Back to the Real World

... Whatever that means.

Atlantic City was a good time. After deducting transportation, meals, and hotel fare I still took home about $3500 playing nothing but 2/5 NL at Borgata.

Borgata charges you time at the 2/5 game to the tune of $5 per half hour instead of raking pots which ends up working out in your favor since each pot would be raked $4.

I thought it could be a good trip when I was dealt black aces in the big blind my very first hand. It folded to the button who made it $25. I made it $75 total and he flatted. The flop was A Q 5 with two hearts and I led for $65. He raised to $190. I shipped and he insta-called and turned over AQ. I turned over my top set and he just kept shaking his head and saying, "that's so sick" as the rest of the board ran out.

A few hands later an older genteman raised to $25 from the hijack and it folded to me in the big blind. I called with 5d4d and we saw a flop of 8c 6c Qh. I checked and he bet $35. I called and the turn was 3s giving me more outs. I checked and he bet $55.

I took some time here. His bet sizing on the turn made me feel like he didn't have a Queen and probably had something like 99-JJ, AJ, AK, etc. I thought I could call here and lead a lot of rivers to take the pot away from him enough times to be profitable and so I called again. The river was 9c making the final board 8c 6c Qh 3s 9c and I felt like this was a great river to bluff. By his reaction to the river card I was certain he hadn't been drawing and in fact probably had nothing in his hand.

"One fifty" I announced and before I finished speaking his cards had hit the muck. A couple hands later he asked if I had 10cJc. Online you can simply ignore the chat box but when I play live I feel like saying 'yes' to any question is probably the right way to go. Saying yes here reaffirms his "good fold" and keeps him thinking I'm a solid player who's running good. The last thing you want to do is tell the other guy you bluffed him off a better hand.

Then I went card dead for about 5 orbits meaning I either had non-playable hands or everyone folded if I raised, which was very infrequent since I mostly had non-playable hands.

The next big hand to come up was this one ...

From early position, a young and very aggressive Asian player with about $700 behind made it $25 and a new player at the table flatted from mid-position. I had 8h9h and about $1300 behind on the button and flatted while both blinds folded.

The flop came out 9s9d6s and the original raiser led for $50. The MP caller folded and I studied the board, leaning forward a little bit. I did this hoping he would think I was trying to see if they were clubs or spades to find out if I had a flush draw. For some reason his bet felt strong to me and he was leaning back in his seat and checking his phone. For some people that could mean they don't have interest in the hand, but not after a lead into 2 players. I was putting him on a pretty big overpair and felt like a smooth call would be cause for concern. If I was going to extract any extra money here I felt like sticking in a large raise to make it look like I was drawing was the way to go.

With $132 in the middle I announced a raise and made it $150 more on top. This got him to sit straight up and start looking at me to get a read. "Why so much?" he asked. "You want to take it down right here, right?"

Most of the time I stay silent but this time I simply said, "I wouldn't mind." This really got him thinking. He kept telling me he thought I had a big flush draw. Finally he says, "You're on a flush draw and you're in bad shape. I go all in."

"I call."

"Ok, let me see your draw."

"I called you."

Somewhat sheepishly he turned over AsKh and then I flipped over my hand. The Turn brought a 6 to kill any hopes he might have had and I dragged another large pot.

If I had simply called his bet on the flop I'd have extracted nothing more from him. By sticking in a somewhat big raise but leaving enough room for him to shove thinking he has fold equity I opened the door for him to use his own aggro play to hang himself. I was surprised by his holding, though. Once he shoved I really felt like he did have a large pocket pair but his shove wasn't terrible. I can't really call about $500 more with a naked flush draw especially when he reps a large pocket pair on a paired board. After the hand he even said he liked my raise because he didn't expect it from a made hand and thought he could get me off of any flush draw except a straight flush draw. Can't really disagree there, either.

This post has gotten pretty long and I've only covered the first day of poker. I'll chop up the trip recap into another post or two. Last Tuesday it was 65 degrees in AC and so I didn't play any poker. Instead I chose to see the whole boardwalk and act like a tourist. Thursday, my last night there, had some decent stories and that will be coming up next.