September 13 - "Ain't no way they can stop me now, Nelly, / cause I'm on my way, I can feel my reign coming."
Early on I get off to an all too familiar start and get stuck, but I pick up AA and KK against short stacks and felt them, so that gets me back in business. I have the God seat on a fish, but I can't get much else going... Then, things take a turn for the weird.
Eccentricity Run Amok
This eccentric older woman is on my left. She's weird, but she's being friendly, so I try to keep some conversation going. Then she starts spouting off about Ray Rice and how Janay had it coming, and she deserved it. She says she's glad he knocked her out. I'm basically in shock as she continues to drop nuggets of wisdom.
"I feel bad for white heterosexual men," she explains... She says that we get the worst of it because... I don't really know. I laugh, and she's like no I'm serious. Umm, ok.
"Men pay too much for pussy," she says. OK... She may have that one right. She says that women are crazy and men put up with it, and either pay in putting up with nonsense, or in the literal.
"That's the problem with penis, it's always yelling at you, 'come over here!'... Vagina is more reserved. It's easy for me to put up with. I feel sorry for you guys," she says.
Then, there's an Indian guy sitting at the table... She turns to him and says, "So, did you have an arranged marriage?" I start laughing but manage to play it off and turn away. He says he's been married for 19 years. Her response?
"You don't seem very happy though."
Turning a Profit
I didn't take notes on any of the hands, because none were particularly interesting, but I did stack the fish to my right for his last $150 or so, if I recall, and otherwise made a couple hands and got paid for a solid comeback.
Results: -$2 at 1/2 in 4 minutes (no tips), +$532 at 2/5 in 2 hours, 43 minutes ($7 in tips)
The Buffet Has Two Signature Items
For a little while I've been saying the Borgata buffet is good, but not great, because it doesn't have any signature items... Now it has two. Lobster and shrimp quesadillas and pecan tarts.
After the buffet, we walk around and relax a bit, and both get back to the poker room in the evening.
Hand No. 1
There's a limp and the button raises to $20 and I call in the BB with J
T
. The limper calls and the raiser calls.
Flop ($61): J
T
5
Two checks and the PFR bets $40. I raise to $140 and he calls.
Turn ($341): 7
Effective stacks are about 415. I bet $175. He calls.
River ($691): A
I move in for his last $236 and he snap calls with AJo to take the $1100+ pot. I later find out he's a 2p2er who reads this thread (Blackheart). He made himself known in the thread, as you probably saw. I'm glad my thread got me some action in a spot where I wasn't bluffing, but it makes me acutely aware that it's going to have an impact and maybe after this post I'll really cut back on the hand histories.
Stuck a G
I keep running bad and get into the game for $1,600. I'm calling down light getting laid big prices and running into the tops of ranges. One player bets for thin value on the river who I was pretty sure wasn't capable of it, so I'll make a note of that in the future against him.
Hand No. 2
There are five limps and I raise to $45 from the BB with A
A
. There are four calls.
Flop ($225): K
9
3
There's a check and I bet $160. It folds to the SB who calls.
Turn ($545): J
He bets $270 and I tank and call. He's been overall pretty passive, but he really, really, overvalues pairs. This could be KJ but it could also be KQ, K
X
etc.
River ($1,085): T
He tanks and checks. I tank and check. "A nine," he says and my hand is good.
The Dealer Blows Up My Spot
A dealer sees my huge stack and the following conversation ensues.
Dealer: "I see you run as good at 2/5 as you do at 1/2."
Me: "I'm doing alright. I'm in for a lot tonight though."
Dealer: "You look like you're still doing fine though."
Me: "Yeah I'm doing fine."
Dealer: "Looks like you made the smooth jump to 2/5."
At this point I just nod and try to end the conversation. He's a nice guy, and I appreciate it to an extent - I'd just rather him do that when he's standing away from the table and we cross paths or something. Don't tell the whole table how good I am and that I just jumped to 2/5 recently.
Hand No. 3
There are a bunch of limps and the guy on my right makes it $15. He's a huge whale, so I'm calling him REALLY wide with the God seat. I call with J
8
. We go five ways to the flop.
Flop ($75): 8
7
2
There's one check and an EP player bets $50. It folds to the guy on my right who calls. I tank a bit. I obliterate the whale's range so I raise to $175. The guy up front folds and the whale calls.
Turn ($475): K
He checks, I bet $300 and he folds.
Hand No. 4
I limp 66 UTG, there are four limps and the whale makes it $115 from the BB. This is always JJ+ for him, skewed toward AA/KK. We're about $1,500 deep so I call.
Flop ($250): A
T
8
He checks, I check.
Turn ($250): Q
He checks, I bet $175 and he folds.
A little taste of the Commerce
A new player comes in and is playing pretty aggressively and running some big bluffs. He mentions he usually plays at Commerce.
Later he throws in his big blind, and there is only one blind out there and he's vehement that he threw it in and demands that they go to the cameras. We stop the game, wait for a floor, etc. They say continue playing and they'll figure it out.
About 10 minutes later the floor comes over and says he did throw in his blind. He turns to walk away.
Dealer: "Wait, who took it?"
Floor: "Well you didn't tell me to ask them that!"
Dealer: "Are you serious?"
Floor: "You asked if he threw it in, they didn't tell me anything else."
I convince the guy who won the prior pot, two seats to his left, that he probably scooped it up by accident and he gives the guy a redbird, saving us from another delay.
Later, Commerce guy is whining about getting sued. Apparently, he lost a huge pot and was angry and fired his cards in REALLY hard. They flew up and hit another player in the eye, doing some serious damage. That player then sued him for it.
Commerce guy is furious about this and says something's wrong with society, and how dare this guy sue him. He's like "He's claiming it was intentional, but he wasn't even in the hand. Why would I be mad at him? How could it be intentional? How can he sue me?"
I'm sitting there, sarcastically thinking, "Yeah, what an a**hole, how dare he block your cards with his eye."
Hand No. 5
There are a couple of limps and I limp A
9
. The BB (Commerce guy) raises to $20 and there are two calls and I call.
Flop ($80): A
6
7
The PFR bets $20 and there are two calls. I raise to $150. The PFR calls.
Turn ($420): 8
He checks, I check.
River ($420): 5
He bets $200 with about $630 behind. I tank, debating between a raise to try to get AK-AJ to hero off, or a minraise to give him room to rebluff. I feel like his range has way more missed flush draws than big Ax hands based on his line and bet sizing. He's run some big bluffs already. Thus, I minraise. He tanks a bit and shoves.
Me: "Well, if you've got 9
T
this is the one runout that gets you paid. I call."
Him: "What do you have?"
Me: "I called you."
Him: "An Ace is good."
I table, and scoop a $2,080 pot. He does not fire his cards at my face, thankfully.
Hand No. 6
I pick up A
A
up front and make it $25 and get four calls.
Flop ($125): A
T
5
There are two checks to me and I bet $65. The guy on my right, from before, calls. He's a huge whale so his range is really really wide.
Turn ($255): 3
He checks, I bet $150 and he calls.
River ($555): 9
He checks, I bet $325 and he calls. My hand is good for the $1,205 pot.
That's $4,014 on the table - my biggest stack to date.
Result: +$2,414 in 9 hours, 44 minutes ($33 in tips)
That gives me a $2,944 day - my biggest win to date. Two huge days in a row, and there will be some big news coming soon, I think.