Summer Poker Adventures Part 4
So after our cruise we spent a couple of days in Venice. I inquired about playing at Casino Venice but poker doesn't start there until 4pm and you must wear a jacket and long pants. That's not my kind of place and it was 37C plus humidity and they don't really seem to crank the AC! The next stop was Budapest to visit some friends. I loved this city, if you get a chance do check it out! In addition to the baths, bars and scenery we found a cool thing called TRAP-Team Race Against Puzzles. There are two rooms you can play. Think of the Saw movies except you don't actually die. You are placed in a locked room and have 1 hour to figure out how to defuse "the bomb" or must simply figure out how to unlock the many padlocks and combination locks keeping you inside. I had never done anything like that and we thoroughly enjoyed it-actually playing the second room immediately afterwards. Anyway the Las Vegas Casino and the Tropicana Casino were about a 15 minute walk from our hotel and both advertised Hold'Em poker. I was given permission to go check it out. Well it turns out that Las Vegas Casino only has the Hold'Em against the dealer and the Tropicana game hardly ever runs! I had read that the smaller clubs had been getting raided and decided against trying to find a place like that. I walked back to the hotel and my wife and kids immediately looked at me and said, "You lost again?!" I explained the situation and they were relieved.
The final stop on our trip was Vienna-the beer, sausages and schnitzel were tremendous! Casino Wien (Vienna) was about 5 minutes walk from our hotel but again required dress pants and a jacket. I went back to the hotel and got on the internet and found the Concord Card Casino which was about a 10 minute cab ride. The club has about 40 tables, some dedicated for tourneys and the rest for cash. They had a 1-1 NL, a couple of 1-2 NL and a 3-6 LHE going and a 5 table tourney. The club has been in operation 24/7 for over 20 years now. My wife gave me the OK with a curfew of 2 am. I hopped in the cab-don't forget a passport when you go to these foreign casinos-and got seated at a 1-2 NL table with $200 max buy-in. (We were playing in Euros.) I bought in for $145-my allowance-and got seated. At first I was shitting because I looked at the colours and saw stacks of reds, blacks and greens! Turns out the reds are $1, the whites are $2, the greens are $5, the blacks are $10 and then they have a larger diameter black chip for $100. The biggest stack was about $400 and the smallest was probably $80. The table was very loose, with an average raise being $10 and then 7 or 8 to a flop wasn't uncommon. The weirdest thing was then someone would bet $10 and everyone would fold. There seemed to be 2 guys who were really good and a few ATMs. The guy beside me reloaded 5 times while I was there and a few others reloaded multiple times as well. The language barrier wasn't really a problem as I kind of know my numbers in German and followed the action no problem. The banter though was over my head. I know I was the brunt of a few jokes from this one young guy who got progressively more hammered as the night wore on. He was hitting some hands early. The drunk guy had been raising after limpers all night. I looked down at AA UTG and threw in a $10 chip and gestured to raise. Suddenly 7 people including the drunk are just calling so apparently the gesture in a foreign country doesn't work. Most of them understood English I should have just stated raise. Anyway the flop comes A23 rainbow. I bet out for $7 and get one caller. The turn is an A putting two spades on the board. I check and the guy checks behind. The river is a 2. I bet out for $10 and he folds. I show quads and they all shake their heads. A few hands later I get QQ in MP. I make it $11 and get 5 callers. The flop comes J high rainbow. I bet out for $35 and get one caller. Turn is an 8. I bet $50 and he calls. River is a low card. I check and he checks behind and my QQ is good. Here is where the drunk guy gets interesting. A series of hand occur where he raises a few limpers to $15, someone re-raises to $50 and then he makes it $600 and wins. A few hands later in a near family pot of $80 or so he says $300 but only throws in $30. It is folded to a younger guy who seems quite good. He immediately says something to the effect of "verbal is binding" the floor is called over and indeed it is. The young guy shoves for about $375 total and his AA loses when the drunk guy who was holding 9-2o had flopped 2 pair! Another guy actually called and lost with almost $300 so that was a monster pot. At this point the floor is called over and suddenly it becomes a no max buy-in table! When in Vienna....do as the Viennese do!!!
I have about $250 in front of me at this point and decide to wait for a hand to double up off the drunk guy who now has around $1500 in front of him. we tangle a couple of times and I won a small one and he bluffed me off a small one. He is getting more drunk and bleeds away down to around $1000. I did manage to double up through him though. I have JJ UTG and make it 11. He looks at me, laughs and says something that seems funny to everyone else and calls. All others fold. Before the flop he bets $200 in the dark. I have $193 behind. Flop comes 537 rainbow. I tank for a while and then call. He shows 99 and I double up. He begins to fall asleep at the table and finally with about $500 left in front is escorted out/cashed out and a cab is called for him. I won some more and lost some more with AQ and AK type hands. The only other hand of note was when I picked up A4d in EP and limp. Several callers and then one guy makes it $6 total. Everyone who limped calls. The flop comes 236 with two diamonds. I check and the raiser makes it $15. I pop it to $45 and he is the only caller. The turn is a Jh and I fire out for $60. He thinks for a while and finally calls. The river is a 7s. I fire out $90. He tanks for a LONG time-which made me think he was going to fold-and folds 33 face up. I drag a nice pot. If I had been in his position I don't think I fold a set of 3s there. Thoughts on his fold? I play a few more orbits and after getting a series of messages from my wife to get my ass home I cash out up around $475 Euros. This made up for the shitkicking on the cruise and hopefully starts my rally to win back my Vegas swing. Hope you enjoyed the posts and any feedback on those hands would be appreciated!
The final stop on our trip was Vienna-the beer, sausages and schnitzel were tremendous! Casino Wien (Vienna) was about 5 minutes walk from our hotel but again required dress pants and a jacket. I went back to the hotel and got on the internet and found the Concord Card Casino which was about a 10 minute cab ride. The club has about 40 tables, some dedicated for tourneys and the rest for cash. They had a 1-1 NL, a couple of 1-2 NL and a 3-6 LHE going and a 5 table tourney. The club has been in operation 24/7 for over 20 years now. My wife gave me the OK with a curfew of 2 am. I hopped in the cab-don't forget a passport when you go to these foreign casinos-and got seated at a 1-2 NL table with $200 max buy-in. (We were playing in Euros.) I bought in for $145-my allowance-and got seated. At first I was shitting because I looked at the colours and saw stacks of reds, blacks and greens! Turns out the reds are $1, the whites are $2, the greens are $5, the blacks are $10 and then they have a larger diameter black chip for $100. The biggest stack was about $400 and the smallest was probably $80. The table was very loose, with an average raise being $10 and then 7 or 8 to a flop wasn't uncommon. The weirdest thing was then someone would bet $10 and everyone would fold. There seemed to be 2 guys who were really good and a few ATMs. The guy beside me reloaded 5 times while I was there and a few others reloaded multiple times as well. The language barrier wasn't really a problem as I kind of know my numbers in German and followed the action no problem. The banter though was over my head. I know I was the brunt of a few jokes from this one young guy who got progressively more hammered as the night wore on. He was hitting some hands early. The drunk guy had been raising after limpers all night. I looked down at AA UTG and threw in a $10 chip and gestured to raise. Suddenly 7 people including the drunk are just calling so apparently the gesture in a foreign country doesn't work. Most of them understood English I should have just stated raise. Anyway the flop comes A23 rainbow. I bet out for $7 and get one caller. The turn is an A putting two spades on the board. I check and the guy checks behind. The river is a 2. I bet out for $10 and he folds. I show quads and they all shake their heads. A few hands later I get QQ in MP. I make it $11 and get 5 callers. The flop comes J high rainbow. I bet out for $35 and get one caller. Turn is an 8. I bet $50 and he calls. River is a low card. I check and he checks behind and my QQ is good. Here is where the drunk guy gets interesting. A series of hand occur where he raises a few limpers to $15, someone re-raises to $50 and then he makes it $600 and wins. A few hands later in a near family pot of $80 or so he says $300 but only throws in $30. It is folded to a younger guy who seems quite good. He immediately says something to the effect of "verbal is binding" the floor is called over and indeed it is. The young guy shoves for about $375 total and his AA loses when the drunk guy who was holding 9-2o had flopped 2 pair! Another guy actually called and lost with almost $300 so that was a monster pot. At this point the floor is called over and suddenly it becomes a no max buy-in table! When in Vienna....do as the Viennese do!!!
I have about $250 in front of me at this point and decide to wait for a hand to double up off the drunk guy who now has around $1500 in front of him. we tangle a couple of times and I won a small one and he bluffed me off a small one. He is getting more drunk and bleeds away down to around $1000. I did manage to double up through him though. I have JJ UTG and make it 11. He looks at me, laughs and says something that seems funny to everyone else and calls. All others fold. Before the flop he bets $200 in the dark. I have $193 behind. Flop comes 537 rainbow. I tank for a while and then call. He shows 99 and I double up. He begins to fall asleep at the table and finally with about $500 left in front is escorted out/cashed out and a cab is called for him. I won some more and lost some more with AQ and AK type hands. The only other hand of note was when I picked up A4d in EP and limp. Several callers and then one guy makes it $6 total. Everyone who limped calls. The flop comes 236 with two diamonds. I check and the raiser makes it $15. I pop it to $45 and he is the only caller. The turn is a Jh and I fire out for $60. He thinks for a while and finally calls. The river is a 7s. I fire out $90. He tanks for a LONG time-which made me think he was going to fold-and folds 33 face up. I drag a nice pot. If I had been in his position I don't think I fold a set of 3s there. Thoughts on his fold? I play a few more orbits and after getting a series of messages from my wife to get my ass home I cash out up around $475 Euros. This made up for the shitkicking on the cruise and hopefully starts my rally to win back my Vegas swing. Hope you enjoyed the posts and any feedback on those hands would be appreciated!
Comments
That being said,
Wtf is gesture to raise, do you do the raise the roof move?
Tanking with JJ is horrible, he shoved blind AND you were waiting to play a big hand with this specific player.
33 fold is atrocious, your bet sizing made it an easy call.
The roof the roof the roof is on fire!
but, 3 words............pair a graphs
Is this an acceptable move anywhere?
I think raise the roof would be more likely to work.
I have an uncle who is deaf and he was telling me about this.