A Weekend of Poker

This past weekend I was able to play poker like I used to do back in 2004, non-stop- all night. I got to the Borgata at about 3 pm Friday and immediately headed to the new room. Thanks to all the new tables (85 total) I was able to get into a no-limit cash game very quickly. My first hand I was dealt pocket sevens, raised and was called by several players, then immediately flopped a third seven for a set. I won a nice pot after betting again. The next hand I played was when I was in the Big Blind, (which for those of you in bikinis, means I had my minimum bet already in before I was dealt my cards) and I looked down at a 3 and a 4 of different suits. Noone raised and nearly all of us saw the flop which came 3-3-4 a beautiful sight for me. I put on my acting hat and slow played the hand by checking it after the flop and the turn. On the last card I finally bet out and everyone dropped but an older asian woman a few seats to my right. She raised me about 4 times my bet and I acted like I was thinking about it and said "all-in" in the meakest voice I could muster. She asked if I was sure about that and then said "I call". She had made the straight with her A-5 on the last card, but my full-house was the nuts and she pushed me all her chips with a disgusted look on her face. I made a bit over $500 on my second hand and was starting to really like this table! In fact, I was able to pull off some great bluffs because everyone at the table remebered that hand for a long time after.
I ended up playing until about 2 am and cashed with a low 4- figure profit.
Saturday I slept in, ate breakfast around noon and then hit the tables by 3 pm again. I was playing middle limit (as opposed to no limit) but had a bad run of cards culminating in my ace-high spade flush being beat by a full house. After losing a couple of hundred on that hand as I raised and re-raised this player, I decided to head back to the no-limit tables where I could recover from this minor setback.
Another brutal table choice had me short stacked again in no time. After rasing before the flop with pocket jacks (7 times the blinds) I had two callers, flopped a third jack and then had my substantial bets called by one schmuck who made a diamond flush on the river after calling me with only one diamond and no pair on the flop! He had called my pre-flop raise with 9-7 of diamonds!
Anyway, I took my time, poured an ice cold drink on my steaming head and waited for the right moment. It came when I called a raise with a crappy jack-4 hand and flopped trip jacks. The fourth jack on the turn gave me the absolute nuts with quads and the ace on the river assured me a nice pot as it helped another player make a strong hand. I checked, he bet, I raised, he called, I won! The best kind of revenge!
I played into Sunday morning again and then was back around 4pm Sunday but only played for a few hours before heading home. It was a great weekend, I got to play alot of poker which is what I really needed to get going again and came out with a profit, some nice meals, some nice comps including a new Hawaiin-print embroidered Borgata-logo bathing suit. In fact, when I found out my friend Bill's favorite band was playing at the Borgata on September 24th, I had them use my comps for 4 center-stage tix to see Santana and Los Lonely Boys. CNN herself is going to be coming along that evening and I have a Fiore Suite reserved so we can experience all the late night action of the clubs and bars and maybe even test the maximum capacity of those showers once and for all! Stay tuned for that update!
It will be hard, but I have agreed not to play poker that night!

CSI: South Jersey

OK, sorry for the drama, the mystery and the absence of late. It's time to fill you in on the details. Timeline: July 2, 2006, 0630 hours. I received a call on my cell at approximately 6:30 am Monday morning from a Haddon Township police detective. He informed me that the manager of my building in Westmont was in police custody and he asked if I could come in to the station. I told him I was at the shore and if he explained to me what was going on I could better determine if a trip from the beach was necessary at this ungodly hour. He began to explain the situation and I told him I'd be there as soon as I could. It turns out that late Sunday evening the police responded to reports of fireworks being shot off the roof of the building (this is a 7 story office building near Haddonfield). The police saw two suspects on the roof but they refused to come down. With the assistance of the fire dept. they were able to gain access and found my building manager and his brother in the building. They appeared intoxicated and denied setting off the fireworks (the police had already found his truck in the parking lot with fireworks on the front seat, so they probably weren't buying his story at this point). The police arrested the two and while searching the building made a particularly interesting discovery in a large vacant space I have on the 6th floor. It turns out my manager had a bit of a green thumb and police found grow lights and 11 marijuana plants behind one of the locked doors. If he had done his homework he might have avoided a lengthy jail sentence as in NJ the cutoff for the highest level drug felony is 10 plants, and he was one over! The police continued their search of the space and the next discovery, while not illegal, was even more disturbing. Two fully-equipped bondage dungeons had been painstakenly prepared with chains bolted into the concrete ceiling planks and wall racks and shelves of various toys, whips, gagballs, buttplugs, candles and seran wrap displayed on the walls. I don't think we'll ever know the real truth about what was going on in those rooms, and quite frankly I don't think I really want to know! My manager was charged with manufacturing and possession of controlled substances (they found Ecstacy on him, too) along with the theft and fireworks charges. He was remanded to Camden County Prison on $110,000 full cash bond and awaits a court hearing.
Anyway, in addition to all this we discovered a bunch of items stolen from the building that he was most likely going to sell, maybe on Ebay. Needless to say, it threw my world upside down for the past 2 weeks as I dealt with the police, the tenants and the rumors running amok through the building and tried to find a new building manager. I think things are finally under control now, the new manager started Monday and last weekend I was even able to escape to the shore for a little rest.
Saturday night I hit the Tropicana's craps tables and lucked out when I found an empty table except for one gentleman on the far corner. Normally an empty table is a bad sign, but I plopped down a few hundred and placed $20 on the Pass Line. This guy was amazing. He started hitting numbers like crazy and in less than 20 minutes I was up about $500 and the table was packed with people. When I play craps I take my time building up my bets, but this all happened so fast I couldn't take maximum advantage of the situation. When he finally crapped out it was my turn and I sevened out after three rolls of the dice and decided to cash out. A nice win for such a short time and strolled to the cashier cage and walked out of the casino.
Sunday I was at the Borgata fora little No Limit Texas Hold' Em and to finally see the new poker room. The 85-table room is incredible and is now the largest poker room in AC. The lounge downstairs is great, too, with a huge food court and seating areas with flat screen TVs. I signed up for a game but the wait was not long. When I was seated I recognized two of the players from ESPN poker tournament broadcasts. I played mostly tight-aggressive and was able to win a few pots. I lost one big pot when I bluffed on the river with rags but my bet was just a little too small and the other player called. I only needed to bet a bit more and he would have surely folded. I won another big pot with pocket kings when I moved all-in on the river after my opponent had called every one of my bets (this was my only all-in of the day). I played for about 5 hours total and cashed with anice profit. Then I headed over to Brigantine to see my friend Nicole's new baby boy and went home from there.
Between the Trop and the Borgata it was a great weekend although it was a bit hot on the beach Saturday and Sunday morning. I am planning on returning this weekend, as well.

Update

The past week was a bit stressful for me after an incident in my "real" job had me dealing with police detectives and kept me busy putting out "fires". I am sorry to say I did not get in any poker time in the past ten days and it has cost me money for sure. The closing of the casinos in Atlantic City delayed the start of the Borgata Summer Open and then the crisis at work kept me from participating in any of the events. I even missd the Wallingford game this week but hope to be back in the game next week. I'll be heading down to the shore this weekend for some needed R & R ( and P).