Trip report AC 9/20 – 9/23/04

[BBill]

I made the 3.5 hour trip to AC on Monday from where I live in Md. It took 5 hours because of traffic jams on 95 North and on Rt 40 just west of AC. That was okay because I was in no real rush to get there and I made it in plenty of time to register for the 20+10 NL tourney at the Trop.

I stayed at my usual; the HoJo’s on Chelsea Street which is right next to the Trop. The package deal they offer is 80.00 a night; they give you $60.00 in coupons which are good for cash and no play required. Also they throw in 3 breakfasts, a dinner and a free Tropicana Buffet. The rooms and food are good enough for me. The thing is this is the “red light” district in AC. The ladies that are out after midnight really don’t bother me as they don’t persist after a polite “no thanks” but on Tuesday when I made the 30 yard trek from the parking garage to the Hotel entrance at about 2:00 am the girl’s male friend who stayed in the shadows crossed the street
and wound up behind me. It was just kind of creepy.

In reality I think that since the police seem to let them be, selling their goods around there - I don’t think that they are going to screw things up by mugging somebody, but I was kind of creeped out anyway.

The 7:15 NL tourney at the trop was sold out I think there were about 150 players. Its run reasonably well I was out at around 90th place. After the third break when the blinds are around 500/1000 I had a stack of about 5000 and wound up all in with JJ against AK, an ace showed up on the flop and I went home. JJ is the hand that knocked me out of the last NL tourney I played at the Trop in January.
Although the tourneys are fun I think I may have played my last big tournament for a while. With 150 players the chance of getting to the money is pretty low and the ring games are a lot more +EV.

The Trop had 3 1 /2NL games going on Monday night which I watched for a while before the tourney but did not play.

Tuesday I played 3/6 at the Taj and I will say only good things about the Taj poker room. I had a blast playing there for 2 days.
The 3/6 game I got into in the morning was profitable. I played my best tight aggressive game and it was effective. It was a nine person table (stud table) we opted to keep it at nine instead of squeezing in a tenth. There were 5 or 6 callers pre-flop and it was usually 3 seeing the river. One hand that I remember went some thing like.

I raised from middle position with AKo
2 late callers
Flop is 7 A 9 rainbow I bet and all call.
Turn is a 3 (no flush draw) I bet and there were 2 callers
River is a K I bet and there is 1 caller and a raise
All called the raise I’m expecting to see a set but the raiser had K5o and my hand was good.
After 4 hours I was getting weary (my endurance for live play needs some work) and I left that game up 13.5 BB.

I got dinner and went back to the Taj and got into another 3/6 (no wait at all for this or the morning game) I played for another 4 hours. The suck-outs were a bit worse in the evening.
A hand I remember is
I’m on the button with 44 and call after 5 previous calls (not that aggressive this play)
Flop is JJ5
Checked to me and I bet and there was one caller (I put him on Ax)
Turn is a J giving me a boat. It’s checked to me and I bet and get called
River is another J (board is JJ5JJ)
Other players bets ---hmm and ace wins this hand but I had to call
He had K6o and his hand was good.

There is a dealer at the Taj who does an “OHM” type meditation chant whenever he deals. He is a great dealer but for some reason this continual “OHM” thing had me laughing so hard that I literally was falling off of my chair and this got the guy next to me laughing which made things worse. As soon as I gained control and stopped laughing he’d deal a hand and do his “OOHHMM” chant and it would start me off which got the other guy laughing. I considered taking a break from the table to be polite but really did not want to leave the table and the laughing did not seem to bother the dealer all. He kept dealing and I kept laughing until there were tears in my eyes and it looked like I was crying. I was actually exhausted from laughing so much. I’m not sure but I thought the “OHM” chant might have been some reference to the Transcendental Mediation that might take place in the real Taj Mahal in India.
I’m sure it was a way to prevent stress caused by working in a poker room all day with 300 or 400 people.

I left this game after 4 hours down 4 BB
For Tuesday I played 8 hours and was up 56.00 which is 7.00 per hour.

Wednesday I bough into the 1 /2 NL game at the Taj and got a seat right away. There was at least one table games dealer from the Borgata there and some other solid players 1 loose and one very aggressive player. Since this was the first time I played NL live I was very, actually overly careful. I played and won a few small pots but mostly folded.
3 hours into the game I got Ks Js in middle position and called the 2.00 along with 5 others.
Flop was As 9s 3h
After a few 2.00 calls I made it 12.00 to go and got 1 EP caller.
Turn was a 10s giving me the nut flush.
EP bets 15.00 and I raised to 60.00 and he called.
River was 7x and I bet my remaining 30.00 and got called.
EP had the smaller flush so I doubled up that hand.

Later on I got As Ac in the SB and made it 10.00 and got 2 callers.
Flop was 8 5 3 with 2 hearts I bet 20.00 and 1 called and the other guy went all in for 60.00
I smelled set and folded my aces. The first checker called the additional 40.00 and showed his pocket 8s for a set of eights and the “all in” guy had Ah 8h. The set of eights won.

After 4 hours I quit that game up 83.00

I went back to the Taj later that night for some more NL. It was a very passive table.
About an hour into the game I got AQs on the button after 4 2.00 callers and raised it to 8.00
Flop was 10 Q 6 rainbow
I then made the “classic” fish play (tilt reared its ugly head)
EP made it 40.00 to go and I want all in for 103.00 (bad play I know)
EP thought about it for a while and called showing his 66 for a set of sixes.
I laughed (at myself) said “good hand” and left for the night.

So for Wednesday I played 6 hours of 1 /2 NL and was down 17.00
And for 2 days at the Taj 3/6 and NL over-all I was up 39.00

I went back to the hotel but it was to early to sleep so I decided to play at the Trop for an hour or so. I really just wanted to throw around some chips since I was leaving the next day and didn’t want a bad swing to put me down so I played 2/4 rather than 4/8 at the Trop. The cards I got were trouble and I was down 42 bucks in an hour so I called it a night.

Total for the trip I was down 3.00

I actually had a great time playing at the Taj. The people are friendly, there is almost no wait for games and the games are good.
Next time I will probably just get the poker rate there and play 3/6 or 5/10 or NL.