High On Poker

When Wifey Kim and I booked our trip to Atlanta (leaving on Thursday of last week) I never expected to take an extra day off. Once I reviewed my vacation days, though, things quickly changed. I’d been starved for live poker and the idea of a weekday trip appealed to me. Being a lawyer, though, I have certain responsibilities to both my clients and my employer. That mean weekday trips were not just rare  but essentially impossible. That is, until I figured I could tack a day onto the beginning of my Atlanta trip.

The plan was simple. I was going to bus it to AC, play for the day, and return early enough to get some sleep before my 7am flight to Atlanta. As the trip neared, things fell into place and Edgie contacted me about joining. I am always up for company and Edgie is a great guy with which to talk poker, so it seemed like everything was coming up Jordan.

The plan was simple. I had upgraded from a bus filled with sad, desperate people to a ZipCar filled with Edgie. I had never ridden in a ZipCar before and was amazed at the ease. For those who don’t know, ZipCar is a company that offers rental car subscription service. You essentially pay a yearly fee and then get cheaper rental rates with cars scattered around the metropolitan area for easy pickup and dropoff. Perhaps the best part is the fact that the price of rental, which is only slightly cheaper than usual car rates, includes a gas card (free gas!) and insurance coverage. For a guy like me without a car, insurance coverage is key. Most people can rent a car without getting insurance because they have a policy on their own car. Not me. I have to pay the exorbitant rental car rates or risk everything in the event of an accident.

We met at 8am and picked up the car, which was in a nearby garage. Edgie was able to access the car by swiping his ZipCar card over a reader on the windshield. The car was mostly clean, save for a Haagen Daaz ice cream bar stick in the door’s cupholder. The ride was easy, albeit with some traffic.

Our first stop was the Borgata, where we hoped to play the $120 tournament. When we arrived, the line for tournament wrapped out the poker room and down the hallway. The tournament was about 5 minutes from kickoff, and it became clear that we would not be sitting for another 30 minutes at least. I would’ve waited or played cash instead, but Edgie wanted to change it up and try the Showboat tournament. It was a bit cheaper, but who was I to complain. After all, I went from bus to chauffeured car and poker was poker.

Upon arrival at the Showboat, the 11am tournament was already underway and underwhelming. It was a glorified SNG, with no more than 3 tables playing. As it turned out, the tournament was short because of another tournament taking place in Showboat’s convention room, a $50,000 freeroll for frequent players. We decided to start with cash, and were immediately seated at a new-ish 1/2 NLHE table.

As we waited to buy chips at the cage, I noticed a familiar face behind us. It was none other than Bacini Mary. Its gotten to the point that I’m no longer surprised when I bump into an NYC degenerate in Atlantic City, but I still didn’t expect to see anyone in the middle of a Wednesday afternoon. If Bacini was nearby, Dawn was sure to be as well, since she is the patron saint of inappropriate gambling hours. We found her at a 1/2 NLHE table. I had assumed that they were there from the early morning, but I later found out that they were at the Showboat for the $50k freeroll, having amassed too many hours at the table for me to comfortably announce it here. And to make matters worse/better, by the time they sat at 1/2 NLHE they had less than an hour before the freeroll. Degenerates!

Edgie and I made our way to our table. I didn’t take any audio notes, mostly because what little was worth remembering was just tragic. It was a decent-enough table. Early, it was a bit tight, but a guy joined the table in the 7 or 8 seat (I was in the 3 seat) and began calling with reckless abandon. He was a white guy, probably of Italian descent, in his 40s, with dark hair and a baseball cap that was likely a free handout or for a company he had worked for. He had on an ill-fitting tan jacket and generally non-descript clothing. When he started calling like a madman, my mouth began to water. He was the ideal guy for this table. His loose play meant that the other player woudl hopefully loosen up and his calling-station demeanor meant that a big hand could easily get paid off.

When a Player Like That starts to win hands, especially with improbable cards, I am instantly elated. The less forward-thinking grumble about how the donk across the table is playing any two cards and hitting. But the player looking for a profit only sees a pig being fattened up before slaughter. A prime example: A few players limped, a mid to late position player raised, the Player Like That called from one of the blinds. The flop came down A99. The Player Like That eventually won the pot…with 92o. Ridiculous!

Unfortunately, the problem with Players Like That is that sometimes they refuse to cool off when you ask them politely. I ended up losing several pots to the guy when I kept ending it second-best land. I recall one hand in particular where I raised preflop with AKs to $12 or so. Of course, a Player Like That is going to call out of one of the blinds, as did several other players. The flop was K98, and he bet out. I called, expecting him to have anything. I figured I was ahead of most of his range. He bet on the turn and I called. He checked on the river and I made a value bet. He called and showed 89o. DOH! Also, LEMON, et al.

I don’t remember many other hands. At my lowest, I was down around $350. Very late in the session, I won a pot with a set, and eventually walked away down about $226. It was annoying, to say the least, and I could tell that my frustration was going to be working against me, so when I saw the 2pm tournament starting, I decided it was a good excuse to walk. I literally decided that I would be better off playing the cheapo $65 tournament than continue down the ugly path that a Player Like That had set me upon. I still didn’t think I was playing bad, but his luck was not running out fast enough for me, and I didn’t want to overdo my targeted play, especially against a guy who had Lady Luck giving him a handy under the table.

Edgie and I bought in for the tournament and took our seats at different tables. My table was full of mostly older guys, with a few exceptions. I mostly kept out of the action, as one player in particular showed himself to be Another Player Like That. This guy looked remarkably like a comedian from the recent season of Last Comic Standing by the name of Jonathan Thymius (picture inserted). In fact, if I was there again, I’d probably even ask him if he did comedy. Lord knows he played like it was a joke.

The Thymius look-alike had also gone on a string of winning hands, while I sat back and thought I was building a tight image. When blinds were up to 100/200 (10k starting stacks), I decided to make a move. There were a slew of limpers, so I raised to 1000 hoping to pick up the blinds with Q7c. I only got one call, Thymius. He was saying earlier how he had to keep playing his rush, so I figured him for any two cards.

The flop came down 9T3. He checked and I decided to continuation bet for 2,000. He called. The turn was a Queen, surprisingly. With top pair, I felt a lot more confident when he checked to me. I bet 5,000, which was a huge sum at this point in the game. He flat called. The river was a King. He checked and I checked. He then showed QJo for a rivered straight, although he was ahead of me the whole way. At the time, I was thinking, WTF is he thinking calling me on the flop for 2k, but now I see the open ended straight draw. Really, it was my bad. I chose the wrong moment to make a move and I left myself crippled as a result.

With a little more than 2k left, I ended up pushing all-in from UTG with QTh, another pretty awful move that I had justified by the fact that the blinds were 200/400 and it was “now or never.” A kid in MP woke up with AA and I was out.

I met up with Edgie who was sitting right next to the Player Like hat from my first table. He had decided to play the tourney too and eventually busted Edgie, with Edgie’s KK vs. his AA. Lady Luck’s hand must’ve been tired by the end of that stretch.

We returned back to cash games where I did my best to dig myself out of the hole. I should mention that all the while, I was actually having a great time. I’ve mentioned it here before, but sometimes, when I injure myself, I actually laugh pretty hard. I can’t help it. It’s as though the endorphines meant to sooth the pain are just getting me high. I actually love it, to tell the truth, although I’m not one to intentionally bruise myself. Well, much like that scenario, I found it best to simply laugh through the pain of my losses. At the first table, I was joking as best I could with the Player Like That. At the tournament, I was friendly with the table and didn’t make a big deal when I busted. When I went to the cash game after the bustout, I was back to having fun.

I sat down in the 1 seat and quickly made friends with the big white dude with blondish brown goatee on my immediate left. His girlfriend sat half-heartedly behind him as he tried to make his nut. He was more than happy to tell me about the table and who was playing like what. It helped me get up to speed and also offered me that buffer of friendship that can come in handy when you have a blind-vs-blind confrontation. I began to grind my way northward after taking an initial $50 hit. I continued to climb as I joked with most of the table and kept things light and friendly.

Once again, I don’t have hands, so my apologies.

Eventually, the big guy left and was replaced by a small, older woman with short-cropped blonde-white hair. She was having trouble reading the boards so I offered to help, reading the boards when she needed it. I offered my seat, but she said that she wouldn’t do that. The last time she did it, her old seat went hot and she missed out on the rush. As we chatted, I learned that her eye problem was related to chemotherapy treatments. I responded, “Really? I just thought you had a really hot haircut.” Yes, I was sorta flirting with the old lady. I know she appreciated it and it was fun to hang out and futz around. Across the table from me in the 4 or 5 seat was a black guy who my prior neighbor informed me was a calling station moron. The guy was in his late 50s, probably, and was having a fine old time, laughing it up as he admitted, “I’m just calling this for the hell of it!” He was a lawyer and I cringed when Edgie offered up that I was a lawyer too. I thought he got the memo that for the day, I was to be a freelance cartoonist for the New Yorker. Regardless, the black guy and I hit it off. To his immediate right was an old white guy of probably 60+ years who was winning pot after pot from the lawyer. He got in on the fun too, and the three of us were chatting back and forth. Meanwhile, Bacini Mary had joined the table in seat 8 or 7. Her an I tussled in a few hands.

In one, she raised preflop and I called with something like JTs. I hit a Ten high flop, but folded on the turn when I realized that Mary, of course, had an overpair. She always has an overpair. I swear, I knew it preflop, but I couldn’t help myself. I got that money back and thensome on a flop of JKJ when I held KJ. NOICE! She was my only customer, and helped me lock in a bit of profit.

After that, things were pretty dry. I wasn’t getting good cards and so, I eventually saw my profits dwindle. At about 6pm, I decided to call it a day. I thought I was up about $76, but my stacks were jacked up and I learned afterward that I was actually only up $56 at that table. I lost $20 by misstacking my chips. Damn!

Edgie and I hit up the buffet after we learned that a few hours of play on a Monday or Wednesday earned you a free buffet comp. We loaded up on dinner and hit the road, eventually arriving home around 10pm.

The trip left me down $235, $170 from cash and $65 from the tournament. But I was laughing most of the day and I felt like I did what I could. Granted, the tournament play is suspect, but that aside, I felt most of my play was decent. I just didn’t have the cards or luck I needed.

Until next time, make mine poker!