Casino du Lac Leamy - Poker Room

The day has finally come, Ottawa (okay Gatineau, close enough) has it's own poker room! Casino du Lac Leamy opened their new poker room on January 18th. I didn't get back from Australia until the 19th, so I missed the opening day, but I was there the following day.

There is a problem between the dealers' union and the casino agreeing on wages, so they are only able to use electronic tables until they reach a deal. I was so excited to get to the room that I got lost on my way in. I hadn't been to the casino in a few years and I was going on the directions that my friend had given me when I was talking to him on the phone earlier. If I had just looked at the ground when I walked in, there is a path of squares that say "Poker" leading all the way to the poker room. Duh!

I finally found the room, and I was amazed at what I saw. The poker room is one of the nicest that I've ever played in, and I'm not exaggerating. The room is separated from the rest of the casino by angled panes of glass, so it looks like it's open, but, without the noise of all the slot machines. They also have a really nice bar on one of the ends that is open to the other side of the casino. There are 13 tables in the room, but they are very spaced out, which means, there is room for a lot more tables. They have 2 VIP rooms that are behind red tinted glass, which host the higher-stakes games. The room is dimly lit, which gives it a lounge feel. I personally love it, and while it might not be as big as the room at the Bellagio or Caesar's Palace, it definitely looks as nice.

As for the electronic tables, they are much better than I expected. I played on them on my first trip to Australia back in early 2007, but only for a few minutes and I didn't really have the time to get used to them. It's almost like online poker except you can see who is sitting in front of you. There are pros and cons of course, the pros being that the game is much faster without having to shuffle a deck or count out chips. There also can't be any disagreements since it is all done on the computer. The only con for me is missing the feel of having the chips and cards in your hands. I love having a tower of chips in front of me. If they ever offer PL Omaha at the casino, I would 100% be in favour of the electronic tables over live tables, counting out those pot bets takes an eternity!

As for the service, it is top notch. The staff is extremely nice and they take care of the players very well (shoutout to Bob). If you have a suggestion or complaint, they are quick to address it as well as they are able to.

They even offered me the Presidential Suite at the Hilton for a night of my choosing and of course I accepted. I had the room the following Friday,and I invited around 10 of my closest friends to hang out for the night. Now I've stayed in some pretty expensive suites at the Bellagio and Caesar's, but this room topped them all. It was bigger than an average home that's for sure, sporting a full kitchen and bar, dining room with a 12 seat table, big living room with a Bang & Olufsen entertainment system. My favourite part was the gold-filled marble floors and the grand piano in the entrance.

We all had dinner at Le Baccara and it was amazing. We all chose the "surprise menu", which was a 6 course meal, where you didn’t know what you're getting. Each course was served with a different glass of wine. The presentation was exceptional, and the sommelier really knew his wines. Just to give you an idea of the level of service, my friend's digital camera died on him, and I asked the waiter if there was anywhere in the casino where we could still get batteries (it was 10:00 PM). He said he would go check. Five minutes later, he comes in with two double AA batteries served on a silver platter. All in all, it was a 5 star night!

Okay, back to poker. Now for the best part, the actual games! They spread $1/$2 NL to $5/10 NL and sometimes $10/$20 NL. There is also a couple of limit games, $2/$4 and $5/$10 I believe. I mostly go on weekday afternoons, and the $5/$10 NL game is usually going by the time I get there. The action is unbelievable. There are a few players with very deep pockets and not much card sense. Mostly older businessmen and the likes.

In future posts, I will recap hands from the casino. I would have liked to do it in this post, but it will make it much too long. I'm up around $20,000 in the first couple of weeks, which I'm very happy with, but I wish the $10/$20 NL game would run more often. There is so much money to be made here, I almost feel guilty leaving for Vegas in a couple of weeks!