July 17, 2009: Potawatomi Poker
I took the afternoon off from work and headed to Potawatomi Casino for a day of poker. After winning over $1,100 last night while playing online, I was eager to get back in the game.I arrived at the casino at 12:25pm and signed up to play $4/$8 limit poker. I had to wait 40 minutes, but I was eventually seated at Table #14 and bought in for $200.
After 40 minutes, I had to rebuy for another $100. I was down $175 and things weren't going well. Dealt decent starting cards, I saw an unusually high number of flops, but I just couldn't do anything with them. When I did hit something, an opponent seemed to always have something a little better. As a result, most of my initial $200 was gone in the blink of an eye.
Over the next several hours, I slowly yet surely started to make back my deficit. However, I won my money back a lot slower than I lost it. By 5:00pm, I was within $40 of breakeven.
The Brewer game started shortly after 6:00pm, so that proved to be a nice distraction. By the time the game ended (around 9:00pm), I was up $50 and happy to have grinded my way back into the positive.
About that time, a particularly annoying player by the name of Stanley Pickle sat down next to me. Stanley had consumed a few too many beers during the night and was repeatedly warned by Potawatomi staff to behave himself. After suffering bad beats (or so he thought), Stanley repeatedly threw his cards at the dealer and cursed his luck. Anytime he might have won a pot (long after he folded), Stanley insisted on telling the entire table how unlucky he was and what hole cards he had been holding. If only he hadn't folded, he would have surely beaten us all.
Unfortunately, I didn't have a particularly good time sitting next to Stanley. However, since I was sitting at the only $4/$8 table in the casino, there wasn't much I could do. Another player at the table complained voraciously about Stanely, but the casino staff did little but offer verbal warnings to Stanely throughout the night. After receiving a warning, Stanley would settle down for 15 minutes, but he'd quickly revert to his old form. It was rather annoying listening to his banter. As one player described, it was like sitting at the table with an 8-year-old.
Apparently, Stanley had gotten lucky and won $1,000 on a scratch off lottery ticket earlier in the week. He had been visiting Potawatomi casino every day since that win and was down to his last couple hundred dollars. Luck (or poker etiquette) wasn't on his side.
Despite having to sit next to Stanley, I still sat at Table #14 until 1:15am. When I realized that I had reached the 12-hour mark for time at the table, I decided to end my session.
I left the casino with exactly $110 more than I had arrived with. Considering the fact that I had consumed approximately 12 beverages during my session ($6/beer) and eaten a tasty roast beef sandwich for dinner ($7), I figure that I actually won approximately $200 while playing poker. It's a shame that I dug myself a $175 hole so early in my day, or I would have had a much better session of cards.
I guess that I shouldn't complain. I won some money and - other than Stanley's antics - it was a good time.
July 16, 2009: Cha Ching!
While watching a couple episodes of Man vs. Food this evening, I decided to join a $75 45-man Hold 'em Tournament on Full Tilt. It's been a long time since I've played in one of these tournaments. Although I don't play them very often, these mini-multi-table tournaments are quite fun (if you get decent cards).
Things started splendidly well. I won the first three hands that I saw and I was quickly the chip leader with 3,500 chips (we started with 1,500 chips). The quick start allowed me to sit back and bide my time while waiting for good hands.
Unfortunately, it took a long time to get a good hand. Dealt very little, I was shortstacked about halfway thru the tournament and found myself hanging on for dear life. At the hour break, we were down to 19 players and I had a below average chip stack. My quick start had officially been squashed.
After a 5-minute break, I struggled along and scooped a small pot once in awhile. It was just enough to stay alive and when we arrived at the final table (9 guys), I was the lowest stack at the table with a little over 2,000 chips. Only 6 players would finish in the money, so I can't say that I was overly optimistic about making the money. However, I was still playing. Thirty-six other players from this tournament couldn't claim the same thing.
That's when things got interesting . . .
A player by the name of JohnnyBankn started to dominate. One by one, he knocked players out. At the same time, I kept stealing an occassional blind (they were around 500/1000) and I slowly watched my stack increase. Miraculously (for me), I was able to avoid JohnnyBankn as he wreaked havoc on the rest of the table. Eventually, he knocked out the 7th place player and I was guaranteed a 6th place payout of $155. I was going to be plenty happy with that.
JohnnyBankn kept going, however. The next thing I knew, we were down to three players. I had approximately 5,000 chips, SUCURI had 9,000 chips, and JohnnyBankn had over 50,000 chips. Shortly thereafter, in a hand I barely remember, SUCURI went "all in" with A-10 (I think) and JohnnyBankn called him with J-K. Wouldn't you know it, though? The flop came J-J-K and we were suddenly down to two players: myself and JohnnyBankn. Of course, he had (at least) a 10-to-1 chip count lead on me, so my prospects of winning the tournament were next-to-nothing.
Then, suddenly, the cards turned. I must've won 10 of the 12 hands that I played heads up against JohnnyBankn. It was - to say the least - rather amazing. With so many chips, JohnnyBankn started to call my every "all in", and he kept losing to me. Next thing I knew, I was sitting on 44k and he only had 22k.
The last hand of the tournament epitomized my run. Dealt A-10, I found myself going "all in". At the same time, JohnnyBankn quickly called and flipped over Q-Q. He was looking good. However, an ace came out on the flop and I didn't give up the lead. In fact, another Ace appeared on the turn and I took home a first place prize of exactly $1,179.90. Woo hoo!!
Just like that, my Full Tilt account has over $1,500 in it. Yee haaa!
Here's a quick snapshot of the tournament lobby. If you click on it, you can get a better look. I especially like the box that reads "Congratulations, stv1313".
I suddenly have a renewed sense of confidence as I head to the local casino for a marathon session of live poker tomorrow. Wish me luck!
Things started splendidly well. I won the first three hands that I saw and I was quickly the chip leader with 3,500 chips (we started with 1,500 chips). The quick start allowed me to sit back and bide my time while waiting for good hands.
Unfortunately, it took a long time to get a good hand. Dealt very little, I was shortstacked about halfway thru the tournament and found myself hanging on for dear life. At the hour break, we were down to 19 players and I had a below average chip stack. My quick start had officially been squashed.
After a 5-minute break, I struggled along and scooped a small pot once in awhile. It was just enough to stay alive and when we arrived at the final table (9 guys), I was the lowest stack at the table with a little over 2,000 chips. Only 6 players would finish in the money, so I can't say that I was overly optimistic about making the money. However, I was still playing. Thirty-six other players from this tournament couldn't claim the same thing.
That's when things got interesting . . .
A player by the name of JohnnyBankn started to dominate. One by one, he knocked players out. At the same time, I kept stealing an occassional blind (they were around 500/1000) and I slowly watched my stack increase. Miraculously (for me), I was able to avoid JohnnyBankn as he wreaked havoc on the rest of the table. Eventually, he knocked out the 7th place player and I was guaranteed a 6th place payout of $155. I was going to be plenty happy with that.
JohnnyBankn kept going, however. The next thing I knew, we were down to three players. I had approximately 5,000 chips, SUCURI had 9,000 chips, and JohnnyBankn had over 50,000 chips. Shortly thereafter, in a hand I barely remember, SUCURI went "all in" with A-10 (I think) and JohnnyBankn called him with J-K. Wouldn't you know it, though? The flop came J-J-K and we were suddenly down to two players: myself and JohnnyBankn. Of course, he had (at least) a 10-to-1 chip count lead on me, so my prospects of winning the tournament were next-to-nothing.
Then, suddenly, the cards turned. I must've won 10 of the 12 hands that I played heads up against JohnnyBankn. It was - to say the least - rather amazing. With so many chips, JohnnyBankn started to call my every "all in", and he kept losing to me. Next thing I knew, I was sitting on 44k and he only had 22k.
The last hand of the tournament epitomized my run. Dealt A-10, I found myself going "all in". At the same time, JohnnyBankn quickly called and flipped over Q-Q. He was looking good. However, an ace came out on the flop and I didn't give up the lead. In fact, another Ace appeared on the turn and I took home a first place prize of exactly $1,179.90. Woo hoo!!
Just like that, my Full Tilt account has over $1,500 in it. Yee haaa!
Here's a quick snapshot of the tournament lobby. If you click on it, you can get a better look. I especially like the box that reads "Congratulations, stv1313".
I suddenly have a renewed sense of confidence as I head to the local casino for a marathon session of live poker tomorrow. Wish me luck!
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