AC Trip Report

It's been a week since Snarf and myself went to Atlantic City so I figured it is about time for a trip report.

We got into town around 2pm and went straight to the Borgata after checking in to my free room at the Courtyard (thanks Marriott Rewards). I was able to get a seat immediately in a 1/2 NL game. The stacks at the table varied from around $700 down to $100. In the second lap around the table I saw the biggest pot of the trip when three people got all of their $300-$400 stacks in on the flop. It was middle set vs bottom set vs 2 pair. The middle set held and took down a $1k pot. As for me on the three hour session I had it as high as $300 from my initial $200 buy-in but steadily dwindled it down to $150 before I left. I was dealt pocket pairs around 8 times in the session never connecting on any flop. That's the same thing that happened in my last trip to AC when I went 0-22 in flopping sets and when i finally did the 23rd time I went broke.

After the Borgata we headed over to the Showboat. Their poker room is now down on the main floor. Before playing we at at the House of Blues. Pretty meh in my opinion but I used my comps so it was free. I sat in a 1/2 game and continued my futility at flopping sets until finally I picked-up Q,Q and raised it to $12 and got 4 callers, ick. Flop come A,Q,10dd. I finally flop a set and have to play it really fast because of the board texture. It was checked to me and I bet $65 and took it down. After that I played pretty poorly and was down to $130 when my last had comes up. I have Q,10 off and call a raise to $15 from the BB. The raiser was opening a lot of pots and I would see hands like J,9 suited and the like. Bad call on my part cause what am I really ahead of here anyway. Maybe the bottom part of his range. Flop comes 10,x,x. I check and he bets $15 and I put in a raise to $60 pretty much saying I am going with this hand to the end. He tanks and asked if I flopped a set. After a little over a minute he calls. The turn is a 9 and I ship my last $55 in. He says I knew that was coming, I call. River is a Q and I think I'm good now. He flips over 10,10 and I am felted.

Is the hollywooding really necessary on the flop there? I am pretty much committed to my hand when I put over half my stack in on the flop. Would have been nice of him to show his hand on the turn when he is holding the current nuts. Only excuse is that I could tell he wasn't the most experienced player in the world but I thought he knew better anyway. I got up to let off a little steam and eventually we walked down to Caesars.

At Caesars I was planning on playing some limit but there was a list. There was no list for 1/2 so I sat there. I bought in for the usual $200. Out table got as low as 4 handed and I was down to around $140 or so before they combined tables to get us full again. Snarf moved over from his table and sat in the game. My only interesting hand was when I had 8,8 and called a raise to $15 from the UTG short stack. He only had $20 behind which made it a really bad play. Thankfully the BB called as well. The flop comes J,8,X and I check, BB checks, and the short stack shoves for his $20. I flat call and to my pleasant surprise the BB shoves for around $80 total. I call. BB had A,J and short stack had A,Q. Both were pretty much drawing dead and when a blank hit the turn I scooped a nice pot. We ended up leaving shortly after that and I got up with a $110 profit.

One last stop on the night we walked down to the Tropicana and sat at the same table in a 2/4 limit game. This was one of the more fun times I have had playing poker in a while. The stakes didn't matter so I could play the maniac perfectly. Calling 10,5 suited to a raise and getting there on the river, etc. One other good one was having Q,2 from the BB and flopping the boat and getting raised when I lead the flop and 3 betting. I also got in a raise on the river vs the same person who had the naked queen. Good times indeed. I think we played around 3 hours in the game and I left with around a $50 profit. All told on the day I lost around $100.

The rest of the trip was a disaster playing in the pits but I had fun none the less. One highlight was the buffet at Harrah's on Sunday. When we were there they had breakfast and lunch out. Well worth the hefty $32 price tag. Thank you comps again for paying only for the tip.