Heading to Sands PA

I'm leaving the house in a little bit. Heading to Sands, Bethlahem.

For the most part, I'll be playing Poker. I may dabble in Craps, and wander over to the Roulette tables - just to look and possibly photograph any cool histories.

If you're there stop by and say "Hi."
Admin note: removed image www.djteddybear.com/images/head_shot_tuxedo.JPG

Good luck, DJTeddyBear
I am heading for Sands Macau in about 2 weeks. For the most part I also play roulette

and I usually take some time to visit the Venetian and sometimes Grand Lisboa. They are all easy to get to with the free coaches that the casino's provide for the punters

Gee, you guys are lucky.
Sands, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
Sands, Las Vegas, Nevada
Sands, Macau, China
....
I'm not even able to get to my local Indian Casino ... and there the blackjack is 6:5, the drinks are full priced, ... and comps are an illusion.

I sit down as the floor person says to the table, "I told you." I asked her what she meant. She said that about 15 minutes ago, the table was ready to break, but she said that new people would show up soon. In my head, I assumed that everyone, in their heads, had substituted "fish" for "people". Already, I not feeling good.

Plus, most of these guys have stacks over $500. Some over $1,000. The max buy-in is $300. They've been cleaning out fish all night. On the flip side, that probably means they've tired.

I bought in at $1/$2 no limit hold-em for $240 and lost $60 on my third hand. I totally forget what that hand was. A few hands later I had 8 9. Flop was T J 4. Bet a few bucks. Turn was nothing, four suits on board. Checked around. The river was a Q. I had the bottom end of the straight. It checked to me. I thought about throwing a few bucks at it, but checked. That was a mistake. The guy after me threw in a black chip. Everyone folded to me. The way he threw it in, and his attitude during the minute or so I thought about it, convinced me he did NOT have A K, so I called. I was right. He didn't have A K. However, he DID have K 9 for the second nut, beating my third nut. Sigh. Down to about $40. I pulled the four greens from my pocket.

I had only $100 more in reserve. So I tightened up - although lost a few more hands, but only for a few bucks. One thing I notice is that there is often an unraised flop, or if it's raised, it something reasonable. I expect big stacks to be pushing the chips around, but these guys weren't doing that. So my initial fear of these big stacks evaporated.

A few hands later, I had Ad Jd. Raised it a little. An Ace with two rags on the flop. The rags were both diamonds. Top pair with the nut flush draw. There's a $20 bet and a call. I have about $70 left and go all-in. One caller. I made the flush on the river. Sweet.

That was my only all-in of the day.

I won some more small pots. Starting to build up my stack.

Maybe an hour later I got pocket aces under the gun. I raised it to a measly $5 and EVERYONE folded. DAMN!

Won some more uneventful pots.

About an hour, I got pocket aces again. Raised it to $10. Two callers. Flop was 2c Jc 6d. I bet $25. One caller. The turn is 6c. Neither ace is a club. I do NOT like that card one bit. After a moment, I check. The other player bets $50. I say "I don't like that number, I don't like that suit." and fold my aces, face up. I get a lot of respect for that fold. The other player did not show his cards.

I started to use that table image to my advantage. If the flop seems right, I'd be with second pair. Sometimes I'd get raised out, but more often, I'd take it down - or take it down with a continuation bet.

Then I got pocket Jacks. Raised it to $7. Five callers. Flop was K Q Q. Checked around. Turn was T. Checked around. River was garbage. Checked around. Amazingly, the jacks were good. But everyone understood why I didn't take a stab at it and I think I got cred for that too.

Around this time, someone I know from my poker league showed up and bought in for $100. She lost a few hands, then went all in with a flop of A Q J. The turn and river were blanks. She had A T. The other guy had K T. And just that quick, she went back to slots.

After a while I got pocket Kings. I raised it up to $10. Three callers. Flop was 6 K 5. Top set. SWEET! I throw some chips at it. Two callers. Turn T. I throw some more. Both called. River T. I have a full house, and can only lose to unlikely pocket tens. I make another bet. One guy calls, the other goes all in - but not enough for me to re-raise. However, some casinos consider an all-in raise of half to be enough for a re-raise. I decide that if I ask, the third guy will fold, so I just call. Sure enough he calls with 5 6 - three pair! The all-in guy at least had a hand: T 6 for an inferior full house. I raked in a nice pot on that one.

I've been sitting there for several hours, so I take a walk and use the restroom. I'm up about $250, so I figure I'll play a little craps. I pull out my emergency $100 and buy in with the new shooter - who manages to make a three roll turn. Sigh. Fortunately, when I'm not shooting, I generally only play 6/8. The shooter's second roll was a 6 so it wasn't a total loss. The next guy passes the dice to me. I make a few numbers, and am up $20 when I 7-out. That's enough of a break. I drop $3 for the crew and head back to poker, where I see that I've missed only two hands.

After a while, I get pocket aces again. I raise it to $9. I hear the dealer say $14, but before I have a chance to say anything, the guy to my left goes all-in for $19. There are two callers. I start thinking about a re-raise. After a moment, the dealer says "You can't re-raise." I say "Why not?" He THEN looks at the chips and says, "Oh. I thought you bet $14. Yeah, you can re-raise." This gets one of the callers bent out of shape, arguing, etc. I was thinking about re-raising $20 or $25 more. But with that reaction, I re-raise it $35 more. He is the only one to call. The flop is rainbow rags, so I bet $60 and he folds. I turn up the aces. After the river, the all-in mucks.

After the hand, that guy gets up to take a cool-down walk. As he's getting up, I'm thinking about telling him that it's the player's responsibility, or that he could have asked, etc. Instead, I simply say "Sorry about that." Note that this is one of the original players, and still has about $1,100 in front of him. I had estimated that he had about $1,400 when I got there.

I won some more uneventful pots.

Finally, after sitting there about 9 hours. I've had enough. I cash out for just over a $300 profit.

The only player still at the table that was there when I sat down is that guy that went nuts with my re-raise situation. And he was down to about $900.

I then went back to craps. Just in time for a crazy lady shooter. She was shooting all kinds of numbers and I made about $35 off her. The next shooter was another three roll shooter, and managed to hit my 8 on his second roll. Then the dice came to me. $10 pass, plus $1 dealer pass, plus $5 C/E. Rolled a Yo. Sweet! Return the dealer's $1, and bump my C/E to $10, another Yo. Excellent! Then I roll a 4. I rolls a bunch of numbers. Never hit the 4, but made about $200 off that roll. Next stooter was a two roll wonder, so I cashed out and dropped $5 for the crew.

I called it a day.

Half way home, I realize I forgot to grab the free poker magazines in the poker room. Too bad I have plans to see my mother Sunday otherwise I'd be going back. LOL!

Shame you wont be making it to WOVCON DJTeddybear. I would love to sit across the felt from you for a while. It would be interesting.

Wov-Con? Yeah, I would have loved to be there.

Anyway, I'm heading back to the Sands tomorrow. I figured I'd post here rather than start another thread.

I'll be there around 9:30ish till 3:00ish. Mostly playing poker.

I *MAY* play some roulette. My wife has been bugging me to play, and to keep my Poker For Roulette idea in mind as I play. Whatever.

In December Bethlehem edged out the Philadelphia casinos in table games for the first time.

SANDS BETHLEHEM	$6,830,318
PARX	$6,775,955
HARRAH'S CHESTER DOWNS	$6,048,587
SUGARHOUSE	$5,632,497
THE RIVERS	$5,178,644
MOHEGAN SUN	$3,235,939
THE MEADOWS	$3,165,939
MOUNT AIRY	$2,954,992
PENN NATIONAL	$2,705,897
PRESQUE ISLE	$1,551,579

Trip report:

My wife, my brother, a friend, and I went to the Sands yesterday. We got there at 9:10. My brother had dinner plans, so we left at 3:00.

I ended up playing nothing but poker. I took one interesting photo of a Roulette display, which I'll integrate into my website in a couple days.

---

For the first time in my five visits, I ate at a restaurant. Previously, I ate burgers at the poker table. Once, due to a lack of a poker food waitress, I ate at the food court.

The restaurant closest to the poker room is the buffet. Our friend is a vegetarian, and most of the choices were meat, so he ate elsewhere. But looking at the buffet first, I said it looked lame, and was thinking about going elsewhere, or just going back to poker and getting a burger again. Mind you, I'm a mac & cheese kind of guy. My brother is more of a turn-his-nose-up at plain food guy. I'm the one who said it was lame, but he said it's OK. My wife had no real opinion. So we ate at the buffet.

It was marginally better than the buffet at the Imperial Palace. Not a lot of items, and the stuff they had wasn't that great.

I later found out that my brother wanted to eat there because he figured the buffet would be the fastest option other than the food court. Unfortunately, my wife, who is the slowest eater on the planet, got into telling us a long story about a personal issue, and the two of us had to sit for almost 10 minutes before we got a chance to get seconds.

Sigh....

---

Although I had few memorable poker hands, there were some interesting situations.

After an hour or so, the guy on my left got into a big hand. I didn't even call pre-flop. The pot grew to about $1,000. Mind you this is at a $1/$2 table. He and the guy he was up against both had a full house. He lost. Then the weird thing happened. He bought back in for $50. I'm thinking, $50? Is he serious? $50 is way too small to intimidate anybody. And, in fact, in most casinos, the minimum buy-in is $60! Whatever.

Buy then he started catching cards, and before I knew it, he was over $300. And at that point I mentioned how I thought that $50 buy-in was weird. He responded that he's still down almost $500. OK. I'll shut up about it.

Next thing I know, he's back down to about $70.

That's when we get in a hand together. I have As Js on the button. Several limpers including me. The flop was Jh 8d 3c. OK, all I have is top pair with an Ace kicker. My 'buddy', the guy on my left, bets $10. A couple callers and me. The turn is 4s. Another $10. I'm the only caller. Jd on the river. I have three jacks with the Ace. He bets $20 and has only $23 left. I think about it several seconds. Before calling I said, "I know I'm supposed to raise.... I call." He had Jc Tc. We both had trips, but my kicker won me the pot.

I tell him that I didn't raise because I felt bad that a few minutes before I had congratulated him for turning that $50 buy-in to a big stack, and then he was back down. He said I shouldn't. It's poker. I should have raised. OK. I'll put that little tidbit aside.

He fluctuates for the next few hands. Then, when it's my big blind, he's under the gun and goes all-in for $18. Everyone folds. Since I was last to fold, I folded my rags face up. He then turned his hand face up. He had garbage, but it was better than my garbage. The next hand I'm small, he's big. Several limpers. I don't think he's gonna do it again, so, I called my suited little cards for $1. He goes all-in again, and claimed he never looked at his cards. Several callers, so naturally I folded. My garbage would have flopped a straight! And it would have held up! I'm consoled somewhat by the facts that folding was the correct play, and that when he finally showed his hand, it was pocket kings, and he won the hand.

But I'm still pissed.

A little while later, I'm again in a hand with him - and the guy he lost that $1,000 pot to. I was under the gun with Kh Jh and raised it to $7. He and two other guys called. Flop is QH 4D 6H. I have a flush draw and bet $15. One guy folds. Turn is Td. I add an open ended straight and bet another $15. He and the $1,000 guy called. The river is a blank. Without hesitation, I bet $40. He thinks for the longest time. He starts to make a motion like he's calling, and the $1,000 guy folds out of turn. He then thinks some more, and folds. I didn't let anyone know it was a bluff. It was my only real bluff of the day. It was well timed and worked.

FYI: The $1,000 guy never took advantage of his big stack.

---

I had several semi-bluffs. Only three times did they go to a showdown. I won two of them!

---

The only time I had pocket aces, I raised it to $12 in late position and got a couple callers. The turn put two diamonds on board. I had the Ace of diamond. One guy bets $10. I was the only caller. The turn was a diamond. He bets $50. I know I'm beat, but I can't get away from it, and call. The river didn't give me my flush. He checks. I think a minute and made the mistake of checking. He admitted that he thought I already had the flush. If I had bet, I could have taken it down. He flopped a set of tens.

I guess that was my big mistake of the day. Whatever. I'll get over it.

---

All in all, I had fun, and came home $78 ahead. Ka-ching!

The wife lost about $200. Sigh....

Quote: DJTeddyBear

It was marginally better than the buffet at the Imperial Palace. Not a lot of items, and the stuff they had wasn't that great.

Really? I mean, really? That's quite an achievement. Think about it, how much does it take to best the buffet at IP? Almost nothing. To just about equal it means some seriously mediocre management, purchasing, staff, training, cooking, etc. Not an easy thing to do. Had they slipped up and hired someone half-competent somewhere in the chain they'd have beat IP hollow (I think my tongue is trying to poke a hole through my cheek now).

Quote: Nareed

Really? I mean, really?

Well, I said the buffet was "marginally" better than the one at IP. Maybe I should have said "a couple notches".

Either way, we won't be going back.


You can stop poking a hole thru your cheek now.

Loopers Bar and Grill is a mile from the casino and you have the option to get there on The Loop shuttle service for $3 all day if you don't want to drive.

Hack Salad - Mixed greens with chunks of Looper's crispy chicken strips, tomatoes, hard boiled egg, jack & cheddar cheese, cukes and croutons...$ 8.95

Sunshine Salad - Mixed greens with grilled marinated chicken breast, chunks of fresh fruit and candied walnuts...$ 8.95

Grilled Chicken Salad - Mixed greens topped with a grilled chicken breast, sliced red onions, tomatoes and croutons... $ 7.95

Mikey's Polk Salad - Mixed greens with thin slices of salami and fresh mozzarella, grilled bread cubes, grape tomatoes and red onions. Served with our house dressing...$ 8.95

Caesar Salad - Traditional romaine with garlic croutons, Caesar dressing and a parmesan frico chip...$ 5.95
with tuna…$ 8.95
with a grilled chicken breast... $8.95

Blue Monster - Mixed greens with buffalo crispy chicken chunks, blue cheese crumbles, spicy pecans, tomatoes and red onions...$9.95
with a skewer of split shell on jumbo shrimp...$11.95

Soup - Range Favorite A creamy loaded baked potato soup topped with cheddar cheese and bacon….$5.95

Quesadillas - Extra large flour tortilla filled with a blend of cheeses, peppers, onions and tomatoes served with sour cream and salsa...$ 6.95
with grilled Chicken...$8.95

Onion Rings - A basket of battered onion rings with our special sauce...$5.95

Loaded Cheese Fries - A bunker-sized portion of fries in a short puddle of ranch dressing and then smothered with melted cheddar jack cheese and topped with bacon and sour cream...$ 8.95

Mozzarella Clubs - A half dozen mozzarella sticks served with raspberry or marinara sauce...$ 6.95

Buffalo Blue Cheese Chips - A short puddle of blue cheese dressing topped with fresh fried potato chips covered with melted cheddar jack and blue cheese crumbles and finished with our traditional wing sauce...$9.95

The McAvoy - A short puddle of basil pesto topped with a tower of fresh mozzarella cheese and tomato slices and finished with a drizzle of balsamic glaze…$8.95

A pound of Steamed Clams with melted butter and crackers...$7.95
Sicilian Style with white wine, garlic and grilled bread....$10.95

Looper’s Wings - Try our tasty traditional buffalo style wings, with one of our thirty sauces. They come with celery sticks and a side of blue cheese or ranch...$6.95

Cheese Steak Spiedini - Two skewers of marinated steak cubes, french bread cubes and green peppers grilled and covered with melted mozzarella cheese served on a bed of greens with an Asian drizzle...$12.95

Birdie Fingers - A basket of real white meat battered chicken fingers with Barbecue or Honey Mustard to dip ...$7.95
Buffalo style with blue cheese or ranch...$8.95

The Clubhouse Dip - Fresh mozzarella cheese poached in tomato basil bisque. Served with garlic bread for dipping ...$ 8.95

Nachos - Crisp red white and blue tortilla chips piled high with melted jack and cheddar, black olives, red onions, diced tomatoes, sour cream and salsa...$6.95
with Fajita Chicken...$9.95

The Steak Tour - 5 cubes of steak, each in it's own marinade then grilled and served on a bed of greens with an Asian drizzle...$10.95

Crispy Chicken Breast - A crispy deep fried chicken breast served on a Kaiser roll with lettuce, tomato and mayo ...$ 5.95
Buffalo style with blue cheese...$ 6.95
Grilled chicken instead of crispy ...$7.95

The Eagle - Thinly sliced turkey breast with tomato, cukes, peppers and cajun mayo…$6.95

The Gopher - (All vegetable sandwich) Thinly sliced tomatoes, cukes, onions, lettuce, roasted red peppers, and green peppers with garlic & basil mayo...$ 6.95

The Ben Hoagie - Shaved warm roast beef on a garlic butter toasted roll topped with melted provolone cheese, onion rings, lettuce and cajun ranch...$8.95

The NCC - Garlic butter toasted roll with fresh mozzarella, tomato, lettuce, roasted red peppers, red onions and a drizzle of balsamic glaze….$6.95
Add thinly sliced salami….$8.95

The Daley - A cheddar burger, all the fixings and french fries all in a wrap...$7.00

Good Old BLT...$4.95

Double Bogey - A grilled cheese with your choice of two cheeses and sliced tomatoes ...$ 4.95

Country Club - 3 slices of toasted bread filled with turkey, ham or roast beef, bacon, lettuce, tomato and mayo ...$ 7.95

THE LOOPER Sandwich - Shaved warm roast beef on a garlic butter toasted roll topped with melted cheddar jack cheese, tomato, lettuce and horseradish cream
sauce...$ 7.95

Hot Ham & Cheese - A toasted roll topped with shaved ham and cheddar jack cheese baked until melted and golden brown and then drizzled with honey mustard...$ 6.95

Tuna Melt - Grilled Rye bread topped with all white meat tuna salad, slices of tomato and swiss cheese broiled to golden and bubbly...$ 8.95

Quiche - Homemade daily. Served with a side of salad and fresh fruit...$8.95


Looper’s burgers are 1/3 pound of Angus beef grilled to perfection and served on a Kaiser roll with lettuce, tomato, onion, our special sauce, chips and a dill wedge. Great on a wrap as well!

Hamburger...$ 5.50
with Cheese (cheddar & jack, cheddar, american, provolone, swiss or mozzarella)...$ 5.95
with Bacon ...$ 6.75

Pizza Burger - A burger with marinara sauce, mozzarella and provolone...$ 6.50

South of the Border Burger - With salsa, jack & cheddar cheese and sour cream ...$ 6.50

Blues Burger - With blue cheese and a creole blue cheese sauce...$ 7.00

Jakey's BBQ Burger - With jack & cheddar cheese, bacon, sauteed onions & Barbeque sauce...$ 7.50

The Big Bertha - Two of our 1/3 pound patties topped with two cheeses (you choose), bacon, onion rings and our "secret sauce"...$ 9.00

The Black Knight - With fresh mozzarella and balsamic glaze...$7.95

Add French Fries … $1.00 - Add Sweet Potato Fries … $1.75 - Add Waffle Fries...$1.75
etc.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

Well, I said the buffet was "marginally" better than the one at IP. Maybe I should have said "a couple notches".

Aw! You spoiled my lazy Sunday sarcasm now! ;)

Quote:

You can stop poking a hole thru your cheek now.

I didn't quite poke a hole. But the inside of the cheek is really sore :)

I also mentioned the ethnic restaurant, Machu Picchu, which is within easy walking distance of Sands Casino in Behtlehem PA. Just cross the major street and head up the hill crossing by the skate park. I had an excellent lunch there (Open 11:30AM-7:00PM Wed-Sun, closed Mon-Tue). It is a very simple eatery!


I found this review by a college student who tried more dishes than I did.

Quote: © Copyright 2011 The Muhlenberg Weekly

El Machu Picchu: a piece of Peru
By: Alex Wells
Posted: 12/10/09
Thinking of visiting Bethlehem any time soon? You should consider going to El Machu Picchu Peruvian Restaurant, located at 1328 East 4th Street! Once again, I found this restaurant with my roommate Melissa's Freshman Year Seminar, "Cuisine As Culture," taught by Dr. Erika Sutherland.

On a Saturday a couple of weeks ago, the class and I took the Muhlenberg shuttle to the Machu Picchu Restaurant for a buffet-style feast made for our class. Dr. Sutherland has connections to the restaurant, so needless to say we would be seriously hooked up with the great food in store for us.

The restaurant is in a rather shady area, the street it is on resembles Allentown, but this part is a bit less commercialized than the parts of Allentown we had gone to for previous outings.

Inside, however, it's very nice! The seating area is the biggest of all of the hispanic restaurants I have been to with the class.

Many of the customers there were frequent eaters at the restaurant, and were seated at small tables at the front of the room. The class was seated at a long table, which had been set up for us, next to a buffet of Peruvian food!

We all sat down, and were first presented with Chicha Morada, which is a sweet, purple drink made of maíz morado, which is purple corn. According to Dr. Sutherland, this drink was originally made by the Incas, and is favorite among people who live in the Andes Mountains of Peru and Bolivia. The drink looks just like grape juice, but actually tastes sweeter. Personally, I could tell that it was made from corn because it has a slightly grainy texture to it. It wasn't my favorite, though others liked it.

We were next presented with two appetizer dishes: Causa and Papa a la Huancaína. Causa is a very popular dish of Peru. It is a cheap and easy meal to make, allowing nearly any social class to enjoy it, and has room for mistakes to be made while still tasting great-there are many variations of this dish to be found. The causa we ate is individual mashed potato pies, served cold, seasoned with ají amarillo, which is a yellow spicy tuna, and can be filled with tuna, crab, or chicken. I really liked this dish, and I'm not big on mashed potatoes because I don't like the texture. But I would definitely recommend this because the taste is worth it!

I didn't try the Papa a la Huancaína, but Melissa did and she really liked it, and so did many other students in the class. This dish is a traditional appetizer from the city Huancayo, Peru, hence its name. It is made of boiled potatoes with a sauce known as queso fresco, or farmer's cheese, milk, and the ají amarillo from the causa. Dr. Sutherland has recipes for both of these dishes, so if anyone is interested definitely let her know and I'm sure she'll be more than happy to pass them onto you!

The buffet was next, as we had the opportunity to try four Peruvian entrees. A key theme of Peruvian food is that there is always a contrast of flavor. Ceviche is the most popular dish in all of Peru. This entree is raw fish or shellfish that is diced into cubes and marinated in lime juice, combined with ajíes, which are hot peppers, raw onions, cajote, which is sweet potato, and choclo, which is corn. The interesting part about this dish is the the combination of flavors: the fish is prepared in a Japanese style, the peppers are hot and significant to South America, and the Spanish limes and onions add even more flavor. I really liked this entree; I'm a big seafood eater, so that may be why I was partial to it.

The second entree was the arroz chaufa, which is basically the Peruvian version of Chinese fried rice. Sound confusing? Don't ask, just eat it. Seriously, it's SO good. It's literally fried rice, just from Peru. The rice is fried with egg, vegetables, soy-sauce, and generally some form of meat or fish. In restaurants, this rice is usually served as a side, but in individual homes it can be eaten as a main course. We were served the rice both with and without fish in it, and I loved both of them. I liked the rice with the fish in it better because it tasted the most like Chinese food.

Another entree we ate was tallarines verdes, which is more or less green spaghetti. The spaghetti is tossed in a sauce that turns green due to the spinach that is cooked in it. The recipe, which Dr. Sutherland also has, calls for onions, spinach, parmesan cheese, and peeled walnuts. I'm not sure if there were walnuts in the tallarines verdes that we ate at the restaurant, because I have a tree nut allergy, but I unknowingly ate the spaghetti dish and lived...maybe I just grew out of my allergy? Anyway, the spaghetti tastes a lot like spaghetti in a pesto sauce.

My favorite entree was the jalea, which is a medley of fried seafood served with onions, ajíes, seasoning, and lime juice, which cuts the fat so the oil of the fried food so it tastes less heavy. I loved this dish because it's purely fried seafood, you really can't go wrong!

Overall with the Peruvian food, I found a sense of familiarity combined with a cultural edge.

The contrasts in flavor add to the experience, and I left extremely full and satisfied. I definitely recommend this restaurant to anyone who is venturing over to the Bethlehem area!