Trip Report: Berge goes to AC for the first time!

[DrewOnTilt]

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I hope you went for Tony Lukes steaks in the caf downstairs.

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Why would you wish that on a nice guy like Berge? Tony Luke's in the basement food court has the blandest sandwiches on the planet.

[Berge20]

Oh indeed, I left a few things out. Hadn't quite had the time to make it to the all important Saturday night.

Alright, so once the ladies finally rallied and got themselves appropriately ready for an evening out at the Tropicana. Not entirely sure why this was the destination of choice, but I wasn't complaining as long as there was gambling.

First, we needed food. Failing to plan ahead got us long waits at almost all of the potential slots, so we ultimately settled on P.F. Chang's China Bistro. While we were waiting, we hit up the Red Square next door, which is a soviet era-esq bar with lots of vodkas and vodka lockers.

Greg and I are the first ones in and Mr. K runs off to grab the rest of the crew. Immediately, three fairly attractive women come up and ask if we are Joe. Without skipping a beat, Greg immediately says he is, but is shot down when they need to see his ID. Apparently searching for Joe is on the list of things Bachellorette parties do? Anyway, he is rewarded for his effort with the opportunity to come drink out of a penis straw at their table and everyone has some laughs.

We head into the restaurant and get seated. Most are famished given that it is about 10pm now and we start down the menu. All sorts of delicious choices and I go with a bottle of chardinay for me and one of the gals, some spring rolls and some spicy chicken mix.

Nearly immediately after ordering, two of the girls look at me and ask what they ordered. Neither had any clue--they were already blackout drunk. It was pretty classic when the food arrived and they had to guess what they ordered. Thankfully our waiter knew and got it all situated.

Meanwhile, I glance down the table and Mr. K and ChrisAJ are exchanging money while making some random guestures at me and the gal across from me. It didnt take a genius to figure out that the wager was if we'd hookup. I'd say the odds were even at the start of dinner, climbing to 2:1 against during the meal. Apparently I didnt pour the wine fast enough or something and caught some unforseen scorn from said woman. Plus, I'm a degenerate in casinos and while the ladies are always nice--I want to play some cards.

We wrap up the meal and I am stunned when our total bill is less than $200 for the 8 of us. Mr. K tries to pay, but isn't allowed to for some reason--seemed like a great idea to me.

So, into the casino we go.

It is a fight night in AC and the place was packed. We all seem to want to do various things and after a trip around the table games, some of us have already split off. It is decided that we should just go do whatever we want and we'd meet up later.

ChrisAJ and I head to their poker room and immediately get seated at a 1/2 NL table. My memory is fairly hazy, as I've had about a dozen Captain and Cokes, 3/4 bottle of wine, some assorted beer, etc--yet I knew that these suckers were ready to give me their money.

I start out with a couple suited connectors that I call a raise in position, only to whiff on the flop. I do some grinding and pick up TT in the BB. BT raises it up over a limper and the SB and I come along. Unders flop and the SB leads right out for the pot. I glance over at the PFRr and he doesn't look pleased, so I decide to call--thinking he'd muck his overs. He comes along and now I am pretty sure I'm behind. Turn is a beautiful ten and I bet 3/4 pot when the SB checks. BB is miffed and pissed, so he mucks Kings face up and I am wondering wtf is going on. SB also mucked.

A little up and down when ChrisAJ pops it up from MP after I limp with A4o. The guy to my right comes along and I decide to try a move might be in order, so I call the flop. We see an 52J flop and I bet right into Chris who takes my bet and adds another $100 to it. Meh, so much for the move.

The table banter was fairly awesome. We had about 5 guys from Philly all from the same group just yapping it away, plus a guy from Staten Island who was happy to play along. Pretty fun table, as we discussed HJs (not as the hi-jack...but some service one might find at a massuse), baldness, Staten Islands voice, etc. The guys were just constantly back and forth.

I snag A8s from CO and limp in. We go 5 to the flop on an 9xx flop with two hearts (my suit). One of the guys leads out with a slight overbet and I go for a semi-bluff raise. He snap calls with Tens, but I grab my heart on the river to build the stack.

After about 3 hours, the Philly guys are ready to call it a night and have basically said as much. This was their last hand. EP raises it up to $15, the 5 Philly guys come along and I look down to see 88. I've got them all covered by a long-shot and guess that they have little-nothing, so I pop it up to $115. I get two callers, the original raiser has AKs and one of the Philly guys has JTs. I craftily dodge all overs on the flop, but the turn brings a flush draw for Mr. AKs--yet I pull some Matrix like move and dodge all trouble cards and rake a huge pot.

That pretty much breaks the table and I head over to another one as ChrisAJ calls it a night. Now, the Trop actually serves Redbulls in the poker room (which the Borgata does not) so I decide that one won't hurt me too much and I need to keep sharp anyway.

I go to another table and it breaks. Then to another, where it breaks! Damnit, just let me play more than ten hands guys. So, finally I settle into a table near the back of the room with my stack. The jackass to my left says "Max buy in of $300 buddy" and I ask him why he's worried, these are just more to take from me. He repeats his statement, but then is informed that my table broke and isn't pleased.

At this point in the night there is much gambling and plenty of poor players. I get tangled up with AK OOP against one of the decent guys to my left and fire a c-bet unsuccessfully at a dry unders flop, but turn top pair and check-call. When I lead at the river he can't believe it and calls a large bet, then starts cursing. This got and kept him steaming for two hours.

At this point there really isn't much detail in the memory. I eventually walk away up a rack or so of red and stumble out to get a cab. Econo Lodge I say and he says which one. [censored]. I'm like down past Ceasars and he starts down the drag I remember on our trip up.

I manage to get to the hotel door and pull out the hotel key. I do the ole try the key over and over with no success before finally going down to the front desk to get a new one. Stupid cell phone apparently demagnitized it or something.

I move ChrisAJ over and he mumbles something about hi honey while I grab some covers. Then I realize that Mr. K isn't alone in his bed and after a moment or two I'm semi-wishing that I was out on the balcony. Fortunately for me, he showed some class and I was able to get to sleep as it neared 6am.

Not long after Chris is up and at em, clearly preparing for departure and I curse myself for not coming home sooner. We grab our stuff and head out. I need a drink and there was a good gatorade machine right outside the hotel....it doesn't take any dollars. WTF.

So, I climb in the car and we get out of town, hoping beyond hope that Deleware won't take us an hour to cross.
We get some gas, I grab some hydration and we eventually make it back in 3 hours or so. I feel like death, but ended up $300 or so on the trip which wasn't bad considering a stint of roulette and not running or playing all that great.

Overall, I expect to visit AC again. Just need to avoid going up on a Friday afternoon. Never did check out the Taj, but needed to save something for the next trip.

NH - Mr. K, NH sir.

[Mr.K]

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I hope you went for Tony Lukes steaks in the caf downstairs.

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Why would you wish that on a nice guy like Berge? Tony Luke's in the basement food court has the blandest sandwiches on the planet.

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Drew speaks the truth. Those "cheesesteaks" are at best bland and at worst awful. The call grille by the old poker room (downstairs) had better cheesesteaks, but even those weren't great.

Sadly, most of the food in the Borgata food court isn't worth eating. The good news is that Noodles of the World, Risi Bisi, Bread & Butter, and a few of the other options more than make up for this.

EDIT: pls don't reply with "No wai! Fatburger is teh nuts!!" We all know that Fatburger is the poor man's In & Out, and if the B was going to contract for a west coast burger joint for its food court, it should have gone for the right one.

[DrewOnTilt]

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I hope you went for Tony Lukes steaks in the caf downstairs.

[/ QUOTE ]

Why would you wish that on a nice guy like Berge? Tony Luke's in the basement food court has the blandest sandwiches on the planet.

[/ QUOTE ]

Drew speaks the truth. Those "cheesesteaks" are at best bland and at worst awful. The call grille by the old poker room (downstairs) had better cheesesteaks, but even those weren't great.

Sadly, most of the food in the Borgata food court isn't worth eating. The good news is that Noodles of the World, Risi Bisi, Bread & Butter, and a few of the other options more than make up for this.

EDIT: pls don't reply with "No wai! Fatburger is teh nuts!!" We all know that Fatburger is the poor man's In & Out, and if the B was going to contract for a west coast burger joint for its food court, it should have gone for the right one.

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The Japanese place - Habachi-san, I think - is decent for fast food.

Sounds like you guys had a good time. I have no clue what any of you look like otherwise I'd have run you down and said hi.

BTW the funniest damn thing that I saw all weekend was when I cruised over to check out the game that Shannon Elizabeth and company had started, about 10 minutes after they all sat down. They were playing $5/$10 NL and were all short stacked. WTF? All those people can afford to wipe their asses with the equivalent of my entire bankroll, and they were playing NL with like 50-60 BBs each.

[vhawk01]

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[ QUOTE ]
I hope you went for Tony Lukes steaks in the caf downstairs.

[/ QUOTE ]

Why would you wish that on a nice guy like Berge? Tony Luke's in the basement food court has the blandest sandwiches on the planet.

[/ QUOTE ]

Drew speaks the truth. Those "cheesesteaks" are at best bland and at worst awful. The call grille by the old poker room (downstairs) had better cheesesteaks, but even those weren't great.

Sadly, most of the food in the Borgata food court isn't worth eating. The good news is that Noodles of the World, Risi Bisi, Bread & Butter, and a few of the other options more than make up for this.

EDIT: pls don't reply with "No wai! Fatburger is teh nuts!!" We all know that Fatburger is the poor man's In & Out, and if the B was going to contract for a west coast burger joint for its food court, it should have gone for the right one.

[/ QUOTE ]

The Japanese place - Habachi-san, I think - is decent for fast food.

Sounds like you guys had a good time. I have no clue what any of you look like otherwise I'd have run you down and said hi.

BTW the funniest damn thing that I saw all weekend was when I cruised over to check out the game that Shannon Elizabeth and company had started, about 10 minutes after they all sat down. They were playing $5/$10 NL and were all short stacked. WTF? All those people can afford to wipe their asses with the equivalent of my entire bankroll, and they were playing NL with like 50-60 BBs each.

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You are telling me that if I go to the Borg on Saturday nights, there is a chance I can play in a 5/10 game with Shannon Elizabeth? I've played like 800 hours in AC and have never visited the Borg (basically variance, I'm not intentionally avoiding it) but this would inspire a trip on the Jitney.

[Mr.K]

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Oh indeed, I left a few things out. Hadn't quite had the time to make it to the all important Saturday night.

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At least you admit it. That's the first step to recovery.

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Alright, so once the ladies finally rallied and got themselves appropriately ready for an evening out at the Tropicana. Not entirely sure why this was the destination of choice, but I wasn't complaining as long as there was gambling.

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I lobbied for Borgata, but the rest of the group really wanted to hang out in The Quarter at the Trop. I thought Carmine's was a good option for dinner, since it is family style food, so I agreed. Here's the thing about The Quarter: I was pretty much floored by the crowd there. While the Borgata crowd is definitely a little wealthier and generally more desirable, the number of young people around at the Trop was impressive. Lots of talent, too.

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We head into the restaurant and get seated. Most are famished given that it is about 10pm now and we start down the menu. All sorts of delicious choices and I go with a bottle of chardinay for me and one of the gals, some spring rolls and some spicy chicken mix.

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I hear that stuff is almost as good as Chardonnay.

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After about 3 hours, the Philly guys are ready to call it a night and have basically said as much. This was their last hand. EP raises it up to $15, the 5 Philly guys come along and I look down to see 88. I've got them all covered by a long-shot and guess that they have little-nothing, so I pop it up to $115. I get two callers, the original raiser has AKs and one of the Philly guys has JTs. I craftily dodge all overs on the flop, but the turn brings a flush draw for Mr. AKs--yet I pull some Matrix like move and dodge all trouble cards and rake a huge pot.

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This is standard. NH.

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Overall, I expect to visit AC again. Just need to avoid going up on a Friday afternoon. Never did check out the Taj, but needed to save something for the next trip.

NH - Mr. K, NH sir.

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tyty & congrats on booking a win your first time up. As for other destinations for your next trip, I strongly recommend the White House for cheesesteaks. And of course you know of at least one other important place you failed to visit. I trust you'll make it there at least once just to experience its utterly tacky glory.

[Berge20]

Wait, where was Shannon Elizabeth and why didnt you notify me?!?

I concede spelling errors last night. Still not fully recovered....well, I am today.

[ChrisAJ]

Okay... let's see what we've got here...

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If women were coolers, ChrisAJ ran into the equivalent of 10 Rosie O'Donnells over the weekend. Huge, annoying, and completely uncalled for. The pokah gods have some s'plaining to do. Being his first time in AC, I sure hope this doesn't poison his impression of what is otherwise clearly the greatest place on Earth.

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This is very true. But I deserved it, as:

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Berge and I had prop best going on ChrisAJ's hands at the 2/4 table (my inner Bill Fillmaff desperately wanted to chide him to GET OUT OF THE KIDDIE POOL OMFG U FISH!!!1!1one), and broke even in this particular form of prop betting. The dealer (whose name I forget) hated me for yelling for deuces to flop and telling the other players that Chris was a guaranteed winner. Whatever.

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2/4 or, as I call it, Any 2/4, sucks. I spent just about all of Saturday, with the exception of breakfast, on tilt.

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Shannon Elizabeth was playing in the high stakes room Saturday night and was looking HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT. Forget which game she was playing but surprisingly the rail was not packed with onlookers. Dude from "That 70s Show" was there as well, I think.

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Thanks for the heads up, Mr. K. This information alone might have ended my tilting and prompted me to nut up and play some cards.

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I technically lost a $5 prop bet to ChirsAJ, but on another, considerably more important level I won. Here's the deal: we bet on Berge20 taking down one of the inebriated, single, 23 year old women he mentioned in his report above. Feeling that if he works on women nearly we skillfully as he plays NLHE he'll definitely make it happen I bet Berge was going to succeed, Chris bet he would not. Many drinks and a trip to some questionable establishments later, I found myself calculating the EV of intentionally scuttling the bet (READ BETWEEN THE LINES). As fate would have it, my back of the envelope calculation was this:

EV of winning the bet = +$5
EV of losing the bet but attempting to "win" in other respects = (.65*-$5) + (.65*GLOATING FOR SEVERAL WEEKS) + (.35*SHAME AND AWKWARDNESS)

The latter seemed to be a much better bet, particularly when I added in my hidden outs in the instances where my effort failed but Berge still managed to connect with his draw [thanks, Ed Miller!]. As a result, I moved forward with my plan and yada yada yada I ended up throwing a $5 bill at Chris AJ the next morning.

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Only bet I won all weekend. Of course, something tells me the other party involved in the bet must have known something as well, because about halfway through dinner the attitude shifted considerably.

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Everyone I spoke to said that things are not going well in the Trop poker room and at the property in general. I was there for a while late on Saturday with the group but did not investigate the poker room.

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Things definitely did not go well in the Trop poker room, but I don't think thats what you're talking about. The folks at our table made the evening tolerable. But it does seem as though the Trop's poker room is just an afterthought.

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Berge gives Bread and Butter at Borgata insufficient credit for having awesome breakfast options.

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I agree. The ham, egg, and cheese croissant was excellent.

[jeramy576]

Nice trip report. I'd be down with the next trip to AC, I'm gettin itchy to go back.

[SellingtheDrama]

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Nice trip report. I'd be down with the next trip to AC, I'm gettin itchy to go back.

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QFT (on both counts)

I was just there this weekend and I'm getting itchy too [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]