"Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny." -- unknown

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results - Albert Einstein

a poker rambling
July 02, 2006 - 10:20 am

how did i spend this day? why in a casino of course. where else?

i thought about the foolishness of my choice as i drove, but well.. i went with the intent of losing no more than $200. limits are vital as a casino.

which did i go to? foxwoods.. it has the poker room. $1/$2 no limit is what i've taken to playing.. well, that's a bit of stretch. i've played in-person three times now.

i'm left.. with a much better understanding of what people say when they talk about table dymanics and how important that is.

on my second trip i lost.. and lost alot. why? the table. the nature of the play.. i felt so totall confused on what anyone was doing/had. the bets were just.. crazy and a large part of that was that, if memory serves, three guys took a "dislike" to each other and sought to break each other at every chance. it wasn't anything mean, it was just.. they each had a good-sized stacks and got involved in big hands.. and the rivalry grew. the other seven of us were just along for the ride.. with quite a few folks cycling in and donating cash..

this time i played at 2 tables. table 1.. struck me for how calm it was. multiple flops in a row could be seen for the $2 min. at first, this was fine and dandy. cheap, easy play.. the exact reverse of my last trip/table were the min preflop bet was $15 and more often $20.

however, this leads to a different problem.. when everyone knows they can see the flop for $2, you get everyone calling.. and who knows who is going to be ahead after the flop -- slop can turn to gold.

i forget just what went wrong at this table. i was up to around $170 (i sit with $100) at one point.. but soon found myself down to $25 or so. i tend to be a firm believer than once you get so low.. the only thing to do is pick your hand and go all in. i picked the wrong hand. $100 gone in some.. two hours.

i left for dinner. a very nice and very, very messy sandwich at fudruckers. never had one before.. but it was good. i liked the fries too.. and the shake.

i wandered about a bit and saw the line, the massive line, for bingo. someone said it was a million dollar bingo game -- something like $200 a card and 5,000 people. i've no idea if that's true, but there was one hell of a line.

i went back to the poker room.. and got another stack of 20 red chips. it seems so small to give a $100 and get just 20 chips... but that's what it is.

the second table was much like the first, only.. better. by that i mean, you could see flops now and then for $2, but by and large there was raise pre-flop. however, i all too quickly found myself down.. hovering around $50 for a while. i'd pretty much resigned myself to losing the rest.. but with an itch to make it last a long as i could.

i reach a low of something like $17 and got dealt aces. having been the shortest of the short stakes for so long.. i overplayed and bet all in preflop in a very early position. no one called.

i actaully gave some shit for that.. why wouldn't anyone give the short stake some action??

a few hands later i had pocket nines, which doubled me up. then something like AJ and another double.. and i was on a roll. it seemed within an hour i was up near $200 and happy to be "even". more time ticked by.. and i was $300 and considering getting out with $100 profit.. though with dinner and gas, that's not much of a profit.. and well, the table was fun. not lots of talking, but some jokes and interaction.

i went thru a streak where i'd bet preflop.. then on the flop and everyone would fold. suddenly.. i'd found the respect of the table... i was being given every benefit of the doubt.

it was around when i hit $375 this older asian guy said, "hey, didn't you have like $20 not too long ago? Like when I sat down?"

talk about a smile on my face, "yes.. yes i did."

several new folks had joined the table since then... so all they saw was a nice chip stack. i loved that the guy brought it up. one new guy said something to effect "i hope i'm the next one to say that.." meaning that he'd gone from the $60 or so he had to $300+

around then.. the best guy at the table left. he'd been up to over $500 at one point, though he left with alot less than that -- bad beats.

this left me as the 2nd largest stack.. which would soon be the largest. always a happy thing to any poker player.

some drunk guy sat down.. and did some very, very odd things. with a flop of KKA and turn of Q he went all in holding pocket 5's. he lost.

a few hands later with a flop of AK8 and a turn of 8, he folded (showing) pocket 10's.

i recall these hands.. only because they were table talk for a while. he also won some nice pots.. seemingly playing totally at random. everyone wanted in on his pots.. but everyone felt uneasy since he was apt to go allin with just about anything. he lost something like $400 and left.

around 9pm i reached a peak of $525. i decided i was going to leave at 9:30 before the next time payment.

i stayed.. telling myself i'd just play with $50 or so, a goal of walking out with no less than $475 -- so i made a nice pretty stack with those chips and firmly told myself one more half hour or $50 - whichever comes first.

part of my hesitation is that.. in a very silly way, i feel bad walking out of a game with big winnings. i know it's the point.. but everyone gives you this "you bastard, sit back down" look.

perversely this look can, and i now think should, make you (me) feel really good. it's a compliment. everyone knows you started with $100 or less and to leave with 4 or 5 times that is nice.

things basicly went as you might imagine.. as the next dealer sat down i had $477 left. he called for time and everyone pushed up a $5 chip, but me. he looked at me and said "time?" i shook my head. the dealer didn't care. he just started to gather up chips.

someone said, "you leaving?" another "you should get a rack." another, "you need any help? i'd be happy too.."

the asian guy made another reference to my humble position when he'd sat down..

i just grinned, trying not to let it be a big one.. not an asshole-like grin. i said, "no, i've got pockets..." meaning in my shorts. i think i said something else too, but i forget what.

i still felt badish.. but glowing inside. not quite wanting to make eye contact with anyone, much like how i don't when i play. someone said something about "good luck" to me.. i think i heard that comment wrong.

at the window.. i had a some chips in my hand.. the rest heavy in my pocket. i dumped the chips on the counter.. and said, "but wait, there's more!"

i don't think she quite saw the humor in that. i did. she said "ok."

now.. a handful of chips is about 15 chips. i had something like 90 chips and had to fish them out of my pocket.. so the handfuls were probably more like 10 or so chips.. meaning i reached into my pocket and dumped chips something like 8 times.

when i stopped, she asked, "are you done?" i nodded, smiling. "not a bad night" she said and finished stacking/counting.. then counting my cash.

i'm sure she's seen a much, much bigger cashouts, hell people play with thousands of dollars.. however, someone showing up with all red and white chips.. pretty much means 1/2 player.. and $477 isn't a bad night at all.

walking out.. small paranoid delusions of someone mugging me flashed in my mind.. or someone picking my pocket. i'm silly like that.

take out the $200 i took in and i made $277. i was in foxwoods for something like 8 hours.. so i made $30 an hour before expenses. i'll take that any weekend.. wouldn't you?