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In real Donkey fashion

The Donkey House (www.thedonkeyhouse.net) is due to open this weekend after a long and somewhat arduous preparation. You guys should see this place it is pretty amazing. Chalk that up to Louis' handy work and vision. Conceptually, i had my doubts as i am sure many of us did. There was just too many negative intangibles i thought. But if you really think about it, the concept could really feasibly come into fruition. It shouldn't be too hard to sustain customers especially for the daily reasonably priced tournaments. Think of it as a friendly, relatively high stakes home-cash-game without the hassles of driving on the busy freeways of Los Angeles...

The place has four tables set up currently and could easily fit another two (maybe even four if need be). The poker tables are very nicely done pro'ish and comes with the dealer slot plus chip rack. It's even got the Donkey House logo i created printed on the felt, it's a nice touch. They have done a fairly good job of training their dealers to emulate professionals and i have no doubt in time, they could get really good at it... I thought the rolling chairs were a bit odd at first but if you don't mind bumping into your neighbors every now and then (especially Jee who moves around a lot) you would learn that the wheels are a convenience. The cup holders they've got are the inserts kind like in the WSOP so you wouldn't expect too much spillage unless you're a total klutz-- the Donkey House manager, incidentally, is the biggest spiller in our poker world. Seriously, i can't begin to tell you how many times i've had to mop up after him. In fact i've had to deploy a towel in ready-mode every Sunday because of him... But i digress!

You couldn't really complain too much about this poker room. They've pretty much got everything covered, even down to the serving carts they use in Commerce and the Bike (though i doubt the Candy-Cigarette lady will come... lol). The two water fountains in the yard, although serving a purpose not entirely intended for aesthetics (ask any of the Donks why it's there) is a beautiful addition to an otherwise dull backyard. Overall I like it a lot over there, it is a well planned well thought of project. Perhaps it could use better lighting and may i suggest an automatic sliding door? Just a thought Haha... And can i just say again that i built their website? haha. The Donk manager by the way is one tough customer. I think i must have created 50 different variations and color schemes for the logo on the felt which eventually made its way to the website itself. And that wasn't my intention initially. I suppose i should thank him for that because he squeezed off every ounce of creativeness my not-so-creative graphical mind could muster. And mind you, i have never created logos and or websites for anyone (now i've got a few projects in the works and getting paid for it).

Okay shall we move on to the action? Okay. I guess they had been running cash games to promote the card room for a couple of weeks now without rake. I think that was nice of them to do. You wouldn't often find me on these tables though because it is a bit fast and quite frankly too donkey'ish for me. What do they say? Scared money don't win money? Yea that's me, I'll stick with home tourneys thank you very much... I did decide to drop by a few nights ago to check out the action, or maybe to see how loose it really is. At the door, perhaps surprised they almost turned me away! Apparently it is customary to confirm and reserve a seat at the Donk' House, unlike KPT where people just show up even when no mass text is sent out (lol). The Donk' manager then figured (after 5 minutes) i showed up because a certain pretty girl was allegedly coming to play. I had no prior knowledge of this though ( i swear!). Would i had gone by that reason alone you might wonder? You betcha! lol

I looked down at two Kings on the Big Blind position with two players in. A raise of $20 from Seat # 1 was called by Seat # 2. Poker wisdom has taught us to raise in this situation, and i think most would agree. Because Three-way action to the flop with two Kings would seem to be asking for trouble, wouldn't it? I raised another $75 hoping to go heads-up with seat #1 who'd been playing ultra loose with just about anything. Seat # 2 however called almost instantaneously (I should have known. He'd lost his initial buyin of $200 in a matter of minutes then recharged for another $500, $500!!!). I knew then my Kings would be toppled, if not on the flop on the River i'm sure haha... Perhaps i didn't raise enough or maybe i should have moved all in pre-flop (Wouldda Shouldda right?). $75 more in a $210 pot isn't that hard of a call i suppose, but 9-7 offsuit pre-flop hardly qualifies for a $20 hand. Gees!

Meh this is the Donk House, isn't it? Players shall live up to the house moniker.

Goodluck guys!

Posted by: Marc Gabay
Friday, November 09, 2007