Aviation
Club Paris - Trip Report
Just
got back from a weekend in Paris and a
couple of sessions at the Aviation Club.
The only other experience I've had with
poker in Europe was at the Concorde Club
in Vienna and thought I should expect
at least a similar experience but that
proved to be not the case at all.
The
first big difference was the location.
Corcorde is close to the outskirts of
Vienna while the Aviation Club is right
in the middle of the busiest area of Paris
(about 500 m from the Arc de Triomphe
on the Champs Elysee). My hotel was just
a few blocks away but if you try this
strategy you'll be paying through the
nose for your accommodations. I paid about
150 USD for a small piece-of-crap double
room ... if I had gone for something remotely
decent I'm sure it would have run close
to 250-300 USD a night for that area.
Certainly going during tourist season
didn't help me either.
You
need to get through 2 smartly dressed
bouncers outside on the street before
you get into the club itself. There is
a dress code - no runners or jeans, nice
shirt, jacket preferred but not mandatory
- however, it seems the regulars can get
away with not following it strictly. You
need a passport as identification to become
a member but after you fill out a quick
form you're all set. I only hung out in
the poker area but I'm pretty sure there's
a lot more to the club including casino
games and what I'm told is a fantastic
gourmet restaurant, which I should have
investigated but didn't. Just before you
get to the poker rooms there is also a
hallway with 6-8 backgammon boards which
were about half full with various cash
games.
The
other major difference from the Concorde
was the games. All the poker was pot-limit.
There were 4 levels of buy-ins: 200 FRF,
1000 FRF, 2500 FRF and 5000 FRF (1 USD
~ 7.8 FRF). The lower tables had a blind
structure while the higher ones had antes
(I played at the 1000 FRF table and there
were 3 blinds of 10, 10 and 25). At the
1000 FRF buy-in table there was a drop
of 100 FRF per hour but I'm not sure about
the other limits. It was all dealer's
choice and some of the games were totally
new to me. The button always gets to choose
1 out of 10 games and I think they were:
1)
Texas Hold 'em
2) Omaha Hi-Lo (8 or better)
3) Regular 7-Stud (no one ever played
this, not even once)
4) 7-Stud Hi-Lo (8 or better)
5) 4 Card Omaha
6) 5 Card Omaha
7) "Courcheval" - This is the same as
5-Card Omaha but you get to see one card
of the flop before the first round of
betting.
8) "Double Hold 'Em" - Same as hold'em
but with 2 boards of 5 cards each instead
of 1 and the highest hand of one board
splits the pot with the highest hand of
the other board.
9) "Aviation" - Similar to Pineapple but
not quite ... you get 4 cards, discard
one of them, bet, see the flop, discard
another card (so you now have 2 cards
in your hand) and then it plays out like
Hold'em.
10) Can't remember the 10th one because
no one ever played it.
The
most popular games were Hold'em, Omaha
Hi-Lo and Courcheval and they evenly made
up about 80-85% of the games.
The
theme I will remember most was that it
wasn't so important how much you won or
lost as it was HOW you did it. Style was
everything. I just can't imagine for example
what would happen if a player threw cards
at the dealer; I bet they don't even have
a rule for it because it would just be
impossible. It's interesting because it
makes the 20-minute Sit-Out rule I saw
at the Commerce just laughable. You'll
also never have anyone whine to you about
a bad beat. Win or lose, the players have
a respect for the game that they would
never betray, at least not on the outside
anyway. I once missed a blind bet to go
to the bathroom and never had to make
it up because the prevailing spirit was
that these petty things even out in the
long run. Trying to shoot an angle like
this is dishonorable and just not a consideration.
I
would have been quite intimidated when
I first walked in if it weren't for the
2 bottles of Beaujolais we had at supper.
:-) I have a Canadian public school knowledge
of French which really helped a lot ...
if it weren't for that then the combination
of playing all these new games with mostly
regulars of the club and not being able
to even talk to them would have been tough,
for me at least. Plus it was the first
time ever for me playing a pot limit game
of any kind.
Having said that though, if you're the
type that isn't shy about just asking
a lot of questions and don't mind risking
a little wrath if you go overboard (this
happened to a fellow from California who
needed a lot of explaining about the games
... luckily he stuck it out and kept playing!)
then you'll have a great time. The dealers
are very good, especially about announcing
quickly how much the pot is for a max
bet, and about half the time the winner
of the pot toked 10 FRF (the other half
did not toke). The poker room manager
is Bruno Fitoussi, who was away in London
for the weekend, but a collage of pictures
is proudly displayed showing how he just
recently won the World Heads Up Championships
in Vienna (at the Concorde).
Overall
experience was excellent and I highly
recommend stopping by if you ever get
the chance.
Jan
Suchanek
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