A-Cee!

So I flew into Philadephia Thursday night for a weekend wedding, but more importantly (sorry Hastings), for a chance to get involved in some action at the Borgata in nearby Atlantic City. I tell you, it's a good thing I live in Austin, 4 hours from the closest live poker spot, and not in Philly, or anywhere closer to a casino. I'd be a broke alcoholic, about 50 pounds fatter, and, based on a quick glance at the faces around the average poker room, quite a bit uglier.

So my old UVA friend AA picked me up at the airport and it was don't pass go, go directly to the Borgata. After a delayed flight (I'm about done with American Airlines altogether) and the hour+ drive to AC, it was 2am, but no amount of valium can put me to sleep when I've just arrived at a casino. So we dropped off our bags and went straight to the tables.

We found the first 1-2NL table we could both sit down at, and it was almost no time before I was reminded why live low-limit poker is so wonderful. A drunk man in his 50s started showing off a beautifully bad loose-passive game, taking pots left and right from people trying to out-maneuver him. In one hand, he raised PF to $8, got re-raised to $25 by a LP player, and called, going to the flop 3-handed. Flop came 4-5-6 rainbow, Drunk Guy checked, the raiser C-bet $40, and Drunk Guy calls. A 5 and a Q fall, and they check the rest of the way, with the aggressor showing AK, and Drunk Guy showing 89o(!). Awesome. Another bad player to my left called a PF raise in a 5-way pot with AK, flopped a K, and proceeded to check all the way to the end. Oh I love it.

But I really only got one chance to prey on these easy targets, when I called PF with 7s-8s and it flopped 6-9h-10h. An EP caller led out for $20, Drunk guy called, and I raised to $60. EP folded, Drunk Guy made a predictable call. Turn brought a 7, souring me a little, but with Drunk Guy, who knew. I only had $90 behind and pushed it all in. Unfortunately, it was the one time this guy realized he didn't have a chance, so he folded. I ended a short first night at around 4:30am, up $70.

On Friday morning we were back at the tables about as soon as we could muster. We only had one day to get in enough card playing to hold me over until the next time I can make it to a casino. And with a baby girl due in 2 months, it may well be 2026 before that happens.

We started at 1-2NL again, and another UVA friend, Dave, joined AA and myself for the action. It doesn't matter the stakes when you get a chance to sit down with two friends. And although I was itching to step up to a 2-5NL game, I was close to frothing after seeing how disgustingly loose/passive an old man to our left was playing. I figured drool would be an easy tell to pick up, so I focused on keeping my mouth shut. We'll call him the Russian, although AA didn't think that was his accent. I thought I had picked up a wonderful chance to filet him when I looked down at my biggest starting hand since I had arrived in AC - QQ. I raised it up to $15 and saw the flop heads-up with the Russian. The flop brought 10-K-A, which was very unfortunate. But I figured one bullet might be worth it, but my boy called rather quickly. We checked down the two blanks that followed, and he showed me a righteous A-3o to take it down. And sadly, I didn't get another chance to fleece him. He confessed, before walking away, that he had dropped $1000 in his foray at that table. It takes hard work to drop that much at a 1-2 game.

I wish I had some interesting hands to relate, but everything was pretty straightforward. I moved over to a 2-5NL table, where I finally picked up AA, raised and won a 3-way pot with a C-bet. I won another decent pot when I played A-Q really passively (early jitters), limping and then calling a raise. The flop brought an A, my opponent C-bet $40 and I called. We checked a blank turn, and when the river brought a very nice Q, I bet $70. Unfortunately, he wasn't playing an A because he folded pretty quickly. Then I lost a big chunk back to the same opponent when I called his PFR with 5c-7c, it flopped Kc-6c-9h, I checked, he bet about $50, and I came over the top to put him all-in for an additional $130. He showed K8o and I missed my flush and straight outs. I ended on an upswing when I raise PF with AsJs, the flop came A-4-A, I C-bet $40, and one player pushed for an additional $75. He showed A6 and I ended up leaving that table up $140.

Sadly, that was it. +$250 at the tables, just enough of a winning session to make you want to play more. It takes a lot more patience for me to play my game in a live setting, but the laughable game that some of those players play make it well worth my while. Both Dave and AA came out winners as well, with AA being to biggest winner. Nothing lifts the spirits like playing with 2 friends and having everyone come out black. Very nice job guys.

Not sure how much time I'll have to play online this week but I'll update if there's anything to update.