Niagara Trip Report #2
I was in the Niagara area this weekend and decided again to try my luck at the unlimited bet hold them poker.
Called the Casino Niagara brush at 7:30 in the PM and was told the wait would be about an hour and a half.
Showed up at the poker room at 8:45 with my buddy and we were told to get some chips from the cage and we would be seated very soon. He was seated by the time I got back from the head and I was still waiting 10 minutes later so they opened a new table for the rest of the people on the 1-2NL list.
I tipped the floor a redbird and asked him to tell me when a seat opened at my buddies table. He was back before I paid a blind to get me.
I am seated directly on the left of my friend. This is good because he is generally a LAG bastard and can be a total pain in the ass if he’s got position on you.
I played two hands really poorly all night. The first time I find myself UTG I watch the three players on my left all look into their pocket and then directly at their chips. I wake up with 88 and decide that since these three are so interested in their hand I probably shouldn’t limp from here. Of course they all call and it’s 6 to the flop for $2 a piece and I would have flopped a set. There is a bunch of action and seat 1 takes down a $100 pot with trip 6’s when the board pairs on the river. Shit. Shit. I’m a such a nit.
Later on 5 limpers to my Big Blind and I have :as :ac . I make it $20 to go and get one caller, a 70ish great big fat guy who walks with a cane. He was really loose and had luck boxed his way to a $350ish stack right before my eyes. Flop is :qd :10d :9c diamonds and I fire $40 at the pot to see where I am at. He calls quickly. Flush draw? Top pair? Straight draw?
River is a :9h giving me Aces up. I put my last $40 in the middle and he insta-calls again. River is :qs and he turns over :qh :10h for a full house. What a goofy hand. I was way ahead pre-flop behind on the flop, ahead on the turn and lost on this river. So I laugh about it and tell tubby, “Nice hand.”
So I grind my stack back up to about $190 when this happens.
I had won two small pots in a row and decide to straddle from UTG. UTG+2 makes it $10 and gets called by cut-off, the button, and by my buddy in the big blind ($46 in the pot). I have :kc :ks so I Hollywood for about 30 seconds and make it $60 to go hoping that someone is going to put me on a pure steal. The first two fold and the button pushes for $32 more, Sb folds. He needs to do this a fairly small percentage of the time with AK, QQ, or JJ to make this profitable and who folds KK here anyways? I call the $32 and he turns :ac :as. LOL I can't even four flush for the win. My buddy says, “I folded KJ,” and I start praying for my one out. The flop is bricks and I get the case King on the turn with no ace on the river. The young asian kid who I stacked gets up, shakes his head, then my hand and leaves. Poor bastard. I feel your pain guy.
Now for the other hand that I play terribly. This cowboy sits at the table and really starts to liven things up. I don’t call him a cowboy because he is loose and aggressive (which he is), this guy is wearing Wrangler Jeans (do they still make those?), cowboy boots and belt buckle that is the size of a 1990 digital camera. He seems to know the dealers and the floor people and is talkative and fun at the table. If anyone knows who this guy is I’d love to hear some background on him. Looked like he had about 5 grand in his wallet. Any way here’s the hand:
I raise to $8 with :ah :10c from mid position and the cowboy calls from the BB. Flop is :9d :6c :4h rainbow and here fires $10 at the pot and I call because he bets at like every flop. Turn is :ac and he checks quickly, as I reach for my stack he holds his hand out like he’s going to fold. Now he had done this to a guy earlier and then came over the top. I can’t call a big raise here so I check and the river is an :8d . He bets $15 I call and he says, “I got lucky,” and tables 6 8 for two pair. Sometimes I don’t play so goot!
Toward the end of the night a young guy with an american accent comes to the table and it quickly becomes apparent that he is a solid thinking player. He builds his stack to around $225 pretty quickly and he is playing a lot of pots. I start this hand with about $280 in front.
I have :qd :9d and limp from mid position. Four other limpers and the solid young guy raises to $12. I am the only caller. Flop comes :10d :jd :6c and he leads for $15. I think for a bit and raise to $35 hoping to get a free card on the turn. For the first time since he sat down he goes into the tank for like 2 minutes and finally makes a reluctant call. I figure he’s got a big pair Aces, Kings possibly queens but not likely since I have one in my hand. The turn is :qc and he checks immediately. I figure the Q gives me a few more outs and he doesn’t seem too interested in this pot so I bet $50. He takes about a minute and finally folds, obviously disgusted.
I asked what he folded and he tells me that he’d rather not say. I rarely show hands at the table but I figured if I showed him the move I made he might stay out of my way for the rest of the night. I tabled my monster draw and he goes, “I had you beat. Nice play man, that’s fuckin’ thick.” A few hands later he left the table and when he came back he tells me that he had to tell his buddies about the hand we just played and that I had gotten him to fold AA. He said he figured me for two pair. An Ace of diamonds would have been the perfect turn card.
Pretty fun night overall. The table was friendly but a little too tight for the most part. Saw several guys fold 20 hands in a row and then call off their stack with hands like AQ off that never hit the board. Crazy shit.
I still find it hard to get rolling when you only start with 50 Big Blinds. But I think that the best idea is to just gamble it up early and hope to build a bit of stack so you can play some real poker.
Finished the night up about $60.
Caddy
Called the Casino Niagara brush at 7:30 in the PM and was told the wait would be about an hour and a half.
Showed up at the poker room at 8:45 with my buddy and we were told to get some chips from the cage and we would be seated very soon. He was seated by the time I got back from the head and I was still waiting 10 minutes later so they opened a new table for the rest of the people on the 1-2NL list.
I tipped the floor a redbird and asked him to tell me when a seat opened at my buddies table. He was back before I paid a blind to get me.
I am seated directly on the left of my friend. This is good because he is generally a LAG bastard and can be a total pain in the ass if he’s got position on you.
I played two hands really poorly all night. The first time I find myself UTG I watch the three players on my left all look into their pocket and then directly at their chips. I wake up with 88 and decide that since these three are so interested in their hand I probably shouldn’t limp from here. Of course they all call and it’s 6 to the flop for $2 a piece and I would have flopped a set. There is a bunch of action and seat 1 takes down a $100 pot with trip 6’s when the board pairs on the river. Shit. Shit. I’m a such a nit.
Later on 5 limpers to my Big Blind and I have :as :ac . I make it $20 to go and get one caller, a 70ish great big fat guy who walks with a cane. He was really loose and had luck boxed his way to a $350ish stack right before my eyes. Flop is :qd :10d :9c diamonds and I fire $40 at the pot to see where I am at. He calls quickly. Flush draw? Top pair? Straight draw?
River is a :9h giving me Aces up. I put my last $40 in the middle and he insta-calls again. River is :qs and he turns over :qh :10h for a full house. What a goofy hand. I was way ahead pre-flop behind on the flop, ahead on the turn and lost on this river. So I laugh about it and tell tubby, “Nice hand.”
So I grind my stack back up to about $190 when this happens.
I had won two small pots in a row and decide to straddle from UTG. UTG+2 makes it $10 and gets called by cut-off, the button, and by my buddy in the big blind ($46 in the pot). I have :kc :ks so I Hollywood for about 30 seconds and make it $60 to go hoping that someone is going to put me on a pure steal. The first two fold and the button pushes for $32 more, Sb folds. He needs to do this a fairly small percentage of the time with AK, QQ, or JJ to make this profitable and who folds KK here anyways? I call the $32 and he turns :ac :as. LOL I can't even four flush for the win. My buddy says, “I folded KJ,” and I start praying for my one out. The flop is bricks and I get the case King on the turn with no ace on the river. The young asian kid who I stacked gets up, shakes his head, then my hand and leaves. Poor bastard. I feel your pain guy.
Now for the other hand that I play terribly. This cowboy sits at the table and really starts to liven things up. I don’t call him a cowboy because he is loose and aggressive (which he is), this guy is wearing Wrangler Jeans (do they still make those?), cowboy boots and belt buckle that is the size of a 1990 digital camera. He seems to know the dealers and the floor people and is talkative and fun at the table. If anyone knows who this guy is I’d love to hear some background on him. Looked like he had about 5 grand in his wallet. Any way here’s the hand:
I raise to $8 with :ah :10c from mid position and the cowboy calls from the BB. Flop is :9d :6c :4h rainbow and here fires $10 at the pot and I call because he bets at like every flop. Turn is :ac and he checks quickly, as I reach for my stack he holds his hand out like he’s going to fold. Now he had done this to a guy earlier and then came over the top. I can’t call a big raise here so I check and the river is an :8d . He bets $15 I call and he says, “I got lucky,” and tables 6 8 for two pair. Sometimes I don’t play so goot!
Toward the end of the night a young guy with an american accent comes to the table and it quickly becomes apparent that he is a solid thinking player. He builds his stack to around $225 pretty quickly and he is playing a lot of pots. I start this hand with about $280 in front.
I have :qd :9d and limp from mid position. Four other limpers and the solid young guy raises to $12. I am the only caller. Flop comes :10d :jd :6c and he leads for $15. I think for a bit and raise to $35 hoping to get a free card on the turn. For the first time since he sat down he goes into the tank for like 2 minutes and finally makes a reluctant call. I figure he’s got a big pair Aces, Kings possibly queens but not likely since I have one in my hand. The turn is :qc and he checks immediately. I figure the Q gives me a few more outs and he doesn’t seem too interested in this pot so I bet $50. He takes about a minute and finally folds, obviously disgusted.
I asked what he folded and he tells me that he’d rather not say. I rarely show hands at the table but I figured if I showed him the move I made he might stay out of my way for the rest of the night. I tabled my monster draw and he goes, “I had you beat. Nice play man, that’s fuckin’ thick.” A few hands later he left the table and when he came back he tells me that he had to tell his buddies about the hand we just played and that I had gotten him to fold AA. He said he figured me for two pair. An Ace of diamonds would have been the perfect turn card.
Pretty fun night overall. The table was friendly but a little too tight for the most part. Saw several guys fold 20 hands in a row and then call off their stack with hands like AQ off that never hit the board. Crazy shit.
I still find it hard to get rolling when you only start with 50 Big Blinds. But I think that the best idea is to just gamble it up early and hope to build a bit of stack so you can play some real poker.
Finished the night up about $60.
Caddy
Comments
Last time I was there I was told that it was considered a blind bet (i.e. you won't get to act last). So there's really no point.
Also not sure why you would tip the brush to get moved to your friends table - you can just ask and they will put you on the move list.
/g2
Not the :kd? It gives him the nut straight and if he has :ad the "nut flush" draw.
NB: edited to use the cool card icons
/g2
Doh! Time for some carbs.
For me I get to play live 3 or 4 times a year. So I would much rather sit with my friend and for the price of the tip I know the floor won't get busy and forget about me.
Oh yeah. and it's $5 dude.
LOL. How did you look at that gross felt all night?
I was in the back row against the wall. Your table was right behind me as I was in the #3 seat. How'd you make out? Would have been nice to say hello.
I left at 3AM
Funny coincidence. There was an Asian guy at my table who had his AA cracked by KK as well - must be rigged.
Planning on posting a report, but I almost doubled up then lost it all back plus some, and finally cashed out +$16.
Yeah. I looked around the room for any faces I knew but didn't see any. Next time, I guess.
I only did it a couple of times and I didn't make a big deal of it just threw it out there and no one said anything.
/g2
I'm a bit confused by your question but only because I'm stupid
In the hand that i mentioned above I placed a straddle bet of $4 which was raised to $10 and then I raised to $60 and it was re-raised to $92.
The other time I placed a straddle bet of $4 and it was raised to $7 and I called the raise with rags.
/g2
Very true. That was an odd play for him to make. He should have popped it for sure.
I have seen AA played very poorly at 1-2NL.