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My own first B&M experience
I've finally taken this vacation this year, which is basically recharging the batteries around home. But, I also decided this would be the perfect week to try my hand at my first live B&M game! So, on a Monday afternoon we made the 2.5 trek to Orillia.
I packed up the g/f and we headed off to CasinoRama to try the 2/5 tables. We took a walk through the casino, got used to it, marvelled at all the people playing slot machines, and headed for the back poker room.
We decided to get supper before we hit the tables, but I was able to catch one hand while sitting there. From where I stood, I could clearly see the cards of UTG and UTG+1. The first opened with Q3o and the second with Q6o. "Hey!" I thought to myself, "This may not be so bad."
We grabbed some food and headed back to table and were each seated at different tables with $100 in chips.
Taking a look around the table, the most notable people were; Steve - a guy who was down $1,500 from the weekend, mostly playing on 5-10 tables, otherwise he was a really nice guy. There was Mike, who was Steve's mortal enemy (apparently, just before I sat down, Steve took a mountain of chips from Mike). There was Dude who basically did nothing all game, and there was a cute od chinese man who kept betting three times, then he'd leave the table for awhile. We'll call him Stan.
At first, I was thinking of playing a little agressive, and raised with A9o in late position, there were a number of callers and the flop came KTT. I raised after the flop, trying to represent the K, and got one few caller. As luck would have it an Ace fell on the Turn, and I bet out at the $5 level and got the caller stayed. We did the same on the river and I took my very first pot. (with him complaining loudly that I bet hard on the flop after I had missed it.)
Throughout this whole hand I was shaking like crazy and it took a good half hour before I finally calmed down and stopped being nervous. (After a while, though, the nerves were gone and I was feeling confident.)
I was elated to see that my stack size was now above $100, but it didn't last long. I was dealt K9 and raised pre-flop. The flop came with a King and I bet out, getting most of the table calling me. (possibly due to the last hand) I bet to the river and lost to a KQ. A couple blinds later and I found myself with just over $70 left.
I started realized that most people were playing honest, and I could tell there were a lot of calling stations at the table, so I decided to play tight, and only go after good nut or near nut hands.
At this point Steve went on a mad rush and took just kept taking down pot after pot. After about 45 minutes he had gone +$300 (most from Mike, of course), but after this, he fizzled out for most of the rest of the evening.
My luck started to change when I was dealt A5 of diamonds. I limped in and got a bunch of callers. The flop came up two diamonds and I startly silently chanting the new mantra, "DIAMOND! DIAMOND" in the back of my head. A diamond fell on the turn and I made my first real beginner mistake of the night. Mike bet into me for 5, I thought for a second, then placed 10 chips in front of me. (So, my first-first mistake was not slowplaying the nut fllush to the river, but we'll ignore that)
Suddenly, the dealer looked at me and said I couldn't do that. "Do what?" I thought. Apparently, I made a string bet. I raised, but did not make a verbal intentation to raise, so I had to take my raise back. This was a tell if I ever saw one, and Mike folded to my bet on the river.
Still it was a nice sized pot and I was once again just over $100. The funny part of this story was that I was able to turn this into a bluff as 4 hands later, on the river, I made very sure I was very clear that I was raising representing a made flush draw and everyone dropped out, believeing me)
The next had of note was 67 of diamonds. I was in late position and had a much of callers in front of me, so I was basically forced to limp in too. The flop game 45x with two diamonds and I had a straight draw and a weak flush draw. The flop checked around and I started chanting my new mantra. "Eight! Eight! Eight!".
An eight came on the turn, but unfortunately it was the 8 of diamonds, making my weak flush. One person across from me suddenly came alive with betting and it was fairly obvious that he had made a flush. There was a bet which he raised, so I stupidly decided to call the bet. The river came up blank and people checked it around to the raiser who bet out. I debated throwing the hand away, but I decided to pay the 5 to find out what I already knew.
And, yep, he had the flush... 53 of diamonds!!!! I nearly fainted when I saw his two cards and took home a monster pot, bringing my total over $140! Hands went up and down again. Mike and Steve kept taunting each other. (And a GREAT hand came up, when Mike's wheel lost to Steve's 6-high straight.)
The rest of the night the play was good. The nerves of playing in a casino live game were gone and I was joking with most of the table and everyone was much nicer (aside from Mike) that I had expected. There was very little pre-flop raising and a lot of limpers, just what you'd expect from low-limit hold'em.
All the while, I kept looking over at my g/f table and everytime I did she was hovering between $100 and $120, so I was proud to see she was holding her own. (In fact, she was playing the novice cutie which most of the older men were falling all over themselves trying to "help her".)
My bad beat of the night (which wasn't horrible) came when a new oriental gal came to the table and started doing some agressive pre flop raising. She had done it a few time so I finally three-bet her with AJs. The flop showed an Ace and we both agressively played at it, up until the river. The river was a 6, and she checked to me. Something in her face screamed trap, so I simply checked, not wanted to risk anything more on this hand. She turned over 66 and I felt sick (it was a BIG pot). In fact, there were three over cards to the 6 on the board, so I'm not entirely sure why she stayed in that hand.
The gods smiled on me two hands later giving me 44 in mid position. I was considering dumping it, but limped in and saw K99. I was thinking of dumping the hand, but everything was checked around to me and I was rewarded with a 4 on the turn! The only thing I had to worry about was 99 or 94, but I didn't feel it was out there. There was a a bunch of betting and I took home a nicely sized pot.
I took a quick break and come over to the g/f who had $150 in front of her! She mentioned she was ready to take a break, but I said was going to play for about 10 more minutes. I got nothing for the rest of the session, cashed out and looked over to see that she was now at $106. (It was a couple bad beats with one being a full house beat by a slightly better full house)
My final total was $186. (Estimated at $230 had the trip 6's not beat me) I kept a $1 chip as my souvenir of my first B&M experience and I was elated that my first trip to a real casino showed a $86 profit with 3.5 hours of play. My g/f was disappointed that she lost a bunch in the final few minutes of the evening, but even she had to be happy as she was very worried that she was going to lose a lot of money. On an aside, I had her read Lee Jone's "Winning Low Limit Hold'em" before we left. From watching her online, I felt her pay was too loose, and she did tighten up, (esp. after the well written section on trash hands) The book worked wonders and improved her game.
We didn't want to leave, but it was getting late, so we decided to cash out and enjoy our first victory of a day in the life of a high roller!
All in all, it was a great experience, the table was run well, and most everyone at the table was friendly and fun. Definate recommendation to go play!
I packed up the g/f and we headed off to CasinoRama to try the 2/5 tables. We took a walk through the casino, got used to it, marvelled at all the people playing slot machines, and headed for the back poker room.
We decided to get supper before we hit the tables, but I was able to catch one hand while sitting there. From where I stood, I could clearly see the cards of UTG and UTG+1. The first opened with Q3o and the second with Q6o. "Hey!" I thought to myself, "This may not be so bad."
We grabbed some food and headed back to table and were each seated at different tables with $100 in chips.
Taking a look around the table, the most notable people were; Steve - a guy who was down $1,500 from the weekend, mostly playing on 5-10 tables, otherwise he was a really nice guy. There was Mike, who was Steve's mortal enemy (apparently, just before I sat down, Steve took a mountain of chips from Mike). There was Dude who basically did nothing all game, and there was a cute od chinese man who kept betting three times, then he'd leave the table for awhile. We'll call him Stan.
At first, I was thinking of playing a little agressive, and raised with A9o in late position, there were a number of callers and the flop came KTT. I raised after the flop, trying to represent the K, and got one few caller. As luck would have it an Ace fell on the Turn, and I bet out at the $5 level and got the caller stayed. We did the same on the river and I took my very first pot. (with him complaining loudly that I bet hard on the flop after I had missed it.)
Throughout this whole hand I was shaking like crazy and it took a good half hour before I finally calmed down and stopped being nervous. (After a while, though, the nerves were gone and I was feeling confident.)
I was elated to see that my stack size was now above $100, but it didn't last long. I was dealt K9 and raised pre-flop. The flop came with a King and I bet out, getting most of the table calling me. (possibly due to the last hand) I bet to the river and lost to a KQ. A couple blinds later and I found myself with just over $70 left.
I started realized that most people were playing honest, and I could tell there were a lot of calling stations at the table, so I decided to play tight, and only go after good nut or near nut hands.
At this point Steve went on a mad rush and took just kept taking down pot after pot. After about 45 minutes he had gone +$300 (most from Mike, of course), but after this, he fizzled out for most of the rest of the evening.
My luck started to change when I was dealt A5 of diamonds. I limped in and got a bunch of callers. The flop came up two diamonds and I startly silently chanting the new mantra, "DIAMOND! DIAMOND" in the back of my head. A diamond fell on the turn and I made my first real beginner mistake of the night. Mike bet into me for 5, I thought for a second, then placed 10 chips in front of me. (So, my first-first mistake was not slowplaying the nut fllush to the river, but we'll ignore that)
Suddenly, the dealer looked at me and said I couldn't do that. "Do what?" I thought. Apparently, I made a string bet. I raised, but did not make a verbal intentation to raise, so I had to take my raise back. This was a tell if I ever saw one, and Mike folded to my bet on the river.
Still it was a nice sized pot and I was once again just over $100. The funny part of this story was that I was able to turn this into a bluff as 4 hands later, on the river, I made very sure I was very clear that I was raising representing a made flush draw and everyone dropped out, believeing me)
The next had of note was 67 of diamonds. I was in late position and had a much of callers in front of me, so I was basically forced to limp in too. The flop game 45x with two diamonds and I had a straight draw and a weak flush draw. The flop checked around and I started chanting my new mantra. "Eight! Eight! Eight!".
An eight came on the turn, but unfortunately it was the 8 of diamonds, making my weak flush. One person across from me suddenly came alive with betting and it was fairly obvious that he had made a flush. There was a bet which he raised, so I stupidly decided to call the bet. The river came up blank and people checked it around to the raiser who bet out. I debated throwing the hand away, but I decided to pay the 5 to find out what I already knew.
And, yep, he had the flush... 53 of diamonds!!!! I nearly fainted when I saw his two cards and took home a monster pot, bringing my total over $140! Hands went up and down again. Mike and Steve kept taunting each other. (And a GREAT hand came up, when Mike's wheel lost to Steve's 6-high straight.)
The rest of the night the play was good. The nerves of playing in a casino live game were gone and I was joking with most of the table and everyone was much nicer (aside from Mike) that I had expected. There was very little pre-flop raising and a lot of limpers, just what you'd expect from low-limit hold'em.
All the while, I kept looking over at my g/f table and everytime I did she was hovering between $100 and $120, so I was proud to see she was holding her own. (In fact, she was playing the novice cutie which most of the older men were falling all over themselves trying to "help her".)
My bad beat of the night (which wasn't horrible) came when a new oriental gal came to the table and started doing some agressive pre flop raising. She had done it a few time so I finally three-bet her with AJs. The flop showed an Ace and we both agressively played at it, up until the river. The river was a 6, and she checked to me. Something in her face screamed trap, so I simply checked, not wanted to risk anything more on this hand. She turned over 66 and I felt sick (it was a BIG pot). In fact, there were three over cards to the 6 on the board, so I'm not entirely sure why she stayed in that hand.
The gods smiled on me two hands later giving me 44 in mid position. I was considering dumping it, but limped in and saw K99. I was thinking of dumping the hand, but everything was checked around to me and I was rewarded with a 4 on the turn! The only thing I had to worry about was 99 or 94, but I didn't feel it was out there. There was a a bunch of betting and I took home a nicely sized pot.
I took a quick break and come over to the g/f who had $150 in front of her! She mentioned she was ready to take a break, but I said was going to play for about 10 more minutes. I got nothing for the rest of the session, cashed out and looked over to see that she was now at $106. (It was a couple bad beats with one being a full house beat by a slightly better full house)
My final total was $186. (Estimated at $230 had the trip 6's not beat me) I kept a $1 chip as my souvenir of my first B&M experience and I was elated that my first trip to a real casino showed a $86 profit with 3.5 hours of play. My g/f was disappointed that she lost a bunch in the final few minutes of the evening, but even she had to be happy as she was very worried that she was going to lose a lot of money. On an aside, I had her read Lee Jone's "Winning Low Limit Hold'em" before we left. From watching her online, I felt her pay was too loose, and she did tighten up, (esp. after the well written section on trash hands) The book worked wonders and improved her game.
We didn't want to leave, but it was getting late, so we decided to cash out and enjoy our first victory of a day in the life of a high roller!
All in all, it was a great experience, the table was run well, and most everyone at the table was friendly and fun. Definate recommendation to go play!
Comments
It's been posted elsewhere on this forum that Brantford (much closer if you're coming from Waterloo) has recently started offering a 2-5 game. I'm not sure exactly when they offer it, and how many tables, but it might be another option for 2-5. Even the new casino near Niagara Falls, NY might be an option for you too.
As for your string bet, you do not *have* to say that you are raising, but it's always a good idea to say "raise" if you want to. I typically do say I'm raising simply because there are a lot of times when the dealer might not notice a non-verbalized raise has taken place, and this creates a mess of people calling behind you, and then wanting to take bets back, etc.
What you *do* have to do if you don't want to say anything is place all of the required chips forward (across the betting line if there is one) at the same time in one smooth motion.
ScottyZ
I was just going to add that Brantford has 2/5 tables now, and it would be convenient for you since you live less than half an hour away.