Foxwoods trip report

FOXWOODS POKER TRIP REPORT

Son Peter and I took the $10 special to Foxwoods yesterday. It was a fine day to be away, rainy and cold. Everything looked dark and wet, and the inside windows of the bus steamed over and added more gloom.
But inside Pete and I had some good conversation. He brought a little electronic game to amuse himself, but when I wasn't napping I nagged and bantered until he had to give me some attention. How wonderful to be able to do a little payback after all those years of riding long distances when he was the impatient guy needed attention.

The bus is a great place for talk because neither of us is driving. For me it is really a break, because whether I have a steering wheel in my hand or not, I am generally driving anyway.

Pete and I managed to talk through a number of issues and before we landed at the site for our great poker battles. We had found a much more favorable solution to the old 92 Ford truck's future. It had been sitting at mechanic Mark's for weeks now and needed a $700 repair.
Peter decided to sell it off.
He really wants a gas efficient car in its place.
Mark is more like a member of the family than a mechanic. He has fixed all our cars for over thirty years. So Peter called him from the bus, and told him to hold off on the fixing. Mark will let it sit in the site with a sign on and explain to potential buyers what it needs.

We were already winners before we went into the casino.

Foxwoods was full of people coming on the bus specials. From Yankee Trails alone they had 12 buses when they usually have only one. Most of the people were old, but there was a mixture. Few of them find their way into the poker room, but they clog up the lines to the free keno bets and the free buffet and their slow shuffles and walkers require some video gaming skills to walk to the poker room.

Peter hit on the free keno for nothing and I just hit for $5. Good thing we don't use real money for those $20 bets.

I started on a 4-8 table. Very soon I knew that I was on a table with all good players, many of them regular, all of them efficient. I lost money. My ace-ten caught two tens on the flop and aces on the turn and river. I won very little money.

So I moved. I saw a seat open at a nearby table and asked for a move.

My second table was a fine mix of players. A few good, fast, mathematical folks , one Asian who played loose and aggressive, one hesitant woman. I felt comfortable. I knew if I caught cards, I'd get paid enough. But the cards did not come.

I held A-J on the button when the flop came K-10-X. The Asian talked about how he was raising, but he feared that no one would call. I figured it was all fluff. I reraised to see if he would check to me and I could get a couple free cards.
It was probably a silly play, but I felt it would not push out any of the players between us, and I was right.
But I had read my opponent wrong. I thought he was bluffing. He held two pair, K-10 and he capped the bet.
Now there was quite a bit of money in the pot. I still can't do the math of the pot odds, but my overview said it was worth seeing the river. He bet a rag on the turn and I called. At this point three of us were left.
I had two outs to win. An ace might also win if the fellow was trying to push me. I was wishing very hard for a queen. And she came.
He proved himself less a fool again than I thought and checked the river. I bet and he called. It was a very good pot.

A-J. The same hand that kicked son Keith out of that Chicago tournament. I guess it is my new lucky hand. In both cases I played poorly.
At one O'clock Pete and I stood in the buffet line for about 45 minutes and then ate fine portions of battered codfish and prime rib. He was ahead $8 and I was ahead $63 with the $5 I picked up at the keno. So we felt very good.

I had not had enough Myer's rum, so I decided I'd play 2-4 in the afternoon.
At Foxwoods you can ask to have 2 hours off for lunch and then be given second place on a list when you return. Peter and I both ended up at the same 2-4 table and within a few hands I took a seat right next to him.
I have taught what I know about limit poker to quite a few people, but Peter, who as a teenage had very little use for anything I said, is my best pupil.
Son Keith is my teacher. I don't listen very well.
Peter listens.
He comes with very little bankroll and he plays a fine conservative game. This was his second time in a casino game, and he walked away with $62 after playing all day.
In one hand he was doing the betting. On the river he held chips up to separate them and I saw the shaking tell. "He has good cards" I thought.
Then he patted my k
nee under the table as if to say, "Don't miss this, and he turned over 4 sixes. I saw him play very few hands poorly. Most beginners do not have the patience it takes for the dry hand spells. They have to play.
At our table people were playing all those hands that cost money, any high card with unsuited rag was very popular. At the same time there was no real pre flop raising. So it was easy poker.

In the morning Peter did win with an A-2. He let it check around after the flop and no on bet, so he bet the turn. Some lady stayed with him with a pair of tens and then got mad at hm for having an Ace and not betting. He was happy. But I suppose now he may have trouble getting off A-2. That could cost him in the long run.

I had a few good cards, a few nice rums, and some funny banter with an old fellow who had a fine leather Western hat that he had bought in a Mexican town near Cozumel. We talked Mexico a little. After his buddy started to call him Tex Ritter, we started to talk of old Western actors and trivia like what was the name of Hopalong Casidy's horse. These old guys knew all the details of ten years before I was watching television. They all guessed William Bendix for the first Life of Riley, but one fellow knew if was Jackie Gleason. Robin would have loved this conversation. It was a fine time; the conversation and the rum made me feel young.
I took a good pot or two on bad betting by my new poker buddies and just sat and watched and drank rum and stayed just about $40 ahead. It was a fine afternoon. I did not drink so much rum that I actually sang the theme to "Rawhide" or even "Happy Trails to You" when I left, but I did have a fine time singing those songs in my head. Peter is not drinking alcohol, and it would not have done him any good anyway because I don't even think he even knows the theme to Maverick. He is not opposed to ordering rum, so even the slow waitress did not mean any dry trails for this old cowboy.



Very little preflop raising. Some fellow came from a no limit and started to raise every other preflop. The players grumbled about him later, but none of them rerasied him. I got to tell Peter that, especially if the really good player between him and Mr. Raiser had folded, he should reraise if he held very good cards, squeeze the rest of the players, but not get wedded to cards if the flop let him down . My chance came when I was on the button with A-8 suited. I actually used to not raise much with A-X suited, but one of the books I have been reading advised it if it would put money in the pot.
It would not have been a good play had I expected Mr Raiser to come back over the top of me. But I had read this fellow right. I could see all the grumbling in the heads of my fellow players as they called another bet. Most called for one card, and then dropped when my ace came. Mr. Raiser knew what I had done and figured it was mostly bluff, so he called me (betting his big red NL chips and getting change). I the disgusted way he bet, I could read he was very weak. My A-8 two pair took a good pot that hand, and Mr Raiser never raised preplop again.

Peter played well to my left. I did not feel pressured to adjust my strategy as much as I do sometimes when I play with family or friends. He took me down in one hand and it was nice to lose to him. Most times we were not in the same hands.

Just before I left to head home, a woman came on my right who had never played Hold Em before. She was a stud player, so she knew poker, but she did not really get the feel of the game. That is how it is at Foxwoods. You can almost always trust there will be some weak players at the table and that the average player being too loose but passive.

When we left, I was ahead $104 and Peter was ahead $62.

The ride home was boring. I could not nap well, Peter was quieter and into his Gameboy, and the people behind me chattered away the whole trip. Some of it was entertaining, but after three hours it gets old. There are few movies on the $10 special trips. I suppose this is because the drivers are not the regulars.

Still it felt good to be clawing up the cliff of defeat for this worldwind week of poker.

When I was in Illinois last week, all the guys were excited about the football upset. Illinois was up against the odds playing Ohio and pulled out a very exciting victory. I know nothing about football, but coming back from $450 behind in this week of poker to just $12, with today's game to go, feels very similar to the way those Illinois players must have felt against Ohio. Only there was no fighting on the field, unless you count the banter between Greg and I.

Tomorrow I have a home game at Gregg's. Then things slow down until Vegas.
Happy Thanksgiving

CHICAGO POKER

MAJESTIC CASINO - INDIANA- HOME GAME CHICAGO-TRIP REPORT

Majestic Casino in Indiana is a decent place to play poker. There is no free alcohol, but the game I played this week was good.
I played with regulars, but they were still a bit loose. Also there were a few bad players and novices in the mix.
One Asian fellow that eveyone called Bubba (probably because he called everyone Bubba) started the night loose but reasonable and gradually got very drunk and very loose aggessive, betting and raising every hand.
Two other players hardly knew the rules.
The better players slowed down then and waited for Bubba the Raiser before acting. Once that happens, I usually like the game.
However, I was in a 3-6 game with a Kill.
I don't like the Kills!!
Usually they redistribute the wealth if I manage to hit a couple pots. And they make my blinds expensive. The beauty of a 3-6 game is the easily folded dollar small blind. With a kill, large binds see fewer free flops.

Son Keith and I had arrived at 3 PM.
The day before I had seen son Frank sworn in as an Illinois lawyer in a huge ceremony and met many of his lawyer friends at a fine lunch at Manny's deli, where thirty of us were treated by one of the other father's.

That morning I slept as late as I could, watched "Rounders" for inspiration on son Keith's wide screen, ate left over Chinese food for breakfast, and then took a until Keith got out of work midday. I was to appreciate the nap ; taking just a half hour break for a little chili and seafood salad on my comps, we left the casino at 4:30AM for the near two hour ride back.
14 and a half hours of straight poker.



The long overnight session was disappointing. At the depth of my defeat, I had bought in for $600 and $450 was gone. Still I knew it was not my playing. I had experienced a run of incredibly low cards. 2-3 offsuit came and came again. That is a good pattern in a lover, but deadly in low cards. Had I caught A-K as often instead of that promiscuous 2-3 SOB, I would have taken all the chips on the table.

I stayed disciplined.
Good cards let me down on the river.

I was losing in spite of there being a few people who would pay me were I ever to catch a hand.



I did hit one string of hands. Two in a row and on the kill (where I must post $6 and the game will now be 6-12), I was dealt pocket queens. My kill was in place of my small blind. I raised it. It unsettled some of the players who needed to call my raise or fold their $6. The loose ones who had called without very strong hands even went so far as to question the dealer as to my right to raise the kill pot $6. The flop came all disconnected rags, and by the river, everyone had folded.

I also remember two missed pots. One was a 6-12 pot and huge. I had K-9 of hearts, a pair of kings, a straight possibility, and after the turn a flush draw. After the turn one opponent bet his top two pair, aces and jacks, so that made that round $24 and half the table was calling. I needed one heart for the nut. I missed. Two pair took it.

In another Bubba the Raiser was doing his betting thing and I was calling. I caught a nice straight 9-K on the river and raised his initial bets. Often his bets were on nothing and just a hopeful bet into our weakness. If bubba had not been Asian and drunk, he could have names himself Gregg.

This time they were based on a flopped 10 to the A straight where he held K-J.
I raised my smaller straight.
He reraised.
I called and lost a nice one.

Otherwise the night was one of discipline. I sat and watched the game. I waited. I stayed calm. I knew that I could win with good cards. Even my rock status did not mean I was not called if I raised.
I could push a few players out with my pairs, but a bluff was impossible. Once I successfully bluffed one other rock when I had just a pair of deuces on the river. Only once.
Players were often pissed when I raised, but they did not all fold. When we left, I was down $320.

***********************************

The next night we went to Mark's for a home game in downtown Chicago.

Mark is an old friend of Keith, and I had extended my stay in Chicago to play in this game. I was a bit nervous because my gambling bankroll has looked low for going into Vegas next month and after the Majestic debacle, it was now lower.

We started a 3 person cash game similar to what we played a Greg's. I lost $16.

More guys arrived and the tournament was set up. It was a $20 tournament with one rebuy. Before a tenth guy arrived, I had already lost most of my buy in and had bought in again for what was my one rebuy chance. A good bit of it had gone when I went all in on an Ace-Queen after both came on the flop. I was beat on the river to a guy who called me with K-J inside straight draw.


In order to let the new fellow in the game late, Mark decided that everyone would have the option of another rebuy, and although I was up chips again, I bought. So I was now in for $60.

And then things started to go my way. All these players were in their 30's, so I was the old guy. I had played tight. I hit a few pots and started to dominate the table. They started to tease that the "old guy has it on."

After not playing anything for a long while, I played a 5-7 of hearts in later position just for the hell of it. The flop came 5-5-7. There was some checking and I checked. Then there was a bet and I went all in. My one opponent hesitated, but he called with me and the river did not help him.

Later that trash play was to help me again. I had pocket kings and the flop was 3-4-6. A guy bet half his chips. I raised to put him all in. While he hesitated, he talked.

It was common in this game to talk the game a bit and hopefully get some information.

In his talk he mentioned that I had played that trash and I said, "yep, it was the 5-7 then too. Ya gotta raise those two cards up." And he folded what was most likely a straight draw.

Still I was not too optimistic. I have never beaten son Keith in a tournament. He generally wins. He had played no limit all night the night before and caught some poor beats. He had still only lost a little over a hundred in a game where people lost a thousand easily over the course of the play. Luckily, he was seated to my right.

I was strong in chips when he made a huge bet. I held A-J offsuit and I called. Rags dropped. Keith put in the rest of his chips. I called. He had tried to force out folks with K-Q, not expecting me to call with so few chips. Neither of us developed and my ace-high gave me a huge stack.

After that I just had to wait for players to eliminate themselves. I checked a pocket pair of kings when two 9's fell on the turn until it became kings full, and almost trapped a player with a healthy bet that would have moved him to go all in.

He suspected I had a higher pair than he had.

In the end I was left with the fellow who lost when I had the trip 5's on 5-7 and he was intimidated and low chipped. He also was the easiest at the table to read. When two aces flopped and nothing came on the turn, I went all in with my pocket tens and he called with very little, mostly to get it over with.

So I won my first tournament in a good long while. Had it been a straight $20 tournament I would not have won, but the rebuys gave me power.

A cash game afterward with Omaha High and Pineapple thrown in (the game now also included the newly sworn in lawyer son Frank) won me enough so that my losses for the entire trip were reduced to $116. Whew! I can live with that. Especially since I beat son Keith. He did not respect some of my play, but then as I say when raking in such pots in Vegas,
"When I can't play smart, I always try to play lucky."

Perhaps I can get my losses back tomorrow when I go to Foxwoods on the bus with son Peter or on Wednesday when we have a game at Greg's. At any rate I won't now get into the place where I lose $1000 in a week of poker just a few weeks before going to Vegas for a trip in which I am already feeling short on bankroll even if the trip itself will be basically free.
Free flight. Average room fee of $5.50. Lots of free food and free play.

For a long, long while the poker games were just not happening, and then in one week, I manage to play four times and all in different venues.
Life is just like the run of the cards.
Streaks happen.

Greg online

Greg plays with free money on line no limit and he writes:

AND I wanna tell you about a good game I had last night on Pokerroom.com, 5 at a table, $10,000 buy-ins.

I came in about 9pm and lost a couple buy-ins, i.e., $20,000 and then started to build my stash.

Another fellow lost about $50,000 and then starts to build.

Buy 10:30pm he and I have $50,000 each; by midnight we have $120,000 each. Other guys are coming and going like flies as we swat them and watch each other carefully -- trading a couple grand now and then.

Then the big hand just after midnight. He checks. I hold an A, 8 and bet $2,000 -- 3 players fold and he calls.

Flop: 9, 10, J. He checks; I bet $4,000; He calls. (no flushes available).

Turn: A; He checks; I bet $6,000; He calls. (now, he's not a slow better; but it's instructive to know that when you're playing a loose player like me, slow can be very good.)

River: A; So I've got 3 Aces and an 8, 9, 10, J.

with 9, 10, J, A, A on the board. I can see about 6 ways to beat me.

Finally he bets! $10,000. I raise to $20,000. He goes all in. I call. So there you have it -- $240,000 in the pot.

He's holding a Q, K. (straight to the Ace) I'm busted!

*************
We talked about overvaluing a small straight draw. In NL the small straight is a real killer.

The fact is that the fellow had Greg beat on the flop. He might have dccided to go all in then. I think he should have decided by the turn. If Greg is still betting, he should have put Greg on trips and made him pay high for the river card. Instead, he goes all in after the river makes any full house and even when Greg's possible Full House is very probable. In fact, he rerasises a 20 grand bet that Greg should only have made as a value bet if he had at least a full house. This was a poor bet on other guy's part and he was just lucky Greg was also playing poorly.

Head to Head with Greg

At the last minute Greg said he could play for an hour or so yesterday. We set up the game in his little cabin in the back. It was a mild day so it was comfortable. No mosquitoes. I arrived at 2 PM and left at 10 PM. That is what an "hour" of poker means in Gregg's dialect. The money went back and forth quite a few times. We had about $150 on the table for the last half of the play, so those were major all-in pots. I remember some all-in hands:

I flopped the low end of 8-9-10 and he had the J-Q.

He had trip sevens and I had pocket tens for a boat.

Once he tried an all-in bluff when I was waiting with eights full of aces.

The little cabin gets dark in the evening. A small propane lantern gives us just a bit of light. Once after the deal, Gregg started to flop thinking he was dealing that hand with his red cards. I corrected it and beat his pocket queens, but we ran the rabbit on the red deck just to see. He would have flopped 4 queens had he dealt that flop, but three of them would have been red queens.

Toward the end of the evening, we went all-in and I won. Our chips were about even and Greg said, "Just take all of mine," but I insisted we count in case he had some left after he paid me off.
He did.
About $7 worth.
And with that $7 he retook almost all the chips on the table.

Finally, we were about even and I left to pee in the bushes. I don't know what happened. Something with the dog I guess, but when I got back the table was overturned and all the chips and cards as well as the propane lantern were on the floor.

So we split the money in the bank, went to laugh over a few stories on the porch bench overlooking the wetlands, and called it a night.

Four Winds poker - no dealer

I visited a new casino, Four Winds Casino in New Buffalo, Michigan (opened a month ago) to play for a little while on a table that eliminates the need for the live dealer. I played a NL game. I bought in for $50 and was up and down until my last hand where I went all in on K-J two pair to be beat by a fellow with 3-4 and the wheel straight.

I liked the electronic tables. The rake was cheaper and there was no tip, so that cut down on the cost of playing. Fewer mistakes were possible. You could not check so softly as to deny it after it had gone around. You could not bet out of turn. You could not bet with the wrong chips. There was no crazy stuff like the single chip rule which confused me in Laughlin and cost me money.

When it was your turn to play, a light lit on your console and you punched how much of the preloaded buy in you wished to bet and then confirmed your decision. Hands went by faster. No shuffling, no time needed for counting chips and calculating side pots, no chip fills, no taking of tip boxes, no dealer changes. It was all done quickly by computer. Some have worried that without a dealer there might be a lack of social exchange and there is something to that. No pretty girls faces to study during cold hand streaks. Still, it is possible to say something to someone at the other end of the smaller table, be heard, and not have the dealer jump into the conversation.

Would that make it easier to cheat with a partner? Well, it might. You would have to call the floor. But the last time I was with two guys showing hands, he dealer could not do anything anyway and I had to call the floor. It would be impossible to cheat by marking cards or hiding them. It would be impossible for the dealer to misread a hand at the end.

I liked it. But I was not there too long.

Gregg at Slink's

one more good hand from last night.
$200/$200/$200 the others fold.

Flop: 3 Kings

I'm holding an A Q.

Jay check; Gaspar check, Check; Gregg bet $200; Jay call: Gaspar call.

Turn: 3.
Jay check; Gaspar check: Gregg bet $200; Jay call,(saying "I smell a King over there); Gaspar call.

That was the red flag I needed.

River: 7

Jay check; Caspar check; Gregg check.

Me A Q; Gaspar A J; Jay K 9.

Jay "I thought you'd go all in.

Well played; he just shouldn't have said anything. I would have gone all in.

Son Peter's first casino poker

Poker buddy Bill was booked on the bus with me, but had family obligations and at the last minute called and told me that he could not come. So my son Peter pretended to be Bill and went in his place.

It was a fine father/son sharing of story and banter. We had poor seats in the bus, in the back where all the bumping and rolling is exaggerated, had it seemed hotter than usual, but we managed seats together on a full bus and had a good visit.

I played 2-4 all day. In the morning I played at the same table with Peter and even sat next to him for a while and that was good. Pete has played a lot in free on line games but I guess this was his first time in the casino. In spite of a lot of our talk, he started a bit too loose and did not get lucky so his bankroll went down, but soon he seemed to get it pretty well. He ended the day $28 down in poker and got $25 back in free keno.

Keno gave me $5 but I put it in a Haywire machine while Peter was in the bathroom and lost it. It is the only slot I've played in all my trips. Losing it was all Peter's fault. I told him he will have to plan his bathroom trips with more concern for others.

We went to the buffet at one o'clock and had no trouble. Lines were short. It tasted very good. I even had a pierogi. And it was good to have time to talk about hands. We were seated immediately back at a 2-4 but at different tables and although the opportunity came for table change, Peter was content playing by himself. He played all afternoon.

My afternoon was tough. All day I was not on my top game and made mistakes, some very stupid mistakes. I had a run of bad cards, and I was down over $100 when it changed to a run of great cards. I had pocket queens and the flop came 2-2-X. I decided to raise it, hoping to see a free card, but it was a bad decision. I pushed two guys out and was left head to head with one of the most conservative players on the board. The fact that she called me meant she had the third deuce. The turn changed any plans to fold, it was a queen. She called my turn and river bet in spite of having trip deuces and I won with the full house.

After a few more wins, where good cards developed I realized that I was getting a lot of respect, and that sometimes people would fold on the river.

So I bluffed. In fact, I took that information on my own tells that Bill had given me, the fact that sometimes I set chips up to bet too early, and I set up to bet the river, moved my hand toward the bet as my opponent hesitated, and then bet. He folded. My next bluff just a few hands later came against two players. They folded. In about the space of seven hands I took four of them with bold lies on the river. In one hand I had A-2 and actually bet ahead of my hesitating opponent, apologized, and found that when I then made the actual bet, he folded.

On my fifth try I was called on the river. I did not have to show my busted straight, but the guy had only a pair of aces. So that was the end of the bluffing cycle. It had returned my losses; I ended up ahead $34 for the day.

The ride home was a bit uncomfortable. Peter and I are large men, so when we sit side by side, we are not completely side by side. But we had a movie, "Shall We Dance." and although I had seen it, I enjoyed it again. After this hot bus ride, a night swim in the lake was wonderful! The water was warm enough to be comfortable, but if I stretched my feet down as far as possible I encountered a wonderful coolness. The moon was full, Venus burned brightly and just over the trees to the North was the big dipper. One boat quietly slipped across the other side with young people talking of school and laughing. I remembered swimming at night with my buddies at Lime Lake when I was in 8th grade. There won't be too many more days for such comfortable swimming.