Something Like Poker

The trials an tribulations of an aspiring poker professional.

This week’s trip back to AC helped to realign me from last week’s unsuccessful visit. After last week’s overall loss of almost $800, this week I realized a healthy profit of almost $2,100.

Wednesday

Wednesday started off rather uneventful. I played some $1/2 NLHE for about 7 hours, only making $19. Between that and my loss last week, I decided to hit a limit table just to reassure myself that I was playing well and able to win in a game with typically smaller swings. I played some $3/6 LHE for a little over 2 hours, winning $97 (about 16 big bets).

Once I was feeling a bit better having pocketed some winnings and getting something to eat, I headed back to the 1/2 table. In what turned out to be another 3 hour session, I ended up winning another $525. I unfortunately don’t remember any key hands from the night, most likely because I became more focused on the events to follow later that night, as I’ll explain. However, as best as I can recollect, I generally played well throughout the session.

* * *

Since I was down from my previous casino trip, I decided to spend the night in the back of my SUV as I’ve done plenty of times before. It was a nice night out, and I didn’t even need a blanket or anything to keep warm.

Just as I started to drift to sleep, I was awoken by the sounds of someone vomiting/hiccuping. I peered up to see some guy stumbling around a car directly across from mine, propping himself up on it as if to pass out drunk against it. I rolled my eyes and tried to go back to sleep.

Next thing I know, I hear the repeated sound of a door handle. I look up, and the guy is trying his damnedest to get into the car he was leaning against. Next thing I know, he starts smashing his foot against the driver’s side door and window, working his way over to the passenger side to do the same thing there. I lay back down thinking what an idiot the guy is for smashing his own car and how he’ll regret it when he sees whatever damage he puts on his car in the morning.

A couple minutes later, I hear more smashing, I look up and don’t see him. My car was parked on an end spot in the garage, so I couldn’t see out to the left because of a cement wall there. From the direction of the sound though, I could tell that he was kicking at another car behind the wall where I couldn’t see.

A moment later, he stumbles back into view, jumps on the hood of another car, and starts smashing at the windshield of a third (hell, maybe more) vehicle. At this point, I have no idea why Borgata security hasn’t already noticed, plus I’m concerned for the owners of these cars in addition to my own vehicle and potentially myself. My cell phone was off because it basically had no battery life left, but I turn it on just barely long enough to call security.

About two minutes later, 2-3 security vehicles show up and get out near the guy, who is now propped up against yet another vehicle as if to pass out. I see him talking with security, and I get out of my car to see if I can offer any info. As I get out, I hear the guy directing security to another area of the parking garage saying he saw some guy smashing cars that way. He’s trying to talk his way out of it, blaming it on some made up third party!

I grab the security guard’s attention, letting him know I’m the one who called and that that’s the guy. Long story short, they get the cops in to get an official report and whatnot. The guards were very thankful, and with regards to security not being around at the time, apparently one of the guards had just left for his shift break a moment before, and the other was in the restroom. One of the female security personnel who got my info was extremely nice, and she set me up with a comped hotel room so that I could get a good night’s rest inside instead of napping in the back my car. As it turned out, the comp was for both Wednesday and Thursday nights, which is how long I was planning to stay anyway!

Thursday

My first session on Thursday, I was a bit of a card rack. However, I still played my hands well when they hit in order to get paid, and I took advantage of my image to make a big bluff later on that paid off.

There was much limping going on at the table, as well as a little bit of modest sized raises from various players. I played a few suited connectors and 1-gappers, and two hands in particular I flopped gutshots. Both times I called a small bet on the flop simply because the bettor had a lot of chips behind, giving me great implied odds if I hit, and both times I hit my money card on the turn. In the first scenario, the turn card gave me the nuts, while giving my opponent a lower straight. All the money went in on the turn, and I stacked the opponent as I had hoped. The second hand, I was up against KK, and my opponent paid me off much less than I had hoped (as the board paired), but still paid me off nonetheless.

I continued to hit a few random straights and flushes, all of which got shown down, and everyone could see that I seemed unstoppable with the cards in my favor when the next hand came up. I was dealt AK UTG, and I limped with the intention of re-raising if there was a raise, otherwise playing cautiously if I hit anything on a limped flop depending on the number of players. As I had hoped, the player 2 seats to the left of me raised to $7, and there were about 6 other callers, making the pot about $45. I re-raised to $45, and everyone folded to the BB on my right who called.

The flop came out 3 random low cards, and he bet out $100 into the ~$140 pot. I quickly glanced at his stack, saw that he had a little over $200 behind (I had him covered), and instantly shoved all in. My quick thought process consisted of the following prior to my shove:

• I’ve been showing down great hands every time I get money in the pot, and everyone at the table knows it,
• The man on my right in the pot with me has proven that he has a significant grasp on the game and understanding of strategy with various comments and critiques of other peoples’ plays throughout our time at the table, so I’m confident that he can find a fold with a middle pair despite it being an overpair to the board, and
• I’ve demonstrated that I’m an “honest player” to him directly earlier when I told him that he was lifting his cards up too high and that I could see him, following it up with a statement about how I like to play honestly without extra unfair information, all of which he thanked me for.

After shoving, I could see that he was mad because he put me on a huge pair, but was still having a bit of trouble finding a fold anyway. I tried to play the honest route, saying that he’s a great guy to have at the table next to me, and that I don’t want him to lose it all here and leave. He asked if I had aces or kings, and I responded with, “Yeah, I have one of those.” He asked if I would show, and I said sure, at which point he said go ahead and show. I laughed and said that I would show after the hand is done, at which point he thought for a little bit more and finally folded. I turned my hand up and said that I did have one of them. I didn’t mean it to come off as a dick thing, but it probably did since he no doubt made a big laydown.

The man was obviously steaming from the hand, and he looked at me and spitefully remarked, “You told me you had aces or kings, you son of a bitch!” I simply responded again stating that I said I had one of those, which I did have one of each. Obviously it didn’t make him feel better, but I felt like I responded in a half-truth way. Furthermore, poker is a game of lies at times, and you can’t ever expect an opponent to tell you the truth about your holding, so I tried not to feel too bad even though I did in a way.

The table was full of chatter after this hand. To the left of me, 3-4 younger players were commenting about how it was such an awesome play, seemingly complimentary about the hand. To the right of me, 3-4 older guys were commenting much more quietly about the hand. I couldn’t hear exactly what they were saying, but it sounded like they thought I was some dumb kid, which I thought was kind of funny. One of the old men I later hit a gutshot against (the hand where he had KK that I mentioned above), and after he steamed off, he finally came back and told me to keep playing the way I have been, as if he’s going to get ahold of all my chips. I laughed and told him okay. If he thinks I’m going to put all my chips into the pot on a gutshot draw or something, he’s nuts; I only put $10-15 into the pot each time for a chance to hit a gutshot against players who had $200-500 in their stacks.

In all, I made $557 during this 4 hour session. I decided to check out the pool area, which was very classy and certainly an enjoyable change of pace in the casino. The jacuzzi was hot and soothing, and taking a dip in the pool just felt good since I haven’t been swimming in a very long time.

After getting some dinner at NOW (Noodle of the World), I ended up playing another session of 1/2. The session was not as eventful, but it was certainly more enjoyable in the sense that everyone at my end of the table was very friendly and fun to talk to. One player in particular was very impressive in his poker skills, and he was telling us stories about playing in the WSOP and trying to get autographs from all the big names. The funniest story in my opinion was about how Doyle Brunson kept giving him excuses about running late for things because he didn’t want to give up an autograph.

After about 9 hours of play, I wound up +$308, bringing me up to +$865 for the day. I was up about $550 for the session at one point, but I ran into set over set against the kid on my right who had a little over $200 in front of me. The sickest thing about the hand is that I put him on top set after the flop due to the way he played and how I’d seen him play before. I almost folded, but I ended up getting all my money in in case he had AA or KK on the Q-high flop. Obviously he had QQ as I predicted, and I doubled him up.

Friday

Friday was my shortest day during my trip at under 3 hours of play, but it represented my biggest win during any of my sessions throughout my trip.

The session started kind of slow, up a bit, then even. Then I had one hand where I held top pair with JT in a 3-way pot against one player in particular on my left who was the aggressor throughout the whole hand. I figured he had an overpair, but after he bet on the turn and the third player in the pot folded, he mucked his hand before I got to act. He was in the 1 seat, and I was in the 10 seat, so he couldn’t easily see my hand and must have somehow forgotten that I still had to act. Since I was going to be awarded the pot as a result of his mistake, and since I thought I genuinely did not have the best hand at that point, I decided to be nice by offering to split the pot with him. He appreciated it, and everyone else was saying how good karma’s going to be coming my way for that.

Karma must have come, as I hit set after set within a couple hands of each other. Shortly thereafter, I held T 8 on a flop of 8 4 3. There was a preflop raise to about $8, but I called with position and several other callers in the pot before me. An early position player (before the preflop raiser) bet out into the pot for about $15. There was one caller, and I raised it to $65. The bettor was the only caller. The turn paired the 3, and I bet out $100 when checked to. Called again, I was concerned that I was behind in the hand and needed the upcoming river to improve my holding. The river was the 9. The player bet $6 into my hand, and figuring I was behind almost any other hand at this point, I simply sighed and called. He flipped up A 4 for an A-high missed flush draw, and I scooped a massive pot.

I decided to leave AC and head home about 2 orbits later, +$587 for the day.

In all, I made $2,093 from my 3 days of play, averaging $698/day or $75/hour. This definitely makes up for last week’s loss, and it brings my bankroll closer to the $10,000 I need to try stepping up into the $2/5 NLHE game.