It's been a swingy trip to the Taj. The garage is $10. That seems high to me. $5 is standard. So I was a little tilted, but then I found a $20 on the floor in the check in line. Nobody had just pulled stuff out of their pockets or anything so I picked it up. So I'm +10 on the company party with free drinks still to come.

Do I...

A) Put it on red/black
B) Go for a number at roulette
C) Try to run it up at blackjack
D) Keep it in the roll
E) Buy booze
F) Use it at Scores
G) Other (specify)

A Great Thread and A Great read so far, Pictures make it a lot more interesting and I feel your a pretty good live player to beat 1/2 at the rate you wish to achieve. Will be following your progress on this thread! Great Job so far, GL in the future!

And as for the 10$, try running it up in blackjack to 500$ or busto Would be fun!

praying to Gotti everyone here has good variance lol

So the extra $10 ended up covering a cab fare. Boring, I know. After experiencing the world's most awkward lap dance of all time at Scores and nearly starting a bar fight at The Irish Pub, I decided enough excitement was had. I also think a porno was being filmed in the next room over last night. Either that or some guy had the loudest hooker ever in his room at 5am.

I'll share at least some of those stories later. I'm now in the garage at the Borg finishing my breakfast and coffee. I'm a little tired but I'll probably be feeling good in a few hours. I'll nit it up til then and try to pick up reads.

Friday 1/17 - Part 1 - "I thought I found the girl of my dreams at the strip club, mm mm, f--- it I was wrong, though."

So Friday night after our company party, we were taken over to Scores, which does some business with our company. A coworker's fiancé (let’s call her CF) has been setting me up with her coworker. We went out once, I'm very interested and she had been busy and we haven't seen each other in a bit. I wrote that off as her not being interested, then she contacted me again Friday and it looked like she may actually be.

I'm not much of a strip club guy, which I made clear to CF, and she was trying to get us not to go. I was basically like I'm just going where the group goes, I'm not going to sit in the hallway outside. So we go in, and you can feel the awkwardness hanging in the air. My boss is there, his boss is there, coworkers and their girlfriends. Someone from another location drops like 7 hundo on bottle service. (Some premium bottle of Woodland Reserve Bourbon and some vodka – I had a bourbon, neat.) Girls are trying to get us to buy lap dances, I'm politely declining.

It's here that I want to be clear about my thoughts on strippers. They're people, just like the rest of us. They're not lower on the totem pole, they don't deserve to be looked down on, etc. So I'm going to be nice to them, answer them when they talk to me, and say no when they try to get me to buy a lap dance. Clearly, CF doesn't even want to talk to them and is kind of looking down her nose at them.

So I turn a few down. Two come over to offer me a massage, which I decline - one of them even had a bottle of Jergens prominently on display in her hand as she offered. You stay classy, Scores!

Then a hot blonde Russian dancer is talking to me, I politely turn her down and she goes over to a guy who does some contracting with us. He has her sit with him, they are talking. He looks at me, I may look uncomfortable/etc, which I am. I mean, I'm sitting in a strip club with CF next to me, pissed off at her fiance, and she's still working on setting me up with her friend. My boss is all into this brunette stripper, his prim and proper boss is telling us to make sure his wife doesn't find out, and a bunch of other coworkers are there, all out of sorts. The contracting guy asks me if I'm alright and I'm like yeah I'm fine.

So then a minute or two later the blonde Russian dancer comes over to me and grabs my hand and says you're coming with me. I'm like, uhh, what? And she says, c'mon, you have a very good friend. I'm internally torn. She's hot, she might be my favorite one so far, in part because she's not wearing a ton of makeup and has a very natural look to her. I know this is where you all want pictures, but that’s a no-no at the strip club. She was an 8.5 or 9, great body, not huge but natural and well proportioned.

At this point I feel it would be rude to say no when a friend already paid for the dance (am I right?), so I get up with her. I was also probably 6 mixed drinks at the company party (over 4-5 hours so I wasn't more than tipsy there), and a half glass of bourbon at Scores into it at this point... So I'm feeling pretty good and my inhibitions and ability to resist are all but gone.

I figure she's leading me somewhere private. She takes me one table over, sits me down and starts giving me a lapdance. I'm simultaneously looking out the corner of my eye to see if CF sees me (she is nowhere to be found), trying to look to others like I'm not the guy who is all into this lap dance in front of everyone, and still trying to kind of enjoy it, cause I have a hot, nearly naked girl dancing on me.

About halfway through, the coworker’s fiancé sees what’s going on. I can’t hear cause it’s loud and she’s 20-30 feet away, but I can tell from her flailing around that she’s screaming and yelling. She's waiving her arm up in the air. One of my coworker friends is blocking her out, holding her back and trying to calm her down. It’s Jersey Shore-esque. He plays good D and obstructs her view and keeps her from flat out running in and like tackling the dancer. I think in this moment he might have been able to keep Russell Westbrook in front of him, and he keeps CF from making it any worse than it already is.

A minute later the dancer asks me if I want it to continue, I say no thanks, and head back over. I go up to the guy who bought me the dance and I’m like, “Dude, I don’t know whether to thank you or kill you, you got me into some hot water.”

I explain what’s going on and he admits that he told the dancer not to take me far away so as to make it as awkward as possible for me. I tell him that’s fine, whatever, just go talk to CF and explain what happened and make it right.

A few minutes later, he comes over and tells me it’s too late – CF already texted the girl I went out with. I’m pretty upset by this news (that's probably a huge understatement) and decide to hit the bathroom, regroup and figure out what I need to say to CF to explain this whole thing and calm her down. I come back out and find out that the text was never sent, that was actually part of the joke – so I think she was in on it to some extent and things are good.

We leave shortly thereafter and on the floor of the casino I’m like, so you were in on that with the text? CF tells me she doesn’t know what I’m talking about. Turns out they made up that she sent it, but she didn’t actually play a role in the joke. She’s still pretty pissed.

We are heading over to meet some people we split up with after Scores, and they went to the Irish Pub. We’re told it’s right across the street, but it’s actually like ¾ of a mile away. So me, CF and her fiancé (my coworker) are walking down Pacific Avenue at, I don’t know, 1 or 2 am, drunk. It feels like an episode of The Wire. There are lots of shady looking people, and little do I know, I’m about to be on the verge of tangling with one…

Part 2 – “A man must have a code.”

So, we’re walking down Pacific Ave at like 1 or 2 am, drunk, encountering all sorts of sketchiness. I mentioned in Part 1 that it felt like walking through The Wire, and thus the great quote from the show, uttered in one form or another by both Bunk and Omar.

I begin to try to explain to CF how I was put in a tough spot. I tell her that it would have been rude to say no, because the guy had already paid for the dance. She tells me that’s BS and I could have manned up and just said no. I tell her that goes against guy code, and she tells me that’s ridiculous. I ask her fiancé/my coworker to back me up and he says I have a point and she is not having it at all. I basically give up on trying to convince her I was put in a bad spot and didn’t have a way out.

So we get over to The Irish Pub...



I go up to a friend from work who is talking to two girls. One I recognize as an assistant I worked an event with, the other I assume is her friend and maybe another assistant. We’re talking and it’s clear the girl who I worked the event with, we’ll call her Lisa, doesn’t know my name. I tease her about it until she remembers who I am. Then this sketchy older guy starts hitting on her. He walks away for a minute and she tells me she’s been pretending that two of my other coworkers are her boyfriend to get the guy to leave her alone. It’s my turn to play the role.

So drunk sketchy guy comes over and she pulls me in close, I put my arm around her and we start getting all flirty. He comments on that and she says, of course, he’s my boyfriend. He’s prodding us for more info and we say we’ve been together a few months, etc. She’s got her hand on my chest, we’re whispering in each other’s ear, playing it up, etc. Not gonna lie – I enjoyed the attention. She’s not supermodel material, but she’s got a pretty face and she’s curvy.

Then he tells me he can get me a lap dance, apparently he works at Scores. I tell him that I’m there with my girl and I’m good. He says she can give me a lap dance. I tell him to leave us alone, and she says she’ll do that for me at home.

Him: “No, do it here.”

Me: “Alright man, enough.”

Him: “I’m serious, give him a lap dance.”

Me: “Leave her alone, have a little respect.”

Him: “I’m just being a sarcastic son of a bitch, I know what you two are doing.”

Me: “Good for you buddy.”

I turn my back on him and put my arm back around her and lean in to talk to her. He taps me. I turn.

Him: “Give him a lap dance in the corner right now and I’ll pay you for it.”

This is where he’s crossed the last line. As I said, a man must have a code. As for mine, I’ll tolerate a guy hitting on a girl, I’ll tolerate him not getting the message and being too persistent. It happens. I’ll tolerate him giving us a hard time when it’s obvious I’m pretending to be her boyfriend for a bit to save face, especially if it's directed at me. You start talking about paying her to do stuff, I’m done.

I step to him and then point to an empty seat down the bar and say “Why don’t you go sit over there.”

Him: “No, I’m standing here.”

Me, pointing a finger at him: “You’re being disrespectful to her and I’m not going to stand for that. Leave us alone.”

Him: “I’m not trying to be disrespectful.”

Me: “Leave us alone, go somewhere else, this isn’t going to continue.”

He says something else, I just stare at him and he apologizes to her and me and shakes my hand and walks away. At this point a couple of my friends come over and are like dude, it looked like you were about to throw down. I tell them I was ready to go, that he crossed the line, etc and I know I could have taken him.

I also teased Lisa a bit and told her that 20 minutes ago she didn’t know my name, and now we’re in a relationship and I’m ready to fight for her honor. We flirted a bit and talked and joked around, and I also realized that CF saw the whole thing and probably didn’t know what was going on.

She was probably thinking, first he’s getting lap dances at Scores, now he’s all over an assistant five years younger than him. So I made a point of going down and telling her the story.

Lisa and her friend left with my coworker who was going to drop them off, and I gave her a hug and told her that for me it was a "very meaningful relationship," lol... We joked a bit more and they took off.

Me, CF, her fiancé, and a coworker ended up sharing a cab and they dropped me back at the Taj, which is what my extra $10 went to. I got back to my room around 3:30 or 4am, and the moaning through the wall was quite exaggerated.

It was kind of like the scene in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, except that I wasn't yelling back at them. I was like, for real, are they filming a porno next door? Is a hooker trying to break a decibel level record?

It also went on a lot longer than one might expect, but eventually it faded and I fell asleep - probably around 5am.

Saturday 1/18

So I woke up at 11:30 am at the Taj, and I must say, the room there was actually really nice. Better than Harrahs, IMO, but not quite as nice as the Borgata.

After a rough night, it was nice to be able to take in a great view.





I got ready, got dressed and headed out of the room at about 11:59 am. If you’ve never stayed at the Taj, the elevator banks are pretty cool with mirrors all over the place that have a cool effect. The view from the 43rd floor by the elevators was awesome.



So far that’s the best view I’ve enjoyed in AC I think… I was pretty tired and bordering on hung over, so I hit up Dunkin Donuts and went for a very solid order… A medium coffee, an orange juice, a vanilla crème donut and a sausage, egg and cheese sandwich. They told me some combo of that added up to a meal and I got hash browns thrown in too.

The caffeine gave me energy, the sugar cleared up some of the fogginess in my brain and some energy too and the grease soaked up any remnants of alcohol. That plus some nittyness and I felt like I could play a solid session.

I went in and got a table, and was pretty much nitting it up and killing time reading the huge thread about the counterfeit chips in Event #1. Looks like I may have a shot at getting a refund. If I do, great, but I won’t really complain much if I don’t – I was out so early that I wasn’t impacted directly. However, I would like the $60 of the $500+60 back, because that is what I paid to the house to run the tournament well. I don’t feel the Borgata should profit off of an event that had such a big cheating scandal.

I was pretty card dead, so I got a little out of line once or twice. In one hand, I had A9 in MP and raised to $10. An LP player re-raised to $20. I called.

Flop ($43): 766x

I checked, he bet $25. I felt like my A was good, hearts were obviously good and I had a backdoor straight too. That was good enough for 2.7 to 1 IMO, so I called. I probably should have raised here, but I felt like I was getting a good enough price to just draw at it.

Turn ($93): 4x

I checked, he bet $30. I called. Again, I could have raised here with such a weak bet. However, I was getting 4 to 1. I was a little worried he had a boat, but I don’t think he min 3bets me with 77, 66, 44 or 76. I called.

River ($153): 3x

I think for a bit here about whether I can represent the 5. I could play 55 that way, or possibly even 45. 77 is in my range too. I feel like if I make a huge bet, it looks bluffy, but if I make a reasonable bet it might look like a monster and induce a fold.

I bet $80, and he asks me how I could possibly have a 5 and looks me up – I forget if he had 88, TT or JJ, but it was something along those lines.

I also had two of the weirdest hands ever…

There are two limpers to my SB and I have AQ. I raise to $15. One player in LP calls. He’s terrible, a total fish. I start the hand with about $120.

Flop ($34): 235

I bet $20, he calls.

Turn ($74): 8

I feel like I’m still way ahead of his range and he was probably floating with overs, but I also know he’s not folding any part of the flop. I check. He bets $35. I sense immense weakness and I decide that even if I get called by a one pair hand, I have 4 4’s, 3 aces and 3 queens. That’s 10 outs. I move all-in for $85.

He thinks for about 5 seconds and shrugs and calls.

River ($244): Kx

I say “Ace high.” He turns over KJ. I turn over AQ, then realize what hit the river. A King. I look back at his cards. No pair, no draw, just K high. Wow.

After a rebuy, I play a six-way limped pot with JT in late position.

Flop ($12): T33r

It checks to me, I bet $10, and I get a call from another abysmal player. He’ll play any two and he’ll call any part of the flop, etc.

Turn ($32): 3

He jams for $34 and I snap call with the JT. I figure we may be chopping, but I could very well be good.

River ($100): 3x

Not the card I wanted to see, but my J could very well be good. I turn my hand over and he shows A6 for quads with an A kicker. He jammed the turn on a T333 board with a flush draw.

I shrug and am thankful that he didn’t have much money left. The dealer begins questioning his play.

Dealer: “Didn’t you see the full house?”
Fish: “I had the flush draw.”
Dealer: “Yes, but didn’t you see the full house? It was ten, three, three, three. What were you thinking, man?”
Fish: “I guess. I didn’t think about that I just had the flush draw and the best one so I went with it.”

They went back and forth a bit as I shot the dealer the “Shut the eff up” death stare. What the hell are you doing? We have dealers tapping the glass now? I’m sitting here acting perfectly content with this guy spiking a four outer on me after making one of the dumbest shoves I’ve ever seen, I don’t need the DEALER ruining our future action from this guy.

My guess is he wanted the guy to know just how almost dead he was drawing to get a bigger tip from him. I didn’t notice what he got. I hope it was worth it, because that dealer will never get another dollar from me.

I was stuck almost $400 at one point, and fought back to a little more than even. I was up like $19 at my peak. I ended up going pretty card dead. There were some drunk fish that were not folding to anything, and after several raises with like AQ and AJ and whiffs, I couldn’t really cbet into the crowd of fish and just kind of bled chips on the pre flop raises. I also didn’t pick up many playable hands in LP to try to play a lot of pots with them.

After about 12.5 hours I took a $176 loss. I’ll be back on the grind Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Bankroll: $2,390 (Or maybe $2,950 is Event 1 is refunded)

I also got to meet acdawg712, who shot me a PM and came over and said hi. He's a cool dude and we chatted about a few hands, the Borg, the tournament scandal, our goals and about how I need to check out Parx. Nice meeting you, Alan. Keep in touch! If anyone else plays at the Borg a lot and wants to say whats up, feel free to post in here or PM me. He also had a buddy with him, I'm pretty sure he said his name was Oliver - did I get that right? If not, sorry - I was playing a few hands while they were talking a few feet away and I was wandering in and out of the conversation a bit. Good meeting you too, though. Let me know if you're at the Borg a lot.

January 20 - "I got a crib that's overlookin the harbor."

I often share pictures of my view from the hotel room with you. I won't be doing that on this trip. For one thing, I just checked in and I'm on the fifth floor and my view is basically of the roof of the casino. But that served as a great reminder that this trip isn't about the view. It's about the grind. After that post the other day, I'm again reminded of The Wire, with Stringer and Avon on the roof enjoying their view of Baltimore's Inner Harbor. It was a pivotal moment. I'm not going to be wrapped up in the view. It won't blind my judgment.

The only view I need for the next three days is of the felt. Of my opponent's carotid artery pulsing. Of my villains' grimaces, raised eyebrows and nervous ticks that give away their hands. Of stacks and towers of chips in front of me.

There's money to be had and I'm going on the grind.

I'm five hours in taking a break for dinner. I'm stuck about $170 despite having like the juciest table ever. I also won $210 on my first hand when 95o in the BB smashed a 9h5hX flop vs. 9h3h. Got it in on a 3 turn and I held. I then busted someone a few hands later w/ AA for another $70. I was up to like $550, but then this hand developed...

LAGtastic fish (raising any two, jamming any two, total chaos) raises to $10 there are a couple of calls. I'm in the BB and make it $35 with QQ. He calls.

Flop ($85ish): KdJd8x

I check. He jams for $119. I think for about 25 seconds and call. He shows 8d9d. Turn gives him straight outs, river is a diamond.

Later, I played a very tough hand vs. a good, aggressive player.

It's a 7 way limped pot, I have 8c9s.

Flop ($14): Q98dd

It checks to me, I bet $10. There are three calls.

Turn ($54): 3c

It checks to me, I bet $35. It folds to the player on my right, the good, aggressive player. He raises to $100. I tank for a bit and call.

River ($254): 5x

He bets $150. I tank and fold. I couldn't come up with a hand he could play that way that I could beat. I could see JT, Q9, Q8, Q3, 33... I don't see him check-call, check-raising a diamond draw, which is basically the only hand I can beat other than a crazy bluff.

After that I basically couldn't pick up a hand against these two massive fish who donked off several hundred bucks... They left, so I took a break for dinner.

So before I get back into the poker hands from the rest of the session, I played a bit today with Megan Milburn. She came in second in the womens' event here at the Borg, and as far as I can tell is grinding on the tourney circuit. Cool girl, fun to talk to, and if anyone knows her s/n on here (I'm pretty sure she's a 2p2er), I'd love to find out and ask her a couple questions about traveling the circuit.

I also think I misplayed a hand against her. I made two pair against her straight and the river brought a flush, and when she checked I bet for thin value. I realized as she was tanking that I had probably actually turned it into a bluff by accident. I probably should have bet stronger or checked behind. Against a weak player a thin value bet might have been right, but it's doubtful she was paying me off. (She called, btw)

We chatted a bit when she left and she told me how sick good the table was for me, which I knew. I know she doesn't play a ton of cash, so she may not realize how often you can still get tables like that.

Unfortunately, nothing really went right for me. You know of a few hands that happened after she left already. Later, I played a big hand against an Asian kid who had his girlfriend sitting behind him sweating him. That's a double whammy in the stereotypes. Asian poker stereotype = likes to gamble. Girlfriend behind you poker stereotype = never leave a winner. My read on him is basically that he's somewhat loose-passive preflop, floats a little too much on the flop, but mostly doesn't continue when he misses it all together - however he chases draws too much.

There are a few limps and I raise to $12 in the CO w/ AsKc. He calls from the BB, along with another opponent.

Flop ($40ish): AcTx7c

He donks for $20. The other villain folds. This is already a weird spot. I feel like he does this somewhat randomly with weird hands. I think I beat the vast majority of them. I raise to $60. He tanks and shoves for $79 more. I take about 10 seconds so that I don't look like a jackass if I snap and he has AT or 77 or something, but we all know that's pretty much a snap call. So we have about a $320 pot.

Turn K. River 6c. He turns over two red mid-range cards I can't quite see, but they are red and not clubs so I must be good.. Oh, what's that? 8d9d? Nice hand, sir. Way to make your girlfriend proud.

This one guy keeps coming over the top of me in really bad spots for me where I have big hands but can't call a raise. I haven't seen him showdown any big bluffs and can't get a read on him, so I'm basically getting run over but I think he was just running good. I'm down to my last $100ish and in the game for $650 and planning on leaving soon.

He raises to $10 in the CO and I make it $30 on the BTN with QdQx. He asks if I want to get it in (he previously did this when I 3b, jammed and I folded). He then just calls.

Flop ($65ish): AdXdXd
He shoves. I have about $75 left, so I call. I turn my hand over, he doesn't. Diamond hits, board doesn't pair, and he shows me AA. I tell him I don't know what's worst, that I got there, or that I picked up QQ and ran it into AA.

That starts a little comeback and keeps me in the game for awhile. Later, with a few limpers, I raise to $15 on the button with KcKs. The SB raises to $31. One of the limpers tanks for about 45 seconds and calls. I re-raise to $100. The SB calls, the limper folds.

Flop ($235ish): KT7

He checks. I think for about 20 seconds and check behind. The turn is a T if I recall correctly. Either way I'm still basically nutted up and he jams, I double check that I do in fact have the KK, and snap call for $178 and flip my cards. he shows AK. The limper claims he had 77. Turns out if I hadn't popped it before the flop I may have stacked them both. Oh well, I played it correctly IMO.

A bit later there are a couple of limpers and I raise to $12 with AsQs from UTG+2. There are five calls and UTG jams for $75. He's been doing some weird stuff and I'm about 98% sure I have the best hand. I also know I can't fold with so much money in the pot and nobody else showed strength, so I want to iso. I raise to $175. The player on my left thinks for all of like five seconds and calls. What the hell did I run into? Nah, I'm still good I think. Everyone else folds.

Flop KQx
Turn 9
UTG yells "I need a 10." I'm thinking, "OK, he has AJ."
River 10

He rolls over J6. Nice limp-jam with J6 sir. Turns out the other guy called me with K rag suited. Lovely. Nice hands sirs.

Now, if you wouldn't mind, Mr. J6, could you play precisely two more hands then rack up and leave? That'd be great, thanks! Go hang out with that dude that asked if it was okay to go South for $900, found out he had to leave for at least one hour, and then racked up, left, and came back in 40 minutes asking about sitting until I shot him the death stare. You two should get along great!

A bit later, there's an EP raise to $10 and two calls. I call with 77.

Flop ($40): 789ss

The raiser checks, a tight player bets $20 and it folds to me. I raise to $65. He thinks for like 20 seconds, counts out a call, then starts counting raising chips. I'm already thinking in my head that this spot kind of sucks, but there's no way I'm ever folding. If he raises his range includes like 88, 99, JT, 56, but it also includes like 89, TT, AsTs, KsTs, 9T, AsXs, etc...

He raises to $170. That leaves him like $100ish behind. I move all in, he snap calls, shows JT. Brick, brick, nice hand. In hindsight I might have been supposed to fold that. If he has one of the draws, he probably either flats my raise or jams, I don't know if he makes that value-y raise. That looks more like a made hand that thinks its best, which means I only beat 89.

End results: 10 hrs, 37 mins (including about 30-40 mins of break time), -$125

Bankroll is somewhere in the $2300-$2400 neighborhood. I'll count in the morning.

Cash game stats to date:

Profits $2,152
Time 83 hours, 45 minutes
Hourly $25.70
Winning Sessions 4/8

I feel like I'm running bad the last few sessions, but playing really well. Overall, I don't think my true hourly is much below $25. I feel like I ran good early and ran bad lately and if anything it's evened out or I'm a little below expectation. So hard to tell in live poker, though. 83 hours is probably like 2-3K hands, which is basically nothing.

So after counting, the bankroll is more like $2270. Got a great night's sleep, and now I'm trying to decide what to do for breakfast. I am considering the lobster and bacon omelet over at the Sunroom, with some comp dollars, but I really want to get on my grind. Option #2 is granola bar, get to the tables, and go down for an early break if the table isn't good and get a breakfast in the cafeteria - maybe a breakfast sandwich from Fatburger and a fruit salad from the salad place.

Yeah, it's option 2 today. I'm jonesing for the poker table.

The breakfast of 1/2 NL champions.

It's 6pm EST and I'm having my "real" breakfast - a sausage, egg and cheese sandwich with a lemonade. I couldn't leave the game cause it was too good for a while. I'm +686 in like 4.5 hours. The room is pretty dead overall, though, thanks to the weather.

Flop 5s6s8x

Woman 1 bets like 35. Woman 2 (total nit) jams 125. Woman one folds 9h7h face up. Woman 2 shows 44. My head explodes. Woman 1 smiles proudly. God, I love poker.

Tuesday January 21 - "I'll tell you the difference between me and them... they try to get them ones, I try to get them M's"

I played with a young hot shot kid today that thinks he's something. I mentioned him yesterday and he did make some really nice plays, but he was overly aggressive. The table dynamics worked for him, but he was also arrogant and openly discussed wanting to go South.

Today I figured out the big difference between me and him - other than me being way better, of course! When he's thinking about how much he can make on one hand, I'm thinking about how much money I can make in a session. When he's thinking about a session, I'm thinking about the long run. I know how to roll with the table dynamics, improve them and make them work for me.

More on him coming up...

So you may recall that LAGtastic fish who was donking off tons of money yesterday, but always smashing his draws against me. He and I squared off again today. I don't think he slept last night, he looked like he had been up for about 3 days straight.

He raises to $15 up front, there's one call and I make it $50 with AKo hoping to raise/get it in. He's jammed and showed basically Ax, Kx, Qx, any pair, suited connectors, etc. He shoves for $141, I snap, he has 55 and holds.

He'd proceed to donk off money, suck out on people, run it up and down and then get a table change. As you know from before, I was up like 680 or something when I took my break to eat "breakfast." I was sitting on 950-1K....

I proceed to dip back down to about $550. I can't remember if I got drawn out on or missed a couple big draws or what happened. Then there's a raise to $15 and a few calls, and I call in LP with As4s.

Five of us see the flop

Flop ($75): 986ss

It checks to a guy who's been lagging it up and having fun and gambling. He bets $30. I decide to play it fast and raise him to $115. I feel like he'll jam it in there with the types of hands I don't mind gambling with, especially smaller flush draws or straight draws without the flush draw.

The player on my left then shoves for more than $300. It's about $340. The gambling fun laggy guy then calls all-in for about $320. Meanwhile some dude in the middle exposed his cards while folding AxKs.

So basically, I have eight outs twice. I confirm that nobody had any blacks or greens hidden in their stacks and then shrug and call. The turn is a small red card, and the river is the beautiful deuce of spades. The guy on my left slams down his cards and storms off, the laggy fun gambler guy is just having fun and doesn't care, and I ship a massive pot.



Later came the most interesting hand of the night. This guy I refer to (in my own head) as Philly Dan raises to $12. I call him that because he looks like he could be related to Dan Harrington, but instead of the Boston hat he always has on a Phillies hat with a slight bend to the brim. A woman calls and a super-gambler woman calls. She's really rich and likes to splash around and gamble at the poker tables. I call out of the BB with 9hTh.

Flop ($49): T86cc

I check, Philly Dan bets $35 and it folds to me. His range in my opinion is big hands that missed and big pairs. I call. I think if he has overcards he'll give up on the turn, plus I can hit some hands that are kind of disguised and may look bluffy. He's got about $700-800 behind and I cover.

Turn ($119): 3x

I check. Philly Dan starts doing the chip dance. It looks like he's going to bet anywhere from $50 to $85. He puts out $50 with a green on top right near the betting line, and keeps the green in his hand and drops it behind it, back by his cards. He then throws the green over the $50 and in. I say the bet should be $50, he says it's $75. The dealer shrugs and I say he made a forward motion with the $50, the green chip was not released, then he put it back behind it... Then came forward again, it's a string bet. She sides with me.

First, some math. It's basically $170 to $50, or a little more than 3 to 1. I can now narrow his range to JJ+, and I really think it's KK. It just feels like kings. I suppose there's a chance it's a set, but it doesn't feel that way.

So my outs are 2 10s, 3 9s, 4 7s. That's 9 outs... I don't quite have odds to call... But it's close, and I think I can get paid on all of those cards if they aren't a club... Plus, I can bluff clubs if they hit and I want to. I call.

River ($219): Tx

Gin. Now, how to best extract value. I know he's a little pissed about the turn bet, and I know my pushing for it to be $50 not $75 looks like a club draw. I decide to bet big and make it look bluffy. I decide $150 is the right number and push out $150. He goes into the tank.

Finally, he says something. I can't hear him. I say, "What?" He says... "I think you missed your clubs and you are representing the 10."

I immediately stare down at the felt and go silent. He calls, I show the winning hand, he screams at the dealer "F-ING C--T!" He then apologizes to her, says he should have called the floor, and asks if I would have called the $75. I told him the honest answer - no - I barely had odds to call $50, it was close. He storms off and takes a long walk.

I considered telling him I'd have called it to, because it would make him feel better... But, after he dropped the ole' F-C on her, I decided that answering honestly might tilt him and screw him. It did, but he walked it off, steam raised once or twice and didn't lose anything he shouldn't have.

I don't know what was more satisfying, having him read me for exactly what I wanted him to or taking a big pot off of him - he's a solid reg who doesn't go giving money away and rarely makes a bad call. I believe this stack pic was shortly after that hand...



I also took a couple satisfying pots off of the kid I mentioned before. I ran better against him tonight, stacked him twice... Once when I had KK on a J high flop with two hearts. The turn was the Kh and he moved in on me. I snapped him off and he was just bluffing the hearts. I did it to him again, though I can't remember the hand. Then I'm like $1500 deep and he's $900 deep and he's in the 1 seat, I'm in the 4. He keeps running his mouth about how he's going to double through me.

Then he makes it $5, gets a call from the super-gambler woman and I make it $15 with JJ. They both call, I'm in position. The flop is 643. He checks, she bets $15, I raise to $40, he raises to $100, she folds. I tank and fold. I may be ahead, but we're so deep I can't really play that hand profitably from there IMO. The worst hands he has are like 65, 45, 77-TT. If he's dumb enough to play those that fast, he'll stack off in a stupid spot anyway.

The thing he did that really bothered me, though, was to get antagonistic with the old lady who was trying to gamble it up and have fun. Apparently she told him (they were neighbors at the table) that she's a millionaire and she's just having fun. He got up, came over, and whispered that in my ear. Like, dude, just no. First of all, it looks like we're colluding. Secondly, I don't know you, and I don't care.

Then, he starts talking trash to her in hands. She stacks off to him, so it worked for him in that hand, but it soured her mood and killed the table. She went from playing almost any two preflop to actually trying to play good poker. I've seen her before... She can play really well, and she actually snapped him off with Q high at one point with a sick call (I knew he was bluffing, not sure if she had the same tell on him). But she likes to gamble, and she sometimes prefers poker to the $25 and $100 slots.

So instead of joking around with her, having fun, and keeping it loose... He goes all serious on her, talks trash, and kills the mood.

He then gets a seat change to seat 5 when we are short handed to get the God seat on me. I could have hopped him back but I wasn't planning on staying long anyway.

I also picked up the aforementioned tell on him, so when he immediately tried to use the position on me, I snapped him off with 99 on a semi-scary board. He wanted to know how I could call and I just told him I thought my nines were best. He then seat changed to seat 3. Nice try, pal. The table broke shortly thereafter.

Because of the weather, the poker cage was closed and they were running out of racks... So my racks on racks on racks picture is three different sized racks plus some spare chips.



I cashed out, then hit Bread & Butter for a feast of champions, comped of course.



That peanut butter cupcake was delicious.

Totals: 12 hours, 57 minutes (including breaks)... +$1,370

Bankroll: $3,640

Hourly to Date: $36.87

I'm just finishing up some breakfast... I had to go to Fatburger and get their sausage, egg and cheese sandwich, because Roma only serves breakfast til 11. It seems to me that if checkout is 11, breakfast should go til 11:30. I can't be the only degenerate trying to get every last minute of sleep before checkout!

I'm also thinking about a couple of things I'm considering writing about coming up... Let me know which ones you are most interested in...

- What I think one of the biggest keys to absolutely crushing 1/2 is... It's not needed to beat it for a solid hourly but to really demolish it. (I touched on it a bit last night)

- The time I saw a gun brandished at the poker table.

- The craziest, wildest 1/2 game I've ever played in.

- The beginnings of my poker career, and how a gambling-averse kid turned into an avid poker player.

Ugh I made a terrible mistake. I called a raise out of the BB with 5c2c to $7 for a 7 way pot. The flop was AQJcc. I check called $15, 3 way. I knew then it wasn't a good spot. Turn 4c. I checked, the PFR bet $25, got a call and I raised to $75. Both called. River was a J. I felt like I had the PFR but the caller had a bigger flush. For some asinine reason I bet $150. Both called. PFR KTo. Caller Tc7c. Stupid, stupid play. I'm down like 110... I was up like 250.

Wednesday, January 22 - Cold as Ice

You could feel the cold coming in from the outside as soon as you turned the corner toward the poker room at the Borgata. Little did I know that it would be a bad omen.

My goal for this session was to win at least $360. That would get me over 4K in the bankroll, which would fulfill my first goal. Early on I had a really swingy start, including the hand I mentioned already.

I ended up getting up over $700, which put me over 4K in the bankroll. THen I picked up AA and raised to $15. The kid who flush over flushed me called in position. He was scared money IMO, and playing very tight.

Flop ($33): 235r

I bet $20, he called. I basically had him on overpairs at this point. He wouldn't float me with two big cards IMO, he wouldn't play A4, he wouldn't flat call a set. I put him on 77-JJ.

Turn ($73): 8x

I bet $45 and he raised to $100. What... the... hell? No way this guy was calling $15 with 67. Now I have him on 88-JJ. I call.

River ($273): 6x

I check, he bets $75. "You don't have 67, do you?" He just looks at me and looks nervous. "Did you really turn a set of 8s?" He gives a slight twitch that makes me think that's what it is. " That'd be sick if you did, really sick. I feel like I'm beat, but I'm also getting 4.6 to 1 and he could do this with 99-JJ thinking they are good. I call, he had 88. Nice hand, sir.

I keep grinding, taking some pots off two really big fish. I'm sitting on about $645, right on the verge of my goal and decide to take a break for dinner at Noodles of the World. Best expenditure of comp dollars to date.

Crab Rangoons



Chicken Pad Thai



After a delicious meal the plan is to stay about one more hour, which gets me up to an average of 10 hours per day for the trip. It's also to win $25 more, to get to 4K. I end up taking a couple of pots that run me up to $684, with $4,014 in the bankroll.

Then, I pick up ATo and there are four limpers to my CO. I limp, the BTN limps, the SB completes, the BB checks.

Flop ($16): AT8hh

It checks to me, I bet $10. The button calls, the SB raises to $30. He's about $500 behind, I cover. He's a pretty ABC TAG player. I give him a range of basically A8, T8, 88, Jh9h, and pairs with the flush draw. If I flat, the button can flat with a wide range of draw hands that turn 7s, Qs, hearts, 9s, and 8s into scare cards. That's basically 20 scare cards. I don't like that, so I raise to $100.

The button folds and the SB thinks for like 10 seconds and moves all in. That's what I didn't want. Now his range is basically A8, 88, and rarely T8. He could be spazzing with a draw. It's $444 more, there's $226 in the pot. I shrug, call, and ask if he has a set of 8s, he nods, the board bricks out.

If there are no heart draws, I think I can fold. If I raised preflop like I should have, I could have narrowed his range and folded because it would take T8 and A8 out. Unfortunately, I played the hand pretty poorly all through.

I folded to my BB and left with $139, for a -$161 session. That leaves the bankroll at approx $3,450. If the refund for Event 1 ends up happening, I'll hit the 4K by 1/23 goal. If not, I'm 0 for 1 on goals.

Bankroll: $3,450
Hours: 100.5
Hourly: $33.41
Winning Sessions: 5/10

I don't think I'll be playing again until after the Super Bowl... I'm tied up with work this weekend, and I'll be up in NYC a lot next week. I've got rooms at the Borgata 2/7 and 2/8 and 2/13 and 2/14. I may add 2/16 and 2/17 and try to grind a marathon session after I check out Saturday morning 2/15. I'd have to grind about 28 hours to get to check-in time and crash.

I want to start adding in some non-poker or semi-poker goals related to health/lifestyle. I'll have to think about how to put them into a good, achievable goal or two. Basically living out of a casino does not make health easy. Neither do marathon sessions!

Thanks man! I appreciate it. I was going to take your pick on the $10, until I had the strip club/dive bar fiasco of a night! Next time I find money on the floor in AC, it's robusto at the Blackjack tables... Or maybe put it on a Roulette number.

Thanks man! I've been pretty swingy lately, but I think aside from a couple decisions last session, I've still been playing really well. I've been above the rim a lot, calling hole cards and such - that's when it really gets fun.

Hopefully you are all enjoying this thread... I'd love to hear more feedback on my plans, hands I posted, and the thread. How can I make it more enjoyable? Shorter posts? Longer posts? More pictures? Less pictures? More poker? Less poker? More life? Less life?

You tell me and I'll try to make it as entertaining as I can...

I'm also contemplating my plan going forward and looking for some advice. I'm considering trying to put in some sessions elsewhere in AC to try to get more room offers now that I'm getting 2 nights a week at the Borg, including Fridays and Saturdays in March... So I'd like to be able to do, something like...

Check into the Borg Friday, check out Sunday AM... Check into X Sunday, get two nights, check out Tuesday AM... Check into Borg Tuesday, check out Thursday AM... To basically use 2 night offers at two different places to get a week in AC of free rooms.

The question is, what other hotels will give free rooms for 1/2 and hopefully soon 2/5... And how many hours do I need to put in to get it? Ideally it would be either Harrahs, Taj or Trop, since I think they have the best other poker rooms in AC. Anybody have any ideas/suggestions?

I subbed awhile back and enjoy it quite a bit...maybe some of those thead savers but otherwise I dig the detailed poasts...keep running it up!!!!

Thanks, man - I appreciate it! I don't know if I'm the type to throw too many thread savers in, but maybe I can find some creative ways to tie them into the content. Anyone reading is welcome to supplement the thread with some thread savers, though.

So this is going to be a crazy week and this thread could be pretty epic, but off topic for poker for the next week. I'll be curious to see how much time I have to think poker, and how much I miss playing. Basically, I have game broadcasts Monday, Tuesday and Saturday. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I'll be in NYC doing Super Bowl related stuff. I'm pretty sure I'll be meeting/interviewing some actors, current athletes, former athletes and possibly some models and such. I may also get to hit up some Super Bowl parties. I'll share some of those exploits with you guys.

Then next Sunday I'll be at the Super Bowl, so I'll definitely have some pics and stories from that.

After the Super Bowl I'm going to formally set some goals with regard to my lifestyle and how it supports my poker career and broadcasting career. Right now my goal is to crush it in both fields and give myself some really hard life choices later this year.

One goal is going to involve reading some more poker books. I own NL Hold 'Em Theory and Practice, Professional No Limit Hold 'Em Volume 1 and Power Hold 'Em Strategy by Negreanu, but I haven't read any of them. Books I've read in the past include Super System 2, Harrington on Hold 'Em 1 and 2, Caro's Book of Tells and a couple others. I also just ordered Reading Poker Tells by Zachary Elwood.

I want to make sure I keep developing my game, even though I have a ton of confidence in my abilities so far.

My other goals will involve health & wellness. I need to eat better, work out more, lift weights more and get in shape. I've lost like 25 pounds in the last year, but it's not enough - I'm still way out of shape, and I need to fix that.

Poker wise, one thing I want to work on is finding more good spots for 3-betting in position. I tend to play a lot more passively pre-flop than most winning players, especially 2p2ers. I think that style has its merits at 1/2, and I'll see how 2/5 games are when I get there. The example I come back to is that I often feel like playing 77-JJ in a multi-way raised pot for a set at 1/2 can be more +EV than 3 betting with those hands. I know as I move up, that dynamic will change. With hands like AK and AQ, I often flat call in position to disguise them and keep in dominated hands.

Just a little sampling of where my heads at right now... I also booked some more nights at the Borg, and I'm considering a big trip in March. I realized I can get comped Fri & Sat, pay $59 for Sun and get Mon and Tues comped. So I can get 5 nights for $59, and pay in comp dollars. If I do that, I should be able to get 70+ hours in on one trip.

Right now I'm booked up for 2/7 to 2/9, 2/13 to 2/15 and 2/16 to 2/18. I'll have to grind from checkout on 2/15 to check-in on 2/16 so that'll be a big session. I also don't know for sure yet that work won't interfere with some of those plans, so we'll see.

New addition to the plan now that Delaware Park's February tournament schedule is out. I'm going to get a minimum of 40 hours in there from 2/1 to 2/28 to qualify for their 20K freeroll 3/11. I'm also going to try to get 60 hours for the 5K bonus chips. The hours count double 2am-10am, and there are some drawings for $100 on Wednesday evenings, so I can juice up that EV even more.

This will probably end up being a bunch of 5-6 hour sessions during the week, though. It's nearby, so I can fit it into my schedule a lot easier.

Wow, what a week. I started to type something up about it on my phone but it froze. I'll explain in more detail soon, but I'm still super busy. I had a great night with my ex/friend (we dated 2 months and have been friends 2 years, so more friends), that really got me reflecting on life cause we had a deep conversation. It's had me thinking about poker vs. broadcasting and what I want out of life.

Meanwhile, some thread savers are now going to be worked in naturally... I got to either meet or rub elbows with:

Miss America



Jennifer Garner



and Hannah Davis





Also Jesse Jackson, Torry Holt, Brian Westbrook, Mike and Mike, Hall of Famer Mike Haynes, Lisa Leslie and various other athletes that are less notable or that I'm forgetting.

I'll tell those stories, which do manage to connect into my poker career and my inspiration and such. I'll probably have time for the trip report Monday... Got a basketball game tonight and the Super Bowl tomorrow!

Wednesday 1/29

So on Wednesday I arrived at our hotel, which was near 40th and 9th. Cool room, relatively upscale and spacious for NYC. Didn’t spend much time in the room, though…

We went over to Radio Row for work and lined up some interviews. This is what it looks like – it’s where a bunch of radio shows set up all week and there are current and former players, coaches, analysts and celebrities going around doing interviews.



We had Frank Mir, a UFC fighter, on and he claimed that he was as recognizable in a Wal Mart as Peyton Manning. I fought back a laugh, knowing he could probably kill me with one hand. We interviewed a couple of former NFL players, but I spent most of my time networking and meeting people behind the scenes in the industry who might be able to provide advice or help me advance my career.

Then I found myself standing next to a beautiful woman who I did not recognize. She was about 5’10, blonde hair and stunning eyes. I knew we should get her on, but I couldn’t say, “Hey, can we have you on? Yeah, that’d be great! Now who are you?”

So I made a note of what station she was standing with taking pictures, ran back to my computer, checked on their Twitter account and it was none other than SI swimsuit issue model Hannah Davis.

This is what she looks like when she’s working…



She had more clothes on there, though.

So I ran back over to find her, and she was gone. I looked all over, and had to go back empty handed. I told my producer that not only would I ask her for an interview if I saw her again, but if she said no I’d ask her out for a drink. What’s Derek Jeter got on me? Nothing, except the knowledge of where his gorgeous girlfriend is... Sadly, I wouldn't run into her again.

After the show, I went out to dinner with my producer at Esca, which is Mario Batali’s Italian restaurant. He’s not the chef there, but I think he designed the menu. It was delicious. I greatly enjoyed the spaghetti and lobster after a scallops appetizer and in the midst of a quartino of wine.



I took the picture halfway through... it looked more impressive before I went in on it.

After a wonderful dinner that I dropped a little less than a hundo on, I hit up a couple of bars – first with my coworkers, then I ditched them to go hang out with my old friend from college who was in town. He was out with people from his station, so there was a networking aspect there too.

All in all, I found the evening inspirational – I miss living in NYC a lot. I love the vibe there. To me, at least, there’s an energy. It’s inspirational, and it feels like you can accomplish so much – but also like you have a long ways to go.

Also, going out to a nice meal and drinking with friends made me yearn for a lifestyle I can’t currently afford on a regular basis. It made me yearn for more of a social life, which I don’t have living in Delaware. There is more out there for me.

When I returned to my hotel and crashed, it was with a sense of excitement, but also frustration. I need to achieve more. But is poker or radio the right road to take to get to where I want to go?

I didn’t know it, but I would find myself a step closer to that answer just 24 hours later.