I stayed at the Riu in Punta Cana last February and posted this trip report on RGP:
Well, I am back from my trip to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, and can confirm that there is at least one casino with poker. We stayed at the Riu Palace Punta Cana, and played poker at the casino at the Riu Palace Macao (a ten minute walk away). Here is a trip report.
The casino had one or two games going of $2/4 NL HE. Half the players were locals, and it appeared that at least two of them worked for the house (or were part-owners of the casino). They weren't very good players -- extremely loose and very aggressive. I think it's to get the tourists to loosen up and to build up big pots, as the house took
a 5% rake with no cap. Poker rooms I've been to in Vegas and AC usually rake 10% up to $4, but here the house probably took $10 from most pots and much more in several pots ($80 in one huge pot).
The minimum buy-in was only $50, and I bought in for $100. I usually play for small stakes ($0.10/$0.20 NLHE at home, $0.50/$1 NLHE online, and $1/$2 NLHE live), so I wasn't completely comfortable playing this high, until I saw the level of play. In most pots the PF raise was at least $20, and not unusual to see $40-$50 PF raises be called. It seemed like any ace or any two painted cards were sufficient not only to raise, but to call these huge raises as well. After a couple of orbits, I bought in for another $100 and waited to catch a hand.
The first playable hand I saw was JsTs in late position and see a flop for $4 (a rare occasion) with five others. Flop comes AKx, rainbow. All check to me, and I take a stab at the pot by betting $12 with nothing but a gutshot. Two callers. Blank on turn, and it checks around. Beautiful Q on river makes me the nuts, and I bet out $20. I should have bet more here, but happy to win my first pot. I should know better than to bluff at this table, but it worked out this time.
I didn't get into too many memorable pots the first night. Just limped a lot and re-raised when I got a premium hand and took down a lot of pots on the flop. One hand that I got away from without losing much is when I limped with A9 in late position and saw a flop of 933. I bet $10 into the $16 pot and was called by the BB. Turn was an ace, and I checked behind the BB, not wanting to get trapped. The river was a blank, and the BB bet out $21. I called, and he showed me one 3 (they didn't require players to table both cards to win the pot at this casino). I stayed until the casino shut down and ended up winning $320 without risking too much.
The second night I started out running well (hit a couple of sets, got paid out when I hit trips holding 75o on board of Q55) and was up $300 early on. However, I gave back all my winnings plus $330 more over the next two hours when I lost a couple of big pots. First, I held A5s and hit two pair on a flop of A85 rainbow. Pre-flop raiser (a local) continuation bet $25 on the flop and I smooth called behind him, trying to trap him for a big pot if he had an ace. Turn was an innocuous-looking (to me) 3. The local bets $25 into me again, and I raise to $75. He raises me all-in for his last $60, so I call and lose a sizable pot [when he held a set of 8s].
Second big hand I lost holding Td7d in the BB. Five limpers including the button (another local). Flop comes 877 with two spades. I check, and it's checked around to the button who bets $15. I debate raising to chase out any draws, but just call to see one more card before making my move at the pot. The player to my immediate left also calls the $15, so I'm putting at least one of them on a draw. Turn is a non-spade 6, and I bet out $30 (not sure why I did that -- the six completed an open-ended straight draw and also wasn't enough to dissuade flush draws from drawing, in retrospect). My neighbor calls, and the button raises to $60. That surprised me, so now I'm wondering if he flopped a boat or hit his straight. I call the $30 anyway, hoping to hit a 9 for a straight or a T for hopefully a higher boat. The guy to my left also calls. River is a 3, so I check, hoping to see a cheap showdown. The guy to my left checks, and the button bets $100 into the $245 pot. I think for 30 seconds, but can't think of any hand I can beat except 75 and 74 that the button would play, and I can't see him raising the turn with either of these hands. I fold, but am very surprised and pleased that the local to my left called the $100. The button shows Jc7c and takes down the pot after the guy to my left shows 83o -- he called $100 on the river with top pair, no kicker on this board....hmmm.
So it's getting really late, but no one wants to leave. The casino usually shuts down at 3am, but let us play on until 6am. I'm down to my last $71 at about 5:00am, I finally catch a break. I limp with 9c7c and see a flop of Ac8c6d. I'm in EP and bet out $20 into a $28 pot and get three callers. Turn is a beautiful Ts, and I go all in for $47, and get two callers. The river is an ugly 5c, which improves my hand, but doesn't give me the nuts anymore. The two other players check it down, so I trust that my hand is still good. It is, and now I have some chips to play with.
About a half-hour after that, I limp UTG with 65o, then call a $16 raise from a MP player (my friend) along with two others. I flop the nuts when 743 comes out, with two diamonds. I check, my neighbor to the left bets $35 into the $86 pot, my buddy (the PF raiser) calls with AdTd, the guy next to him calls with QdJd, and I raise it to $80 (not enough of a raise to get any flush draws out, but I got greedy and wanted to win a big pot, not take it down just then). The local to my calls the $45, and my buddy goes all in (he has everyone in the pot covered) with his nut flush draw and two overs. The dude with the Q hi flush draw has been having a bad night and says "f-it, let's go" and calls. I call, and the local flashes a 7 and folds. My hand holds up, and I triple up. I end the evening up $340 (about what I was up in the first half hour).
The third night, the stakes had been bumped up to $5/$10 blinds, but after about ten minutes of playing, we convinced them to lower the blinds back down to $2/$4 since we weren't bankrolled for such high stakes. I was up $700 early that night when the deck hit me in the face (flopped boat holding JJ on AAJ and local to my left chased flush to river, and had to pay me out $150 on river after catching his flush; flopped a set of deuces and filled up when a flush got there), but made a big play that didn't work out quite the way I expected. A local raised blind to $8 under the gun, one person called, I called with AJo, the local to my left raised to $25 (pretty small raise for this table, considering the $8 blind bet, I thought) and six people called the $25 when it got back to me. There was $191 in the pot when it got back to me, and I thought I could take down this pot with a big re-raise since no one except the guy to my left showed much strength. I re-raised it to $208, and thought that at worst I'd be up against the guy to my left (who only had about $250 behind him), so I'd be getting close to 2:1 on my money and very likely could be in a race situation if called, and hopefully would take it down without seeing a flop. But not only does he call (with AK -- ouch for me), but two others call as well (KdQd for another local, and TT for my buddy)! $860 in the pot pre-flop! A king comes out on the flop, but I still bet out enough to put the others all-in (suspect play by me there, but I was thinking I was going to call any bet anyway with so much money in the pot so I may as well move in). The AK dude only has about $40 left, so he calls, the KQ dude calls for his remaining $250, and my buddy calls with TT b/c he only has $80 left and is actually getting the right price to call hoping to hit a two-outer. I turn a Jack, but the river blanks. I just lost $450 of my $700 winnings on this play, but I was really shocked to see so many people call a $183 re-raise preflop. I thought I had at least a 50% chance that I'd take down the $191 without seeing the flop. Oh, well. I ended up booking a very minor $80 win this last session. Got a T-shirt from the local-slash-poker room manager (Carlos) and got a lift to my resort in another local's BMW X5 (bet there aren't too many of them in the island, from what I saw). Fun trip; would definitely go back.
Last edited by leech; 01-17-2008 at 01:14 PM.
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