Foxwoods: the wonder of it all. It’s the largest casino in the world but the only thing that matters is the poker room. I travel around the country with appearances for my WWE card game Raw Deal, so I know how one place differs from another: and there is no action like the action you'll get at Foxwoods.

www.Foxwoods.com

They will spread a variety of games and stakes and variants depending on the needs and desires of the players. For my first installment of “Foxwoods Follies” for Gutshot, I decided to work my way up the proverbial ladder at Foxwoods through the favored limits to get a better idea of how the action would play out to me as a supposed visitor. With most of my play concentrated on $10-$20, the fluctuations I envisioned being refreshing.

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Stop #1: $4-$8

Buy-in: $300 at 4pm (the Foxwoods buy-in for the tables is just 10 big bets; I knew I was going to be rolling the money from one limit on up to the next so I bought in heavy, if only to build some semblance of an image as an action player)

Interesting hand: after playing only a few hands in the first hour and only showing down premium holdings, I raised under-the-gun with pocket kings only to get called by … all nine opponents. I hit a king on the flop, got checked to, bet, and got called down by five people. The turn still left me with four customers. The river got three callers, all of whom muttered when they saw my hand, and my hand was good to the tune of 20+ big bets.

Fewest # to the flop: 4

Greatest # to the flop: 10

Average: 7-8

Cash-out: $486 at 6pm

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Stop #2: $5-$10 with a “Kill” (When the pot reaches $100 or more, the subsequent hand translates into $10-$20 with the same blinds: $2 and $5. The person who won the pot posts a $10 live bet; players that come into the pot must call the $10 or raise it by $10. If that pot is $100 or more, the “Kill” stays in effect until the next pot is less than $100, then it switches back.)

Buy-in: $486 at 6pm

Interesting hand: it’s a Kill hand with the Kill being under-the-gun +1. He open-raises to $20 by tossing out another two red chips (fives). Many do this in order to win the blinds as any coming into the pot now will have to at least call $20 cold or raise to $30 in order to isolate. With the stakes being traditionally $5-$10, this is a play few do. Sure enough, a person in front of me raises to $30 and I look down at red aces and I cap it at $40. The button cold calls as do the initial raisers. With the flop of 6-8-10, it’s checked to me, I bet, the cold-calling button raises, the pre-flop raises fold, I three-bet, he caps at $40. The turn and river are 5 and J respectively and I check-call him to the river only to see … 10-6 off-suit.

Fewest # to the flop: 3

Greatest # to the flop: 9

Average: 6-7

Cash-out: $419 at 8pm

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Stop #3: $10-$20

Buy-in: $419 at 8pm

Interesting hand: I get 6-7 hearts on the button with six limpers ahead of me. I call and get a flop of 5 hearts 8 hearts J spades. The big blind bets out, almost everyone calls, I raise, he calls, as does everyone else. The turn doesn’t help me and the big blind bets out again, getting six callers, I call, and when I hit the nuts on the river with the off-suit 4, it’s bet and called by five people ahead of me before I can raise and all of them call the raise. Juicy!

Fewest # to the flop: 2 (this one hand was “chopped” by the blinds)

Greatest # to the flop: 9

Average: 6

Cash-out: $647 at 10pm

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Stop #4: $20-$40

Buy-in: $647 at 10pm

Interesting hand: sorry, not really anything too exciting as the play starts reaching the competent level by the $20-$40.

Fewest # to the flop: 2 (many hands were chopped by the blinds)

Greatest # to the flop: 6

Average: 4

Cash-out: $681 at 4am – I stayed for six hours hoping for a big payday on a hand, but after a dozen hours of nonstop poker, my friends and I were done.

In future installments of “Foxwoods Follies,” I’ll give more insight into the texture of the games at Foxwoods and the cast of characters involved in them.