September 10th, 2008
Hesitant, but Hopeful
I’ve been on about a 6 month hiatus from poker. After my hot streak between February and March, winning almost $9k in under two months, I had a bad run. I lost about 15-20 buy-ins ($3-4k) straight, almost solely from bad beats on the river. There were a few hands that I played poorly, costing me a buy-in here or there, but most of these were hands where I had top two pair vs. an overpair or a set vs. an overpair. Every time, villain and I would get all our money in on the turn, and with only one card to come, I would be about an 80-95% favorite to win the hand. It went without saying that my opponent would always catch his 1-5 outer, giving him a better hand to scoop the pot in each of these situations.
I know that many poker players are too full of pride, often looking back and ignoring their poor play when they got stacked. For this reason, I really had to think about my play and if I truly was not analyzing the hand from an optimally strategic standpoint. But when I recall the hands I played, I truly was a mathematical favorite in the large majority of these scenarios. As I stated, I certainly admit that about three of these hands where I was stacked were poor play or hands where I read my opponent correctly and still put my money in (with a strong hand that had outs at least), but more often than not, I simply took a pretty consistent onslaught of sickening beats.
I think that’s a big part of why I’d like to get back into the game. I know that my play is pretty good for the stakes I’m attuned to, and I am fairly consistent with regards to my strategy and my overall winrate. I return to Atlantic City for the first time since April a little over a week ago, visiting the Borgata. I played some $1/2 for awhile, ultimately losing the $300 I brought to a set-over-set, a scenario that is relatively unlikely.
Undeterred, I decided to return once more this weekend. I was going to head there on Saturday, but there were flash flood warnings due to the hurricane headed northward along the coast. As such, I made my way back to the Borgata on Sunday. I brought $400 with me, but I only needed to buy into the game with my initial $200. I played a solid game, and after 8 hours, I managed to build my stack up to $803, booking a $603 profit on the day. Combined with my last visit, I’ve already made up for my initial $300 loss, earning an additional $303.
I usually sleep in my car at the casino since the room rates are unarguably steep for my financial status, but I couldn’t seem to fall asleep this time. I decided to get a cheap ($35) room in Absecon for the the night, and I fell asleep shortly after grabbing a bite to eat.
. . .
Monday did not go too well for most of the day. I hardly played a hand all day, as I was significantly card-dead. The few hands I raised with, I always managed to get multiple callers and completely whiff on the flop. Most of these pots I had to give up, costing me a few chips here and there. I finally had my first pocket pair for the day, pocket tens. An early position player raised, and I called in the cut-off. The button called too, and we saw a flop of QT9 with two clubs. The pre-flop raiser checked, and I bet about 3/4-pot. The button raised making the play heads-up, and I decided that I was going with my hand here no matter what. I figured the worst-case scenario was that I was up against a made straight, to which I had enough outs to a full house or quads. Unfortunately, it turned out he flopped a set of queens, leaving me with only one out that I of course did not catch.
After about seven hours of play, I was hovering around -$400 for the day. Finally, I started hitting a few flops, and I built my stack up a little bit. Soon, I found that one old guy who joined the table was bluffing constantly with very large bets, and I decided to take a stand against him. I raised QTs in middle position, and both the small blind and the old man in the big blind called. The flop came 988 rainbow. The SB checked, and the old man bet full pot. I smooth-called, and the small blind folded. The turn was a blank, and the old man bet full pot again (about $40). I raised to $100, and after he insta-folded, I flipped my bluff face-up to let him know I mean business.
Showing my bluff set me up perfectly for the hand that played out about two hands later. I raised JJ to $10 first to act, and there were about six callers, building the pot up. The flop came 8-high with a couple draws, and the old man bets $40 into me. Just like the previous hand, I raised to $100 right away, and after everyone else folded, he called me without hesitation. The turn was a Q making me a little bit nervous, though not entirely, but I checked behind just to play it safe with the intention of calling most river bets. The river paired the bottom card on the board, and he bet $100 into me. Given our history from the prior hand, my knowledge that he’s a bluffer, and the fact that I slowed down on the turn making it look like I could be given, I felt compelled to call. He flipped up J8 for a pair of 8’s, and I showed my JJ to scoop a ~$460 pot. After brining myself back up to +$99 for the day, I decided to get some dinner.
After dinner, I decided to play a bit longer. I was seated at a different $1/2 table, buying in for another $200. After only a short time playing, an interesting hand played out. A middle-aged gentleman who recently sat to my right limped into a hand after a couple other limpers. I raised to $10 with 99, and several players called. When the action came back to the new guy on my right, he re-raised all-in for about $100. I was initially confused about his play, but after some deep thought, I decided he probably has a hand like AK or perhaps a middle pair like 88 or 77, which I’m ahead of. I didn’t want to flat call inviting other players into the pot, so I re-raised all-in. Another short-stack (who I later found out was a terrible, terrible player) decided to call the all-in too, which I wasn’t expecting. As I suspected, the new guy had AK, and my 99 held up against both players after flopping a set.
Perhaps the most interesting hands in my trip was one that happened at this table. After limping 63s behind a couple other limpers, a young guy with $600 in front of him raised to $15. Two players called, and with the pot already so big and the implied odds of hitting against the kid, I shrugged my shoulders and made the call. The flop came 852 rainbow, giving me a gutshot straight draw. The kid bet out about $20-25 after being checked to, and I decided to call one time even though I normally don’t chase gutshots in hopes of doubling up. The turn was a Q, and we both checked. At this point, I assume he was playing AA/KK a little scared or decided to slowplay a turned set. The river was the 4 I was looking for, giving me the second nuts to 76. I immediately bet out $100, and the kid was completely stumped. He took about 5 minutes, and he even had to have time called on him. He flipped up 63o (the same hand as me) saying that he thinks I have 76 for a better straight given how I played the hand. He finally decides to call, and he breathes a sigh of relief when I tell the dealer to chop it up. I’ve got to say, I didn’t put him on that hand at all!
After a bit more play, the table finally broke after a couple players busted and others decided to leave. I ended up booking another win of $375 on top of my $99 win earlier in the day.
I wandered around for a bit, as I wasn’t feeling tired, and I sat down at a different $1/2 table. My run here was very short, and I dropped $200 when I played a flopped pair + straight draw strongly vs. an overpair. The guy with the overpair wasn’t afraid of my having a made straight or set despite the board texture on the flop, and he put me all-in after I check/raised him. I was getting proper odds to call, and I missed my 9 outs twice.
A bit irregular for me, but after reading a little bit on card counting, I decided to take $100 to the blackjack table. Since I was inexperienced at counting cards, I had a little difficulty — specifically I was sometimes adding when I was supposed to be subtracting and vice versa. However, despite my difficulty in counting accurately, I still managed to keep a relatively close running total, allowing me to modify my bet sizes accordingly. After a couple hours, I managed to make back the $200 I lost plus another $120 in profit.
Feeling particularly satisfied, I decided to get some rest. Not wanting to sleep in my car again, and also not wanting to pay for another motel room, I decided to try a tactic I read about on the 2+2 forums. I asked for one of the keycard sleeves at the check-in counter, which they quickly obliged. Since security checks that visitors have keycards to enter the elevators and lounge area, I simply flashed the envelope to the security guard in order to get by. I took the elevator to the spa & pool, and I took a long nap in one of the recliners by the pool.
. . .
The next day I planned to head home, but I wanted to get in a little play first even though I was concerned that I might lose back some of what I already won and didn’t want to feel like I had to stick around longer than I wanted to in an effort to win it back. Fortunately for me, I did get a seat, because I easily had one of my top three runs at the cash table. I was getting tons of good hands, and I was hitting almost every single flop. I had AA three times, KK once, and TT once, and each time I either stacked someone or won a significantly large pot. I flopped a set with 22 vs. a player who couldn’t fold QQ, and I flopped two pair with A8 in the blinds vs. a girl who tried to play KK tricky by limping and couldn’t fold it post-flop. I flopped top two pair w/ QTo in the BB and got a few callers who didn’t believe I could have another good hand. I flopped trips with 72o in the big blind another hand. After all this, I won $1008 in about 2 hours!
Overall for the trip, I left with $2195 more than I brought with me. I wasn’t nearly expecting to win that much, but I’m very thankful that I did, especially after things looked like they were turning sour the second day.
I’m hoping to return for the $300+50 event during the Borgata Poker Open next Monday. I expect that there will be a lot of players since it’s during the World Poker Tour event, meaning that first prize will probably be $50,000+ easily. I’d rather not pay the full entry if I can help it since I just started getting back into the game and because tournaments have more of a luck factor than cash games, so I may ask my dad if he wants to buy half of me since he’s recently been able to see the potential I have at the table. But who knows, maybe I will buy my way in anyway even if he’s not interested.
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