[ba-poker] Bay 101 trip report

["Dave Horwitz" <dhorwitz(deleted the rest)>]

I finally got to sneak over to Bay 101 (I've actually
had to do work at work for a while now). *Lots* of 
changes. Maybe not news to everyone else.

I sit down at one of the 4 20/40 games. 

I notice it's a bit crowded and realize the table 
is 10 handed. All the tables are 10 handed. They're 
new, longer, (and I think) skinnier tables. *Really*
nice surface by the way.

Then I notice a black square shaped cover in the
center of the table, at an angle, with a red button
and a green button. I'm baffled. Ask the dealer if
it's there to check for black jacks. It's a
shuffle master! Very cool. Too bad the cover isn't
translucent so you can watch it work. These things
are the nuts! Last time I saw something of this ilk
it was in Reno years ago (BJ table?). It was exposed,
*slow* and jammed. This thing was fast and usually
done by the time the flop betting was done. You could
tell because the green button lit up. Dealer said they
count down the deck when they shuffle too. Cost: 16K.
Even the slower dealers must have been turning 50
hands an hour. Every now and again a dealer did a
light weight scramble before putting the deck in the
machine. NOBODY asked for a deck change! Maybe that
was an anomaly.

It gets better. They're taking time on the half hour
(dealer's are doing half hour downs too). $7 for 20/40
and $9 for 40/80. I vaguely remember that I used to
pay close to $21/hr with the $3 button charge?

There was something about "buying the button". If
you missed your blinds you could "post" your missed
blinds in-between the small blind and the button.
$20 live and $10 dead in the pot. The next hand you
get the button. I sort of saw it happen once but
never figured out how they worked the blinds on that
or the subsequent hand....

So 1 80/160, 2 40/80, and 4 20/40. Maybe it was a
Saturday evening/night thing.  The 2 20/40s I was
in played much like the 15/30s used to except there
were more people seeing the flop and turn. Exceptional.
Again, maybe a Saturday night phenomena. TILT was
only mentioned once and there were almost none of
the tired clichés. 

Little Al and Sissy are still there and lots of the
regulars.  Maybe it was my imagination but it just
seemed cleaner there. 

Outside of having to wear clothes, this is better than
online.

-Quick