High Steaks Poker

Last night I was back in AC at the Borgata. My intention was to enter the 7 PM tourney so when I arrived at 5:30 I sat in a no-limit cash game to pass the time until the start of the event. By 7pm I was up a couple hundred so I decided to bag the tourney as I had a better expected profit in the cash game. The table was full and there were maybe 3 or 4 decent players with the rest of the field pretty weak in their play. One memorable hand I played from the Big Blind with hole cards of 10 and 2. There were several players in the pot and no raises so I checked and we saw the flop. 10-2-2. What a beautiful sight. I slow-played and checked and sure enough had players betting into the pot. I merely called and then checked the turn, as well. A player bet and it was folded to me. I re-raised him and he called. On the river I bet out and he called. I turned over my full house and scooped a nice pot.
I played until about 8 pm when I decided it was time for dinner. I was still up a few hundred and hadn't eaten at the Old Homestead in a while so I headed there. I walked past the long line at the entry and was seated immediately. I ordered the Gotham Steak, their signature 36 ounce rib eye and a glass of Bacchus cabernet. The steak was awesome and I even saved room for a little dessert: creme brulee. The dinner ate up half my profit for the night, but it was worth it.

I got back to the table around 9:30 and immediately went on a card rush. The second hand I played after sitting back down was an A-Q. I raised and had one caller. The flop came with an Ace and a King, but I didn't put him on A-K since he had only called my raise. I bet out and he raised me big. I thought about it for a minute and called. On the turn I checked and he moved all in. Now I had a big decision to make. I was looking at a nearly $600 pot and I didn't have the nuts, but I did feel in my gut that he didn't have A-K. He was sitting there solid as a rock and I couldn't really get any tells from him, but I just wasn't buying what he was trying to sell me. I called and when he hesitated to turn over his hand I knew I had him. My A-Q had trumped his A-J! The dealer pushed a huge pile of chips to me and the other players commented on how great a call I had made. One player even said, "that was the best call I've ever seen." I don't know about that, but it was pretty good!
It got even better after that. A few hands later I was dealt pocket fours and the flop came Q-4-J with two hearts. I bet out to try to keep out anyone chasing the hearts and was immediately raised. The next player moved all-in, but he didn't have alot of chips. There was no way the guy had pocket queens or jacks, so the best he could have was two pair or the flush draw. I said, "all-in" and he went into the tank. I really didn't want him to call at that point as if he did have the heart flush draw I would have to sweat nine outs with two cards to come. I told him it was going to cost him to try to suck out on me and he put it together pretty quickly that I had flopped a set. He thought about it some more, but finally folded. The other player turned over Q-J and my set held up. Turns out the player who folded had the same hand, Q-J, so in hindsight that was the best possibility for me and I wished he had called afterall. My chips were growing into towers now and I had at least 4 times as much money as the next player at the table. The very next hand I looked down at pocket tens and raised. Another player moved all in and I called. He turned over A-K and my hand held up again. I now had a three-story tower of chips that had to be intimidating as hell to the rest of the table. I used my table image and chip stack to take down several more pots with bets and raises that no-one dared to call. I started to rack my chips and left the table about 10:30 with one of the best profits I've ever made in an hour of play and cashed out with a four-figure win!
The World Series of Poker Circuit is coming to Caesars on March 5 so I'd like to get a few more sessions in before the tournament starts. My confidence is high and I can't wait.

Mountain Getaway

This weekend was the much anticipated Pocono Mountain Getaway. It's been a year since the last trip and there was a record turnout this time, with 10 people making the trek to Lake Wallenpaupack. Not even a raging fondue party in Media could keep the likes of Granger, Dibs or the infamous Maxwell from attending this year.
There were no special stops on the way up this time (except for a quick beer at the Totem Pole Inn near the cabin) so the early crew (Myself, Paul, Ted and Granger) arrived at the cabin around 4pm to begin digging out the driveway from the almost 2 feet of snow. Guthrie and Maxwell were the second string and they arrived around 7pm. The six of us headed out to Crazy Fingers for dinner since the others wouldn't be arriving until even later. This was probably the last time we will ever eat at that establishment in our lifetimes. The first round of drinks were pathetic margaritas served in tiny martini glasses! They got the pitchers of beer OK, but not enough glasses! They finally switched the margaritas to larger glasses, but we were so focused on drinking that we didn't even realize we had no food in front of us until at least an hour after we ordered. When it finally came it was either cold, overcooked or undercooked, depending on what you may have ordered. I even had to send a drink back it was so weak! The bill was nearly $200 which added more insult to injury.
but we did manage to get Ray's meal taken off the bill ( he ordered a steak "rare" and it arrived so charred that it crumbled into ash when he tried to cut into it) and he got a token for a free drink on his next visit.
The Third string crew, consisting of Krotow, Huey and Dibs, were getting close, so we gave them directions to the nearest beer distributor and headed back to the cabin to meet them.
Weist wouldn't make it up until Saturday morning so the nine of us partied until the wee hours, except for Granger who went to bed about 10:30. The bottle of Cabo Wabo was gone in the first hour, but we had at least three cases of beer in reserve. Everyone had a great time.

We all seemed to miraculously awake at 8 am and Guthrie got us jump-started with some spicy Bloody Marys. Then we headed to Hawley for breakfast at the diner. We took a scenic route through the woods and stopped to admire a frozen waterfall. Breakfast was a hilarious scene as we took over the back room of the diner. The waitress seemed to remember us, but I'm sure the locals were wondering just who in the hell this boisterous group of drunken out-of-towners was.
I don't know what it is about the mountains, but I always seem to have a heartier appetite when I am up there. My breakfast consisted of 2 eggs over-easy, scrapple, hash browns, corned-beef hash, toast, creamed sausage gravy over a large country biscuit and a Belgian waffle. I figured it would be a good base for the day of drinking ahead of us. After teasing the waitresses and hassling a local man sporting a NY Jets jacket, we headed across the street to Pat's Bar. It was only 10:45 and while the place was open for business, we were the only customers at the time. We drank, played pool, domineered the juke-box and probably made the bartender's day with our jokes, jeers and healthy tab of drinks.
Weist finally made it up and actually met us at the bar where we enjoyed a few rounds with him before heading back to the cabin. We stopped at the beer distributor (we only had a few beers left from the night before) and the market, where we stocked up on steaks and snacks.
Three more cases of beer, 2 large bottles of vodka and a few bottles of wine would be available for consumption on this second evening on the lake.
We kept a good drinking pace going throughout the rest of the day and after watching Fast Times at Ridgemont High for the third or fourth time in a row, we had dinner. Steaks done on the grill, mashed potatos and ring-dings for dessert. Everything always tastes better in the mountains.
Another great night and we partied into the early morning hours again. We didn't linger long in the morning as many of the attendees had families to get back to, but we stopped at another diner on the drive home, in Hamlin this time, and we had a great breakfast. My stomach still hurts, not from the food or the alcohol, but from all the laughing. It was just non-stop the whole trip and that is what makes it such a great time. I think everyone caught equal amounts of heat throughout the weekend, although I think Guthrie's truck getting stuck in the snow gave us enough material for a long time to come.

I hope we can do it again next year!

Interesting Bet

Phil Ivey, one of the best poker players in the world and often referred to as "The Tiger Woods of Poker" has challenged none other than the "Phil Ivey of Golf" to a heads up match. Phil has actually challenged Tiger Woods to a heads up match at Shadow Creek golf course in Las Vegas, one of the most beautiful courses in the world, for the sum of $5 million!

Here's the details of the challenge:

Ivey will tee off from the ladie's tees, Tiger from the tips.

They will play a match-play format, dead even, no handicaps.

Tiger may not use a putter, he must use his driver to putt.

Iv'e seen Phil play golf and he is way in over his head on this bet.

Night at the Borgata

I just switched to the new version of Blogger and while I don't see anything really different from my viewpoint I'm sure it was for the best and this is my first post under the new version.
I stayed at the Borgata Thursday night. Played in their regular Thursday night tourney with a $120 buy-in. There were about 150 players and I felt that I played well, but missed the money by a few seats. I was knocked out in 26th place with 18 seats getting paid. The last two events I played I realized in retrospect that I had been playing a bit "scared", concentrating more on surviving than trying to win. I went into this event with a different mindset. I have been dominating the cash games lately and I planned on using the same style of play that was working for me in the ring games. It worked. I had built my chips up to almost $20k in the first few hours and really only made one big mistake when I lost 1/3 of my chips on a hand. I had King-Ten and the flop came 10-Jack-7 with two hearts. There were three players in the pot including me and the first player went all-in with his last $3200. I still had a player behind me and I put the first player on a heart draw. I thought about it and called, as I didn't want to totally commit to the hand with the player still to act behind me. I could tell he was torn about his decision and he respected my play, laying down a pocket pair in an earlier hand to me pre-flop when I made a large bet. He reluctantly called and I actually put him on a straight draw at that point. The ace on the river gave the winning hand to the first player, who had been on a heart draw with the ace of hearts and made top pair on the last card. I lost the hand but had a good read on the players.
The other mistake I made was in miscalculating the number of players left in the event when I moved all-in. I thought there were 4 tables left when there were actually only three. The "fourth" table I saw was a separate single table tournament and had I known how close I was to the money I might have waited for a better spot. I was in the hand with Queen-Ten and the flop came with a ten high. I bet out, everyone folded but one player who moved all-in. At best I put him on a ten but with a lower kicker, or a lower pair. This hand would give me a substantial amount of chips to make the final table so I called his bet and he turned over Ten-Seven. I was a 4 to 1 favorite with two more cards to come. He caught a seven on the turn to make two pair and I got no help on the river and was knocked out. Disappointing, but I was still happy with my play and my decisions were right the majority of the time.
I enjoyed a nice dinner and went to the room to chill. Friday morning I slept in until about 10am and then played in a cash game from noon until about 3pm. I made about $200 profit and checked out and headed back to Media. I ended up playing Friday night in Media and won a bit more.
While I didn't cash in the event I did get a confidence boost from my play and will try to keep the momentum going while I prepare for the World Series of Poker Circuit event which is coming to Caesars Atlantic City next month.

Why It's Important to Smile in Pictures!