were out in force on the weekend. Lot of them in the Linq casino walkway between Harrahs and the Flamingo, and they like to hang out by the habitat elevators in the Flamingo. I wasn’t in the market for their services, but just wanted to pass that information along to those who might be buyers!

I’ve always had fun trips to Vegas and am looking forward to heading back next winter.

 

[mike32]

Fun to read from a fellow Michigander! You should play in our games in the Detroit burbs one of these days!

 

[RagsPoker]

Northern Michigan Casino Bus Trip / March 3-4

I’m finally getting around to posting a brief trip report here in Michigan of a fundraising overnight casino bus trip sponsored by a local group during the first weekend of March.

My father-in-law and I were among about 50 people on the coach. We traveled to the Traverse City area to Turtle Creek Casino, then stayed overnight Saturday in Manistee at Little River Casino, and came home Sunday with a stop in the afternoon in Mt. Pleasant at the Soaring Eagle Casino.

Prior to our first stop I won $50 on a 50/50 raffle on the bus, so things started out pretty well.

Entrance to the casino
Our first stop was Turtle Creek, a very nice casino which has been remodeled sometime in the past few years. Although it has been a thorn in my side most of the time, I figured I would try playing Ultimate Texas Holdem again this trip…..big mistake. I played about two hours and lost $300. Then some blackjack for 10 minutes, lost another $115.….brutal way to start the trip. Chips are well used ceramics that look like the logo in the entrance picture above.

My only wins at Turtle Creek
A Video Poker machine treated me well (+$110), hitting four of a kind twice in a span of about 15 minutes.

Nice lookin' Paulson RHC chips
Our next stop was at another renovated casino, Little River. Night of gambling at table games and VP was uneventful, was down $20. I took a quick nap in my room and went back down to the gaming floor about 1:00 am and played Ultimate Holdem again, faring a little better by winning $50 and calling it a night. No poker room here.

Little River chips edge spots

Prior to leaving Sunday morning I played blackjack while new dealers were being trained. After a rather slow hour I cashed out $60 ahead.

Final casino stop was at Soaring Eagle. After losing $150 at Ultimate Holdem in 5 hands, I finally wised up and quit playing. I turned a $10 free play coupon into +$40 at VP, hitting quads for the third time on the trip.

Quads again!

I battled at the blackjack tables for about two hours with minimal success. I took a lunch break and had about a half hour left before having to leave on the bus. I sat down again at blackjack and and was doing well before going on a real heater the last 10 minutes, and with the bus leaving shortly I had to vacate the table, coloring up with a profit of nearly $400 in that short time.

After buy-ins totaling $450, I cashed out these chips for a profit of $405 at the Eagle

So after a tough start, it ended up being a nice little gambling trip as I added about $225 to my bankroll.

 

[Kyle]

Nice. I like reading about your trips. Thanks for sharing.

 

[RagsPoker]

Gateway Casino Trip / June 17

Made my first trip to a casino in more than 3 months, driving solo through strong thunderstorm and wind for much of the one-hour trip and arrived safely at the former OLG Charity Casino in Sarnia (Point Edward) Canada. It is now under new management/ownership of Gateway which might now be the biggest casino firm in Canada (maybe some Canadians here know more about them). No major changes to the place yet, but a dealer said he heard there are renovation plans in the works. The crowd seemed typical for a Saturday night.

Played about 3 1/2 hours of blackjack (generally betting between $10 to $40), nothing special until hitting a good shoe just before midnight. Bought in for $100 and cashed out for $557. Also got some free slot play as a promotion by the new management, so I played video poker about a half hour and won $10.30 as the voucher shows in the picture. So I was pretty happy with a $467 profit for a rather quick night of entertainment.

New chips also just hit the floor in the past week or two.....Paulson RHC's. These replace some worn, filthy giant inlay Paulsons previously in play there. Fun handling new chips, especially when I was able to win!

While I was playing VP, a Gateway official "scolded" another player sitting a couple machines away from me for taking a cell phone picture. He told him he needs to delete the picture as photography is prohibited in the casino. So I took a couple chip pics in the bathroom before having to quickly leave when some guy two stalls down dropped a nasty bomb (I know, TMI !!!)

 

[RagsPoker]

Kind of forgot about this thread.....Guess I need to keep updating.
Here’s a pic during an overnight trip to Soaring Eagle in Mt. Pleasant last weekend. Crappy Icon chips but they cashed out just fine at the cage. In for $400, out for $1065 in an 8-hour grind session at Ultimate Texas Holdem.

 

[Sparty]

Northern Michigan Casino Bus Trip / March 3-4

I’m finally getting around to posting a brief trip report here in Michigan of a fundraising overnight casino bus trip sponsored by a local group during the first weekend of March.

My father-in-law and I were among about 50 people on the coach. We traveled to the Traverse City area to Turtle Creek Casino, then stayed overnight Saturday in Manistee at Little River Casino, and came home Sunday with a stop in the afternoon in Mt. Pleasant at the Soaring Eagle Casino.

Prior to our first stop I won $50 on a 50/50 raffle on the bus, so things started out pretty well.

View attachment 98107
Entrance to the casino
Our first stop was Turtle Creek, a very nice casino which has been remodeled sometime in the past few years. Although it has been a thorn in my side most of the time, I figured I would try playing Ultimate Texas Holdem again this trip…..big mistake. I played about two hours and lost $300. Then some blackjack for 10 minutes, lost another $115.….brutal way to start the trip. Chips are well used ceramics that look like the logo in the entrance picture above.

View attachment 98109

View attachment 98108
My only wins at Turtle Creek
A Video Poker machine treated me well (+$110), hitting four of a kind twice in a span of about 15 minutes.

View attachment 98112
Nice lookin' Paulson RHC chips
Our next stop was at another renovated casino, Little River. Night of gambling at table games and VP was uneventful, was down $20. I took a quick nap in my room and went back down to the gaming floor about 1:00 am and played Ultimate Holdem again, faring a little better by winning $50 and calling it a night. No poker room here.

View attachment 98111
Little River chips edge spots

Prior to leaving Sunday morning I played blackjack while new dealers were being trained. After a rather slow hour I cashed out $60 ahead.

Final casino stop was at Soaring Eagle. After losing $150 at Ultimate Holdem in 5 hands, I finally wised up and quit playing. I turned a $10 free play coupon into +$40 at VP, hitting quads for the third time on the trip.

View attachment 98110
Quads again!

I battled at the blackjack tables for about two hours with minimal success. I took a lunch break and had about a half hour left before having to leave on the bus. I sat down again at blackjack and and was doing well before going on a real heater the last 10 minutes, and with the bus leaving shortly I had to vacate the table, coloring up with a profit of nearly $400 in that short time.

View attachment 98113
After buy-ins totaling $450, I cashed out these chips for a profit of $405 at the Eagle

So after a tough start, it ended up being a nice little gambling trip as I added about $225 to my bankroll.

my parents still live less than 1/4 mile from Little River Casino (in the house where I grew up). There was an apple orchard there before they built the casino on the corner of US 31 and M-22.

 

[RagsPoker]

After a 3-year hiatus from Vegas, I finally made it back for 4-days with brother-in-law and father-in-law.…staying downtown at El Cortez for the first time. I’m liking it so far in my King Tower room. (In-laws are staying at the Venetian)

Flew in Sunday night, played about 4 hours of Ultimate Texas Holdem and did well while drinking cold Bud Light served on ice right in the pit. In for $300, out for $716. RHC chips with a pretty nice $500….I know you all like chip pics so here’s a few.

 

[RagsPoker]

Finished up 4-day Vegas trip last week. Had a good run at Ultimate Holdem and hit my first ever straight flush at the Flamingo. Visited Circa downtown….pretty fancy and the best sports book I’ve seen. A few pics from the trip: