Playing at the Gemini Club

So, yesterday I tried out the new Gemini Players Club. When I got there a little before 7 there was no cash table and only 5 people for tournament. We stayed a little and finally a table scraped together. I bought in for $245 total ($200 buyin, $25 fee, and $20 in dealer tokes). I sat down and immediately took $100 off of one of the regulars. I raised with AK, flopped a King, and it ran. I built my stack up with a few different hands. I was hovering around $600 when I raised with A8h on the button. One caller for $10, flop 2-2-3 with 2 hearts. I c-bet the flop for $20, he calls. Turn Qh. Bingo. I bet $40, he calls. River is a blank, he checks and I bet $100. He flat calls and mucks when I table the flush. I finally cashed out at the end for $886. I was plus $1465 for the weekend after this session.

I went back today and discovered that the rush was over. I bought in for $235 ($200 + $25 + $10 in tokes). First hand I get JJ, raise it preflop to $10, three callers. Flop is 8-2-4 two diamonds, checked to me and I lead out for $20. Short stack shoves for $55, I repop it all in. Third player folds and I lose to a set of 4's. I bleed down to about $80 when I get 77 in the cutoff. UTG makes it $10, few callers and I call $10. BB makes it $35. UTG (who is tilting from a previous beat) angrily calls. Three others call. I shove for $58 more. BB shoves all-in. UTG shoves in. Everyone else folds. Flop is all blanks, turn a 9, river a blank. BB shows AK, UTG shows A9 suited, my 7's get mushed. I rebuy and play a few hands before the final doozy of the night. Old man at the end of the table makes it $20 UTG. He's been severely overbetting with A-x and I am sure he doesn't have a pair. I wake up to 10's and call. Everyone else folds. Flop 5-8-2 2 hearts. He open shoves for $210. I have $213 behind and snap call. He shows A-J and is 99.999999997% to win. Turn a blank, river an A. I decide I've had enough and leave, still up $200+ for the two days.

As for the club itself, it's very well run. The dealers are quick and efficient, and they bring checks right away when you need them. The food and drink are OK, overall it's a classy place. There are some concerns I had about the security last night though. The guard doesn't look like he could stop an ice cream truck. Unless he's doing the Mr. Furious routine from Mystery Men, that is. The cage door was left unlocked and unattended repeatedly. I understand there was only about 10 people there, and there are cameras everywhere, but it's still a bad idea. Tonight was better, two people covering the cage it was attended all the time. I am told that Saturday night there was over $70k on the tables, so they definitely need to stay on top of the money.

I will definitely play again, and I recommend it to the CPMGers at large. The owner/manager/whatever and I talked and he is emphatic that he wants to spread a variety of games and would absolutely get experienced dealers if we wanted to do mix games or draw games. I hope this takes off.