First underground card room trip report

[cking]

So tonight a friend of mine told me about a friend of his was hosting a 1/2nl game. For most college kids this is pretty high stakes so i was skeptical but said i'd come. I was even more skeptical when he said there is supposedly 2 full tables most times they play. So i come along and bring 2 buyins and figure thats plenty for a fun night.

We arrive at the location of the game and i already have my suspicions confirmed that this is not a normal home game. We arrive at a bar. Then we go back around behind the bar with his friend, he knocks on the door and we're let in and then there is a magnetized door after this. Now those supicions are fact, we are at an underground card room. So we head in and there are 2 tables with dealers, 1 real nice one and another for the side action while waiting on a seat.

We put our names on the list for the main table and sit down at the side game. Me and my pal both buy in for $200 the rest of the table bought in for $100. This was huge for my confidence, im a decent player but was worried that the kind of people who know about and attend an underground cardroom in a small city would have to be pretty solid players right? Obviously not. The side table is pretty tight but i have 2 big hands vs a friend one involving AQ vs KQ on Qxx flop, he raises i reraise and makes a solid laydown. Nothing much happens for the next half hour till i pick up 77 in mp. Normally id raise but it wouldnt thin the 2 limpers infront so i just limp and set mine. Flop comes 77T. Talk about set mining gone good. There are 4 players in the hand and it checks around. Turn is an 8 and my friend bets out 12, 1 other calls and I call. River is a K, my friend bets 28, other guy folds, i reraise allin as he only has about 45 left behind. He calls saying its yours and shows 69 for the strait and i proudly show my quads.

Nothing else happens at the side table but all i hear is "all-in, all-in" at the other table and im pretty psyched. So someone finally leaves and i move on over there with about $380 in chips. I immedietly see the difference and its more like the normal live game you would see at a casino, preflop raises of $12-$20, lots of callers. This game is the definition of juicy. So i mostly sit tight, run good at good times and chip up to around 600. One guy had no clue what the hell he was doing and would raise $40 one hand with A3o and then limp/call another with Q4o. It was UGLY. Another guy was such the definition of calling station it defined logic. My friend would raise to 16 preflop, this guy would call. Flop would come Kc7sjc and we would joke that the guy is on the Spade draw with backdoor wheel draw. My friend would then bet 20 on the flop, turn and river and the guy would call him down and muck T high or some such garbage. No real major hands happen with me (i.e any pot over 100) till the last few orbits when i pick up TT in the sb. 2 limpers in the pot and c/o makes it 15, i reraise to 50, limpers fold c/o calls. Flop comes 893r, i lead out for 85 and he tanks and then goes allin for his last 100. Turn 7 river blank, he says sorry it was his last orbit and he was gambling and shows TJo for the strait. I dont mind his flop play but he really should of folded preflop. So i finish the night a bit later after a few blind raises and what not with 390, for just under 200 profit in 4hours of play.

As far as the players, dealers and room manager they were all extremly nice. All the players had a big laugh, the dealers were nice and knew the game well and there was plenty of free beer and food (they would order anything requested and had sandwhiches and would order pizza every few hours).

Anyway pretty excited I went, was alot of fun and some pretty easy money, already looking forward to going again tomorrow night.

EDIT: also for a laugh at the 1st table one the guys there asked my friend if this was his first time playing "high stakes" b/c of some play he made to which he replied. Well besides traveling and playing WPT events and my normal 5/10 games, yeah sure.