Snickers99

Off to Wheeling in about 90 minutes to play some live poker. I was originally going to go tomorrow, but since I was so bored yesterday (and took Monday off as well), I got a lot of weekend stuff done and bumped the trip up to today. Hoping some poor players decide the same and go to kill some time. Report when I get back or some time tomorrow.

__________________
If it weren't for luck, I'd lose them all.
Check out My Blog, updated 8/19/08

thebatsman

Gl snickers we all await your trip report

__________________
"Beer a proud sponsor of casual sex since 1857"

Snickers99

Well, I lost again. Seriously, this year has been just awful. Confidence shattered. Holy shit, this is a long post! Sorry. Had no idea I was rambling so much. Save this post to read when you have nothing else to do.

Anyway, the plan is to leave the house around Noon. I head to the gas station and even thou I have 3/4 of a tank, I top it off anyway. Hit the ATM as I've been 'borrowing' from my live bankroll and it's time to pay myself back before I break my own thumbs or something.

Oh, I think someone was trying to tell me not to go as the light at the end of my street seemed to be stuck on red. A long line formed and I had to go down a bunch of side streets to get out to the main road.

Around 70 minutes later, I'm at Wheeling. I try to park by the doors that are closest to the poker room. No dice. The lot (which is small) is packed. I do a couple drive bys, but nobody is leaving. I try the lot next to it. Full. Fuck. I park in the main lot and will have tp walk thru the casino.

I walk in and immediately have to use the Men's room. I'm telling you there's something with me and casinos. As soon as I walk in, I gotta take a dump. (My second of the day, if you're keeping track.)

Wheeling is having a promotion on Fridays and Saturdays in July. Swipe your player's card for a chance to win gas for life. Other instant win gas prizes too. Everybody's giving away gas. It's like 2:00 and I'm disappointed to see the promotion is only from 3-9PM. Surly I'll be done by 9 and, if the line isn't too long, I'll swipe then. I want to see how much in comps I have from my other trips but as far as I know, the only way to check your comps is at the Player's Card desk and the line's too long. Maybe I'll check later.

Off to the poker room and I'm hoping it's not too crowded. I turn the corner and there's a good size crowd milling around the front desk. I breeze pass the crowd and use the automated kiosk to add my name to the 1/2 list. I'm fourth on the list, but the three ahead of me just got called. The list quickly fills up, with me now second. A few minutes later, I'm called. The floor person takes me to a full table. Yeah, there's no empty seats. He apologizes and says I'm still next.

A few minutes after that, they open a new table. Most of the players beat me to the table so I can't take my favorite seats (2,3,8,9) and take seat 10. I go to the cage, get my $200 (min/max 50/300) and take a seat. Looks like most people bought in for less. Most have $100.

Nothing exciting happening for me, but there's some big pots as there's one guy that's just chucking money left and right. Of course, I get none of his money. He eventually claims there's no action at this table and leaves for a newly opened 2/5 table. Damn. We lose another guy to that table and someone else leaves. We pretty much float between 7 and 10 handed for most of the day (there was something like 9 1/2 tables going when I got there, and now 10 with our new table). The usual characters. One guy is retired and comes here every day with $100. He loses it, he leaves. He wins, he stays. He's having a good day as he had about $450 when he left hour later. There's a mother/son at the table and later we're joined by a husband/wife. Nobody is super aggressive. There are some weak players.

Pocket tens in the small blind, I watch everybody fold to me and reluctantly agree to chop with the BB. Some other small pairs and suited connectors that don't go anywhere. About an hour in, I win a small pot and am down $12.

You cannot get chips from the dealers at Wheeling. They say it's a state gambling law...you have to go to the cage. So even thou the dealer is sitting in front of about $1,200 in chips, if I want to top off my stack, I have to get up and go all the way to the cage. Luckily, the cage is right next to us. I time it so there's no line at the cage and don't miss a hand a I shove an extra $50 in chips in my back pocket in case I need it later. And I will. And they are VERY strict with cell phones at the table. A couple people got yelled at, including me and all I did was take my phone out of the holster and check to see what time it was. One dealer explained that the dealers are getting written up if the floor sees someone using a cell phone at the table.

Wasn't taking a lot of notes, but assume I won maybe another pot, but am also doing the slow bleed of chip. Until this fucking hand that I'm still pissed about and need your thoughts on. 3-6o on the button. Like 6 people limp in front of me. I have to call now, right? So, WTF, I do. Both blinds call. What do you know, the flop comes 4-5-7. I flopped a straight. But straights on the flop suck. Checked to the stupid mother (SM) from the mother/son team (he's decent, she sucks and I figure she'll go broke sooner than later), who bets $5. One caller (retired guy who is pretty good), I raise to $20 because flopped straights suck. Folded to SM, who calls. Retired guy folds. By this time, I have the rep as the tightest guy at the table and I heard several guys at the other end of the table comment on my tightness.

Turn is an eight. She thinks and checks. I bet $20. She goes all in. I have her covered and call. She flips over 6-9o, I get no help. No flush possibilities. Should I have gotten away from this hand when she shoved? I think it costs me another $45 or something to call her shove. This pissed me off because usually Mr. Tighty McTightson would have folded 3-6o, but everybody tells me to loosen up and with 6 limpers and me on the button, I decide to and it bites me in the ass...hard. And to make matters worse, retired guy folded pocket eights and the guy to my right said he folded an eight...so she got the last fucking 8 in the deck, the ONLY card that could help her. This is the shit that's been happening to me all fucking year, although I'm sure I'm making mistakes that are leading to me losing. OK, sorry...been bitching too much lately.

So I pull out the $50 in chips from my pocket and this gives me around $100. Down $150 on the day. I stay because I think I can make it back...there's some players I should be able to beat if I can wait them out, and they don't bust before I get a chance.

Until this point, biggest hand was the pocket tens I chopped with the BB. I might have gotten AK once. I know one time I got AK, raised preflop, missed and folded to a bet in front of me. But I don't know if that was before or after the big 3-6o hand. So, anyway, finally, AA. Let's see what fucked up hand will beat me now. Two limpers, I raise to $15, all fold. Eh, beats losing.

Shortly after, AA again...I think in the BB. Couple of limpers, SB completes. I raise to $15 again. All fold except SB. Flop comes A-J-x, rainbow. SB checks and I decide "hey, I'm down $150, let's get tricky" and check. Turn is a king. Possible straight out there, but I don't think the SB is the type to play Q-10. He was decent and surly recognized how tight I was (he wasn't there when the table started, but was there a while before this hand). I get what I want and he bets out $20, I raise to $50, he puts me all in, I'm slightly worried and call. He flips up KJ for two pair, he gets no help, I double up.

Call some raises with pocket pairs that don't hit, some more suited connectors that don't hit. AK in EP, first in the pot and I raise to $8, two callers. King high flop with 2 spades, checked to me, my $15 bet takes it.

KQ in BB, get to play for free. Flop is K-J-x, I bet ten, two callers. Turn is a 10, I bet $15, one caller...the husband in the husband/wife team who have both been drinking Bud Lite drafts the whole time they've been there. They were both pretty bad players. I mean, not horrible. But beatable. River is an ace, no flush possibilities. Husband bets out of turn...I think he said $50. I ask "how much?", not realizing he went out of turn. Dealer says it doesn't matter as it's my turn. I have the nuts (probably he does too), so I check figuring he will bet. He bets $20 this time. I check to make sure the dealer raked $5 (and double check to make sure I really have the nuts). The rake is 10% up to $5. I'm sure he has a Queen, and the rake is already at its max, so I try to see if he will fold and raise to $50. He just calls and flips over Q-10. Split pot.

3-4s in MP(?) and I get to limp. Flop is 2-5-x. I think it's check to me (didn't write this down so going from my swiss cheese memory), I bet something, maybe two callers. Turn is a 6, giving me the nuts. I bet something, one caller...the son of the mother/son team. River is a queen...thank goodness. Was afraid of another 3-6, 6-9 debacle. No flush possibilities. I bet something, he raises a lot (sweet!), I go all in, he insta-calls and flips up 3-4s for the split. Fuck.

After the AA hand where I doubled up, I was at just under $200 (bought in for $200, added 50). The slow bleeding kicks in and I lose too much with AQ when I tried to be aggressive and take advantage of my tight image, only to get played back at and having to fold. Basically, AQs in LP, called a preflop raise, flop comes A high, he bets ten, folded to me and I raise to 20, he's the only caller. He's an OK player. Nothing on the turn and he checks, I bet 20, and he raises to like 50 or 60. I folded. I think it was a good fold, but he checked the turn and I had a chance to just check and see the river, possibly saving some money. I repped the ace and he didn't seem to care.

This put me down to about $100 again. I stayed for a while, floating around $100...win a small pot here...limp and not hit there. Mother eventually busted out. Retired guy left. Wife busted out. I tried to take out husband on one hand. Guy from the above AQ hand straddled a couple times and never won. So he does it again, husband calls the $4, folded to me and I raise to $10? All fold and he's the only caller. Flop comes queen high, he checks, I ask him how much more he has, he says $13, I bet $13, he folds. Anyway, the table is being replaced by aggros...preflop raises of $15, with reraises to $35, etc. I can't play against these types, so I leave at 9PM down $148.

Oh, one crazy hand before I got up and left. These two young kids sit down...one with $50, the other with slightly more (maybe $75?) Mr Straddle straddles again, $50 Buyin Kid shoves for his last $35, Buyin Kid's Friend comes over the top for like $80, Wife goes all in for her last $30 or something (they both had her covered). Everyone folds. They flip them up. $50 Buyin Kid has QQ. $50 Buyin Kid's Friend had KK. Wife had AA. Queen on the flop, and $50 Buyin Kid takes it all. Live poker is soooo rigged.

So I go cash out and they start to announce the winner of the gas thing. Fuck! It's after 9. Totally forgot about the gas giveaway. Didn't think I'd be playing this late. I'm starving as all I had was a bowl of cereal before I left. I think about grabbing a soft pretzel at the greyhound track snack bar, but the line's too long. I check out the food court and the chicken tenders w/fries sounds good. I've played at Wheeling a couple times and use my card, so let me see how much comp I have. I see no kiosk to check my balance so I wait in the long line at the Player's desk and she checks for me. Zero dollars and zero cents. WTF? I've played there 6 hours before and just played another 7. I wasn't expecting a lot, but maybe something like a dollar or two. I skip the food court, think about Burger King on the way out of Wheeling as it's right on the corner, but skip that too. Go home and eat almost an entire bag of Ghardetto snack mix.

__________________
If it weren't for luck, I'd lose them all.
Check out My Blog, updated 8/19/08

SPAM

[she flips over 6-9o, I get no help.]

I don't generally care for some of the gay-sounding lingo than some young people use today. However, if I were at your table and the sexy-momma, or ugly-momma hit her straight with my least favorite hand, 69, I would have tried to flutter my eyelids and say "SWEET". If the lady was unattached, and decent looking, I might have suggested that she cash in her chips, so that I could by her lunch or dinner. In the SPAM poker dictionary, 6-9 is referred to as CUNT or VAGINA, and I would like that added to the commonly used poker glossaries.

$1/$2 NL is much higher stakes than you and I are accustomed to playing online. When playing live at these stakes, you need to play your game, and stay within your comfort zone. Do not try to improve your play by experimenting at live ring games. Strong aggressive players will complete a lot of hands in the SB in unraised pots. However, the overall gain is not large, especially if you are not comfortable doing this. If you don't want to complete with weak hands in the SB, you don't have to, it won't cost you much even if the play is not an optimal play. However, on-line, you might profit from opening up your play a little, at the lower stakes, where the financial risk is much smaller.

Ugignadl

Actually, completing too often from the small blind is a very common area even among experienced players. If you see some of my videos you'll notice that even though I am an aggro monkey I'm quite tight from the SB.

__________________
I have been blogging. Last updated April 29th. http://www.feltpoker.com/blogs/ugignadl/

SPAM

UGI, haven't seen your videos. Do you have any available for us to view?

darthstfu33

Do you have any of hand jobs in the park?

sfustsh

I, also, am interested in said videos.

__________________
johnny350h: that was in his range yes yes

Ugignadl

Well I had some of me playing 1/2 NL on VP but I'm not sure where they are now. Last I checked they are on Johnny's web server. I also have a short one which I made as a test which should still be in the general forum somewhere. I guess I can make more.

__________________
I have been blogging. Last updated April 29th. http://www.feltpoker.com/blogs/ugignadl/

Terminal

A losing session live makes for a long drive home doesn't it? Another fine report.