Friday, January 5, 2007

Atlantic City trip

I went to AC on Wednesday. There's a cool three mile stretch on the Garden State Parkway 10+ miles north of the ACE(Atlantic City Expressway), from exits 52 to 49, where a lot of it feels like you're riding a wave. It's like smoothed out speed bumps or something, but you're still going up and down. I don't get to ride that too often, since I'm usually coming from Baltimore(NJ Turnpike to ACE), not North Jersey. So that was fun.

The trip was a flashback to the days when I cared about getting carded, since I went with Ben, who is not 21. We got to the Borgata and, including us, there were 8 or 9 people waiting, so they started a new table. It wasn't crowded, so I didn't expect any problems, but the floorperson carded everyone who was sitting down. I'd never seen anyone do that before. The other people were clearly older, I had mine, Ben "left it in the car." Seeeeeya.

After a short stop at Harrah's(long line, no new tables starting) we went to the Trop(icana) which is where I played when I was 19. They seemed to start carding when I was 20, but I figured it was worth a shot, because I like the games there. There were no problems, so I can get to the session.

I only had 500 on me, so I decided to start with just $200 at the first table. I quickly decided that 200 was fine if I wanted to be weak-tight, but I needed 300 to play my game, so I reloaded. Early on, things did not go well for me. No big hands, but I was in for 400 and only had 150 in front of me. I made one stupid bluff where I knew the guy had a weak ace, and that he wouldn't fold, but I made the play anyway. Oops. So I suck. Anyways, I get some hands, make some moves, and I'm back up to 350. I checkraised a tightass preflop raiser on a K44 board with J9 no draw, he folded, I showed, he went on tilt...lost all of his chips to someone else...I hate when that happens. Assists are not recorded in poker like they are in sports(Just to settle the "debate," poker is not a sport. Sports involve physical activity.) I left for dinner shortly after that(guy didn't reload) and when I got back, the table had broken. A new table was starting, so Ben and I sat down. We had previously not been playing together. The game started 4-handed, which was awkward because it was me and a close friend, and the other 2 were father and son. The father was from Long Island and the son had an Irish accent. I guess it's possible, but I still suspect he was faking it. My only basis for comparison is Boondock Saints, and he didn't sound like those guys. Anyways, the table filled up, and I went card dead for a bit. I must have folded 25 hands in a row. Finally I get into a multiway pot with 54o, I have the button, raiser is early position, and he's weak-tight-bad. Flop is KT7 rainbow(3 different soots(yes I know how to spell suit)) he bets out 10, I decide this is my pot, raise to 30, he calls. Turn is a 10, and he's visibly unhappy. He checks, I bet 50, he folds, I smile and show 5 hi, no draw. He's like, what the fuck, and I just say "I got bored." I wasn't lying, but the explanation is incomplete. I wanted to shake up the table a little, establish some action, and get the guy on tilt. A few hands later, someone else bluffed this guy out of a pot and showed. You could see the steam coming out of his ears. A rotation later, I have 68o, call his preflop raise, flop is K88...DING. He bets out 25, I raise to 65, so it looks like the same play as before, he's all in, KQ, I hold, gg. Unfortunately, he did not reload.

There was a guy sitting on my left, wearing Full Tilt Poker gear head to toe. Hat, shirt, pants, the whole 9 yards, as they say. He looked really serious and didn't say a word. A walking cliche, if you will. I tried to talk to him several times. "So does FT pay you to dress like that?" "Something like that." A few more attempts and finally, "Don't you get bored sitting there not playing any hands and being angry?" Grunt. Whatever. I hate people like that because they add absolutely nothing to the game. And he's probably a small winner. And no fucking way does FT pay him anything. He is not the slightest bit marketable. I'm trying to be more like Daniel Negreanu, keeping up a constant stream of chatter. People were very antisocial at this place. I found it very hard to talk, so I would just talk to Ben. I was having trouble keeping my talk meaningless. I found myself explaining relevant things about the game to Ben. And then I'd be like, "Oh right. Idle chatter. So how about that local sports team?" I must have sounded like a douchebag. Mike's response to this story-"You are a douchebag." Negreanu is good enough to keep up the chatter even while he's in hands. I'm not, so I stop talking when I'm playing a hand. I keep that constant, so as not to be like Yogi Berra. Early in his career, teams knew when the Yankees had hit and runs or steals called, because that's the only time Yogi would not talk to the first baseman. My third table wasn't so noteworthy, except that I made 187 at it, making it my most successful table. Totals for the 3 tables were -43, +100, +187=+244. I'll take it. I might go back to AC on the way down to Baltimore. It's not exactly on the way, but it only adds an extra 90 minutes or so to the trip. Compare that to a 4(North Jersey)-5(Baltimore) hour round trip...

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