Since there are obviously no capable dog groomers in Manhattan my wife is down in Florida for the next several weeks getting her dog's toe nails clipped and shopping for things they have in Florida but couldn't possibly have in Manhattan.
This leaves open the distinct possibility of a trip to Atlantic City this weekend so I set about planning said trip in advance. First I need to get there (not a trivial issue when you live in Manhattan) so I check into one of the many casino buses that depart from Port Authority which is basically a 15 minute walk (or $5 cab ride) from my apartment. There are several bus operators but I only need to see the first two; Greyhound and Academy, to realize they all pretty much offer the same thing; round trip for $35 plus a $25 slots voucher when you get there (rumor has it they used to pay out $25 in cash but it seems those days are long gone), which on this trip went unused. The bus normally takes about 2 hours in each direction but this day it would take four and a half hours because the bus broke down (the air conditioner didn't work either) about mid-way and we ended up getting to Atlantic City around 12:30pm which did not leave much time to get to Harrah's and the $200 buy-in deep stack tournament we came to AC for in the first place.
Now Harrah's is a strange poker room. Its kind of dark and reserved. It is basically broken up into two sections and it looks like one section is where they hold the tournaments and the other section is where the cash games are. I have heard from other tournament players in the past that Harrah's has good action and it looked like the cash table section was hoppin but the tournament section was pretty much dead with only the final table from the 10am tournament (a $50 buy-in) finishing up. The deep stacks tournament I had come for was my worst nightmare; three tables! This is exactly what I was hoping to avoid as I was led to believe by the gentleman on the phone when I called in advance that there was usually between 7-10 tables. I had come with a friend so when we were seated at the same table we ended up with a table composed of me and my friend, a middle aged woman, a gnarly old biker dude, a local who liked to raise $900 regardless of blinds or situation, an escapee from the local old age home, and three seats whose players had abandoned them. Eventually the empty seat to my immediate left was filled by a 30ish guy who played pretty well but didn't get much in the way of cards for most of the tournament.
The play was slow to say the least. I know in a deep stacks tournament (a format which I happen to like) things tend to go a little slower and this is actually desired, but in this tournament, after nearly 4 hours we had only managed to shed 8 of the original 29 players. We started out with 15,000 in chips and the blinds increased every 20 minutes so everybody played extremely tight until the final table at which point it degenerated to an all-in fest which is kinda what this format is designed to avoid but on this day, this format only had the net effect of extending play to about 5 hours. I got popped with about 13 players left, when I pushed all-in with my hooks out of position and my friend (A-9 off) and the assisted living resident (K-10 suited) both went all-in (I had them both covered) so it was basically a JJ against AK race and the Ace turned up. This left me with about 5k (the blinds were about 800/1600 at this point) and when my all-in with a K-6 suited lost to a pair of tens about five hands later, I was left to wait for my friend (who got bumped about 6th 20 minutes later) out back where the smokers congregate.
Now when the bus broke down and we were standing around outside in the service island parking lot smoking cigarettes and bitching about the sorry state of cheap AC transportation, a weathered wench who kept poking and hitting me to drive home her point (which I hate incidentally) informed me she was here to see the RatDog concert taking place at 7 that night at the Taj. The vision of playing for real money against a bunch of acid impaired Dead Heads had me salivating so after the Harrah's tournament my friend and I walked over to the Borgata which was crowded as always (this is my favorite AC poker room by the way) and then took a Jitney down to the Taj Mahal to do some fishing.
The Taj Mahal poker room might be the busiest on the strip. It is certainly one of the most brightly lit rooms I have ever been in and they spread Stud as well as Omaha Hi/Lo which I love. They have the obligatory $1/$2 Limit and No-Limit games but they also have waiting lists for $10/$20 and $20/$40 Omaha Hi/Lo and Stud as well as $3/$6, $5/$5, $10/$20 and $20/$40 No Limit. I was also informed their tournaments (typically $100-$200 buy-in) usually run between 5-9 tables. We initially sat down at a $3/$6 No Limit table and after about 4 shots of Hennessy and 40 minutes I was drunk and up $80 so I decided to go get something to eat. The Taj has a great burger place on the second floor so after about a half hour break I joined a $10/$20 Omaha Hi/Lo table. The players were for the most part very good. There were several hands where you didn't see the river, which for Omaha Hi/Lo is a bit rare. The raises were made with value in mind and usually the blinds and button (with a single out of position player here and there) were the only players to see the flop, but best of all, not a drunk at the table with the exception of yours truly. I had reached Nirvana.
My first hand was crap (like Kh-Qc-7d-9s) so I folded but on my second hand I was dealt 4h-5h-5d-6d and though I was out of position, when it was my turn to bet, I raised to $40 and was re-raised by the button. The small and big blinds both called and I called. When 4s-4c-5s flopped, both blinds checked and I raised. I was called by the button and both blinds folded. There was now like over $200 in the pot and I was sitting on the potentially temporary nuts. I checked when the 5c turned and as expected, was immediately raised. I called and the river produced the Ah. Now If he had the 2h-3h (the straight flush wheel would beat my four fives and scoop in this case) I was dead, but that would mean he called with a 6 high straight straight (potential straight flush) on the flop and I just didn't think he would do that. Other than that I think I'm in pretty good shape so I lead out with the usual 'how much can I raise' question which of course raises a few brows. The brow I am interested in informs me a $40 raise would be permitted so I raise $40 and he calls. When it turns out he has an Ace high flush and no low I scoop nearly $320 while the onlookers marvel at how fortuitous a flop I got. Three more fortuitous flops and one bad beat later I walk away with about $200 more than I sat down with.
Next up is the strange $5/$5 No Limit table which I think is a Taj exclusive. The minimum buy-in is $200 which surprises me but the Hennessy says this is front pocket change for a shark on the prowl like me so I promptly get reeled in on my first hand when the flop pairs both my K and J but the river delivers a straight to the only fish who dared call my all-in. As I was walking away to add insult upon injury, an over-eager rounder asks 'are you going to get more money?'.
I grind it out for the next hour or so on a $2/$4 (which we turn into a $3/$6 after all agreeing) Omaha Hi/Lo table with three other players picking up like $30 more). At around 11pm I find my friend on a No Limit table and tell him the Showboat at 11:20 meaning the bus is leaving then. He asks what the buy-in is (cause he can play for like days straight with no sleep) but I break the bad news to him that I meant the bus. The ride home is uneventful and at around 2am I'm in bed watching Kang and Kirk shooing some alien off the Enterprise. Bottom line is I end up spending about $80 on transportation, food, free drink tips and smokes and losing about $90 at the tables. Since the wife is away next weekend also, hopefully I'll get it back with interest.
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