Foxwoods Trip Report: Wednesday Nov 8th-Thursday Nov 9th

[grandgnu]

Coming off last weeks Foxwoods trip, my final cash game sessions all had proven profitable, and I wanted to take another stab at it this week.

I was able to book a jr. suite at Two Trees for $162 for the night, not ideal, but all they had. I intended to be playing the cash games all fricken day, and didn’t want to be driving home 100 miles after an 18-hour binge at the poker tables.

I’ve never been to the Two Trees before, it’s actually within walking distance of the casino, although a 24-hour shuttle runs from the hotel to various stops at the casino.

The Two Tree’s definitely had a more relaxed feel to it than staying at the Grand Pequot Tower. Instead of largesse and excess you find a country/at-home feel. The lobby is warm and inviting, which gave me greater expectations on the rest of the place.

While it’s certainly more peaceful than the other hotels at Foxwoods, the suite I had at Two Trees left much to be desired. The hallway leading to my room looked run-down, and the room was pretty much the same. For just slightly less than I paid for the jr. suite at the Grand Pequot, I received a lot less room.

The Grand Pequot jr. suite was about $200 for the night, and included two bathrooms, a Jacuzzi tub and a really nice large stand-up shower. Plus a large living room and bedroom.

The Two Trees featured a tiny bathroom and separate sink area, a smaller living room and smaller bedroom (including a smaller tv in the bedroom).

The entire suite looked much more worn down and tired, and was not as great a “value” as they’d lead you to believe over staying at the Grand Pequot. For some strange reason, the bedspreads seemed much more comfortable than at the other hotel.

There’s a dining room called Branches at the Two Trees that appeared to be staffed by the rejects they don’t want serving you at the main restaurants. The people were friendly, but “rough around the edges” would describe them well, at least during the lunch-time that I was there.

But let’s back up a bit, as prior to lunch or checking in, I hit the poker room. Waking up extremely early I was on the road fairly quickly and arrived at the casino prior to 8am. Munching down on a nice breakfast at the Veranda Café, I found myself in the poker room shortly after 9am and requested a 20/40 O.E. list of interest be started.

It didn’t take long before there were 5 names on the list. I continued to hear stupid NL cash games called left and right. Once the list for my game got large enough I approached a floor person named Kim. She was very helpful and decided to give it a shot. Her and another floor person weren’t sure if they could get the game going, since there was a stud tournament that started at 10am, so a number of the names on the list were probably in the tournament at that time.
The game was called and a few people showed up to the table, dropped off their cards and then took off. Myself and another guy stayed at the table, and we had five people interested, but only two sitting down. The other three chuckleheads kept telling the floor “hey, I’m over in this cash game and I don’t want to pickup in case the O.E. game doesn’t run. Once I see the other two guys over there, then I’ll be over”

So it was a ridiculous game between these three [censored] who were all waiting on one another (“no, I’ll sit down after YOU sit down……ugh”)

We finally got it running 5-handed, and got it up to 6 players at one point. But then one or two of the guys who hadn’t been there very long would leave, and we’d get another one or two guys. But we really couldn’t get it staffed very well. Short-handed play is not my specialty, and there were three asian players who typically play the 150/300 games, so they were fairly aggressive and I didn’t really get into much of a rhythm. One of them was trying to get us to play it at 40/80, but I didn’t want to be put out of my comfort zone.

Be aware that playing 4-handed there should be no rake, and 5-handed is half-rake. You absolutely MUST pay attention to what the dealer is raking, as oftentimes they’re still taking the full $4 out of the pot when it should only be $2 or nothing at all. This can impact your hourly rate significantly; so don’t be giving up extra money to the enemy (i.e. the casino)

Early in the session I was up $200, but by the end I was down $187 as the table began to break up. The floor person Kim was a great help and got me back on the 20/40 O.E. list for later, and told me that after 2pm it would probably run as more of the tourney players busted. She also assisted me with how to find the shuttle to the Two Trees and called down there to make sure my room was ready for check-in this early.

I decided to drive over to the Inn the first time around, just so I knew I could find it. After checking in I hit their restaurant for some lunch. The menu didn’t have as large a selection as the restaurants over in the main casino, and the prices weren’t competitive either.

I got back to the poker room for session two a little after 2pm. Only I find that the area where we had run the 20/40 O.E. game is now overrun with other games, including higher limit games. There’s no room for my O.E. table even with the 15 person list, arrrrgggghhhhh! Now I worry that this trip will turn out to be a huge wasted effort.

They try starting a stud 150/300 game over near the satellite tourney tables. It doesn’t look like my game is going to get called for many hours, if at all. I signup for a $120 sit n’ go and become player #9, so only one more for the game to start. I’m waiting and a dealer tells me they’re more likely to start the NL cash games than my O.E. game, because they make more money with the half-hour time charge than they do on rake.

Very soon thereafter they call the 20/40 O.E. game at the table where they couldn’t get the 150/300 running. And people are actually showing up to play! One of them tells me I can get my money refunded for the sng, just go over to the window, so I do that and take my seat.

We start with 7 players and a number of them know each other, which doesn’t bode particularly well for me, as they might be experienced. The problem with picking this particular day to play an O.E. game is that the 7-stud tournament is going on, so I’m more likely to run into players who know what they’re doing.

A real character by the name of Sam sits down, he’s originally from Iran but lives in Vegas now. I’m in the middle of the table so I can have a good view of the upcards in the stud round. The right-hand section of the table is full of older, nittier players. The left side the younger and more talkative.

A tall young kid with glasses and a baseball cap is a few seats over to my left. At first he appears to be well versed in the games, and aggressive. But it turns out he’s VERY tilty, and he continually loses his stack and rebuys. One of the older guys a few seats to my right is terrible in the O8 rounds, after I see his starting hole cards that he’s playing from EP, I know he’ll be a donator as well.

An attractive, if rough-around-the-edges, girl by the name of Natasha sits directly to my left. She’s a dealer from New York and I’ve played with her before here, and a number of people seem to know her.

I started the table with a stack of $1200 and see it go up and down by $200 most of the time. In the stud hi/lo round my hole cards are A/3 and my door card is the 2, so I bring it in and just limp for $5 and get a number of callers. Fourth street brings the magical 4, and the high hand bets and there are two callers and I raise and they all call. Of course, I pair up on 5th street and I’m unable to push out the other low draw, and I brick-brick and completely miss everything. If I hit the five, I would’ve scooped this massive pot, instead I watch half shipped to the 7-low (the tilty kid) and half shipped to Natasha who has two pair, darn that sucks. The other day I started with A/2/3/5 and completely missed in a huge pot as well. There’s nothing more frustrating than having the wheel draw on 4th street and the next three cards pair you and are all higher than a 10. sigh

Folded to me in the O8 round I raise with 3/4/J/Q suited on the button and both blinds call (the tilty kid has 2/4/7/9 in the SB and the BB has A/2/X/X suited)

The flop comes A/5/10 with two of my suit and I figure I’m good. The 6 of clubs looks great to me on the turn, but the A/2 guy has made the nut flush and check-raises while the 2/4 guy has got my 3/4 beat. The river is a 4, and my live 3 is crushed by the live 2 of both of my opponents and what I thought would be a scoop for me from the flop onward becomes my money being shipped to both my other opponents.

At this point I loose it and start muttering to myself and throw my cards down with some anger in it. The A/2 guy sees this and feels bad and offers to buy me a drink. I pick a strawberry shake, as the last thing I need when I’m grumbly is alcohol.

Nevertheless, I haven’t given up hope. The session hasn’t been overly profitable, and I’ve been at it for a few hours now. I’m preparing to leave shortly, and the poker gods decide to smile upon me, as I scoop multiple pots against two or more opponents in the O8 and stud hi/lo rounds.

In the O8 round I’m in the SB with A/8/K/K suited in spades to the Ace. Bunch of limpers and I complete and see a flop of 4/5/K with two of my suit. This looks really good for me, but with the low and straight draws possible, I must exercise caution. An EP player bets and I consider raising, but I know that with a set on a board like that I’m still drawing and will be unsuccessful in pushing out any low or straight draws.

In addition, with the nut flush, I want as many chasers as possible. If the board pairs, I don’t have to worry too much since I figure to scoop. And with the nut flush draw on top of that, I want as many players in as possible to increase the size of the pot. Plus, this is the cheaper betting round, I want to charge them more on the expensive betting round.

The turn is a beautiful 9 of spades, they check to me and I lead and the tilty kid who has now made a worse flush but also has a straight flush draw check-raises me, YES! I three-bet and he calls. The river is another 9, so now I have the nut full house and there’s no low possible. He check-calls and throws his cards at the dealer in anger (hmmmm…….maybe I’m the tilty guy myself!) saying how he had a straight flush draw plus the low draw and had “so many” outs. So a nice large scooped pot is shipped my way.

A new player arrives, an older gentleman with a big white beard, Foxwoods baseball cap and glasses. Someone says “hi Bo” and I’m like “Bo? What’s his last name? Is it Taft or Toft or something like that?” and they say “yeah, Bo Toft”.

So I tell Bo that I had him on my fantasy poker team for one of the events back when Bluff Magazine ran their Fantasy Poker Challenge, and that he did very well for me. People are wondering how I picked Bo and I tell them that he was a great value. Starting out you might pick Daniel Negranue, but at some point you are allowed to change your picks before they’re locked in.

So you follow the results of the tournament and the chip counts. Daniel might be down to 10K in chips, but since he is who he is, he’s valued more highly than lesser-known players. So he might be worth $40,000 and I can sell him off and pickup some of the lesser-known chip leaders. So someone like Bo Toft might have 120K in chips at the moment where Daniel has only 10K left, but I can purchase Bo for something like $22,000 and then use the 18K difference to pickup additional larger stacks at that stage in the tournament.

After discussing all this, I feel like I might be offending Bo, as I don’t mean to imply that he’s not a great player in his own right, but saying he was a “good value” kinda makes him sound cheap/discounted. I feel like an idiot but he doesn’t seem to mind, and one of the other older guys asks if he can have Bo’s autograph, and then adds “I didn’t have you on my fantasy poker team or anything” and I should’ve seen the ribbing coming.

Anyway, at this point my starting $1200 is up to about $1900, so I’m feeling great. The table has loosened up and become more aggressive, but also more multi-way. While this is good, in that I can win bigger pots and will likely be able to play a bit tighter and get paid off on my monsters, it also means that the swings might be fairly large as there’s more opportunities for you to get run-down with lots of chasers in the pot.

Having been up since 4am, it’s approaching 7pm at this point and I’m feeling fatigued. Since I’ve been fairly miserable over poker lately, and I’m up such a large amount for a 20/40 O.E. game, and there’s fresh players at the table, I figure it’s probably a good idea to end the session, take the profit and get some sleep, which is just what I do.

I call Jenn from a payphone at the hotel (I hate cellphones and don’t have one, and using the room phone is hella expensive, so f’ that!)

I give her the good news and let her know I’ll see her tomorrow and to have a good night. I then hit the restaurant and treat myself with a huge piece of chocolate cake and some milk to go, so I can sit around in my suite comfortably watching celebrity paranormal investigations (good lord that Gary Busey guy is a Jesus Freak, what a crazy old coot he is, but he was hilarious to watch)

I crash in bed a little after 8:30pm and wake up a little after 1am. I call down to the poker room and the 20/40 O.E. game is still running and I’m told there are 8 players. I hop in the shower and change (I guess that makes me not a true poker player!) and by the time I arrive it’s 6-handed.

I get it up to 7-handed and we’re in the 7-stud hi/lo round. The tilty kid is still there, although he’s changed seats. Natasha is still playing and welcomes me to the table. Some goofball white kid with a straight-billed baseball cap and an earing in each ear welcomes me to the table. In his “gangsta” accent he tells me that the last two guys in my seat had terrible luck and busted out.

I tell him “good, that means all the bad luck is gone from this seat then”. I proceed to scoop a monster pot shortly thereafter:

A player with two Jacks on board against my low draw continues building the pot, while the tilty kid has a 2/4 of hearts on board. I make my 7-low and the river improves it to a 6 low and for high I have a straight to the 7 (I hit my gutshot 4). The Jacks check-fold but the 2/4 tilter has made two pair and pays me off and I scoop another large pot and he is pissed.

The guy who held the Jacks gets up and leaves once the O8 round hits, and now we’re 6-handed. I wait for the blind to come around before I depart. I didn’t stay long, but short-handed play is not my specialty, and most of the flops are headsup. I had been told the game was 8-handed and didn’t feel like playing short-handed.

The “gangsta” kid says something about “hit and run” but Natasha says I don’t have to explain myself when I leave the table. I bid them all a good night and head back to the hotel and check-out shortly before 4am.

As I’m leaving a couple of brothers have pulled up in a Jaguar. I wrestle with the urge to shout out “oh [censored] son, it’s young-jeezee!” and instead hop in my poor man’s Cadillac (a Buick) and avoid the beating that likely would have ensued.

I was supposed to have met another poker player around 4pm and split room costs. But having been there from 3:50pm-4:15pm (rainmaker square) I never saw him show up, so I hurried back to my cash game to avoid being removed from the table.

So:

Session 1: -$187
Session 2: +$700
Session 3: +$125

Of course, factoring in the 200 miles driving and cost of gas, plus three hours on the road, and the $162 for the hotel room and the cost of food and such, my profits are significantly lessened. Still, it was profitable for the amount of time and effort I put in.

I’m not sure that I’ll be heading down again for this WPT, I might, we’ll see. I definitely have plans for booking a cheaper room ($100/night or so) the next time the WPT is in town, possibly for a week+ so I can make thousands at the cash games while they’re juicy.

[jonny drama]

nice report man.

aren't you a pro? a lot of your mentality really surprises me.

[grandgnu]

[ QUOTE ]
nice report man.

aren't you a pro? a lot of your mentality really surprises me.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm mostly a full-ring cash game grinder online (10/20 and 15/30 Omaha hi/lo games)

I'm not sure what about my mentality surprises you. That I'm capable of tilt and extreme emotions perhaps? It all needs some working out, for sure.

Unlike a lot of very successful players, I lack the extreme willingness to gamble ridiculously (i.e. taking shots at stakes that are way too high for my bankroll, playing casino-edged games and getting involved with drugs and alcohol)

This likely means I'm doomed to mediocrity on the tournament circuit (unless I win enough that I'm comfortable gambling more in these things)

I'm fine grinding out in cash games, since the hourly rate is quite good.

[IgorSmiles]

[ QUOTE ]


So it was a ridiculous game between these three [censored] who were all waiting on one another (“no, I’ll sit down after YOU sit down……ugh”)



[/ QUOTE ]

I dont blame these guys one bit. I cant tell you how many times I've left a juicy hold em game to vainly try and start an OE or other mixed game that either doesnt go, or goes for an hour or less than breaks. It isnt worth it so I dont try to be the hero anymore trying to get a game going. When the game is stocked with players, I join in.

[jonny drama]

[ QUOTE ]

I'm mostly a full-ring cash game grinder online (10/20 and 15/30 Omaha hi/lo games)

I'm not sure what about my mentality surprises you. That I'm capable of tilt and extreme emotions perhaps? It all needs some working out, for sure.

[/ QUOTE ]

first of all I mean no offense, honestly. Lots of things surprised me - lots of complaining about super standard beats for one thing. Your mood definitely seems to swing on the smallest swings of way less than even a buy in, which are really to be expected. Not wanting to play short is the craziest though, these are the absolute best games, but I guess if you dont play live much it's not nearly as important. I play these same games at the woods and especially the OE and HOE games it often takes me and a couple other guys sitting down and playing HU or 3 handed to get the game going. When you complain about the four guys standing and waiting, you're not part of the solution there. If you want to play much live, especially mid-high limits in anything but straight holdem, you gotta get in there and play short a get good games going and to keep them from breaking.

but I'm definitely not trying to say you're not a skilled player or cant have success as a tournament donk, and the trip report was solid.

[Army Eye]

Fun reports, gnu.

[27offsuit]

[ QUOTE ]
nice report man.

aren't you a pro? a lot of your mentality really surprises me.

[/ QUOTE ]

You've obviously never been to a Central MA 2+2 Challenge.....

[grandgnu]

[ QUOTE ]
first of all I mean no offense, honestly. Lots of things surprised me - lots of complaining about super standard beats for one thing. Your mood definitely seems to swing on the smallest swings of way less than even a buy in, which are really to be expected.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm still dealing with the shock of losing Party as my place to play. The games were ridiculously profitable at 10/20 and 15/30 Omaha hi/lo. Full Tilt doesn't really have that game much at the limits I play, and PokerStars isn't near as profitable either, so it's a bit irritating to have recently quit my job and then have the legislation come out of nowhere a few months later and ruin everything.

To be perfectly honest, I've been considering returning to work for "the man" because the games I want to play just aren't as available and juicy, and that hasn't left me in a good mood.

Being sent packing in the O8 tourney on a terrible beat by an idiot who's won close to 2 million didn't help matters either, especially with first place being over 50K which would have bankrolled me for the 75/150 game of O8 that runs at Foxwoods regularly (since normally the best I can get is 4/8 with a half-kill, not worth driving 100 miles to play that, and there's usually nothing inbetween)

[ QUOTE ]
Not wanting to play short is the craziest though, these are the absolute best games, but I guess if you dont play live much it's not nearly as important. I play these same games at the woods and especially the OE and HOE games it often takes me and a couple other guys sitting down and playing HU or 3 handed to get the game going. When you complain about the four guys standing and waiting, you're not part of the solution there. If you want to play much live, especially mid-high limits in anything but straight holdem, you gotta get in there and play short a get good games going and to keep them from breaking.

[/ QUOTE ]

I was part of the solution. I sat down and was willing to play four or five handed to get the game started. I prefer to play full-ring because that's where I'm most experienced. My decisions are much easier than short-handed with all the players chasing straights on flush and paired boards.

The players willing to play short-handed are typically more aggressive and experienced, and I'd rather be at a full-table with a better ratio of fish:sharks. I want to be in the most profitable situation for myself.

[ QUOTE ]
but I'm definitely not trying to say you're not a skilled player or cant have success as a tournament donk, and the trip report was solid.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've done alright in tournaments, online and live. But most of the ones I can afford have sucky structures that reward luck more than skill (i.e. they become all-in fests fairly quickly with a large percentage of the field still in play.

In addition, I have not fully developed my aggression for tournaments to be a consistant final tabler. I'm more mathematical in my approach to the game, which makes me better suited at full-ring cash games than at short-handed play or tournaments.

I have developed some hand reading and "feel" for the game on top of the mathematics, but it's still a work in progress. I'm not above bluffing in Omaha hi/lo, which can be done in the right situations against the right opponents.

[grandgnu]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
nice report man.

aren't you a pro? a lot of your mentality really surprises me.

[/ QUOTE ]

You've obviously never been to a Central MA 2+2 Challenge.....

[/ QUOTE ]

You mean where I've never cashed in a tournament because I lose every single coin-flip but where I rape the cash games afterwards everytime? [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[27offsuit]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
nice report man.

aren't you a pro? a lot of your mentality really surprises me.

[/ QUOTE ]

yES

You've obviously never been to a Central MA 2+2 Challenge.....

[/ QUOTE ]

You mean where I've never cashed in a tournament because I lose every single coin-flip but where I rape the cash games afterwards everytime? [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]