We were staying at the Excalibur-home of the 1-3 spread poker tables. I was very impressed with management of the poker room there. I never waited more than 10 minutes to get onto a table. Cocktail service was fairly quickly, in fact on Saturday night I sat down and had cocktail service immediately. The servers were friendly and the dealers were very talkative and added a comfort level to the tables.

My first session was Friday morning around 7:30 AM. There were only two out of the twenty tables open at that time, but I was first on the list and they got me on 10 minutes later. I bought my chips and proceeded to the table. I sat down to a table of people who have been playing poker all night long. They all looked very tired. I was hoping this would be an advantage, but luck was on their side. The table I sat on was the 1-3 table and I came in for $40 worth of chips. I folded the first few hands, and finally got something to work with 10,6 suited (clubs). Flop was three low cards, two of which were clubs. I called $3 and everybody stayed in. Next card didn't help and the last card was a K of clubs. I was last to act, so I re raised and got everyone to fold except for one person, who revealed a flush Jack High which beat my flush 10 high. Very next hand I was dealt pocket rockets AA. I ended up pairing the board as well, so I had Aces and Fours. I bet and everyone except for one person folded. He was first to act and bet three on the river which was a queen. As I was looking at the board, there was a flush draw out there, but I thought I had the pot. So I called him and he turns over his cards and says" I got nothing, just 4's." I turn over my cards and show my A's and 4's. He is about to congradulate me when the dealer says, excuse me sir, you have a flush. He looked confused, double checked his cards and sure enough, flush queen high. He actually appologized for beating me. One thing that sucked was that I did not get to spin the wheel for the bad beat. You have to be on a $2/6 table or higher to be elligible for the Holdem Jackpot and all wheel spins. Something to keep in mind for next time. I am pretty well short stacked but enough to keep playing. Next hand I get 3,4 and fold. Lo'and behold the flop is 3,4,4. Would have been a full house had I limped in. Bottom line was I wasn't winning with good cards, but would have won alot if I stayed in with poor starting hands. Anyhow ended up losing all my chips that session without even winning one pot. Same thing happened with the evening session on Saturday. I lost with good cards, folded poor starting hands that would have eventually turned into outstanding poker hands. Because it is so cheap to see the flop, you get a lot of family pots and people get lucky with bad starting hands. I was just playing to conservatively. I saw KK, trip 10s and AA cracked quite a bit by straights and flushes from people who just won't fold. They all say, "I was suited or had connectors to start."

For people who are good poker players, try the higher limit tables. It may cost more to get in the game, but you might be able to buy some pots with larger bets. That is nearly impossible to do on the $1-3 tables. Even though I had two losing sessions, the poker room is very nice. It is large, three TV's for entertainment with sports on most of the day. I only had to wait 5 minutes for my second session which was around 10PM on Saturday Night. I was very impressed as to how quickly I was seated.

Would definately play Excalibur again because of the friendly atmosphere, but would proabably try the 2/6 table next time.