ATLANTIC CIY

This trip to Atlantic City has been very satisfying in spite of some snafus.  The driving was particularly easy.  The ride down on Sunday missed traffic.  I left very early, having packed the night before and arrived around noon with plenty of time to enjoy my first day.

I did not check in until exactly 3 PM.  There was about a half hour line and a ten dollar early check in fee.  I asked when that was lifted and the clerk said at 2:55, so those just ahead of me in line must have paid it.  What a rip off.

The fellow gave me a nice quiet room at the end of the corridor.  It was very comfortable and I had no immediate neighbors so the TV at 3AM was not a bother to anyone.

 

Driving home was easy as well.  Instead of trying to have as much of the last day as possible and then worrying about rush hour, I played poker until 3 AM the night before, slept, woke up after seven and packed myself out on the road so that by the time I was tired, I was nearly home. 

I’ll do that again.

Also, I’ll stop in Paramus for gas and to get money at the bank.  That is a fine plan.  Were I hungry there was a nice bagel shop across from the gas station and away from the highway.  Also there was an A and P and I stopped and bought snacks for the trip.  That was a great idea because food prices in the casinos are high.  I only bought two meals while there and had the rest in my room.

I indulged myself with the Showboat seafood buffet.  Even with my $3 in points, it was a hefty price.  However, I was not disappointed.  I found the crab was very good. 

We are spoiled with the winter stone crab we get in Homosassa, and no king crab matches that wonderful taste.  Still, this was a good meal and most of the legs were done right so that just a twist and pull and the meat came out easily and firm.

They also had mussels.  I’ve become very fond of mussels.  And I had a small piece of catfish, but I could not tell if that was American or not. 

 

My second purchased meal was at the Irish Pub.  This is a wonderful place.  I went there early in the morning just to see the menu, and that allowed me to tour the wall hangings. The place is a small museum of articles, photos, and memorabilia.  Much of it is focused on baseball and some of that is very unique and rare.  Much of it would be valuable on eBay.  All was interesting. 

Even the ceiling is covered in old newspaper articles although that is too dim to be read. 

The food was affordable.  It was not exceptional, although the “pub salad” would make a fine meal by itself. It was good. I had a few chicken wings with that salad.  They were very good.  I also had a couple drafts of Great Lakes amber and those were very good, two draft mugs were just $5.50 for both, so they were priced right. 

I ate at the bar and listened to some folks tell a few stories and react to the baseball game on the flat screen.  I liked it all.

I had enough salad to take some back to the room for my early morning breakfast and that meant I did not need to stop for food on the way home.

Also working as good room food was a couple organic red peppers.  I sliced them up with humus.  It made a meal.

Showboat had free bagels and that was breakfast a couple times.   

Video poker.  Using VPFree I located 4 full pay video poker machines.  I played a bit of the JOB, but I better like the Double Bonus, so I switched to that. It was 9/7 but still a good pay table, just about equal to JOB, but perhaps a better play for me because I have the idiosyncrasies down in DB and don’t have all the penalty card plays down in JOB. 

At first I really got drained.  Then I hit quad Aces and got some back, and then I got drained again.  There just were not many quads hitting.  I had one frustrating hand where I was dealt 3 to the Royal as well as a pair of tens.  I drew for the Royal only to see the other two tens come.  Had I drawn for tens, I’d have hit quads.  Later, I had quad tend dealt to me.  And that was all the quads I saw over two days of play.

However, on day 2 I held A-K-Q of hearts and caught the 10-J for the Royal.  A nice $1000 and it all just went to the ticket with no hand pays needed.

 

LIVE POKER

 

Live poker did not increase my profit, but again luck played a huge part.  The limit games are too tight and too much is raked to give me much hope.

I should not have played at Showboat at all.  The Taj was a much better game.  They rake $1 less and they offered 1-4-6, a game much more likely to overcome the rake. 

I lost plenty on that game, however, getting no cards except a few second best, including a nice full house beat by quads.  My last hand was K-K cracked by trip 8’s.   A guy with J-J built the pot.

At the table was the most annoying player I have ever met.  He could not stop talking about anything and everything, not for two seconds.  On and on he talked and folks kept trying to change their seats to sit away from him.  For a while he gave so much information to the woman next to him, that I could tell her hand or his.  Once he just told her he had pocket 4’s, but when those caught another, she stayed with him anyway.  She was pretty dumb.

 

Everyone was very tired of him.  He cursed too, and then apologized.  Over and over he was warned by the floor, apologized and just did it all again. 

 

All the players were pretty good.  Regulars for the most part.  I liked the game, just not my cards.

 

The Showboat bad beat was hit the first night I was there, well… at about 2:30 in the morning.  I had not played at night, but had played the video poker.  I was in bed by midnight anyway.  So the next day, the bad beat required 4 kings be beaten, and they were still taking $2 per pot. 

Their high hand awards were very hard to understand.  The dealers did not know the rules, and often did not listen to the questions.  Sometimes their answers did not agree with the floor.  They seemed to know the rules, but once I had to ask a floor guy to stay three times, so I could finish all my questions.

$20 in the pot is too high for limit games.  And to have to have the hand be a “called hand” is just stupid.

 

There too the line on the table means nothing.  If your chips are in front of your cards, then it is a bet.  This was explained to one fellow, but not enforced as it was with me at Foxwoods.  He had $12 out on the river, threatening a raise as he watched his opponent, but ended up folding.  It was not called as a bet.

 

The Taj had a high hand award, but it went away at midnight.

 

I played a bit of no limit while waiting for the limit the second morning at Showboat, and saw that I could beat a few of the players if I had the bankroll to take a risk when a couple of them tried a bluff. 

I bought in for the minimum, $100 and was dealt A-K of diamonds my first hand.  There was one decent raise and when it went around, a fellow went all-in and another called that bet.  I guess I should have figured them for Aces and Kings and folded, but I put my $100 in.  The diamonds came, in fact I almost hit a royal flush, needing just the ten on the river.  After my win, I had $300 in front of me, and I did not want to lose all that in one hand.  I called a couple hands in late position, then folded after the flop missed me.  I called a decent after flop bet while holding A-K of clubs with two on the flop.  There was no more betting.  No club came and I lost to trips. 

After a long, tight time I held 9-10 in the big blind and the flop came 10-8-6 rainbow.  I bet $30 trying to represent “tight guy” who finally initiates a bet when he catches a straight, and everyone folded.

Then I went to play limit and gradually lost a bit of money.  I quit with a profit of over $100.

When I hit the royal on the VP that day, I was $703 up for the trip but when I went home I was up exactly $500.

 

THE BEACH

 

I liked the beach, but it was not what I expected.  It was icy cold.  That amazes me because we have had such hot weather in the Northeast that I thought the temperature would have warmed the ocean.

They are still working on the beach, but I found a fine place right in front of Revel.  I could even sit in the shade, wade, come back, sit with the tide coming in and cooling my feet.  A fine cool breeze blew off the ocean. After all these days of high heat and high humidity, just sitting there was a treat.

On Sunday the beach was busy but not crowded and I enjoyed watching all the people.  Many were friendly and started conversations with me.  Here was Black and White and Asian and Latino all romping together in the cold waves or playing in the sand.  One Black lesbian couple stood right at the water’s edge and were very close and looked lovingly in each other eyes while they talked, hugging occasionally.  They drew no attention.  So nice to have us all blended together.

I was asked and watched a young woman’s glasses and jewelry while she went into the water.  She had lost $1800 that day, got back $1000 and then lost that. She was not delighted.  It was more than she intended.

Sadly, she chose an area to swim where there is some rebar out beyond the first little bit of shallows and the life guard came and called her out.  He did it in one adjacent area too.  I said that it could save him a lot of time if there were some signs.  A hundred people must have said that because he was clearly tired of hearing it.  “I’m your sign” he said.

On Monday there were no life guards when I went late in the afternoon. We could go in anywhere we wanted and there was no warning sign of rebar out a ways.   

Sunday five of these life guards all gathered around the life guard wooden seat and joked around.  Once in a while they patrolled and when they did there was always something to blow the whistle about.  No signs warned of anything.  It all had to be explained when folks came back on shore.

At one point one fellow took the long wooden boat out and rowed it in the high waves.  It was a joy to watch. 

There was plenty of activity.  Motor boats were out and sail boats and some sorts of working boats.  A strange shaped old plane carried banners advertising banks or deals or food.  A heliocopter gave rides from the end of the pier.  At that end there is the sling shot, a round cage with two seats that drops and rises on bungy like cables on both sides. 

It looked very scary.

Another rided has four seats on the end of a very long shaft that spins.  The seats also spin. 

That also looked scary.

Also there is a ferris wheel and a Crazy Mouse. This is a really old ride that I liked at Crystal Beach.  It is a small roller coaster, tiny really, and once I rode it with Kathy Duzen and loved being close with her as our bodies bounced together around the turns.  I imagine that was in the summer of 1967.

 

I liked walking along the pier and seeing all the rides and games and such.  There was a place where on another trip I could bring a tuna fish sandwich and sit and have a table.

 

The humidity has slowed my desire to explore much here.  I did walk the boardwalk this morning, starting at 6 AM and already it was very humid.  I was going to ride my bike, but the back tire is flat. I filled those tires before I left so I expect it needs replacing of the tube.

I walked up to that gyro spot which is decorated with one dollar bills all across the ceiling and over the backs of the chairs.  I used to love eating there, but nothing now was really on my diet. 

I best like the boardwalk at night, although it was still brutally humid.  I could not ride my bike due to a flat tire, but I’d have tired quickly in that heat and humidity.  Hours to ride were 6-10 and the morning I was ready at 6.  I walked in the humidity.  Men were cleaning up everything on the beach and it looked like the sand was being raked.

Up closer to Showboat there was a machine spewing sand to make more beach.  That section was closed.

I found some of that NJ/NY attitude in people, but very little.  None of it was on the beach.  There folks were all friendly and easy and many engaged me in conversation.  It is not what I remember from years ago, but a milder, gentler community.

 

I liked sleeping here.  The AC at home is just not doing the full job.  Elizabeth sleeps upstairs, but I hate to move all my equipment.  Still, it was a treat to be in the quiet room that I could make as cool as I wanted.  I napped a couple times.  The water and the salt air tired me out as did all the walking.

 

 

The elevator needs a room key to operate. This may make things more secure, although one room key lets up a dozen people. It is annoying, especially when a key loses magnetic ability. Mine did.

 

There was a fine table in the room, but no plug for the computer.  I packed an extention cord but it is not three prong, so I just used the  computer on its battery and plugged it in during the day near the bed.

I forgot extra batteries for the camera and some other things.  It is not easy to buy such things here.

I did come home with two souvenirs, a nice big hat for my big head that was from the Negro Baseball Museum.  And a cup with my heart royal on it.  The dollar stores are still operating there on the boardwalk.

The poker was okay, but

I miss Ocala where the rake is easy, I can play no limit on a small bankroll and the rules are consistent and simple to understand.

The AC limit games are often regulars, all who know each other, all who check down one on one poker play to avoid adding to the rake.  I don’t like such play.  It is boring.

They are tight.  Each day there has been just one fish at the table.  So, if we are all good players and there are no tricks to play, the rake just eats us up.

 

There were not many shows.  I had my car, but did want to replay for parking and drive anywhere else.  I miss the Vegas buses.

 

I walked through Revel and it was something to see, but mostly it was sadly empty.  There are plenty of folks signing up for player’s cards.  The rebate deal gets them in.  I got one, but there is nothing for me to play there and the large and beautiful poker room was very hard to find, located way upstairs and in the back.  One no limit game was going. All young players. 

There are some spots for great views of the ocean. They did take advantage of that instead of closing us off and away from that natural wonder.

While walking to the poker room I went through the empty conference section and it reminded me of a very frightening nightmare in the movies where you walk down an odd corridor and there are doors and perhaps people come out of them.  I did not like them.  But then I am not modern and minimal in my taste in architecture.

It did have a new and fresh and clean feeling.  Perhaps that will be enough to draw in people.  The location is not very good.

 

I won’t be tempted to drive out there much.  I wanted the cool of the waves and to sit by the ocean.  Things have been upsetting me lately and this was therapy.  It worked.

I like it better than Turning Stone, but not as well as Foxwoods.  Sadly, the bus deals to Foxwoods have dried up except on weekends.   I may decide to drive there before going back to Atlantic City.  I went because they gave me free rooms.  And it was fine to have the full pay video poker available.  Still it is a good bit farther with more threats of traffic and about $12 in tolls and much more aggressive, obnoxious drivers.

Some Days are just about losing

Some days are just about losing

Yesterday was one of them.
First, I failed to note that the bus left at 8 and not the usual 9 on Sundays.  The driver was kind enough to call me.
I decided to drive because my fleece jacket was up there in security.

I actually arrived while the driver was still there and asked if I could get the freebies attached to my bus seat purchase.
He tried to get those for me, but ....

"The gaming commission does not allow us to give them unless you arrive on the bus and leave on the bus."

Then I went to security to pick up my jacket, but they could not find it. 
"We donate these to charity after a couple weeks."
"Yes, I know that, but this was only last Tuesday."
"Sorry"

Then I started low chipping a no limit game. I held Q-J of spades and it flopped Q-8-X rainbow and a fellow bet twelve dollars so I went all in.
He hemmed and hawed and vacillated.
"Will you show me if I fold/"  he asked.
"No," I answered so quickly that the table laughed.

So he called me with his pocket 7's.
I was way ahead.
Until the 7 on the river.

He was embarrassed, but I just said, "Hey, the river is part of the game."

With no other bets I was over on a 2-4 table where I continued to lose until I gave up at about 1:30 and drove to my favorite restaurant, the Savoy in Rome.
Every weekday it opens at 11:30, but on weekends not until 4.

Okay, I drove home.

It was an easy drive at least until I hit Schenectady and the rain was pretty intense at times.  Once home and watching TCM I saw flood warnings for this area burst into the movie.  I was happy when Elizabeth came home from her dancing adventure at Jacob's Pillow with two friends

Pineapple

I finally convinced the weekly boys to play Pineapple when they get down to a small table.  They tried it, and they got that it did not much change the Hold Em and it did make for larger pots and less fold, shuffle, deal to get hands that were playable.

We played tossing in the third card right away rather than Crazy Pineapple which is tossing it in after the flop.  That is more complex in no limit because some of the thinking has to do with all the possibilities in three cards.

Wandering back from Florida to be home again after a wintering  as a snow bird, I stopped at Foxwoods/Mohegan Sun for a couple days. My wife jumped van in North Carolina to fly to Denver with her sister and comfort a dying family member there. Niece Nora hopped into my wife's seat and drove with me to Boston, where I dropped her for a conference, and I went to the Groton Inn and suites, using the HotelSaver coupons for a fine rate of $45 anight.
 We left Durham NC at 7:15 AM and I arrived in Groton at 11:45 PM. It was the longest car ride I have had in recent years, but being in the company of this delightful young niece made the time zip by. She lives an exciting life and told tales of living in Bolivia, Geogia(country near Russia) and plenty of family stories I had not heard. She also listened to my stories, none of them as interesting as hers.
She is also very easy, mild mannered, good humored, and beautiful inside and out.
I think this is more time than I have had one on one with her in all the years I have known her.
We did not stop to eat.  That was all travel time, except for bathroom stops.  We caught one traffic jam near Washington and exited for bathroom and learned how to drive around it. From NYC to Boston we were not so lucky.  Also, that stretch included two bridges with tolls of $13 each.  Outrageous!!  I better like our usual inland route with less traffic and fewer tolls.
So I slept well and on Friday headed to Foxwoods about noon.  Once again they game me 10 points just to show up. They seem to always do that. It is a standard mailer. This amazes me because for the most part I only play live poker.
I like Foxwoods. This time I just played 2-4 limit and lost. Then I tried a DDB video poker (really bad 8-5 pay table) and lost the other half of my bankroll. I rolled in about midnight.
That Friday night I did not sleep as well, but woke at about 5AM. I wish I had headed to Mohegan then, but I did not suspect that games would still be happening. They have a new early morning promotion, so four hours of play would have given me a buffet coupon which could even be saved for supper. That is worth over $20.
I played a bit of video roulette, where I can play with just one zero.  I quit at a dollar profit.  I always play a dollar on black and a dollar on the third row.  This decreases the volatility by giving me some action on almost all the numbers, and gives me a few spins for fun with usually little loss.
I don't think I get points for playing because single zero roulette has a low house advantage. They never let me play out my bus freeplay on those machines.

On Saturday I went to Mohegan Sun. I don't get to play much at Mohegan Sun as the Albany Yankee Trails heads mostly to Foxwoodsm and I rarely drive down there, the bus being such good value.
I like the poker room better at Mohegan Sun.  It is bright and just off the casino rather than hidden in what feels like a dungeon (as happens to the limit players in Foxwood.)
However, I like the bad beat at Foxwoods better than the money for high hand awards at Mohegan.  The high hand is the highest in 4 hours.  When I arrived it already was four kings and then someone hit the royal.  Compare that to the $500 every half hour on Saturdays at Ocala in North Florida.  I don't know what they do with the rest of the promotion money.  Pay out breakfast comps I guess.
At neither casino was the competition as soft as I have been playing in Florida.  Mohegan did deal a 1-1 NL that I can play on my bankroll, but I did not feel rested enough.  The 2-4 competition was very tough and I left before I thought I would on Saturday, having supper at the buffet on my way and getting home before dark.  I'm going to miss Ocala this summer.
Also, compared to Vegas the other players were not as colorful as collects around a 2-4 at Flamingo or at the Golden Nugget.  They are friendly enough but there is little chatter.  There was at Foxwoods a bit of chatter around the Boston Red Sox playing the Toronto Bluejays.  They just assumed everyone rooted for Boston, but I have a friend who is equipment manager for Toronto.  Also, I'd seen a couple games in Florida spring training, and I was for the BlueJays.  I am not much of a fan of any sports, but it was cool to see Cabrera hit after seeing him in Florida a couple weeks earlier.  Anyway, who wants a sock on a hat when you can have a fine looking bird?  I just wish they were the Toronto Bluegills.
The Bluejays lost that Friday game, but it was very close.  I should have been watching on Saturday to see them win.  Today the loss was a slaughter.
I could watch the game from my seat at Foxwoods on Friday, and so that was a bit more entertaining than just the poker and the mild tone of verbal exchanges, some of it a bit stuffy and critical of others.  As if there were any way to really play 2-4.
At Mohegan on the second day I found a 9-5 DDB and tossed in a hundred.  My reasoning is that given the poor pay tables, I'll play high volatility and either win or lose, grinding much less.  Being short paid on Full houses and flushes, a high volatility game with quitting ahead or broke will limit the number of times I am short paid, since I risk less in a session.
I played before the Mohegan poker and cashed out $30 to find I'd miss my seat and had to wait.  Then after live poker I put in the $30 and ran it up to almost $200 with three quads, one the them being 4-4-4-4 before drifting down again and quitting with a $50 profit.  I was pleased to come from $70 behind and make $50.
I was up a bit on Wednesday in both VP and live poker, but not enough to offset my losses on Friday.  Overall I lost $266.
Of the two buffets, the Mohegan Sun was superior, especially for my needs.  They had many more vegetables and fully labeled sugar free foods.  The strawberries were labeled as "no sugar added."
Mohegan Sun had brocollini, sauteed zuchinni, some mushrooms without sauce, and other salads and vegetables that add variety to the usual fare. 
 Only the mussels were better at Foxwoods.  Crab was at Foxwoods too, but it was not as tasty, a bit overcooked, and nothing I'd go to eat.  Of course, I am spoiled on fresh stone crab all winter in Florida, bought in large bags and cooked at home.
Mohegan Sun has a lightly battered haddock that was good.  What they called "cod" was swai I think.  They had a raw oyster/clam bar, but I'm not doing raw lately. They also had suichi.
I really liked the food and service better at Mohegan Sun. 
It may be that I'm just bored with Foxwoods because I've had their buffet so many times on the bus trips.
I ate on my points at Foxwoods and paid half with my points at Mohegan so my meals for the two days cost $11.
The Foxwoods table server had ignored me so much that I skipped any tip, rare for me. 

Rooms are outrageously expensive around any of the casinos, especially on the weekends.  Groton is the place to find frugal beds.  I've stayed there before and been satisfied, but I was surprised and very pleased at the Groton Inn.   Saturday night would have cost me $65 plus tax, but Thursday and Friday were just $45.  The clerks were very friendly.  I called them from Boston about 10 PM asking what my chances were to walk in with a coupon and the girl was easy and friendly and encouraging.  I figured that I could find someplace in Groton, but I did not want to shop around after that 17 hour car trip at midnight.
The place is right off I-95 and very easy to find.  I was packed up with a van full of winter stuff, and this place seemed isolated enough that I did not worry about getting robbed overnight.  I don't worry much anyway.  Most of what is in the van is inexpensive and replaceable were it to be stolen, but it still must add up to about $1000 in value and Elizabeth's bike is worth $300. 
My room was very large for a cheap room.  There is no elevator, but I found the stairs easy to manage to the second floor.  I can see how it might be noisy through thin walls, but it was very quiet and there were quite a few folks there.  It is 8 miles from Foxwoods and 10 from Mohegan.
What I really liked was breakfast.  This was a sit down breakfast in a restaurant with a waiter and the choices were great.  I had a mushroom omlette one day and eggs over easy another, both day with grits.  Coffee and juice come as well.  It is included in the room.  Now it is not all one can eat, but it was a fine breakfast and the coffee was good.  The ambiance of the place is more upscale than most of these Super 8 type places.
Also, they had Turner Classic movies on the TV.  That is the only station I watch.

The girl at the counter said that sometimes when things are slow, they offer a deal on Saturday night and I might call ahead and see.  I liked staying Thursday and Friday as it gave me most of Saturday to gamble anyway.  But if the third night was $45, I'd stay that Saturday night as well.  It takes over 2 hours to drive back, so getting three days value out of one trip is good money management. 
Overall, I had  a fine time and I'd like to do that again.  The Groton Inn and Suites makes that a reasonable possibility, especially if I get a poker buddy to share the room.

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.