Poker with the Stars (AC Trip Report Pt 3)
Monday, May 19, 2008
When I play poker, particularly at casinos, time has no meaning. In fact, several times during our recent AC jaunt, I made prop bets with my cohorts as to the time. There was always someone who was well over 2 hours off.
After Roose's win at the Hilton tourney, we said goodbye to Pete who rejoined his family at the Tropicana. It was already well past 3am, so everyone else was probably asleep. Even so, it made little sense for Petey to join us all the way to the other side of AC's Boardwalk to hang out at the Showboat.
We took a cab to the Showboat for around $12, including tip. I was starving after eating around 10 hours ago at some random rest stop on the way to AC. During the drive to AC, I told Roose that I wanted to avoid our usual ritual of late night room service calls, but since I was hungry and we were waiting up for Robbie and Randy Hole, we opted to order some nachos and a burger.
The food arrived and the Holes arrived shortly after. Randy was dead tired after spending countless hours studying for law school finals. Robbie was raring to go, and it was decided that Roose, Rob and I would head to the casino floor. Both gentlemen wanted to play cash games, but I had resolved to avoid the temptation. Even so, the Showboat has a new poker room, so I wanted to check it out.
The first stop was the poker room, now located near the Boardwalk entrance across from the House of Blues restaurant and behind a bar. The room is more spacious than the old room which was on the 2nd floor, hidden away from the casino action. The open walls meant that you could hear the dings and bells of the slots, but they were far enough away and blocked by the raised-platform bar area to be negligible. The new rooms looks like it has a lot more tables than the old one, but rumor had it that there were only 3 more tables. That meant that the tables were more spread out, which is a pleasure to anyone who has ever sat at a poker table right behind a 400 lb. guy at the opposite table. It's amazing how many 400 lb. guys play poker.
The room wasn't too full, but I didn't feel like playing anyway. After scoping out the scene, I walked with Roose and Hole until we were lured to a Wheel of Fortune bank of slots. I considered doing a prop to see who would get to Spin the Wheel first, but didn't say anything. I then got to spin the wheel for some moderate payout. By the time I was done, I was back to even. Hole lost his $20. I think Roose lost a few bucks.
We were walking in the general direction back to the room when I stopped to cash in my $20 ticket from the WoF machine. I looked back and my buddies were gone. I tried feebley to find them, but the wave of exhaustion washed over me and I made my way, instead, back to the room. They'd know where to find me.
When I returned to the room, Randy was lying on Rooses bed. I should probably back up to Roose and my drive to AC.
As I mentioned earlier, I thought the trip was just Dave Roose and I. When I found out we'd have company, I made one thing clear. "I want my own bed. I have no problem with them crashing with us, but if it is at all possible, I want my own bed." I'm not homophobic and I don't ostensibly have a problem sharing a bed, but I have gotten to the point where I can afford to have my own bed. I would rather pay for two rooms and have my own bed than squeeze into one room and have to share.
Roose agreed. "Me too, man. Rob will take the cot and Randy will take the floor. He likes sleeping on the floor."
I thought to myself that there was no way this was going to be easy, but when I re-entered the hotel room, well past 4am, I didn't care any longer...because Randy was comfortable in bed...Roose's bed. I hopped into mine and we watched TV for a bit until Roose and Rob returned from a less-than-successful craps run.
We discussed our plans for the next day as I poured over some casino tournament schedule printouts. I wanted to play at the Borgata, having received a surprising and cryptic message from the Rooster that he was actually there Friday night, but the other guys also wanted to play a tournament. We considered a Bally's tournament at noon, but then realized that no one wanted to wake up early enough to make it. Instead, we decided to play the 2pm Showboat $100 buy-in tournament.
The next morning, I relented and agreed to eat breakfast at the Showboat. The Showboat's biggest problem is their crap food. The diner-like Mansion Cafe has decent food but always leaves me feeling greasy and bloated. The downstairs deli-like Chelsea Market has crap food and the worst service ever. I mean EVER. We walked by there on the last day and saw a 20-person line and one visible employee who was leaning on a soda machine and chatting with someone off of the line, as though she didn't have a care in the world.
Even so, we headed to the Mansion Cafe where I had scrambled eggs and bacon. The bacon was deep fried, which makes it extra crispy. I like crispy bacon, but not this crap, which was brittle to touch and taste.
After breakfast, we headed to the poker room. It was still before 1pm, so I decided to sit for some 1/2 NLHE.
The game I sat down to looked like a wet dream. Four of the players at the table were gangsta-type black guys. If you've ever seen BET's Black Poker Stars, you probably know that I was not concerned about my opponents.
And yes, Dawn, I suppose that is a touch racist, but I build my reads from appearance at first, including clothing, nationality, sex, etc., and then refine it as I go.
In the end, there was only one player who mattered at the table, an extremely loud and pathetic guy sitting two seats to my left. He was constantly talking, acting like a black Jamie Gold, except for his MethodMan appearance. He had on a tracksuit with some stupid squiggly design. He talked a big game but was terrible. It didn't hurt, though, that he had tilted the entire table and had a huge stack. I got to witness some terrible play from him, but he was also smart enough to get paid off, like when he pushed on a turn that gave him a set and got insta-called by TPTK. He also busted Robbie Hole when Hole re-re-raise pushed preflop with KK. MethodMan had 33 and flopped a 3. Lemon!
Sadly, I never got into a pot with MethodMan. I tried to, but I just didn't get any decent cards and the few speculative hands I played went to shit, so I didn't play post-flop. The guy two seats to my right, though, who looked an awful lot like Lil John (OKAY!) and I tussled on a hand where I raised preflop to $12 with KQ and saw a Q55 flop, with two hearts. He checked and I bet $30. A preflop caller folded. Lil John made a min check-raise and I called, curious to see how the turn would play out. The turn was not a flush card. He checked and I checked as well. The river was an Ace of hearts. He thought for a moment before betting out $65. I though for a moment and watched him. Something didn't feel right. I looked him over. He had visibly tightened up, as though he were on tell lockdown. That's a classic tell. If you are worried about giving off tells, its because you are weak and fear a call.
I called and we tabled our hands. He had Q9. I was really proud of my call, but the results sucked. With the Ace river, we chopped, since the board had paired.
Even so, I was still hoping to get action down the line from MethodMan until I saw him reach for a chip tray. "Are you leaving?" I asked. "Yeah, man. I got something to take care of." I stood up and racked my chips. My cell phone read 1:47pm. I had 13 minutes to sign up for the 2pm tournament. If MethodMan had stayed put, I would have skipped the tourney, but as it were, MethodMan and/or fate conspired to have me play that $100 2pm tournament. The results, I will have to save for the next post.
On the next AC Trip Report. Jordan bumps into random bloggers, reunites with an old friend, and stops the end of the world!
Until next time, make mine poker!
posted by Jordan @ 4:15 PM,
2 Comments:
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At 9:12 PM,
TripJax said...
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Fried bacon? That sounds like Okie Vegas talk right there.
Excellent stuff. -
At 9:14 PM,
Dawn Summers said...
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I knew you were racist!
