Monday, September 22, 2008
Dawn gifts me mobneys and then writes about it
Life update
1. Root Canal - I was having serious pain in my upper left molar all through my Florida trip and the only thing that made the experience bearable was regular dosages of Advil. I initially thought the pain was my impacted wisdom teeth causing trouble, but the pain started to get more localized to the one tooth. Upon my return to New York, my wonderful (and super hot) dentist on Wall Street identified the issue. I made plans to get the root canal and to also get my wisdom teeth removed five days later, but decided the two operations in one week was too much unnecessary trauma. So I had the root canal and postponed the wisdom teeth until next month. Something to look forward to.
2. My relationship with Ali progresses. Not only did her father treat us to the Jets home opener vs. the dreaded Pats (they lost, grr...), but I got to meet her sister as well. Evidently, I made a good impression, because I was invited to her sister's 21st birthday bash this weekend and met the rest of her family for Sunday brunch. It's nice for something to be going smooth in my life. We've been doing great stuff in the last two weeks, including a great Saturday last weekend when we walked over the Brooklyn Bridge, had ice cream at the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory, dinner at Henry's End in Brooklyn Heights and a quick visit to the MoonStruck house. I'm still the master of awesome dates.
3. Wall Street melts down - Are you kidding me with this shit? In the space of two weeks, every independent investment bank on the street is GONE. Merrill gets bought by Bank of America, Lehman falls and Morgan Stanley and Goldman become commercial banks. Can you imagine a Goldman Sachs local BRANCH?!? What has the world come to? In the meantime, my job is relatively unaffected although I don't hold out much hope for my end of year bonus to be anything more than a pittance. I'm seriously considering alternative careers. Maybe open a bar/poker room in Montana?
Way too much going on in my life. I'm anxious about re-upholstering my new poker table with the suited speed cloth that I got to replace the suede that's currently there. But I have to wait for 5 consecutive free hours to do the work. {Sigh}
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Miami poker room round-up
One of the joys of playing poker in various different locales is getting the local flavor of how the game is played across the country. The game is the same, more or less, but the details differ depending on where you are. In South Florida, as you may expect, the flavor is decidedly Cuban and no place more so than in Miami.
There are 3 poker rooms in the greater Miami area: Miccosukee Casino (an Indian casino), Flagler Greyhound Track and Miami Jai-Alai. I visited them all this past Saturday, and had an up and down time.
Miccosukee – This dump of a casino might just be the worst poker room I have ever been in. It combined the worst elements of every bad casino poker room I’ve seen so far. The list of bad traits is endless:
1. Out in the middle of nowhere, next to nothing, 7 miles West of Miami Airport.
2. Smoking is allowed in the casino
3. Smoking is allowed at the poker tables
4. The seats are uncomfortable.
5. The tables are dirty and dingy and lack in-table shufflers.
6. The room is run by the Spanish speaking descendents of Nazis. For example, they won’t let you near the tables unless you are playing in a game. I came early to put myself on a waiting list and they forced me to wait outside of the poker room. Inside, there is no place to sit. When I tried to sit at a poker table that was 7 empty tables away from the action, a dealer told me that management had decreed me to wait outside.
7. The dealers are also Nazis. When a player took a handful of chips in his hand and reached out over the table to drop one on the felt, the dealer informed him that he was committed to the entirety of what was in his hand. No warning. It was quite a scene.
8. No phone use is allowed at the table, strictly enforced by the Nazis. I witnessed a player glance at his Blackberry by taking it out of the holster and looking at the screen. He was told that his hand was dead and the dealer mucked his cards (he had a Big Blind in at the time). When he protested, the dealer immediately called the floor to defend his honor. Again, no warning.
9. I meekly lifted up my Ipod to the dealer and shrugged my shoulders. (Music?). I received a smile and a shake of the head, no.
Combine these worst of the worst traits with the fact that “English Only” at the tables is just a suggestion in Miami, and you have the makings for a really bad session. It didn’t help that I had a Cuban calling station to my left. An old man who played every single hand and got very very lucky ended up taking a whole bunch of my money. That and a bad run of luck dropped 3 buyins from my wallet in the space of 2 hours. An awful morning. A list of bad hands that did me in:
I have 89 in a limped pot. Flop is TJx. I call a small bet from a player and Mr. Cuban Calling station comes in along with one other. Turn is a Queen. I’m not worried about AK since no one raised PF and there was plenty of action at the table. To make a long story short, I got it all in against a guy who had K9. Oh, did I mention he was the initial raiser?
I have AcKc. I raise PF to $12. Calling station comes in with me and maybe two others. Flop is Tc9c3h. I make a blocking bet of $15. Calling station raises me to $30. I call. Turn is a 10. I know he had trip 10’s at this point. I check and he gets greedy and checks, like I don’t know what he has. River is Qc. I make my nut flush and I figure I’m going to gut him. I bet out, he raises me all in and I call. He has QT, like you didn’t figure that out already.
My 3rd buyin got dropped when I was able to limp on the button with J4o. Flop is 894. I bet out to see where I am and get two callers. I figure I’m going to need a 4 or a Jack to win this and a Jack comes on the turn. I bet, get a raise, decide he’s not playing QT for a gutshot and shove. He calls with…T7. The river bricks. I keep hitting the exact card needed to felt me and I wisely decide to stop giving this room any more of my time.
Flagler Greyhound Track – I steamed all the way to this room, about 20 minutes away, and was pleasantly surprised when I got there. The greyhound facility itself was a dump, as most pari-mutuel facilities are, but the poker room is actually pretty decent. It’s set on the ground floor with 6 big bay windows directly adjacent to the greyhound track. As the races are run, the dogs get within just a few feet of the windows and it’s really quite something to see them come around the bend right in front of you. A great view with lots of sunlight makes for a pleasant experience. The players here were more of the same of what I got at the Indian place, but they were more pleasant and the room was much much nicer. Clean carpets, no smoking, nice tables and just the hottest Cuban girl hostess seating people at the brush desk. Off to the side, next to the big windows, were six very comfy leather couches with TV’s along the wall so you could watch football or Jai-alai or horse races or whatever while you wait for a seat. Just a nice comfy room that was perfect for locals.
Having said that, these bastards felted me. Over and over. I felt a bit like someone was running a train on me. A Cuban train.
I have AJ and raise to $15 UTG at a 2-5NL game. I get one caller. Flop is AQJ. I bet 15, he calls. Turn is a Q. I move all in for 35 more and he calls with 8h2h, hitting his flush on the river.
I lose a string of successive hands like that before I come in for my 3rd buyin. The hands I’m losing are the kind where the other players apologize to me for my bad luck. Finally, I pick up what I think is a winner. 99 UTG. I limp in and someone raises to $12 behind me. 4 people call and someone re-raises to $40. I call and everyone else calls too. There are now 5 people in. I have $35 behind and I know I have to hit a set to have a chance of winning, but at least the pot is big enough to justify the original call. The flop is 789 with two clubs. Yay! I put in my last $35. The original raiser calls and someone else re-raises, $100 on top! I look at the guys to my left, who have been sympathetic to my plight, and shake my head. “I’m behind,” I tell them, flashing them top set. One guy’s eyes widened and he said, “No, you’re good.” Isn’t it cute when they’re naive like that? The dealer asked to see my cards (informal room, no?) and I showed her. She gave me the look like, ‘don’t worry, you’re good’. Poor girl. The original raiser called all in and the cards were exposed. Original raiser had KK, I have top set and re-raiser has JhTh for the flopped nut straight, which held up. My corner backers were shocked, so clearly they haven’t played poker very long. Hmmmm. That pot would have eased my losses on the day and instead I was down $620 in the span of 4 hours at two different card rooms.
I got up in a huff and went to my car to find the last card room in Miami.
Miami Jai-Alai – After having seen more than 90 cardrooms in my quest to see all of America’s poker rooms (patent pending), they tend to blend into one another. Cardrooms tend to be kind of generic with the same tables, the same cards, the same chips and the same people. But if you look closer, you can sometimes spot little details that make each room unique. At Indian casinos, there are frequently earth-tone color schemes that match tribal colors. Sometimes there will be a specialized logo on the wall. Other times there will be a unique layout of the tables. In other words, if you look hard enough, the local flavor comes through.
In Miami, the flavor is decidedly Cuban. The waitresses and players all converse in Spanish and the menu at the snack bar has lots of Cuban elements (Cuban sandwiches anyone?). In the Miami Jai-Alai room, there were two stamps of Cuban culture that were just a joy to experience.
The first was the Cuban coffee shots being given out by the waitresses. One girl would come around and ask if anyone wanted drinks. Normal. The other would walk around with a cup of freshly brewed café cubano and pour out shots into little plastic cups for you. I had at least three of them over the course of my session and it was a great pick me up. Like espresso except already sweetened.
The second local element was dominoes. The poker room at Miami Jai-alai is nice in comparison to the filthy building and dirty neighborhood it sits in. A real shithole this place is. But obviously, they wanted to make the poker room a little nicer. It’s just a bit above average in comparison to other card rooms, but in comparison to the rest of the facility, it’s like playing in a palace. The room is large and roomy and comfortable and divided into two parts. The front of the room has about 14 tables. The back of the room has another dozen or so tables set up for dominoes. At the time I was there, in the late afternoon on a Saturday, about 5 dominoes tables were going. I didn’t know if they were playing for money or how the house got paid for that, but it was a unique sight I haven’t seen in any other poker room.
The Cuban coffee must have done me some good, because my bad luck turned around nicely when I started playing. I was able to triple up my $100 buyin before leaving at midnight (the place closed down). Some memorable hands:
1. Got lucky on this one. Really lucky. I have AK in early position and raise to $7. 4 people come along with me which is way more than I wanted. Flop is Ac-9c-3c. 5 way pot with three clubs on board? Wow, I suck. I don’t have a club in case you were wondering. The BB bet $10 (weak ass bet on that board) and I raise to $40 because I want to know where I stand. I can get away from it now if someone shoves all in for $100 or so. Well, what happened is the guy to my left (a really nice art dealer from Spain) smooth calls (ruh-roh) and another guy goes all in for less! The turn is a non-club King and I lose my mind. Instead of being scared of the board, the top two pair turn my mind into mush and I decide that I’m good. I shove for $110. In hindsight, this was a brilliant play, but only in hindsight. Nah..forget that. I suck, but I’m lucky. The guy to my left who smooth called my big original raise folds. The BB tanks and then folds what he says later is the nut flush draw. The only other guy in the pot is all in and he shows AdTc but the river is a 9 and my top two are good! The guy to my left, the nice art dealer, slaps his head. Turns out he folded 33 for a flopped bottom set. But he assumed, since I was betting so strongly, that I had flopped the flush. Not a bad read from him, given I was betting like I had it, but he didn’t feel good about making the “right” move, folding the winner, and seeing a $200+ pot being pushed to me. He’s in a tough position with a set though, because anyone with a decent flush draw might call anything he does simply because of the nature of short stacked games. Which means he’ll never know he’s really good until he boats up.
2. I raise PF to 10 with AJo. Flop is JT6 with two hearts. It checks to me and I bet $30. Both players still in call me! Are they both on draws? Turn is the worst card in the deck for me, the Qh. It completes both the flush and the straight draws and leaves me with nothing but middle pair. First player checks, I check and the last player bets $30. The other player shoves for $60 total and I fold. First player calls and shows AK (no hearts) for the Broadway straight! The other player had 8d9d. Can you believe this crap? I bet pot on the flop, the first player calls with two overs (one of which is dead) and a gutshot. The second player calls with the up and down. Never mind that neither player HAD HEARTS so they both had maybe 6 or 7 outs.
Grrrr….
3. I call a $15 raise with JJ. BB calls as well and I’m on the button. Flop is Jc-4d-3d. BB checks and the initial raiser moves all in. I call and the BB calls as well. Raiser has KK (no good!) and the BB has 9d2d (?!?!). My set holds up and I drag a nice pot.
I wouldn’t go back to Miami to play poker again since I’m actually closer to nicer poker rooms in Hollywood, but I’m glad I had the experience. In the end, I managed to not only wipe out my losses from the Miami trips with a 5 hour session at the Hollywood Greyhound poker room but I was even ahead $60. Hey, when you’re down $450 at one point, plus $60 sounds pretty good.
Monday, September 8, 2008
My last egg sandwich
Shed a tear.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Floor!
And no, I didn't get my money back from them, unfortunately. Another time. {Sigh}
Poker fun in South Florida
I sat down at the 1-2 NLHE table with my $100 buyin (maximum allowed by law) and proceeded to grind it out to a $50 profit. I took a hit when I called a multi-way pot with a flush draw that missed but managed to triple up through a guy with a lucky hit.
I had been making excellent reads all night (a few of those later), when I got lucky in a big way. I had KQo in early position and limped along with a few other folks. The flop was KK4 with two clubs. I flopped a monster but wanted to build a pot so I checked in early position hoping someone would bet and build a pot. Someone did indeed bet $6 and two other people called. I decided to let one card peel off and called. The turn was the 6s, putting two flush draws on board. This time, a guy behind me bet $12 and I decided to shut it down with a raise to $50. One short stack shoved all in and the guy who made the $12 raise also moved all in! He had $65 more and I called before I really knew how much it was. I asked him, “6’s full?”. He nodded and turned over the bad news. The short stack turned over KT. I wasn’t drawing dead though. I could chop with a 4 on the river or scoop with a Queen. Wouldn’t you know it, the Queen came, giving me the unlikely position of being the one to suck out with 2 outs! Wow! I was now up about $200 over my original buyin and managed to add another $120 in profit when I had 33 and was the 5th caller to a $10 PF raise. The flop was T32. The original raiser shoved for $90 into the $50 pot with AA and I called with my set. The river was a 3 (DQB!). The quads were good enough for a free $75 entry to a satellite tourney which I wouldn’t be able to attend, but I managed to sell it to a guy playing in a tourney upstairs for $50. Hey, free money. So those quads made me good mobneys.
At this point, I was up nearly $330 and it was closing in on midnight. I wanted to leave at midnight but a few new players sat down and I made the very very wrong decision of playing ‘just a few more hands’. Long story short, it was 2:30a when I found myself digging out my 3rd buyin after losing everything I had.
What can I say? I’d been running good and making good reads and then two aggro guys sat down on either side of me and had their way with me like the big guys in prison who school the white-collar criminal who’s in for a weekend. (OZ flashback). My best read of the night was when I had KQ in early position and the flop was QJx. I led out $10, got raised to $20 and a smooth call behind. I let it go AT THAT POINT. Tough laydown but the smooth-call scared me. They both went all in on the brick turn and it was AQ vs. QJ. I gave up 3rd best and was happy for it. My worst reads came against one of the two aggro guys (out of position on me no less) who just killed me. I ended up giving my entire $300 profit to him.
The worst two hands against him were:
I have Ad3d and call a PF raise to $20 because 3 other people are in. Flop is Qc2d5d. Guy on my right shoves for $90 and I call, getting 2-1. I have the gutshot straight draw and the nut flush draw. He shows AQo. Can’t blame him for doing what he did. I hit a 3 on the turn, giving me even more outs. I have 14 outs to either win or chop but the river is a brick and I double the guy up.
I have 8c4c in the BB and call a small PF raise from the other aggro guy, only because he had been raising nearly everything on principle. Flop is 985. It checks around and the turn is a 4, giving me two pair. I think I’m good here but only call a 15 bet from the guy to my right. We’re heads up when a 6 hits the river. A 7 makes a straight but I don’t put him on a gutshot that he bet out. He reaches for $40 and I read it as a steal. I call and he shows J7. It makes more sense now. It was a double-gutshot he had on the turn and the semi-bluff totally worked. Incidentally, it was offsuit and drove me insane.
So, the long and short of it is I gave up all my profit and two buyins. The second buyin was brutal too. I had 2s4s and I called a PF raise out of the BB because three other people were in. I was a short stack with $46 behind and decided to push if I hit anything on the flop. The flop was Js3c7s. I push with the flush draw and get a call from the original raiser who has AJ. Turn is a J. River is the Ace of spades! I let out a joyous yelp and start to reveal my cards when I realize…he has a boat. Runner Runner boat to counterfeit my flush. Ouch.
This story has a happy ending though. My last hand of the night, I have KsTs and call a PF raise to $10 with $95 behind. Flop is 6c7s8s. I lead out with $10 with my gutshot, two overs and a flush draw. I get one call and a raise to $30 from a smoking hot girl who’s practically poured into her dress. She was there with her husband, otherwise there would have been more flirting from the table, but she knew how to play. When she raised, I assumed she had with the flopped straight or two pair, so I thought my flush draw and gutshot were still good. I got a smooth call from a new player who was drunk and I called. One other player called. Turn was the Js. W00t! I made the second nut flush. I went to bet it but hesitated slightly. Was someone in with the nut draw? I checked with chips in my hand and the hottie woman bet out $50. The drunk guy called with $18 behind (?!?!) and I shoved. The woman let out a sigh and called and so did the drunk guy, for less. I showed my hand, the woman showed 95 for the flopped straight (drawing dead) and the drunk guy showed A6o (Thanks for the donation donkey). I tripled up and finished the night up $100 if you include the $50 I got from the tourney buyin certificate and the $26 I paid for the 10 minute massage that I paid in chips to Stephanie, the really hot massage girl.
Oh what a night!
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Lazy blog post
Jordan has a nice recap of the last lowball only night at Wall Street Poker, so go read it. Plus, he gives me mad props over my awesome setup. Who am I to argue? (W00t!)
The other big announcement has been that we’re sending a Wall Street representative to the big show next year (that’s the World Series of Poker). Over the next 8 or 9 months, we’ll be running a series of 10 $40 buyin super satellite single table freezeouts that will result in 10 different winners. Those 10 lucky people will all play in another long format tourney which will result in a $3000 grand prize, to be used to enter into any $2000 buyin event plus $1000 for travel expenses. I’ve got full details and rules up on www.walllstreetpoker.org if you want to go check it out. (Please note that access to that site is for league members only, sorry.)
South Beach with Ali was AMAZING. Going wave jumping in the ocean when there’s a hurricane nearby is a religious experience. Highly recommended. We also had some really nice dinners out (even with my parents) and got some great weather finally on Monday for a few hours. Just a great trip all around.
I’m looking forward to coming back to New York and getting back in gear, but in the meantime, I’m playing lots of poker here in South Florida.
Best conversation I had at the poker table:
Old Man: What do you do?
Me: I write software for Merrill Lynch. What about you?
Old Man: I’ve been a doctor for 45 years.
Me: Do you still practice?
Old Man: Not anymore. I practice one day a week at the Veterans Hospital.
Me: That’s a tough job.
Old Man: Son, I was a B-12 Pilot. *That* was a tough job.
On the next hand of O/8, I scooped him with nut/nut. Respect, dude.
Monday, August 25, 2008
The itch must be scratched
Dawn got us all on the road by 8:10am, only a few minutes past our scheduled departure time. Seriously? Dawn was on time? I made a mental note of the date for the monument to be built later. (I brace myself for 'assface' comments)
We had a good drive down, not that I remember. I had taken my pillow with me and it proved useful to wipe away about an hour of the trip. Sweet! I fell asleep to the sounds of Dawn's legendary IPOD playlist, which includes a wide mix of hip-hop, R&B and showtunes. Bacini Mary, an avowed enemy of all things Broadway, was rolling her eyes with fierceness. She was sitting in the front and I was in the back, but I could feel the eye rolls from back there, I promise. Soon enough though, our happy place was in view. The Borgata! Everyone seemed excited to play and Dawn, KJ and I were sitting at the 10-20 OE game at 10:45a.
I was hit by the deck in the first hour. Wolloped.
In about an hour's time, I was up $650. I entertained the thought, briefly, of getting up and calling it a day, but one hour is just not enough time. It's just not. I played very tight and aggressive when it warranted it and added another $140 to my profit to peak at $790. Dawn, on the other hand, was taking brutal beat after brutal beat. She lost multiple large pots on the river to people who were usually going low and backed into a high, or vice versa. Just really bad luck. After two buy-ins were lost in this manner, she stormed off to collect herself at a $1-$2 table. I'm not quite sure she did particularly well there either, given that I spotted her watching a Simpsons episode on her IPOD while she played. Not a good sign. KJ was doing all right, sitting to my left. After an initial rough run, he went on a streak of $500 to finish up a few hundo by the day's end.
As the day wore on, I lost a few big pots that started to get me nervous. My big profit was starting to dwindle down and I set a cap to myself of $500. If my profit wore down to $500, I would get and leave and lock it in for the day. I was down to $550 when I scooped a pot to bring me to $650 but then I lost a heartbreaker. I had JJA5 in my hand with a suited Ace of diamonds. The flop was J56. I bet and actually got raised! I re-raised and a few people came in. This was a kill pot so I committed a lot here. The turn was a blank, maybe a Queen and I bet again. In addition to my set of Jacks, I now had the nut flush draw. This time, two callers came in. The river was the 4 of hearts and my soul crushed when a woman in early position, who had been limp calling the whole way, bet out! I looked at her and she broke out into a nervous smile and said, "I'm sorry, that was dirty. I can't even hide it". The woman in front of her called and KJ and I looked at each other. He said, "Oh my god, that was the worst card". I mucked and sure enough, the woman showed 23 for the straight to the 6 and 65 low, scooping the $400 + pot. THAT. ONE. HURT.
But not as bad as the one that got Dawn off the table. She also had JJ in her hand when the board went J65. She bet the whole way, into a multi-way kill pot with multiple callers that might have had $700 in it before all was said and done. Turn was a T. More betting and Dawn was all in. Dawn turned to me and said, "I need a Jack to win". Her luck was so bad, she was calling for the stone nuts to win! River was the dirtiest Queen you ever saw. Some guy with A2KT, looking for the nut low, probably to get sixthed, backed into the nut Broadway straight and scooped the entire thing. UGLY.
We left at 5PM, early because our driver said so and that's that. The ride back was somewhat uneventful, punctuated by the late revelation that Dawn has NEVER heard the song "Stairway to Heaven". EVER. Mary and I couldn't and wouldn't believe it. We played it for her and she dutifully sat and listened to the whole thing, only commenting once that "Styx is better". But at the end of that long and glorious guitar solo, as the last haunting note faded away, she gave us the bad news.
"Nope. Never heard it."
I made a possibly racist comment about Blacks really having their own culture, but she ignored me. So I changed tack.
"I bet you've heard Kashmir. P.Diddy used it in his song 'Come With Me'"
"Are you saying I would know P.Diddy because I'm black?"
"Yes"
So I played it for her. After a few seconds of the opening riff, the judgement came in:
"Oh yeah, I have heard this before"
{Sigh}
