So it's been an interesting week. I hadn't played but a few $1 tournaments online to kill time one night, so I headed to the Ameristar here in Kansas City for some low limit hold 'em. I just wanted to kill time and try and make some money... man I wish I had stayed at home! KC doesn't have any real big games, so I usually just play 3-6 or 4-8 when I come home. They have a 15-30, but it's a little tough because it's the only non-white chip game in town (besides no limit). The low limits are the easiest I have seen in any city, though, outside of maybe Commerce. I got on the 3-6 list and got called pretty quick. Soon after, I noticed that there was a 4-8 H.O. (hold 'em and... LIMIT OMAHA HIGH!) and 6-12 hold 'em list, so I got on those. The 6-12 never started, but the 4-8 HO did. I was up about $160 in the 3-6 game, but went on a disgusting run near the end. I had AA and KK once each and lost both times, and lost with JJ once and won a very small pot the other time I had it. Nothing worth talking about in that game. The 4-8 HO game was a blast! We played a round of omaha, and on the second hand, someone said "Too bad we're not playing hi-lo." I said, "Oh really?" I had no idea at the time... I had never heard anyone playing limit omaha high, other than a home game I played it in. So I immediately adjusted, but I ran horrible all day. I played about four hours in the hold 'em game, and another eight or nine hours in the HO game, and lost in both. The only hand in omaha that I was amazed with went like this... two fold to the guy on my right who raises to $8. I call with 4 6 7 8 with one suit I believe. Two people call behind me, and the blinds call. The flop is 9 5 3 rainbow, giving me 16 outs to a straight. The raiser bets, I call, then there's a raise, a call, and the preflop raiser three bets. I consider just capping it now but just call, and the three-bettor caps it at $16. Four of us see the turn, which is an offsuit queen. The preflop raiser bets again, and we all call. The river... a jack. Please just once let me get there! So of course I fold to a bet, but the preflop raiser shows... A A J 5. I almost puked! He caps it with just aces, when he was so clearly behind it's not even funny. On the flop, I am sure the guy who three-bet had at least 9 5 based on his later play. He probably had like 9 8 7 5 or something for a gut shot and two pair. The other guy had to catch an ace, five, or jack to win. Any 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, and whatever other cards helped the other two players and someone else wins the pot. I just hate losing when I flop huge, and some guy plays his hand like a complete idiot and gets there. He must have had no more than 10% equity on the flop!
Anyway, I get down two whole racks of white, and then end up heads up at the end of the night with a very nice guy named Mike. He dealt at the 2005 WSOP, and I remembered him because he used to deal at the Ameristar. He now deals over at the Argosy (a nice room in Kansas City), and plays a pretty good game of omaha. I was stuck about $250 when we started, and I won back about $75 heads up. After that the game finally broke and I headed home after a 13 hour session. I rarely play that long (only maybe the fourth of fifth time in four years I have done that). I love poker, and I love winning... reguardless of the limits. I'd rather be playing 2-5 no limit at the Bellagio or a tournament at Caesar's or something, but even 3-6 and 4-8 keeps my interest. I read a blog entry by Lou Krieger about Party Poker returning to the US market. I heard the same rumor recently but hadn't seen it in writing from anyone in the industry until now. Basically, Lou says that Party is acquiring (I think I misspelled that, but it's late and I don't care!) Empire Poker's assets, and that Party has been hurting.
If you remember, Empire was at one time a skin of Party Poker. A lot of players used Empire for the rakeback and had a separate account on the site. Eventually Party closed all other skins and left Empire in the dark, which really hurt Empire at the time. Then of course, you remember when the Unlawful Internet Gambling Act (UIGA) was passed, and Party left the US market.
Since then, Party & other publically traded companies that abandoned the US market, have all suffered massively. Party's Sunday Million tournament became a $200k guarantee, which they were struggling to meet.
In the end, basically there's no official word and it's all just a rumor for the time being. But I'm willing to bet where there is smoke there is fire. It's obvious Party would like to return to the US. Maybe their departure was originally just to see how the US responded to any online rooms who remained inthe US market... who knows. All I do know is that I wish they had never left the US market--the games have dried up for sure.
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