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Day Tripping in AC
Sunday, November 13, 2005

I love Atlantic City. And now, I love the Borgata too. On Saturday, Dave Ruff, Timmy Bones (aka Vinny Delpino, aka Mike D), and I went to the Borgata in AC for a day of poker. When I came back, I was $230 richer.

I got out of the train to Hoboken, NJ at about 3pm. I'm used to taking 3 hrs to drive to AC, but from their place, it was a little less than 2 hrs.

The Borgata is amazing. I've been there before, but never for poker. At the -EV table games (which I forced myself to avoid), the limits are too high. The club in the Borgata had a long line with lots of under-dressed girls and juiced up, chain wearing, dueschebags. But the poker room is sheer delight.

The poker room is underneath the club. We'll get to the implications of that genius arrangement later. The room has something like 50 tables. Unfortunately, the lists for the games were long. I mean loooooooooooong. I put myself down for 1/2 NL, 2/4 limit, and 3/6 limit. Ruff and Bones put themselves down on 1/2 NL only.

After about 1 1/2 hrs, we were finally called for NL. My table seemed good. I was in the 1s. I think it may have become my favorite because I don't have to worry about exposing my cards with the dealer on my right. Now, the table changed a lot over time (8+ hours), but notable players included Really Fat Guy, the White Trash Couple (I think she was digging me...or my chips), Two Black Dudes, the redheaded Bill Gates, and the Big Stack.

The table was weird. I started out slow. I put in my earphones, and fiddled with my dinky 20 song MP3 player. The funny thing is, I barely turned the thing on. I pulled a move out of Phil Ivey's book and pretended that I was listening. Now, I don't think this did anything at all. But why not throw a curve ball out there.

Now, I may go through some particular hands. But let me give the overall feel I had. I played tighter than I do online. However, for a while, I changed up gears. I won big hands with 38s, T7s, 79o. Later in the night, after dinner, I reverted back to tighter play.

And I had fun the whole time too. It was another table where I became 'friends' with most of the players. There are always some bad eggs, like the as yet unnamed Hotshot D-bag, and the Two Black Dudes. The rest were all pals though. Even Big Stack, who was my number one nemesis at the table.

I wish I could go into a lot of details, but I'm spent. I'll give the cliff notes. I saw F-Train, Joaquin, and some other bloggers (presumably bloggers) at the Borgata. I knew they were in AC, but it was a nice surprise that they were at the Borgata.

Ruff, Bones and I were placed at separate tables to start. Ruff started out poorly with two suckouts taking most of his chips, but won a $700 pot, to bring him up a good chunk of change. Bones faced aggressive opposition and dead cards, so he didn't have the best of luck.

I enjoyed my passive, limping table while I pretended to listen to music and made friends. I won a huge pot limping with T7s, when I flopped an inside straight draw. The 7 limpers (!) all checked around. The turn gave me the straight. I bet $15 in early position. An Asian player raised to $30. Everyone else folded. I pushed all-in (which was really only his $70-100). He called with 57, for a lower straight. Boo. Ya.

In another hand, I played 38c in the BB. The flop was AcKcJc. There were about 5 or 6 players in the pot. I didn't want it to check around and give someone another club for a higher flush, so I bet $10. One player calls. The Big Stack raised to $65! I thought for a moment. Hmm...what could he have. I'm not giving him another card if I don't have to. I raise to $120! Wo! He thinks for a while (the caller folded) and then folded, too. He said he had a 9 high flush. I showed my 8 high flush...and then realized he was lying. Dude, the only hands that had him beat were a T high or Q high flush. Damn me!

A little while later, I held 99 and raised to 10 preflop. The flop was T84 or something similar. I bet out 20, and he re-raised to 60. I called after thinking for a while. I figured that it would make sense for him to bluff AK, or another pair of high suited cards. I was hoping my call would slow him down. On the next card, an Ace, I knew I was in trouble. He bet out 65. I folded after taking my sweet time. I didn't want to rush either decision. About a hand or two later, I walked to his side of the table to chat for a minute. I buttered him up. "You and me are the only ones willing to bet any money out there." It was an accurrate statement. "But what the hell did you have with the 65 raise?" "You really want to know? I had top-pair, top-kicker after the flop (AT), and hit two pair on the turn." This time, I believed him. He didn't ask what I had, but if he had, I would've told him pocket Jacks. After all, I wanted to save some face.

I was up $250 exactly at about 11:30pm. I was starving, so I went over to Bones and Ruff was there too. We agreed to get some "dinner". Now, when you sign out of the Borgata poker room for a dinner break, they take your name down and give you 2 hrs to return. When you return you are placed on the top of the wait list. Dinner was great. Pancakes and chocolate milk hit the spot, but did seem like an odd combo after my Corona's with lime.

When we returned to the poker room, we only waited 5 minutes before being reseated. Unfortunately, Ruff was on my old table and I was on a new table, with a couple of obnoxious characters. As per usual, I made friends with my neighbor, named Dipul, or Dip for short. We had a decent time making fun of the hipster 40-year-old guy on the other end of the table trying desperately to be witty and funny. Whenever he'd make one of his comments and started chuckling, Dip and I followed suit with our own over-blown fake laughs. I generally try not to be a dick at the table, but fun is fun.

Fortunately, I arranged to be moved to my old table once a spot openned up. About 30 minutes and $85 in losses later, I sat down between Ruff (on my right) and my nemesis Big Stack. Now understand that I had been referring to him as my "nemesis" for a while, but it was all good because after a while at a table you can build a rapport. White trash boyfriend, Sean, stood behind me. His girlfriend, Liz, was still at the table, one seat to the right of Ruff. Bill Gates was to the left of Nemesis. Two Black Dudes were now at the table (they weren't there when I left) and were the new agressors. I got back into a tight game, watching Nemesis and Bald Black Dude go at it. After a while, something changed. The Two Black Dudes were severely frustrated. It was plain on their faces. They stopped betting 20 pre-flop and started folding or limping. From 115 (I sat for post-dinner poker with 200 and lost 85 at Dip's table), I dropped to 70 or so. I then had this sweet hand.

Pre-flop, I was dealt AQ in the SB or BB. There were a lot of limpers all around, so I bumped it up to 12. Liz was the only caller. After that beautiful flop, AAx, I wanted to keep her around. I bet 10. She raised to 25. I looked at my stack and didn't like what I saw. I had about 50 left. I called her bet and stated, "Liz, are you making a fool out of me with Ace Ace?" My intention was to communicate to her that I didn't have an Ace. Now, understand that I had been watching her. She was the type of player to push pre-flop with KT or 55 when she was down to $30. She was generally loose and overvalued her cards. I was hoping she had a pocket pair or an Ace with a lower kicker. The turn was an 8 or something similar. The thought of her hitting a full house crossed my mind, but I decided to not worry and go with it. I had about 35 left and pushed. I didn't hear her, but when I looked up, I saw her cards face up, A9. I asked, "Wait did you fold?" "No, I called." I flipped up my AQ and took down the hand after the J river.

With about 140 I continued to work my way back up. I was up to 220 when I had this ill-fated hand against Ruff. Again, there were 5 or 6 limpers. I held KQ and raised it to 12 or 15. Only Ruff called. The Ace high flop looked good to me. I bet out 15 and Ruff called. The turn was harmless, so I bluffed 15 again. He called. The river was a blank and I thought, either I lose or I lead out with one more bet and try to represent something big. I bet 25 and he called. Shit! I showed my bluff and he showed his Ace low. Not too long after, we left the table. Ruff, who was down a lot, came back to win 9$. I was down $20 for the session, but $230 overall. Bones, who stopped by our table here and there, had lost enough that I didn't feel like asking details.

We made our way to the car, where I hopped in the back and made small talk until nodding off. When I woke up we were near home. I thanked Ruff and Bones (and I thank them again here) for taking me along with them. I had an awesome time and made some cool cash. I got to the Hoboken Path train at 6:15. By the time I was back in my apartment, it was 7am. I crawled into bed, fully clothed, and slept until 2pm.

I love AC. I love the Borgata. And I love this whole day trip thing. Thanks Ruff and Bones. I'm out!

This poker is lumpy.

posted by Jordan @ 3:31 PM,

10 Comments:

At 11:08 PM, Blogger TripJax said...

The hand with Liz, you never wrote down what the flop was...keeping me hanging...

Anyway, nice write up. Gotta live vicariously through my boys...

You played in AC and I played with a frequent pooper (see my most recent post).

 
At 11:54 PM, Blogger surflexus said...

Sounds like a great time...good post.

 
At 7:43 AM, Blogger Jordan said...

Problem solved, Trip. The flop was AAx, giving me a set with a Queen kicker. She had A9, giving her a weaker set. I pretended like I feared her having quad Aces to communicate to her that I didn't have an Ace. I'm one tricky bastard.

 
At 9:11 AM, Blogger GaryC said...

You are one tricky bastard, for sure. I think I would be the "witty, hipster, 40 year old" that you were making fun of.

Nice write-up.

G

 
At 10:00 AM, Blogger TripJax said...

Sweet bastard you shanked Liz for all her cashola on that move...and I love it...

 
At 11:10 AM, Blogger Joaquin "The Rooster" Ochoa said...

Should have pushed with that KQ after the turn...just my humble opinion...put him to the test...if you are going to shoot at a pot until the end...might as well make it a nice big beat from the start is my take.

 
At 11:32 AM, Blogger Dave said...

Live poker does have one big advantage over online poker. You can "act" it up all you want, talk, shoot the bull and pick up on tells. Online, most people ignore chat and most of the time you can't get many reads on them.

Nice write-up. Always good to read some "real" stories about the live poker table world.

 
At 6:53 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I may have to take a journey to the Casino a couple hours away this coming weekend. Reading your post about it in AC makes me want to try the real game again.

 
At 10:19 PM, Blogger Jordan said...

Yeah, um as with rambling posts like this, sometimes things get left out. I made reference to the club above the poker room. The thing is, when the club is going from 12 to 4 or so, the bass is so loud that the pokerroom gets heavy thud. I mean, you'd sit there for 4 hrs as though you are in your shitbag apartment and your upstairs neighbors are partying down. Its a bit unnerving. Well, sorta. Some people mentioned it unnerving them, but for me it wasn't bad. But I guess I was winning, which can make all the difference in one's opinion.

Oh, and if this story says nothing else, it as least says this, AC. Any date, any time.

 
At 11:37 PM, Blogger F-Train said...

Yeah, to say the club is poorly located is an understatement.

Great to see you again man. Next time, it hopefully won't be such a brief visit.

 

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