Trip report, Atlantic City, March 17-20
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Atlantic City, Wed March 17 to Sat March 20.
9 of us depart Milton, 4 in my Dodge Caravan and the other 5 in a friends van at 6:15am… Hit the Lewiston border at around 7:20, no wait at all… Large cooler of beer and movies on my 10” DVD aftermarket system to keep the guys amused.
Weather was beautiful all the way down, only slight slow down due to traffic going through Philli.
Arrived at Showboat, where we were staying at around 3:45, checked in, dumped our luggage and hit the bar…. First beat, Scott my roommate, tried to order a beer but was told by the bartender that he was cutoff since he was already too drunk, geesh I don’t think he had more than 20 on the way down! That’s why it took us so long to get there, too many relief stops.. First time any of the guys have been cutoff before even getting their first drink on arrival. A new record!
This was St Paddy’s day so the plan was to hit the Irish Pub on the boardwalk that evening.. Never made it, 3 of us played the 7pm $65. Showboat tourney and the rest drank, gambled and my bud Kerry entered a St Paddy’s day dress up contest and won. He had this hideous green robe and hat, but I guess the competition must have been even worse… Prize was $100. gift certificate to be use anywhere at Showboat and 1 night in a beautiful suite which we used on the Friday night to party. This suite was something to see, his and her showers, electronic sound system that was supposedly state of the art, several flat screen tvs spread around. Magnificent chandeliers, etc. Cost was supposed to be $500. per night.
The Showboat runs 4 tournaments per day all the same at 11am, 2pm, 7 pm and 10pm.
$65. buy in, 10K chips, 20 min blinds. They get like 35-40 players for the 11am, 2pm and 10pm tournies, 40-60 for the 7pm. Lasts about 4-5 hrs typically.
I played 1 on the Wed evening and 3 on Thursday, never cashed at all but did make 2 final tables. This was the tournament that I played 6 times last year and cashed 4 times, twice for 1st place chops…Did play some cash (1/2) for small profits but not even enough to make my buyins back.. I was determined to make Friday different.
On the Friday morning I was heading to signup for the 11am tourney when my buddy Kerry convinced me to go play the weekly Borgata $250. tournament instead (30K guaranteed). It started at 12 noon, 10K chips, 30 min blinds and much more gradual level increases. Two of us went there to play, I drove over in my van since it was too far to walk.
Structure below..
Atlantic City Hotels | Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa | Atlantic City Casinos
Registered and at my table ready to play 10 min ahead of time. The Borgata poker room is beautiful, of the same caliber as the Venetian in Vegas. There are 85 tables, very comfortable chairs, gorgeous waitresses and helpful staff.. Couldn’t ask for more.
195 entries, I was at table 20, seat 3… The adventure began…
We started with only 3 players at our table, although 9 of the 10 seats were sold. Apparently a lot of the regulars, just register, go for breakfast then come back sometime in level 2, go figure…No real hands of note for me early, I chipped up to about 11k by the end of level 2, gave up some to about 8k in level 3, then disaster struck. Called a small raise in late position with pocket 5’s in the cutoff. I think there were 4 to the flop.
Flop was 9,5, 2 with 2 spades. EP lead out for about pot I believe, 1 caller to me. Probably about 4K in the pot at this point. I pushed for about 7.5K, EP calls for less, turns out it was 1.2K less actually. He flips pocket 9’s for top set and of course I miss the case 5.. Now I’m crippled to 1200 with blinds at 100/200…
Now I went on a run, doubled up twice quickly to about 5k, sat for awhile, then tripled up when I pushed on a flush draw, got 2 callers and hit. Much more comfortable now.. I think we were down to around 12 tables by this time, 3 hours in at 2nd break. Grabbed a sandwich at a deli and settled in. By the next break at the 4.5 hour mark we were down to 8 tables and my buddy was out. I found the play almost crazy aggressive, too many gamblers I guess. The mix seemed to be about 75/25 locals to casual player. Maybe that’s why. Nobody seemed too worried about getting lots of play for their buy in..
I just kept my head down, went to work and picked my spots. Before I knew it they broke our table and and they moved us to the main tournament area with 9 tables. I was at about 20K, level 10, blinds 800/1600… I was at table 2, seat 3 which I liked, our table wouldn’t be broken until final table so unless I got moved during a balance.
Crazy Asian, (sorry Wes, couldn’t resist) was in seat 10, he had a monster stack, I would say about 200K. He called all sorts of all-ins with even garbage cards. Typically he would ask a pusher if he wanted a caller and did what the pusher said. Sometimes he doubled them up, sometimes he busted them. It was crazy, once I saw him call an all in with 4,6 vs pocket K’s and win. His stack varied between 150-300K and he never seemed concerned. Never seen someone so cool about it..Over the next couple of hours he doubled me up 3 times, each time asking me if I wanted him to call my pushes. The 1st time I had 9’s and before he even asked me the question I hollered, Yes. Yes… He said, smart guy huh and called. That time he had K,10 and I held. Think one more was my 4’s to his overs and the third time was my A,K to his K,2?? It was nuts, just lucky that I had good position on him. One time I pushed after his raise with my K,Q suited and he folded saying that he had kept me alive long enough..
Now my big hand, crazy asian wasn’t involved. DrTyore you should pay attn to this. I’m in the cutoff with 7,8 clubs, about 30 players left, I have only about 20K, avg stack is about 60-70K, blinds at 1/2K 300 ante. Guy to my right calls, I look and think, gotta steal some blinds, unlikely to be dominated, I push my stack. Guy on the button to my left calls, he has a total of about 80K, BB repushes his 60K and I know I’m in deep doodoo…last guy folds and button thinks then calls. They turn em up, 10’s for button, K’s for BB and I ask, do I have to? Flop 6C, JH, QD, no help for me… turn 4C, yesssss, now at least I have a chance…. All I see is that the last card is a club, didn’t even realize it was the 5C making my str8 flush and I triple up to about 64K… Only Canadian left and these guys looked worried…Seemed like we got to the bubble quickly although I guess it was a hour or so.. I had pushed, generally with cards, several times to stay alive. At 19 (paid top 18) bubble deal was proposed and accepted, everyone threw $20. in the pot for bubble and we progressed.. 1st paid $12.5K down to 18th for $624. I had thought that since we were in the money now, play would loosen up as it had gotten quite tight around 30. Nope, still tight and I managed to keep raising without getting called almost once per round. Only time I got AA in the whole tourney, I couldn’t get any action… even from crazy asian who limped in EP again that hand.
The other member of our gang who played the tourney, Gary was sweating me this whole time. We kept discussing strategy often, it really helped keep me focused,, Thanks Gary… He actually called the rest of the gang who came to the Borgata when we were down to about 15… I had a whole Canadian cheering section, fantastic, and really gave me a lift. By this point we had been playing about 8 hours and I could feel it. For some reason this seemed much more grueling than the WSOP seniors where I played 13 hours day 1. Rolled into final table at about 9PM with a stack of 50K, blinds at 3/6K, ante 1K. Avg stack was 200K although 2 stacks were at about 5-600K, there were 2 stacks of about 25k and the rest ranged from 50-100K.
One short stack went out early when I busted him with my 10’s vs his A,5. Had about 75K at this point. Another short stack (30K) pushed, guy to my right who had been complaining of no cards repushed his 100K, I looked down at JJ… What to do… hmmm, couldn’t give the short stack much credit, but guy to my right, don’t know… closed my eyes and pushed… Short stack had 7’s, guy to my right had AQ. 7 hit on the flop but nothing else so 7’s tripled up and I doubled remaining through AQ guy leaving me at about same stack. No loss but if I hold there I have 180K and a real shot. I believe blinds were still at 3/6K at this point but may have been 4/8K. Another guy goes out and we’re at 7. Blinds at 4/8K, ante 1k and I look down at AQ suited in late. No limpers, I push, BB thinks for a while and finally calls with A,5 off. Yessssss…. I have about 60K and looking to double to 130K or so. Nothing on flop, nothing on turn, ugly 5 on river and f***, I’m out… 7th for 1.2K -30% withholding which I didn’t know about ahead of time.. Apparently the Borgata recently started withholding that same 30% only recently, guess they don’t like Canadians…
Good run finally but so close to decent money as they did a chop at 5 with lowest guy getting 4K…..
Left for home yesterday at 11:30 and didn’t get home until 9:30 after delays in Philli due to college b’ball and at the border apparently due to Saturday Canadian shoppers.
9 of us depart Milton, 4 in my Dodge Caravan and the other 5 in a friends van at 6:15am… Hit the Lewiston border at around 7:20, no wait at all… Large cooler of beer and movies on my 10” DVD aftermarket system to keep the guys amused.
Weather was beautiful all the way down, only slight slow down due to traffic going through Philli.
Arrived at Showboat, where we were staying at around 3:45, checked in, dumped our luggage and hit the bar…. First beat, Scott my roommate, tried to order a beer but was told by the bartender that he was cutoff since he was already too drunk, geesh I don’t think he had more than 20 on the way down! That’s why it took us so long to get there, too many relief stops.. First time any of the guys have been cutoff before even getting their first drink on arrival. A new record!
This was St Paddy’s day so the plan was to hit the Irish Pub on the boardwalk that evening.. Never made it, 3 of us played the 7pm $65. Showboat tourney and the rest drank, gambled and my bud Kerry entered a St Paddy’s day dress up contest and won. He had this hideous green robe and hat, but I guess the competition must have been even worse… Prize was $100. gift certificate to be use anywhere at Showboat and 1 night in a beautiful suite which we used on the Friday night to party. This suite was something to see, his and her showers, electronic sound system that was supposedly state of the art, several flat screen tvs spread around. Magnificent chandeliers, etc. Cost was supposed to be $500. per night.
The Showboat runs 4 tournaments per day all the same at 11am, 2pm, 7 pm and 10pm.
$65. buy in, 10K chips, 20 min blinds. They get like 35-40 players for the 11am, 2pm and 10pm tournies, 40-60 for the 7pm. Lasts about 4-5 hrs typically.
I played 1 on the Wed evening and 3 on Thursday, never cashed at all but did make 2 final tables. This was the tournament that I played 6 times last year and cashed 4 times, twice for 1st place chops…Did play some cash (1/2) for small profits but not even enough to make my buyins back.. I was determined to make Friday different.
On the Friday morning I was heading to signup for the 11am tourney when my buddy Kerry convinced me to go play the weekly Borgata $250. tournament instead (30K guaranteed). It started at 12 noon, 10K chips, 30 min blinds and much more gradual level increases. Two of us went there to play, I drove over in my van since it was too far to walk.
Structure below..
Atlantic City Hotels | Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa | Atlantic City Casinos
Registered and at my table ready to play 10 min ahead of time. The Borgata poker room is beautiful, of the same caliber as the Venetian in Vegas. There are 85 tables, very comfortable chairs, gorgeous waitresses and helpful staff.. Couldn’t ask for more.
195 entries, I was at table 20, seat 3… The adventure began…
We started with only 3 players at our table, although 9 of the 10 seats were sold. Apparently a lot of the regulars, just register, go for breakfast then come back sometime in level 2, go figure…No real hands of note for me early, I chipped up to about 11k by the end of level 2, gave up some to about 8k in level 3, then disaster struck. Called a small raise in late position with pocket 5’s in the cutoff. I think there were 4 to the flop.
Flop was 9,5, 2 with 2 spades. EP lead out for about pot I believe, 1 caller to me. Probably about 4K in the pot at this point. I pushed for about 7.5K, EP calls for less, turns out it was 1.2K less actually. He flips pocket 9’s for top set and of course I miss the case 5.. Now I’m crippled to 1200 with blinds at 100/200…
Now I went on a run, doubled up twice quickly to about 5k, sat for awhile, then tripled up when I pushed on a flush draw, got 2 callers and hit. Much more comfortable now.. I think we were down to around 12 tables by this time, 3 hours in at 2nd break. Grabbed a sandwich at a deli and settled in. By the next break at the 4.5 hour mark we were down to 8 tables and my buddy was out. I found the play almost crazy aggressive, too many gamblers I guess. The mix seemed to be about 75/25 locals to casual player. Maybe that’s why. Nobody seemed too worried about getting lots of play for their buy in..
I just kept my head down, went to work and picked my spots. Before I knew it they broke our table and and they moved us to the main tournament area with 9 tables. I was at about 20K, level 10, blinds 800/1600… I was at table 2, seat 3 which I liked, our table wouldn’t be broken until final table so unless I got moved during a balance.
Crazy Asian, (sorry Wes, couldn’t resist) was in seat 10, he had a monster stack, I would say about 200K. He called all sorts of all-ins with even garbage cards. Typically he would ask a pusher if he wanted a caller and did what the pusher said. Sometimes he doubled them up, sometimes he busted them. It was crazy, once I saw him call an all in with 4,6 vs pocket K’s and win. His stack varied between 150-300K and he never seemed concerned. Never seen someone so cool about it..Over the next couple of hours he doubled me up 3 times, each time asking me if I wanted him to call my pushes. The 1st time I had 9’s and before he even asked me the question I hollered, Yes. Yes… He said, smart guy huh and called. That time he had K,10 and I held. Think one more was my 4’s to his overs and the third time was my A,K to his K,2?? It was nuts, just lucky that I had good position on him. One time I pushed after his raise with my K,Q suited and he folded saying that he had kept me alive long enough..
Now my big hand, crazy asian wasn’t involved. DrTyore you should pay attn to this. I’m in the cutoff with 7,8 clubs, about 30 players left, I have only about 20K, avg stack is about 60-70K, blinds at 1/2K 300 ante. Guy to my right calls, I look and think, gotta steal some blinds, unlikely to be dominated, I push my stack. Guy on the button to my left calls, he has a total of about 80K, BB repushes his 60K and I know I’m in deep doodoo…last guy folds and button thinks then calls. They turn em up, 10’s for button, K’s for BB and I ask, do I have to? Flop 6C, JH, QD, no help for me… turn 4C, yesssss, now at least I have a chance…. All I see is that the last card is a club, didn’t even realize it was the 5C making my str8 flush and I triple up to about 64K… Only Canadian left and these guys looked worried…Seemed like we got to the bubble quickly although I guess it was a hour or so.. I had pushed, generally with cards, several times to stay alive. At 19 (paid top 18) bubble deal was proposed and accepted, everyone threw $20. in the pot for bubble and we progressed.. 1st paid $12.5K down to 18th for $624. I had thought that since we were in the money now, play would loosen up as it had gotten quite tight around 30. Nope, still tight and I managed to keep raising without getting called almost once per round. Only time I got AA in the whole tourney, I couldn’t get any action… even from crazy asian who limped in EP again that hand.
The other member of our gang who played the tourney, Gary was sweating me this whole time. We kept discussing strategy often, it really helped keep me focused,, Thanks Gary… He actually called the rest of the gang who came to the Borgata when we were down to about 15… I had a whole Canadian cheering section, fantastic, and really gave me a lift. By this point we had been playing about 8 hours and I could feel it. For some reason this seemed much more grueling than the WSOP seniors where I played 13 hours day 1. Rolled into final table at about 9PM with a stack of 50K, blinds at 3/6K, ante 1K. Avg stack was 200K although 2 stacks were at about 5-600K, there were 2 stacks of about 25k and the rest ranged from 50-100K.
One short stack went out early when I busted him with my 10’s vs his A,5. Had about 75K at this point. Another short stack (30K) pushed, guy to my right who had been complaining of no cards repushed his 100K, I looked down at JJ… What to do… hmmm, couldn’t give the short stack much credit, but guy to my right, don’t know… closed my eyes and pushed… Short stack had 7’s, guy to my right had AQ. 7 hit on the flop but nothing else so 7’s tripled up and I doubled remaining through AQ guy leaving me at about same stack. No loss but if I hold there I have 180K and a real shot. I believe blinds were still at 3/6K at this point but may have been 4/8K. Another guy goes out and we’re at 7. Blinds at 4/8K, ante 1k and I look down at AQ suited in late. No limpers, I push, BB thinks for a while and finally calls with A,5 off. Yessssss…. I have about 60K and looking to double to 130K or so. Nothing on flop, nothing on turn, ugly 5 on river and f***, I’m out… 7th for 1.2K -30% withholding which I didn’t know about ahead of time.. Apparently the Borgata recently started withholding that same 30% only recently, guess they don’t like Canadians…
Good run finally but so close to decent money as they did a chop at 5 with lowest guy getting 4K…..
Left for home yesterday at 11:30 and didn’t get home until 9:30 after delays in Philli due to college b’ball and at the border apparently due to Saturday Canadian shoppers.
Comments
You already had your week.
Nice report Jeff
Good score thou. I hate the chop right after you get eliminated.