A Rough Start (AC Trip Report Pt. 1)
Friday, January 27, 2006
Well, where to begin. I guess I'll begin at the beginning, and go on till I come to the end: then stop. Sounds about as good as a plan as any one.
As expected, Roose showed up before my work day officially ended, but I still high-tailed it out of there. We got to AC in just short of 3 hrs, arrive at 8:51. Yep. 8:51. I was practically staring at the clock in anticipation. We checked into the Showboat and dropped off our stuff in our (un-upgraded, but not for lack of trying) room.
Robbie Hole had to work on Thursday, so he was going to meet us out Thursday night. I paced the room while Roose got settled in. Its uncanny how some things are so predictable. We walked around the floor games. Roose had a hankerin' for a Pai Gow spankerin' but I was a bit more timid. My goal this faux-weekend was to control the temptation to gamble. I was going to AC to play poker, and play poker well. After pacing the floor for 10 minutes (it was a desperate sight, quiet and a whole sesction of tables closed), I laid it out to Roose: "I've been here 20 minutes and I haven't had any action!" I was incredulous.
Not surprisingly, Roose, a full fledged fellow moderate to extreme degenerate (my how he's grown!), complied in no time. We both were sat for 1/2 tables...2 different tables. I remember when we were about to be seated, one table were all younger white males, and the other one was a women's lib meeting at the UN. I was shipped to the yound white males. It didn't take long until I dropped this line: "Floor! Open seat! We beed another white male over here!" Yeah. I'm a real riot.
The white male table was great though. In seat 1 was quiet white guy. 2 was jolly fat pothead white guy. He actually had a bong as a card protector. But we'll learn more about that later. In the 3 seat was skinny, jerky, slightly older white guy. When I got to the table, he was holding his head like he just walked in on his girlfriend and his father. He might as well have worn a target. That tilting mo fo was gonna pay me off. Then there was the preacher's son. He claimed he used to have face rings and really long hair. Hahahaha! Sorry dude, that's a bluff if ever I saw one. To his left was a succession of players that could all be described as timid white guys. One was as scared as a fish on his first day in the big house. I had fun raising him off of hands. To my right was a real by the book guy. A little nerdy. One to his right was Pat, my official table buddy for the night. I have a lot of respect for his game, even though he did bust me eventually. That's the kind of guy I am.
Here are the highlights. I was pretty aggressive, but only when opportunity arose. I got into a hand against Pat that got me a lot of respect. Preflop, I raise with QQ in BB to 22. There were two or three limpers. Everyone folded to Pat on the button. He called. The flop were all under cards. I check. He bets 20. I raise to 50. He looks down and goes all in. Now, Pat was a sharp player. No doubt about that. He had me outstacked. At this point, having started with 160, I was up to about 230, not including what I had already thrown into the pot. I decided to lay the QQ down, but I wanted to confirm my suspicions. I announced rather loudly that I was laying the hand down while I put the two ladies face up on the table. Now, call me crazy, but this was not an amazing move to me, folding QQ. I thought I had lost, either to a flopped set or to an overpair. I could just read it in the hand. He's smart. Calls my raise, hits a flop, go absurdly over the top with an all-in bet because it'll make me (another smart player) think that he is bluffing. That was my thought process. When I tabled the Queens I thought nothing of it. But when he showed his KK faceup, the table sorta lit up. A bunch of the players near me and across the way were talking about the hand. "Would you've laid down Queens?" Most wouldn't have. That made me feel...special. For a while at least.
I played the suited hammer and bluffed big on a flop. I had to show it. Jerky guy, across the table, must've noticed it. A little while later I had AKs. I bet preflop and Jerky called. Remember, this is the guy wearing the target. The flop was all unders, 873 or some such nonsense. I thought for a moment and checked. He hadn't played many hands. He checked right back at me. I let out an inner sigh. The next card was another 8. I decided it was time to take my hand. I bet 20 or so. He went into the tank. "I know you have nothing. I know you do. God. I think I have the best hand. Gah!" He folded face up: KT! HAHAHAHA! Don't waste my time buddy.
Not too long after, I hear Jerky talking to Fat guy. Suddenly, Fat gets up and raises his voice. Jerky shoots up too. "You wanna go outside?" Jerky asked. "Hell yeah, I'll take this outside."
Now, rewind. From what we pieced together later. Jerky was bitching about his bad luck. Fatty was finally fed up after several hours and told him to stop bitching. Jerky replied, "Shut the fuck up you fat fuck!" That's what did it.
Suddenly, Jerky is stepping through the "windows" of the poker room. Basically, instead of a solid wall, the poker room's walls have huge open-air "windows" into the main hallway that you can pretty much step over. Fatty made his way over too. While he was doing it, Jerky yelled, I'll meet you at the garbage. Fatty replied with this golden oldie: "The garbage? What's in there? Your mom?! I'll fuck her up too!" From there, we went back to poker while security came in. When Fatty was getting his coat, Jerky's friend was getting Jerky's stuff. Fatty started up with Jerky's pal, so the pal said, "Let's take this outside!" Fatty's response: "What's wrong with you people! It's always outside! I'm right here! Why do we always gotta go some place!"
But, um poker. It went well. My reads were good. I made a couple of great laydowns, if I must say so myself. I was selective and picked my actions considering everything, especially the players. I seem to get a loose image, what with the hammer (which I dropped a 2nd time) and my large bets. But in reality, my hand selection was good, and I made the most of it.
At my peak, I was up 160 or so. But, um, that didn't last. I don't remember a lot of the specifics, but I do know how I ultimately busted. The cliff notes are this: KK v 34o, 34 flops a straight. I had raised big pre-flop and he called. But I then was stupid, because, frankly, the flop had an Ace. I don't remember the specifics, because now, I'd never get deep into a hand (either he or I were all-in) with KK and an A board in this situation unless I had more info. But, sure enough, I was in that situation and lost a chunk. I think I lost the rest after in QQ v A5. I had QQ, all in pre-flop. It was one of those nights. I rebought in for 60 since I left the remainder of my cash upstairs. Good news! I have a new rule. No buying back in for lesser amounts if I bust at a NL cash table. I always get desperate, feeling short stacked and get myself in trouble. I think there was another suckout in there, but that may've been my imagination.
I pulled Roose away from the NOW/UN meeting and we headed to the room...until we ran into Pai Gow Poker. The min bet was 25, so I agreed to play only 100. Roose and I proceeded to play and not win one hand. That was how I spent my first night at AC, down $330, expecting to play a tourney tomorrow morning worth $50 when my total bankroll and spending money ($500 for the trip, $170 left) was on life support. I said to myself inside, "You are going to play great poker tomorrow. You have to." I called wifey Kim and left her a voicemail. I admitted to being down almost $330. To wifey Kim's credit, when we spoke the next morning and I brought up my losses, she was very cool. I felt terribly guilty that I was in AC losing our money, and I heard in her voice the concern. But when she heard how crestfallen I was, her voice changed. Wifey Kim is an angel, and that was what I needed right then and there. With her support, I was ready for the next day...
posted by Jordan @ 11:29 PM,
