Amsterdam

I was in Amsterdam for the past three days and I managed to make it to the casino just one night (Wednesday night). I arrived there at 8pm when the poker room "officially" opened. Little did I know that they only start the daily tournament at 8pm and cash game players need to wait until 9:30-10pm to start playing. Whatever, so I sat around for another two hours doing diddlysquat.

At 10pm I was in the poker room and asked if my cash game table had opened. The poker room manager informed me that yes, my table had been opened and no, I didn't get a seat. I missed them calling my name (they use no microphones or loudspeakers and make no announcements) so because I was out of the pokerroom in those 2 minutes in which they opened the table, I missed my chance to play and had to put my name on the list again.

So now I'm steaming and already on tilt before even sitting down at the table. Finally about 45 mins later they open a new table (€5/5NL with €250 min/€1k max buy-in). I buy-in for €500 and let the games begin. Right away I notice the table is filled with total monkeys. Seat 2 was a Georgian who apparently had a never-ending source of funds in his wallet. He was down over €2k within a couple hours because of his calling tendencies. He didn't fold anything. He couldn't even fold a napkin.

Then there a couple other local donkeys who played anything suited. It really reminded me of CCC one year ago just the players had more money. I sat back and observed things for a while before playing 4 sizeable pots in the matter of an hour.

Hand 1: Hero has JJ in the BB. 6 limpers and hero bumps it up to €40, 4 callers. I had just begun raising a few hands, so my image was not too tight. Flop is beautiful: JKK. Hero bets €120, only the SB (huge tellbox) makes a deep sigh and calls. Turn is an 8. SB checks, hero bets €200, SB sighs again and calls. River is a 2. SB checks, hero goes all-in for ~€120, SB calls. He obviously had a king, hence the sighing, and mucked.

Hand 2: Hero has AK in EP and makes it €35, 5 callers including the Georgian who had recently reloaded to €1k. Flop is A79. Hero bets €150, Georgian calls. Turn is a 6. Hero bets €350, Georgian calls. River is a 2. Hero goes all-in for €400+, Georgian calls and mucks (AJ I assume).

Hand 3: Hero has KJs in the BB. Georgian makes it €35, BB calls as do a few others. Flop is KJ3 all diamonds. Hero checks, crazy local makes it €60, everyone folds and hero bumps it up to €210. Crazy local immediately goes all-in for €1100. Hero thinks and thinks and eventually folds because so far this guy has been crazy, but has never gone all-in with something even moderately weak. Every time it's been something close to the nuts. Hero folds and crazy local shows Q4s for the flopped flush.

Hand 4: Hero has KK in EP. Hero makes it €35, 8 callers! Flop is Jd4s2d. Hero makes it €180, 1 caller. Turn is a 7h, hero makes it €350 and puts villain all-in, he calls. River is a 4d, completing the flush and villain takes it down with AdQd. Shit happens.

At the end of the night I left with €649 profit, so I can't complain. Overall it is a very poorly run poker room that takes too much rake, but the incredible looseness of the game compensates that somewhat, so it's not that bad. I would definitely return for another visit.