UPF - Riverside and My Week in Poker

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Riverside and My Week in Poker, FeliciaLee, 27. Nov 2003 15:34
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Saturday, November 8, 2003 A few weeks ago I wrote about Glenn qualifying for a freeroll at the Riverside. After several weeks of not knowing when this freeroll would take place, it was decided that November 8, 2003 would be the day. I was playing in the 10/20, so I asked Glenn if he would mind if I stayed. He didn't seem to care whether or not I watched him in the tourney. We were told two different times for the tourney, even though we called twice on Saturday, so Glenn ended up leaving the Belle at about 6:30. The prize was $5000, winner-take-all. I suspected there would be a deal before it got that far. Only 20 qualifiers were to be playing. Glenn said that two didn't show up. Poor Glenn was #5 when he went all-in with AJo and ran up against AQo. Right after Glenn was eliminated, the remaining players chopped the prize four ways. Boo! Speaking of the Riverside, I have gotten the stone cold "facts" that I promised a few days ago. I know this will sound incredible to most of you, but I swear this is not made up. Dealers at the Riverside must "pay" the floormen $1.50 per hour for the "privilege" of dealing there. In addition, each dealer must pay the cagemen $3.00 per day. Over the course of a full-time job, per year, each dealer pays approximately $3500. On top of this atrocity, when dealers would like to smoke, they are not allowed to do it in the poker room, although the poker room is smoking. They must go out to the slot machines, sit at a slot machine, and play, in order to smoke. The floormen, of course, ARE allowed to smoke in the poker room. More money into already greedy hands. Since the floormen want to get paid by as many dealers as possible, they keep open as many tables as feasible. Shorthanded tables are encouraged, and dealers propping is mandatory. So while dealers are on duty, but not dealing at a table, they are required to prop, not only paying the house rake, but still paying the floormen $1.50 per hour for being "on the clock." If they lose, it is their own money. Potentially, you or I could go work at the Riverside and actually LOSE money while on the job. The floormen will keep as many dealers on the clock as possible, in order to get their greedy palms greased even more. A dealer will deal one down, then maybe be on break, then prop, then maybe deal another down. Adding up this payoff is a nightmare. The information I received was from a former dealer, who also confirmed what he told me with several other former and present dealers, in my presence. I am positive, therefore, that it is 100% accurate. The mob really does exist at the Riverside. I guess I wasn't just exaggerating after all. Glenn and I called the Belle at about 11am on Saturday. There was only one name ahead of us. We arrived at the Belle around noon, and I was able to get into the game right away. The lineup was a little tough, like last Saturday. This time, however, I had an UP. I had read and studied my head off all week. I was in command. I bought in for only $500. Somehow $100 didn't get put into my hand by mistake. No biggie, I can always get more from Glenn. I had to play much more aggressively, because, like last week, the table was a little more solid, there was less sneaking around, more ABC play. I raised with pocket tens and someone I didn't know called two bets COLD with J4s. Gotta love those guys. He called me all the way to the river when he made jacks (2nd pair), and paid me off when I made the jack high straight on the river. There was a four straight, three flush on board, but he still paid me. Glenn told me the dealer almost pushed him the pot with "a pair of jacks," but I missed the whole thing, having craned my head all the way to the right in order to memorize what this guy would called two bets cold with, then call me down, even though the pot wasn't that big, as we were head's up on the flop. Amazing! He busted out not long after, surprisingly enough, lol. I went cold for a while and was blinded down about $100. Then I made it 3 bets with AKo against guys who would raise with less. The first raiser bluffed all the way to the river without a pair, then mucked in disgust when I turned over my slick. Nice! On the button I played K8s for one bet. The flop came KKx, which I slowplayed against Troy to the river, when he mucked the losing hand without showing. I lost the next four playable hands in a row. Bad beats, all, but who am I to complain about bad players? Just stay seated, please Next, my AJo in the big blind made a straight on the river. I represented prior to this, and got a caller all the way. Later in the day, an Internet player sat down. He was pretty good. Unfortunately, he also "tried too hard." I don't know if I can define that statement, except to say that we have all had players in our game who seem to want to win more pots than great players expect to win. They won't chop the blinds, they push their hands too far, they pay off too many hands on the river, just to show what they started with (the best hand), etc. That is as good of a definition as I can give. Anyway, the Internet player was to my left. When we got to our first chopping possibility, he replied pleasantly that he didn't chop. Okay, no problem with me. I had J3s and called the $5 in the SB. He checked, and away we went. The flop came xx3. No bet. The turn had another three. I bet, he called. He paid me off at the river, probably wishing he would have chopped and gotten his $10 back instead of losing $50, but who knows. He seemed like a nice guy. I stayed about even until 7pm. Then I went on a crazy, monster rush, winning about 9 out of the next 10 pots. Some big, some small. I had so many chips that I couldn't stack them in between hands, and it took forever to finally get organized (after the rush ended). Most were kill pots, so the stakes were 15/30. I stopped keeping track of my hands during this rush, because there was no way I could do it. Needless to say, I remember getting pocket aces, then one other decent hand, then pocket aces AGAIN, pocket kings, queens, jacks and tens during this rush that lasted about ten hands. Amazing. I counted up $1300 after the rush ended. I extended the rush a little bit by some semi-bluffs and stolen pots. Lovely Between 9-10pm, I had two huge pots snapped off when my trips were rivered by full houses. Ouch. I bet them hard, the whole way, but the newbie with the pocket pairs (88 and 33) stayed in all the way to the river, to get his two-outer. I had quite a bit of success at the 10/20 this week. Since the table dynamics changed during the day to revert back to what I'd been used to in previous weeks, I was able to adapt well. I started off the day with my new-found aggression against the more solid players, then reverted back to my sneaky, come-from-behind play when the foxes returned to the Belle later in the day. I also used a combination of the two, when I was able and the time called for it. I feel so good about my game now. I patched many of the holes that I'd discovered during my week of study. I was shocked and appalled when I read the mistakes I had made the previous Saturday. I had forgotten so many fundamental things, in my relaxation playing at the "predictable" 10/20 that I'd played in so many Saturdays in a row. Jeez, I wasn't raising enough. I wasn't 3-betting or capping enough. I was slowplaying too much, sandbagging more than three times more often than correct. I was getting bluffed off too many pots and not calling enough river bets when head's up, for proper odds. Eeeeek! How quickly we can let our game run into ruin, when things are "easy" and too beatable. I ended the night at $1250, but felt better about my game than ever. This time, I'm not going to slack off. I'm going to keep studying all week long, and not forget the Sklansky fundamentals. Theory of Poker is NOT going back on the bookshelf again. No way, jose. I'll keep it in the bathroom, if I have to, hahaha! Thanks for reading. Now go get 'em at the tables! Felicia :)
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