smoothgrh's Blog

Pai Gow/Tien Gow tiles

Rediscovered! My family's set of tiles to play tien gow that we used up to the mid-1970s when I was 6 or 7 (no kidding!). Afterward, we just stopped playing and I had totally forgotten about this set—even after I bought one in the 2010s to learn how to play pai gow.

Included is a sheet of paper with my handwriting of the ranks. I totally now remember meticulously copying the dots from an older chart that was falling apart. The names are phonetic Cantonese. Curious that they're labeled "male" and "female" instead of civilian and military. I'm glad it's still in the family!

My aunt says she got on her in-laws' good side because she knew how to play and she was able to be the fourth player. I found an early 1950s photo of them playing!

Vegas $3-6 LHE extinct!

I visited Orleans Casino last weekend and learned that they stopped having $3-6 limit Hold'em "two months ago"—so I'm guessing early January 2026.

Orleans was the last place for $3-6 LHE in Las Vegas that I knew of, aside from Golden Nugget in Downtown LV. I just checked Poker Atlas and GN has $4-8 listed as their only limit game.

Poker Palace is permanently closed, I saw. A news report says it'll reopen after remodeling with a new name under new ownership but without poker.

Skyline Casino on Boulder Highway still has $2-4 limit hold'em, according to Poker Atlas, which I find hard to believe. If true, maybe $3-6 will come back from the dead!

$8-$16 limit hold'em

The Mrs. and I decided to give in and play $8-$16 limit hold'em at Bay 101, their lowest limit option. They had five such tables on a Friday afternoon, so despite being about 12th and 13th on the list, we got to separate tables with only about a 20-minute wait.

We each bought in for $200, and they use $2 chips. The rake appeared to be $8/hand. The Mrs. went broke fairly quickly, unfortunately. Losing with pocket queens was the lowlight. I didn't win a single hand in the hour I played and finished down $104. The play wasn't too dramatically different than what we see with $3-$6 or $4-$8, though on my particular table, there tended to be a lot of raising and re-raising. So someone who goes all-in could easily get back up $100 to $200 with a win. A lucky old fellow went all the way to the river after pairing his 7 on the flop and won by rivering a 4, making 7-4 offsuit in late position contribute to his winning streak.

I recalled playing $2-$4 limit hold'em at Tachi Casino in Lemoore years ago and being quite bored. I was musing with the Mrs. on our way to the cardroom on whether playing this high limit would affect our feeling toward $3-$6. I don't think it will. At least not until $3-$6 becomes the new $2-$4.

Play money Martingaling

I was waiting for a play-money HORSE game to start on Pokerstars, so I checked out its Classic Blackjack game (which should be called European Blackjack because there was no dealer hole card). I bet $1,000 play money. Won a hand, lost a hand, won a hand, then lost two — so I decided to Martingale.

Well, I wound up betting $165,000 before I got back to even! (I was betting rough amounts, not exactly double each time).

I will not Martingale IRL (as the kids say).

The price of poker gone up more!

I called Bay 101 last night to see if they had a $4-$8 limit Hold'em game going, and was told they got rid of it around August 2024. Their lowest limit game is $8-$16.

I called Lucky Chances, and they still offer a $3-$6 limit game and $4-$8 Omaha.

Anyone remember when the WPT went to Lucky Chances and The Travel Channel leaned in heavily to the travel factoid aspect, highlighting Colma's oddity of having more deceased people than living residents?