So naturally, my internet went Thursday. When it didn't come back on Friday, I decided to book a last minute hotel and make the 3 hour drive north to hit up the Edmonton casinos over the course of the weekend. I could probably have played on my backup until the main internet came back, but playing long sessions on my backup didn't sound ideal.
Century Casino - Edmonton, AB, Alberta
I was told in advance by a friend who's an Edmonton reg that Century runs a lot of limit/DC games, but NL runs on the weekends. So I made it my first stop. I liked the room overall - it's located just inside the entrance and is separated from the rest of the casino. There were a couple 1/2 games going on, and I managed to get in a really good one. Max buyin is $500 in all the 1/2 games in Edmonton (min $100) and most players buy in for $300-500. Play is fast and loose as well, so really the game plays more like 2/5 or higher. There was a eastern european looking dude that punted at least $4k in the game, rebuying for $500 every time and just punting his stack with any pair postflop. My plan was to play in 2 casinos on the first night but there was really no way I could justify leaving this game. Naturally, I ran absolutely terrible, and while everyone else was getting in 2nd pair for full stacks, I was running into set over set and AQ into 99 on A92r flop where villain put in 25% of his stack pre. After my two coolers I proceeded to wake up with mostly the bottom 20% of preflop hands in a super loose game and basically forced to fold all night. Finished down about $500.
River Cree Resort & Casino - Enoch, AB, Canada
Played this one Saturday afternoon. Enoch is technically just outside the city limits of Edmonton, but for all intents and purposes it's part of Edmonton. River Cree is the Indian casino there, and I had heard good things about it despite it not being a 24 hour room. Was kinda disappointed when I found out there was no separated poker room, just a few tables hidden among the slots. Played a little bit, made an insignificant profit, and moved on.
The western Canadian university curling championships were being held at the Saville center at the U of A and I had several friends competing who I hadn't seen in a while, so I went to watch a game and hang out with some friends for a while. After some quality time at Saville I drove to West Edmonton Mall to play at the Palace Casino.
Palace Casino - Edmonton, AB, Canada
Palace is located inside the West Edmonton Mall, one of the biggest malls in the world. When I got there around 10:30 at night most of the mall was closed - but given that I've been to West Ed a few times already it wasn't a huge loss. The poker room at Palace is open 24 hours on weekends. I made the critical mistake of not calling in advance and was forced to wait about an hour for a game. As per all Alberta poker, everyone is clueless, but this one wasn't ideal as I had two shorties to my right and the biggest fish across the table from me. Also a dealer here that tilted the fk out of me - commenting on play after every hand and giving advice to players. Seriously dealers, STFU and deal. You're dealing and not playing for a reason FFS - talk about anything but the play at the table. Played about an hour and a half and booked another insignificant profit.
Casino Edmonton - Edmonton, AB, Canada
Another one of the ABS casino chains, that includes the one in NE Calgary and Lethbridge, as well as Yellowhead in Edmonton that I planned on hitting up on Sunday. Everyone basically refers to this one as Argyll though, since it's located on Argyll Road I guess. It is the busiest poker room in Edmonton. That being said, the tables are pretty cramped and the chips disgusting. The action is fantastic though, but I ran pretty poorly again. Got in a huge $1200 pot with QQ vs TT vs xx and xx 4 way, the two unknown villains were shoving every hand and it was pretty obv I had the best hand. Villain spiked T on river obv. First time I felt truly tilted playing live, especially with how I had been running this trip so far. Just the softest games ever and I couldn't win a big hand for the life of me. Fortunately got in AA vs A6 in $600+ pot a little bit later and only finished down around $400. Still a frustrating session to be sure.
Decided to go back to the hotel and try to get a few hours of sleep before doing the last two casinos on Sunday. After 30 min of trying to fall asleep I gave up on it, checked out of the hotel and drove to Yellowhead.
Casino Yellowhead - Edmonton, AB, Canada
I liked this room a lot better than Argyll, the other ABS casino in town. Much more spacious and a better atmosphere. Started a game at about 8 in the morning here with some other fine folks, including a pretty nutty Korean kid two to my right. He was playing pretty much every hand and never folding, and winning. I won a decent sized pot vs him that I can't remember the details of. Also stacked some guy with a set vs some sort of top pair hand. Booked my first notable win here of the weekend, +350ish.
Baccarat Casino - Edmonton, AB, Canada
My last stop was Baccarat, which I really wasn't looking forward to because they don't manage to get NL running here. The only game running when I showed up was a 4/8 limit DC game, where everyone picks Omaha anyway. Played for about 30 min, lost like $10. Limit Omaha isn't really my idea of a good time. It's unfortunate, because I actually do like the room - very spacious and comfortable. It's just not in a very good location I think - downtown, but off the main streets in Edmonton completely and probably a bit out of people's way.
Baccarat closed out all my Edmonton area casinos, so after leaving there I started driving back to Calgary. About an hour into the drive the lack of sleep really started to hit me though, and I think driving all the way back to Calgary might've been dangerous if I went all the way. I pulled into Red Deer, got a hotel and fell asleep. Still in my hotel now, but checking out soon and finishing the drive to Calgary. Hoping the internet is working again when I get back.
Final thoughts on Edmonton? Games were amazing, played very deep and so easily crushable. They might've been slightly softer because it was a long weekend here, but I have a feeling if they are normally tougher it's not by much. Just a shame I ran so poorly here. My one gripe is that the chips are disgusting here. Every casino's chips were filthy, and at a few of them finding a clean chip in the pile was impossible.
Next stops: Stoney Nakoda whenever I can figure out if a game is running there, and Vancouver sometime around the end of the month.