Trip Report - Foxwoods

[Lurshy]

Was at Foxwoods Thursday and Friday. Stayed in Great Cedar Hotel. Played 4 sessions of Holdem 4-8, and spent some time in Act tourney's. Sorry for spelling and grammar errors, but....

1st Session from about noon (arrival) until my dinner break at about 6:30pm. Was on an ideal table, with a mix of old rocks, and clueless folks of all ages. For entertainment, there was one drunkish LAG, and a 'Schecky Green' type with hysterical one-liners. e.g. One young gun 1st timer asked if he could get get up to go to the bathroom. Naturally, Schecky had him ask the dealer for a bathroom pass.

Anyway, I got incredibly lucky that 1st session. Dealt some great cards that held up. Evenm had middle pair hold up against calling stations with less than nothing. Some people could not beat a non-paired board and they would still call. And with the rocks, you knew when to get out of their way. So in 6ish hours at 4-8, I cashed out 4 full racks, bought in for 1 rack = up 600$. I played tight, unless I was in the blinds, had good starting cards. Lag was behind me, so I couldn't count on limping with the rest of them. But it was good, As I would let him bet for me, and could check raise for value when cards allowed. And once he lost most of his stack, he got weaker as well. Caught a nice rush, when I had AA, AK, A9s and another hand all hold up in a short span

The next session, same table some same people, I was not as lucky, nursed my stack for a few hours. Then with the table turning over a bit, some young asian folks left their money behind, as well as one obnoxious drunk. Wound up doubling my session buy-in, went to bed at 3am, up 800 for the day.

After a few hours sleep and some breakfeast, got to the table at about 8:00am. Much tougher table. All solid seasoned players there that early, 3 to a flop instead of 6 or 7. No action when you have a hand, unless you are 2nd best. Lost about 70$ after a couple of hours.

Decided to go seek my fame and fortune in the Act tourney's. These are satellites to the World Poker Finals, currently underway. Main event about a week from now.

Bought into an Act I for 60$. This is a one table tourney, top 3 go to Act II. 1st hand, I had K 10 suited in late middle position. A couple of limpers, I threw out a 3xBB raise, one caller behind me, 3 to the flop. Flop comes AQ rainbow. Figure I would represent the Ace, and threw out a Pot Sized bet. Cutoff calls, limper folds. Rag turn, check check. J river giving me the nuts. I checked, cutoff all-in, I more than double up on the 1st hand. Played conservatively after that, doing enough stealing to maintain a good stack. Soon the blinds went up, and anyone with less than the starting stack, was under pressure. I made top three.

In the Act II, I was not as lucky, and on the 1st hand after taking a shot at the pot (I was in BB, and a rag flop came givin me top pair with an undercard kicker, gut shot draw), I was forced to lay down, when an old lady called me and raised all-in on a later street. When an old lady raises you all-in, and you have a weak pair, its my experience you should fold like a worker in an oragami factory.

Now I'm left with a stack of 600, tighten up and wait. lost my impatience though, and went out reraising with wired 77s raiser had KK. Out in seventh.

Great 3 hours of entertainment though for 60 bucks.

Went back to 4-8 after lunch. Now Friday afternoon is a lot more crouded than Thursday. Thursday had Open seating most of the day and night, or a list only a few names deep. Friday was packed. After lunch the 4-8 list was 19 players deep and not moving. Seems they were constantly calling people for 2-4 and small stud games, but 4-8 had no one getting up. Then light bulb hit-me. Told the folks I forgot to put myself on the Dinner return list (puts you 2nd on the list when you come back from a 2 hour meal break). They saw I checked in at 8:30 that morning and cut me a break. Got seated a few minutes later.

Played about 3-4 hours, before I needed to head out of there for the ride home. Started out card dead, then lost a bit when my QQ got cracked by trip 9s on the river. My QQ were overcards to the board as well. Went on a small rush with AA, AK and 34s (SB) the 34 made a nut str8, yum. Nursed stack for a while, playing very tight, but nmade two moves that worked. Raised preflop early with QJos, flopped QJ, soemone raised me on the flop, I check raised on the turn with 3 still in. Both folded to my bet on the river. Now between only showing solid cards and playing few hands, but playing them aggressively, I actually took down a couple of small pots before leaving (e.g. raised with J9s preflop, didn't hit suit draw or pair), now I know that means the opponents had nothing much of anything as they would have kept coming, but it was still pretty rare at 4-8 especially after seeing the calling stations the day before. Cashed out up another 170$ which made up for the morning expenses, and put me over the 800$ mark for the trip. Fantastic and unsustainable, but cool.

WOuld love to move up but the 5-10 game has a Kill at 100 so is almost always a 10-20 game. So due to bankroll considerations, I have stayed at 4-8 my last 4 trips to foxwoods, 3 small wins, and this larger win.

Other notes: Watched Greg Raymer play for a while in the 2000$ NLHE WPF tourney. Seemed to be friendly but focused. Still sporting the glasses and fossil card protectors. I asked him during a table move if he had any fossils for sale, but he is 'sold out'.

Also met Men the Master. He is Mr. personality. Yucking it up behind our 4-8 table, threatining to join us. Wish he did.

The computer reservation system looks far superior to the old wipe board system. And they received a software upgrade already that fixes the issue that caused the Crash last week.

All for now,

Lushy