Hi I was wondering if I can get some advice on the shoe... would you guys be able to say how soft the field is on any given night? Admittedly I'm a recreational player with dreams of starting a roll to play semi-regularly. That said I've played in plenty of other rooms (Hollywood KC, Harrah's KC, Horseshoe Cleveland, Bethlehem Sands, etc for example) typically while out of town on business. The Council Bluffs shoe just has been unbeatable for me though since I moved out here in 08 and learned to play shortly after. Is it really this tough of a field? It just feels like the 1/3 crowd here is what I would expect the 2/5 crowd to be like at most any other place. The tables have maybe one recreational player and the rest regs that I've seen for the last however many years I've been trying to play.

So whats the deal? I won't discount the possbility that I suck, but I bink wins at other cardrooms most of the time. But never have I been able to walk out of the Shoe profitably. This really isn't a ****post so please don't take it as such but its enough to make me want to drive 3 hours to play in KC rather than 15 mins across the river. Variance, sure, but never being able to bink a win seems to defy just simple variance.

What do you guys think? Am I way off the mark or am I just going at the wrong times? Friday and Saturday nights have been predominantly when I'm able to play right now.

Rake is really high.

I don't think it's that tough, but variance can be hell at times. Another thing super high rake and a ton of short stackers can make for a tough game to beat, those are probably long term barely beatable games, find the good ones. If your winning about every other place, variance may just be playing it's roll anyhow, your not gonna win at poker every time obviously. I imagine games are better in KC because they will get more recreational players, where as CB is the vast majority of regulars. That being said doesn't mean that there aren't bad regulars, but in poker you make the most money from fish, and that can be hit or miss.

My biggest complaint with Horseshoe is it goes from a short stacked 1/3 games to a huge basically 5-10 game with nothing in between. ON the weekends stacks should definitely be bigger on average.

After stewing, studying, googling and youtubing obsessively I'm pretty sure these last few nights were variance mixed with a lack of fish or hands. Couple that with a failure to adapt from online play to live (ie iso raising from EP to $20 with KK and get 5 callers instead of what I was hoping for and to get 3 bet by one and folds from the rest as is typical online). 1st night was fishy, but no cards connecting, 2nd night was fishy but no cards again, only pots I won were from decent moves on fish, 3rd night was a regfest and card dead... note to self for night 3, drunks don't go play poker on St Patricks day >.<

Your other thoughts were pretty spot on, Bethlehem Sands was an absolute fishfest (seriously, this is the softest room I've ever seen), KC VERY gambley, and Cleveland was a 1 year old poker room full of dumb russians that played badly. Could be I have my hopes for the fish population of the Shoe set too high based off these other places

Anyways, thanks for the advice, I'll be back soon enough, and will hopefully suck less

Coming next weekend during series main event to play cash but staying at Harrahs. Which place has better buffet and food options? Thanks.

JBs is pretty good for casino food (right next to poker room), I haven't ate Harrahs buffet in years, but Horseshoe is nothing special. I would also say the Steakhouse is greatly overpriced and average at best a Texas Roadhouse with in a mile that's way better.

While staying with the in-laws for Christmas in Lincoln, Nebraska, I made a trip over to the Horseshoe Council Bluffs to play some $1/$3 cash. It took about an hour from Lincoln on the Friday before Christmas (Christmas was on the following Monday). Finding the casino with the GPS was easy enough, but note that there don’t seem to be clear road signs directing you. The casino is an a truck stop area, and there were certainly some players that were truckers passing through. If you come in by the front entrance, pull around the back of the casino for garage parking. Finding the Total Rewards desk and the poker room are easy enough. Note that the slots/table games area allow smoking. Any second-hand smoke isn’t that bad. Wifi is available, requiring an email address to get on. Fast.com told me it was providing 4.6 Mbps.

The poker room is away from the main gaming area a bit, near the steakhouse and deli-style place. The brush got me on the Bravo waiting list. They do allow call-ins, even for the lowest stakes. (Wish I knew; now you do…) The wait was reasonable, and they will text you if you give them your cell number. When things are slow you buy your chips right from the brush. Otherwise there is a cage in the poker room. Buy-in min/max for $1/$3 is $60 min, $300 max. Rake is $6 max (plus $1 jackpot I’m pretty sure). There is a $2/$3 game that has a $600 max buy-in. [I didn’t note other games that were running, I will do so if get there again.]

They use the Bravo system at the table, but since the room is so small they also call out open seats to be sure they get filled quickly. We had a malfunctioning Deck Mate 2 shuffler/computer at my table, and we eventually moved to a different table with an older shuffler. They seemed generally run tables 9 max, but I did hear them bumping a $2/$3 game to 10 max. Cup holders are in the rail. Seats were fine, four legs, no wheels/adjustments.

All the dealers were pleasant enough, and despite the frequent hand-shuffling at the first table they kept things moving along pretty quickly. Overall the room and the game felt like a friendly home game. Players ranged from weak recs to skilled regs. Some folks ran at the first sign of aggression, some would call down to the river with their unimproved AKo, and some would put you in a position that required some time in the tank.

Be sure to look at the Bravo screens and find out what promotions are going. There is a bad beat jackpot (I heard it requires $20 in the pot, both hole cards). They were also running straight flush high hand jackpots and “quads of the day”. If in doubt, be sure to show your cards. I did hit a straight flush jackpot and payout was amazingly fast.

Drink service was around pretty frequently. There is no food service in the room, but the deli is right outside. If you expect to take more than two orbits to get food, you can get a dinner pass good for 1 hour. If you’re going to the steakhouse, let them know and they may give you a bit longer.

Feel free to ask questions or make corrections!

Good article about Johnny Quads (John Wenzel):

https://www.pokernews.com/news/2018/...enqu-31249.htm

Chasing Scoops: Johnny Quads on Poker, Dealing, & the National Enquirer

I'm going to be in town on August 27th (Monday). How are the 1/3 NL games on weeknights typically?

hey, anybody know what are hugely the biggest cash game during wsopC. Im planning to be around during 2018-19 WSOPC Iowa. thank you

They usually have a 5-10 game on Thursday nights during tourney events.

Does anyone from here play in the events in Council Bluffs?

I'm local, yeah

Chips,

Are you a high roller at Horseshoe?

Do they have high rollers there? Hard to get big games going there, so I'm not over there a ton except for tournaments.

Does anyone know how much action the Horseshoe Poker Classic gets? Is it worth a trip to attend?

Seems like its been a while since anyones posted here but thought Id ask for Hotel recommendations during the WSOP in September. Thinking of headed that way. Thanks.

There is a Hilton adjacent to the property and probably four or five more places varying in price within 2 miles.