The Casino

As of 8/15/2010, $1 USD = 1,183 Korean won. I will warn you when the semi-technical poker talk begins.

I finally got my cell phone on Friday, which means my social interactions won't be limited to planning in advance, running into people accidentally, and hoping people knock on my door.

On Saturday I got a text from Jake that the gang was going to Walker Hill Casino in Seoul. The only problem was that nobody seemed to agree on where it was. Finally the consensus was that I should just get in a cab and ask for "Walker Hill Casino." The casino reimburses cab fare up to 10,000 won, which isn't bad considering how cheap cabs are.

I got in a cab and said "Walker Hill Casino." He seemed a little confused and asked "Walker Hill Hotel?" Chances are they were the same thing, but I didn't want to end up in the wrong place so I repeated "casino." He called a number and put me on with someone who spoke English. Apparently all cab drivers have a hotline they can call when they run into a way-gook who doesn't speak any Korean.

Once the cab driver understood, he repeated to me: "Walker Hill Casino," and I smiled and said "Yes, Walker Hill Casino." He started chuckling, and for some reason I started chuckling too. For several moments, we were both chuckling. I'll never know exactly why he started chuckling, or why I was doing it too, but it felt like we sharing some sort of conspiracy together. This is one of those moments that just can't be captured in words. It was hilarious, and I had to hold myself back otherwise I would have been laughing uncontrollably, which probably would have made him uncomfortable.

After that moment, we didn't say another word to each other until the cab ride was over, almost an hour later. For an hour long ride, the fare was about 26,000 won. I paid, and tipped him 500 won - less than 50 cents. It felt a little weird, but most of the time they aren't tipped at all, so he seemed grateful. As soon as he drove off, I remembered I needed a receipt to get my reimbursement. I wasn't even inside the casino, and I was already down 10.

Walker Hill Casino is your average casino, like any casino you've ever been to in the US. Perhaps it feels a little bit newer, and the chips feel a little cleaner (or another likely explanation is that my tolerance for grime on my fingers has gotten much higher since getting here).

It's so normal that if it were in Las Vegas, you'd probably not stay there very long. What makes it interesting are the people. Koreans aren't allowed to gamble, which means the place is full of Japanese, Chinese, Korean-Americans, foreign English teachers, and American military. Our friend Alice, who is Korean-American, had to show her US passport to get in.

I had been wondering how easy it would be to tell military apart from English teachers - the two basic groups of non-Asians in Korea. It's really easy. They're generally younger, big muscles, and buzz cuts. The older military guys stand out even more. One guy had a tattoo of a dog-tag on his arm. Not that I am in a position to judge another man's tattoo.

If I were in Las Vegas, I would kill to sit at some of these poker tables, based on stereotypes alone. The tables I sat at were 80% Asian, 20% military. I had hoped I had found a place that was still untouched by the likes of Sklansky and Cardrunners. But alas, there were still the same slightly-misguided discussions about outs and odds you find everywhere. Overall though, the tables were very soft.

I was playing with some Koreans who spoke perfect English, and from what I could tell, perfect Korean too. They would speak to each other between hands. That was a little disconcerting, especially when they were obviously discussing a hand they had just played in which one of them had gotten a fold from a young military guy. I asked where everyone was from. The military guy and the Korean who had just pushed him off his hand answered "Chicago" at the same time. That got them started on a long conversation about home. The military guy was 20 years old, and had been in Korea for 10 months. He was going home at Christmas, and could hardly wait. He didn't like it here.

Later, I moved to a 5,000/5,000 blind table, with a minimum buy-in of 500,000. Considering I had about 700,000 to my name, it was a risky move. I decided I could manage it. If I lost it all, I would have 200,000 left to last me the month, which seemed reasonable.

I had my 200,000 in chips from the 1,000/2,000 table with me, and my ass had not made contact with the chair for more than one second when a young asian guy with sunglasses to my right said, "The minimum buy-in is 500, buddy." I glanced at his chip stack. He was sitting on about 5.5 million, probably covering everyone at the table combined. I decided immediately that I did not like this person.

WARNING: Semi-technical poker talk starts here.

As I was beginning the laborious process of buying chips (the largest bill in Korea is the 10,000, which means you have to hand over 30 bills to buy about $300 in chips. They just recently got a 50,000 bill, but you pretty much only see them at casinos. The banks don't even pay you with them unless you ask for it), the dealer gave me QJ, and I limped after a few other limpers. The flop was KTx rainbow, and an older white guy in the blind bet 25 into about a 35 pot. I called, everyone else folded. The turn was an ace, giving me the nut straight, and he checked. I bet 50, and he folded.

I got AK in the big blind a few hands later, and an old asian guy raised to 70. I didn't know what to make of him yet, but I called, and so did another old asian guy, who seemed pretty loose and bad. The flop was Q96 rainbow. I checked, and they both checked. The turn was a 6, and I checked, and they both checked. The river was an off-suit ace, and I decided to check it, hoping a weaker ace would bet, or someone would try a bluff. It got checked down. I showed AK, expecting to drag in the pot, but the loose guy showed 67 for trips. The original raiser showed TT angrily.

I was down to 400, and the next hand I got AK again. There was a raise to 25 in early position, followed by 4 callers. I was in the small blind. With 130 already in the pot, I decided to make a big raise. I almost went all-in, but instead for some weird reason, opted to raise to 200 - half my stack. Everyone folded, and I was up to about 550.

After that, I went on a mini-rush. For the next two orbits, I was playing every other hand. I picked up okay hands in playable spots, and had some good luck with them. I never won any huge pots, but I won several small-medium ones in a short amount of time. I was up to about 950,000.

At this moment, Sunglasses thought it was appropriate to address the table: "Let's speed up the game, people. This isn't the freaking main event." He didn't look at me when he said it, but I couldn't imagine him directing it at anyone else. My guess was that he had been the center of attention up until now, but now that the spotlight had shifted for a few minutes he was cranky. Oh, how I wanted his chips.

The very next hand I pick up AJ of hearts on the button. Several people limp, and Sunglasses makes it 40. I call on the button, and 3 others call. The flop comes KQT, with two diamonds and a heart. Whammo. This was it. The poker moment everyone dreams of. Here I was in a 5/5 game with over 160 in the pot preflop, multi-way pot, super action heavy board, with position, sitting on the nuts with a deep stack against an arch-nemesis (who is also the open-raiser!) who is even deeper. You can't invent a situation more ideal than that. Just try it.

It gets checked around to me, and I bet 100, and everyone instantly folds. Of course.

The only other hand I played with Sunglasses after that was when I had AQ of hearts on the button. Two limpers, he was one of them. I raised to 40, and got a call from him and the other limper. The flop was KK7 with two clubs. Checked to me, and I bet 70, the first limper folds and Sunglasses check-raises to 210. I consider a shove, but mostly just out of bitterness. I fold. He doesn't show, but claims it was KQ. He said he needed to make sure I didn't have AK. I made some noise of agreement. He said he would have probably folded if I shoved. I said that would be a big fold with KQ. He didn't say anything. How much of his story is bullshit? It's hard to say.

I was having a great time. I was down from 950 to about 700, but I was still up in a pretty soft 5/5 game. But then I noticed something appalling which made me decide to cash out, and will keep me from ever playing a cash game there again. I saw the dealer drop three green 5,000 chips into the rake slot. Did I see that right? The next hand went down preflop, and there was no rake. But the hand after that grew to over 150, and sure enough, the dealer took three green chips, and two cream-colored 1,000 chips.

I got up and walked over to Andrew's table. "Do you know what the rake is here?" He didn't know, but a white guy next to him said, "10%, capped at 20." "20 dollars?" "Yep."

A $20 rake in any pot that gets to 200,000, which is quite often in that 5/5 game. No thanks.