Anybody playing HORSE tonight at the Hideaway?

Trip report- So I ended up playing HORSE at the Hideaway last night. Walked in at about 8pm and it was going 7-handed. I jumped right in and started w stud 8. They change the game after every orbit. Before I go on I must give props to the dealers, whom I was extremely impressed with. They were totally on top of it. It probably helped that Theresa(one of the owners) was in the game, but regardless. The competency of the dealers was one of my main reservations of playing live HORSE but I must repeat, they passed w flying colors. As far as the games go, it's just as advertised except for the H. Instead of hold-em it's crazy pineapple. This substitution would be fine except for some odd reason they also make it a split-pot game, hi-lo obv. Personally I feel this is pretty silly but whatever. Although this isn't the most structured house around I have to say the Hideaway does a great job of making their players feel welcomed, comfortable, and appreciated. Now to the important stuff, the game played just as you'd hope, loose and extremely passive. And some of the up-card starting hand selection in the stud games was l.o.l hilarious. Even tho I got completely bbq'd, scooping maybe 3 pots in the entire session en route to losing 25BBs, I had a really good time and have no doubt in mind I have a significant edge in this game(w the exception of CP, cuz I'm not sure anyone can have an edge in this game, and O8 cuz some some of the old time regs actually play this game decently). I hear they have stud hi on wed which I plan on playing. Hopefully see you guys there.

What's Diamond Lils like these day? I used to play there all the time in '07.

Eh, discussed upthread but you'd have to dig for it.

I wasn't here then but probably hasn't changed much. Dirty, nasty food, great staff, consistent games. 8/16 is usually going and usually really good. 20/40 looks decent, although everyone around town tells me it's tough.

Thanks! I did see a couple posts on the 8/16 game. Good to hear the 20/40 still goes. It might have been softer back in '07/'08. Wonder if any of the same regulars are there.

I was there last night. 3 tables of 8/16 and one 20/40. Mix bag at my table, 3-4 competent players, a couple of randoms doing random things, and one ding-a-ling playing 80/5 preflop, calling to the river prolly 50% of all hands. Most hands went to show down. Little room for any creative plays, you just had to show up with 3 of a kind or better on the river.

Garp - is the Microsoft Poker group not around any more? They used to play like every day on campus...

They still do. Not sure if they have a 2+2 group but they have a Facebook group: MSPoker

There is the "appearance" of shenanigans with the PSJ at Lil's. Recently they removed their Monte Carlo board, leaving the $150/hr high hand bonus as the only ongoing payout of the PSJ. The BBJ has been frozen at $65,000 for I believe around 2 months.

Some math: approx $50-$60/hr per game goes into the PSJ (assuming 30 hands/hr), so if they have more than three games going they have a surplus going into the PSJ. (Not to mention they only give away $100/hr from 2:00 a.m. to ???.) I would guess on average they do have more than three games going (see the above report of four games on a Tuesday night).

So where is the extra money going? The only plausible non-shenanigans answer I could come up with is building up the backup BBJ fund. But I asked a dealer about it last week and they gave a vague "summer is slow, they always change things this time of year" answer.

If they are legitimately using that money they should be loud and clear about it with the players. Otherwise I think Gaming should get involved and make sure there's no funny business.

(PSJ fund mismanagement/shenanigans were part of the Gaming complaint that led to Gaming shutting down and the ultimate closure of Parker's, so I do think it's important to keep an eye on this stuff. In fact, a dealer at one of the Shoreline rooms recently insisted that "everybody knows" that Lil's is going to get shut down "at any time." Probably BS but who knows?)

Re: Lil's generally, I would disagree with AKJQ10 a little bit.
Food: Generally not great but not "dirty, nasty." Some of the asian stuff is actually fine for the money.
Staff: Some are great as noted, but there are some slow/surly/bad dealers and one floor in particular who is a serious dick and shows favoritism to the Vietnamese regulars.
Games: Not sure what all falls under "consistent" so I'm not going to nitpick that.

Already too long, but my own quick thoughts on Lil's:

• Only place in Seattle area to play LHE above 4/8, so
• It attracts "serious" LHE players
• No/very few casual "drop in" players to balance out regs, so
• Games are usually not great
• Comps unremarkable/typical for Seattle area
• Players mostly miserable, some world-class dbags in the 20
• Some great dealers, some not so great
• Floors mostly okay but see above
• Food/bev servers okay but overworked and somewhat slow/forgetful
• Overall not really a fun place to play poker, but see the first point

So clearly, Diamond Lils is NOT the place to play poker in Seattle.

Thanks for the MSPoker clue!!!!

You dramatically overestimate the skill of the typical 8/16 player. Actually most of them KNOW how to play and will start a game TAG, but get bored quickly and gamble it up. The main game is usually better than the "might move". (It's never really a must move.)

Re: the PSJ, it obviously isn't growing, but a dealer told me it was to seed the backup. If you have some reason to doubt that, or even just want to confirm, calling Gaming couldn't hurt.

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Note that I didn't say the players are good, or that the games are unbeatable. (And I'm mainly concerned with the 20/40, where there actually are some players that are a pain in the ass to play against.) I'd just rather play against the really terrible drunk gamblers you can find in other games around than the slightly-losing, tight, cranky regs at Lil's.

I have to say, from what I've read, you're a pretty reasonable guy.

Is this Typical for Diamond Lil's?

I never get down south to play there and found the opportunity for a longer lunch break near there so I popped in (for the first time).

They had a 20-40 going and a 4-8 and their 8-16 was about to go according to the floor so I put my name up. Now, I did not bother to count the number of names on the list but apparently I was going to be number 12 and I missed this. There was a couple of dealers on break so I chalked this up to just waiting to fill the game. Again, I did not realize I was 12 up on the list.

They call the game 15 minutes later and I wander over and I am told that I am third up??? I look at the list and I "think" that there must have been 3 call ins? So what I think was happening was that they held the game for the call ins' when they had enough to start. Is this place that much a "regular" place where they would sacrifice rake to appease the locals. I am not bitter but it tells me a lot about the place if they do. I ran out of time and just left.

Do you feel that this is somewhat strange?

I'm a little confused by your story. You were the 12th name on the list, they started the game (9-handed I assume) and you were third up? 12 - 9 = 3 right?

And when I've asked about calling in, I've been told they don't take call-ins (although if that is true I've seen a couple instances where it looks like regs have been allowed to call in).

My guess about waiting to call down & start the game is either that they didn't have a dealer ready to go, or there were enough 8/16 players in the 4/8 game that if they started the 8/16 the 4/8 would break. They can't make everyone happy in that situation; in my experience they err on the side of keeping the existing game going.

A tip (in case you don't know): at Lil's if someone who is in a game is on a list for a different game, their name on the list will usually have the table number next to it. So close reading of the board with give you a good sense of what is going on.

So if 4/8 is on table 1 and the 8/16 list looks like this:

Bob (1)
Tom
Jim
Viet (1)
Jill (1)
Fred
John (1)
Thanh
Jamal
Vu
Mike
EKG

Even though there are 12 names on the list, they probably won't start the 8/16 because if the four players who are in 4/8 all go to the new 8/16 the 4/8 will likely break. In that case you're stuck until some 4/8 players show up.

Thanks, I try to be (hence the name choice).

And to be clear, I'm not saying I'm great at poker either...

Your absolutely correct about this. There may have been 4-8 players on the list, not sure. As I said, I was wondering if there was a call in issue.

I would like to take a crack at that game as I love 8-16 and no one can spread it up north since Parkers went under.

No money in Lil's 20. Everyone's solid.

Yes.

FWIW, The Drift's insanely good monte carlo board has fallen back down to earth; it appears they have exhausted all of the player accumulated jackpot money.

My guess is that this place closes down within the next week. Floor doesn't sound very confident that new ownership will be stepping in to keep the room/casino alive

Drift is now officially closed as of 7/29. RIP.

Casino too or just poker room?

Who cares, place is a complete ****hole. If anyone really misses it go to the Carribean in Kirkland. Same owners.

Yeah the casino is gone as well, though I hear the off the track betting is still going on.

Loop, some of us do care. Yeah sure, the place was a hole in the wall...so what?

The floor and dealers were great people, drinks were practically free, the Monte Carlo board was incredible. Just because it wasn't your cup of tea doesn't mean this isn't a sad day for others... After all, 40+ people just lost their job.

As sad as you say it is for the employees(which it really isn't, half of them have already ended up at the Palace among other places) its not nearly as big of a deal as when Parker's closed. Not to mention that its a really good thing for all the degen regs that used to waste away in the pit. I am glad that the upstairs survived tho...