I recently had some business in the Lake Tahoe area and had intended to bring my wife, but she had to bail out at the last minute. Naturally, I had a poker friend tag along to help me figure out a way to fill up the three days I wouldn't be working. We left LA on a Thursday, got into the Reno airport around 7p or so and drove the 30-40 miles to Lake Tahoe. If you've never been to the Reno/Tahoe area, it's a trip worth taking. Reno is a white trash town, but Lake Tahoe is stunning--pine trees, views of the lake, clear air--a big change from LA.

We rolled into the Hyatt Lake Tahoe around 9p. The Hyatt is a beautiful, rustic resort located directly on the shores of Lake Tahoe. The hotel/casino is not known for its poker, but it did have a room and there was a game, so we figured we'd have dinner and check it out.

After a nice steak at the Lone Eagle Grill, the Hyatt's main dining room overlooking the Lake, we wandered over to the poker room. I'm usually a NL player, but all they spread is 4/8 limit with 1/2 blinds and a 10/20 pineapple game with 5/5 blinds. Only the 4/8 was running so I bought a couple of hundred in chips and sat down.

Wow, talk about horrible play. The 1/2 blinds encourage lots of limpers--7 to the flop MINIMUM with me the only one who would even contemplate folding pre-flop. Ever the nit, I managed to blow off $100 or so playing crap like AA, KK and AKs. One guy considered himself a "semi-pro" from Santa Barbara who's "a supervisor for the City of SB but he makes his REAL money playing poker." This guy was classic, about 40 years old, sunglasses (at 4/8 limit...nice), struggling with trivial odds decisions. At one point, he over-called two players with four to a flush and straight on board and tabled two pair. Uh, I don't think that's gonna get it done.

Another woman insisted she put herself through grad school (Berkeley) playing poker in the 70s. She burned off $400 dollars (again, at 4/8 limit) in less than 2 hours. In one hand, she tabled a "straight" which was really four cards to a straight. She was insistent she had a straight (even though it didn't matter; another player had the nut flush) and only backed off when the dealer counted the four card straight for her TWICE. In another hand, she was struggling with a river raise on a KTTJ9 board with two diamonds and two hearts showing. She turned to me (to her right) and said “What do you think?” I’d been friendly and joking with her, so I said facetiously that her opponent probably had the "nut flush" again (even though it wasn't possible). At that point, the other player replied, "Yes. I have the nut flush." She then hemmed and hawed, said she didn't believe him, kept asking me what "nut flush" meant, etc. BTW, she had $6 left in her stack to call in a $60+ pot. She finally called and tabled a pair of pocket fives. Good Lord.

I finished the session down a hundred or so but I managed to pull a little of that back the following night when a drunken lawyer and a couple of his family members decided to give the game a whirl. Typical action, limp, limp, limp, limp, limp, raise, call, call, call, call, etc. Fortunately, I managed to turn a boat with pockets tens in one of these family pots so I ended the session up.

Two things stuck out from the session. First, the lawyer's wife thought he did an amazing Jack Nicholson impression and encouraged him to perform it for us. Love is indeed blind; the only similarity between him and Jack was the sunglasses and an odd fascination with the Lakers. Second, I'm not a limit player, but it struck me there was a ton a value in the game. Not only were people playing crap out of position, but they were repeatedly FOLDING post-flop when checking was an option. Thanks for the EV, guys! I'll give it a good home!

I'm pretty sure the crazy pineapple hi/lo split game was pretty juicy, too. It wasn't running on Thursday night, but Friday and Saturday, there was at least one table going. I'm told it's been a staple of the room for over 15 years and there's a few regulars in the game, but the action looked RIDICULOUS from where I sat. It's probably a game worth learning if you live in or visit this area frequently.

Couple of notes on the staff. Dan, the room manager, was very friendly and had an obvious command of the room. The dealers were efficient and fast, despite the lack of auto-shufflers, and every staff member endeavored to learn players' names. When I first sat down, I thought it was a room full of regular since everyone seemed to know everyone else, but within moments, the staff was addressing me by my name, too. It's a nice touch.

Overall, I had low expectations for the poker but was pleasantly surprised. And the hotel is fantastic! I didn't try the spa (I'll leave that aspect of the trip report to my wife next time) but the rooms, restaurants, service and setting were all really special. I highly recommend it to anyone visiting the Lake Tahoe area.

Edmond