Poker at the Grand Victoria in Elgin, IL

The closest casino to my house by far is the Grand Victoria Casino in Elgin. Its a big riverboat on the Fox River and is about 20-25 minutes from my house. I called them shortly into my poker playing foray to see if they had any tables. Sadly the answer was “no”. I decided at that point that I would call at least once a month and ask again. Perhaps they’d think there was a crowd looking for a game and open a room.

About 3 weeks back they agreed and opened up 4 tables in the back corner of the lower level of the boat. Apparently all 4 tables have been full ever since. They spread 2 tables of $1/2 NLHE and 2 of $2/5 NLHE. I went to play last night and the plan was to add 2 more tables today, one $5/10 NLHE and one $10/20 LHE. In the end, they plan to have 9 tables and they are open to potentially even spreading PLO.

All that said, last night was my first chance to play and I had a good night.

To start, let me say that the sad thing is that the room is already populated by regulars. There are already some people who have made those tables their home. They seem to have a long waiting list all the time and that seems to be because people are playing there a long time. The second thing I’d note is that the room isn’t run too smoothly yet. The dealers are terrible, the lists are managed strangely and the rules are a bit odd. I swear we were getting 12 hands an hour with one dealer.

When I got there, I put my name on both the 1/2 and 2/5 lists. When they put me on a 2/5 table, I asked to stay on the 1/2 list. But I sat down and played tight. I only had $1000 in my pocket and I’m just not rolled for 2/5. So in the first 2 revolutions of the table, I think I limped into one hand. I know the other players noticed. On the third revolution, I got dealt TT on the button and I called 2 players for $20. The flop came 9-high rainbow. The table captain, a large aggressive middle-aged blond woman, put in a bet of $35 and I re-raised to $100 which she considered for a long time before she folded.

I only really contested 5 hands in the whole 3 hours I sat at that table. The biggest pot I’ve ever played came later in the session when I raise 4 limpers to $40 with Ac9c on the button. Two callers. Flop comes Jc 9s 4c. Checks to me. I bet $85, one fold one call. Turn is 2c. He checks. I bet $120 and he calls. River is 3d and I shove for about $150ish more, he calls and he has me barely covered. He has top 2 pair. Pot was over $900.

I lost another pot later when I complete the SB with 22 with 5 limpers. The flop come A29 dual suited. The way the table was playing I expect someone to bet out with the flush draw or an ace so I check. Unfortunately it checks around. The turn comes another ace. I go ahead an lead out a bet of $20 into a $30 pot. The BB calls as does another player. I suspect each has an ace. The river comes a harmless 7. I bet out $45 and the BB raises to $100, the middle player folds and I decided I can’t fold. He turns over A7 for a rivered better full house.

Soon after I moved over to the $1/2 table. I won a big pot when I flopped a set of 9s and got paid off, but otherwise couldn’t get anything going. I played a couple of hours there and then decided to go home a winner. I left with $749 in profit for the night.

Poker is fun.

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Addendum: Played again the next night.  Made $550 in 3 hours or so playing $1/2NLHE.  Game can be soft.