Borgata Summer Open

Last week I made it to AC twice to play in preliminary events of the Borgata Summer Open. On Tuesday I headed down to play in a new tournament format called "Survivor". Typically in tournaments players compete until there is a final table of nine and continue to play until one player is victorious and holds all the chips. With this format they simply take the number of entries and divide by ten. When they reach that number of players the tournament ends and the remaining players split the prize pool equally, with a smaller payout going to an additional player in the case of an odd number of starting players. For this event we started with 150 players so once we reached 15 players the tournament would end and all remaining players would split the pot. I played a little tight for my own good, but I will blame it on being a little rusty playing the tourneys.
I never was able to build much of a chip stack and was knocked out with about 40 players left. It was till good to be back at the tables for this event and I was looking forward to the next event where I promised myself I would play alot more aggressively.
Thursday I returned for a regular format No Limit event. We started with 200 players at 20 tables with $6000 chip stacks. This time I stuck to my promise and once I got a feel for the other players at the table I started to build my stack. About 4 hours in to the event I had built my stack up to about $26k and was feeling good about my play. We were down to 5 tables, but they weren't all full so again there was about 40 players left. This time there would be cash prizes for the final 27 players with the biggest share going to first place, of course.
I got myself involved involved in a hand that in retrospect I should have been able to get away from, but I guess I will blame it on the Captain and Ginger's I had been drinking for the past 4 hours. The player to my right had raised before the flop to $5k and I had called with a pocket pair of sixes. The player to my left then moved all-in for about $28k. The original raiser finally folded after a few minutes of deliberation and I went into the tank for this decision. I knew we were close to the money (I needed to outlast about 12 more players at this point), but I also knew I would need more chips to make a run at the final table. After alot of thought I hoped the player had two big cards (like Ace-King) but no pair and I shoved my chips into the pot, as well. Unfortunately he turned over pocket Kings and I was suddenly a 4-1 dog to survive the hand.
Unlike an earlier hand in the tournament where I held pocket sixes and made quads on the river, no help came to me and I was walking. Aside from the final hand I was very happy with my play and I am looking forward to then next events this week. I have a feeling my name will be appearing in the tournament final results again very soon.

Here's my chip stack near its peak that night. Orange are $1k, purple $500, black $100 and greens are $25:

Back in AC

On Thursday, Lauren and I returned to Atlantic City for a stay at the Borgata. We checked into our suite early and I hit the poker room. I sat in a juicy No Limit game and realized after about 30 minutes that this was going to be a tough table to make money with. The players were very aggressive and deep stacked, so I felt a little intimidated even with the max buy-in for the table. I struggled for almost an hour and got stuck for a little early on when my bets faced big raises and my hand had not improved.
Finally, a key hand came up. An early player had made it $25 to go and with four other players in the pot before the flop, I was getting the odds to call with my suited Ace-Jack of clubs from the big blind. The flop brought me another beautiful ace, but since I was first to act with four players behind me, I was a little unsure of how much that may have even helped me. I checked and let the other players bet for me. Two did and I called a $60 bet. The turn card was no further help and I checked again. This time the bet was $75 and I made the call and was heads up with a player to my right. He was a young Asian kid and played very aggressively. The king on the turn was a little scary for me and when he bet another $225 I wondered what I had gotten myself into. I looked at him for a sign of anything but my gut was telling me he didn't have an ace, he had a big pair but not an ace. I weighed the odds that he may have had Kings, but that didn't seem right either. I put him on either Queens or Jacks. I took a deep breath and made the call. He threw his cards into the muck and said, "you're good". I showed my hand to collect the nearly $900 pot. He told me he had pocket tens which sounded about right, too. I received some congratulatory comments on the great call from the others at the table and began to stack my new pile of chips.
The very next hand I made a full house to win another large pot and then called it quits for the day after about an hour and a half of play.
Lauren and I got something to eat and then we hit the pool for a little relaxation.
We had a margarita and checked out the band at Gypsy Bar before dinner. The steaks at Bobby Flay's were awesome, even forcing me to consider whether the Old Homestead is still my favorite steakhouse in AC! The lobster & oyster shooters were amazing, too!
Lauren and I played a little blackjack and walked away with a small win. We also hit a crap table where she got to roll the dice for the very first time. She did well and made her first point. We booked a small win there and headed over to check out the new Water Club next door. The Sunroom bar off the lobby is awesome with a waterfall wall and skylights the length of the room. The drink menu looked so good and made it very hard to choose and they even put out little plates of Marcona almonds. Very classy! They are only making 100 rooms available right now, but Lauren and I will be back next Thursday for a stay in the new tower. I'll be sure to snap some picks to post here.
The pics below are from my camera phone looking out the window of our suite on the 42nd floor towards the new tower and the Trump Marina, which Jimmy Buffet bought last week and will be transforming into a Margaritaville Casino!

My Birthday

As usual I have turned my birthday into a week long celebration that I suppose will finally end tonight. Thanks to Lauren it has been the best birthday I can recall for quite some time. Thursday we headed down to Atlantic City for a delayed celebration after the long Memorial Day Weekend. I had booked a rock star suite at the House of Blues and we were having dinner at the Foundation Room that night, too. We got down early so I could play a little poker before dinner, but since the Showboat poker room doesn't have alot of action, we strolled over to the Taj to find a decent game. I found a decent No Limit game and managed to win a few hundred dollars in about an hour and a half and we headed back to our suite to get ready for dinner.
Dinner was amazing. There was only one other table of people in the place so it was very private and we took our time with the courses, finishing up with desert nearly three hours after we first sat down. Good wine, good food and great company!
After a late morning breakfast in the room we headed back over to the Taj and I found another juicy game. After getting down a little early on I regrouped, took a breath and renewed my attack. In no time at all I had managed to get all-in three times with the nuts and won three large pots, much to Lauren's excitement! It was the first time she had ever sat and watched me play and the poker gods were smiling favorable upon me. I cleaned three players down to the felt, including an older player who blew through $600 in less than 30 minutes. We got it all in with my pocket kings against his pocket queens, then he bought back in and we got it all in again with my Ace-Queen against his Ace-Jack. I made two pair and he lost again to me, informing the table he was done for the weekend as he got up and left. The third all in was a dream as several players limped into the pot and I managed to get in cheap with the 2-4 of hearts. The flop came 3-5-6, giving me the nut straight, although I didn't like the two diamonds that came up as they could easily give a player a flush draw to beat me. More money went into the pot as it came around to the man on my right and he raised it up. I re-raised him and it was folded back around to him. Surprisingly, he made another large raise and I immediately moved all-in figuring he was drawing to the diamond flush. He called me so quickly that I was amazed when all he turned over was A-6 giving him top pair, top kicker. What was he thinking? He was shocked at the strength of my hand and made a few verbal displays of his disgust with the situation. While the turn gave him two pair, my hand held up and I scooped another large pot. I decided to quit ahead and racked up my chips, cashing out with over $760 for about 2 hours work.
We spent the rest of the day checking out the shops at Caesars Pier with a little sushi overlooking the ocean.
It was a great time and I will be heading down again next week and with the Borgata Summer Open starting the following week on June 9, I am looking forward to getting back into some tournament play.

Cash Game at Borgata

So the brew fest at Iron Hill was sold out so early I never stood a chance. By 11 am there were no more tickets and I was still sound asleep at the time. I will just have to wait until next year.
On Thursday I finally sauntered back into the poker room at the Borgata after a brief hiatus from the live action and mostly playing online. There was a short wait to get into a juicy No Limit game and I finally took an open seat and unracked my chips. I watched a few hands to get a feel for how some of the players were playing and then joined in the action. I mostly folded early on as I was not getting any really playable cards and the few hands I got involved in I was unable to continue after the flop. After about an hour I was stuck a bit but stayed patient and stuck to my game plan. Since it was my first game back I decided I would walk if I doubled up my chips and that was not looking like a favored expectation in the early stages of the game. After almost 2 hours I started getting some decent hands to play and at one point went a on a 6 hand streak where I was dealt 88, 99, JJ, QQ, AQ and AK suited consecutively. With the nines and queens I ended up making three of a kind on the flop to win two huge pots and I even managed to win a big pot with my AK with no improvement when I sensed my opponent had just a little less of a crappy hand than I did. I had bet the flop when nothing came on the board to help me and she called very quickly. I bet the turn again with no help and she called that bet, too. On the river a scare card came that looked like it had completed a spade flush draw. I thought about betting but if she sensed I was weak and raised me I would have had to fold, so I decided to save the chips, check and put out a weak vibe that she might interpret as strength (weak means strong alot of the time in poker, its a tell you just learn to pick up on the more you play). I think she thought I was trying to trap her so she checked and announced "I missed" and I couldn't believe I had wont he pot with an ace high. The rest of the table was pretty surprised, too. As I had more than doubled up my chips after the six hand win streak, I grabbed some racks and proceeded to pile up my chips. I jokingly offered to sell my seat to another player who was anxiously awaiting my departure so he could move into it. I walked to the cashier and left with a nice profit for a three hour session, just shy of my favorite four-figure mark.
I will be heading back again next week and can't wait to get back in the swing of things again!

Brew Fest!

Not a whole lot to report right now. I have been laying a little low on the poker front, but I will be playing in the Borgata Summer Open which starts June 9 and runs through the 24th. Right now I'm looking forward to the Iron Hill Beer Festival that will be held in Media next Saturday. It's always alot of fun, I just hope the weather is going to be nice this weekend. I will be heading down to the Borgata this Thursday for some cash game action and that is about all I have actually planned out for the week so far.

Weekend Update

Saturday I was itching to play some poker so I decided to play in an online tournament. We started out with 4096 players with the top 512 finishing "in the money" (getting paid). I ended up getting knocked out in 210th place and was happy with my performance overall, considering I am a little rusty in the large multi-table tournament arena. That took up a good part of my Saturday, and then Lauren and I made our way over to Ted's little shindig later that night.
We slept in late Sunday and missed Super Sunday in Media, but I prefer the Food Festival anyway.
Last night as I lay in bed looking up at the stars and the sky I couldn't help but wonder, "where the hell is the ceiling?"!

A Night at the Circus

Lauren and I went to the Ringling Brothers circus at the Spectrum last night and had a great time. We had Celebrity VIP passes with front row seats for all of the action and it was awesome to experience everything so up close and right in front of your eyes. We were invited to join in at one point but we opted not to leave our seats. We would have been paraded around the arena in a large circus float, but I think we would have missed alot of the action going on, too. Afterwards we both thought maybe we should have done it, though.
I've always enjoyed the circus and this was my favorite by far. There's always so much going on you never know where to watch. At one point there was even two people on a motorcycle riding on a high wire right above our heads!
Here are a few of the pics I snapped with my camera phone.
The last pic is of Kelly the elephant painting a picture with a paint brush in her trunk which was pretty funny to see!