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Saturday, October 17, 2009

Atlantic City

I made my first trip to Atlantic City from Wednesday, Sept 30 to Saturday, October 3. I had the weekend off work, and my Saturday home game had a bye week, so it was the perfect time for a road trip.

I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express, instead of a casino. I have found that it's a better deal for me to do so. I get free breakfast and free Wi-Fi at the Holiday Inn Express, Plus, I belong to their club, so I have already earned two free nights, which I will use in November. If I stay at a casino, the food is more expensive, and I tend to play more in the Pit, which is never a good thing.

Since it was my first trip, I wanted to hit as many poker rooms as I could, so I ended up playing many short sessions in the 2-5 hr range. On Wednesday, after I got to town in the afternoon, I hit up Borgata and later Harrah's since they're next to each other. On Thursday, I played in the Tropicana and Caesar's. I also checked out the Hilton, Bally's and Trump Plaza, but I couldn't find any poker rooms in those casinos. On Friday, I played at Taj and Showboat, and then back to Borgata for a Friday evening session. On Saturday, I decided to check out and drive to Mountaineer. I though it was better for me to drive 6 hrs to Mountaineer, play some cards, and then two hours home, rather than play in AC on Saturday and then start the 8+ hr drive home.

Overall for the trip, I made a little at poker, lost a little at gambling, and was around break even after expenses, which were more that I realized they would be. The amount of tolls was ridiculous. It was in the $35 range one-way, with around $25 just to get through Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, the PA turnpike is really the only option. Any other route would add a few hours to the drive.

Unlike Reno, Atlantic City is definitely a poker town. Most the rooms are 20+ tables, which is larger than anything in Detroit. Borgata is the largest with 85, followed by Taj Mahal with 75. I would have to say that Borgata was my favorite. Not just because it is the largest and has the most variety of games, but I also won the most there. (+500 in two sessions).

One of the pluses of AC is that all of the card rooms use player's cards to give comps. Most you just swipe in when you arrive, and swipe out when you leave. Caesar's comes around every few hours to swipe everyone at the table. Also, every $1/$2 game had a $300 max buy-in.

One of the negatives of AC was that every casino charges $5 to park, unless you've got a High Roller Players card. I was very annoyed with this first, until I realized that the rake for all poker rooms is just $4 + $1. Even with the extra $5 off the top, it's still better the usual rake of $5 + $1 around the country, or $6 + $1 in Detroit. (All rake is max 10%, of course, with the +$1 for the Bad Beat Jackpot.)

Hand #1 - Caeser's $1/$2
I'm in Mid position, and raise to $7 with JJ. I get the usual four callers. Flop is K J J. Quadzilla! It checks to me. A wise man once said, "If you want to win a big pot, then you gotta bet it." So I did, $20, which is my standard bet here. Only the Button calls, an older Asain gentleman.
I don't remember the exact Turn and River cards, but it doesn't matter for the story. I bet $30 on the Turn, and he called. I bet $40 on the River, and he shoved all in for around $60 or $70 more. I'm not sure exactly how much it was, but I really didn't care either. I called, and said "Quads". Stunned, he showed K7. I don't think his kicker even played.

Hand #2 - Borgata $1/$2 (Friday night)
A solid player in mid position raises to $15. I'm the BB with Jd Td, and about $250 in my stack. I call, and four players see a Flop of Jc Ts 5s. Yahtzee! I check, and so does another player. Raiser counts out some Reds and bets $60. We've been playing at the table for a few hours, and he's a fairly no-nonsense player who been on a good run of cards. I'm fairly sure that this bet means an overpair, and not a c-bet. The fourth player folds, and I check raise to $150. The player between us thinks for about a minute. I'm assuming that he's deciding whether to gamble on a draw or not. He eventually chooses NOT, and folds. The Raiser insta-calls me. As the Dealer grabs all the chips into the pot, I move the rest of my stack forward (around $100-ish). The Raiser pushes another stack of Reds in as the Dealer flips over the Turn card, 2h. And then, of course, the River card: [Jc Ts 5s 2h] 5d.

"NO!" I say in disgust, as I assume that my two pair just got counterfeited. I show my J T. The Raiser shakes his head, and says, "No, you got it." (wtf?) He looks at the board for another moment, mucks his hand towards the Dealer, and says, "You got it." The Dealer puts his two cards in to the Muck, and starts counting the stacks.

Since this is the biggest pot of the night, everyone at the table starts talking. A couple of them were wondering why I reacted to the River card. I just sat there dead quiet, waiting for the Dealer to gather up the Board and ship me the pot. I'm not saying a word because at this point, I'm still 97.3% sure that he's got an Overpair, and I got fucked on the River.

And then, all of a sudden, the Raiser's eyes get very wide. He points to the Muck, and says to the Dealer, "I need my cards. Can I get my Hand back?" The Dealer says, "No. The hand was mucked," and ships me the pot of $548.

I have to give a lot of credit (and thanks) to the Raiser. He handed this very professionally. He mumbled something about QQ, and simply walked away. When he came back 15 minutes later, he grabbed his remaining stack of $40-ish, and left without saying a word.

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