Atlantic City trip #3

[winky51]

Been there twice, did well, figured I'd go at it again for a 3 day trip...

TUESDAY: Stayed at the Taj Mahal on poker room rate at $65. Room was ok, felt like a cheap Econo Lodge. Bed was rather hard and the room faced all the skylights outside the hotel. They have internet service but you pay for it. To get the poker room rate they told me all I had to play was 3-4 hours a day. The Taj had all the same amenities as the Borgata just lower class. Their buffet hall was about as good as a mall cafeteria. Their poker room chairs were not adjustable and upright, so you couldn’t just lean back and relax. The staff was nice and professional though.

Went to go play my usual 10/20 and for 4 hours got nothing. Once again card dead. Won 3 small pots and lost the big ones to outdraws -$500. Took a break to eat and went down again 90 mins before their tournament started.

Changed games and played 1/2 NL. I had the pleasure of having this complete maniac at the table, but he was drunk and entertaining. Raised every hand, bluffed 1/2 the pots to the river. He had one player so off his rocker, his hands couldn't stop shaking. I sat down with $80 and just patiently waited for a hand. Eventually after the 20th time in a row of him raising to $15 I just pushed with my jacks and double up as he called. For once he has a real hand AQ. Doubled up again on another laggy player in a similar fashion but this time I was 68% to win post flop. +$300 overall. Not too shabby.

Played in their tournament and got down to 3 tables of 65 entries. The table I moved to was the most bizarre occurrences of suck outs I have ever seen at a tournament. No one could knock each other out. Each player just kept rotating chips between themselves as players shoved all in left and right with all sorts of hands. Of the 3 tables we had the fewest chips in total. In this whole fiasco I managed to build a decent stack only to have my kings cracked by, a loose raiser with, 87s flopping a flush. He was committed pre-flop after my reraise. I was crippled and basically any paint would do. Sure enough next hand I pushed all in with Q6o from MP3 (M of 2), got called by 66 in the BB and won. Alive and kicking. I had another critical hand from the same loose raising player a few hands later when he raised from the BUT and I had 22 in the BB. I was short stacked but if I won this hand I would make the final table. I decided to play to win and not to place and called his all in, I hate coin flips. 22 held up to his QTo when he flopped a straight draw and flop paired (J99). The table went insane and thought I was crazy. 15 hands later I managed to knock out 2 players at once, 10th and 9th, forming the final table from the remaining 8. I was chip leader at this point. I let the short stacks knock each other out (Ms of 1.5 - 3) and then bullied the other 4 players for a win, no chop. When it got down to 3 I had twice the number of chips of both other players. Nice $2k payoff.

WEDNESDY: Put in my 3 hours at the Taj poker room again for 10/20. Once again card dead except for a 30 min spurt which netted me +$175 for 3 hours play. It is truely sad when there is an average of 4 players to the flop in a passive 10/20 game and the best hand you can pick up for the better part of 3 hours is A8o UTG.

Played a couple tournaments at the Borgata the same day as I taxi-ed aback and forth between the 2 casinos. Got close to a final table in an MTT (30 left of 95) until I donkeyed myself out of the tournament with a medium stack and a simply idiotic play. It was so idiotic I am embarrassed to write what happened.

Between both tournaments I played some 1/2 NL again. Ended up winning some more money from some very poor weak players, hmmmm.

That night I played 10/20 at the Borgata, it’s the way better poker room. Sat around once again for 2 hours card dead with 3-4 limpers to the flop, ugh... -$200 just basically watching. Finally got a run to put me back up to even in the 3rd hour. Another hour of no cards and then around 1am my hands woke up with 8 solid hands in a row. Won 1 small pot, got really bad beat in 2 (runner runner flushes) and lost the other 5, folding correctly, -$500 for the night. In all cases except one the hands played to the river. After the last hand "runner runner I got nothing but a back door nut flush draw" I got up and left scratching my head frustrated.

THURSDAY: Screw the cash games, I’m doing the tournaments. Drove to the Borgata, this time, and entered their 11am tournament. Saw no hands for a while 90 mins so I had to steal some hands post flop to stay golden. Laid a trap for this older player who over plays his hands and the bastard caught a 5 outer on the river. 40 mins later after making some strategic all-ins successfully came the key hand of the tournament for me. This young player that seemed to play well raised UTG and I saw in MP1 (TT). It took me only a second to review my table image (very tight) and his raising history UTG (frequent). Calculated I had the best hand by far and pushed. He debated calling for half his stack for a bit, then called flipping over ATo. Of course he proceeded to catch runner runner nut straight on me knocking me out. I was disgusted at yet another bad beat.

Decided to cut my day short and drove back home.

CONCLUSION: After going to Atlantic City 3 times (winning 2 MTTs, yeaee!) I think the next time I am just going to pay the higher room rate and stay at the Borgata. Everything about them is better and is worth the extra money.

As for poker I think I am going to shift my game from limit to no limit. For the 10/20 I was paying $10 an hour + $45 in blinds every hour (assume 30 hands per hour) = $55 an hour to play. If I play 1/2 no limit I am paying $9 an hour for the blinds. I felt I could play more hands in NL because of implied odds and the terrible play of others, win more, and cost less. So the next time the plan is play both tournaments and NL between the two.

On another note from all 3 trips. I noticed each time I progressively felt worse and worse as the time passed at the casinos. I got headaches, became grouchy, and unfocused. I thought it was just poker fatigue from playing so many hours a day (10-12). But I came to the conclusion its something else. Normally I eat very healthy but when I go to the casino I try to enjoy the comp food, so I am eating not what I am used to. I feel their buffet food is of lesser quality and making me sick from it. Also I never got a good night sleep at the hotels I stayed at, hard beds. At the very least next time I am going to stick to safe foods like salads, rice, chicken, veggies.

I write these for those that are planning to go to Atlantic City so they don’t make the same mistakes I did my first 3 times there.

[poker327]

The Taj buffet is one of the worst in town. The Borgata buffet is one of the best in town.

[winky51]

yea I noticed. My body was telling me "WTF is this crap your feeding us man?"

[punkass]

[ QUOTE ]
The Taj buffet is one of the worst in town. The Borgata buffet is one of the best in town.

[/ QUOTE ]

You talking about Sultan's or Bombay Cafe? Bombay Cafe is crap. Haven't been to sultan's in a long time.

[FrankStallone]

Taj is a hole period.

[Jeffage]

I've never eaten the buffet at Bombay. Sultan's isn't that bad, especially for free. But I'm not that picky.

Borgata is much better for fine dining.

Jeff

[Georgia Avenue]

Good points about 1/2 versus 10/20...I think you're dead on about the insanely bad play in casinos. That's why I never sit with a min-buy in!

[Dbadbeats]

The Taj Ma"hole." Tropicana and Borgata, naybe Showboat for poker and food.

[DeuceHigh13]

Has anyone eaten at the Trop buffet since it was redone? I'm wondering of the food is any different, or did they just update the seats and tables?

[winky51]

Suktan's tastes like cafeteria food, blek! I never felt well after eating there.