Live is Better

I went to Foxwoods tonight but before I get to that I want to give a nice shoutout to CC for providing some nice swag from the WSOP. He was nice enough to send me some junk. What a good guy!

Ok. So I decided to go to Foxwoods today. I am trying to get in some live play one or twice a month. I just find playing live to be a lot more fun. The episode with the infamous Black Widow was a blast and Vegas was very memorable not to mention my first trip to Foxwoods with Dr. Pauly.

I put in a few hours at my old job today. We have a big project due the 13th at my old job so they are having me help out. I got tired of that and after getting to a good stopping point I jumped in the car and shot up to Foxwoods.

I always have a lot of trepidation before playing live. All you really have control over is how you play. The rest is in how the day plays out. Once I get settled into a game all of that is lost in the absorption that is poker but the drive up and the first few hands usually have me anxious.

I also have a huge problem spending money on myself. In the big picture the $300 means nothing at all. I made much more than that just from today's few hours of work. I should have no problem with taking the money and playing but I always feel a little guilty I guess.

I finally get to Foxwoods and find the room pretty easily. It is a GREAT Poker room with the exception of the people who work there. The dealers have been ok. The desk people are fucking retards. I stood at the front of the desk for like five minutes waiting for the guy to stop talking to his boyfriend and fucking take my name. A simple "Can I help you Sir" goes a long way motherfucker!

I finally got to my table, which happened to be 21 (BLACKJACK!), and I sat down. We were in the inept hands of Anna Bannana! All the guys kept calling her that. She was a fucktard though. She took time then waited forever to start the game. She made seventeen mistakes and we got maybe one orbit in. Fucking waste of my time. I think the for the 1/2 game a $10/hr time fee is crazy and it makes it alot worse when the dealer sucks. The rest of the dealers at least kept the game going. One of them loved to throw the cards way in the air as he dealt which was retarded and a few cards were accidently exposed. For the most part the dealers were ok.

The table for the most part was not very memorable. I sat down in my usual seat at the one spot. A ton of people hate the one spot because you can not see the 10 seat across the table. I do not find this to be a problem. I like the familiarity of getting "My Seat" all the time too. It works for me.

We had on Asian guy who kept telling everyone how easy it was to win at 1/2 NL. All you needed to do was be patient.. as he blew off 3-4 buyins being either inpatient or stupid. The guys on the end knew each other. One was a Bad Blood wanna be. His arms were freaking HUGE. The other one was drunk-tight guy. He basically did not play a hand until his drink came. After that he played maybe 2 hands the whole time I was there. The one he showed down was pretty weak but he ended up winning.

After a bit a guy who I will call Bad Azz Niggah came and sad down. Now I do not mean this as a racial insult. I just describe people as I see them. He was a bald black guy with a huge attitude. He sat down and scowled at the whole table. He thought he was a playah. At first he bet at some pots. Always splashing his chips all over the place. He hit some amazing flops and won alot of money. However he soon showed his true colors and became the donator he was destined to be. I am sorry people but 1/2 NL at Foxwoods is not a good place to try and push people out of hands or call down every hand with nothing. Nobody folds which is good. It means you need to adjust your game and get rid of the power bluffing moves. You just do not need them. Nobody told this guy. I will say though that he opened the table up real good.

I would like to report that I playing a magnificent game. I think the last time I played there were times where I played awesome and other points where I played poorly. In this game I played rarely and the cards just decided to co-operate with me. I basically played about three big hands all night.

The game started out pretty lack luster. When you have 100$ buyin max, 1/2 blinds, and 15-20$ pre-flop raises you can not really play any poker until you chip up. I started the night after paying time and the blinds by losing a few small hands. I was down to $65 and I was feeling a little down. I then was dealt pocket 8's. I usually play my small pockets weak and try and hit a flop but this time I decided to raise them and push the flop. I would only have $45 left behind so barring a bad flop I would push and see what happened. I got called by Bad Azz and the Asian kid and the flop came A34. I decide to semi-bluff push and see what happens. Any bet I made besides a push would leave me committed anyways so why not. I place my remaining $45 into the center and I get called by the same two guys. I assume someone has an Ace and I am fucked. I am getting ready to rebuy when the dealer slides the whole pot over to me. My pocket eights actually held up. My mood perks up considerably as I have now gotten up to $145.

The next big hand I get involved in blew my mind completely. I look down and see my only big pocket pair of the night. I have the ladies. The Hilton sisters. Either they fuck you or they fuuuck you. Almost the entire table limps in and I am in the blind so I decide it is better to win a smallish pot than to fuck around with the ladies. So I raise it to $40 pre-flop. I kid you not here. I get five callers. FIVE!!! I mean what the fucking hell do you have to bet to get anyone to fold? The pot pre-flop is like two hundred dollars on a 100/NL table. Sick. The flop comes Qxx thank god. Instead of fucking around I lead out for $50. In hindsite this was a good bet but I should have expected to be called by more than one person. The pot was big enough. I only got called by Bad Azz and he mucked his hand on the river. The runner-runner-Aces were a little scary but my boat held up.

I am now up over $250 and I am enjoying myself at this table. Bad Azz and the Asian kid have rebought 3-4 times each. The steroid guy has rebought at least twice. A couple of semi-solid players have gotten some nice chips. I then get involved in the hand that Bad Azz berates me about. He had been pretty quiet about people's play up until this point. The whole table limps in and I am one off the button. I have Q7h and decide to limp myself. The flop comes 66T with two hearts. The guy in first position bets $10, I cold call, and Bad Azz does also. The turn is a blank and the first position fellow bets out $10 again. I cold call again and Bad Azz raised to $26. So it is $16 for me to call. The guy in first position calls. So at least $40 is in the pot possibly slightly more and it is $16 for me to call with a flush draw. Um. Why not? The river completes my flush and I bet out $15 to try and get both guys to call me. The Bad Azz calls and the other guy ends up mucking. I flip over my flush and Bad Azz instantly starts berating me and bemoaning how his trip 6's could have possibly lost. I had to laugh. Although I will admit when someone yells at you in a live game it is alot more uncomfortable than online. I tried to mention odds to the guy but he was not listening. So I shut up and scooped my chips in. It is not my job to teach people how to play. If I am going to teach it will be by example as I take their money.

I was now up three buyins -- $300 profit. I did something that I normally never would do. I finished my orbit and racked up. I left. I was feeling good. I had won $317 in total so why not leave on a good note. I left the poker room.. took my extra $17 and played some slots, video poker, and a Star Wars penny slot machine. The Star Wars slot RULED! I had the best time with it. Normally I LOVE pulling the handle for a slot machine. The boring push-button machines piss me off. The Star Wars machine had lights, video, side games, and scenes from the movies. I LOVED it! MOST FUN EVER! I basically broke even at the -EV games, spent a few bucks on dinner at Subways and called it a night. Live poker rules!