1st time in B&M, Foxwoods trip report

[pzhon]

I've played online for a year, but had never played poker live before this past Sunday. A poker student of mine "Al" planned to go to Foxwoods with family and friends, and invited me. This is a report of that trip.

While I have been playing up to NL $400 online for some time, Al has been a poker student of mine for about a month. I've been lending him books and encouraging him to get poker bonuses, mainly at NL $25. So far, he has lost money at the tables, but not as much as the bonuses have paid him. Although he hadn't played limit, I was worried about what would happen if he lost a few buy-ins at the $1-$2 NL $100, particularly since his bankroll is only a couple grand. So, the plan was that Al would play $2-$4 limit (with $300 cash), and I would play $1-$2 NL (with $700), mainly so I wouldn't have any extra stress. I told him to value bet relentlessly and not to bluff. I recommended that he play really tightly, and said he could win if he only played 99+ and AQ+, and that betting any of these hands after missing the flop is not a bluff.

We arrived at Foxwoods at about 3, found the poker room, and added our names to the waiting lists. I was about 10th for $1-$2 NL. Al's name wasn't even showing in the 20 for $2-$4. In retrospect, we should have used the waiting time to get "Wampum Rewards" cards or buy chips, but we just spent the time talking about basic poker strategy. I was called a bit before 4. After getting my seat, I went up to the window to get some chips without realizing I could have just given $100 to the dealer.

There were about 8 players at the table. I was told to post in UTG+1, which I did without realizing my position. (I also paid a $5/30 minute time charge almost immediately, so I would have been better off waiting a few hands.) Most of the players seemed to be between 20 and 30. Some might have been college students. One seemed to be in the military. The players seemed friendly, with some discussion of past pots, but no whining about bad beats.

On my left was a calling station with about $400 when I sat down. He would call raises preflop with hands like 43s and Q9o. Unfortunately for me, he liked to straddle a lot when I was in the big blind, though he never used his option to raise. He made some good bluffs, but he constantly paid off 1/3-1/2 pot value bets on the river with bottom pair, and would call 1/2-2/3 pot with just a gutshot. He got lucky with a few big hands, but still managed to drop down to under $100 in two hours.

On my right was a young woman who claimed to prefer limit. She made some plays that certainly seemed to be limit plays, like raising in early position with KQ and overvaluing top pair. She busted out, rebought for $20, then open-pushed with QT and was busted by some crazy guy who called with JT.

People rarely made continuation bets after raising preflop, and when they did, they often bet $10-$20 into a $50 5-way pot. That might have meant they hit. Quite a few pots were limped 6-way, and some people may have taken advantage of this by making big raises from the blinds.

I was a bit surprised by the $10/hour time charge. Somehow I expected the pots to be raked, which would favor tighter play. Another thing I found unusual from online play was the way people would call the $2 big blind with a $5 chip, getting change later. I think people had a poor idea of how large the pot is, and the typical bets were much smaller in relation to the size of the pots than they are in decent online NL games.

I should have brought a sweatshirt. The temperature was uncomfortably low.

Here are a few memorable hands, in no particular order:

NL $1-$2. Hero has $94 in UTG+1, 8-handed. Everyone has the hero covered.

Hero has J[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] J[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].

Preflop:
Fold. Hero raises to $10. Folder comments, "Look out, the quiet guy in the corner raised!" Calling station calls, college kid calls, one of the blinds calls.

Flop (4-handed, ~$42): A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 8[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 5[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]
Check, Hero bets $25, calling station calls, college kid calls, fold.

@#$%. Maybe I'm still ahead of the calling stations, but I'm done with the hand. If no one has an ace or better, this may get checked down.

Turn (3-handed, $117): 7[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

Check, check, check.

River (3-handed, $117): J[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]

Hero pushes for $59, calling station folds, college kid tanks, then calls.

Rersult: College kid has A4o, TPNK. Hero wins the $235 pot with the rivered set. I tipped $2.


NL $1-$2. Hero has about $150 in UTG+1, 8-handed.

Hero has K[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] Q[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].

Preflop:
Limp, Hero limps, two players limp behind, SB folds! BB checks.

Flop (5 players, $11): K[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 9[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 7[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]
Check, check, Hero bets $10, fold, call, 2 folds.

Turn (2 players, $31): 7[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]
Hero bets $20, call.

River (2-players, $71): Q[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]
Hero checks, Villain bets $25, Hero calls.

I figured I was ahead, but it seemed likely that he had a busted draw or a 7, in which case betting would be terrible. Checking might induce a bad value bet or a bluff.

Result: Both of us had KQo for a split pot. I tipped the extra dollar.


NL $1-$2. Hero has about $170 in UTG+2, 8-handed.

Hero has K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] J[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]
2 folds, hero raises to $10, calling station calls, college kid reraises to $40, 3 folds. Hero folds. Calling station calls.

Flop (2 players, $93): 9[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 3[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 2[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]
Check, check.

Turn (2 players, $93): K[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]
Check, check.

River (2 players, $93): J[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]
Check, college kid bets $25, calling station calls.

Result: College kid shows Q[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] T[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] for the straight, and wins $143. Caling station shows AJo.


NL $1-$2. Hero has about $140 in UTG+1, 8-handed.

Hero is dealt TT.

Preflop:
Fold, Hero limps, calling station limps, college kid limps, fold, short stack pushes for $52, blinds fold, Hero asks for a count and folds, calling station calls, college kid folds.

Calling station had QTs
Short stack has AKo, which holds up unimproved to take the $108 pot.

The question in my mind is whether the short stack would have made that play with QQ or better. If he'll only do it with, say, 77-JJ and AK, then it's worth a lot to call.


NL $1-$2. Hero has about $200 UTG, 6-handed.

Hero has 4[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 4[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].

Preflop:
Hero limps, calling station limps, middle-aged guy who just sat down with a rack of whites raises to $10, call, relatively tight military guy in SB calls, BB folds, Hero calls, calling station calls.

Flop (5 players, $52): K[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 8[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 5[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]
Check, check, check, middle-aged guy bets $20, fold, SB check-raises all-in (covers everyone), fold, fold, middle-aged guy calls $70 all-in.

SB has K[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] T[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]
PFR has JJ.

Result: SB's top pair holds up for $232. Middle-aged guy doesn't rebuy. Later, the winner was recounting the hand to a friend, and said the guy with JJ didn't raise preflop.

It was fun, and people weren't too attached to their chips, but I didn't get many hands and was only up $34. After about 2 hours I got up in the middle of an orbit to avoid the time charge and went to find Al.

Al didn't play a hand while I watched, and I was a bit worried since he had just under $100 in front of him. Maybe he'd found live poker boring and slow? However, he had started with only $40, and finished ahead $53.

There was a friendly young guy to his left, and a bunch of old loose calling stations on the other side of the table. They played every hand (showing down 72o) and rarely raised, which had been great for Al, who had been paid all of the way by several people with AA flopping top set and Q8 from the big blind catching two pair. Al was also lucky enough to win with QQ with an ace on the flop; someone had top two, but Al had a straight+flush draw on the turn and caught the runner-runner nut flush.

After playing for about 2 hours, we quit for dinner, and found that while some of Al's friends were ahead, some were bored because there was a $15 minimum on the blackjack tables because it was a Sunday, and they didn't want to play for that much. Everyone else had eaten, and we chatted for about an hour, then Al and I went to the buffet ($15+tip). There was a wait, but the buffet was great, and we had planned perfectly by not eating lunch.

Al's friends wanted to go home, but started to play a few hands of blackjack while we were eating. After dinner, Al introduced me to live craps play. I had cashed in my chips before dinner, and wasn't sure how to get chips from the dealer, so I gave him a $20 bill to put $5 on Don't Pass. I really didn't notice Al was the shooter... We both managed to win small amounts in a half hour in which I bet a total of $30 on Don't Pass. Al's friends won about $60 on blackjack.

At about 9, we cashed out and headed home. Total: 2 hours of poker played each, for +$34 and +$53. 0.5 hours of craps for +$15 and +$25. It was a lot of fun, though not as profitable as playing online would have been.