Taking the Bubble Bath plus some Atlantic City action

I played in a league game yesterday.

12 players. $50 dollar buy-in. 10K in chips to start.

I’m feeling good about my game so far this 2nd half of the year. I’ve been playing aggressive but playing smart also. I feel that I’m starting to find my groove after struggling the first 6 months of the year. But some bad luck always seems to lurk around the corner.

This tournament I was on my A game. I’m taking down pots when I have the worst hand and inducing players to call me when I have a monster.

I have a huge stack going into the last 5 players. The problem is that my opponents are super rocks. I mean super tight. They don’t bet their monster hands and they fold a lot. I’m stealing blinds left and right.

Then the poker gods start to mess with me.

I get A/K and I’m all-in vs. 10/10.  I hit a K on the flop and a 10 on the turn doubles up a short stack.

I have A/J suited and have another short stack all-in. He has A/10. Two pair on the flop does me in this time.

I get 99 vs. A/8. The flop is 8 high. I go all-in and get a caller. Ace on the river gives him 2 pair.

Now I’m steaming. I’m the short stack now with 4 players left. Top 3 get paid. I double up when I win a race with 88 vs. A/J.

Then this happens. The blinds are 1,500-3,000. The button raises to 7k. I have 18k in chips. I’m in the BB and I have KK. I push all-in. Button calls. He just has me covered. He shows AA. Game over.

What a bummer. Bubble boy again. That’s twice I’ve bubbled the last two tournaments. There was nothing I could do about this hand. You get KK you have to push. I just happened to run into AA. It happens.

I’m disappointed with the bubble finish but I’m happy with my game so far. I’ve cashed in 3 times out of 5 tournaments and the two tournaments that I didn’t cash, I was the bubble boy.

Things didn’t go all that bad though as I managed to clear $41 in the cash game.

 

Thursday I decide to take a day trip to Atlantic City. I go to the Showboat because they’ve just renovated their poker room and I wanted to check it out. Their poker room used to be on the 2nd floor next to the House of Blues. They decided to move it to the lower level next to the boardwalk which is a heck of a lot better. The room is pretty full and I manage to get seated pretty quickly. 

The players are a mixed bunch.  It seems that a lot of dealers like to play at the Showboat. I get this information by chatting up a guy named Randy, who’s a dealer at the Borgata. He says that the games here are pretty soft and it’s fairly easy to make some money here. Well we’ll see about that.

Below are some highlights and lowlights of the AC session.

The highlight of the Atlantic City trip was when I hit a straight flush to take down a $200+ pot. I flopped a straight vs. a made set. I also had a open ended straight flush draw on the flop. I hit my straight flush on the river and I get a $20 meal comp for the effort. That’s what you get for playing 7/8 clubs aggressively. Sometimes you hit and you take down a big pot.

I actually was up over $350 at one point and I was running good. Then I get coolered when my 10 high flush runs into the nut flush. We both flopped the flush and we both slowplayed it on the flop. I bet $25 on the turn. He calls. I bet $25 on the river and he raises me another $25, the minimum amount.

Usually this means trouble. Minimum raises almost always says “I have a big hand please call me”, and although I have a flush, I decided to just call.

Halfway through my session, a new player gets seated at the table. He’s wearing a Grateful Dead t-shirt and he’s pretty aggressive right from the get go. He’s raising a lot of pots. I don’t have a real good read on him because he’s new and nobody has bothered to look him up just yet. I stay out of his way for an orbit or two just to get used his style and see if I can get a read on him. Once I think I have a handle on him I tangle with him in a few pots:

I make a pretty good call against him on the river when he bets out $50 into a $70 pot. I have pocket 7s. He has air.

I give it back when the same player hits trips on the river and I pay him off with top pair.

I make a bad fold to the same player when I hit two pair with A/4 but he goes all-in on me on the turn after I bet out $30 into a $35 pot.  I think he could be making a move on me but he’s just pushed about $250 towards the pot. I reluctantly fold. He shows 3/9 suited.  

I get even with him when my K/9 hits a flush on the turn. He had top pair. He had raised to $11 pre-flop and since I was on the button wth K/9 hearts I elect to call. Everybody else folds.  The flop is Q/4/9 two hearts. He bets out $20 I call. The turn is a 10 of hearts. He checks and I check. The river is a blank. He bets out $35. I raise him to $75 and he calls with Q/J.

This hand puts me back to over $250 in profit.  I play one more orbit and I leave with $202 on the right side of the ledger.  10 straight hours of poker is exhausting and I use the $20 meal voucher they gave me on a steak dinner and I leave Atlantic City with a full stomach and a little extra pocket change.

So far in July I’m running good. How long will this last? Who knows but I’ll ride it for as long as I can.