Where you left your keys ...Rick's Cafe Americain

A.M. tournament

I thought that maybe the fates were with me. I went to Otto’s to perform in their 8PM open mic, but only Matt Taylor and I showed up. The host arrived late and surly. With no audience to perform for and a host that wasn’t interested in hosting, we decided to leave. Matt had a spot at The Duplex, so I tried to sneak myself onto the bill. Nothing doing. So we headed over to the Village Lantern and I tried to sneak on over there. Again, no dice.

But wait… host Steve Rosso came bounding up the stairs to tell me that someone had cancelled and he could put me up last! I had a good set and figured that fate was smiling on me after spending the early part of the evening mocking me. It turns out this was just a set up so it could mock me again. Fate is like that.

Early in the tournament I caught pocket tens on the button. There was only one limper ahead of me, so I raised to 4x the big blind. Both of the blinds called me and asphnxma made some snarky comment about the type of respect my raises get. The flop was ten high and rainbow. The blinds checked and I made a modest bet. The small blind called, but the big blind folded. The turn paired the rags on the board. The small blind bet, I raised him and he called again. The river was a brick and the small blind pushed in his stack. I quickly called. He showed his once-powerful aces and I doubled up with Tens full.

The tournament was mostly uneventful for a while. I was playing aggressively (for me) and was doing a decent job of holding onto my chips. I pushed Paula, a new player at A.M., out of a pot with a big bet on the turn, and she called me a bully. I doubled up through her when she called my bluff bet on the flop with nothing but a gutshot draw. It didn’t come for her and she just shrugged. Paula didn’t care because she was in the middle of a generally unsuccessful attempt to dump her chips. She kept calling from behind and sucking out. It was actually painful to watch. Poker lost over and over and over again.

Meanwhile, asphnxma was getting cold-decked like nothing I’ve ever seen. He got 52o three times in a row. It was in the middle of two orbits of no cards higher than nine, nothing suited and no connected cards. He was shortstacked and just wanted to push, but had nothing. Finally I told him A watched pot never boils. Don’t look at your cards, just push. After a few more shitty hands, that is exactly what he did. I don’t remember his cards, but he tripled up. He doubled through again, courtesy of Paula - still trying to lose. All of a sudden he was sitting on one of the larger stacks when two tables collapsed to one.

When we got down to 6 players, Paula ended up on my immediate right. When I saw AQo, I raised it up. Not surprisingly, Paula called. The flo was T-9-x and Paula checked. Paula hadn’t slowplayed anything all night, I didn’t want to see anymore cards and she had shown a willingness to lay down her cards after the flop. So I pushed. And she called. And turned over T9. I had her outchipped, though, so I had at least one more hand to play.

I was left with 9000 in the SB when the blinds were 6000/12000/1000, so everyone knew that all of my chips were going to be in the pot. Still, there were two other limpers, meaning that I had a chance to quadruple up. The flop was T-7-x, rainbow. asphnxma and the other limper checked and Paula bet into the 1BB side pot, forcing the limpers to fold and grumble about the wisdom of checking it down. I hadn’t looked at my cards yet, so when Paula and I were heads up, I was pleased to see T3. Paula turned over A♥7♥. Wow! I was going to quadruple up ... until Paula went runner-runner for the heart flush and I was gone.

I dropped another $15 in the ring game, mostly on a hand that asphnxma discusses more cogently than I would here. Let’s just say that the guy with aces isn’t a particularly deceptive player and I have no regrets about how I played the hand.

Tropicana

For all of my poker playing over the last two years, I had never played in a casino. I’d played blackjack in AC, Verona and Deadwood, but not poker. When asphnxma and Bkyn Plague decided to head to AC for President’s Day, I figured this would be as good a day as any to make my first trip. Deke decided to join in as well.

I started the day $5 in the hole. We opted to take the 9:30 Academy bus from the Port Authority to the Tropicana, since that is apparently the poker room of choice. (Why not the Borgata? I don’t know. asphnxma?) That meant I had to be on the train before 9. Which, in turn, meant that I would be dragging my fat ass out of a warm bed much earlier than I am used to on a weekend (or, lately, a weekday), so I was bound to be a little confused. I knew as soon as I stepped off the train at 34th Street that I made a mistake. Unwilling to wait for another train, I headed above ground and grabbed a taxi. Like I said, still in New York and already $5 in the hole.

I had two hours to kill, so I read a little fiction, a little non-fiction (to prepare to interview the author) and the introduction to a friend’s draft novel. The bus arrived in AC at 11:45, we were given $17 (in cash!) by the tour operator and headed to the cage. I got cold feet about playing no limit in a cash game (probably because of this), so I put my name on the list for 4/8 and bought in for $200.

The table was ridiculous. No fold ‘em hold ‘em. People were playing ATsC and calling off all the way to the river with nothing but a three card draw. Even with so many people in the pots, I just didn’t feel like there was any way that people were getting the odds to draw the way they did. I lost so much money to people holding 53s or J4s (that one was runner-runner) or similar crap that I almost cried. Early on, I was down $30 and told asphnxma about the table. He said that I had to start playing more suited cards and connectors. It sounded too much like “when in rome” for me to follow his advice, but on reflection he was probably right. Once a tight player, always a tight player. If I never going to improve, of course.

I quickly reversed fortune when I got into a pot with pocket eights. I caught my set on the flop and a boat on the turn and a loose player in the four seat capped the river against me. Sweet. After another hand where I hit my gutshot on the turn (7 way action preflop on a pot I raised with AQ and only one small bet on the flop to call those same seven people. I had the odds here, right?) I was up over $100 and feelin’ fine. Then the flushes started coming for the chasers and I started playing poorly.

I didn’t have breakfast before I left and I didn’t break for lunch. I spent the last two hours with my stomach growling, but unwilling to slow down and have a sandwich. It was a mistake. A combination of bad rivers and ill-advised calls blew off another $230. If didn’t win the last hand of the day (which I played horribly, by the way), I would have lost over $100 playing against a table where I respected only two (maybe three) of my opponents. Instead I lost $99. I guess it could have been worse. Also, it could have been better. Plague finished +$200, Deke about the same.

That is a juicy game. I’ll be back.