NEW HOURS OF OPERATION AT RIVERS CASINO & RESORT SCHENECTADY

Just finished a four casino multi state trip while going to a family reunion. I visited Rivers Casino in Schenectady, NY Friday morning. It’s a small casino but with many craps tables, $5 minimum 10x odds. Friendly dealers and floor with a serious emphasis on customer service. Clean place.
No smoking within 25 feet of the building except for a smoking lounge outside with slots. Casino surrounded by food outlets which seem to be more common now. I won a quick $1500 then dropped $3300 in the afternoon. All with $10 come bets with odds of $100. Plenty of room to play, with tables lightly populated.
Next was Turning Stone Resort in Oneida, NY. Huge crowds there for the Reba concert. Heavy emphasis on Keno, Bingo and Food. Big casino with 5 craps tables in three locations. $10 & $25 minimums. I won $500 playing $10 come bets and 345 odds. Came back late at night and won $1300 then lost $700 at the final table. No free drinks without signing up for the players card. Lots of opportunities to play as the crowds were younger and not particularly interested in playing craps. They liked watching though.
Late Saturday night, I hit the Mohegan Sun Pocono. It’s a circular casino surrounded by food. Some construction visible. 3 craps tables, $5 or $10 minimum with 345 odds. 5x odds if you bet $25 on pass or come. Won $1800 in a marathon session to 445am. Had some dealer conflict which is very rare for me. He was distracted and not listening well. As was I. Casino cut off all alcohol at 2am. Wild swings but generally positive rolls.
Finally 7am rolled into Parx Casino in Bensalem, PA around 30 minutes from home. Casino is high volume, always busy, showing some age. Regulars were of course there Sunday morning first thing. Lots of hops bettors slowed play down. One packed table open of 4, $10 minimum, 345 odds. Won $500 in an hour and a half, cashed out and staggered home at 830am.
Overall up about a $1,000 but needed the rest of Sunday to recover.

Welcome to the monthly events post for August 2017, where you can submit information about upcoming events and activities. It can be difficult to navigate all that our city has to offer, especially for new residents and students. Submit even if you think it's obvious. Submissions with links to the event page (official websites, Facebook, etc.), time, date, and location are particularly appreciated. And if you're part of an organization that's hosting an event, let us know about the details here. Separate posts to Troy about individual events or a series of events are still welcome. Submissions will be included in the list which will be updated regularly to include new information.
What events and activities are you looking forward to this August? Check back regularly for updates!
Submissions, in no particular order (last updated August 19 @ noon):

• Picasso: Encounters is on exhibit at The Clark in Williamstown, Massachusetts until August 27th. Features some of Picasso's paintings and a large number of his prints. Not local, but worth the drive.
  
• The Troy Farmer's Market from 9am-2pm every Saturday, rain or shine, in Monument Square. The biggest in the region (confirmed by Albany Business Review, July 2017) and possibly Upstate NY with close to 90 vendors. Browse through crafts, food stalls, farm stands, etc. Live entertainment every week.
  
• Oakwood Cemetery will be hosting a Summer Concert on the Lawn with The Colonie Town Band, August 1st from 7-8pm. There will also be a Spirits Under the Stars wine tasting from 6-8pm that same night. Call ahead to register. On August 22nd from 6-8pm, there will be a "You Died How?!?" Tour.
  
• Troy Flea is "an ever growing, hip outdoor summefall market located in Troy’s Riverfront Park that features a rotating slate of more than two dozen vendors." August 13th and 27th from 10am-3pm, rain or shine.
  
• "Summer in the City Flea Market and Community Day will be held Saturday(s)... thru August 26, 2017 at Powers Park... from 8am-5pm. There will be activities for all ages, live entertainment, great food, carnival games, bouncy entertainment when available, community resources, & great deals on items. The flea market will benefit the Block Center & the youth we serve in the City of Troy."
  
• Go watch the Tri-City ValleyCats play. Here's their August schedule. The NY-Penn League All Star Game is August 15th at the Joe this year.
  
• Troy Night Out on August 25th from 5-9pm. Lots of activities, entertainment, food specials, etc., with information usually released at least a week in advance. Frequent after parties hosted by downtown restaurants and bars. This month's theme is "Welcome Back Students and Teachers."
  
• Poetic Vibe every Monday, 7-9pm at the Troy Kitchen. There are usually musical performances every Thursday as well.
  
• Fitness in the Park is free instructed yoga in Riverfront Park every Sunday from 9-10am, as suggested by u/rockyosockz.
  
• The Hirsch Observatory at RPI is open to the public for stargazing every Saturday night (weather permitting) from 8-10pm, as suggested by u/JJ_The_Jet.
  
• Collard City Growers is an urban neighborhood farm in North Troy that accepts volunteer work every Sunday, usually from noon-4pm. If you're interested, message them your email address on Facebook. As suggested by u/OhCrow.
  
• St. Paul's Episcopal Church offers open house Tiffany tours every Saturday from 11am-12:30pm. Louis Comfort Tiffany's company was hired to redecorate the interior in the 1890s into the stunning work that remains today. The Troy Public Library is another great spot to view Tiffany's work.
  
• Free beer at u/PlagueofCustom's apartment.
  
• The Electric City Food Truck Fest at Rivers Casino in Schenectady, August 19th from noon-5pm. Included because I love food trucks.
  
• Troy Pop Up will be having another art show, July 28th from 5:30-9pm. Free wine and music while you browse and talk to the artists and other patrons. Donations are accepted. As suggested by u/PlagueofCustom.
  
• Leaded to Unleaded Cruise In is a car meet sponsored by 1945 Speed and Custom on July 30th from 8am-noon. There will be cars, food, coffee, and a raffle. The event is free but donations are encouraged to help cover costs. As suggested by u/cmaxby.
  
• Cooking in the Garden at The Demonstration Garden at The Robert C. Parker School in Wynantskill, August 1st from 7-8pm. "What can you do with summer’s gorgeous produce? Join our Master Gardeners as they make three kinds of pesto (arugula, kale & sun-dried tomato), sautéed radishes, gazpacho, tomato/watermelon salad and spiralize various vegetables for summer treats. Samples and recipes provided!"
  
• Chicken Joe's will be opening their Troy location on August 5th at noon.
  
• Troy Summer Square is a temporary community art project ending August 5th that turns Broadway between River and 2nd into a public square. Events: August 2 - Beer Garden from 5:30-7:30pm, August 3 - Interactive Painting and Good Vibes + Dancing from 5-7pm, August 4 - Everyday Experts from 6-8pm, and August 5 - “Troy”nglwood BYOP (picnic) from 5-8pm.
  
• Ink & Drink presented by Troy Cloth and Paper, 4pm August 6th at Joseph Bruno Stadium. Ink your own t-shirt and enjoy the ValleyCats with beer and food from the box seats behind home plate. Starts at $50, includes admission to the game. As suggested by u/dmlanger.
  
• Urban Sketch and Sangria at The Art Center, August 15th, 5:30-7:30pm. $35, pre-registration is required. "Try your hand at urban drawing using Downtown Troy as your scenery and enjoy a refreshing Sangria! Watercolor extraordinaire, Tony Conner of Bennington, Vermont will lead the way!" SOLD OUT
  
• Bike Breakfast is August 9th from 7-10am in Monument Square. Food and drinks will be served by Troy Bike Rescue. Share your ideas for making Troy a more cyclist friendly city and/or chat with your fellow riders. As suggested by u/eccentricfather.
  
• Rockin' on the River, as suggested by u/rockyosockz, is a free concert series on Wednesday evenings near Green Island Bridge, starting around 5pm. The remaining acts are as follows: August 2 — SIRSY with Sly Fox and The Hustlers & August 9 — Rumours – Fleetwood Mac Tribute
  
• Jazz@Rensselaer has a free summer concert on the 9th at 7pm on the lawn behind the Commons Dining Hall, as suggested by mcguik3.
  
• A churrascaria-style Brazilian barbecue will be served at The Shop on August 10th from 6-9:30pm along with drinks and music. $35, tickets required.
  
• Caribbean Day in the Park is an annual event in Prospect Park featuring Caribbean music, dance, and food. August 12th from noon-7pm.
  
• Second Saturday Cinema will be screening 'The Princess Bride' for free at The Gasholder on August 12th at 8:30pm. As suggested by u/bricksonfifth.
  
• The 23rd Annual Poestenkill Fire Company Car Show is August 13th. As u/KD2KDV states: Spectators are free, and cars for the show are $8-10, food varies. We also have spaces for vendors.
  
• Third Street Flea is a one-time pop-up indoor summer garage sale and maker's market. August 12th from 9am-4pm and August 13th 10am-3pm at 38 3rd Street. As suggested by u/OhCrow.
  
• A Botanical Watercolor Workshop will be held at Forage+Sundry on August 17th from 6-8pm. "In this two hour workshop you will learn about the history of botanical drawing, color theory, and various watercolor techniques. All materials are included! You will be painting from live Forage+Sundry plants!" $55, pre-registration required.
  
• Unity Ride is a monthly community bike ride hosted by the Troy Bike Rescue. Meet others in Riverfront Park at 5:30pm, Thursday, August 17th then bike through town. As suggested by u/OhCrow.
  
• At EMPAC, as suggested by u/33554432: YOUARENOWHERE, a performance by Andrew Schneider August 10th and 11th at 8pm, and The Ambrose Akinmusire Quartet (jazz) August 16th at 8pm.
  

What do you do?
Winning Occasionally Means Not Losing So Much
On a trip to Atlantic City, I had the pleasure of checking out the (then) much improved Hilton Casino poker room, adeptly managed by Thom “TK” Krauss. It was a classy throw-back room with a picture window (something you will never find in other casinos), looking out on the bustling AC city life. Too bad it’s all gone as this article was published in 2011, and the Hilton poker room is gone.
Tournaments were held at various times of the day (some to accommodate the bus loads of poker players, a great number being seniors), who frequented this Atlantic City haunt. One surprising aspect of the tournament promotion scheme included several “no juice” events, where-by all the entry money was returned in the form of payouts; the house took nada. It should be noted that this particular card room also seems to reward its patrons with generous comps ($2 an hour while at ½ NL tables), and other perks after extended play. You just had to ask to see what you qualify for besides a spectacular Sunday thru Thursday room rate. Ah, the good ole days!
The bad beat jackpot was over $70k on this particular day; however no one took it down during my stay (but it was not for the lack of trying). As is often the case, aces full of jacks beaten by 4 of a kind or better, providing both cards in your hand play, was the established rule. Ironically, at another AC casino earlier that week, two “friends” (so the story goes); were in a hand together and checked down what appeared to be a winning jackpot hand. Come to find out they broke another established rule, “$20 must be in the pot.” From what I heard, there were some pretty ticked off locals who would have received a nice size table share if only the two players would have played the hand properly. Oh well, you can’t account for dumb luck or dumb mistakes, can you?
Speaking of mistakes, I’d like to share with you the “hand” of my trip. I was relaxing the last evening, after sharing a birthday dinner with some friends at the Borgota buffet. I was a bit uncomfortable from the massive dinner and didn’t feel my brain was functioning in tip top order for a higher game, so I decided to play a bit of ½ NL at the Hilton, in hopes that I or another unsuspecting player, might fall into a jackpot situation. Now that would really cap off 3 great days ! Back to the main hand I want to share with you. We were mostly playing 9-10 handed at a loose-aggressive table. Seat two plays any connectors, gappers, or suited cards: a local, with a stack of $155. Seat 7 (down from Schenectady on a semi-annual poker bus trip with 20 other poker players) is new, and has played 5 out of 5 hands dealt since he sat down, caught a flush with any two suited in one hand, bet an AK hard in another hand, and seemed like an action player who has about $475 in stack. NOTE: He and a friend had been playing 20/40 limit at Taj most of day and bragged about scoring big. Money to burn! Oh, and while he was in a tournament just 20 minutes earlier, his friend busted him out on 3rd hand, AQ vs AJ, he had the AQ, AJ on flop.
I'm in the big blind (my stack is $420ish), and I'm dealt Qc Jc, and seat 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, and I see the unraised flop. $13 in the pot I believe, sb folded.
Flop is Qh Qd As.
I check and checked all around (surprise-surprise).
Turn is a 9c.
I check again; seat 2 bets $7; seat 7 makes it $17, and I then make it $50.
Seat 2 soundly declares all-in before I finish counting my money into the pot. Seat 7 says, “I raise whatever he has, and $200 more.” And I’m still not finished stacking my red 5's into a stack of 10 for my bet and this all happens in a Bang-Bang fashion!
Wow, I sit back and the wheels are turning.
Here are your questions:
What did I do? What do you think they potentially had? What was the outcome?
Yikes, what's a fella supposed to think/do? What you would do? You can't go back and play it differently from the start; you have to decide what to do after the 5th raise in the hand, on the turn.
The outcome:
I knew I was beaten; I did not know "for sure" by which one of my opponents and did not want to push the rest of my chips for a Bronze Medal (finishing third). So I folded.
Seat 2 - Pocket Aces (flopped the house)
Seat 7 - Pocket Nines (made the house on the turn)
Wait for it: not a Queen on the river (whew), but it was a Jack.
Seat 2 and I would have lost to the initial all-in bettor from Seat 2; however, I would have filled at the end and taken money from Seat 7.
Now, would or could you have called after those raises on the turn?
I couldn't in good conscience for all my chips knowing one or both had a made hand but if you could have; major props to you!
A final note: After that massive dinner it was this hand that quickly brought my brain back to “tip top” order!