Prettying up the Pokerati Game Drinky tourists, the Maven, and Shaun Deeb (?)

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.
Check out the game’s Facebook fan page for another glimpse of the action.
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.
E.J. says:
April 22nd, 2010 at 3:11pm
Not sure if i can embed image, links below
http://www.delaino.com/pokeratismall.jpg
http://www.delaino.com/pokerati.jpg
DanM says:
April 23rd, 2010 at 12:45am
hey EJ, that’s pretty good! thanks. will probably need to lose the chick in the spade, and may need to mess w the background a bit – depending on table it would be going on.
but you really took my minimalist idea to a new level!
E.J. says:
April 23rd, 2010 at 7:16am
Dan, I put the green background on there to show what it would look like on the felt. Email me if you want me to update it. I just did that pretty quick. It would actually be best if i had the original vector image of the pokerati logo to use to be able to produce a high quality image for printing.
EJ
ej at delaino.com
danr says:
April 23rd, 2010 at 12:00pm
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a403/danr_2010/AssEyes.jpg
DanM says:
April 23rd, 2010 at 4:52pm
lolol. there’re gonna be some tough decisions with all this talent!
DanM says:
April 23rd, 2010 at 4:52pm
(EJ, the snark was meant for DanR, not you.)
Bill Reynolds says:
May 1st, 2010 at 10:25pm
Long time Pokerati reader (ok, maybe just a few years) coming into to Vegas from Dallas this Thursday. As soon as I can drop the wife off in the room Thursday night (Staying at Venetian) I’ll be heading over for the PLO game. Really looking forward to it.
DanM says:
May 2nd, 2010 at 12:55am
great to hear bill. i look forward to saying hello/sucking out on you on the river. 🙂 we’re definitely on for Thursday. hope to show you a great time!
MattWaldron says:
May 3rd, 2010 at 6:40pm
Room booked at the HRH Vegas Tues through Fri, some work in town and a couple of interviews but nothing else better to do than come down and take your mobnies this week. Booya!
MattWaldron says:
May 3rd, 2010 at 6:41pm
And Dan — shoot me your email and/or number. We’ll coordinate dinner or something.
DanM says:
May 3rd, 2010 at 6:54pm
Sweet, I hope to pound you ferociously on Thursday, making for a Friday that sends you home crying!