Turning Stone Trip Report (long)

[Bulldog]

On Friday, mntbikr15 & I drove north to Turning Stone. My B&M experience is Borgata & Taj, and a couple of Indiana boats one time each. But due to his age, this was the first trip for mntbikr15. We got to the casino just before 7 and we were holding cards by 7:15.

The room is actually two rooms, a room with about 15 tables, and another across the hall called the Torch Room with about 8 more. There is a bar in there, I suppose the whole room used to be the bar area.

There was a nice variety of limits going: several 1-3 spread, some 2-4, 3-6, two 5-10, and one each 10-20 and 20-40, along with a 1-2 max 100 NL and a 5-10 min 300 NL. Also one or two 1-5 stud games I believe.

There was a 3/6 seat open so mntbikr15 took it and we got on the 5/10 list. He only got a couple of hands in before he got called to a 5/10 game, and told me he should've stayed because the table was terrible. I got his 3/6 seat, waiting for the next 5/10 seat to open. I discovered a nice bonus right away. I was in the cutoff but I was anxious to play so I posted my three bucks. The dealer told me "no posting" so I pulled my chips back and said, "I have to wait for the big blind?" and found out that no, I could just jump in without posting. Cool. First hand, 43s. This hand has some history in the home game I met mntbikr15 in (the power of the four, and another big 43s pot), so of course I raise. I believe there were six of us to the 943 rainbow flop. One bet and I raise, and all call. 7 on the turn and all check to me. I bet and again all call. Scary 5 on the river but again all check so I check as well, and MHIG. I pull a $90 pot as I'm being called to the 5/10 so I hit-and-run. I figure my BB/hr at 3/6 on this trip to be +300 BB/hr. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

My open seat is in the other 5/10 game, so I stop by mntbikr15's table to see if he'd rather play with me. He agrees that we don't want to take each other's money all night, so no table change for either of us.

I make a nice steady run early on. We have one drunk college kid doing a lot of raising, including blind raises, so the pots are built for me. I don't hit a lot of big hands during these few hours, but plenty of TPTK that hold up, and the like. I didn't see a pocket pair for a long time and then I pick up 44 in the SB and I complete. Flop is A54 all diamonds so I start pushing, and get called on the flop and turn. The case 4 comes on the river, but I just check because I'm not sure how the high hand bonus works. It's checked through, and I learn that not only do I not need to get to showdown, but that the high hand on the board for the time period we were in was quad 6s so no bonus for me. (TS pays $100 for the high hand every two hours, but this ended at midnight.) The 6s got beat a few minutes before 10:00 anyway.

The winning made for a pleasant several hours. I did get a little irritated by a poker cop that sat down at about 10:30. The drunk kid got up at 10:45 and they put a lid on his chips. At 11:15 on the dot the poker cop called over the floor to get him picked up. I told the cop that we'd be happy to wait for the drunk kid to get back, that those chips were surely going to be lost before he was done, but he wasn't having it. The floor gave it a few more minutes and picked him up. Luckily he was back 15-20 minutes later and we had no list and a seat open.

I was up about $600 when we were joined by two new players: a young bald guy who thought he was Gus Hansen (capped a pot preflop with J5s) and a local pro (based on his comments) who had been traveling all summer playing around the US, but was back at TS for the winter. I tread carefully around him early, and I think he stole one pot from me, but I got one back a little later when I bet a suited flop, checked the turn blank, then check-raised the fourth diamond on the river. I was very close to turning over my two black cards when he folded, but I didn't want him targeting me.

By 1 or 2 AM, we were down to five-handed and the other table was at six. We discussed drawing for the seats, but we instead played short-handed until somebody left. I was still up about $550 when we combined. As the first hand was being dealt I was talking about adjusting back to ten-handed and having to play much tighter. I was UTG and had AJo, so of course I raised. After my comments I got five callers and the flop was Jxx. I made another bet and four callers. I check-raised the ace on the turn and got called down by three opponents, pulling a nice pot on the first hand.

The most interesting hand of the night was one where three of us saw the flop for three bets each. I had AKs in MP. It was raised UTG and I made it $15. There was one cold caller behind me and the UTG just called as well. Flop was A53 rainbow and UTG bet out. I couldn't come up with a hand to put him on that I could be losing to, so I raised. Both called, and the turn was a 7. He bets again but I'm stumped so I call as does the LP. A ten hit the river and AT crosses my mind, but I'm convinced this is my pot. UTG bets out and I raise. LP folds but UTG reraises. I call he shows <font color="white"> </font> 33 for the flopped set. Raise UTG with 33? I considered a set of fives but figured only a young internet player would raise 55 UTG. Wow. <font color="black"> </font>

The 1 AM-3 AM portion of the game was a "my **** is bigger than your ****" segment. A debate started between the local "pro" (not so sure after this) and me when I said "pot odds" while calling from the BB with three already in the hand. The pro asked me what kind of pot odds did I think I was getting and I told him 7:1. He explained to me that I was only getting 3:1 since I already had five bucks in so I had ten bucks in the $40 pot. The table was split among those who agreed with me and those who agreed with him. (???)

Then another 20-something got into it with mntbikr15. This guy had comments for everyone's play, then he won a pot with 87 on a board of AT387 that was bet all the way (yes, he called with his 87 on a flop of AT3) which really sparked the discussion. He and mntbikr15 were trying to get the casino to deal them a heads-up freezeout for $200 or more, but the floor said it'd be $22/half hour. They arranged a $1000 freezeout on 'Stars but I'll be shocked if mntbikr15 tells me that the loudmouth ever contacted him.

We had no list so by 3:30 AM we were down to five-handed. There were two tight players, mntbikr15, myself, and a young LAG guy named Mike. We played on five-handed for three hours or more, basically just trading chips. I played a painful hand where my 77 lost to Mike's TT on a T87 flop. It was especially painful because an hour earlier Mike was down to his last $50 and his TT beat my AQ on an ATx flop. The set over set started Mike's run, at the expense of mntbikr15 and the two tight players. mntbikr15 was already in the hole after a run of second-best hands but he played well enough to keep from busting until 9:30.

At 9 the tourney sign up was opened to all of us in the live game. They took IDs and came back with registration slips. I saw Mike's and his name was Mike McDermott. This after I advised him not to quote Rounders at the poker table if he didn't want to be chided. He pulled out plenty of ID when I expressed disbelief at his name, so I agreed that he could quote Rounders anytime he wanted.

So Mike McD, mntbikr15, and I decided to take an hour break before the 11 AM $55+$10. We played a little Let It Ride and Caribbean Stud, and were just killing time when we stumbled across Casino War.

I'd never seen this game in a casino before, so we sat down and got the rules from the dealer. Yep, pretty much high card for money. I didn't learn too much about the tie ("I declare war") except that you could surrender half or double the bet and go to war. mntbikr15 got a $50 loan and we went at it. I got down to $15 and the table got a ten, jack, queen for me, and of course, a dealer king. $50 was enough for me to give back so I was done. But mntbikr15 had $25 left so he went for it. He doubled up to $50 and rolled with it, doubling again to $100. Having not had enough painful losses in the poker room, he let the whole hundred ride and somehow won again. He bailed with the $200 and we went upstairs for the tourney.

No success for either of us in the tourney. I had no hands of interest, and was down to T1450 (from T2500) at Level 4 with about 80 of 132 left. I had QJo from the BB, and the flop was Jxx all clubs, of which I had none. I moved all in, hoping there was nothing better than a flush draw out there, and that all the draws would have to fold to a 1450 bet into an 800 pot. Instead I got three callers, from a short-stacked 88, the ace of clubs, and a made flush. The fourth club came on the turn and three of us were KO'd. mntbikr15 had a good start but ran into a couple of big hands and he was out as well. We decided to get a couple more hours in downstairs and then head out. We both played until 3, both of us breaking even during that session. I finished up $400, $530 up from ring games, but -$65 from both the tourney and the table games. mntbikr15 however, had decided to take the $100 he had in chips from the ring games and put it all on one more Casino War hand.

Off we went. There was already a group there playing $10-$25 a hand, but there was a spot open so mntbikr15 plunked down the $100 and drew a five. The dealer also hit a five. I spotted him a hundred to make the war wager, and his eight beat the six, so he was paid off $200 on the war wager (losing the initial wager). He had $300 so he decided he should play one more hand with his extra $100 profit. He lost that and we started to leave. He said he was happy to be up $100 when I reminded him about the $100 I spotted him. He handed it over and was back to his initial $100, so of course we went back to the table for one more hand. He got another five and of course, the dealer had yet another five in that deck for herself. I handed back the four $25 chips so he could make the war wager yet again. He drew a deuce and somehow, the dealer got a deuce as well. I was already going to my pocket for another Benjamin and he had turned away from the table to me when we realized the dealer was stacking up $300 next to his $100 war wager. Turns out if you tie on the war you win 3-to-1 on the war wager! I dragged him away from the table quickly so he wouldn't take his $300 and bet it on yet another hand, and we bolted so quickly that we were 25 miles away from the casino when I realized he hadn't bothered to tip the dealer for hitting his 12 to 1 shot for him!