Micro Niagara Trip 10/20-10/22 or so

[MrWookie]

Bump for pics and form more people to come.

[knockonwood]

when are ya'll gonna grab your visas and head down to OZ? The only thing i know about niagra is the buffalo wings and that Vincent Gallo used to live there. (btw, crown casino is crap)

[MrWookie]

Bump for your last chance!

[car ramrod]

sorry guys, I got to back out this time. Maybe next time. Hope you all run well and make mucho monies.

PS. I haven't played poker in like 3 weeks.

[tehox]

Bump because I may have to bitch out for work related reasons. Will kind of have to be a game time decision for me. I transferred $30 to Wookie on Stars to pay for my share of the room either way.

btw wookie gl with the qualifier (which may be in progress i guess)

[KRANTZ]

ill go, i'd like to meet you MrWookie

[MrWookie]

Unfortunately, it looks like my prof is making me come into lab tomorrow. I'm going to sneak out as soon as I can, but I won't be able to start gamb000ling before about 4:30 or so, and I might show up as late as 7. We'll see what I can do.

[Smurph64]

kk well I will still be there at around 3 or so though my daughter had an accident at swim practice today and I have to keep waking her up to make sure she doesn't have a concussion, so probably I will arrive and crash in the room at Days Inn and rest up a bit before people arrive.

[Smurph64]

Well I am still trying to recover from the trip to Niagara this weekend, it was a great experience for me and it's too bad it was only Mr. Wookiee and myself who was able to make it.

Well it was too bad for Mr. Wookiee really as it was great for me as I was able to nit him with thousands of questions and he was kind enough to answer with great patience.

This was my first experience playing live and it was extremely nerve racking going to Fallsview and looking at the poker room.

They have an electronic screen now displaying the table lines and it was daunting to see as the lowest limit game listed, check that the only limit game listed was way out of my league. The floor was loaded with higher stakes players being that the WPT was coming and satellites were being run (I believe they were 2 table events) on Friday for 650 entry fees to win an entry into another satellite to get into the main event.

2nd place gets to try again.

Names on the wait list for the big NL cash games were the likes of Phil H Sam F, John J, Jennifer T although I didn't see any of them myself.

While staring at this list I was perusing the tables looking for a familiar face but to no avail so I decided to go back to Day's Inn and check for messages.

Nothing doing so I made my first mistake of the weekend and ate dinner at Hooter's. Lousy food was not offset enough by the service to make it worth it.

I decided to check the Fallsview room again and luckily Mr. Wookiee was there looking in himself.

That was a great relief and right away he was very personable.

Last I checked the boards here stated that it was only going to be the two of us, so we decided to go to Seneca to find games that I could sit in on.

Mr. Wookiee assured me I could handle playing 1/2 NL but the lineup for that at Fallsview was 20 deep and not a high priority for them to start new tables with.

5/5 NL was barely an option for me bankroll wise, I couldn't buy in for max and didn't feel like risking most of my stake in an orbit if I had a great starter hand.

The one thing I learned for next time to a live casino is to come with more money at least 1000, so it's likely going to be awhile before I have enough to go again.

Seneca was running 2/4 and 3/6 and Mr. Wookiee wanted to sit with me for a bit so we ended up getting placed at 2 separate 2/4 tables ironically enough.

I sat down after him at another table and took my Stack of Whites and row of Reds. (100 1's and 20 5's) and sat down shaking like a wimp.

3rd hand in I get dealt pocket tens, I was actually in the cutoff,if you sit down out of position you don't have to post if you are the only empty seat. So nice to save 2 buck and get to play pocket tens for free.

I raised with 3 limpers and board came two suited, 3 low cards. Checked to me I raised and got one caller.

Turn was standard mixed blessing as it gave 3 suited to the board but was the ten. I bet out and he called the turn, river was a blank and I bet again expecting the dreaded check/raise but he called turned over bottom pair and I won my first hand live.

I shook the whole time. So one hand and I was up around 20 dollars after the 3 dollar rake and 1 dollar toke.

Few hands later I got to move to Wook's table and it wa crap city from there on.

Bottom line I lost one or two hands while Wook was at the table before he moved over to the NL 5/5 table.

It was donk city and I never got anything going at all on that table losing my profits before the table broke up.

Even playing a few orbits 6 max I got zero opportunities to raise anything as I was card dead.

I moved to another 2/4 table and that was an interesting mix of guys. On one side of the table was 4 New England Patriot fans in for the game on Sunday at Rich Stadium.

They were in clown mode and 2 or 3 bet most hands preflop.

Very frustrating, to say the least as I had to fold J9s on the button to 3 bets and proceed to see the flush flop. Pairs I folded most of the time which usually hit on the river so it was rough.

3 hands stood out. Pocket KK's on the button went down to a 4 flush on the river to the 3 of hearts H/U after I raised everyone else out on the flop.

3 hands later I get AQo and get capped by the same munchkin. Flop comes Q high with 2 crap cards. He checks I raise and get checkraised, I 3 bet he calls. Turn comes crap he donks, I fold.

It's pretty easy to read these guys live, it was a good fold as he was kind enough to show me he hit two pair on the flop with Q7o.

So I was down about 90 bucks at the time when I get dealt AA in the cutoff.

I reraise dork number 2 who folded or raised every preflop no matter the action in front of him.

Button 3 bets and then early UTG limper, older guy than me caps it.

Well flop comes 2 spades and Q high and the fun begins. UTG raises, mister action calls. I reraise and get called by Button player, a good tight Asian kid who knows what he is doing for the most part so I suspect he has top pair. BB now jumps in who had called this whole thing and 3 bets it, another fun older guy with regular written all over him. He jokingly told me he was protecting my reraise from the donks yet to act which immediately told me he had a set or two pair.

UTG older guy now caps it with anxiousness and mister action, myself, Button, BB all call.

So two rounds capped I am behind flush draw on board and turn brings a non spade king overcard. well that slows everyone down, BB checks, UTG checks, mister action checks and I figure well maybe I can get someone out with a raise here, (why I thought that I have no idea) and get a call from everyone.

Well river pairs the turn, the flush misses and it gets checked to me. I am thinking now I just got lucky and value bet it and get them all to call much to my delight.

Button turns over AQ for two pair Q's and 2's, BB shows two pairs Mutt and Jeff from the flop, UTG throws down AJ of spades for the missed flush and has a mini fit, Mister Action mucks and I show my delightful AA and 22's for the win.

Huge pot, raked for 4 bucks (extra dollar goes to bad beat jackpot) (3 bucks on flop and 1 on the showdown)

Brings me back to 10 dollars down.


Well that was highlight of evening as I miss from now on winning small pots being raked to death and losing bigger pots to standard crap.

Finished down 80. I miscalculated before but going back I won 8 (told Wook ten) hands that night. So rake and tip were 33 dollars so I lost 12 bb for the night.

As it turns out it wasn't a typical table, instead of being full of loose passives it was loose aggressives so I am not pleased but not disappointed by the results entirely.

I probably screwed up a few times but by and large I believe I played well.

I played suited connectors whenver I got a chance but they always missed on the flop. Had 4 inside straight draws with no odds to continue hit on the river and similar stuff but it was standard win when I correctly fold and lose when I correctly continue for most of the night.

I left and sat down and waited for Mr. Wookiee to finish he was even last I talked to him but had some good hands and was up around 300 so he left when the orbit finished.

I know this was a disappoint me to him but I have to say I appreciate him leaving when he did I was very tired and although hyper from my first experience had to hit the hotel room. He had driven so it was great for him to leave the great game he was in.

At any rate the next day, I didn't get to play, we had breakfast while I continued to ask tons of questions getting as much out of this as possible with my time with Mr Wookiee heads up. He was going to play 5/5 NL at Fallsview and it took about 2 hours of waiting.

I went to Casino Niagara to see if they had any games but it was a two hour wait for their 2/4, they weren't spreading any 3/6 and so I left.

I decided that night I wasn't going to play 2/4 at a casino again. 3/6 or 5/10 is the lowest that makes sense. The rake is just way too much at the lower limit to be worth it and that is why I suggest bringing a good bankroll to play those limits when you go.

NL 1/2 is a gold mine apparently but I have little NL experience and while Mr. Wookiee suggested I was more than good enough to clean up there I didn't like variance screwing me again.

I think if I knew I could sit in with a couple of buy ins I could wait out the problem but it wasn't to be.


Anyways, to make a short story long, the knowlege and information Mr. Wookiee gave me just by talking generically about poker was well worth the price of the trip.

When I have the money I will most definitely hire Mr. Wookiee to coach me, he is an amazing teacher.

The one major piece of advice he gave me on this trip has been told to me time and again on these boards but it wasn't until he told me personally that mister nit here figured it out:

Stop fussing about the other players at the table, the knowledge you gain from watching them is way more than they will ever learn from watching you. Don't change my game to outthink them just play solid ABC poker and you will beat them.

Thanks Mr. Wookiee for letting me join in your trip to Niagara.

Laters.

[Thrakkar]

Nice trip report, Smurph!

[ QUOTE ]
I shook the whole time.

[/ QUOTE ] This sounds soooo familiar. Was the same with me when I played live for the first time. Or maybe it's because of our age... [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

You didn't write anything about photos. Will we get to see any????

-Thrakkar

P.S. Now let's hear Wook's side of the story!