Ocean Resort and Casino (Atlantic City, NJ)
06-18-2019
, 07:21 PM
06-18-2019
, 08:36 PM
06-19-2019
, 09:04 AM
06-25-2019
, 06:10 PM
Trip Report
Ocean Resort & Casino
6/23-6/24
Revulsion and Redemption
Ocean is the only place who sends me free rooms anymore so I am trying to take advantage of them. A couple months ago I got the offers through the end of June and I jumped at the last days I could get a room, in this case Sunday. When my wife had ideas about staying Monday - not for the night but to have a home base for her and our son while I was playing even more cards (she is a keeper) when they were tired of hitting the Boardwalk, but they wanted $150 so we passed, but they said we could ask again as things change.
The wife gets off work at 3:30 on Sunday so we headed out almost immediately afterwards. It was interesting seeing all the traffic coming from AC while we had a clear path going.
Check-in had a long line but it moved pretty swiftly. Without requesting it we got on the 43rd floor which the wife loved because she loves those views.
My son's 17th birthday was the day before and he likes buffets so we took him to the one at Caesar's because it was on the Boardwalk and had crab legs. The only good thing about that is even he now realizes buffets mostly suck.
Got back to the hotel and digested the malicious meal (I literally had to purchase Pepto from the hotel for my wife and myself) before heading out to the poker room.
The organization left a lot to be desired. I called ahead but when I got there I wasn't on the list, They said I was but a game broke so everyone at the game who didn't get on a table were listed in front of me. I sat around for a while until it looked like they would open a new game but then they said they didn't have a dealer. So we sat around some more while the list spiraled out of control (there had to be 15 people on it) until finally they opened the new table.
I played from around 11 PM until around 4 AM. Lost $400, almost all of it on two hands.
I limped middle position with ducks. Six to a flop of A72 all spades. Bet ten bucks. One caller. Turn 7
. Bet $25, call. The river is a fourth spade. Bet $40 for value. Villain shoves for $118 more. Call. Villain has A7. I think I could have gotten away from it on the river, but it's hard to fold a boat on a four-flush board at $1/2 and A7 was the only hand I could see him holding that beat me.
Much later on after adding on $100 and hovering between $150 and $250, two drunk mooks showed up and sat on either side of me. They're both splashy but the guy on my immediate right is shoving all in with a full stack without looking practically every hand. I envisioned this might be a good way to get unstuck.
He shoves all-in while in the big blind and the dealer just kind of shrugs. Under the gun, I see Kings. I shove all-in and figure I'll let the dealer figure it out.
Short stack girl has forty bucks and also goes all-in. Don't care, still looking for a double up. It folds around to him and I asked if that was binding, pointing to the chips still pushed to the front. The dealer makes a motion that it kind of is. Fine.
I flip up my Kings, short stack girl flips up Ace-Eight, drunk doesn't flip. The flop is all hearts with an Ace and an eight. The turn is a king, which is good; but it's the King of hearts, which is not. The river doesn't pair. Instead, it's yet another heart.
Drunk blind all-in player doesn't flip his cards over. I know I'm beat with just about any hand he could flip over, and at best we're all chopping it up if he doesn't win. Regardless, I just want to get it over with.
Drunk dude refuses to flip his cards over. Finally after about a minute, the floor is summoned and she and he start going at it. I just want somebody to flip over his ****ing cards so I could see what I lost two and I can get the **** out of this poker room.
Finally, after literally about 4-5 minutes of increasing frustration, he finally manages to flip over his cards. 54 off suit. The four is a heart.
Being unable to just leave the room until that happened, was almost assuredly the most frustrating thing I've ever dealt with in a poker room. But I finally did. It can be argued that the dealer and floor could have been more forceful in dealing with the situation.
(Side note: I found out the next day from someone at another table while this was going on that after I left either him or his almost-as-drunk colleague proceeded to spend all night getting it in bad and winning nearly every time. Fun game!)
Earlier in the day I called the Ocean reservations and was able to get a second night comped which was great as it would give all of us more time to do stuff.
I slept in longer than I might have otherwise and we wound up on the Boardwalk. Had a great time with the family on the Steel Pier and just walking around. We were gonna grab food at the Landshark Resorts bar but they said it was an hour and fifteen minute wait! It was beautiful out but still it was a June Monday at 3:00 PM. Either the death of AC is overstated or the Landshark is hiring.
We wound up at another place on the boardwalk. My burger was good, my wife's Blackened Tuna Sandwich wasn't.
The family went back to the room and I went back to the poker table armed with $300 in red and an extra hundred to add on if necessary. Fortunately, it was not necessary.
After only a few hands I was dealt Kings and for two streets of value with a hand that by the river became a full house (KKK99). I flipped it up after villain folded for table image but suddenly someone yells "High hand!" Apparently my hand qualified for the hourly High Hand Promotion. Usually a hand this weak wouldn't be expected to hold up but it was at 6:56 PM so four minutes later, I was up $100.
There were some very aggressive players at the table and I was able to take advantage of them. One guy, who looked Hispanic but he said he was Chinese, was very aggressive, raising most hands preflop, usually for large amounts. He was volatile so when he raised to $15 and I saw tens, I decided to just call. I knew he would call any three-bet and the thought of being out of position against him with a board of overcards was not enticing.
I told myself that tens were too good to set-mine so when the board came out 6-high rainbow and he made a big bet into it, I immediately raised to $175, which was a pretty big bet. He called, leaving him about $200 behind though I had him covered.
Turn is an Ace which is gross, even more so when he shoves. He definitively could have had an Ace here but I decided that given I already had half my stack in the middle and knowing he was capable of doing this with nothing much, I called. I forget what the river was and I never asked him to show his cards (I would find out that he was a bit of a hot head so I am glad in retrospect I didn't go that route) but when I flipped over my tens he said he was on a straight draw and mucked. That was the biggest pot I won in a long time and doing so by making a read and having it be correct was very satisfying as my list of big pots is filled with the usual monsters and coolers and the odd suck-out.
Told myself I would play until the Yankee game was over (had to stream it on my phone - they can't spring for the YES Network?) and when it finally ended, the guy to my right was $5,000 richer (how much he won for a parlay with the O/U on runs scored in the game, a soccer match and something else) and I had exactly $999 in front of me plus the extra $100 in my pocket, an $800 profit that turned my $400 loss for my "weekend" into a gain of the same amount.
While I was playing I got an email from Ocean congratulating me on being Platinum, which is hilarious to me. I am just hoping that I can keep getting room offers Sunday through Thursday since I only play $1/2.
After the Yankees won I went up to the room and did an early check-out. I would have loved to stay the night but I had to work at 8 AM the next day. I was told that they needed the room right then so they were happy to see us go, though that did make me think maybe getting the second night was not supposed to happen. It allowed me and the family a lot more fun and me to turn a profit so I won't complain!
Ocean Resort & Casino
6/23-6/24
Revulsion and Redemption
Ocean is the only place who sends me free rooms anymore so I am trying to take advantage of them. A couple months ago I got the offers through the end of June and I jumped at the last days I could get a room, in this case Sunday. When my wife had ideas about staying Monday - not for the night but to have a home base for her and our son while I was playing even more cards (she is a keeper) when they were tired of hitting the Boardwalk, but they wanted $150 so we passed, but they said we could ask again as things change.
The wife gets off work at 3:30 on Sunday so we headed out almost immediately afterwards. It was interesting seeing all the traffic coming from AC while we had a clear path going.
Check-in had a long line but it moved pretty swiftly. Without requesting it we got on the 43rd floor which the wife loved because she loves those views.
My son's 17th birthday was the day before and he likes buffets so we took him to the one at Caesar's because it was on the Boardwalk and had crab legs. The only good thing about that is even he now realizes buffets mostly suck.
Got back to the hotel and digested the malicious meal (I literally had to purchase Pepto from the hotel for my wife and myself) before heading out to the poker room.
The organization left a lot to be desired. I called ahead but when I got there I wasn't on the list, They said I was but a game broke so everyone at the game who didn't get on a table were listed in front of me. I sat around for a while until it looked like they would open a new game but then they said they didn't have a dealer. So we sat around some more while the list spiraled out of control (there had to be 15 people on it) until finally they opened the new table.
I played from around 11 PM until around 4 AM. Lost $400, almost all of it on two hands.
I limped middle position with ducks. Six to a flop of A72 all spades. Bet ten bucks. One caller. Turn 7
. Bet $25, call. The river is a fourth spade. Bet $40 for value. Villain shoves for $118 more. Call. Villain has A7. I think I could have gotten away from it on the river, but it's hard to fold a boat on a four-flush board at $1/2 and A7 was the only hand I could see him holding that beat me.Much later on after adding on $100 and hovering between $150 and $250, two drunk mooks showed up and sat on either side of me. They're both splashy but the guy on my immediate right is shoving all in with a full stack without looking practically every hand. I envisioned this might be a good way to get unstuck.
He shoves all-in while in the big blind and the dealer just kind of shrugs. Under the gun, I see Kings. I shove all-in and figure I'll let the dealer figure it out.
Short stack girl has forty bucks and also goes all-in. Don't care, still looking for a double up. It folds around to him and I asked if that was binding, pointing to the chips still pushed to the front. The dealer makes a motion that it kind of is. Fine.
I flip up my Kings, short stack girl flips up Ace-Eight, drunk doesn't flip. The flop is all hearts with an Ace and an eight. The turn is a king, which is good; but it's the King of hearts, which is not. The river doesn't pair. Instead, it's yet another heart.
Drunk blind all-in player doesn't flip his cards over. I know I'm beat with just about any hand he could flip over, and at best we're all chopping it up if he doesn't win. Regardless, I just want to get it over with.
Drunk dude refuses to flip his cards over. Finally after about a minute, the floor is summoned and she and he start going at it. I just want somebody to flip over his ****ing cards so I could see what I lost two and I can get the **** out of this poker room.
Finally, after literally about 4-5 minutes of increasing frustration, he finally manages to flip over his cards. 54 off suit. The four is a heart.
Being unable to just leave the room until that happened, was almost assuredly the most frustrating thing I've ever dealt with in a poker room. But I finally did. It can be argued that the dealer and floor could have been more forceful in dealing with the situation.
(Side note: I found out the next day from someone at another table while this was going on that after I left either him or his almost-as-drunk colleague proceeded to spend all night getting it in bad and winning nearly every time. Fun game!)
Earlier in the day I called the Ocean reservations and was able to get a second night comped which was great as it would give all of us more time to do stuff.
I slept in longer than I might have otherwise and we wound up on the Boardwalk. Had a great time with the family on the Steel Pier and just walking around. We were gonna grab food at the Landshark Resorts bar but they said it was an hour and fifteen minute wait! It was beautiful out but still it was a June Monday at 3:00 PM. Either the death of AC is overstated or the Landshark is hiring.
We wound up at another place on the boardwalk. My burger was good, my wife's Blackened Tuna Sandwich wasn't.
The family went back to the room and I went back to the poker table armed with $300 in red and an extra hundred to add on if necessary. Fortunately, it was not necessary.
After only a few hands I was dealt Kings and for two streets of value with a hand that by the river became a full house (KKK99). I flipped it up after villain folded for table image but suddenly someone yells "High hand!" Apparently my hand qualified for the hourly High Hand Promotion. Usually a hand this weak wouldn't be expected to hold up but it was at 6:56 PM so four minutes later, I was up $100.
There were some very aggressive players at the table and I was able to take advantage of them. One guy, who looked Hispanic but he said he was Chinese, was very aggressive, raising most hands preflop, usually for large amounts. He was volatile so when he raised to $15 and I saw tens, I decided to just call. I knew he would call any three-bet and the thought of being out of position against him with a board of overcards was not enticing.
I told myself that tens were too good to set-mine so when the board came out 6-high rainbow and he made a big bet into it, I immediately raised to $175, which was a pretty big bet. He called, leaving him about $200 behind though I had him covered.
Turn is an Ace which is gross, even more so when he shoves. He definitively could have had an Ace here but I decided that given I already had half my stack in the middle and knowing he was capable of doing this with nothing much, I called. I forget what the river was and I never asked him to show his cards (I would find out that he was a bit of a hot head so I am glad in retrospect I didn't go that route) but when I flipped over my tens he said he was on a straight draw and mucked. That was the biggest pot I won in a long time and doing so by making a read and having it be correct was very satisfying as my list of big pots is filled with the usual monsters and coolers and the odd suck-out.
Told myself I would play until the Yankee game was over (had to stream it on my phone - they can't spring for the YES Network?) and when it finally ended, the guy to my right was $5,000 richer (how much he won for a parlay with the O/U on runs scored in the game, a soccer match and something else) and I had exactly $999 in front of me plus the extra $100 in my pocket, an $800 profit that turned my $400 loss for my "weekend" into a gain of the same amount.
While I was playing I got an email from Ocean congratulating me on being Platinum, which is hilarious to me. I am just hoping that I can keep getting room offers Sunday through Thursday since I only play $1/2.
After the Yankees won I went up to the room and did an early check-out. I would have loved to stay the night but I had to work at 8 AM the next day. I was told that they needed the room right then so they were happy to see us go, though that did make me think maybe getting the second night was not supposed to happen. It allowed me and the family a lot more fun and me to turn a profit so I won't complain!
But I got Sundays and Fridays (though I cannot do Fridays).
07-15-2019
, 06:47 AM