Grab the Gamblers

In an online article on The Journal, there is an article which reports that there is now a Table Gaming bill in the Maryland Senate.  Grab the Gamblers while you can Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races!

Enjoy the Pokery Goodness!

Hollywood Casino Poker Room

Pardon me, but I did not have time to stick around long.  I had to pick up my wife.  But here goes.

The first thing that struck me when I entered Hollywood Casino was that they still have their ton of slot machines.  And there were some areas blocked off for construction.  My guess is that they eventually are going to have the table games toward the center of the casino where the construction is.  In the mean time the table games are located on the higher priced slot end of the main floor. 

I was there at 2:00 pm on a Wednesday afternoon and there were more people playing slots than at any other time I visited.  At that time they only had about 15 to 20 percent of the tables games open.  Mostly Black Jack, and Pai Gow.  No roulette, baccarat, or craps open at that point.

In my wandering, I found about 3 or 4 signs pointing (not very well) to the Poker Room.  I finally found it after going toward the race track side of the casino and finding a glass door with Poker Room stenciled on it.  From there it was up a stairwell (there is also an elevator) to the "under the grandstand" area.  I walked past the betting counters and there, roped off, was the poker room.  It looked like about 20 of the 27 tables in use at that time.

Above the roped off entrance area was a screen with the waiting lists displayed.  There were about 6 different kinds of poker being spread and interest lists for a couple of others.  What I saw listed ranged from 1/2 Limit Holdem to at least one table of 7 Stud, and one table of Omaha.   The tables looked clean, the chairs looked comfortable, and even the chips looked new.

Like I said, I did not have too much time to spend.  Hopefully next time I will be to give you more details.  Since as of today, the Poker Room is open 24/7, I may be able to go at a more convenient time and bring back a better report. 

If you have any questions, let me know.

Enjoy the Pokery Goodness!

Note:  I not being paid to mention Hollywood Casino, nor am I employed by Hollywood Casino.

Another Year Older

Yes my 3 readers, I have been blogging for 6 years as of today.  Considering the content and the look, that is kind of a dubious distinction.

Do I still have the same hunger for the game?  Yes.  In fact in the past couple of weeks I have been playing more and playing better than I have in a couple of years.  But again, that is not saying much.  At least I enjoy the hell out of it.

I am not going to bore you with links to my "best of" posts.  I don't think there are many.

A lot has happened in six years.  Poker in the US has waxed mightily and is now waning.  Casinos were illegal in West Virginia, and now there are five of them.  Poker for money on the internet was once "legal" and now it is "illegal" (at least funding your account with funds from US banks).  I have held two widely diverse jobs.  I quit one and was unceremoniously let go from the other.  In between them I was out of work for 11 months.  And currently I am unemployed.  If you have been waiting to offer me a job, now would be the perfect time to offer.

I will give you an article I found in "The Charleston Gazette" online.  I find it amazing that the new Hollywood Casino, not 20 minutes from my house, is doing so well.  If you are like me and too lazy to click the link, here is the article:

September 29, 2010 

 

Charles Town table games offset Lottery problems elsewhere

 

By Phil Kabler

 

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A second gangbusters month for table games at the Charles Town casino/racetrack bolstered an otherwise dismal August revenue report, members of the state Lottery Commission learned Wednesday.

In their first full month of operations, table games at Charles Town's Hollywood Casino raked in $9.75 million in August -- far more than the state's four other casinos combined.
Charles Town accounted for 58 percent of all table games revenue in the state, followed by $3 million at Mountaineer Racetrack and Casino, $1.8 million at Nitro's Mardi Gras Casino, $1.46 million at Wheeling Island, and $776,318 at The Greenbrier resort casino.

Blackjack alone brought in $2.23 million at Charles Town -- more than the entire table games revenue for Wheeling Island and The Greenbrier combined.
Dean Patrick, Lottery deputy director for table games, told Lottery commissioners that these figures could be just the tip of the iceberg for Charles Town.
He said Charles Town is set up for 85 gaming tables, but is operating about half the tables at any given time because the casino doesn't have enough licensed dealers.
Because of high demand and limited spaces, the tables at Charles Town have minimum bets of $25 or higher, he said.

Charles Town also accounted for more than half of the state's share of table game profits in August, paying accounting for $3.4 million of the state's total $5.88 million in table games "privilege taxes" for the month.

Charles Town's success was the bright spot in another dismal month for state Lottery revenues overall.

In August, total state Lottery revenues were $118.3 million, down 4 percent from $123.2 million in August 2009.
Racetrack video lottery was down about 9 percent, at $64.5 million, and traditional on-line and scratch-off games were also down about 9 percent, at $15.86 million.
Limited video lottery, at 1,594 bars and clubs around the state, was off 2 percent, at $31.7 million.

Spurred by Charles Town, table game revenues were up 205 percent over August 2009.
Conversely, the new casino at The Greenbrier has failed to meet Lottery revenue projections since its opening, providing the state with a total of about $974,000 in table games and video slots revenue since July 1, about 16 percent below projections.
But Jim Toney, the Lottery's deputy director for revenue, noted that The Greenbrier saw improvement in August, with the state's share of revenue coming in at $591,000.
The Greenbrier opened its permanent, $80 million casino July 2.

A second gangbusters month for table games at the Charles Town casino/racetrack bolstered an otherwise dismal August revenue report, members of the state Lottery Commission learned Wednesday.

So until I get a job and a bankroll, Enjoy the Pokery Goodness for me.

P.S.: Thank you for reading what for me is an "uber-post".  Sorry Iggy, I could not resist.  I miss your posts, but I guess the time for them is over.

The Cards Are In The Air (At least that's what I read)

Yes, Charles Town Races and Slots now has Table Games at what they call "Hollywood Casino".  They had a soft opening on Thursday, July 1st.  According to reports in the Journal Newspaper, they started with 6 tables, then stopped, reviewed procedures, then opened with more tables.  Once they get up to speed, they will have about 100 tables open.  They are estimating that about 27 of those will be for Poker of various shapes and sizes.

While I am glad they are running table games, I am also sad that I could not be a part of it.  Unfortunately, I have been unemployed for the last 12 months and have no bankroll.  I am really irked that now that there is poker 20 minutes from my house, I can't enjoy it.  Oh, well.  I can't be too much of a degenerate poker player if I put my family's welfare over poker.  I don't think unemployment benefits were designed with poker player's in mind.

Well,  come to Charles Town, WV and Enjoy the Pokery Goodness, even though I can't!

I Suck at Poker!

Yep, you heard that right.  I played online for the second session in 8 months.  And I completely suck.  I will have to play more in the future to get what little chops I had, back.  But at least I am enjoying the pokery goodness!

Charles Town Races and Slots is training there dealers for table games, which will start sometime around June.  I just hope I have a job by then so I can go and play live.  I had applied to become a dealer and was rejected.  I will try not to hold that against them.  It is their loss.

Hopefully I will have better things to report on my game the next time.

See Ya!

Another Year Gone

Well, another year in poker has passed. By no means my best. I did not get to play as much online as I did in past years. I have yet to play live.

On the good side, I finally figured out why my PC was not downloading the Full Tilt Poker software. Of course, the fine folks in the tech department still have not contacted me after my last email. If they would like someone who can troubleshoot the problem, they should hire me. I have worked tech help desks in the past, I have good customer service skills, and I follow up to make sure the customer was satisfied.

Charles Town Races and Slots will be adding POKER, and other table games to their over 5000 slot machines sometime in June.

The bad part is that I don't have a job, hence no bankroll to take advantage of that. And they decided not to give me a chance to become a dealer.

Here is to 2010! Can't be much worse than 2009.

Enjoy the Pokery Goodness!

Charle Town Races and Slots AND POKER!

The voters of Jefferson County, West Virginia passed the Table Gaming Referendum overwhelmingly this past Saturday. This is an extreme change from the referendum two years ago when county residents resoundingly defeated the measure.

Penn National, the parent company was pleased with the vote to say the least. They are expecting to add a variety of table games to the 5000+ slot machines already there starting sometime in June.

That was the good news. The bad news is that I am unemployed and can not Enjoy the Pokery Goodness.

Hopefully I will be employed by then and I can.

The Vote Is On

The vote to allow Table Gaming in Jefferson County at Charles Town Races and Slots is on. County residents may vote on December 5th.

Penn National has put up a lot of ads on radio and television in the past week. The ads tout Table Gaming at CTRS as bringing in about 500 jobs with an average salary of 45,000 dollars a year.

I would urge people to vote yes for a more personal reason. I want to play poker 20 minutes from my house.


As a side note: I am still unable to play at Full Tilt. I got another email from their Tech Dept. a few weeks ago, but I have not yet found the time to work through it. Hopefully this weekend I will find the time.

Voting in Jefferson County (WV)

Penn National, the parent company of Charles Town Races and Slots filed an application earlier this week to allow the residents of Jefferson County to vote in a referendum on Table Games. In a similar vote two years ago the residents voted down the measure quite handily.

Since that vote area legislators have been working hard to sweeten the deal for local residents. As a result, if the measure passes in Jefferson County, all the counties with race tracks in West Virginia would benefit. An extra one percent of the revenue would go to local and county governments and an extra one percent would go local horsemen (and horsewomen).

The Jefferson County Commission now has to decide if the date Penn National wants (December 5, 2009) will work for the county government. There already is scheduled a special election in Jefferson County regarding zoning and the Commission wants to make sure there are no problems with holding two elections so close together.

September 25, 2009 is the cut off day to decide whether the Table Gaming vote will go ahead on December 5th as requested.

Stay tuned for more information on the vote!

Enjoy the Pokery Goodness!

Date Set For Vote

Penn National, the owner of Charles Town Races and Slots has asked for a vote in Jefferson County. The special election will be held on December 5th, 2009. The question will be whether to allow Table Games, - blackjack, craps, POKER, etc. in addition to the over 5000 slot machines.

Winning this vote would mean a lot of extra revenue for Jefferson County, and the other counties that already have Table Gaming at their race tracks.

Makes me wish I lived two miles over so I could vote yes. It would be very nice to be able to play poker 20 minutes from my house.

If you know folks in Jefferson County, West Virginia tell them to vote for table games. I know I will be telling everyone I know.

Enjoy the Pokery Goodness!

Still Waiting For a Vote

According to The Journal, there is still no vote scheduled to bring Table Gaming to Charles Town Races and Slots. Penn National, the owners of CTRS, can ask Jefferson County to hold a vote with 90 days notice.

Penn National might decide to have the vote during an already scheduled special election on November 7th. But at the present time they are studying whether the ballot issue - having to do with zoning would adversely affect a vote on Table Games.

Check here for updates.

I can't wait to Enjoy the Pokery Goodness in Jefferson County.

Update on Table Gaming in the Panhandle

Here is an update:

One of the State Senators for this area would like to address Table Gaming in the upcoming Special Session of the WV State Legislature. He seems to have some support for a bill which would sweeten the deal for county and local governments. In addition to the revenue the county and local governments receive, this bill would shift 1 percent of the state's share to the counties which have table gaming and shift an additional 1 percent of the state's share to the local (city) governments in counties which have table gaming.

Sounds like a good deal to me!




Enjoy the Pokery Goodness!

Poker in Charles Town?

Not yet. Though both sides of the issue are gearing up. The WV State Legislature wants to sweeten the pot so that Jefferson County voters will call for a vote and get Table Gaming at Charles Town Races and Slots. CTRS has been putting up ads on local cable showing what they do for the community. They even donated money to Jefferson County Schools recently. All I know is that I want to play poker there. But since I don't live in Jefferson County, I can't vote for it. And I don't want to get to heavily involved in campaigning for it because even though I live in the next county over, I would be seen as an outside interest. Of course if they realized how much they would be getting from my rake at CTRS they might think otherwise.

I will try to keep you updated...

Enjoy the Pokery Goodness!

Yes it has been Four Years.

Yes this blog has been around for 4 years. And considering the content, it is kind of a dubious distinction. There are many poker blogs which have fallen by the wayside in that time. Blogs which were better written. Blogs which had more content. Blogs which posting was done on a more regular basis. Yet here I am.

If you had asked me four years ago where I would be in my poker journey, I would have told you I would be at the WSOP and cashing big. I would have said I had plans to attend most of the WPBT get-togethers. Those things and a lot more should have happened.

What did happen?

Work - and lots of it. I had a very good, well paying tech job, but the commute and the price of gas forced me to leave it. I now make less than half that in a retail environment. (Any jobs out there?)

UIGEA - Those bastards in Congress ruined the Party!! Forcing Neteller, Party Poker, and others to drop US players out of fear of lawsuits and more.

The fine voters of Jefferson County, West Virginia - These people did not see the merit in table gaming at the local race track. Although the voters in the counties of the other 3 racetracks in West Virginia voted for table gaming. Jefferson County Schools, who would have been the benificiary of the Table Gaming revenue, missed out on an estimate 2.5 million dollars the first year and an estimated 4.5 million dollars in each subsequent year. Hopefully they will vote FOR table gaming the next time it comes up. It would be nice to have a poker room twenty minutes from home!

Online poker - I have been playing play money since UIGEA. I know I could play real money at some sites, but it is the principle. Until Congress gets off their butts and acts...

So what little poker skills I have will languish. What little sense of poker blogging community I once felt will stand idle. I will wait. I have patience. Eventually circumstances will change, they always do. And I will pursue my poker journey with renewed vigor. Until then I will be playing for play chips, reading poker blogs, and wishing there were more poker players in Congress.

Enjoy the Pokery Goodness!

It has been too long...

since I last posted. Not too much going on here until last week. The local paper, The Journal, had an article about Table Gaming revenues estimates in West Virginia.

As some background, the 4 racetracks in the state could have table gaming if the voters in the county where the racetrack is located voted to have table gaming. 3 of the 4 counties voted to have table gaming. The fourth, Jefferson County in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia did voted it down.

The article said that the State's Table Gaming authority - the State Lottery Commission had new estimates of how much revenue the track in Jefferson County, Charles Town Races and Slots would have made in the first and second years of Table Gaming. Their initial estimates were low. Jefferson County Schools, the beneficiary of the Table Gaming revenue would have received approximately 2.25 million the first year instead of 1.45 million. And in the second year (and subsequent years) would have received about 4.5 million.

Some county officials thought that there would have been a bigger push to vote for Table Gaming if these numbers had been presented at the time of the vote.

In related news, I was flipping around on cable and caught a local commercial for Charles Town Races and Slots. It was a PR commercial - this is what we have done to help the community type spot.

I can smell another vote on Table Gaming coming up next year. This time, hopefully, the fine citizens of Jefferson County will vote "Yes" so I can have a poker room 20 minutes from the house.

Stay tuned for updates...

Enjoy the Pokery Goodness!

Three Quarters Poker

The infinite wisdom of the citizens of three counties has spoken. There will be Table Games including POKER in at three of the four West Virginia race tracks. Unfortunately, Charles Town Races and Slots is in Jefferson County which voted not to have Table Games. So, if you are planning a trip to West Virginia (and who isn't these days) plan it around one of the three tracks that has gaming. Of course you might need to wait until they are actually set up and ready to go. They were hoping to be ready in late September, but it looks more like at least mid-November before they actually shuffle up and deal.

Until then, enjoy beauty of the Mountain State and later - The Pokery Goodness.

Table Gaming Rejected in Jefferson County!

Greetings from Wild, Wonderful, West Virginia.

Here is your WV Table Games update. Two counties held elections this past Saturday (June 9th). Ohio County - in the northern panhandle of WV passed the referendum and will allow table gaming at their racetrack. Unfortunately, Jefferson County (the county next door to me) voted down table gaming. The other two counties with racetracks will be voting later this month.

All told the vote so far, though disappointing, is not too surprising. The bill was written by Delegates from the two northern panhandle counties with tracks and did not have much input from Jefferson County Delegates. As a result, a disproportionate amount of the Table Gaming revenue would have benefited the northern panhandle counties and short-changed Jefferson County.

It's too bad, because they were projecting that Charles Town Races and Slots would have produced 50 percent of the Table Gaming revenue. Part of the Jefferson County voters thoughts were that if they vote it down this time, the Legislature will sweeten the pot for Jefferson County in the next session because Legislators will not be able to resist the amount of money they could get from Table Gaming in Jefferson County. In a future post, I will list some of the things the Legislature should look at and consider to make Table Gaming more palatable to Jefferson County voters.


On a side note, I went into Charles Town Races and Slots for the first time last Friday. I have no interest in playing slots. But was is a bit overwhelming to see around 5000 slot machines in one building. I had no idea there were so many different kinds of slot machines. There was a glorified version of a food court, a restaurant, a very nice buffet, and at least 5 bars.

I guess I will have to wait a while longer to play live poker.


Enjoy the (live) Pokery Goodness (even though I can't).

I Finally Got A Job!!!!!!!!!!

It is not my first choice (or second, or third, or fourth), but I finally found a job. I am not sure if I can tell you where, but here is a hint or two. "Oh Thank Heaven", and retail store with a gas pump out front. I think you know what that is. I am the newest Assistant Manager. And I am way over-qualified for this job.

Many years ago I managed a bookstore. And if I may say so, I managed it well. From there I worked on a corporate IT help desk, then for a Credit Card Network 24-hour Merchant help desk. At that company, I started doing what I had been to college to learn - develop software and reports.

So, yeah, my new job is way below where I want it to be monetarily, but at least at this point there is money coming in.

Since I will not be using most of my time trying to find work, I will actually have some time to play poker. Watch out UB and FTP.


West Virginia Table Gaming non-update:

No breaking headlines here. The vote for the individual Counties comes up on June 9th, 2007. The table gaming industry and the pro-gaming forces are pushing how much the County will get in revenue, and that about 1.5 million will go to the County School Board.

The anti-gaming forces do not want even more gambling in the area. The most vocal seem to be using the argument that it is immoral and that the cost to the community and the State will be too great.

Gee, I wonder how I would vote if I lived a mile down the road in the next County?


Enjoy the Pokery Goodness!

Now It's Up to the Voters

The West Virginia Table Game Law was passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor. Now it is up to the voters in the four counties in West Virginia that have race tracks. A special election has been set up in Jefferson, Kanawha, Ohio, and Hancock counties on June 9th of this year. A majority of voters in a county need to vote for Table Gaming to allow it in their individual county.

The West Virginia State Lottery Commission is currently busy studying regulations which will be put in place if one or more of the counties votes for table gaming. Proposed regulations cover everything from chip and dice weight to minimum security standards at the gaming facilities.

The Lottery Commission is consulting with Michigan and New Jersey on these regulations. They also expect to add a division to the Lottery Commission and hire around 50 people.

Enjoy the Pokery Goodness!