Our good pal Chase Squires, who used to play in our home game before he decided to up and move to Colorado (likely because of Cosenza's rants about limit :) ), sent us this summary of the gaming options outside Denver. Good stuff:
A visit to the Mile High City of Denver might generate visions of snow-capped peaks (visible from downtown even into late May), microbrews, insanely athletic people commuting to work on bike, one-way streets (always going opposite the way you want to go), and cool, clear nights.
There is also poker. Not IN Denver, actually, but nearby. The mountain towns of Black Hawk, Central City and Cripple Creek offer a large array of casinos, big and small (check out http://www.coloradocasinos.net/ for a list) ... Here's the kicker, Colorado allows only a $5 max bet. Also, no roulette, no craps, no big spinning wheel, only card games and slots.
Slots? Skip 'em. I've never seen tighter slot machines. You gotta figure they're making their money up somewhere, and its on the slots. Some of the casinos are quite large and well-appointed, and its hard to figure where they're making their money on $5 blackjack betting. They do encourage players to play two hands at a time, so they try. But the rules are surprisingly friendly, dealer stands on soft 17, split up to 3 times, double down on anything, double down on splits, blackjack is a legit 3/2 payout, unlike that sneaky 6-5 junk seen so often in Vegas. And it's not a bad place to play 3-card poker or other carnival games. Ameristar announced this month its building a $300-$500-million hotel to go with the casino it just bought and overhauled. I cannot figure how any casino plays on making back that kind of investment at $5 max bets, something's prolly in the works to up the limits.
I hit the poker table at Colorado Central Station Casino, a property operated by the next-door Isle of Capri. Because Black Hawk can be downright brutal in the winter, tucked into a narrow canyon about 8,000 feet up, many of the casinos are linked by enclosed, elevated walkways. CCSC is linked to Capri, and there is a covered parking garage. They had about 10 tables, maybe half were in sit n go tourneys when we were there. I played the cash game, a full table of $2-$5 hold 'em. No waiting.
It's going to take time to get used to this game. I can't say I did well, an odd mix. About half the players appeared to be either friends or family members, speaking an Asian language to each other. And there was a very cranky kid sitting next to me who didn't seem to understand the rules and bitched every time he tried to do something wrong, like pull money out of his pocket and play it halfway through a hand ...
The $2-$5 format plays weird. It's a $2 big blind, $2 min bets pre flop, except raisers can raise any amount up to $5, and can follow with equal raises, so routinely we'd see $2 blind, raise to $7, raise to $12 before getting around the table. Three raise max, unless it's head to head, where players can infinitely reraise each other and defacto play all in ...
From the flop on, $5 min bet.
Problem I found was that it forced me to play very tight pre-flop, because these jokers would raise each other twice on the first round, so virtually every hand started at $12 or $17 ... unless I'm holding a high pair or suited A/K, not really likely to play dat ... I played very few hands, and got rivered twice. My guess was that the family group was playing with pooled money, forcing others to buy in for a lot of dough against someone's high hand. Found it uncomfortable that they allowed table talk in a language not everyone at the table could understand. Dropped about $40 in 90 mins, staying largely just to scope things out. Not sure I'll play there again, may check out another joint. Rake is 10-percent up to $3, then 5-percent after there's $30 in the pot.
As of July 1, Colorado becomes a non-smoking state, like Florida, except in no-food bars, tobacco shops and CASINOS. It was pretty smoky. I'd never picture John Denver sucking down a pack of Paul Malls, but a lot of Coloradans smoke.
We went across the street to the Ameristar, a very nice casino, newly renovated in a mountain lodge theme, lots of open beams and not at all loud. Wife and I both did well at Blackjack, doubled our money in about 20 mins and called it a day. Went home up.
Pros: Close to Denver, if you're in town on vacation or for a convention or something; Friendly, if not the most polished dealers and staff; reasonable prices in the restaurants/coffee shops; beautiful setting in the spring/summer; beautiful drive from Denver. Some of the casinos are tiny slot joints, but there are several large, well appointed joints. At $5 min bet, you'll never accidentally sit down at the $100 table and have to slink away.
Cons: Drive from Denver, while beautiful, is on a narrow, twisting road. DO NOT DRINK AND THEN DRIVE BACK. There are lots of accidents and deaths from people crossing the center line on a tight, blind curve; Restaurants, while inexpensive, do not offer what anyone would consider "fine dining" (think roast beef/pasta/taco bar at the buffet); $5 min bet will frustrate blackjack players; $5 min also means weird betting rules at hold 'em; Friendly, inexperience dealers don't necessarily know or enforce standard rules; Limited hotel options means you'll pay a minimum $150/night to stay in town, althought the hotels do look nice, there are no budget joints; There's a very nice roadside lodge with free van service about 2 miles up the road for about $70/night. No nightlife. Casinos close at 2 a.m.
Christopher Cosenza is co-host of the longest running poker podcast on the planet, Ante Up! He started playing poker seriously in 2003 and his favorite players are Phil Ivey and Kenna James, though he tends to act like Phil Hellmuth if you make a bad play against him.
Scott Long, Ante Up!'s other co-host, is the author of the monthly Bet on It column in tbt*. He began gambling way too young (don't tell the fuzz!) and in the seventh grade, named his state "Gambleland" for a school project (State Animal? Loan shark, of course).
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