Another Degree Report
Just got back from the casino, thought I would post how I did.
I SUCK AT POKER!!
Seriously, with the blind structure, it was imperative to double up early and often, just to make it to the first break. I managed to take a couple of small pots, and made one hell of a nice fold if I do say so myself, that allowed me to finish in the fourth instead of the third level of blinds. My last hand was Q10s. Another allin, and one relatively decent stack in the hand. Other allin held 83o, the other guy had J8s...I liked my chances. A three came on the flop, another on the river, to give the other allin player the hand. I left feeling so familiar lately...I REALLY don't like Queens anymore
I stuck around to watch Eleanor, who was still in the round. She was horribly short stacked at one point, but after moving to another table, she managed to not only double up three or four times, but take out no less than five other players doing it. She was on fire. I'll let her tell what happened after that. Lousy way to lose El
Enough of Degree...this was my first ever casino trip!! And I loved it!!! I arrived Wed afternoon, got settled in my room, and headed across the street to check out the casino. Impressive!! However, I imagined it BIGGER though. Not only the poker area, but everywhere. Guess I was expecting much more area, much more gaming, although there was alot there as it was. I was mystified at the small poker area though, but at no time did I see all tables being played at. Yea, there was a short line up for a couple of the games, but not the hours of waiting I have heard about. Most time I waited was maybe 20mins. Probably just because of the middle of the week, I'm sure.
Anyway, before dinner, I played some 5/5 NL and managed to take $80 more than I went in with. After meeting El and BigChris and El's mother and aunt (great people, alot of fun, nice to meet you both), we went for dinner and then returned to the poker room. Playing 5/5NL again, I meet two really bad beats back to back and lost $300. Felt it wasn't my night, so I watched a poor comedy show at Club 365 and went to my room.
After the Degree game this morning, I headed back to the poker room, armed with only $200 this time. El and I managed to get onto a 6/12 Limit game quickly, and within two hours, I walked away from the table with almost $600!!! El did even better than that too. Some people will play EVERY single hand ALL THE WAY to the river...REGARDLESS how much you raise it!!
That's about it. My first visit to a casino...POSITIVE. My first Major Tournament...RESPECTABLE finish considering the format.
Would I do it again?? IN A HEARTBEAT!!
I SUCK AT POKER!!
Seriously, with the blind structure, it was imperative to double up early and often, just to make it to the first break. I managed to take a couple of small pots, and made one hell of a nice fold if I do say so myself, that allowed me to finish in the fourth instead of the third level of blinds. My last hand was Q10s. Another allin, and one relatively decent stack in the hand. Other allin held 83o, the other guy had J8s...I liked my chances. A three came on the flop, another on the river, to give the other allin player the hand. I left feeling so familiar lately...I REALLY don't like Queens anymore
I stuck around to watch Eleanor, who was still in the round. She was horribly short stacked at one point, but after moving to another table, she managed to not only double up three or four times, but take out no less than five other players doing it. She was on fire. I'll let her tell what happened after that. Lousy way to lose El
Enough of Degree...this was my first ever casino trip!! And I loved it!!! I arrived Wed afternoon, got settled in my room, and headed across the street to check out the casino. Impressive!! However, I imagined it BIGGER though. Not only the poker area, but everywhere. Guess I was expecting much more area, much more gaming, although there was alot there as it was. I was mystified at the small poker area though, but at no time did I see all tables being played at. Yea, there was a short line up for a couple of the games, but not the hours of waiting I have heard about. Most time I waited was maybe 20mins. Probably just because of the middle of the week, I'm sure.
Anyway, before dinner, I played some 5/5 NL and managed to take $80 more than I went in with. After meeting El and BigChris and El's mother and aunt (great people, alot of fun, nice to meet you both), we went for dinner and then returned to the poker room. Playing 5/5NL again, I meet two really bad beats back to back and lost $300. Felt it wasn't my night, so I watched a poor comedy show at Club 365 and went to my room.
After the Degree game this morning, I headed back to the poker room, armed with only $200 this time. El and I managed to get onto a 6/12 Limit game quickly, and within two hours, I walked away from the table with almost $600!!! El did even better than that too. Some people will play EVERY single hand ALL THE WAY to the river...REGARDLESS how much you raise it!!
That's about it. My first visit to a casino...POSITIVE. My first Major Tournament...RESPECTABLE finish considering the format.
Would I do it again?? IN A HEARTBEAT!!
Comments
I couldn't believe the bad plays at the 5/5 NL. One hand that sticks out was when I was the BB and was dealt J-3 off. 6 Limpers to me and I just checked. Flop comes K-J-3 with the Jack being a club (other cards I don't remember).I bet out $25 and got 4 callers.
Turn was a 6 of Clubs. I bet out $50 and got one caller.
River was a Queen of Clubs. I check and the last guy bets $100. The way he bet it I got the feeling that he didn't have anything and was trying to push me off the hand. I called and he says "King" while showing K-7 off. I say “2 pair†and show him my J-3 and take down a nice size pot.
At least you had a positive experience. I personally like the old casino's poker room better.
I don't pretend to be an expert either, and my own skills are still very new and unpolished, but manoman if I could see the difference in this kind of play in a casino, then maybe I should get out to them more often.
Got to Fallsview around 5:00 with Chris and my Mom & Aunt who decided to join for a night of feeding the slot machines. Met up with AJ, had dinner (and a tasty, tasty margarita), then hit the poker room.
The 5/5NL game was pretty intimidating with stacks of chips sitting on wads of $100 bills. I lost $80 in about 45 minutes just paying the session fees, 2 rounds of blinds, and playing 1 measly hand (I had a pair of 6s in the BB, checked, the flop was low & raggedy, I bet out $20, was raised & re-raised to well over $250…and folded to see a pair of 10s get beat by trip 3s). I moved off that table to the 6/12 limit game (the lowest limit game running), and CLEANED up. I left with over $440 within about 90 minutes. The table was so juicy, but I wanted to get to bed early, and it was already almost 11:00.
Woke up early – registered, and ate breakfast with AJ in the coffee shop in Fallsview. We ran into Dead Money, who joined us as we finished our coffees.
The logistics of the tourney were pretty good….I didn’t notice any major glitches.
As for the play….the first three rounds were fine – I took down a few pots and had doubled my stack. Then, I made a very loose call down to the river with top pair (got beat by 2 pair), and my stack was down around 3,000 chips at the break. After the break, blinds were 400/800 with 75 ante (I think) so I was very short stacked. My original table broke up, and I moved to a new table, and quickly, with the blinds and antes so high, whittled my stack down to near nothing when I made a HUGE rally….
Now, when AJ said I “doubled†up, he really meant I “septupled†up because I was all in, with only 1100 chips (blinds at this point were 500/1000 with a 100 ante). There were 5 players in the pot, 3 of whom were all in. There were 3 side pots (main pot +3). I ended up raking in a huge amount of chips when my AJos paired a J on the board. I was SO happy. Then I went on an all-in fest and took down a few more big pots, only to lose a monster pot when I went all-in pre-flop with 99, got called with a guy holding 1010, and the 10’s held up. Even with the “rally†I was still short stacked, because the blinds/antes were so high. The hand the wrecked my game was when I was UTG and I picked up 44. I only had 6000, the blinds were 1000/2000 with a 200 ante – I pushed.
There were just over 30 players left – so people had tightened up considerably…so it folded the BB, who looked at his cards and sighed, and was starting to muck, when a player at the other end of the table said “If you catch, you’ll pick up a huge potâ€. The BB said, “yeah *sigh* I callâ€, and turned over 8 6 off….and caught a 6 to completely cripple me. I glared at the other player and told him that he shouldn’t talk if he’s not in the hand. Realistically, the BB might have called anyway (and probably should have, he was shorter stacked than I was – which is how I survived and got a few thousand chips back), but he wasn’t that experienced, and looked like he was totally folding – I’m convinced he would have, if they other player hadn’t encouraged him.
The hand I actually lost on was shortly thereafter. I was BB, it folded to the SB who raised, I had 8 10 off….and if I folded, I would have only had enough chips to cover the SB next hand, so I decided to take my chances. I think the BB had A 8….not even sure if he caught the A….but it didn’t matter anyway. I was out and left and still steaming at the earlier hand.
I was pretty bummed because I got close enough to think I might make it through….but, c’est la vie!
After a short walk through the casino to calm down – sat down at a 3/6 limit game, lost $25, then moved to the 6/12 limit game that opened up, and walked away with over $420. Combined with the night before, it was a pretty profitable trip!
For those still left to play in Degree…..embrace the bingo, and Good Luck!!!
Hmmmmmph...never thought of that. Logic to the insanity. Makes sense. And it's EXACTLY what we did (mind you, my idea of HUGE money and Doyle Brunson's idea of HUGE money are probably not in the same league).
Plenty of Fish in the sea......you're just not fishing in the same places.
The tables were full of bad beat Degrees stories. (Which I found great cause here was a whole group of guys explaining their card strategy to you.) And most of the stores were “I Limped in with Face Card Rag……â€