And The Hits Just Keep on Hitting (AC Trip Report Pt. 2)
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Morning in AC calls for one thing, a disappointing buffet breakfast! The Showboat's buffet is a fine thing, but much like Haley's comet, its seemingly open only once every 76 years. What's a man to do? Thankfully, this is the best part of being on the Boardwalk. A short walk later, a wifey Kim and I were sitting at the buffet in the Trump Taj Mahal, home of the (currently) largest and (probably, prepetually) dirtiest card room in Atlantic City.
The buffet was the usual fare. Eggs that seem to be 1/2 cardboard. Pancakes that were hot 45 minutes ago. Biscuits that looked too good to eat, and tasted too dry to digest. But it was quick, and the bacon was plentiful, if not a bit chemical tasting.
Following breakfast, wifey Kim and I headed out to the beach. The beach in Atlantic City is kinda like vocal cords on a woman, totally unnecessary, and merely a distraction from the finer parts. But wifey Kim loves her some beach, and since she had vocal cords, I was happy to oblige. In all actuality its a great beach. We didn't go near the water, since it's usually not swimmably warm until July (if not September). But we did have a great time gathering sun.
When we were done, we took a short stroll down the Boardwalk for some cheap eats at a Nathan's. I'm not sure if they have them throughout the country, but it's basically a hot dog place with fantastic fries. When we were done there, we did some more strolling on the Boardwalk and ended up back at the Trop. The Trop has an ice cream place whose name escapes me. Whatever the case, it's one hell of an ice cream place, the kind of place that mixes the toppings into the ice cream flavor of choice. Fantastic!
Once we were done, we reentered the hotel-proper. We played some more table games, this time craps, followed by more Wheel of Fortune for the wife. A little while later, dinner time was rolling around, and wifey Kim and I still had the scent of beach on us. We had planned to do it to the nines for dinner, heading to the Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, a personal favorite of the wife and me. In the meanwhile, I took a quick shower, and wifey prepared herself for her beauty regiment. While she readied her troops of haircare products, she gave me the green light. It was time for poker.
And wouldn't you know it, it took me no time to get into a 1/2 game. I bought in short for $200, and went back to my card dead ways immediately. I played for over 2 hours, (I believe wifey Kim was intentionally taking her time to allow me my playing time) and the best hand I saw was AJo. I also lost my whole $200. It was just painful. I even found myself complaining about my luck at the table, something that I particularly detest. It only serves to do one thing: Make you look weak in front of your competition. So weak, in fact, that when you do have something, they are likely to stay in and draw out on you more often, since, hell, you ARE running so bad. I don't remember any specifics. It was one of those games. If I was ahead, I was rivered. I made one good laydown, though, but if I was smart, I would've never been in the hand.
I had A5c, and was in early position. I was having terrible luck, but it was a relatively passive table. I limped. I believe there was 6 or 7 players in the hand. The flop was A28. I bet $10 into the $14 or so pot and one player called me. He was a decent player, and I feared being outkicked. The turn was a 3, and I bet out $20. He raised to $60. I thought for a bit. If I was behind, I could still hit two pair or a straight, 7 outs. I stared doing the math in my head, but I just knew I was behind. I folded, showing my Ace. He showed A3. I felt good about the laydown, but if I was smart enough to fold A5c in early position in the first place, I would've saved a whole chunk of change.
Wifey Kim came by and I was already into my 2nd $200 buy-in. I left the table and headed to dinner.
Ruth's Chris is amazing. The steak is like butter, due in large part to the fact that it is clearly marinated in butter. The sides are fantastic. Wifey Kim ordered the petite filet and the sweet potato casserole, a dish that might as well be a dessert for all of its sweetness. I ordered the filet as well, along with a loaded baked potato. I was thinking of ordering the spinach au gratin, a cream of spinach dish covered in cheese, but decided to try something different. The spinach is an amazing dish, but, ironically, the healthy vegetable is probably 10x worse for you than a simple baked potato, what with its bastardized cream sauce and cheese.
Dinner was delicious and wifey Kim and I made our way back to the Tropicana. Once there, we played some more table games, and eventually went upstairs to unwind. It was a long day, and wifey Kim drifted off to sleep. I, meanwhile, dragged my ass back to the poker room to win back my money.
The table this time was much better. I was paying close attention to players. One in particular always shuffled chips when he was betting out with a bad hand, but would hold his hand still whenever he had a monster. Another would only push all-in if he had the nuts. Unfortunately, I learned that last tell a bit too late. I held AQ, one of the best hands I had all trip (remember TT once, AK once, and that was it). I raised preflop to 10 and got one caller, Snr. All In. The flop was QJ9. With top pair, top kicker, facing a non-action player, I decided I'd try to induce a bluff. I checked. He bet $20. I raised to $60. He pushed all-in. I called. Now, it didn't happen that quick. I waited a moment before raising. He waited a long while before pushing, during which, I did my best to keep calm and look slightly scared. I thought he was trying to make a move on me. He was, but it was a totally different move than I expected.
I should probably mention that I had worked my stack from $200 to $400 by this point. I was feeling the table pretty well by then, and my brain just locked up here. When I called his all in, he had over $100 behind him. I also miscalculated that. Stupid is as stupid does. Long story short, he had flopped the nut straight and I lost half of my stack.
I made some friends at the table. One of the girls from the Showboat the night before was there. We made what pleasant conversation we could from across the table. I also started chatting with a guy at my end of the table. It turns out that he is a website developer and we talked shop. I even got his card.
Overall, I ended up winning $40 in over 4 hours. I got QQ for the first and only time in the trip. I be to $12 preflop and got two callers, including the web developer. The flop was T high with two spades and I bet out $20. I was re-raised to $60 by one player and the web developer called. I got a case of the awfukits and pushed. The other guy called, and web developer took his time. "You want action?" "Sure, I'll take action. If you want to show me your cards I could be a bit more helpful though." He decided to call. On the turn and river, I prayed that no spade would come. Finally, my prayers were answered. My opponents showed their cards, AT for the one guy and Ks8s for the web developer. I was elated, back to $400.
It didn't last, as you already know. When I left up $40 I was just happy to get away from the table alive. My play was shoddy on the whole trip. I disappointed myself because I let bad luck (read: card dead) get to me and effect my game. I also lost my entire bankroll between poker, table games, and spending it on the wife. It's a sad state of affairs, but I only have one option now: Grow as a player and make my money back. Thankfully, I have my online roll still, and I plan on returning to the Hole Home Game, which now takes place in an undisclosed location in Queens hosted by the one and only Dave Roose. Low stakes is what I need.
Don't worry about me. I learned some lessons. I was humbled. But I'm not too discouraged. I almost think it is an Okie Vegas curse that I just suffered. But these are the things that build character (if not a bankroll), so I'm just going to get back to the tables and work to be my best.
After waking on Saturday morning, I shook off the gambling blues and went to another inadequate buffet breakfast with wifey Kim, this time compliments of the Tropicana comp rewards. After, we went shopping in AC's new outdoor outlet mall.
I was reminded of why we went to AC in the first place, to spend some time together. Wifey Kim was the real prize. We did some shopping, her loading up on all sorts of things, me buying predominantly boxers and socks. We had a pleasant meal at Ruby Tuesday's for the hell of it. It was right across the street from Ruth's Chris, but it was a world away.
And then we hit the road to return to NYC. Home again and back to the basics. Enjoy your weekend. I did, even if my bankroll didn't.
posted by Jordan @ 11:04 AM,
5 Comments:
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At 10:11 PM,
L'artiste said...
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Sorry to hear about the bankroll. Every Poker player goes through this at least once.
You are a winning player, you will get your money back. Guaranteed. -
At 10:05 AM,
said...
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Boo... that's the Trop in Vegas.
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At 10:54 AM,
Jordan said...
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Yeah, well I guess I accidentally posted the Vegas Tropicana and not the AC one, so the new pic is up.
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At 11:58 AM,
said...
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i feel your pain, but sometimes the cards just won't work for you. i remember this one table i was at a while back. buddy to my right kept knocking me out. the sad part was, i had nice cards, but he would hang in on nothing. two hands in a row, the first i had KK, he held on with an A2 and cought the A on the river. the next hand I had AT and the flop was 3,6,T. i was short at this point so i called all in. of course he stays in with 4,5 and catches a 2 on the river. it was so frustrating. sometimes the only thing worse than getting bad cards, is getting good ones that lose. anyway, blow off some steam with this little diddy. hahaha, you can shoot your opponents in this game of poker. http://www.deadmanshandhbo.com , just pretend its snr. all in.
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At 5:37 PM,
said...
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Heheh... Tropicana
