The Pokerati Game at the Hard Rock — 1/2 NLH/PLO, starting Thursdays at 7 pm — is really starting to catch on. People are coming in and sporadically asking about it throughout the week, and I\’ve had players from the Bike, the Commerce, and the Borgata all inquire about when their hometown poker room is gonna start spreading it — half-and-half the way we like to play it.
Last week was a particularly fun game, thanks to Dan R, a longtime Pokerati reader from Dallas who happened to be in town for an annual Vegas get-together with friends from Chicago who happened to play NLH/PLO round-of-each in their home game.
They wanted to play bigger at 2/5, but I insisted on keeping it small. (I have my reasons. Will explain later.) They all bought in for the $400 max, and several busts and rebuys later, the stacks were unusually big. Once they ordered their second round of Patron, the Vegas vultures uber-nitty low-stakes locals began to swarm, filling up the interest list. We almost made two tables — were just one or two players short. Oh well, maybe soon …
Anyhow our table was hootin\’ it up — not just because of the tequila and numerous x-outers, but more so because of the action created by sporadic pot-splashing. For the next few weeks, the Hard Rock floor guys will continue to randomly throw $50 in the middle (or pulled-to the side for PLO), making this a cash game overlay.
A typical media showing was present … @MatthewParvis won, @JaKatkin lost, and David Chicotsky (@theMavenVT) made his inaugural appearance pulling a few hundred bucks profit, despite admittedly saying he really doesn\’t know that much about PLO. He did bring a new element to the splash pots, however. In one splash-pot sitch, playing NLH, there was a straddled pot, a family of limpers (with a pot-raise somewhere in the middle), re-limps, and when it got back around to The Maven, he made it $200 to go … everyone folded. I saw his cards: 4-7 offsuit.
As the night wore on, eventually frequent Pokerati player @ebhizzle showed up with pro Shaun Deeb. While they waited for seats, Deeb inquired about the max buy-in. I told him it was $400, which seemed a little small to him considering there were a few $1k+ stacks on the table.
\”Oh, we let people rebuy for more,\” I assured him.
\”How much?\” he asked.
\”$500.\”
He laughed.
So that\’s how the game is taking shape. We are looking for a little assistance with the logo, however. Don\’t want to lose any Pokerati signatures, however, while black block letters on a white square may make for a great T-shirt, it doesn\’t necessarily look so nice (nor sexy) on the felt.
If you want to give sprucing up the logo a try — we need color! — you can click the image above for some higher resolution. Free something (dinner, T-shirt, pat on the back?) for anyone who submits something good.
