Trip Report
by Terrence Chan
Standard trip report disclaimer: All events are reconstructed to the
best of my memory; however, my memory seemed far worse this trip than
others. I am a very poor person with both names and faces. As a
point of fact, I may be the worst poker player there is when it comes
to remembering names and faces. If I screw up your name, confuse you
for someone else, make an inaccurate physical description of you, or
completely forget about you, rest assured that it's my fault and I
enjoyed your company. Russ Rosenblum -- whom I introduced myself to
twice in three hours -- can attest to the complete ineptitude of my
facial recognition skills. My severe sleep deprivation made my
normally poor memory even worse both with regards to faces and
incidents.
For those of you who like lots of detailed poker action, I can't
remember the hands well enough for you to get a lot out of this
report. For those of you who like wacky antics outside of the poker
room, there are none. For those of you who like meandering, vague
recollections of crap...man, you're in luck!
Monday, March 17
It was with my great anticipation that I embarked on a number of
firsts. Not only was this to be my first ARG event, this was to be my
first trip to the East Coast, my first time leaving Costa Rica (albeit
since arriving last September), my first trip to New York, my first
trip to the arena of the New Jersey Devils, a team I've had an
affinity for since 1988.
It was thus with no slight disappointment that my trip was delayed
leaving Costa Rica, both boarding and departing. However, this was a
very minor commuting bad beat, as the pilot evidently gunned it, or
the winds were in our favour, or something, arriving just a few
minutes late.
Once in Newark, New Jersey, I was greeting by my excellent Newark-area
hostess Christine Gonzalez and her red Jeep. We commuted quickly back
to her place and to Continental Airlines Arena for a much anticipated
game between the Devils and the rival Philadelphia Flyers. First
place in the NHL's Atlantic Division was up for grabs, but the Devils
didn't play like it, putting up a dispirited effort in a disappointing
4-2 loss. The game was not sold out, but the crowd was sufficiently
rowdy to make up for the vacant seats. That it was St. Patrick's Day
likely didn't hurt. Of note, President Bush's speech was broadcast in
the stadium. Despite what seems to be a fair bit of anti-war
sentiment in the area, the speech received four loud ovations.
Tuesday, March 18
Today was my one day to do what I think everyone else in the world but
me has done already -- tour New York City. What a vibrant city, so
full of life, so...purposeful. I felt almost ashamed to be a tourist,
since those around me all seemed to have somewhere to go; I felt as
though I were a parasite, sucking time and leisure out of a city which
had precious little of either to spare.
New Yorkers, contrary to their reputation (or what I thought was their
reputation), are a friendly species, but in a different sort of
friendliness. After taking a two-hour cruise around Manhattan Island,
I visited (in order) Times Square, Rockefeller Plaza, the New York
Stock Exchange, the WTC site. Although I'd been told that there isn't
much to see at the WTC site -- and in fact, this is true enough -- I
felt very much compelled to see it, and am very much glad I did. I
didn't do so to pay my respects to the victims and heroes of 9/11
(btw, I dislike how these are considered equivalent sets), although I
did. I mused how odd it was that an event so horrific, tragic and
damaging to the world could paradoxically bring forth so much
positivity and strength, as we somehow find a profound connection with
complete strangers. It is strange.
I returned via subway to the port authority terminal, where I embarked
back to Tina's. We went out for dinner, then to a bus station named
Cheesequake (there has to be some interesting etymology surrounding
that name) for the 2-hour bus to Atlantic City.
One thing I don't ever think I've done before is travel a very long
time and distance to a major cardroom and not play that first night,
regardless of how tired I'd been. Unfortunately (perhaps), I did have
to do this on Tuesday night. The Taj has a weird policy regarding
opening new games and changing and breaking existing games. There
were some 14 or 15 names on the 10/20 list, but no game opened for
over two hours. When I realized I was falling asleep at the table
waiting for games, I decided that sleep to start again in the morning
would be the better play.
Wednesday, March 19 / early Thursday, March 20
The waiting list strangeness continued Monday. I started playing a
must-move 10/20 game at around 8am (and it was a surprisingly good 8am
game), and also had my name on 15/30. There were two 10/20s and a
number of players there were also on the 15 list, like me. At some
point, a floorwoman goes to the main 10/20 and says that she knows a
number of players from that game are also on the 15/30 list, so
instead of breaking the game and starting a 15/30, she asks if anyone
objects to making this game a 15/30. Sounds reasonable enough. Two
players object, so the game does not change. Again, reasonable
enough. However, the policy is that despite the fact there are well
over 10 players actually playing 10/20 who are on the 15/30 list, they
do not open a 15/30 game! Evidently, the rationale is that opening a
15/30 would break up the 10/20 -- the same 10/20 in which eight of ten
players would rather play at 15/30, despite a huge 15/30 list. This
all seemed par for the course to the locals, but seemed simply quite
nuts to me.
I also had my introduction to time pots Wednesday. For those who do
not know, a time pot is where instead of all active players paying the
time charge on the half hour, one player fronts the entire amount for
the table. For example, time in a 10/20 game is $5 on the half hour,
so at a full table, the table's time is $50. The time is then
returned to the player posting the time by the first two players to
win a pot over a trigger amount. Thus, in a 10/20 game, the winner of
the first two pots containing over $120 pays the person who posted the
time $25 each. This, obviously, results in some dramatic strategy
changes as until the time is paid, there is a staggering $25 rake on
pots over $120. An almost absurd level of tightness becomes correct;
hands like AQ and maybe even JJ/AK seem (to me) unplayable from early
position. Yet, players waded in with small suited connectors, pairs
and offsuit garbage hands -- hands largely unplayable even in non-time
pot hands -- in the time pot.
The inventor of the time pot is clearly a genius. It so deviously
exploits poor, loose players, who for the most part, manage to be
completely unaware it harms them the most. Anyone who has any idea
recognizes that a time pot heavily favours tight players, yet bad,
loose players actually like time pots as well! The bad players argue
that you only pay time if you win a big pot, and if you do that, you
profit some substantial amount anyway, so a time pot is win-win --
either you pay time and make profit by winning the time pots, or you
do not win any hands and "play for free". Gee, that's not
results-oriented at all. This is what is so brilliantly devious about
it -- bad players are convinced something that totally screws them is
in fact great for them!
Players are allowed to not participate in the time pot; to do so, a
player must merely pay his time charge to the person posting the time.
The rake from the time pots are reduced (for example, if one player
opted out of the time pot in a 10/20 game with the $5 charge, instead
of $50 owed in the two time pots, there would be $45, or two pots
where $23 and $22 are paid) for the players participating and the
player not participating in the time pot pays nothing if he wins a
large pot. This brings up an interesting theoretical situation.
Consider the situation in which there are 10 equally tight and equally
skilled players. If they're all doing the same thing, clearly none of
these players' expectations are affected by whether collection is
taken the normal way, or via time pot. However, if one player sits
out, this player has a distinct advantage. His opponents are trying to
play correctly taking the time pot into consideration -- i.e. very
tightly -- and this will allow the non-time pot player to steal blinds
and small pots with an excellent rate of success. So in this case,
the equilibrium would be for no one to be involved in the time pot.
There are then two points for the game where no one holds an advantage
over anyone else (I think these are Pareto efficient points); no one
pays time, and everyone pays time.
In reality, however, no poker game is like this; there are tight
players and loose players. In a semi-loose game, I'm pretty sure that
it is correct for all tight players to be involved in the time pot; I
don't think a tight player can improve his position by opting to pay
time and exploiting the other tight players given the presence of even
a handful of looser players. However, in an even somewhat tightish
game, some interesting situations are created by the time pots in
blind attack and defence situations. If it is folded to you on the
button in a time pot, should you steal the blinds more aggressively or
passively? The time pot dictates more passively, since there is a
prohibitive rake for breaching the trigger point. However, the blinds
also realize this and will defend far less (at least in theory).
The time pot also creates some weird postflop strategy adjustments to
avoid paying time as well. I open-raised in a 15/30 game (where the
trigger was $180 and time raked was $25/hand) with AK on the button.
The big blind called. $70 in the middle. The flop came K-x-x. He
checks, I bet, he calls. $100 in the middle. The turn is another
rag, and he checks. Note that if we both put in two big bets from
this point, the pot becomes $220 and thus is a time pot. If we both
put in one big bet from this point, the pot is only $160 and does not
trigger the time pot. Suppose the pot is $160. Now, even assuming no
risk of being raised by a better hand, you are actually laying 6:1 to
make a value bet! (If you make a value bet and get paid off, you win
$30, but because you triggered the time pot, you lose $25 of that for
a net of $5.) So I check back the turn. The river is another rag, he
checks again, I bet, he calls, I show and win a $160 pot and avoid the
time. (In retrospect, betting the turn and checking the river might
be better, to avoid losing to a free card. But the main point is the
absurdness of it all.)
Enough about that. So any time I'm on a poker trip, I always try to
play the late evening and graveyard shifts, since that's usually when
the action is. Most casual players play the late evening, and by
graveyard everyone's stuck and tired. So I typically plan my days to
wake up around 5:00 PM and go to bed around 9:00 AM when I play poker.
So after a brief 4.5 hour session where I made $268, I went to nap. I
went to play again at 6:30 PM, an 11.5-hour session lasting until 6:00
AM where I make poker minimum wage of $219. Not the most impressive
start, but at the same time, I'm not stuck either.
Thursday, March 20 - early Friday, March 21
Today, some of the ATLARGErs started to trickle in, but still, I was
playing with mostly locals and non-ARG tourists. The first one I
recognized was Tiger123, who sat in my late evening 15/30 hold'em
game. (I thought he didn't play hold'em?) The 15/30 was a good but
not great game where I made $632 in six hours; the 20/40 had two fish
but a number of solid players as well; I lost $499. Another sub-EV
day, but again, beats being stuck.
The reaction to my PokerStars t-shirt was interesting among the crowd.
When I took my last poker trip to Vegas and L.A. last April/May, the
number of people who had even *heard* of PokerStars was a minority.
This time, they all asked me how much I played at PokerStars and what
my screen name was. When they found out I *worked* for PokerStars,
they had an endless number of the usual questions. It was also great
to see the other ATLARGErs proudly bearing their support for
PokerStars and their sponsorship of ATLARGE.
I went to bed at 6:00 AM, waking up at 10:00 for the H.O.E. in the
morning. I do not consider myself someone who does well on little
sleep (add foreshadowing music).
Friday, March 21 - all of Saturday, March 22 (I didn't sleep any of it)
This was the first official ATLARGE event, the H.O.E. I play hold'em
well and O/8 passably; my leak is clearly the "E", or Stud/8. I read
the Stud/8 section of HLSFAP and the Russ post and played some online
to get myself accustomed to the fundamentals, but I still have played
less than 15 hours of Stud/8 in my life. PokerStars added $600 to
this first event (as they did for all three tournaments), and I felt
it would seem very improper if a PokerStars employee finished in the
money, so I selflessly busted out in 50th of the 54 players. There
were only two hands to note. During the hold'em round, I picked up AK
and open-raised from middle position. Jerrod Ankenman 3-bet me with
AJ. The board came down A-J-x-y-z and I was forced to call him down
and thus got in trouble very early. Bent but not broken, in the
Stud/8 round, a queen up (the owner of which I cannot recall at this
time) completed Jeff "ADB Jester" Woods' bring-in. I re-raised with
(A3)A. Jester called both raises with his deuce (!) and the queen
called. On fourth, I have (A3)A3; Jester caught another low card
(6?), and I dont' remember what the queen caught, only that it didn't
look at all threatening. I lead and I get called on both spots. I
have (A3)A38 on fifth and bet again. Jester catches a straightening
low card and calls; the queen folds. I brick with a jack on sixth and
check to Jester's fourth low card on board; Jester checks back. I
check again on the river, Jester bets, I call and he shows me a
straight 7 to scoop, having started with some razz-type hand and
backed into a freakish straight. :p That pretty much does it for me
and I bust out 50th of 54 players shortly after that hand.
I know; I owe a buck to the pot at the next ARG event.
I also learned for the first time that H.O.E. is actually pronounced
"hoe". I had assumed it was called "H-O-E", but "hoe" provides for
much better double entendres ("hoe event", "busting in the hoe",
"where did you finish in the hoe"). If someone asks what a "H.O.E.
event" is, I think the explanation would be invariably disappointing.
The bust-out allowed me to go nap after getting very little sleep the
night before. I woke up fresh around 5:00 and headed down to the
hospitality suite, where Matt (jacksup) is watching the college hoops
tournament. I learn that Matt is not like most casual fans, as he is
evidently a star player at his college, which I understand is renowned
for its men's basketball program. Matt takes a phone call from Joan
Hadley (AlwaysAware) and evidently they are both heading down to the
$120 buy-in, $100 rebuy Tropicana NLHE tournament. I figure that
sounds like a good practice event for the ($60, no rebuy) ATLARGE NLHE
event the next morning, so I head down with Matt. This marks the
first time that I leave the Taj property since arriving in AC.
The Trop's poker room is an attractive room, although a glance at the
board indicates that their mid-limit hold'em game selection is a bit
lacking. The structure of the tournament is fairly good as well. I
take a rebuy fairly early on, after trying to run an all-in bluff
against aces full (the fish called, if you can believe it). The rebuy
was funny because I didn't realize I had to pay for the rebuy; after
playing rebuy tournaments in Costa Rica where all rebuys are done on
credit, I completely had forgotten I had to pay in actual cash! At
the break, I have exactly the 500 in chips that I started the
tournament with, except being down a rebuy. I rebuy again to "double
through", so I'm in for $320. The rebuy takes me to an averagish
stack.
After the break, I double through with the powerful hand of Qd4d.
With three people limping in, I limp on the button with my monster.
The flop comes down rather unimpressively for my hand, A-Q-8 with one
diamond, but it's checked around to me and I take a free card, an
offsuit 4. The small blind, who is *terrible* but has a huge stack,
bets out about half the pot. It is folded around to me. I raise
all-in (maybe 1.5x the pot). He agonizes and calls. He has A5 and I
dodge his redraw two pair outs to double through. Shortly after that,
I try to steal with some crap hand and knock someone out when he
defends his blind and I suck out. After that, I am raising nearly
everything under the sun, putting a lot of pressure on everyone. I
get them to fold when I have nothing and get them to call when I have
big pairs. At the second break, with blinds of (I think) 300-600 and
50 ante, I have a staggering 20,000; I nearly have the table covered
-- that is, covered *combined* -- with two tables to go.
After the second break, I am raising about 60% of all unopened pots.
I am taking down almost all of them uncontested. At 14 players, I
finally get caught when I raise early with QT and ATLARGEr Rick (whose
name tag says "Rick") calls all-in out of the SB with JJ. His hand
holds up. Rick had only about 3000 chips and someone (Matt?) notes it
"barely makes a dent" in my stack, and he's right; it's a sixth of my
stack at best. However, a couple laps later on my big blind, it is
folded around to Rick who now has around 7000-8000. He triples my
blind from the button. I call with Ad3d. The flop comes Ac-8c-3x and
I figure if I check, an approximate pot-sized raise of his pot-sized
bet would put him all-in. So I check-raise him all-in. He calls,
turns over Jc9c and hits a flush on the turn. Aces and threes again
are my undoing. Minutes after having the entire table covered, I'm
short-stacked at about 6000 chips.
I win a few pots to take me back to 20000 (except now this is below
par instead of way out in first) hang on to make the final table and
the money. I haven't played a hand at the final table and I'm about
7th in chips. Rick, my nemesis, open-limps for 1000 in mid-late
position. He has a big stack. Normally when someone does this, guys
in the next state put the limper on aces. But I have seen Rick do
this a couple of times with small pairs, face-face, suited connectors
and A-small hands. So looking down on the button I find Ks7s,
although I fugre my hand is not so important. I figure that since I
am raising a limper, the blinds will respect that and fold dutifully
without a real hand, and that Rick will fold because my read on him is
that he is not strong. I make it 5000. The blinds cooperate, but
Rick does not. He calls, which am I unhappy about. I do not put him
on a big pair though. The flop comes down 9-6-2 with two spades. So
even though I started with crap, I got what seems to be a good flop;
dodging all the high cards he might have and giving me a flush draw.
Rick bets 7000, I move in for about 16000 and Rick is compelled to
call with his A9. Ugh. Even worse, his ace is a spade, so I am
drawing to only 8 outs, and if I hit one on the turn he has a redraw.
Turn and river blank off, and I feel rather disgusted with 9th place
money of $432.
My rides, Joan and Matt, have ditched me, so now I am forced to endure
the agony of requiring a ride home with Rick, the man who tortured me
and robbed me of my ability to coast to a big win. Actually, he is an
extremely nice guy, so if I had to blow off all my chips to someone in
that thing, I'm quite glad it was him. Rick finished in 3rd. In the
interim, I played the famed $7.50/$15.00 game at the Trop. As
advertised, the game was full of people with just absolutely no clue.
However, Jerrod soon occupies the 9 seat (I'm in the 6), to
significantly change my game EV. I decide that since this is probably
the smallest game I'll play on the trip that I will forego the EV for
some conversation that is not completely mind-numbing (as it was with
the 5 seat, an annoying loudmouth hotshot kid) and move to the 8 seat.
Jerrod has obviously put a lot of thought into game theory and poker,
and he is kind enough to explain everything to me twice and use simple
words. I make a mental note to myself that it would be very edifying
to re-read Jerrod and Bill's [0,1] posts and put some effort into
understanding them.
When Rick goes out, it's back to the Taj. Keep in mind that my
morning is now 5:00pm, so wide awake for some 2:00am (read:
mid-afternoon) poker. Of course, the big crown jewel of the ATLARGE
event is 11:00am, so I know I can't play too late. The plan is go to
to bed around 3-4am and wake up at 9:30 for the pre-NLHE breakfast.
That plan quickly goes to all hell as the 15/30 hold'em game is
totally off the hook from 1-6am. (Editor's Note: My usage of modern
urban slang to describe the expected win rate of a poker game is the
fault of PokerStars player "Regency", a young pro lady player who used
that term during my conversation with her at the Taj to describe the
30/60 hold'em game at PokerStars.) We have a solid hour-long period
with an average pot of $600. In one particularly memorable pot (which
I was not involved in) the pot was capped 7 ways preflop, and the
player on my immediate right -- a good player -- had QJs. The flop
came down T-9-3. It is capped again 6 ways, with the player on right
putting in the last raise. The turn blanks; this time it is checked
to the nut straight and three players call. The river is a 3. The
player on my right bets, and tells me in a low voice he has the nuts.
An absolutely clueless guy raises. The player to the right of nut
straight guy mentions out loud that the board paired on the river.
Nut straight guy hears this, re-checks the board, gets scared and
calls. The clueless guy turns over A3, having invested four bets on
the flop with bottom pair, then had the audacity to raise the guy who
capped it on the flop when hitting his trip card. Yes, it was a good
game.
A few fish leave and the game starts to wind down. But by the time I
realize the game is no longer that good, it is about 7:00am. The
problem at this point is that I would like to attend the ATLARGE
breakfast and have the NLHE tournament, and going to bed to sleep for
2 hours seems like it would do more harm than good. So I grind out
the last two hours, then head up to the breakfast, up $468. That's
over 1.5 BB/hour, but I estimate that to be sub-EV considering the
lineup. I think in certain games which are totally fishy, one can
make well over 2 BB and even upwards of 3 BB/hour. The 1 BB/hour
figure that a good player is "supposed" to make is really just an
average of all the good and bad games you play in a year, I think. If
you have the luxury of being game-selective, I think a 2 BB/hour long
run is doable.
I'm fully expecting to be knocked out of the NLHE very early after
making some stupid decision or misreading my hand, since I had already
been playing poker for 16 straight hours (albeit with just one
mistake, limping in with 9s8d thinking it was 9d8d) before the first
card of the tournament is dealt. Despite the memorability of this
event, I really can remember very little about it. I can't remember
many interesting hands; in my sleep deprivation, I was playing on
autopilot. I remember the table next to us busting what seemed to be
about 8 of the first 10 victims, with Sabyl taking out almost all of
them.
I don't remember holding a lot of cards. I definitely was able to pick
up a lot of blinds at my first table, as I was able to steal blinds
frequently on my button and SB, and got a few walks and free looks in
my big blind. This allowed me to stay on pace for the level
increases.
I remember knocking out the defending champion, Dave Fruchter and
winning the $100 black chip bounty. I also win two bottles of upstate
New York wine. I wish I could remember the individual who had very
generously donated these bottles, but I cannot. :( Please post to
this thread if that is you. I get asked a couple of times if I am
re-bountying the $100. This seems extraordinarily -ev to me, so I
decline. In retrospect I don't know if that was a breach of ARG
ettiquette or anything. I hope not.
At four tables, I was moved to Seat 1, with Sabyl in Seat 2, Patrick
Milligan in Seat 3 with a huge stack, and then they later would move
Bill Chen to #7 and Jerrod Ankenman to #8 with medium stacks, and thus
my easy ride picking up blinds and having my BB unchallenged was
history.
At two tables I bust someone (again, the memory thing) and receive a
cool 1994 BARGE chip (again, please let me know who you were). On one
hand I do vaguely remember, I open-raise on the button with Q4s. Both
blinds are very short stacked. IIRC, we are playing 200/400 and I
make it around 1200. The SB, Crunch, moves all-in for about 1800. I
have to call with two cards. He has AK, so I'm acceptably live. The
flop's door card and last card are both queens, and Crunch is
unhappily out. I get a t-shirt to commemorate busting Crunch out of
ATLARGE 2003. It is at this point that I realize I did not bring a
bust-out gift for anyone, and so I will have to win the tournament to
save face.
During this tournament, there is an inordinate amount of Presto.
While it's true that you have to show Presto every time you win with
it -- thus creating the impression it is showing up a lot -- there
seemed to be far more Prestos dealt than expectation. The most
notable thing is that we all seemed to have excellent Presto
Detection, since although I remember 7-8 blind steals with Presto, I
can only remember one soul being foolish enough to challenge Presto
all-in. I would also think that there is a weird subconscious effect
on everyone's preflop strategy going on where people were throwing
away 44, 66 and 77 in identical situations in which they raised with
Presto.
I arrive at the final table in seat #9 as a slightly above average
stack. It is my great misfortune to have Jerrod with a whole crapload
of chips on my immediate left in seat #1. Identically repeating his
H.O.E. performance from the day before, "Action" Bob Hwang from the #8
seat is first out of the final table, making us 8-handed for a very
long time. We play about an hour of the most tedious no-limit hold'em
the rail ever had the displeasure of viewing. It is raise and take it
nearly every hand, with some occasional raise, re-raise and take it.
We see two flops in three half-hour rounds, and zero showdowns.
Jerrod, Brad and 8-2 Dave are the ones seeming to pick up more than
their fair share of blinds.
We play some more raise and take it poker. There is a hand that
dramatically changes the complexion of the final table. 8-2 Greg
raises UTG with an above-average stack. Jerrod from middle position
moves all-in (his stack size is irrelevant, since he is chip leader by
a hefty margin) with AK. Greg calls with AJ. Neither player is
suited, but Greg miracles a flush with his ace. Jerrod is now well
below par, and as ugly as the suckout was, I am very happy to see the
chips move from him to Greg.
Finally, we get another elimination as Patrick Milligan raises from
the #4 (?) seat into me in the #9 seat with the SB holding 77. I make
a raise slightly over the pot size, putting him all-in. He thinks for
a while and calls. I am ecstatic to see his 66 instead of AK/AQ.
It's all air and Patrick is done in 8th.
I make another kill on the very next hand, when it is folded to me in
the SB with KQ. I make a standard raise and Jerrod moves all-in from
the BB. I am getting over 2:1 and have to call. He shows KT, so
again I am very lucky to have a dominating hand with someone notched
just under me.
At this point, I take the chip lead as pictured in
http://ygc.collectionsoftware.com/atlarge2003/Img0591.JPG. I am not
able to be an overly aggressive big stack unlike last night at the
Trop, as people keep moving in in front of me, or when it is unopened
in early position, I have total and utter crap that I can't even steal
with. Andrew Richman and Jeff Calkins are gone in 6th and 5th
respectively (no hands --remember that I am at this point at HOUR 25
of continuous poker without sleep). At four-handed, I have about 40%
of the chips, the two 82-ers, Greg and Dave have about 25% each, and
Brad Edmonds has 10%. However, I have played a lot at other tables
with Brad and have a very high opinion of his play, so I grow
concerned because he keeps hanging around. Dave eventually takes him
out to pull about even with me in chips. I am stuck between the two
members of the 8-2 poker club, who seem more than willing to go to war
against one another. After 30-45 minutes of 3-handed jousting that
accomplishes very little, Dave takes out Greg. With that hand, he
takes a 95,000-40,000 chip lead on me with blinds of 1000-2000 (no
ante) as we start heads-up.
It is over on the first hand.
The clock has just hit Hour 26 on my poker marathon, and I make the
first decision I regret in the tournament (and second of the night).
Dave makes it 8000 on the button. I look down to find QJ. My first
thought is that this is a well above-average hand and could easily be
better than what Dave has. That much was true. In the heat of the
moment, I thought that my best play was to re-raise all-in, since that
would only be a slight overbet of the pot. I seriously underestimated
the play remaining; I could have just called to see the flop. I also
knew that Dave was not someone who would keep firing chips if the flop
missed him, meaning that I had a good advantage over him knowing where
he was. Perhaps I am being results-oriented, but I feel I should have
tried to play a multiple street game instead of moving all-in, which
is what I did. Dave thought it over but called fairly quickly with
KJ, and won. Congrats to him on a really great tournament; I truly
think he played well and is a worthy champion. That does not mean I
am not incredibly pissed off at myself. I wandered around the room
for a while, talking to myself saying that I didn't have to move in on
him. I'm a good enough heads-up player and with money left to play,
calling to see the flop was clearly the play. It takes only one
mistake to ruin a well-played NLHE tournament. In reality, my mistake
(if in fact a mistake) was not all that large in terms of just raw EV
against the distribution of possible hands for him, because at these
blind sizes, moving in with any decent hand is very rarely a bad play,
but I was in a situation where I was probably the better
multiple-street player (although not necessarily) and instead chose to
gamble. That is where the mistake was made. I was very upset at
myself and if you were one of the many people who came to me with your
heartfelt congratulations and I accepted them with a very cool
reception, I apologize for that.
Jester gave me the second place added money from PokerStars, but
collecting the actual second-place money from the Taj was a
bureaucratic mess of forms. I can see now why that poker players
greatly prefer tournaments that don't issue tax forms. I took a $400
bad beat with the 30% tax taken out of my winnings, effectively
winning 3rd place money for finishing 2nd.
Reeling from my defeat, I stumbled into the ATLARGE banquet. It was a
table with some tough players. Matt, ADB Fich, Jerrod, Sabyl, Bill
Chen and Jester are at the table, although I can't remember the
specific seat assignments. Despite this tough draw, I am easily able
to spot the fish, as I think everyone ordered the sea bass. I am
actually misdealt sea bass despite ordering steak, but it's a very
minor beat. The slightly bigger beat is that for lasting to get
heads-up in the NLHE event, the open bar that was made available is
now closed.
After dinner, we all walked down to the poker room. I think Jerrod,
Sabyl and Bill wanted to start the 5-5 PL, so I knew it'd be a soft
game (cough). However, I was now in Hour 27. I was actually tempted
to sit and play limit hold'em, as I literally can do that in my sleep.
But my brain finally figured out that it was time to make the
conscious decision to shut down.
So I went and took a two-hour nap.
I came back down at 1:00am in a good 15/30 hold'em game where the only
downsides were playing with "Buckshot" Stephen B. and ActionBob (yes,
that nickname is a reverse tell, btw). These guys play g00t, but the
other fish were more than plenty bad to make up for their presence.
I'm up $1191 when I notice Buckshot and ActionBob are dropping down to
the 10/20. They graciously tell me it's a great game (or maybe that
it will be a great game if I show up). It ends up being a pretty good
game, but I lose $299. At some point, ActionBob moved back to the
15/30 (hmmm...was it just a ploy to get me out of the game...?). He
late came over to my table and asked me if I ever slept. I responded,
"I *was* sleeping". I'd fallen asleep on the flop and ActionBob had
startled me back into the conscious world just as a bet was being made
on the river.
I decided then to take my $900 and get some real sleep, the kind you
get in a bed.
Sunday, March 23
I didn't pre-register for the Stud event, but nevertheless I woke up
at 10:30 to rush down to see if late registration was still available.
It looked like I was out of luck, until it was realized that Jerry
Gerner was not able to make it, so I took his seat. (Jerry, if you
are reading this post, I owe you $75. Please e-mail me; I have
e-mailed you with no response.) I have played less than 5 hours of
Stud in my life. Ignorance being bliss, I thought I actually played
rather well. However, my only mistake my have cost me any chance of
winning. The bring-in is folded around to me, and I have split aces.
I raise and Patrick calls with a 4 up, all others fold. I catch air
and Patrick catches ostensible air as well, a 10. I bet and he calls.
On fifth, he pairs his 10 and bets out. I estimate from there that if
I call him down, I will be nearly busted if I lose (I thought the
limits rose *very* quickly in this tournament). Patrick is one of
these guys who handles his upcards very neatly, and for a moment
--**and through absolutely no fault of his** -- I thought the first 10
was his doorcard. That induced me to fold, but immediately after
folding, I looked again and saw his board was 4-T-T, not T-4-T. Now,
he probably had two pair, but my aces have plenty of odds to chase two
pair. I am a dog anyway, but by folding there incorrectly, I was
nearly crippled. I busted out just as two-table play started, when I
had the bring-in almost all-in with (84)3 and was busted by someone
(names again) making a full house in five cards for complete and utter
overkill.
I go and play some 10/20, which for the absolute first time is not a
completely easy lineup. I have Arty Santella and Chris O'Connor and
some other people who know what they're doing. I transfer to the
20/40, and it is one of the absolute best 20/40s I've ever played.
The bad players were bitching about the worse players, which I found
hilarious. There was only one other guy in this game with a clue. A
huge pot was dragged at one point by 93s limping UTG on a hand that
was subsequently 3-bet behind him. On one hand, I get a free ride
with K3 in the big blind. The flop comes down K-8-6. I bet and get
called only by the small blind. The turn is a 3, making me kings up.
The SB checks, I bet, and he raises. I re-raise and he 4-bets! Now I
am scared he slowplayed a set of 8s or 6s and of course just call.
The river is another king! He checks and calls, turning over AK.
Basically, he managed to play each street wrong.
As I'm playing this game, the stud tournament is playing out the final
table, with the requisite cheering every time someone busts out. The
locals in the 20/40 game have no idea what to think. They all seem to
think perhaps that we're razzing the bust-out. I hear them talking
about the pink game that went the other night and how it must suck to
play so few hands per hour. They think we're insane. Here's what I
think: I think we're the only fucking people in the place that know
how to have fun playing poker. The rest of them are miserable SOBs
who play this game because they have no other hobbies, social lives,
or redeeming abilities. They bitch at suckouts, they bitch at
dealers, they bitch about everything. It should come as no surprise
that a group like this should find the ATLARGErs so distasteful; the
ATLARGErs are actually in a poker room having a good time! The nerve!
Anyway, I beat the miserable fishy SOBs for $708 when Joan informs me
there is an impromptu dinner. I love taking money from these terrible
players, but I love the company of RGPers too. We go to a restaurant
that seems way too classy for me. We all have a good time laughing
about the menu, which is just beautifully pretensious. The menu
informs that there is a $12 (!)charge for sharing plates. It also
says, "to preserve the integrity of the chef's creations, please, no
substitutions". (I wonder momentarily whether this is just some
protective measure against someone like, ordering ham and asking it to
be substituted with lobster, but then I realize I'm actually in a
classy restaurant where people probably don't do stuff like that.)
The food is good (presumably due to the integrity of the chef's
creation being preserved) albeit damn expensive for a cheap bastard
like me. However, what I lose in differential between the cost of
this nice expensive meal and a ham/turkey sandwich from the snack bar
at the Taj, I gain in quality conversation. My proudest moment in the
weekend was not 2nd place in NLHE but answering a stud question that
had been puzzling Bill Chen (note that I was up to 8 hours of stud
experience by that point). I visited the grand house of our
illustrious ATLARGE organizer, Stevan Goldman, which actually served
as the poker compound for Bill, Sabyl, Matt, Patrick, and Arty.
After lost dinner EV, I went back to the Taj 20/40 hold'em, which was
then officially the best 20/40 I had ever played in. Very few 3/6
games are so loose-passive. Three players seemed very inexperienced;
one was cited for a string raise and was very close to being cited on
a number of occasions; others showed their inexperience by handling
cards and chips poorly, never seeming to know when its their turn,
calling with A-rag, and the typical newbie stuff). Four players were
experienced but very bad. One player, a lady on my immediate left,
played well, but she was constantly walking. One guy was not
terrible. And me; clowns to the left of me and jokers to the right.
How good was the game? I won an $880 pot with an unimproved KK with
an ace on the flop. It was limped by five players to me on the button
with KK. I raise, both blinds call, and 2 off the button says, "build
the pot" and re-raises. I cap, only the BB drops. Seven of us for a
cap, 30 bets in the pot. The flop comes A-8-3. I start to feel my
stomach turn. It is checked around to me, I throw in my "I know I'm
way behind, but I'm willing to take the 30:1 odds that I can win this"
bet. One folds so there are only 6 players left to see the turn. The
turn is a J. It is checked around to an absolutely terrible player on
my immediate right who bets. There is $760 in this pot. If I can
raise and check down the river, my effective odds are 800:80. I am
probably beat, but for the small chance he is betting less than an ace
into me, I must raise. This flashes through my mind very quickly, and
I raise very quickly to represent trip aces. All fold but the bettor
who calls. The river is another 8, so as I'm thinking I'm now also
screwed if he was semibluffing an 8, he checks. I am happy to check
back.
"Two pair," he says.
"Which two?"
He looks downcast. A glimmer of hope arises in me. I table the
kings. He bitches about getting counterfeited by the 8 (you know what
that necessarily makes his hand, right?) and mucks. Someone over in
middle position slams his fist into the table, saying my raise on the
turn made him fold 87. I feel good and proud, strong enough to take
on the world. Some may call this results-oriented; I call it,
"another example of do whatever the hell you can to win when the pot
is gi-freaking-gantic".
Let's view this hand from another perspective: the pot was capped
7-ways preflop and no one had an ace (the BB who folded to my cap --
one of the three non-horrible players in the game -- claimed to have
had one).
After what had been a terrible start to the session, I pull from $300
in the hole to +$400. I win a few more, then take a few inevitable
loose-game beats, to book a $406 win in 4.5 hours. Now that's well
over 2 BB/hour, but again, I'm arrogant enough to think that variance
actually was unkind to me; that my EV was in fact higher. I will be
struck dead by the poker gods, I'm sure. I am getting a ride with
Goldie and Patrick to the airport early tomorrow (this) morning, so I
head back to my room after the fish start getting replaced by decent
players, pack and grab a quick nap.
General observations on the Taj:
- I found the games were generally very passive, far different than
equivalent hold'em played in either LA or Vegas. Flush draws
frequently check-called instead of betting or jamming for value. Very
little semibluff raise on the turn -- epidemic among Vegas regulars.
- Overall I felt dealers were good and efficient, with few weak spots.
There were a couple of dealers who had lousy attitudes, even they
tended to be efficient, at least. For this, I toked them despite my
better judgment.
- The ATLARGE tournaments were well-run and I thought the tournament
staff were quite friendly and efficient.
- Drink service is the worst I have ever seen in any poker room. A
local player told me that the waitresses evidently feel the poker
players don't take care of them well enough. I'm sure that poker room
waitresses make less than say, those serving high-limit baccarat, but
I imagine they do better than those at the slots. But regardless,
their income is linearly correlated with the number of drinks they
serve, and so it's completely ridiculous for them to be out once an
hour to serve drinks and take orders.
5-day poker totals:
Ring: +$3040, 50 hours, $60.80/hour
Tournament: $545 in buy-ins/tokes, $2046 in winnings, +$1501, 18 hours, $83.39/hour
Total: +$4541, 68 hours, $66.78/hour
Sleep: $0, 24 hours, $0.00/hour. Sleep is overrated!
It's always nice to book a winning trip, of course, but I'm sure I'd
have had fun no matter what the results. It was absolutely great to
be able to meet the men and women behind the screen names. My
sincerest gratitude in particular to goldie, for doing a great job as
organizer and for the lift to the airport; and to Tina, Joan, Matt and
Rick who generously provided various ground transportation on the rare
occasions I wasn't in the Taj poker room. With all impartiality,
thanks of course to PokerStars, as well as the Taj.
Hope to see you all at my first BARGE.
--
Terrence Chan
http://www.sfu.ca/~tchand/
