A Night at the Borgata

Hello,

Last night, out of nowhere, I decided to head down to The Borgata in Atlantic City. I began the two hour plus drive at 11pm and got there a little after 1am. For some reason, I got the itch to play some serious poker last night and didn't want to go to a lame club in Brooklyn with bad action and the chance to get raided or robbed. After writing all about not playing high stakes poker, I just felt really good last night and when I feel that good about playing, good things usually happen. So I grabbed a nice stack of hundreds and headed down to Atlantic City.

My goal when I got there was to clean out the fish who were there for the holiday weekend. These are the guys that play bad poker in home games (usually lame SNGs) and have no clue what they are doing. Usually, they are playing Saturday night as the end of a long weekend of partying at the clubs located in The Borgata. They have money, are drunk, can't play and have been up all night. The only time these people see 6am is when they wake up early. I see 6am before I go to bed every night. So for me, starting at 1am is the perfect time. These fish spend the next few hours stacking off with nothing and the six-pack of beer they have consumed in the last hour tells them to rebuy.

I also didn't want to get stuck playing low-buy NLHE as I usually don't enjoy myself. But the fish were swimming last night. The higher limits tend to have better players, particularly at $5-$10 and higher. After cleaning out the fish I really, really wanted to play a lot of mid-stakes stud. Unfortunately, the Atlantic City Expressway was so foggy on my way in that I was forced to go to The Borgata because I couldn't see the exit signs and my navigation had The Borgata ready to go. If you play NLHE The Borgata is the only place in Atlantic City to play. But if you are a stud player, the Trump Taj is the absolute best place to play. In fact, their limit and no-limit hold em games are usually dead and even when they are running they are usually filled with a bunch of short stacks playing so there the action sucks.

When I got to The Borgata I put my name on every stud list from the lowest limit (I think it was $2-$4) all the way up to $50-$100, although I don't think I would have actually played that high. I was really looking to playing $20-$40 stud or even stud/Omaha 8-b. The only stud game going when I got there was stud 8-b but it was in the nosebleed section at $150-$300, way out of my league. Even if I had the money for that game those players would have destroyed me. So while I was waiting to play stud I sat down at a $10-$20 limit hold em game. It was full of regulars (I knew two of them and I can tell the others were regulars by the way they knew every dealer in the poker room) and one or two non-regulars rotating in and out. In one hand, I raised A-A UTG and got four callers. I c-bet the flop of K-4-2 rainbow and got three calls and a raiser behind. I mucked the aces and saw that two players flopped sets, one fours and the other twos. One player, who mucked his hand, claimed A-K. I think it was an easy fold given the action and I would not have questioned the play if I hadn't seen the set. I felt I had one or two players beat but there was no way I had all four beat. I just about insta-mucked the hand too. I also had a set outdrawn to a straight but I think I lost too many bets in the hand considering the board's texture, the betting and the player against whom I was playing.

I didn't stay that long at the $10-$20 table because the regulars were not giving anything up and the rotating non-regulars were playing too close to the vest for me. The game had little action so I moved to the $5-$10 limit (which used to be $6-$12 and was a much better game because it was easier to beat the rake with the extra few money from each bet) as there are usually a lot of fish throwing around chips because it is cheap for them. I figured I can actually make more there than at the upper limit so I moved down with a loss of just a few big bets. My instincts were right. There was a player at the table who, in addition to staking his way-too-hot-for-him girlfriend (who hadn't a clue how to play limit poker or even poker for that matter), was dumping chips like confetti at a parade. I didn't think it was possible to drop that much at a $5-$10 limit game but he was rebuying almost every rotation after playing practically every hand. His "girlfriend" was so scared when people bet into her or raised her that at one point I played every pot that she entered. After awhile I wasn't even looking at my cards and just betting and raising her out of pots. On the occasion that she had a monster hand she might show some aggression and I'd let it go if I truly had nothing and no chance of a re-steal. She was folding hands like K-J on a jack high flop for fear that someone had A-J. If a better hand was possible she always seem to put her opponents on that exact hand. So I cleaned up at this table after only a little more than an hour of play.

It didn't seem as though the stud games were going to get off but I still held out hope. I even put my name on the $2-$5 PLO which would have been interesting as this is a fairly recent addition to The Borgata (as far as I know). That game never got off. I basically began table hopping all night holding out hope that a decent sized stud game would open. By 3am, many tables would break after one or two players would bust since many of these tables were short from the outset. I kept sitting at these short tables which allowed me to essentially go south every half hour or hour. When a table breaks and you are moved to an open seat at a full table you are only required to match the largest stack on the table (assuming you have more chips than the largest stack). So if I had $600 from one table and was moved to another with the largest stack at the table being $300 I got to pocket half my stack. By the time I moved to my fourth or fifth table I was playing with pure profit many times over.

I jumped between $1-$2, $2-$5 and $5-$10 NLHE throughout the night. I also played $3-$6, $5-$10 and $10-$20 limit with a short, but profitable appearance at the $20-$40 table. At one point I sat down at a short-handed $1-$2 NLHE table and bought in for the $300 max. By the time the table broke a half an hour later I had every chip. I got hit with the deck hitting quads twice and flopping straight flush once and getting paid on all three hands. What are the odds of hitting quads twice and a straight flush in hold em within the span on thirty minutes at a short table? I wonder. Anyway, here are two hand of interest. I think I played these really well.

Relevant stacks.

Cutoff: has me covered
Me: ~$400
SB: has me covered
BB: ~$200

$1-$2 NLHE - It was folded to the cutoff who limped in and I raised to $10 on the button with . The SB called, as did the BB and the cutoff. The flop came down with two hearts. It was checked to me and I bet $30. The SB thought for a little and min-raised me to $60. The BB and cutoff both folded. I studied him carefully. His range wasn't too wide and I gave him big kings, a set or perhaps a flush draw although I don't see why he would make that move out of position with a draw unless he had exactly the . I really thought that was a good chance he flopped a set and I didn't want to flat call and go broke on the turn or river if no-scare cards came. I wanted to know where I was and I figured if I put in a raise I could get away from the hand if he shoved. After some thought I slid in the call along with another $100. Then, he looked genuinely pained. Not the fake look people get when they have a huge hand. It was the look of a guy who was nervous about going broke with or . I knew he didn't have a set and when he smooth called, I removed set from the equation.

The fell on the turn, a complete blank as far as I was concerned. After he checked it to me I really got this feeling that he had a made hand rather than a draw. I narrowed his range to big kings with the possibility that he also had and he was putting me on a set. If the former was the case I wanted to get value out of the hand and if the latter was the case I wanted him to fold. With over $350 in the pot, almost half my stack in the pot and the way he played the hand, there was no way I was folding this hand. If by some remote chance he did have a flush draw I wanted him to pay to see it, which would have been an incorrect call. So I moved all-in and after not getting snap-called I was certain that I was ahead. He thought for awhile and bitched that this always happened to him. He ended up calling and flipped over drawing to the three outs. The river was a blank and I took down a nice pot.

I think this was one of the best ways that I have ever played A-K. I got value out of the hand after making good reads on every street. I am quite certain I would have folded to an insta-shove or even some sort of strongish shove on the flop. I liked the way I controlled the pot and got the information I needed before committing my stack to the pot. After getting all the information through my opponents actions and from (and as a result of) my betting, I was quite confident when all the money went in that I had the best hand. In fact, I was pretty sure I had him crushed. I didn't put him on K-Q by accident. I gradually narrowed his range until all the pieces fell into place and I am happy with both my play and the result (i.e. no queen hit the river).

I played a lot of poker last night but I thought I played the above hand the best. It didn't yield me the most money but I played it well and I am always happy when I that happens. There was another hand that I thought I played as well as this one and perhaps even better. This is the hand in which I flopped the straight flush and got paid off big time. But flopping the stone cold nuts and having everyone draw completely dead on the flop is meaningless if you don't get paid (OK, technically, as you will see, there was a chance someone was drawing to a bigger straight flush but it was highly unlikely and if they were and hit I would go broke every single time in this spot as would anyone else).

Relevant stacks:

Me (Cutoff): ~$1,000
Hijack: ~$400
Early Position (EP): ~$700

$1-$2 NLHE with deep stacks - The EP player raised it to $10 and the played in the hijack position called. I looked down at in the cutoff and called in position. Everyone else folded. The flop came down a beautiful . I had my iPod on and didn't miss a beat as I had been bobbing my head to the music. I barely looked at the board and just kept doing what I had been doing before the flop. I was giving away nothing. The EP player bet about the pot, $30. The hijack raised to $100. I, of course, flat-called and the EP player also called. The turn was the which I didn't like so much because it put a four card straight on the board and might have killed any action from a set or two pair such as . The EP player checked as did the hijack. Now I am was in tough spot. I wasn't sure what they both had. I thought the hijack may have had the and was semi-bluffing on the flop to try and steal. I gave the EP player an overpair to the board, maybe queens with the queen of spades, two pair or even a set. Either way I felt that they both had hands and I wanted to get some value out of the hand. I was certain that at least one of them had something with which to play.

Here's the dilemma. If one of them had a baby flush they may have been trying to check it down waiting to see if a fourth spade would hit the river (a terrible play of course). If one of them was drawing with the they would pay the turn but not the river. If I check here I don't know if I am getting paid on the river. I wanted any draw to have the correct implied odds to call. If I bet too much it would be hard to call with just a spade. Also, two pair will likely call a small bet as would a set. If one of them hit the straight with a hand like then they might consider raising, particularly if they held a spade too. So with a little more than $300 in the pot I bet $125. The SB called and the hijack folded after a lengthy deliberation.

The river was the which of course left me with the absolute nuts as it eliminated the very unlikely higher straight flush. What to do? Did that card complete his ace high flush or did it counterfeit his flopped baby flush? Did it scare his two pair or set? He checked and I didn't know whether he would put in the rest of his stack with a hand like the ones above. With over $550 in the middle and him with about $450 I didn't want to scare him away by shoving. I also wanted to get value from the hand. So I put in a please-call-me bet of $175. I think this was a nice bet. It allowed for a bad player with a very weak hand as compared to the board to call but it left room for the to check-raise all-in. I think I covered all my bases with this bet. If he had the I was getting his stack. If he had a decent hand like a set or baby flush I might get a crying call. Sure enough he shoved after Hollywooding a bit and I politely said "call" and rolled over my hand not even waiting for him to show his. Now this is where the funny part comes in. He said "I knew you flopped it but I rivered you" showing the . He thought I just had two baby spades but didn't see the straight flush. When he realized what had happened he looked like he just lost his dog. I think I drew him in nicely and got paid when a lucky river card came. Even though I get his stack anyway on the river if it was just checked down, I feel I made the right play on every street given the hand possibilities. The hijack claimed he had two red queens and if he did he played them horribly.

I had planned on playing from 1am until 1pm but I had a nice profit at around 7:30am that I decided to call it a night. I edge comes from beating drunk weekenders who are up way past their bedtimes. If I continued to play, a new crop of well rested players would have come in and my edge would have been diminished. I still held out hope for a morning stud game so I stayed around for a couple of more hours. When I am showing a profit and have called it a night, I usually sit down at the $3-$6 limit hold em game to end the night. It's my way of slowing ending the night. I wean myself from the higher limits by playing a game in which I cannot really lose that much if I run badly but can probably win my gas and toll money if I catch some cards. It's usually the most fun I have all night as the players at this table are almost always relaxed and the atmosphere is laid back. It is just about impossible, at least in my humble opinion, to beat the rake at this table. I am sure there are those who do but the average player will not. So players at this table just seem to be playing for the fun of the game and hope to maybe make a few bucks without risking a ton of money. It is so rare for someone to make a negative comment regarding another's play, even if it was horrible or their aces were cracked. I ended this table with a $40 profit which almost covered my travel expenses, give or take about $20.

A $10-$20 stud game finally got off as I was getting up from the $3-$6 table. I was a little apprehensive about playing right before I was about to leave. I had already made a decision to stop and I was going to leave with a very nice profit for less than eight hours of play. But I figured if I was willing to play with $500 of my hefty profit just to enjoy the game for which I drove more than two hours to play. So I quickly say down at the table and ended playing for about 45 minutes. I caught some cards and made about $160 before getting up and leaving. It felt good to end the trip on that note and win even more money. I would not have hated myself if I had lost a few bets at stud but I was happy it went my way. In truth, if I hadn't been tiring and I didn't have a long drive home on no sleep I would have stayed longer. I was on a rush and playing well. I seemed as though I couldn't lose and that's usually the time to play, or so they say. There have been times where I have felt like that and ended up giving back some or all of my profits. So, rather than risk it (besides, while playing stud I was forgetting the folded upcards and twice I miscalculated my outs and odds), I felt my best option was to go home a winner.

I have now been up for 40 hours straight (with a quick 30 minute nap at a rest stop on the Garden State Parkway to save myself from crashing into a tree) but I am wide awake. I have an uncanny ability to go without sleep for long periods of time. I once did just under three days with only a one hour nap, and that was on day one (I think I once did a longer stretch than that but I had some chemical help, if you get my drift, so I won't count that one). I think I am going to play a little online before going to sleep. I am tired but I have a tremendous amount of energy now. If I can focus now I will play for a few hours. Otherwise, I think I will just call it a night.

See you on the felt,