First Borgata Trip - AC

I'm heading to the Borgata tonight for some limit goodness.
This will be my first time playing a casino cash game. (Just one tournament before at the Taj.)

The information I've gleaned off these forums tells me the 3/6 game should play like a Party 1/2 (maybe even looser.) I'm planning on taking $250 with me, a little more than the 30x big bet to cover buy-in plus expenses.

I expect to arrive around 6PM to avoid the wait. My game plan is to scope the table out, get some good reads on my opponent's playing style and get tight and agressive. Of course, if the game is loose as hell (which seems to be the norm) my J9s is going to flop constantly.

Any Borgata specific advice besides the fact that the waitresses are slammin' hot? Should I play at a higher limit (I could swing 4/8 and maybe 5/10)? I'm looking for basic info about the room besides gameplay. Mainly - Do they have a cage, or do I get chips from the dealer?

Thanks for any all helpful advice. Also, I'll report back in this thread later tonight to say how it went.

[cwsiggy]

You will have a great time. Sometimes you can just buy chips form the person leaving the table, but it's just as easy to walk to the back of the room and get them from the cashier.
As far as arriving at 6:00 - you will have quite a long wait, though if you play higher which you should if you can swing it, the wait will be significantly less. When I was there on Friday, the wait for 2-4 was 31 deep, and for 3-6 about 20 and this was at 4:30 pm! Have fun.

The Borgata has 2/4 /3/6 then jumps to 6/12. There games at the lower limits are really good. The only problem I see is that you are most likely going to run into a wait even arriving at six. Other than that they do have a cage in the poker but they only sell chips in denomanations of 20. Also their chips are slippery and can be annoying. Thats been my experience anyway.

Thanks for the advice. A couple more questions came to me, though...

Do you post the BB when you sit down or do you wait for the blind?

Do people tend to verbally annouce "check" or just rap the table?

How do you sign up for a table and monitor where you are in position? Can you sign up for more than one type of game to potentially get in a game faster? (I could also do the 1/2 NL.)

[cwsiggy]

You sign up at the big desk right at the bottom of the escalator and they have flatscreens to monitor your initials.
Play 1-2 nl if you can, cause if you are even semi decent, you will make lots more at that than 2-4,3-6; but be prepared for swings obviously. You can rap the table or verbally announce. You can post a BB or wait, just wait if it's close, but you don't want to look like a tighty by waiting 8 hands(specially in 2-4,3-6) - walk away and go to the bathrooom if that is the case. Crush em. And - shouldn't you be on the road by now?? lol You will have a wait and quite a long one - specially for 1-2 NL

I live by the shore in NJ. The trip's only about 45 minutes at max. I'd have gone before, but I just got legal in April and go to school in DC. Thanks for answering all my questions. Now I have two more. I assume the betting is capped at four bets. But if you're heads up, does the cap still hold or can dueling full houses go at it? Are there any goofy little jackpots or Straight Flush clubs of which I should be aware?

And I'll definitely consider the NL a little more.

[cwsiggy]

I don't think there is a cap when heads up, at least not at the higher levels, not sure bout 2-4/3-6 .I imagine it is the same. I've never been in a capping war yet there. No jackpot drop there I'm pretty sure. they have Heineken, Bud, Corona, Amstel Light and something else. Sandwiches are around $6-7 and are ok. Parking is $5. Hookers are out on the main boulevard later this evening. Have fun.

[VarlosZ]

I played 6/12 last time I was there, and the game was excellent (though it did tighten up considerably around 3:00 AM when the tourists went to bed). I don't know if the game is always that good, though, or if you'd want to sit down with $300-$400 in front of you.

Wait lists tend to be (much) longer there than at other AC card rooms, but it's a very nice atmosphere, and the waitresses have got the greatest uniforms ever.

The chips are magnetized, so shuffling them is very difficult. On the other hand, they actually use blue chips there, which gives me a warm fuzzy for some reason.

[cookieb]

It is always that good. The 10/20 is similar, but more aggressive. There is a bit more positional play in the 10/20 as well, but very beatable.

Well, the Borgata wait list was about 30 deep for both NL and limit. So I went to the Taj and sat down at a 1/2 NL with $200. Throughout the night, the table had 3 or 4 good players who were there the whole night. The other seats featured a rotating mix of players, about 80% of whom were loosey-goosey. The others were tight old men who usually bounced after a few orbits.

Three orbits in I pick up KQ off in mid position. I called the blind and six players went to the flop. (Pot = 12) The flop came K-rag-rag with two diamonds. Three checks to me and I bet 15. The big blind called me and everyone else dropped. (Pot = 38 with rake) The turn brought a Jack. He checked, and I made a mistake by only betting 15 on the turn. I thought he wouldn't have called the flop bet without another King and was worried about 2 pair. He called. River came a four of diamonds. He checked and I went for a value bet of 15. (Another mistake.) He raised to 40, I called (duh!) and he showed me 23 of diamonds for a flush. At this point my stacks was down to about 110.

A few orbits later I get 22 in mid position. I call and seven go to the flop. Flop comes K-high with a duece and two spades. (Pot = 14) Three checks to me and I bet 10. I get one caller, a guy who had built a huge stack through two debatable calls and lucky rivers. He called and the turn came a 3 of hearts. He bet 20 and I went all in with my remaining chips. He called with K3 and my trips held up, brining my stack back to exactly 200.

Later on I got KQo in the big blind. Five limpers to me and I raised to 20. I got one caller, a supertight old man who called UTG. Flop came rags and I fired out a continuation bet of 25. He went all in and I folded. Should've realized he was probably calling with QQ-AA and not bothered with the continuation. Probably shouldn't have raised pre-flop since this guy hadn't called UTG in four orbits and very rarely otherwise.

Later, I called along with two other callers with 77 for 20 chips and folded to an all in on a flop that missed me. I lost a small pot with an A8 to an A9.

I had an A10, called from early position and went to the flop with one other player and both blinds. (Pot = 8) Flop came A-Q-8. Two checks to me and I bet 10. Mid position and the BB call. (Pot = 35) Turn was a K. Checked around. (Should I have put in another bet here?) River cames a J, no flush. Check, check and mid position bet 30. I thought about calling for a bit then decided to fold. I'm pretty sure that was the right move given the straight and two pair possibilities.

At this point, it was a little after 2AM and all the loose money had left the table. I picked up my $65 in chips and left.

Plans for next trip:

Have more confidence in my reads. The guy who got the flush on me had called with the flush draw in similar situations. And the supertight old man is, was and always will be a supertight old man who plays the top four starting hands and whatever he gets in the blinds.

Rebuy when I get low in chips. If I had more money when the deuces turned into a set, the loose dude with the big stack would've paid me off with his two pair and I could've finished the night up.

Get dealt better cards. In four and half hours of play I was dealt three suited connectors, four pairs (2s, 7s, 8s, 10s) and AQ (no one called my pre-flop raise.) I raised pre-flop a lotal of two times. Also, the ten times I got to see a free flop, I whiffed completely. Not even a draw.

Call the BB with more speculative hands in late position. When the LAGs are there, they are esentially offering their money to you when they hit a flop. You only have a set time to take it before someone else does or they have to trot off to their Huey Louis and the News revival concert.

Take an extra set of contacts with me. I lost one at some point in the night which made the drive home a bit of a hazard.

Buy my girlfriend a Borgata waitress outfit.

Random funny AC stuff:

I went to the Trump Marina to meet up with some friends after the Borgata wait list stabbed me in the eyes. We went to the dock and got some drinks and food. A rap-funk band started playing and the deck was suddenly filled with a awkward managerie of dancing white middle aged men and women. One section of the song had lyrics that went, "Yeah, I'm gonna marry you," in between lines about condoms, saliva and various sex acts. The singer was getting right in the face of some of the women out front. The he started wagging his tounge at them. Other parts of the song featured the repeating command, "Get down!" One old guy with a bad case of osteoperosis "got down" about six inches by bending his legs and leaning backwards every so slightly. He did this every time the singer commanded him.

I took the jitney bus from the Marina to the Taj and it started raining. The emergency exit at the top of the Jitney was cracked open since the things are basically mobile hot boxes. The driver yelled back, "Somebody can close that if they want." It's me three women and a foreign guy who yelled, "Tropicana! Yeah!?" when he boarded the jitney. I did the gallant thing and closed it while getting partially soaked. Some water got in my eye and I think this may be where I lost my contact. But hey, $1.75 for a ride to the Taj, plus a free shower.

There were two security guards in the bathroom of the Borgata yelling at a guy who had locked himself in one of the stalls. He was probably passed out drunk, hugging the bowl or whacked up on Fruity Pebbles. I can't imagine what desperate lows of the human spirit casino security guards have to deal with.

One of our dealers, a guy named Desi, had Princeess Lea buns for a hair do. He was by far the best dealer we had all night. He started making fun of one of the players who was still reveling in a lucky river from two orbits ago.

Dealer: Man, that happened like twenty hands ago. Why you still talking on and on about it?

River dude: What else you gonna talk about at a poker table with a bunch of strangers? All we got to talk about is cards. When I go home, I don't talk about poker. Ain't no talk about poker in my house.

Tight old man: You must live alone, then.

ZING.

I was pissed about losing money, but typing this report was pretty theraputic. Hope you enjoyed. Also, I should get like five extra post counts for this novella.

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