Funny Ocala bluff

I have not been recording all my adventures, but this one was funny.
When I hit the high hand for a hundred dollars by getting a straight flush on the turn, I pushed out a fellow who had been waiting with a jack high flush for a couple hours.  He was fine, but steaming inside I guess. 
I left the table, then returned when the second table broke up.  So I had to face all these good players again.
The guy I beat talked to the guy next to him about getting back the hundred before he left the casino.  These were tacky side comments.  Inappropriate really.
He won one hand and took ten of my dollars. 
In a later hand I had a good straight draw, but I missed. On the river the guy bet five dollars, and I raised to fifteen.  He folded what he said was two pair.
"I don't want to give back that ten dollars,"  he said.
I laughed very loud.

I was tempted to rub it in his face to pay him back for the side comments.  Instead I thought I rather liked keeping the respect for fairly tight play.  Later, when he had left I mentioned it to his buddy and said I was tempted to tease him a bit, but decided against it.  I knew that it would get back to him the next time his buddy had a chance to tell him although I said I hoped that what I was telling would not be repeated. 

It is a strange game of strange actions and feelings.  I wonder if I'll see the fellow again.

What an Ocala weekend!

Normally my gambling here in Florida is up or down about a hundred dollars per session.  Last year it was all down, so the sessions added up.  This year I followed that pattern but results were mixed.  This weekend the low stakes pattern broke.
Saturday I lost $311.  Competition was hard and my cards were unlucky.  The worst hand was holding a king and ending up all in on a king high straight to find my opponent holding a king as well but with an ace kicker.  That hand alone cost me almost half my losses.
And there were no high hands.  I was not even on the board.  Ocala offers high hand awards to the highest in the poker room and on Saturdays these are $500 every half hour.  It is a fine promotion, but it like other good promotions, it draws good players and so it is not good for table selection.

On Sunday the award is $300 every hour, a good bit less, and it is not given during the tournament time, from 4-7.  So, the regular good grinders are not as attracted to Sundays and the good players who do come, play in the tournament and leave the little 1-1 no limit game very soft.  Added to that is the absence of a 1-3 spread limit game, so the weaker player come to the 1-1.  They were there this Sunday and it made the play much easier and in particular let me play all day a tight, aggressive game and still get paid.

Also, Saturday I was off a bit.  I was tired and something was amiss as I felt disoriented the entire day.  While Sunday I was just disoriented in the morning and then it lifted as I drove to the little buffet I have found for a meal before poker where I can get a Mongolian grill and shellfish.

In no limit in casinos the weakest aspect of my game is bluffing and reading players so I can call bluffs.  Failures here cost me more money than anything else. And just reading players in general is not my strength.  I do well absorbing their patterns and sometimes these are great giveaways.  Then there are those whose body language tell everything.  But I get beat by the stone faced poker players, especially the aggressive players who bluff and then catch on the river. Some players I can't read at all.  Take that Saturday hand where I don't have the nut straight.  I could have saved $60 had I read Eddie right and thrown away my straight on the turn when he raised my substantial bet.  I should have known that was not a bluff and that he had the nut.

Playing at a table where a few players are going to call everything or even raise for no good reason means playing for the most part the odds of the cards.  We had such players yesterday, especially on Russian who barely spoke English and kept running out somewhere for more money and played the worst poker I have seen.  And there were others.  So I did well in the poker and was only behind at the beginning of the game when one player stayed with a hand she should have folded after my solid bet and then folded.

That would have won me over a hundred dollars and been a successful day.
However, my luck was better yet.  Of the ten high hand awards given out yesterday, I was paid for two of them.  Amazing luck!  So I bought in for $100 and cashed out for $818 even after tipping $30 on each high hand win. This is a huge Florida record for me.

My first high hand came early in the hour.  I held J-10, caught two pair on the river and another jack on the turn for a full house.  I did not think of it as a high hand when I played it and so I bet aggressively and was well paid in the pot.  When I turned the dealer said, "Hi hand" and I chuckled because I certainly did not think it would last an hour.  Just last Sunday I had lost a high hand award of $300 when my Aces full of nines were beat with just a few seconds left by Aces full of Tens. 

It is unnerving when this happens.  There are two huge televisions with huge digital numbers that count down the time remaining and show the current high hand.  It is a fine way to keep that current knowledge unlike the Silks where you have to keep asking and the dealers don't really know.  At the beginning I did not give it much attention but as the hour ticks away...well... this promotion does really add to the fun of the game.

At my table were plenty of talkative people, including one Black fellow who kept promising to beat me and then kept bantering with me.  It was a good bit of fun.  He was a funny guy and never let me forget for a moment that the clock was ticking.

And then I won.

The second high hand was easier and I won even though I played it wrong.  It was late in the hour with just 9 minutes to go.  On the turn my K-6 caught a full house. (we play more odd hands in this game because there are two blinds a dollar each, and often they show us flops on hands we would have tossed.)  I checke the turn.  Slow played.  I was thinking of the poker and I was thinking that I might catch the quad king and really have a high hand.  Now this was a mistake. My kicker was a 6 and were I to catch the quad kings I would have a good,strong hand for the pot but since a flopped card was higher than my six, I should have gone all in on the turn and forced everyone out of the pot in order to protect the high hand award.  Well, in this case it worked fine because no fourth king came and my slow played showed enough weakness for me to be called on the river with a decent value bet.

I was more confident this would hold up for the 9 minutes left.  And it did.

As well as being a day of winning, the players were mixed and interesting.  There was plenty of talk and entertainment, a few pretty girls, a mixture of ages and races.  That is part of what I like in poker, a community of strangers. That, and winning money.

 

Finally a win/ And a loss Ocala

Perhaps Sunday is a better day to go to Ocala than Saturday because the high hand promotion is not as high and so the visitors are there just because they want to play a little Sunday poker.  Or perhaps I just got lucky on tables.

I arrived at about 1.  I need to bring a book because at that time there is one full table and it will be a while before a table opens. 
On the other hand the full table has captured all the regulars.  I watched a good while and it was a table full of good players.
I had my name on the 1-1 list and the 1-2 list.  The first table to open was the 1-2.  This was good luck.  It filled with some good players, but half the table was there to play the lower stakes 1-1 and many of them were terrible players.  I was lucky and won a few pots. 
I kept my name on the 1-1 list (they took me off and I put me back on) and when that table opened, half our table joined it. 
This was lucky.
Basically, the folks who had arrived and put their names on both lists and who were the better players joined the 1-2 seats that we vacated when the 1-1 opened up, and we were on a lower stakes table with all new money and half of the players were terrible.  The feel of this game is more like the feel of a limit game.
I have found that the best poker is at a newly opened table.
Also, if there is a higher stakes game in the same room, it will draw off the better players.
I cashed in and put $175 in my wallet.  The 1-2 had done well for me. 
I could only buy in for $60 in the new 1-1 game.  I liked that.  I better like playing with a smaller bankroll and grinding out some money than I do sitting on a large stack that might be pushed in on one hand.
I replenished a bit from a few chips in my pocket, and then I hit some good hands and did not need to add any more.
I was high hand for a while with queens full, but got kicked out by some quads.
They started a tournament, only $35 and I was tempted to play but there were not seats left and the alternative list was very long.  I was happy I did not play because this tournament drew the better players and the looser players off the cash table so the poker was a good bit easier.

After a while I felt like I had been there long enough, so I asked to be moved to another new table just starting up.  They let me go.  They also did not monitor that I bring my whole stack to the new 1-1 table, but let me start with $60 again, the rest in my pocket.  I am supposed to bring the whole stack if my move is on the same level, but again I want the low bankroll bets so I just counted out $60 and they let me play with that.

This table got harder to beat as folks who could not play ran out of money and went home.
The hardest was Christine.  I'll watch for her.  Great poker face.  Sunglasses that seemed to work to disguise her intention and a Gregg style.  Most folks are tight at these games, but Christine like to bet.  And she took down some pots, often on the river with draw hands that she bet and must have taken down some pots with draw hands where everyone folded.  She build a nice chip stack, lost half and built it again before she went home. 
There are times when I would not have enjoyed playing with her, but she became interesting and my person to beat.  She was the only one taking me down, mostly by making me fold.  I tightened up and waited for her to bet before I showed any strength.  She made me thing that Gregg would make good money at these Ocala games.  Loose aggressive was a decent style to play.  People were not confident.  Still, I can't do it because I the thing I do least well is put people on hands.

I did not manage to trap her into anything.  I had a great hand where my 7-10 blind caught 7-7-10 on the flop.  I slow played and did catch another good player but only for $13.  And it was a decent pot.  But Christine was too smart.  She thought about it.  I thought I might have her for my last bet of $35, but she went away.  Too bad.

I stopped playing when there were but 4 players left and I missed the draw that would send me to a combined table.  It was after 7, but I could see that only the better players were left.   Before the table broke I had won a hand with Aces full and it was on the board as the high hand, so I waited around and hope it would hold up.  I was watching a game where a fellow folded pocket 5's only to see the quad flop.  I breathed a sigh of relief.  With one minute and 18 seconds left before I'd get paid $300, Wally on table 20 hit Aces full of TENS.

What a way to lose, just one card up from mine.

So I drove home with my $272 profit.
The game reinforces that I stay too long playing.  I do best at new games until people get a feel of how I play and then it is time for me to go.  In Ocala that is hard as there are no other games to join.  I may try to just play the other no limit game when I have a stack larger than I am comfortable risking in one hand.  With $60 I have top buy in at the 1-1 and bottom buy in at the 1-2.

I should look for new games.

All this is good strategy for Vegas where I hope this trip to play some no limit with a short stack.  There are some places where I can play for $50.  Then if I hit and have $100 in front of me, I can cash out and move to another casino.  Short stacked cuts out the parts of the game I can't do well:  Putting people on hands, calling large bluffs.  It gets the money in early and lets it just be a game of betting on the best cards.  However, even calling with second best is not a terrible move because the most I can win is capped at the small stack.

This would also get me unstuck from a game and get me walking the strip for a break and for variety.  I will earn less CET comps and perhaps my room rates will go up, but I really thing that deal is over anyway with all the renovation, the changes in comp policy and now this infernal resort fee that will add too much to the rate to make it a good deal over the downtown and off strip casinos.

Well, it is nice after all these losing sessions to win a nice bit.  It means my Ocala statistics for the season are plus $18.  My poker play for this season with all games computed is still a minus.  I've lost $141 playing poker in Florida.

Ocala

Lost $75 playing no limit.
Lost or folded pocket kings three times.

Worst was when it flopped  K Q X rainbow and by the turn I am all in with one opponent.
The case river queen gave her trips for the pot and the high hand award of $100.

Ouch!!!!

I hit one high hand with A-K and a full house on the river, but the guy next to me had the A-K as well so we split the pot and the high hand award.

Once kings lost to pocket Aces.

It was a good day and I like this 1-1 game.  I played that rather than the 1-3.
I watched a fellow play short stack, buying in for $20 at time at this table where $60 is the max buy-in.  I did not see that he had much power.  This game is in my bankroll.

Worst hand.  Played 5-8 of spades on a lark for a dollar.  Lots of checking.  Caught a seven for a straight on the river and a guy called my $15 raise  because he made trip sevens.  He was annoyed.  He was the guy playing short stacked. 

Not a big pot, but it was enough to totter my tight image.

A Day of Poker at Ocala Jai Alai

So here is how it is for me and poker down here in Florida.
I played about 11 sessions last year and came away down money. Usually, just a few dollars, but still that did not do much for my confidence.
This year I played one session at Tampa Hard rock and lost, but I was ahead for a while and my new hit and run no limit on short stack strategy had me winning and feeling like I knew how to play that way against people who I knew could outplay me in the long run if I wasn’t short stacked.
I decided that I just wouldn’t bother so much with Tampa Hard Rock this and fish more mullet than poker pots, although those little critters have proved tougher opponents than rock hard poker partners.
Still I just go the the Hard Rock a few times when I have people to get at the airport, but when Elizabeth feels comfortable with no car for a day and can free me up on a Wednesday for the Ocala Jai Alai games, I play there for fun.
On Wednesday and on Saturday they have a spread limit 1-3 game. There is no way to expect to win money because the rake and tip take so much, but in the 1-3 I can expect to have a bit of fun and break about even.
What happens on Wednesday is a bus load of seniors from a huge nearby senior complex called the Villages come in every Wednesday and so that 1-3 spread limit game emerges as variety to what is usually a no limit game.
This sort of game can also gives me the kind of social interaction with banter and jokes that I like to mix with the poker.
It is not the cosmopolitan crowd I love in Vegas at limit games, and some of the people are taciturn, dull, and well.......pretty brain dead dull. They seriously treat the 1-3 like real poker; there are always a few old men annoyed with life and everything who don’t like a lot of joking around because life is not funny and poker isn’t either. Why these old grumps would no sooner joke around at a poker game than they would at the Baptist Evangelical Gun collectors rally and rebel flag waving tent salvation convention.
But others are good humored and good for conversation and banter.
I met a guy who lives summers up near Bar Harbor. Maine. and he was interesting to talk to because my poker buddy Ron goes there every year and we shared a bit of his hometown, with him mostly talking about his pleasure in escaping..
He day trades in stocks down here in Florida, but when he said that, the one good humored guy Walter actually thought he said he traded in socks and seriously asked him what that was like, so that became the joke of the afternoon, revisited time and time again. I
liked that.
Then right next to me was a woman who knew that we were just there to have fun, and she said so, and she got soused on beer and laughed like a college girl, and had a grand old time without being very obnoxious although she did seem to embarrass her ride Rick at the other end of the table who was sheepish and quiet and probably wanted to take her home. She built good pots and called even when she did not get lucky.

My own humor was sometimes missed.
Serious John got a bit annoyed at me when after my reraise right before the drunk lady who asked me what I had ( I reraised on the button preflop with pocket kings trying to limit the field by taking a woman’s initial bet of $2 up to the unheard of extravagance of 5 dollars)
I had just won a pot with a flopped two pair the hand before, and the drunk lady started to do a fake whine and complain in a good humored fashion about me bullying and such.
I told her that I was really forced to make the raise because once again I had two pair on the flop. (remember this is preflop so that is absurd)
Well, that joke just swished over the heads of whole table and old dull and serious John started to complain about such a ridiculous position, and lectured me that I could not have the two pair because there had been no flop. I guess he seriously thought I seriously believed I held two pair was telling my true hand and an idiot besides.
After that I tried to be less dry and made my jokes more transparent and simple.
Puns on socks trading in Maine worked with allusions to L L Bean. Well, old dull John did not quite get those either, but they weren’t about poker, so he was just quiet and I guess seriously counting his outs or figuring his pot odds or communing with God about guns or just sucking something out of the hollows of the few teeth he had left.

Drunk lady was in her late seventies and acting like a teenager, but not in any obnoxious way. I liked her and so did Walter, except she kept elbowing him in the ribs and once she punched him in the arm.
He laughed, but I think he was a bit annoyed.
Walter acted after her and was a very good poker player except he explained every one of his decisions, so he gave away too much information. Some poker are more afraid that they will be perceived as bad players than they are of losing pots because people correctly perceive them as smart.

It was a fine game to play for fun and for the high hand house award of $100 given every 30 minutes. Two people at my table won this during the afternoon and it was a great deal of fun to see a nice high Aces-full posted and then watch the countdown clock and wonder if there was time for someone to catch a better hand or if the high full house would hold up.
One dealer said that the room was packed on New Years even when one of these high hand awards was worth $2013 and it was actually won by a woman who early in the hour caught Aces full and then saw them hold up for the money. The rest of New Years Eve quads and straight flushes won, but that big hand awarded the full house.
For high hands to count there needs to be $10 in the pot and both cards have to play, but one could be a kicker, so an A-6 with a flop of three sixes would qualify.
Then when some won, the casino made a nice little fuss, coming with a camera to take a photo just like hitting 10 grand in a Vegas slot.
I like all of it. It is the same entertainment as Vegas with less risk and these high hand awards are much more satisfying than that constant banter about “bad beats” in most places.
For a while it was the only limit game, so high hands could be expected more often at that table and folks played all the possibilities so even though the rakes were high, the pots could get big, splashed as they were by straight flush possibilities.
They opened up a 2-4, but I stayed with the spread limit because I like it better.
I did not hit any high hand, but I did very well for a while and then I lost my profit back playing one hand really poorly that I should have just tossed back early.

When the drunk lady left with other people on the senior citizen bus, including Walter, and left me with the dull witted taciturn old grumps.
I left the 1-3 table down three dollars after a few hours, well, really up $7 since my early play at no limit had cost me about $10
I took the last seat at a 1-1 NL game and entered in first position and too the option of buying the button. For $2 that makes sense to me. I’m only playing mostly button and near button hands anyway, as well as the many, many limped blind hands I get to play in this game because it is not an aggressive game and preflop raises don’t happen so much.
I’m dealt 7-2 of diamonds. Remember I’m in first position.
Two diamonds come on the flop, so I check and then call a $2 bet somewhere with a few callers. I am very weak, but this is like a 2-4 game.
We all check the turn.
The river comes with the diamond, but I check it in first position figuring anyone calling me has a higher flush. One woman bets $2 and everyone folds.
So, I say, “How about $10?” and toss in two red chips figuring that if she has a small flush, but one probably higher than mine, with this hefty check raise, I might be able to push her off of the smaller flush for this match the pot bet.
She thinks a minute, but not long, and she calls.
“Well, I guess she has got me beat.” I say , and turn over my cards.
Well, she doesn’t.
Nice to sit down and win the first hand from terrible position with 7-2.

What I learn all day is that I can’t put people on hands. I’ll watch the betting, put them on such and such and I’m just stupid about it. Sometimes I win with my stupidity.
In one game I am on the button with A-Q and I raise to $3 because this will take out the terrible blind limp cards. yes, in this game $3 will steal blinds.
The flop comes A-x-x and I make a bet on the button and get maybe two callers.
I should have bet on the turn, but I worry about A-K and there is not much to draw to, so I let it go with a free card.
On the river, a king falls and a guy bets just ahead of me.
I call and when he flips his cards, I first see the K and I’m so sure he had A-K that I groan a bit before I see that it is K-something and he was calling me to draw into some inside straight and instead of worrying about my Ace, he bet his second best river king but not so much as to push me off my pair of Aces.

So I learn that this inability to read hands is one of the reasons I can’t play this game well. And this makes sense to me and explains why I do better at our weekly game with the same fellows every week, but don’t do well in the casino. I can put them on hands because I know how they play. In the casino I just suck at reading strangers.

********************
When I really don’t put a guy on a hand is when we are heads up and he is betting small with a large full house. I’m calling. He is just trying to get the pot up to $10 because kings full is at this point the high hand of the half hour, and he wants to be in that $100 running. I never put him on such a hand and he puts me on something pretty low, so he even after he has the minimum, he just value bets the river for $3. Maybe he hopes I will come back over the top and try to push him.

When he shows the kings full high hand, I am very surprised. And then he says that he had tried to signal me to help him out with getting the $10 minimum in the pot. I feel pretty stupid. I completely missed any signal and did not put him on much of anything and was in the dark about anything inspite of the obvious clues that I guess were right there.

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

There was no chance to play short stacked on a 1-1 $60 max table. I could have joined higher staked tables, but I liked playing where on a small bankroll I could play real poker and did not have to leave when I doubled up. For a good bit of the time with $160 in front of me , I was top chipped guy at that NL table by $40, so no one was going to take me on the river for all my money. Playing short chipped here would mean playing with a $20 buy in and going all in preflop against just a few dollars and certainly making these folks angry.
It would be the ultimate grind and not much fun. To hit and run with a $20 profit is not appealing even to my small potatoe self.
And this was not a game with many all-in bets and most of those would be made from nut hands. Very little bully bluffing at all. So the advantage of short stacked play, the absence of the big bluff, was absent here just as much as at a short stacked, higher stakes and aggressive game.

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

As well as learning that I can’t read strangers and put them on hands, I think I better learned when it is time to go home.
On the limit table there was a time when the fellow next to me from Maine turned and said, “Man, you sure are getting some good kickers.” I guess he missed how many hands I tossed away and that I was only showing good kickers because I was only playing good kickers. In that game good kickers would win more money than good hands because folks were playing king and Ace with small kickers right to the river. But I realized that this drew attention to how tight I was and it might be time to go.
On the no limit, the fellow who got and quickly lost the $100 high hand bonus, looked at me and said with some annoyance, “You know the only hand you have lost is when I had the high hand and beat you.” pointing out that if I was in it to the river, I was strong and not just full of hope or bluff. So, with that being my table image, explained for anyone who had not noticed, it was time to leave there too because second, third, and fourth best were going to stop calling, fold and not pay me.
And perhaps it is time to leave whenever I am up $100 at any game.

***********

And finally, the “junk winning hand” of the day happened to me in middle position when I limped in with a dollar because I had not played in a long, long while. I held 6 and 10 of clubs. What was I thinking??
The flop was 7-8-9 rainbow and I slow played well enough, made a pot building bet on the turn when there were also two clubs giving me a flush possibility as well, and I had three callers when I bet my $15 on a no flush possible river, one raising to $18 to go all=in and go home. My straight was a surprise to everyone.
And for once I had correctly read that no one had the nut 10-J that might have made me cry.
“ My lucky hand,” I announced hoping to spoil a tight table image, “I win so often with these two cards that I just have to always play them. 6-9 works that way for me as well.”
I don’t know if they believed me.
*********
The day’s hands themselves were no great wonder. No pocket Aces or Queens or tens all day. I lost with Pocket kings and twice with A-K. Pocket fours flopped a set ,and I slow played and did well on that pot against two pair bettors. Pocket 8’s, 9’s, 2’s 3’s 5’s went no where. Suited connectors never connected. I think I got one full house all day and no Ace high flushes. But $104 is huge for me.
I’ll take it.
They tell me on Saturday the high hands are awarded $500 every 30 minutes, but the room is full and so the odds dwindle or perhaps stay about the same as there are perhaps five times the players in each hand. Still, the 1-3 game will be there for certain and that is the one where the high hands have the best odds of hitting.
I’ll be back.

Turning Stone/next year Kingston

Ron drove and we went up for the day together.  Actually, we did not get much more time than we would have on the bus, but Ron likes his car better and perhaps we had the privacy of talking without company.

The trip went fast.

Once again I tried coffee.  Three cups and it wired me for the whole day,  but the caffeine leaves me anxious and too wired.

I lost $80 after being ahead for a while.  I played just a small amount of no limit while waiting for a 2/4 table.  I still am uncomfortable even at a table with no real aggressive players as there is too much to watch and consider.  I lost a few dollars when I moved.
The morning is just too tight.  The 2/4 table was almost all regulars. 
But folks were friendly for the most part.

Ron did not like the 2/4 but did like playing the no limit and found a good table near the end of the afternoon,  but he did not win for the day either.

The buffet was just great!  I was off my diet a bit, but I had nice scrod, a seafood and tofu medley, utica greens, squash soup, and I tried a small desert of cranberries and corn meal in a sweet mix that was an old Indian recipe.  Off the diet but a good small taste of a new food.

On Fridays they have a live band with dancing in the buffet area and a cost of just $10.  I had $6 in points so it was a cheap meal and the only one we bought as we left about 6 PM and I was home by 8:30.

No big hands.  No Aces, kings, queens.  One pair of jacks that won.
In no limit I misplayed a hand. 
I had a blind hand of J-6 and it flopped J-6 so I bet $6.  That was fine.  Two callers.  The turn was a 6 and I bet $6 and everyone folded.  I forgot how strong the threat of trips was.  I should have waited for the river, especially since there were two hearts on the flop and none on the turn.  Another heart might have given a flush some spunk and made a decent pot.

I was happy with my play and I was happy with opponents most of the day and especially in the afternoon.  I put my name up for a 3-6 but none opened.  Later on Friday night there is sometimes a 3-6 game. 

I also heard about a Canadian game to try up in Kingston, Ontario.  It is a 2-5 limit.  Nice way to overcome the rake.

OLG Casino Thousand Islands380 Highway 2
Gananoque, Ontario K7G 2V4
(613) 382-6800 or 1-866-266-8422

This would make a great trip.  Just about 5 hours from home with Turning Stone just half way, so a camping overnight there and then some cheap rooms in Kingston would do the trick.  And it it turned out to be a bust (it is a small place) I could always come back to Turning Stone. 
It might be a nice place to camp up there as well with the Thousand Islands not far. 

Off season, the Peachtree Inn looks like a great buy even on weekends.
http://www.peachtreeinn.net/amenities.htm

Lake Ontario is not far.  I imagine quite a few good fish in the restaurants.  Maybe walleye.
Blues is there
http://www.kingstonblues.com/welcome.html
and a writers conference
http://www.kingstonwritersfest.ca/

It looks like a fine area for off season prices.  However, in season it gets very pricey.




 

Foxwoods Last One this year

Hard poker hands at Foxwoods.  I think I won only two pots before I went to eat at 1PM and had a losing session after eating. I ended down $122 for the day My best hand was four Aces and I got paid on the river.  There was a very loose player who could not seem to fold hands that he knew were losers. 
Most of the players were good,  but I would have done fine had I got any decent hands.  I folded a pair of nines before the river and a winning nine came.  That was frustrating.
One hand I caught trip deuces on the flop.  My opponent caught trip kings on the turn.  He had raised on the turn and I had reraised feeling very confident.  For some reason he could not figure that he had the nuts, so he did not raise my be on the river.  It was a surprise to see such a strong hand.  Even the dealer was surprised.  His kings were the nuts.

The players were friendly enough, but not very interesting.  A few joked a bit.

I had a fine enough time.
The buffet was as good as ever.  I ate a couple helpings of mussels, a good spinach salad, some wonderful green cooked at the Chinese section, a sweet potato and a nice piece of corn bread.  I had a very few deep fried clams.  I skipped the sugar free pie.

I played roulette again and had a fun time.  I lost $20, but really had a huge losing session.  I put in $20 and did not notice that my bets were $10 each instead of a dollar.  I hit a black number in the third column and so won both my bets and had $50 after that first hand.  Then it went downhill with plenty of single zeros showing up.  On my free play I played a fifty cent two coin slot and won $5 on the first $10 and then $5 on the second $5.  So all my play outside of poker cost me $10.
They had the ten drawings for $100 and I was there for them, taking a break from the poker table.  No luck.
The old folks gift was a cheap little bag that is worn about the hip.  I was disappointed in that, but the two free coffees woke me up and I did not get tired until the end of the day. 

The bus was almost completely full, but I found a seat next to a very friendly woman and we talked Vegas all the way down.  On the way back I watched a movie I had seen before about a tour guide in Greece who finds happiness and love. It was funny and passed the time.  Then I napped.
On the bus I met Brenda Temple's nephew and also the first wife of Ward DeWitt, Marion.  It was fine to see her again.  She told me Linda Jackson had retired.
I had dreaded the bus ride as the $11 price meant every seat was taken, but it ended up one of the easier rides.  You never know.

This one cost me.  The cash price was $11 but I needed to use up the last free voucher which cost me $20 in points.  I have more than $40 in comps, but Foxwoods won't clear them out in January when they do the clearing for the year.  At lest that is what the host told me when I asked.  They should still be there when I go back next year.  I hope that is right.  I would otherwise have used them for lunch and used my buffet ticket as a matchplay.  I may do that anyway on the next trip, but I might also do an overnight with my points giving me plenty of free eats.

I'll miss the poker in Florida.  It is not as good there.  I won't try to play as much as I do here.

No more news on Mohegan Sun poker room closing, so that may have been a rumor.