UPF - Tropicana Trip I

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Tropicana Trip I, FeliciaLee, 14. Oct 2003 12:23
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I haven't posted in quite some time due to a 2500 mile move across the country. I would like to get back into the forum. Here is my Tropicana trip report from back in May. Enjoy! My husband and I travel to Las Vegas quite a bit. In fact, since August 2002 we have spent a total of 7.5 months in Las Vegas! We know the casinos well, and always just find ourselves going out there instead of playing on the East coast. All of that changed earlier this week when we took the 3.5 hour drive to Atlantic City. I decided to test my skills in a Stud tournament and some ring play at the Tropicana. Stud has always been my best game. In Vegas, the Orleans is really the only casino that regularly has Stud tourneys. So I started itching at playing a live Stud tourney. I looked up the tournament schedule at the Trop, and off we went. We were not allowed to reserve a room in advance, we had to fill out applications when we got there, get our time tracked, and then we could take advantage of the $60 poker room rate. Once in AC, there are plenty of signs to guide the tourist to their destination. This made it really easy to find the Tropicana without having to ask for directions or look at the "big buildings" and try to locate the name. The poker room was easy to find from the parking garage. There were clear signs pointing the way (something so unheard of in Vegas. They seem to hide the poker room as best as possible, and rarely have signs posted for it). The sign-up board was displayed clearly on an overhead monitor. The staff seemed competent and friendly. The low limit games had no waiting list, so we were able to be seated in a variety of games immediately. We were told to take a seat first, then ask for an application for the poker room card. The poker room was very large and dark. There is no smoking. They have tableside service with frequent visits from cocktail waitresses. The food service is only available from a small deli adjacent to the poker room. One is not allowed to go up and order for themselves, they must order via the cocktail waitress. The food seemed reasonably priced and tasted fine. They have seated massage service, but I didn't get the prices. We started on the 1-5 stud tables. I wanted to jump right into 5/10, but my husband is not that comfortable in his stud game. There is no ante at the 1-5. Low card brings it in for $1.00. Rake is 10% up to $4.00 and there is no bad beat jackpot . I ended up not playing Hold'em at all. We played Stud for the next couple of hours. The field was super-soft. Not like the tight-aggressive rocks in Vegas at all! I didn't feel like I "had" to depend on some tourists to win a few dollars. Most of the players were older locals, male dominated. But they weren't like the Vegas guys, they were just "playing for fun." At least at my table. I walked away with a $30 profit in about an hour and a half of play, after tips and the rake. Not bad! We signed up for the 7:15pm Stud tourney. There is a $500 guarantee. Although in Poker Pages it lists NO rebuys, that is incorrect. There are unlimited rebuys for the first hour provided one is below 400 chips. The tournament was $20+10. Poker Pages has it listed as $15+10, which has obviously changed recently since the overhead monitors still said $15+10. There were 93 entries, so the $500 guarantee was not a problem. I must have picked the best table in the house. I sat down and immediately 3 people told me that they had never played in a poker tournament before. One said he had never played Stud. Another said she played Pai Gow in the casino, so knew the ranking of poker. Another said she loved stud, but had never played in any kind of tournament, poker or otherwise. Another, older man was obviously a regular, but had that look about him I see often that smacks of someone who is very hasty in betting, raising and calling with a losing hand. Then there was the young guy right across from me. He knew how to play. He knew what he was doing. We didn't even have to start the first hand for me to know immediately that he was my real competition. We started the tournament a little late, but nothing to really complain about. It seemed well organized, although I did find a few little problems along the way, that I will explain as they become relevant. I was off to a pretty good start with split queens. I was head's up due to a raise by the older, impatient looking man. He had a jack doorcard. This hand turned out to be my only real mistake during the entire tournament. I am a diabetic, so I often have to drink these protein shakes when I start feeling a bit weak. So I mixed one up right before the tournament started and drank it at the table. I guess I was still a little muddy-headed when I made this mistake. I called the raise and got head's up with the older, impatient man (OIM). We both flopped blanks on fourth. He bet, I called. Blanks on fifth, he bet, I called. We both made running pairs on sixth, his 7's to my 6's. He bet, I thought to myself, "He has me beat both ways, he has queens and 7's, I have jacks and 6's. No more chasing." I folded. DUH! I am the one who had the queens, not him! Okay, so I'm glad I made the really big mistake during the first round when the stakes were tiny. The OIM started trying to run over the table. It worked on some of the newbies, but the young, experienced guy (YEG) wasn't having any part of it, and he just plain outplayed the OIM. I threw away a lot of hands, and won a couple of small pots. Stealing the antes wasn't really possible at this point. Mostly because all of the newbies stayed in every hand until at least fourth. Plus, the antes were so small at this point it was barely worth it, since I knew I was going to get called anyway. The YEG went after the antes quite a bit, but was usually able to either get away from the hand when the bets doubled on fifth, or just plain show down a better hand. He started amassing chips very early and never let up. He did a rebuy after one bad beat, but never had to do another. The first to go out was a young guy who had never played in a tournament, came to the table late, and was pretty drunk. He was a true gambler. But he had a bit of stud sense and lasted over an hour. After that, they started falling pretty fast. Our table stayed together a long time, due to a lot of passive playing by everyone but the YEG and the OIM. The YEG said that this was the longest he had ever played on a table without someone dropping out. I knew the table was good, so when I got barely below 400 I made a rebuy. I figured if our table could last for a while without breaking up, and I could start getting some cards, the rebuy would pay itself off many times. After the break, my cards got very cold. I couldn't even win the little pots. I went about 25 hands without even a pair of deuces. Fortunately, I wasn't losing very quickly, since I wasn't playing! Our table started losing the newbies quickly, but they were breaking up other tables to keep ours together. My chips dwindled slowly. I had such a perfect table to collect chips, and I never got to take advantage of it. Eventually they broke our table and I was going to a new one. For some reason, at this table, I could practically see through the cards on the table. The hole cards included, lol. The men at my new table were older, and they were transparent. They all played a decent stud game, but they seemed to TELL me every card they caught. Since I was so short stacked by this point, I found myself going all-in on every, single live pair with a decent kicker. The bigger stacks either had the worst possible hands, or they just didn't know that they should probably call my all-in's, since they didn't have much to lose by calling, yet lots to gain by knocking me out. I slowly started gaining chips, but still, I was the shortest stack at my table. Other people kept getting knocked out by playing too many hands and going too far with them. There seemed to be some kind of macho thing going on with raises and re-raises for no reason other than the contestants were too embarrassed to fold. Stealing the antes wasn't just going on every hand in a good steal position with a scary doorcard, it was almost a contest to see who could get in the first raise. In the meantime, I was only going in with premium starting hands, or when I absolutely had to, and I survived. Pretty soon, we got down to three tables. My husband got moved to our table. He was short stacked himself . I think we each had about 600 chips, which at this point was pretty darned low! I would say the average was at least 2k. The antes were about 50 chips by this point and 100 was the bring-in, if I remember correctly. So we were both always on the verge of being all-in. I kept up my strategy of going all-in with any live pair, decent kicker and kept pulling it off by everyone either folding or by plain outdrawing the caller. Finally my husband had to go all-in with a pair of live 5's, no kicker. He was the bring-in, it was raised, he had nothing much left, so he just shoved in and went up against not one, but two better hands. What bad timing. He was trailing the whole way and out at around 20th, I believe. Immediately, a young, confused looking guy sat down at our table in my husband's vacated seat. This was obviously his first tournament, and maybe even his first time playing casino poker (as will become apparent in a moment). He was the chip lead at our table with many thousands of chips. He was in shock at his good luck, I think. He slowly started bleeding away his chips, as the competition was much better at this table and he really didn't know how to play tournament Stud. My memorable hand with this sweet guy was when I had buried tens. I was the last to act. The bring-in came in with the minimum bet. The young guy threw in one of his many 1k chips. I asked him if he was raising or calling (knowing that he just made a big mistake by not announcing his intention). He said he meant to raise, but the dealer made his bet stand as a call. He apologized and said this was his first time playing in a tournament. I immedately took advantage of the situation and raised all-in with my buried tens (I would have done so in either case). The bring-in folded. Then, to my shock and amazment, the young, confused guy folded as well! I sat there in disbelief. He had literally thousands and thousands of chips to my measly little raise, whch was only about 500 more chips. That was one of my luckiest moments in the whole tournament. Not long after that, his mountains became bumps and then he was out. He could have folded every hand and still made the final table. He was obviously very inexperienced at not only tourneys, but casino poker in general. My strategy kept working, and although I was always short stacked, I was hanging on by only playing at the right times. Soon it was down to two tables (16). There were two women left, out of about 7 who had entered. My husband said the other woman was a very solid player who had done well when he was at her table. I was the shortest stack at both tables, for the most part. As soon as I'd build up some chips, I'd get nothing again for about ten hands and be anted down. I was never in a position to steal, because the macho-guys always did it way before it ever got around to me, lol. The YEG (from my first table) sat down on my right. He had a medium stack and had obviously been to this point many times before. He turned very aggressive and raised my bring-in every hand when it wasn't raised before it got to him. Sometimes I had absolute rags and gave it to him, other times I re-raised him all-in. He knew that he should always call me (he had mountains of chips compared to me). But every time, I had the better hand from start to finish, and survived. Finally someone knocked out the YEG. He played a good tournament. The only thing I could possibly say that hurt him is that he sometimes played drawing hands. Not necessarily even when the time was right, either. Drawing hands are such killers in Stud tourneys. If he had known this little fact, I think he would have blown us away. My husband kept checking on the other table to keep me informed of the chip counts and how the other players were playing. They were very lax about things like this at the Tropicana. At Orleans, a spouse is not even able to get into the same vicinity as a player, much less talk to them in any fashion. But the Tropicana let him sit by me, feed me (jeez, I was dying by that time!), get me drinks from the cocktail waitress, etc. The other table was playing many more multi-way pots than ours. At our table, almost 100% of the hands, someone went after the bring-in, everyone else folded, and either the bring-in and the possible steal went head's up, or the bring-in folded. They went hand-for-hand because we were playing many times the hands they were. The other table saw a lot of raises and re-raises in very multi-way pots. Sometimes five players would see fourth, even through several raises. They kept the tables balanced at the end, even though they were kind of lax about doing that in the first rounds of the tournament. In no time at all, we were down to the final table. We had a break. That is when I noticed another problem. There were several racks of tournament chips just sitting around, unsecured. They were on shelves and tables. No one acted like they even noticed this. One of the finalists asked the dealer if we could pass them around, that if he would look the other way, he would be assured of a huge tip. The dealer knew he was joking, but at the same time, they were just sitting there for anyone to take, to be used in future tournaments or even in this one, if someone was daring enough. No one ever counted our chips. Also, the tournament screen was malfunctioning almost the entire tournament. The staff didn't seem to care whether it worked or not. So then the time had to be clocked manually, and sometimes wasn't done correctly at all. We would have 30 minute rounds when we should have had 15 minute rounds. No one seemed to be concerned about it until a player would point it out and then the dealer would say, "Yeah, I think you're right" and call the floor. During the break the players were congratulating me and patting me on the back for surviving so many all-ins and making the final table. Players were joking that I must be a cat because I had at least nine-lives, lol. I was the only woman left, and they were making me feel very welcome. I did not feel unwanted or that I was part of an all-boys club where I didn't belong. The players were exceptionally friendly and nice, compared to Vegas tournament players I've encountered. We drew seats for the final table. I got the one seat. The new players from the other table joined us. On the first hand, a gentleman went all-in. He had very little, and was the shortest stack besides me. The antes were now 300 and I think I only had about 1200 left. He had maybe 2k. Another man had raised his bring-in and he called all-in. This was a multi-way pot, as another gentleman called both bets cold. I had a feeling that this third gentleman had the best hand. The raiser was in the steal position (last to act) with an ace showing. The bring-in felt no choice but to go all-in with any hand, since he couldn't survive the antes much longer. On fourth, the stealer checked. The other gentleman checked as well. On fifth, the stealer bet. The other gentleman thought long and hard, but eventually folded. Both made huge mistakes, IMHO. The stealer for betting into a dry pot with nothing, and the other gentleman for not calling with the winning hand. Sure enough, when it was all over, the third gentleman had the best hand all along (even if he hadn't announced it, it was written all over his face), the stealer had nothing and the all-in outdrew him. So the bring-in more than doubled his chips. I am not saying that both men made a mistake because I would have moved up in the money, I am saying it because neither had a huge stack, neither could just afford to give their chips away when they, too, could have moved up in the money. Had one been the huge chip lead, I could sort of justify him betting into a dry pot with nothing, but neither of these men had big stacks. All three men involved in that pot were on the lower side. Surely not as low as the all-in, but lower than average. I am certainly no pro, but I truly believe that this was a bad move. Everyone at the table groaned. They all knew what happened. Another thing that happened during this hand that made all of the new players (from the other table) upset was that no one would turn over their cards when it was head's-up and one player was all-in. This table had been that way all along. They wanted to slow roll, they wanted to squeeze out their draws. They took forever, even when one was all-in. Someone commented about it and I said that it was the first time I'd seen this. I'd heard about it, surely, but in the live tourney's I've played in Vegas, the dealer always says to show the cards before dealing the next one. The players involved turn over their cards, and that is that. There is no slow rolling or squeezing. The other players started complaining about this. One player said he'd played all over the world, from Amsterdam to Costa Rica, and that this was the "rule" everywhere. Show your cards, period. Stop messing around and dragging it out. Finally the floor was called due to all of the complaining. He told the guys to stop playing games and show their cards. So that was that. But for four hours before that time, I'd witnessed a hundred agonizing slow rolls, and no one complained. A few hands later I was the bring-in, with only enough chips to bring it in (my next hand would be all-in). I saw three hearts, including the king, jack, low. It was raised by the same gentleman who'd gone all-in just a few hands earlier. He was trying to steal with nothing more than a lone ace. I moved all-in for the dozenth or so time. I immediately got another king. He got a pair of sixes. I got another pair (low). He got nothing. Everyone at the table was rooting me on. On the river, he paired his ace, and I was gone. Eighth place out of 93, my first stud tourney. The table clapped for me and congratulated me. I don't think they did it because I was the first out, hence they moved up in the money. I think they did it because they were genuinely nice guys, and enjoyed playing with me. I think they also respected my play. I never got loud, I didn't argue, I didn't get out of line, try to angle shoot, try to be the blonde airhead who makes a mistake then tries to get it reversed to get an advantage. I just played straight-up, decent stud. No, I didn't steal enough. No, I'm not a great player. I just played the very best that I can play at this point in my life, and I got lucky enough to make it to the final table. All of the railbirds came and shook my hand and patted me on the back. One Asian gentleman tried to tell me what a good player I am in broken English. He tried the best he could, and I appreciated his compliments immensely. We will definitely be going back. We might even make this a weekly thing! If anyone has any questions, please feel free to write me! Felicia :)
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Tropicana Trip II (part I), FeliciaLee, 18. Oct 2003 10:56
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My poker journey is constantly on the move. Since I don't have access to a poker room every day, like I did for 7.5 months in Las Vegas, I don't really have the chance to get in a rut and slowly work myself out of it, trying to quash bad habits while building good ones. I basically have to just kick myself in the butt between one session and learn and grow the next session. The days in between give me a chance to read, read, read, study my notes and make positive change before making the four hour trip back to Atlantic City to test myself once again. In my first AC trip report, I described the Tropicana in detail (for those who haven't been there, but are planning to go sometime), and I also was very thorough in my experiences during the Stud tournament. This post, however, will be more of a reflective journey into my own play and the play of others around me. My husband and I arrived at the Tropicana on Wednesday, May 28, 2003 at around 5pm. I wanted to play in the LHE $50+10, no rebuy tourney. Glenn, however, had come to the conclusion that it was a bad tournament, horrible structure, too much juice and a crapshoot. I agreed on all points, but I am a tournament junky, so there ya go. The Tropicana keeps talking about how their tournament turnouts are through the roof and they are getting record attendance. I'm not going to go into any of the reasons that this is happening. Other posts in the forum have debated this extensively. But the reason I bring it up is because they are having quite a surge in their attendance, and that make for very late starting times. In the Thursday LHE $20+10+20 rebuy tourney, we didn't get started until about 7:45pm, when the starting time was listed at 7:15pm. It also means that management is hard pressed to keep up with the rebuys and the empty seats. Four weeks ago, they had two men "running" the tournaments. Even though the attendance has doubled, they still just have the two men. Sometimes tables become shorthanded with just six players, while the men are scrambling and trying to combine tables. Sometimes people run out of chips completely before someone answers their calls for rebuys. This also makes for really inexperienced dealers being called up to deal, when they have no tournament experience whatsoever. The players had to tell them how everything was done. The dealers handled it excellently, IMHO, taking the player's word for it that they were to handle this situation in such-and-such a way. Now, onto my own personal journey at the Tropicana this week. We arrived at around 5pm and jumped into games. I got called for a 2/4 HE game. Yeah, this is coming from the girl whose A game is Stud. I wanted the live HE practice before the tourney. I also wanted to play at the 2/4 table for another reason. 2/4 tends to be very loose and passive. Usually 6-9 people are seeing every flop with barely any raises and every hand ends in a showdown. I have come to accept the fact that in my HE game, I play well with loose, passive players who must show down a hand. That suits my style. I have been avoiding it like the plague, trying to reason to myself that I am not as weak at HE as I think I am, but no matter how I try to outsmart my own self, the truth of the matter is, I am a come-from-behind player. I like to limp with aces, then I can dump them if I know I'm beat, or I can win a big pot at showdown if I have the best hand. Period. That is me. At this stage in my poker journey, I am no better than this. I don't chase, I don't bluff much, I can't always outplay even the 4/8 players and my table selection stunk, up until this week when I swallowed my pride and went back to 2/4. In Vegas, it isn't always possible to exercise the right of table selection. We liked to play at the small rooms like Sahara, which only usually had one 1-5 Stud and one 1/4/8/8 HE table going at any given time. So I got used to being "stuck" at a table, unless we wanted to go to a completely different casino and start again (which we did quite a bit). So in AC, I found myself following this same pattern of table selection. I got called to a table, and I just sat there, win or lose, bad or good table. That is a really dumb and juvenile mistake. I thought I was past those kinds of mistakes, but I wasn't. I think the shock of having a huge choice just kept me frozen in the old Sahara thinking. I am working diligently to overcome that weakness. I did well on the 2/4 table before the tourney started. I felt warmed-up, which was my intention all along. Right before the tournament started, Michael (MG in NJ) walked into the poker room. We'd exchanged pics, so I recognized him, although at the time I was headed to the loo and my mind was in other places, lol. I guess Michael will always be considered the guy who intercepted me on my trip to the loo, haha. Michael is very Italian. He speaks with his hands and is super-animated. My husband, and most of the people I'm used to are not quite so "alive," I guess, because it really threw me for a loop. Michael will be an important part of this post, so expect to hear about him ;) Michael scouted out my table before I even sat down. It was a really rotten table. First of all, it was table II, so it wasn't going to get broken until the final table. I had no hopes of escaping a bad table. Second, it was filled to capacity with a lot of old guys who thought women had no place in the poker room. We are such dummies that I guess we should stick to slots and not worry our pretty little heads with men's games, such as poker and card counting (Blackjack). Blah, these guys are dinosaurs! Every one of them was at least 65, some were pushing 80, save two men. One was sitting to my left, a young guy who'd never played in a tournament before (I suspect). Another was a 40-something in the 9 seat who was very tight. Michael tried to give me the advice to throw away everything but pocket aces or kings with this crew, but he was talking so fast, and was so animated and talking to 10 other people at the same time, that I didn't really understand what he was trying to say before the director ordered the dealers to shuffle up and deal. I knew I had to play tight, but I thought that I would win enough hands to stay ahead of the blinds while waiting for these old guys to start knocking each other out. Big mistake. What I didn't count on is that whenever one of the "guys" would raise, everyone would fold, save maybe one or two players. Yet whenever I raised, I would get six callers to the river. DOH! It was the old ambush. I had experienced this in Vegas one time, sitting with a bunch of guys 70+ years old. I never managed to win a pot with those guys (I moved very quickly), and I certainly never managed to win a pot with these guys either. They ran down every hand I had. Bluffing was completely out of the question, and I only went in with premium hands. Still, I was run down every time. Finally, right before the first break I went all-in on the BB with KQs (only 3, 15 minute rounds and I was already all-in!!!!). I managed to flop the nut straight and nothing anyone could do to run me down worked this time. I quadrupled up, and survived the first three rounds. There was a guy at our table, two seats to my left, in the seven seat, who decided to raise each and every hand after the third hand. He kept to his strategy and raised, raised, raised. He reraised any raiser. He was one of the old, crusty guys and wore a Paradise tee shirt. I wondered how his hyper-aggressive style worked online. One time he raised, got re-raised, and re-raised again with 53s. He managed to run down pocket aces with that cheese. The tight guy in the nine seat wasn't too happy about it and vowed revenge. Unfortunately, the nine seat was so tight and timid that he never really got the revenge that he craved (although he did make it to the final two tables, so did Mr. Paradise). Anyway, Mr. Paradise was complaining bitterly about the fact that my KQs ran down his big slick (unsuited) and how unfair it was, how I took his good hand away from him and he deserved to win. He complained and complained about his bad beat, pounding on the table, stomping his feet, for at least five minutes, while the entire table looked on in incredulity due to his raising every hand with absolute cheese and playing it to the river. Most of them tried to get him to shut his mouth, but it was for naught. He was still bitterly complaining after the break about how he had the best hand and should have been able to "knock that girl out who had no right to play poker anyway." NICE table. After the break I survived a few more rounds, got nothing, and finally had to go all-in once again in the SB with ATs. I was happy to be busted by the nine seat, who was extremely nice, even if too timid. We both beat Mr. Paradise, who, as normal, held a piece of cheese and tried to cap it off each round. Timid nine seat held the nut flush, made on the turn. I was never happier than to give the last of my chips to him, versus one of the grumpy, old, woman haters. So I was out. I came in 58:88. I sweated Michael for the rest of the tournament. He was holding his own. The tables started breaking quickly and Michael always came out with a decent stack. Michael is one of those guys who talks, talks, talks at the table. He talks you off the winning hand. He talks you into folding when you want to call, he talks you into calling when you should fold. I don't know yet if Michael had this ability to manipulate prior to his poker beginnings (3 years ago), or if this is some sense he has developed in the course of his poker journey. I have a feeling that he has always been like this. It comes very naturally to him and can be off-putting to competitors. I watched Michael raise with Q8 and steal a pot. I watched Michael make a lot of moves I would never have made. Some of those moves are what makes Michael a much better player than I am. Other moves show the differences in our personal style. Towards the end of the tournament, I watched him out-fox an Asian player who wanted to call to the river so badly, just to see Michael's hand. He had every inclination to call, he was just begging for any sign from Michael to give him the go-ahead, but Michael gave absolutely nothing away. Michael just kept betting, and the Asian finally chickened out and threw his hand away. The Asian had the right idea...he kept staring at Michael trying to get a read. He didn't bother with the flop, except just a quick glance when he couldn't get a read. He used every type of reading device that was available to him, but couldn't put Michael on anything. I can't even remember if Michael had a hand or not. Shoot, I might not have even seen his hole cards. But that is the beauty of HE. I watched Michael outplay this guy. It didn't matter what Michael held, what was on the flop, or what the Asian held. Michael outplayed him, got him to lay down his hand (which might have been the winner), and that is what matters. Michael made it to the final two tables still in decent position. I kept counting the other stacks and keeping track for him. He hovered around fifth in chips at all times. Eventually Michael made it to the final table. They had 10 guys seated, but only the top 9 get paid. I didn't hear anything about a save, so I think #10 just got screwed and that was it. #10 was a guy who'd never played in a tournament and came in with the shortest stack (I believe). It was close between him and a very young Asian, in any case. His buddy, who was the chip lead, knocked him out on the very first hand. The buddy apologized, but explained, rationally, that he did have a hand and had to go for it. Both guys were great about it. When nine were left, someone started pushing a deal. I wasn't aware of the guy who started the talk, but found out he was a local, from Michael. Michael has already posted about this "deal" in another part of the forum. Michael, who you all know by now is very vocal, helped with the pushing of the deal. Nothing was decided and another hand was dealt. The very young Asian, who was the shortest stack, went all-in, and was saved. The rumblings about deal, deal, deal were started again. I thought that it was completely out of line, but who am I? I thought that the locals pushed the big stack into making a decision that he was very unsure about, due to inexperience. The big stack had never played in a tournament before and let himself be pushed around by bullies. This is just IMHO, and is a subjective account from only my point of view. Finally an agreement was reached. I don't believe it helped really anyone but the shortest stacks. I think the big stack got ripped off. He got $700, when first place paid almost 3k, I believe. So the tourney was over, but I wasn't really impressed by anyone. Not the locals who bullied him into the deal, and not the poor rookie who let himself be taken. Granted, the rookie may never have been able to win first, with the competition he was up against, but still, to give up a chance at almost 3k for $700 when he was the chip lead??? No way, brother, I would have held out for more. I told Michael that if he ever tried to bully me into a deal when I was the chip lead, I would jump right over the table to strangle him. I was only half kidding ;0 After the tournament ended, Michael said his good-byes, still undecided about whether to come back for the Thursday night $20+10+20 rebuy tourney. Glenn and I played a little more ring, then hung it up for the night and went to sleep in our non-suite, lol. Yes, the suite was much nicer, but the bed wasn't nearly as hard in the regular room, so I guess it was just as well. (Part II to this trip posted below)
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Re: Tropicana Trip II (part II), FeliciaLee, 18. Oct 2003 10:58
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The next day was ring city. I stuck with the lowest limits this time; 2/4 HE and 1-5 Stud. I did pretty well all day long. At about 6pm, I heard from Michael saying he was not going to be able to make it. I called him a Bum, but I understood. Word was out that the tournament was going to break all previous attendance records, and Michael didn't even think he would be able to make it in time to register before the tourney filled up. In retrospect, I wish he would have felt up to it, and done everything he could to make it, so that he could have sweated me a little and been able to criticize my play later. I know that I can learn a lot from Michael, as he is not only a superior ring player, but a superior tourney player as well. I will never adopt his style, as I have my own and his is not my way, but I can learn a lot, and adopt some of his tactics while playing in tourneys. We started out with 160 players. I tried to get some chips from the six seat who claimed we would start no later than 7:30pm, when I had claimed 7:45. I was closer to the mark, so I tried to retrospectively make a wager and get some of his tourney chips, but he wouldn't budge, lol. My table was a LOT better at this tournament. One seat was an older guy I've played with before who has a wonderful personality and is solid. Two seat was a young Italian who talks a lot, but seems to have a heart of gold and is genuinely nice and rooting for everyone. He plays a good game, on top of all of those other qualities :) Three seat was uneventful. I can't even remember one play. Four seat, on my right, was very passive and seemed inexperienced. He spoke with a European accent and seemed to have trouble with the limits. I never remember even one raise from that guy. I was in the 5 seat. Six seat was a sweet, crusty old dude who gave advice but played in an odd way, which I will describe in detail as we go along. Seven was a young guy who still had the shakes. Gave himself away completely, even with the ball cap pulled low to try to hide his eyes. Eight seat was non-descript. Nine was a young, handsome guy who was getting a massage during the first 15 minutes of play and looked like he was about to climax at any second. He kind of turned me on, which is way TMI, but he was a good looking, viral guy, shooting sexy testosterone in every direction. His play was pretty good, believe it or not. He took bad beats very well, never tilted, and played a pretty solid, if weak, game, IMHO. The ten seat tried to bluff a little too much. He got called too often, which means his good hands were run down and the pots he did win were too small. He had to lay down hands when he attempted to bluff, and bled away his chips when he could have been a real contender for the money. I folded, folded and folded some more. The young, Italian guy (YIG) raised. I called with AQs. The flop was a scary KJx. He checked, so did I. I guess (before the flop) I had put him on big slick or a small pocket pair. The turn was another blank, check-check. The river was the blessed queen. He checked, I bet, he called. We both turned over the same hand and laughed. In late position I got KK. I raised. The six seat (my left, the crusty, but nice old guy--NOG) re-raised. Now, this is when I where I promised you I would talk about his play later in the story. I was perplexed by this play. He sometimes re-raised a raiser with a mediocre hand. I thought he was trying to isolate. It paid him off at times, and other times he lost a smaller pot than he might have lost had he allowed other players to call just one raise, instead of two raises cold. My first thought was that perhaps he was trying to isolate again. He knew I was squeaky tight, but I reasoned that he was trying the same approach with this hand. I tried to put him on a hand, and although AA kept screaming out in my mind, I didn't want to fall for the old "monsters under the bed" routine. The flop came up xxQ. I bet out, he called. The turn and river were blanks. Each time I bet out, he flat called. I guess I saved three bets that way, because he did turn over the AA, and was scared to raise me again when the queen flopped, fearing I had pocket queens. I'm kind of disappointed in my play here. Everything screamed out to me that he had pocket aces. I kept dismissing my first instinct based on his previous play. What I failed to realize was that was his previous play with OTHERS. He knew I had something great, he knew how I played, so he wouldn't have tried that trick with me, knowing he would just be giving away his chips. Just because someone can get away with something with one person, doesn't mean they can with every person. I put his previous play foremost in my mind, and was crippled by a hand I could have gotten away from, or at least checked down, had I obeyed my own read on the guy. So I was crippled not only by the KK vs. AA hand, but then by another hand a round or so later. One of the problems with the Tropicana tourneys is that one only gets 400 tourney chips to start, and the levels increase rapidly. The structure is too fast to wait very long to make a move. The rebuy tourneys help increase the waiting time, and can boost one into the final table if one catches cards middle to late in the tourney, rather than in the beginning. Even though I'm not a fan of rebuy tourneys, even I know that with my style of playing, I have a better chance with 800 chips vs. 400 chips, with a structure that fast. By the break I was down to 175 chips. I called for a rebuy and had a bit of life left. The guys at the table thought I was dead money and seemed genuinely sad that I was doing a rebuy when I was so crippled. They were playing through me, and I could sense their body language saying they thought I'd be the first to go. We started round IV after the break. The NOG on my left had bled some of his big stack away. He had been chip leader and tried to use his weight as such. I felt he went too far, with too many hands. He didn't play well with a big stack at all, playing every hand, through raises or not. He saw way too many showdowns with mediocre cards that had caught nothing, or just a small piece of the flop. Soon he was the short stack (yes, even shorter than me, lol). So what did he do? Did he tighten up then make big moves? No, he continued to try to "catch up" and played most every hand. Nice guy, but what was he thinking? He was the first one out at our table, even having been the chip lead for almost the entire first three rounds. I watched how he used "my" AA vs. KK winnings to knock himself right out of the tourney. How sad. One advantage that I have during a tourney is the ability of playing with a short stack. I have always been good at that. Maybe it is the cheapskate in me. Maybe it is because I'm so tight that I am usually the shortest stack at any given time during a tournament. I have survival instincts. I have snuck into the money more times that I can count during tournaments (mostly played online these days, due to no proximity to a live casino). I remember reading Cloutier's book, PLNL, and him stating that he believes he has developed into such a good tourney player because he cut his teeth in poker playing with a SHORT STACK. Bingo, I felt a natural kinship. I can't play a big stack worth crap, but I can sure pick my spots with a short stack, and survive, survive, survive, even throwing away group I hands when I have to, knowing I can sneak into the money, but don't have a chance of winning. Soon I caught presto in the BB. UTG limped in (a new guy, taking the place of the NOG) and it was folded around to me. I raised. The new guy (very nice, middle-aged man--NG) called my raise. He was short-stacked as well, but not as much as me. He had maybe 700 chips left. I caught a five on the flop and bet. He called me all the way to showdown. I think he mucked his hand when he saw my set and said GH. He was very friendly and we talked until he got knocked out, not long after. The very next hand, in the SB I caught 99. It was raised before the flop by the 10 seat, the aggressive older guy who bluffed a lot (AB). I called and the NG in the BB went all-in with his remaining stack. I bet on the flop of rags and the AB folded. I won the side pot, which was a lot more than the main pot since the NG only had 50 chips left. We turned up our cards and the NG caught a Q on the turn to make his Q9 beat my 99. I heartily congratulated him and we patted each other on our mutual wins. He still barely had any chips. Just a few hands later he went all-in for his remaining chips and was outdrawn. We said our goodbyes and another seat opened. On the very next hand, the young shaky guy in the 7 seat (YSG) went all-in himself. He had A-something, I don't remember. The nondescript 8 seat called his all-in, as did the nine seat, the good-looking, young, massage guy (MG). The flop came down with a scary AKT. The 8 seat bet, the MG called. The turn was a blank, bet, very reluctant call from the MG. The river was another T. The 8 seat couldn't wait to get his chips into the pot, betting all-in. This is when the MG came alive and called very happily. His KT full house beat out both guys in one stroke. I think the 8 seat caught a flush, and the all-in before the flop, YSG, had top pair with his ace. I was so impressed by the counter-tell that the MG pulled on the 8 seat. Good going kiddo!!! The 3 seat went out right afterwards, in such a way that I can't even remember the hand, his cards, the board, or who knocked him out. He was nondescript from beginning to end. We were six handed when our table broke. I pulled table II, the same table I'd gotten pummeled on the night before. But this time I got a good seat, seat 8. An excellent seat to watch and read my opponents. The MG sat to my immediate right, in the 7 seat. He wasn't giving off nearly as much testosterone this close to me...darn! Or was that a good thing? He didn't affect my play, in any case, lol. An older man I'd played ring with before, and greatly respected, joined up with me at the 10 seat. This guy can play. This was the first time we'd been in a tourney at the same table, but in the HE ring games, he rules the table with his Johnny Moss style. Carlos, who had been 2nd chip lead at the final table the night before, was in the 2 seat. He can be a little heated at times, but it is hard to put him on a hand because he wears shades and looks straight in the face of his opponents no matter what his holding. Another heated guy, a friend (?) of Carlos' was in the 4 seat. I folded a full round before getting A7 in the BB. I had two callers, the 10 seat, the older guy I respected (JM) and an obvious young, newbie in MP. When I flopped an ace, I bet out confidently and both men dropped. The very next hand, in the SB it was folded to me. I had 22 and did not raise before the flop (mistake, maybe, but the BB was the JM guy since the 9 seat still hadn't been filled). We saw a scary flop of AKK. Check-check. Turn was a Q, check-check. River was T. Check-check. I won with my deuces. I told the JM guy that I know I should have raised, or bet at some point, but I know how sneaky he is and how he could pull out a monster on me. We both laughed, he knew it to be true. I figure I'd rather be safe in that situation, knowing the JM guy can outplay me any day of the week. A new guy got seated in the one seat. He was one of the young, Rounders impersonators. He played fast and aggressive. In the BB I had A6s. He let me limp and I flopped two pair. I bet out. He didn't know me from Adam, so obviously didn't respect my bet, and called me all the way to the river, just to muck in disgust. His tells were so obvious that I knew my two pair were good from beginning to end. He was out not long after. By this time I'd built my stack up to a respectable 3800 chips. The blinds were 150/300, but about to go up to 300/500. I saw nothing else for a long time. A man filled the 9 seat. He was very friendly, but I don't think he knew proper tournament strategy. His wife was sweating him, and kept us informed of chips and number of players still in the tournament (the way he and I were sitting, it was difficult to know what was going on at the other tables). She was a true gem, since my usually, very supportive hubby didn't show up, for some reason. Finally we were down to two tables. I was getting blinded down, but couldn't even attempt a steal, since it was always either raised before it got to me, or I was in EP with 94, 83, 72, T4, etc. I just don't feel that I am to the point that I can get away with stone-cold bluffs. I'm still growing :) We got down to 18 players. My husband had been coming and going, sweating me for most of the last 45 minutes. The 9 seat started bleeding chips like mad, having started with a huge stack. I felt bad for him for not picking the right spots, and for playing drawing hands even through raises. He really had no clue, but he was nice and his wife was the bomb. I was now blinded down to less than a full bet. In the SB, I was dealt AQs. The cutoff raised yet again (he raised quite a bit, with mediocre hands). I didn't respect his raise and went all-in. He had presto and I was out. 18:160, no pay except the top 9. Now, you may think that I am crazy to write up a whole report like this when I was out of the money anyway. You may think that I am a fool for having spent money just to get out of the money having worked so hard for so many hours. You may think that the guy who was the first one out got the same thing out of the tourney that I did, but you are wrong. I got a LOT out of this tournament. I learned quite a bit. I misplayed some hands badly. I didn't shove all-in when I should have, yet did shove all-in when I didn't even have a full-bet left. I could have snuck into the money by folding that AQs in the SB, leaving the rest of my stack to just sit, knowing the blinds were about to go up to 2000/4000 and that people would be dropping left and right. I had a full 7 hands to play before I would be faced with the BB again. I had no chance of winning the tourney with such a short stack, so I should have just folded and tried to sneak into the money. But I know that. I know my mistakes, thank God. They are getting clearer to me every time I play in a tournament. I also made other fundamental mistakes, but I won't go into them, since I know what I SHOULD have done, so no amount of someone telling me about them is going to help. By my notes, I made four very fundamental, big mistakes. HE is not my A game, that is for sure, but I am getting better. During my first LHE tourney at the Trop three weeks ago, I made at least double that many mistakes. Two weeks ago I probably made six mistakes. So I am getting there. I still outplayed 141 players to get to 18. I am proud of myself and almost feel like it was a WIN. I was not disappointed or shell-shocked from being so close to the money and then blowing it. I feel like poker is similar to learning a new language. At first, your basic, fundamental mistakes are enormous. But slowly they dwindle until you find yourself making less and less mistakes and playing a good game. A very good game. I was not ashamed by my fundamental mistakes while learning new languages, since I was ignorant and knew no better. Thusly I am not ashamed of my diminishing number of fundamental mistakes during LHE tourneys. Once again, I had a great time in Atlantic City and wish I would have discovered it years earlier, as the AC players are a world away from the Vegas players. The attitudes and personalities are so much more pleasant in AC. For every grumbling, crusty, grouchy old rock in AC, there are 10 or more in Vegas. I have yet to see a dealer get spit on, hit, burnt with a cigarette or have a drink thrown on them. I rarely see players arguing or threatening to fight. The atmosphere is a complete opposite from Vegas. I am so glad we decided to give AC a try! Good luck at the tables...knock 'em dead! Felicia :)
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Re: Tropicana Trip II (part II), Schuster, 18. Oct 2003 12:35
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Good posts Felicia, I enjoyed them a lot, and good job on getting a lot more out of your tournaments than most would have in your spot. Lee
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Re: Tropicana Trip III (part I), FeliciaLee, 19. Oct 2003 12:11
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I am constantly amazed at the number of people who say that tournaments are 100% luck, 0% skill. If that were true, it would stand to reason that a person who had never played poker in his or her life could sit down at a tournament table, and have just as good a chance as someone like TJ Cloutier, of winning first place. I don't buy it. I didn't buy it when I was a greenhorn, and I certainly don't buy it now. On Tuesday night at the Tropicana, we had a newer poker player/never-before tournament player at our $20+10+20 Stud tourney. Yes, he was the first to bust out. Yes, he had some incredible luck and some amazing suck-out hands. No, he couldn't even make it past one other player, not even outlasting those who hadn't done a rebuy. Something to think about... We arrived in Atlantic City at 5:30pm on Tuesday, June 3, 2003. We wanted to play in the Monday, noon tourney, but when we awoke at 6am to head out, we both groaned and went back to sleep. Night owls will always be night owls, I suppose. Upon arriving at the Trop, we got into ring games fairly quickly. Glenn has become so enamored with his 5/10 Stud, that he can look nowhere else until he is called for a seat. His memories of easy wins is stuck in his head, and calling him to Stud, Stud, Stud, although LHE is his A game. I was slated to play in the Stud tourney at 7:15pm, but I still sat in the 2/4 HE game. Nothing much of interest happened, unless you count the fact that I am feeling much more at home playing HE than I ever did. My self-confidence remains steady, win or lose. I talked to the tournament director before the Stud tourney. I told him that I keep bursting out on the bubble because I'm not good enough to get to the final table at most tourneys. I had heard rumors that the Trop may restructure their payout schedule due to the record number of entries (that keeps getting broken each week). He confirmed that they are thinking of restructuring the tourneys, but that in the state of NJ, it takes a century to approve any kind of change. He said that I might regret asking for the payout restructure, since by the time they actually approve it, I will consistently be in the top 3, and wish for the bigger payday. I laughed, thinking he was just innocently flattering me a bit, but he kept insisting that I was getting really GOOD. Neato The Stud tourney started late, par the course. The monitor said that 93 had entered, but I kept thinking there were too many tables for only 93 entrants. Sure enough, later I found out the correct number was 106. Just a month ago they were only able to get about 80 entrants for the $20+10+20 Stud tourney. There was some kind of mistake being made at registration. Multiple people were being assigned the same seat. My husband had to go back up to the desk to get a new seat, since his was taken. While he was waiting, I happened to spot middle-aged man whom I'd played with before, both in tourneys and the ring. I hadn't seen him in a couple of weeks, because he was on a seasonal job which lasted 12-14 hours per day, 7 days per week. He said he had gotten off of work early and wanted to play in the tourney. He asked how Glenn was doing. I told him that Glenn hadn't cashed in any tourneys so far, but had been doing well at the 5/10 Stud game. He told me that Glenn seemed like he was developing into a very solid ring player, but that he didn't feel Glenn has what it takes for tourney play. I told him that he was perhaps correct. He went on to say, "YOU are the one." I questioned that statement. He said, "Felicia, I've been playing poker for 30 years, and most of those years, since tournaments were available, I've been playing in tournaments, too. I know who has IT and who doesn't. YOU are the one. Give yourself a couple of years and you will be killing the tourneys. You have 'IT,' that thing that makes a great tourney player. You are going far with this." I was dumbfounded. Jeez, I can't even consistently beat the freerolls online! LOL. Seriously, though, that is the first I've heard of any of this talk. I was floored. My table was sheer heaven. I was a little concerned about having table III, because I knew no matter how tough the competition, I would be stuck there for hours, with no hope for a break-up. How lucky I was, to get the best tournament table I've ever played at in my life. Seat one was a 60-something lady who played well, but was definitely out for recreation vs. money. She also seemed to play a tourney like a ring-game. Bonus!!! Seat two had never played in a tourney before. He knew a "little" bit about Stud, in his own words. I believe he played every hand. Seat three was the same young Italian guy I wrote about in my last post, the LHE tourney, who was sweet and sat in the 2 seat. Lo and behold, I found out that this guy isn't so young after all! He is 45, OMG! Either I completely suck at guessing ages, or this guy looks fabulous. His name is Jeff and he is an actor. He has black hair, which he says is natural. He is very nice looking and says he has had no facial plastic surgery. Amazing. Jeff and I chatted almost the entire tournament. What a great guy he ended up being! I was in seat four. Seat five was non-descript. Seat six was an elderly lady with one of those motorized walker things with the hand brake. She was the Poker expert at her retired living apartment complex. She played a good game, if a bit loose for my standards. Seat seven was a tourney pro. He knew how to play, period. He knew tourney strategy like the back of his hand. Seat eight was another middle-aged lady. I have no idea how we ended up with so many women at our table, but I was stunned, nevertheless, at not only the sheer number of women in this tournament, but the fact that most of them were at our table alone! For the first two hours, I got dealt a pair twice. Once I raised with split jacks, only to be called in about five places, lol. I had to give it up on fifth. Another time I was the bring-in with split deuces, trey kicker, haha. Once, I stayed in to see fourth with a drawing hand. I had a jack-high three flush. NO other clubs or jacks on the board. The type of players left to act were very passive and I knew I could just limp in and see fourth. No improvement, checked on fourth, nothing on fifth, had to fold. Tons of clubs came out, but none fell on my board! The antes started getting higher. I was still okay, but I knew that soon I was going to have to start getting some hands, and going very far with them, if I hoped to stay alive. I did a rebuy, so I had some life. Jeff kept telling me how dead it was in my seat, lol, but I insisted that I'd rather get the monsters LATE in the tourney vs. early on. He agreed wholeheartedly, and I folded some more Seat two busted out. Mr. never-played before. Seat five busted out (my left). Seat five was filled with another player who immediately busted out. We called seat five the cursed seat. A young girl sat down and now our table was almost completely women, save just two men; Jeff and the tourney pro. I had no idea how the new seat five played. She was young and pretty, but hadn't played a hand since she sat down. I got split fives with a king kicker. I limped after several other limpers. Seats five and six limped as well. I hit another king on fourth and raised a bet by sixth (the elderly walker lady---EWL). Her board showed xA. I put her on aces. She limped with a lot of things, so trips never even entered my mind at this point. Lo and behold, the new girl, seat five, re-raised. Seat six capped! Now I had to start thinking that six had trip aces. I was so pot-committed by that time, and my fives and kings were completely live, so I just gritted my teeth and pushed all-in. I knew I had to fill, or I would be out. But with the remaining chips I had, I would be out soon anyway if I folded. Seat five called the cap, then went all-in on fifth herself. On sixth I filled up. Thank God! Seat five, the cursed seat, had an open-ended straight flush draw, first four cards, and ended up with two pair. Seat six, the EWL had trip aces, as I suspected when she capped. She never filled. She got the tiny side pot, and I got the huge main pot. I must say, this was a bad, bad move by the EWL. Why she limped with aces in the pocket in the first place is beyond me. Not with so many callers, not with the people still left to act. I would have been gone, gone, gone if she would have raised before it got to me. I'd seen her play long enough to know that if SHE was raising, it had to be aces. I never would have called a raise with split fives, king kicker. This wasn't the last mistake she made of the night, but it was probably the worst. Seat five was out again. Three players in record time. We didn't tell the new player that we felt the seat was cursed, lol. Luckily, the new player was solid. Another woman! She was a 60-something, who played a good game. I'd watched her play 5/10 ring, and her only real weakness was not knowing when she was beat. Once, in a ring game, the bring-in got quads. It was so unbelievably evident when he caught the fourth deuce. He paired his doorcard and went out of his mind. She was sitting to his right in the seven seat, and he jumped out of his seat and stood up! He was an older man, he never stood up. He was jumping around like a jumping bean. He couldn't wait to get his hands into his rack and bring out more chips. He was fumbling and itching so badly to put as much money into the pot as possible. She never "saw" a thing and kept raising him, lol. She just couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that yes, the bring-in might actually have her beat. Anyway, back to the tourney. Pretty soon I was dealt split eights with a straight-flush nine kicker. I would sometimes raise with this hand, but the texture of our table demanded that I only limp. The bring-in would defend and everyone who had already limped would not fold to a raise. My strategy for any type of poker tournament (and poker, in general) is to play according to the texture of the table. If every table has a different personality, a completely unique fingerprint, so to speak, then it only stands to reason that in every situation, I must play according to those standards. In one case, I might go all-in with split eights. In another case, I might fold them. In this particular case, I could limp only. Five people stayed in until the river. No one bet, including me. I never improved, there was another nine out on third, most of my suit came out, and not to me, I hit rag after rag. The players left in were so passive that none of them bet low to medium pairs. I knew I'd probably just get outdrawn by betting my eights for value. So I didn't. We checked it down to the river. Someone showed sixes unimproved, someone else sevens, me eights, and two others mucked their hands, so I don't know if they even had a pair. Certain experts might criticize my play here, but I got the bring-ins, I won the hand, and I didn't really risk a thing. So in my own novice opinion, I played it right. I was dealt split fives with an ace kicker in last position. There was a bring-in and one or two limpers (I believe). I raised for the semi-steal and got the pot. When we were down to four tables I was dealt aces with a six doorcard. Jeff was the bring-in, I raised and got too many callers. Jeff had gotten involved in a bad hand earlier, took it too far, and crippled himself when he didn't have to. He knew his mistake right away, and kicked himself for the play, but it happened nevertheless. We all make mistakes. He got his money in when he had the best of it, but he wasn't so much of a favorite that he couldn't get outdrawn, which is precisely what happened. Since Jeff was so crippled, when it came back to him, he just called my raise and went all-in. This is not how I imagined him getting busted. I don't mind busting friends, even relatives, but I knew that he was going all-in as a desperation attempt, as the bring-in, probably with either a very small pair or a weak drawing hand. I also got called by the five seat, the cursed seat which had brought nothing but GOOD luck to the lady sitting in it. Her solid, bold play, along with a little luck along the way (she is the one who crippled Jeff), had given her a huge stack. I also got called by a jack doorcard in the eight seat. I kept betting my aces. Luckily, the eight seat and I were catching the exact same cards. Blanks for both of us. The five seat seemed to be catching blanks, but just enough to give her hope, because she was calling my bets, eeeek! She finally folded in disgust on sixth. I think maybe she was going for a draw, but this would be the worst play imaginable, and she was bleeding chips when she didn't have to, by not being able to read her opponents. Jeff seemed to be catching blanks as well. He certainly wasn't elated by his board. I kept pounding the eight seat, who made jacks up. Thankfully I paired my six doorcard on the river to scoop a huge pot. Jeff was out, which was sad for me, but he took it well and we looked forward to seeing each other on the Internet, as well as in person at the Trop. I looked around at this point and noticed that there were just three tables left, and out of those three tables, SIX women remained. Amazing. Usually there are maybe six women total at any given Trop tourney. This time, out of 24 players, there were still six left. Of course, most of them were at our table. This was, by far, the friendliest Stud tourney table I've ever encountered. There was no trash talking, no arguing, no throwing cards. No one was bullying or angle shooting. Of course, the biggest stack, the tourney pro, was using his big stack to his advantage, but he wasn't just raising every hand arbitrarily because he could. He was still playing cautiously enough to get into the money, while adding to his chip lead every round. I am so spoiled now by this table that I'll probably gripe about every other tourney table I have! Finally our table broke and we got down to the final two. Sixteen players left. Most of our "core" group remained; me, the EWL, the tourney pro and if I count her as part of the core group, the cursed five seat who came on the scene pretty early, made herself part of our "group," and played a relatively solid game. I was sent to table II, seat seven. Great seat for getting reads. Seat one was the cursed seat five from the previous table. She was the shortest stack, due to her not-so-great reads. Seat six was the most aggressive player. He raised when I had JAJ. I felt that he must have me beat if he would raise into possible jacks. I stupidly (you don't have to tell me) folded. He only had nines, ick! I had enough chips at this point that I was sure I would get into the money, so I folded. Dumb. I wasn't counting on the fact that the antes alone were 200 now, and going up to 300. I wasn't counting that any hand was a potential all-in at this point, and that I had to go with something. I tried to sneak my way into the money, and folded those jacks with an ace kicker. My first and only huge mistake during the tourney. Within the next couple of hands, the six seat raised again. I had nines and folded....AGAIN. No, you don't have to tell me what a dumb move this was. Yes, had I won with the jacks I could have folded the nines. Yes, if I had a really big stack, regardless of how fast the antes were moving up, I could have folded. NO, I could NOT afford to fold the nines in my position. DUMB. I got nothing else. Not deuces, not a 3-flush, not a 3-straight, not 3 high cards. Nada. I'd used up my good starting hands, and I'd blown it. I rapidly got anted down until I had enough left for the ante and part of the bring-in. I waited too long, but at least I was dealt and ace, king, rag. I threw in all of my chips. So did the EWL, who was short. I got kings, but her two small pair knocked me out at 12th. So this time I was 12:106. Top 8 pay. We decided to spend the night at the Taj, since the Trop was sold out. We got a $3,000 suite for only $70. Neat. It was pretty awesome, if aging. It even had a bidet, which can be fun for a certain type of person ;)
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Re: Tropicana Trip III (part II), FeliciaLee, 19. Oct 2003 12:13
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On Wednesday, June 4, 2003 we decided to play exclusively at the Taj, until it was time to register for the LHE $50+10 tourney at the Trop. Everyone says that Taj is softer than the Trop. More tourists, looser players, more money to be made. Well, that might be true on the weekends, over holidays and maybe at night. But it sure wasn't true during the day. It was tighter than a drum. I played 5/10 Stud for a while and misread a hand. Three small pairs that I somehow convinced myself was a full house. Doh! I reraised an obvious flush and kept pounding her until I gave her almost $100. Neat, huh? Fortunately, I am now the type of player who never gets rattled or loses my self-confidence. I just laughed and tried to convince the dealer that in Canada I would still have a full house and he'd have to push the pot to me. I know, old joke, but that's the way it goes. All of the old rocks at the table sympathized and kept assuring me that it happens to everyone, even seasoned pros. They proceeded in trying to make me feel better, while I was laughing all the time. Nice guys. I just played on like the trooper that I am. I never fully recovered before I got my table change, but I did manage a few little wins and recovered part of my loss on the misread hand. I switched to 3/6 HE and another rocky table. Luckily, I was able to make a few early scores and almost pull up to even for the day. A real fishy sat down in the one seat and proceeded to be a calling station extraordinaire. We soon decided to dump the Taj and head back to the Trop. We only had a couple of hours before the tourney anyway. Before the tournament, the seasoned tourney pro from the Stud tourney the day before (seat 7, table III), pulled me aside. He asked how I did after our table broke. I told him I'd gotten out at 12th. He said he'd cashed at 4th. I congratulated him and his play. He asked if I was playing in the LHE tourney and wished me luck. He told me that he knew I was going to go far with these tourneys, that I was a good tourney player and had what it takes. WOW! As usual, the $50+10 LHE tourney started late. Closer to 7:45 than 7:15. Jason, one of the guys who is now helping run the tournaments came up to me. He asked, "How ya doing, champ?" I laughed at him. I told him, "Yeah, I'm the champ who made 12th last night and got zippo." He said, "I saw you play. You ARE a champ, period." Jeez, what is this? Stroke Felicia's ego week? Oh, my. My head is in the clouds... I pulled the IX table. There were 114 entrants, some of them sitting 10 to a nine-top table. I knew our table would get broken relatively early. The one seat was a guy who had played quite a bit before. Two seat ditto. Three seat was a young guy. Four seat was a new tourney player with a temper. Five was non-descript. Six was a young, inexperienced guy who said he'd never played a tournament before, but had lots of HE experience. That was a lie, since later he asked what those "two forced bets were called." Seven was Carlos, mentioned in last week's report. I was in the eight seat, and the nine seat was a fairly experienced middle-aged player. I knew I would have to watch out for Carlos. I'd rather have him on my right than on my left, so I caught a breat there. I started out by announcing that table IX was going to be the "fun" table, but that was before Carlos sat down, lol. The one seat was the first to go. He played too many hands, but they were always decent hands, and he got outdrawn EVERY time. I don't think he ever won a pot. I got big slick in late position. No help anywhere, and I had to fold. I folded rags for a long time after this, until the end of the third round. I got 99 in late position and just limped. I flopped a nine, which was high, and bet. The BB raised me. The six seat (young liar) reraised and I capped. I kept thinking to myself, "jeez, guys, I've got the nuts, what in the heck are you doing?" The BB knew he was beat, but was so short, and pot committed, that he shoved the rest of his chips in. On the turn, I put the young guy all-in. I got T5 back, we were almost even. I have no idea what that guy had. He refused to show his hand. The BB had flopped two pair, nines and fours. He knew he was beat when I capped, but was short and couldn't have lasted more than another round if he folded. Two guys out, and suddenly I had some chips. Fortunately, Carlos and I never had a run-in. I think we both knew we were better off staying out of each other's pots. Our table broke not long after the break. I pulled table I, seat one. I didn't like the seat, I didn't really like the table. Lots of experienced tourney players with big stacks. I folded for a while, got blinded down, as the structure is so fast, and finally made an all-in raise on the button with 99. It had been folded around to me, so this was a great time to play. Unfortunately, both the small and BB called my raise. The SB had AJ and flopped a jack, but his hand was declared dead when he turned his cards over before his turn bet had been called. The BB had K8 and a huge stack, so no problem calling my all-in with a chance to bust me. Of course he flopped a king, so IGHN. In this tourney, I placed 31:114. I feel like this is the first and only LHE tourney where I have never made a fundamental error. Sure, I'm still not going for steals enough, and I never stone-cold bluff (even on a steal). But as far as sound play, I'm there! I feel good about it. I don't give away tells. I am as emotionless as a slug. I want my husband to start videotaping me playing poker. Home will do, nothing big. I just want to make sure that I am as detached as I think I am. The only thing that gives people a clue about my play is when I stay in a hand and bet a hand, lol. I'm getting there...I think I might cash sometime in the future! Felicia :)
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Tropicana Trip IV, FeliciaLee, 20. Oct 2003 14:31
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Well, this may be my last tournament report for a while. I'm not sure when we'll head back to Atlantic City. It could be next week, or it could be never. I love AC. I love the Tropicana. I love the others players, the people who work there and the dealers, for the most part. I hate to think that I may never get to return, but health demands a change in my life, which may take me away from the East coast forever. Glenn and I arrived at the Trop at 11:00am, Monday, June 9, 2003. We immediately signed up for the 12:15pm Stud tourney ($30+10). Some of the local tourney pros were already sitting around. Not a good sign, eh? Since they have showed me so much friendliness over the past six weeks, I decided to be very extroverted (when aren't I???) and sit down with them. Just a smile seems to engage the locals in AC. They are very friendly and always eager to chat. Since it was so late, I decided to forego any ring games and just psych myself up for the tourney. I think that we made a big mistake, waking up at 6:00am and heading out after only getting about four hours of sleep. We are not early birds, and playing while grumpy and sleepy is never a good thing. When I got my table assignment, I grumbled to myself seeing Table I, Seat I on my receipt. Ugh. I could never expect to move. Things only got worse when I started near the table. Everyone else was already seated and as I got nearer, I could see I was in for an uphill battle. Every step was like walking to the gallows, the nearer I got, the worse my table. Pros everywhere. Very solid players. By the time I was five feet away, my footsteps were pounding in my head like a chant: "Tough Table, Tough Table, Pros, Pros, Pros!" I groaned when I sat down and said very loudly, "I have no chance here with you guys! I'm dead!" Everyone laughed, and seat 2 (Mark), who is a wonderful guy I've played with many times before (he was featured in the first report as the guy to my left in the 5 seat who kept cheering me on and calling me a cat), said, "You know, I was thinking the same thing when YOU sat down!" We all got a good laugh out of it. No one was really happy, but we had such great camaraderie that we made the best of a bad situation. Here was the lineup: I was in seat one. Mark, a middle aged retired guy who lives next door to the Trop and has been playing tournaments every day for seven years, was in seat two. A decent player who had some experience but no ability to read was in seat three. Seat four was the only break we got. He was a middle-aged Asian guy who played every hand and had absolutely no clue. Seat five was the same middle-aged guy who complimented me so much in the last tourney report (the one who said I have "It" and that I'm going to be a tourney star, etc.). Seat six was a solid, experienced player. Ditto seat seven, although I felt he played too many hands and took them too far. Seat eight was a solid, experienced player as well. He was a talker, although he didn't really work it to his advantage, he just liked to talk! The trouble began at once, as the first hand was capped off before fourth! The lucky Asian in seat four made quads, and built a monster stack in front of him. The only players who didn't know about his quads were the less experienced ones; hence he didn't break any good players (rats!). In the first level of the tournament (15 minutes), I was dealt the following five pairs (both split and pocket): fives (folded to the cap in the first hand), nines (won on 4th), nines (folded to running jacks) and sixes (folded to a raise by a jack doorcard). Wow! We don't get dealt many more than five hands at each 15-minute level! On the second level, I got dealt jacks in the pocket with a nine doorcard. I had to fold when it was 3-bet on fourth before it even got to me. Mistake? Maybe. I'm still undecided about that one. Maybe one or both of my jacks were dead on fourth, but I cannot, for the life of me, remember right now. Still on level II, I raised with aces, king doorcard. The Asian stayed with me. I bet it the whole way, but had to fold when he came alive and raised me on sixth with a 3-flush showing and two queens. I was also dealt split fives with a deuce kicker (lol), but folded due to a dead five and being in early position with a lot of paint behind me. By the third level, I was still doing okay. Of course the Asian, who had most of the money on the table, managed to bust out first. After that, we rarely got to showdown. I was the bring-in with an ace high three flush. It was folded to the five seat, the tourney pro who complimented me so much. I call him Taxi, because that is what he does when he isn't playing poker. Anyway, he raised to steal. I am getting to know him too well, lol, because I called the raise. He checked it the rest of the way down and although I never helped my flush, on the river I did manage to make a pair of tens and took it down. He later told me that he thought he had me on that hand, but I never give anything away, so it was so hard for him to tell. Another compliment? I hope so. An older gentleman took the place of the Asian in the four seat. The first hand he played was when I had 8's in the pocket with a seven straight-flush kicker doorcard. He went all-in on an inside straight draw that never got there (what are these people thinking???). After that hand, I got nothing for a long time. I was ground down heavily, between the antes, and being the frequent bring-in. Our hands went so quickly, due to the good players. We only occasionally saw fourth, and rarely went to showdown unless someone was all-in. Our table fell apart so quickly, one after another were slain. The pros and I were the only ones who were still standing, and I was barely standing at that. Boom, boom, boom, they fell. Since we were table I, we were bound to keep getting filled. But they could never fill us rapidly enough, so most of the time we were playing four or five-handed. I saw my stack going down the tubes. Not even a three-flush, three-straight or three high card hand came my way, much less a pair. Then we got back to a full table and it was the final hand before the break. I was dealt split fives, completely live, with a live ten, two-flush kicker. I went all-in. Taxi and the bring-in stayed with me. The bring-in was a green kid in the four seat, which had been vacated yet again. Taxi dropped on fifth when the kid made running nines. We turned up our cards. The kid had nothing but the nines! He bet into a dry pot with his hand exposed, as a bluff. I got trip fives, but the kid caught a nine on the river and IGHN. 22:56 Top eight paid. Taxi won first, an 80-something woman won second (YEAH!!!), another solid player whom I know, snagged third and Sonny, the tourney pro who knocked me out at eighth in my first Stud report, got fourth. From what I was told, the entire final table was as tough as can be imagined for the Trop. Big mistake going on a Monday for the Stud tourney. Not only is there no rebuy (for $30+10 you just get 400 chips, with fast levels and a fast structure), but the Monday tourney brings out the toughest competition. Not just that, but I was dog tired and felt like hell. We immediately checked into our room and I proceeded to sleep for several hours. I went to check out the final table. Taxi pulled me to the side in between hands and told me what a great job I did, considering the line-up. I thanked him, then he asked me if I wanted advice. I nodded positively. He said that with that particular line-up, I needed to be a LOT more aggressive. I thanked him and told him I knew that was true. I know that is one of my weaknesses, plus I told him that I was sick and tired, having just driven for four hours to get there, after only four hours of sleep, and suffering from some complications of diabetes. He understood and just reiterated that if I got into that situation again, I needed to be very, very aggressive. Thanks, Taxi The next day was Tuesday. We played ring all day and I got slaughtered. I was sick and it affected my play. Not only that, but in my confused state of mind, I played the 5/10 Stud again and proceeded to not only get outplayed, but get played through, since I was getting run down so often, and the players were mostly pretty good. What a dummy, just when I thought I had hurdled the table selection pitfall. At 7:15pm, there were still 25 people in line for the Stud tourney. Before the last of the 25 could finish buying in, they announced that the tourney was sold out at 112. I drew table XI. I looked over at table IX and thanked God for my table, because table IX was the toughest lineup I'd seen besides the table I'd been on the day before. My own table was filled with mostly young guys! An older regular was in the six seat, to my right, but he "never" does rebuys, he hates them, hence he never finishes in the money. I was in the seven seat, which is great for a player like me. Most of the players simply had no clue. It was either their first tournament, their first time playing poker, or both, lol. What an awesome table. Here were some of the key hands and their outcomes: I had a live, high three-flush which I limped in for 5 chips in late position. Fourth was no help, and I had to fold to two bets before it even got to me. On the second level, I raised with ATA and won the pot uncontested. On the third level, I raised with 99Q and got outdrawn on the board. On the fourth level, I reraised an all-in raise with AA3 and isolated. He never improved and was out. A very nice guy who played a decent tourney, but got outdrawn quite a bit. I raised with Q3Q and took the pot. Then my table got broken and I spent one or two hands at another table which got broken. I drew table III, seat 8. This table was mostly filled with people who had absolutely no clue and had that deer caught in the headlights look. On the first hand I witnessed, a 50-something lady misread her hand and spent a fortune betting a straight that she didn't even have. She was the shortest stack after that. The antes went up and suddenly I was getting short. I kept getting the bring-in with nothing and had to fold, fold, fold. Finally I knew I had to make a move if I wanted to get into the money, so I raised with T4T. Only one player stayed with me and I managed to make aces up to his aces only (which he didn't have when he stayed with me). I was back in the tourney with a little over 1000 chips when I was dealt QQK. A stealer with a 3 doorcard raised before it even got to me. I reraised, trying to either isolate or get him to fold a losing hand. He had this tendency to go for the steal almost every other hand. He called my reraise and we were head's up. I bet out on fourth and he went all-in. We flipped over our cards, and sure enough, he had nothing, but managed to get kings by the river and outdrew me. Now I was short stacked once again. When only one person had entered the pot, I went all-in with A68, live ace, live two-flush. I immediately got another six, but someone else made aces and IGHN. 39:112, my stats are falling!!! I attribute my sucky play to being sick and tired. Sick, sick, sick, blah. Diabetes is ruining my life. Which is why I said in the beginning of the post that this might be my last tourney report for a while. I think we are going to have to head back out to the desert. Complications from the diabetes are bringing on other diseases which necessitate a move back into a warm, dry climate. When we came back from Nevada in late March, I thought I would be fine during the warm months in the DC area. Little did I know that spring was not going to come, and it was going to stay rainy and cold into June. The rain still hasn't let up, and my body is shutting down. So I think we are going to have to pack back up and go out to the desert. We have been looking at some houses online outside of Phoenix, in the Globe area. There are tons of casinos, and it is easy to make money playing low limits in Arizona. So this is where I am at right now. Kind of in limbo, but willing to jump into something brand new, as always. I wish this report could have been a little more exciting, but this is all I can muster up for now. Please enjoy it!
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Re: Tropicana Trip IV, deaky, 21. Oct 2003 07:41
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Love the reports Felicia, Looking forward to more soon, they make a dull day at work much more interesting. Deaky
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Re: Tropicana Trip IV, FeliciaLee, 21. Oct 2003 08:36
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on 21. Oct 2003 07:41 deaky wrote: > Love the reports Felicia, > > Looking forward to more soon, they make a dull day at work much more interesting. > > Deaky Thanks, all! I really appreciate it. I'll keep posting my old stories until I catch up. The next is called "Sit-n-Go Tourney Reports For a Week" and is in the Tournament section. Felicia :)
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Re: Tropicana Trip IV, ManicStarSeed, 21. Oct 2003 11:08
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Thank you very much. Your tourny reports are very enjoyable reads. Keep up the good work (posting your wonderful stories) and please take care of yourself. I will be heading to NJ in December to see my parents. I might have to check out some of the action in AC. Mss
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Re: Tropicana Trip III (part II), modestmice, 21. Oct 2003 07:44
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on 19. Oct 2003 12:13 FeliciaLee wrote: > On Wednesday, June 4, 2003 we decided to play exclusively at the Taj, until it was time to register > for the LHE $50+10 tourney at the Trop. > > Everyone says that Taj is softer than the Trop. More tourists, looser players, more money to be > made. Well, that might be true on the weekends, over holidays and maybe at night. But it sure wasn't > true during the day. It was tighter than a drum. I played 5/10 Stud for a while and misread a hand. > Three small pairs that I somehow convinced myself was a full house. Doh! I reraised an obvious flush > and kept pounding her until I gave her almost $100. Neat, huh? Fortunately, I am now the type of > player who never gets rattled or loses my self-confidence. I just laughed and tried to convince the > dealer that in Canada I would still have a full house and he'd have to push the pot to me. I know, > old joke, but that's the way it goes. All of the old rocks at the table sympathized and kept > assuring me that it happens to everyone, even seasoned pros. They proceeded in trying to make me > feel better, while I was laughing all the time. Nice guys. I just played on like the trooper that I > am. I never fully recovered before I got my table change, but I did manage a few little wins and > recovered part of my loss on the misread hand. > > I switched to 3/6 HE and another rocky table. Luckily, I was able to make a few early scores and > almost pull up to even for the day. A real fishy sat down in the one seat and proceeded to be a > calling station extraordinaire. > > We soon decided to dump the Taj and head back to the Trop. We only had a couple of hours before the > tourney anyway. > > Before the tournament, the seasoned tourney pro from the Stud tourney the day before (seat 7, table > III), pulled me aside. He asked how I did after our table broke. I told him I'd gotten out at 12th. > He said he'd cashed at 4th. I congratulated him and his play. He asked if I was playing in the LHE > tourney and wished me luck. He told me that he knew I was going to go far with these tourneys, that > I was a good tourney player and had what it takes. WOW! > > As usual, the $50+10 LHE tourney started late. Closer to 7:45 than 7:15. Jason, one of the guys who > is now helping run the tournaments came up to me. He asked, "How ya doing, champ?" I laughed at him. > I told him, "Yeah, I'm the champ who made 12th last night and got zippo." He said, "I saw you play. > You ARE a champ, period." Jeez, what is this? Stroke Felicia's ego week? Oh, my. My head is in the > clouds... > > I pulled the IX table. There were 114 entrants, some of them sitting 10 to a nine-top table. I knew > our table would get broken relatively early. The one seat was a guy who had played quite a bit > before. Two seat ditto. Three seat was a young guy. Four seat was a new tourney player with a > temper. Five was non-descript. Six was a young, inexperienced guy who said he'd never played a > tournament before, but had lots of HE experience. That was a lie, since later he asked what those > "two forced bets were called." Seven was Carlos, mentioned in last week's report. I was in the eight > seat, and the nine seat was a fairly experienced middle-aged player. > > I knew I would have to watch out for Carlos. I'd rather have him on my right than on my left, so I > caught a breat there. I started out by announcing that table IX was going to be the "fun" table, but > that was before Carlos sat down, lol. > > The one seat was the first to go. He played too many hands, but they were always decent hands, and > he got outdrawn EVERY time. I don't think he ever won a pot. > > I got big slick in late position. No help anywhere, and I had to fold. I folded rags for a long > time after this, until the end of the third round. I got 99 in late position and just limped. I > flopped a nine, which was high, and bet. The BB raised me. The six seat (young liar) reraised and I > capped. I kept thinking to myself, "jeez, guys, I've got the nuts, what in the heck are you doing?" > The BB knew he was beat, but was so short, and pot committed, that he shoved the rest of his chips > in. On the turn, I put the young guy all-in. I got T5 back, we were almost even. I have no idea what > that guy had. He refused to show his hand. The BB had flopped two pair, nines and fours. He knew he > was beat when I capped, but was short and couldn't have lasted more than another round if he folded. > Two guys out, and suddenly I had some chips. > > Fortunately, Carlos and I never had a run-in. I think we both knew we were better off staying out > of each other's pots. Our table broke not long after the break. I pulled table I, seat one. I didn't > like the seat, I didn't really like the table. Lots of experienced tourney players with big stacks. > I folded for a while, got blinded down, as the structure is so fast, and finally made an all-in > raise on the button with 99. It had been folded around to me, so this was a great time to play. > Unfortunately, both the small and BB called my raise. The SB had AJ and flopped a jack, but his hand > was declared dead when he turned his cards over before his turn bet had been called. The BB had K8 > and a huge stack, so no problem calling my all-in with a chance to bust me. Of course he flopped a > king, so IGHN. > > In this tourney, I placed 31:114. > > I feel like this is the first and only LHE tourney where I have never made a fundamental error. > Sure, I'm still not going for steals enough, and I never stone-cold bluff (even on a steal). But as > far as sound play, I'm there! I feel good about it. I don't give away tells. I am as emotionless as > a slug. I want my husband to start videotaping me playing poker. Home will do, nothing big. I just > want to make sure that I am as detached as I think I am. The only thing that gives people a clue > about my play is when I stay in a hand and bet a hand, lol. > > I'm getting there...I think I might cash sometime in the future! > > Felicia :) yeah totally cool -------------------------------------------------------------"I prefer talking with old persons of the female sex who peddle family gossip; next, with the insane-and last, with very sensible people" -S. Kierkegaard
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