[MrWookie]

Fallsview Trip Report from last night.

After a lazy "morning," I left the house at about 1:45 to make the trip to Canadia. I almost considered not going when I saw the weather report included freezing rain, but apparently it had stopped. An uneventful drive, I arrived at the casino at about 3:30. I got on the list for 5/5 NL to once again face my demons at this place, resolving to play good AND get there, and I got on the list for 5/10 limit (highest limit game) in case it took too long for NL. JaxUp and TenzUp, his little bro, newly 19, arrived about a half hour after I did. We got seated about a half hour later. Not too bad. The lists for this place can be insane on the weekends.

My first table, well, was pretty sucky by Fallsview standards. I mean, we'd often have 5 way limped pots, but people were fairly tight against raises, and postflop play was better than atrocious. Bets weren't absurdly small, and minraises were infrequent. There were a few guys with whom calls meant business. Let's go over the cast of characters. Seat 1 I'll call the Accountant. He was dressed in a shirt and tie and glasses, he liked to talk about odds every now and then, and he wasn't too bad. He was reasonably tight, and reasonably aggressive. Seat 2 was our token WPT Fanboi. He replaced the standard ballcap with a beanie pulled over his ears, though. His aviator sunglasses looked pretty ridiculous with the earpieces on the outside of his hat in the vicinity of his ears. Seat 3 was a grumpy regular who was also tighter than the average donk. We didn't tangle much, and he didn't say much. I was in Seat 4. Seat 5 was a couple of different bad players before we got this Vietnamese guy who overplayed his hands and went BUSTO twice in two successive hands, once with TPNK and once with Trips2K, losing to TripsTK. I took some of his money in small pots, but nothing big. Seats 7, 9, and 10 were three guys I'll call the White Hat Posse, after my middle school's first ever "gang." It consisted of a bunch of rich, white, future-frat-boy-types who wanted people to think they were tough. They distinguished themselves by their white baseball caps. Unfortunately for me, these guys were also better than the standard of Fallsview player I'd come to expect, in particular WHP1 ans WHP3. WHP2 was mostly just tight and quiet. WHP3 would at least adjust his bets to the size of the pot, and he'd always triple your bet if he was raising. He almost always would fastplay, and his flop raising standards weren't all that high. TPMK was usually enough. WHP1, however, was a chronic slowplayer, and for that, pretty easy to read. He'd always slowplay 2 pair or better, and he'd fastplay top pair.

I fold some hands for a while, maybe raising preflop, whiffing, and folding postflop. Eventually I pick up 87o in the SB, and there are 4 limpers. I check, as does the BB. Flop is 6[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]4[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]5[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]. Yahtzee! I bet out $25. I'm called by WHP1, WHP2, and the Accountant. WTF? I wasn't expecting three calls from decent players to a PSB. Turn is the #$!^# 6[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]. I would be relatively shocked if there wasn't a flush draw that just got there, and weak trips was a possibility. I elected to check and fold to fireworks or call a reasonably sized bet. It gets checked through. River is the Q[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], and damn it all. My 7[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] loses to WHP1's 8[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]. Jax says I should have bet about $50 on the turn. I could see it, but I'm not convinced my check was a big mistake.

Not too long later, I get QQ in EP. I raise to 40, and I'm called in 3 places, including by the Accountant in the BB. Flop came 873 with 2 spades. The Accountant bets out 75, and I raise to $175 (mistake. I should have made it 200-225, but it turned out not to matter). Other guys fold, and the Accountant pushes. I've got about $250 more behind, and he has me well covered. I'm not too happy about this, but I like the chances of 99-JJ. I call, and flip my QQ. The Accountant doesn't flip. Turn is the Q[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], and he flips over 6[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]4[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] for the flush. River is the A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], and I'm on the fast track to BUSTO. I had already added $100 to my stack after losing small pots, limps, blinds, and time charges, so I was currently -$600.

After I rebuy, I came back to grind my way back up. WPT Fanboi had gone BUSTO by now and had been replaced by someone who made it worth staying. I wasn't all that successful, though. I got AA a couple times and won small pots on the flop. I also had a pretty nice bluff against WHP3. I picked up T8o in the BB in a 5 or 6 way limped pot. Flop is 933, and it's checked around. Turn is a J, and we check to WHP3 who bets $25. I'd seen him increasing his bets for the most part, so I figured I'd be good for a $50 bet on the river minimum. I call. River is the A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], and I see a pretty decent opportunity, especially since when I check to him, he bets out a paltry $25 again. I c/r and triple his bet. He's disgusted with me and folds. Bing! By the time Jax and Tenz wanted to get dinner, I'd recovered about $150. For dinner, we just got burgers quick. We only had an hour before they gave away our seats to the long list, and they were taking time while we were gone.

After dinner, I played a few hands at my old table before my table change request came through. I get the 7 seat, and I see WHP1 from my old table in 8. He wasn't too happy to see me. Seats 9 and 10 were also familiar faces from the very first time I'd played at Fallsview. Seat 9 was Nostradamus, who LOVED to tell you what he put you on. He was talking about poker all night with Seat 10, and eventually another regular who joined us in seat 6. Unfortunately, he was actually a pretty decent hand reader. Seat 10 was Captain Cognac. I remembered him not for his play, but because he kept ordering Remy all night. He was back at it tonight. I don't know what to make of him as a player. He was very erratic, limping suited trash UTG, but he wasn't too bad postflop. The rest of the table was pretty unexiting. Seat 1 was decent. Seat 3 was atrocious, but we never tangled. Seats 2, 4, and 5 were the usual rotation of donks.

Fairly early in this session, I picked up QQ in MP. I raised after a couple limpers to 35, and I'm called by WHP 1 and one of the limpers. The flop comes T high, all red. I bet out 90. WHP 1 says, "That's a pretty big bet. You trying to steal the pot?" and calls. This should have been a bigger red light. The speech is one of the biggest tells in poker. Turn is a brick, and I bet out $175. I should have bet out more like $100-$150. WHP1 makes it $400, and I make the fairly easy fold. Nostradamus put him on a set, and I agree (in my head).

Not too long after this, Nostradamus and the regular who had arrived and sat in seat 6 switched seats. I liked the arrangement. Nostradamus had been showing a propensity to raise lightly and erratically, and I didn't mind seeing what he did preflop before I decided to make a loose limp or something. Captain Cognac, though, decided it would be a good idea to post a blind $20 raise (no straddling allowed, so he couldn't reraise his raise) every time he was UTG so as to irritate the regular in the BB. The first time he does this, Nostradamus reraises, and the good Capt. calls blind. The flop comes 9 high, and the action goes bet, raise, push, and Nostradamus thinks and calls. The Captain flips aces and wins. Yes, I saw that all the preflop action was blind. What a champ. The Captain actually busted Nostradamus a couple more times that night. He runs g00t.

Not long after that, I watched some fireworks on the table behind me. I'm not sure of all the action, but there were 4 people who had put in between $500 and $1k each preflop. One of whom had 32o. I assume it must have been the infamous tilt-bluff-push. The final board was 64432, and KK>QQ>32o>??. KK raked in about 3 grand, maybe 4.

As for me, I was mostly card dead. I took down a very small pot with trips. I got out of line a couple times and took down small pots. And then I'd get pushed off my A or K high after raising preflop, whiffing, and getting c/r'd or whatever. I'd cold call with 22 four ways and whiff. Mostly, I just folded preflop. There weren't any other interesting hands until I left at 2 am. I finished the night down exactly $750 American. I just can't seem to run well at this place. Jax got in a ridiculous 5/10 game at about 1 am, though. Should I have moved up to chase my losses? Eh, I only had a little more than one buy in for that game at that point, and I was tired. I had to drive home, too. Hopefully his trip report will be better than mine.