The first week of September: We made it to Reno, booked into the best RV park for a week to get a respite from the constant travelling. It was time to take care of some battery business (Battle Born’s headquarters/plant is there), do some RV cleaning & maintenance, and play some poker!
Flynn finally got around to downloading and paying for a poker tracking app, so Reno was to be the beta test for this new strategy. No more deluding oneself or erring on the side of ‘better’ to others about bankroll or hourly. Nope. Time to get serious. Gonna play better, smarter cause now it will be recorded.
Ha! The first session (at the Peppermill) was an epic fail. Ollie did not play, as he was busy taking care of power issues after consulting with the battery-management company. The Peppermill has changed their nlhe game since Flynn was there last, the buy-in is bigger and goes to match-the-stack, and the rake is hourly. ($5/down, $10/hour). This is for the smallest N/L game. The player pool was the same. Exactly the same players as the last time F&O were there. All regulars. Cool: a known quantity. Not cool: lose. lose. lose. Rebuy. lose. lose. lose. Rebuy. Lose. Call Ollie, the Uber-for-the-Loser, and have him come rescue Flynn. The numbers on the app are not looking good.
Ha ha! The second session (at the Grand Sierra) was also a mini-fail. Their low-nlhe game has ‘stolen’ some of the players from the Peppermill, as their buy-in is limited (don’t quote us on this), and it was still a pot-rake. The game was played smaller. It was still the regulars from previous trips to the GS, but it seemed as if there were more players there now. Flynn played for a few hours, took a very small loss, and called it a day. The hourly sucks at this point.
Yay! 3rd session at Grand Sierra – Flynn finally cashes out with a profit. Not anywhere near enough to cover the previous two losses, but it’s good for the ego. Hourly LOSS is going down.
Boo: 4th session at the Peppermill – another loss. Same scenario. Not as big as the 1st, but negated the win from session #3. This is where Flynn goes on a rant about dealers ‘chiming in’. Just stop. Last hand, after having been sucked-out on numerous times and having a neon bulls-eye on his chest by every player at the table, Flynn gets it all-in preflop with AA (for a couple hundo – in a 0/3 game or whatever it is). Yeah, he gets called by THREE villains, and of course loses. Now, this is not a whiney bad-beat story – Flynn is used to variance, and can take it like a bird with aplomb. Won’t be the last time either. But to have the dealer chime in with “Well, you played it right” as he is pushing the pot to the opponent just adds insult to resignation. Seriously, as if Flynn doesn’t know that he played it right? Flynn does not need consoling. Don’t hold the seat. Perhaps Flynn is a tad sensitive on this topic, as it is not the first time he has had a dealer comment on his play. The thing is, Flynn’s handler is a female, and frankly has not witnessed these kind of comments to the male opponents attempting to soften their loss. Maybe they do: Flynn (& handler) should get over it. They will try.
Another example, cause Flynn is on a rant: Sat down at a casino in WA years ago, a 3/5 NLHE game he had been dabbling in for a few sessions to see if he was ready to move up from 1/3. He had been playing at this casino for a few years, knew all the dealers by sight, and most of the player pool at 1/3. Flynn is playing the ‘new’ 3/5 game, acting chill but watching and learning like a mad-bird with all new regulars he has to figure out. Dealer change comes, new dealer looks at Flynn and says “Hi – it’s nice to see you – don’t you usually play 1/3? Are you moving up?”. FFS, thanks a lot!! Trying to be friendly, but wrong in so, so, so many ways. Now everyone at the table knows and can attempt to push Flynn around. Just think before you open your mouth, please. We digress. The end result of session #4 is a loss. Hourly is looking pathetic.
Session #5 at the Peppermill again. A win. A nice, healthy win! Not enough to cover the losses (still), but enough to have faith in the game and skill of poker.
Session #6 at the Peppermill again. Another win. A good one. Puts us at break-even for the trip. The hourly is , well… playing for free, but at least we are not in the red.
Woo hoo: Final session at Grand Sierra – a win. Halleluiah. We are in the black (or green, as it shows on the app). Officially, Flynn is a winning player. The hourly is not great, but we will take minimum wage over a loss any day.
So, poker peeps, that is a wrap on the poker saga in Reno. There is not a lot more to report, other than the first poker app chosen was not the best, so the results were back-entered into the new one after the 3rd session and Flynn is much happier. (Poker Analytics). He only got into one verbal tiff at Grand Sierra. He didn’t get drunk, but he did get Covid. Oh yeah, got a pic with Ben Deach. See the photos page.
Guess that makes a winning money trip really a loss. It was time to isolate. (Of course, it was far to late for that to do any good, but… one can try.)
Fin
Flynn
At least the dealer in your first instance was trying to soften the blow. However, I am not discounting that you sometimes likely fight the stereotype of women in poker. The comments to the other players about your moving up in stakes was inexcusable.