Monday, December 13, 2004

Black Bear Trip Report

Ok since I've been having a run of bad luck lately, I thought "Hey I should go to the casino!". After this weekend I should have curled up into bed and hope that the house didn't get hit by a tornado/avalanche/hurricane/rabid pack of ducks.

Here's the things that went right this weekend:
- Got $10 free from the Birthday Bucks Promotion at Grand Casino Hinckley (stop there going to and from Black Bear)
- The whirlpool in the room worked great
- The ice machine worked and kept my beer cold (but I didn't drink much, details a little later)
- Won my NFL parlay bet
- Mom made some chocolate chip bars that were so good, I almost forgot about all the things below

Here's the things that make you go hmmmmmmmmm:
- Lost the free $10 while leaving Grand Casino
- Lost two racks playing $3/$6 at Black Bear (details below)
- Lost $200 while on "Slot Tilt" (details below)
- Wife caught the flu and was sick the entire weekend (reason for not drinking, since I hate drinking alone)
- Two sets of friends also caught the flu and didn't make the trip (again reason for not drinking)
- There was a hockey tournament and kids were staying in every room surrounding us (making wife crabby since she couldn't sleep and passing on the displeasure to me)
- It rained the night before, then snowed on Sunday morning (if you're not from a Northern state you may not understand what happens when this occurs but trust me you don't want your car to be left outside)
- Broke the ice scraper while chipping off the block of ice called my car (refer to note directly above)
- Vikes lost to the lowly Seachickens on a trick play (At least Moss threw a tight spiral, right?)
- My fantasy football team got clobbered
- And this morning... my son decided he didn't want to get dressed and threw a fit the whole morning, making us late for work

Sigh. My live bankroll took a might hit this weekend, so I'll need to cash out a few bucks to replenish it but that's ok, its money I saved up to gamble with and I had fun spending it (most of it at least)


Poker Game
There were two $3/$6 limit hold em' games going and with an open #10 seat I settled in next to the dealer with two racks. I played for about 5 hours but didn't get involved in too many hands yet my raises didn't get much respect.

Here's the lineup for most of the time playing:
Seat 1: Mousey looking guy but decent player only raised with the nuts
Seat 2: College Kid: Any two will do, but I will not raise you
Seat 3: Stoner: Any two will do with a horseshoe stuck up his ass and claims to be a great tournament player
Seat 4: Solid playing older guy
Seat 5: Decent playing guy mid 30s
Seat 6: Stoner #2 with a hemp stocking cap: fishy fishy fishy
Seat 7: Decent playing younger guy
Seat 8: Decent playing but had a leak for top pair no kicker
Seat 10: Me

Key hands:
Hand #1: I get J - J one off the button but everyone limps in behind me, a raise here does me no good since the blinds will call with anything so we the hand 6-handed. Flop of 8 - 2 - 3 rainbow has me feeling good. Big blind bet, and its folded around to me and I raise with my overpair, all drop to the #3 seat who reraises me. Hmmmm... he could have ace high since he played every single hand so I called. Turn was an offsuit 2. He checked, but his hands trembled like there was an earthquake. So I sighed and fired a bet fully knowing he was.... going to check-raise. I made the call yet didn't follow through on it (noted leak in my live game). He did indeed check-raise me, the river was a blank and after his bet I made a crying call to see him turn over 32o for the boat.
Hand #2: I get KK 2 off the button with only one limper I fire out a raise, the two and three seats cold call, everyone else folded. Flop K - 8 - 5 all clubs. Not a great flop but worthy enough to warrant a bet. The 2 seat dropped and the earthquake started up again for the 3 seat as he flat called. I know he flopped a flush, yet when the 4 flush hit the board, I still bet ("LISTEN TO YOUR CALLS!!" said the little voice in my head) but no help came as I called his raise and as the river came as a blank the three seat exclaimed "ALL IN"! I looked at him and said "if you've got the ace there's no need to be a prick about it". The funny thing was, he wasn't kidding he started to stack his chips to push into the middle before the dealer calmly explained this was a limit game. He then said "don't mind me I'm just a tournament player", riiiiiiiiiiiight. The real funny thing was he didn't even have the ace, he had QTs. I wonder he'd continue to bet if the board would have paired. Being the awesome tournament player he is, my guess he is he would have.
Hand #3: I get A3s on the button and call with 5 limpers. Flop comes out A - 3 - 8 rainbow. Nice! Solid guy in the #4 seat calls, Stone Fishy raises, I figured him for Ace + weak kicker but not two pair so I just called. Turn offsuit 6, solid guy checks, fishy checks, I bet, and both of them called. Now seeing how my weekend has been going what do you think the next card was... if you guess a 6 you'd be right. I got counterfeited, checked all around, solid guy turns up AQo, fishy had A9o. And I lose. Sigh.
Action hand #4: On the button I get 55 PRESTO! But wait... solid guy in the #4 raises, #5 calls, fishy folds, #7 re-raises, #8 caps! Hmmm... 4 bets cold for PRESTO!? No, I folded I smelled big pocket pairs in all three of them and I was right (LEAK PLUGGED!). Raising war broke out when the final board showed 8 - 7 - J - K - 6. #4 seat had KK, #7 had JJ for the flopped set, and #8 had AA! I was waiting for the "tournament player" to turn over 94s or 54o for the flush or straight but he dropped out after the first bet on the flop when both the flop and turn got capped.

I lost two racks but had a decent time, the guys in the #7 and #8 were fun to chat with and said they play on Partypoker.

SLOT TILT!!!!!

My mom dropped by the poker table, I didn't want to leave the juicy game but I wanted to spend time with my mom. Ahhhhhhh. Yeah, yeah insert momma's boy comments. So I played some slots with her and was winning a little until I played this Kenny Roger's Gambler machine. You see I play slots for one reason, and one reason only: To get the little bonus games. Its a stupid thing but I like those cartoons damnit! I dropped $40 in there, got nothing. Another $40... squat, finally dropped another $40 and luckily I had the sense to get my ass up even without getting the cool Gambler's card game :(

I ended the trip -$350, and despite the phlegm hacking ways of my wife (who lost a whole $2 despite playing slots for a good 3-4 hours), and all the above things that happened I had a good time. It was nice to be able to have fun gaming without worry as to if you lose. I hope Interpoker is nice to me during the 12 days of X-mas promotion, gotta rebuild the home stash for my Vegas trip in March.



1 comment:

Unknown said...

I thought about staying around for the cards to turn my way but I was up there to be with my family and friends. Unfortunately they don't/won't play poker at a casino. Its too intimiating for them.

There was a cool $25 "Hand of the hour" promo from 6pm-2am. Definitely +EV there with only 2 tables running.