Since I have gotten back from the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) held at the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas, I have been scrambling to get things back to “normal” on the home front.  I am finally getting caught back up and am looking forward to a wonderful 2010!

The Atlantis at Night

I wanted to take the time to share my experiences in the Bahamas.  It was my first major poker tournament and it did not disappoint as far as expectations were concerned.  It was a great time all around.

Let me first start by saying that the Atlantis was a huge, magnificent resort.  I am not even sure if I got the chance to explore everything the resort has to offer since it was so big.

One disappointing thing, and nothing anyone can really do about it, was the weather was not up to the usual.  It was actually pretty chilly down there for the majority of my stay due to an “arctic blast” as the locals were calling it.  Even so, it was still warm enough a couple of days there to be able to lay out in the sun by the beach or the multiple pools/lagoons the resort has to offer.

The only true downside to the Atlantis was that it was unbelievably expensive.  Everything there was priced at least twice the amount you would expect to pay back at home.  In fact, I ended up spending every last bit of the $1150 spending account that was attached to the package I won on PokerStars in the 8 nights I was there.

Outside of the poker which I already discussed here, I wanted to share a couple stories of my stay there:

The PokerStars Bash

PokerStars threw a huge party towards the end of the stay.  It was originally supposed to be held outside, but since it was cold and windy they held it in the ballroom at the Atlantis.  Kelly Rowland from Destiny’s Child performed a 30 minute set that was ehhh “OK”.  It was almost kind of funny because from where I was, people were like “who is this again?”

Kelly Rowland performing at the Atlantis

You could tell Kelly Rowland was trying to get the crowd more into it, but people just didn’t seem to warm up to her as I think she was expecting.  But what do you expect with a mostly young male audience.  Destiny’s Child songs are more geared to younger females in my opinion.  It was not a good choice on the part of PokerStars in my opinion.  The end of her set was pretty quick and she jetted.  I am not sure if anyone else felt this way and I could be totally wrong in my assessment of the performance.

The rest of the party was on point though.  They had excellent food available and the drinks were on the house.  Celebrities were all around, though mostly in the VIP lounge.  Poker players that you are used to seeing on ESPN were everywhere.  It was really a great party overall.

Speaking of the VIP lounge….  As the night was going along I noticed that some celebrities with the likes of Slash (from Guns N Roses), Adrien Grenier (Vinny Chase in Entourage), and Jayde Nicole (2008 Playmate of the year) were in the VIP lounge which was pretty secluded from the rest of the party.  I told my wife, who came during the middle of my stay in the Bahamas, that “we are getting in there some time tonight, some way.”

Well to make a long story short, we did get in there.  I borrowed a “PokerStars.net” patch from one of the pros, who will remain unnamed, and I followed another player who said he could get us into the VIP lounge through the security. The only downside was when I finally got in there, the party was pretty much over and the only plus was that I could still order some drinks as the drinks were no longer available in the main ballroom.  But hey, I got in like I said I would!

Fish Fry

Whenever I stay somewhere exotic, I like to try and get a little taste of what the local flavor is like.  So under the suggestions of other poker players and the locals, my wife and I checked out “Fish Fry”.  I originally thought it was just one really good restaurant.  But when the taxi dropped us off, it turned out it was more like a strip of restaurants and bars with local cuisine.  Some parts looked kind of run down and pretty suspect under the moonlight but other restaurants looked pretty nice.

View of the Marina from my room

My wife and I chose to eat at “Twin Brothers”.  I got some fried shrimp and lobster dinner that was served with brown rice with beans mixed in it, macaroni and cheese, and plantains.  I would rate my food to be about an average 6.5 out of 10.  It was nothing special.  However, my wife got broiled shrimp which was served in aluminum foil mixed with spices and vegetables.  I tried some of it and finished it off for her as it was more than enough for her.  I would have to say that was great and would rate that no lower than 9.5 out of 10.

Overall the service was on par with what you would expect.  No extreme delays.  It was a nice experience that I am glad we had the opportunity to taste a little of what the Bahamas has to offer. For those planning on going to the Bahamas, I would definitely recommend making a stop at the “Fish Fry”.

Below are some more pictures and videos of various things from the PCA and the Atlantis.  I didn’t really take any pictures with the various celebrities as I didn’t really want to bother them.  Besides, it became the norm to see a recognizable face every day, and became more “ho hum” by the end of my stay.

Well, I just busted about 45 minutes ago.  But I have a much better outlook on how I played than I did yesterday.  I played a much better game today in the 2+ hours I played.  Thanks to my stack size, I had to play a patient and tight game.  I was looking more to re-steal than I was to open pots.  That is exactly what I did mostly.  I re-stole about 5 times and only open raised 3 times.  Like I said, tight.  I only played a total of 8 hands leading up to my demise in what was towards the end of level 10.

I was officially knocked out in about 650th of the starting 1529 when the following hand came down:

Blinds are 600/1200 with a 100 ante.  A pretty active player from utg open raises to 3000.  It is folded to me in the CO and I look down at pocket Jacks.  I am sitting with about 25,000 in chips and have 3 options.  Fold, Call, or re-raise all in.  Folding is too weak, and if I call I would be put to a tough decision on the flop should any cards come higher than a Jack.  So my best choice was to re-raise.  I wanted to take the pot down right there and use every bit of my fold equity.

Nenad Medic, on the button folds; as do the blinds.  Action is back on the initial raiser.  He goes into the tank.  I think to myself well at least it isn’t an instant call (meaning he would probably have QQ+ or AK).  He was in the tank for a good 3 minutes as I was starting to want a call knowing that my JJ was likely ahead.  He finally does make the call and tables 99.

So JJ vs 99, great shape for me as an 80 percent favorite to double up and have an average chip stack.  Until the flop brought out 973.  All I could do was sigh and hope for a Jack or two running straight cards.  The turn nor river were any help as I had to grab my stuff and make the walk of shame.

You always hear how people feel so let down after busting in a major 10k buyin tournament.  But I was almost relieved as I walked through the imperial ballroom.  I had this since of wonderment, in that I was actually starting to feel that I can AND WILL compete on this level once again.  I was all in for my tourney life and called twice, both times as a significant favorite.  That is all you can hope to do as a poker player, continually get your money in good, and the results will show over time.

I made a couple light re-steals early in the day today, that were thankfully not contested.  But I did make a resteal once with AA against Barry Shulman, in which he folded.  Looking back on that hand, I could have slowplayed it some and maybe seen a flop to hopefully let Mr. Shulman hang himself.  But I took the more conservative route.

Overall, a well played day 2.  Looking back on day 1 though, I definitely leaked some chips early on.  But I have learned from my mistakes as to know what to expect next time.  I feel confident that I am a better player today than I was before starting this tournament.  Now I just need to win another satellite to the next big poker destination.

My wife comes down to the Bahamas tomorrow, and it is a little disappointing that she will not see me still playing in the main event.  But at least we will be able to enjoy the Bahamas together.  There are other (smaller) tournaments that are being run here at the Atlantis that I might opt to play.  But in the meantime, I am just going to relax and recount past events that have occurred over the past few days.

Once I get back home, it will be back to the grind as it relates to poker.  Playing 5 card draw regularly, mixing in some SNG’s and more MTT’s.  I have goals I expect to reach by summer time and by the end of the year.  This will prove to be an exciting year.

The day is over….finally.  Play started with 30,000 in chips and to make a long story short, I ended the day with 27,200.  Not all too well.  But the funny thing is, is that I am happy to have any chips at all.  Nothing went right for me today.  It was brutal.  All my bluffs were getting picked off, and all of my big hands only took down the blinds.  The highest I was at the day was around 34,000 and my lowest was around 12,000.  I did manage to double up with about 15 minutes left in the day when my KK reraise all in was called by Matthew Glantz, who tabled KQ.  My hand held up and so did my tourney life.  That was really my highlight of the day since nothing else went well for me.

There were some questionable plays I made in the day and am not all too happy with my effort overall.  I am looking forward to day 2 since I still have a viable shot though.  The blinds will start at 500/1000 with a 100 ante on day 2.  So I will be sitting with 27 big blinds.

Tomorrow I plan on checking out the Atlantis some since I haven’t really had the chance and hope to just simply relax.  I might go rail the day 1 B players sometime tomorrow too.  Hopefully I will have some pics or videos to show soon.

I woke up somewhat early Saturday considering how late the night before got. The minute I woke up I knew I had some work ahead of me to at the least cut into some of the loss I had the night before.

I eventually made it back down to the poker room and decided to play 3/6 limit. At this point, I just was sick of NLH after Friday night.

Session 3

To make a long story short, I ended up about $120 after 4 hours of play. I really ran pretty well as I hit about 4 full houses and everyone at the table was calling me down as I averaged showing down one bluff every hour. I did take some bad beats here and there, but it was expected playing this low of a limit game.

I was happy with the net of $120, but was disappointed as I felt I left some money on the table in a couple of hands. I also got a little of track for about 1 hour where I caught myself playing WAY too many hands. My high point during the 4 hours of play was around $175, and I really should have won over $200 for how poor the play was.

Other Games

I left the table to go hang out with some of the friends I felt I hadn’t really accompanied during the weekend. I played a little mini-baccarat where I won $150 betting on the average the minimum $20. I was mostly just betting on the banker and only switching to player a couple of times.

On that note, I really like baccarat after dabbling with it in Vegas. I feel like it is a great game to play as it is nearly 50 percent odds (better than the red or black bet in double zero roulette) and I am now over a $300 winner in that game mostly just betting the minimum outside of a few times.

If I could confidently count cards without mistakes, I would have probably played some blackjack.

Then I got talked into playing roulette. I have read, unsure of where, that history in roulette means nothing. However, there is one way you might be able to win. That is when some numbers come in more often than not. The theory behind this is the fact that the wheel can have the slightest imperfections to allow for certain numbers to hit more often and the throw of the ball by the dealer can have “human error” to allow for certain numbers to hit.

I might be able to see the first part of the theory more than the second, but nonetheless I used the strategy. I would bet 6-7 numbers that seemed to pop up more often and 2-3 of my “lucky” numbers. I ended up winning $13 in 30 minutes. But I wish I had played 3 more spins, as the next 3 spins all came up with numbers that I had routinely bet. I would have won more than $200 had I done so.

Session 4

After an even crazier night than the night before at MurMur (Borgata club) I stumbled into the poker room knowing that I was there to play more for fun than to win as I knew I was not in the best condition to play my A game.

I saw a lively short handed table of 5/10 limit and decided to take a seat and bought in for $200. After all, 5/10 limit is what I play in Myrtle Beach (Sun Cruz Casino) and average winning about 10bb/hr down there.

I really enjoyed it as it was easily noticeable that I was playing against better competition than what I had faced all weekend. I mixed it up without really ever getting a hand, outside of one KK in which I won a small, uncontested pot. Hands were rarely getting to showdown, it was great!

After about an hour of playing pretty card dead, I was down about 40 bucks. Then I find out that the players at the table are “regulars” in the 10/20 game and they were just about to get up and call it a night. Me and one other guy, I believe his name was Nick (at least that is what I am going with) decided to play headsup.

I got off to an early comfortable lead, and then he slowly chipped back up. Then I lost about 3 big hands out of 10 and was down to about $20. I managed to work it back up to $75 as some other players sat down.

Both of the new guys were putting bad beat after bad beat on both me and Nick and Nick busted as I was still hanging on with about $50. Then my last hand of the weekend came (one of the only hands I can remember nearly every detail in the night):

It was folded to me in the SB and I look down at the Ac3c. I make a raise and get called by the BB.

The flop brings 3 J J.

I bet and get called.

The turn brings another 3.

I bet and get called again.

The river was a 7.

I bet and get raised. With just a couple of more bets in my stack I decide to go all in. He calls, and I am thinking he is going to show a Jack. He doesn’t though. Instead he shows 77 with 7s full. Good hand, good game, good night, good bye Atlantic City.

Overall I feel like I played OK, but I definitely was not playing my A game while drinking on either night. This will go down as my first losing weekend in AC and this was my 6th trip up there.

I ended up losing 420 in poker (about 260 overall) though I will make the notion that I did win $180 sober. Even when I had some alcohol in me, I feel like I played well enough to win, it just didn’t work out that way. But I had a blast, and that was really all that mattered as I was more there for a bachelor party than to play poker.

I did notice some other things while in AC when it comes to my game. That will come in a later, probably lengthy, post or article.

I first arrived in Atlantic City after a long 6 hour drive. The minute I got there it was time to play some poker before the alcohol was in the picture for the bachelor party.

Session 1

I left the non-poker playing friends at the roulette table and headed for the poker room with a few other friends. I sat down at 1/2 NL kind of as a refresher and to get back into the swing of things as I was expecting to play 2/5 NL later in the weekend.

I bought in for $200 though the max buy-in was $300. After a few quick hours of not getting too many good hands I was up $60 and left to get ready to go out. Really nothing too eventful but did notice how poor the play was.

Session 2

After going to a couple of bars I carried myself back to the poker room around 2 in the morning. Decided to buy back into the 1/2 game since I had been drinking instead of trying out the 2/5 game.

First hand I am dealt in the BB was AhAc. Middle position player opens with a 4x raise, the button calls, and hoping to take the pot down pre and set a tone for my table image I overbet ($35) the pot ($19) making it $27 more to go for the players already in. I still had $165 behind. The original raiser, with what looked to be about $500 behind, calls and the button folds.

At this point, with no reads except to notice that he is up since the max buyin is $300, I have to think that he has two big cards like AK-AQ or a pretty nice pair like TT-KK. I wasn’t really laying good enough odds for much else to call.

Flop brings 8h 5d 2h

I bet ($60) 3/4 of the pot ($78) hoping that he has an overpair and is willing to go with it. If he just calls, I would have the perfect size stack to make a value ship with the rest on the turn ($105 into $198). To go along with the possibility of him having an overpair, he declares that he is putting me all in.

Without really thinking about it, I call knowing I was pretty much priced in getting nearly 2:1 on the flop with AA one being a heart.

As I put the last of my chips in, I asked “Did you hit a set on me?”

He sheepishly shakes his head yes as he turns over his 55. Needless to say, the turn and river was of no help.

I quickly reach back into my pockets to rebuy for another $200.

At least an hour of break-even play went by. A few more beers down and a run of no cards was getting me antsy as this next hand occurred:

At this point I had reads on the styles of 3/4 of the table and had a couple strong physical tells on 1/3 of the table. The table playing loose, I look down at the Qc7c from the button after 4 limpers and elect to call. The SB calls and the loose aggressive BB makes it $16 to go. It is folded around to me and I make a loose call thinking I could outplay him as I had a good read on him. SB folds.

The flop brings 7 5 2 (no flush draw out, forget the suits though).

BB leads with a pot-sized ($40) continuation bet as he has done 3 or 4 times in the last orbit and a half. I sit there and think for about 10 seconds, my opponent really did look uncomfortable. So I decided to call planning to bet if checked to me on the turn no matter what came.

Turn brings an 8 (rainbow).

The BB checks, I look at the pot which is now at $120 and I have about the same. So going with my read and my plan, I decide to ship and hopefully take down the pot. To my dismay, I get called pretty quickly.

Again the board reads 7 5 2 8, guess what he had!

44!

And guess what came on the river, a 6 to give him the straight.

I slowly pushed away from the table as I watched him drag the pot away. I said in awe “I can not believe you called over a hundred with that, but nice hand I guess” and I walked away in disbelief.

In no way, was I playing the hand the way I did just because I had top pair. I played it this way by going with my read. I was really playing the player more than the cards. I guess I was correct in this instance, but the outcome was unfavorable.

End of day 1, down 340….. Day 2 to come later.

When I was first introduced to No Limit Holdem, back in my freshman year in college on a day off away from the baseball field, a few of us were playing 25/50 cent dealer’s choice cash games. This was a couple of years before the big “moneymaker boom”. I was intrigued by Holdem, but to be honest with you, it really didn’t do much for me at the time. Back then, I would like the games that would build the biggest pots, and holdem just wasn’t doing it back then.

So when the button got to me, I would just choose “727″, a blackjack style game where the goal was to be closest to 7 or 27 without going over, and some of the pots would grow to huge amounts. It was one of the best games to take advantage of position, this is the main reason I would always chose it.

Other games we would play are: high or low Chicago, crisscross, 3-5-7, and Omaha.

Fast forward to 2003 and the Moneymaker boom, and we were mostly just playing holdem, though we would still mix in some dealers choice games on the rare nights. I was an overall winner in these games, though I now realize just how much I didn’t know.

When I first started playing online poker a few years ago, I would just dabble with some No-Limit holdem cash games with the occasional tournament. To say the least, I was a slow loser in tournaments, and couldn’t handle the cash games when I would lose fast. At the time, one of my best tools in poker was the reads I could get live, and I was really out of my element online.

Then as of recently, I have been mostly playing limit holdem cash games, limit 5 card draw, NLH SNGs, and NLH MTTs. I would stay away from NLH cash games online. Pretty much the only time I would play NLH cash games would be when I was playing live at the Borgata in Atlantic City and do usually really well I might add. Even when I went to Vegas in June, when I decided to put in some hours at the cash tables, I opted for limit holdem.

I wouldn’t really play NLH anywhere else, even though I have been invited to a few home games that are really juicy, but too much of a short stack gamble to risk the cash they were throwing around. But even today, I am hoping to take advantage of that game once I feel I am properly bankrolled for the roller coaster that is that home game.

So when I was sitting there the other day, after cashing in the PL draw WCOOP, I was trying to decide what route I should try and take to get my bankroll back on track. I can play $20 SNGs which I have a pretty good ROI in. I could play $10 MTTs, but frequently the fields are so huge I would really have to get lucky to make some real dough. Go back and drop down levels to playing 1/2 limit draw, in which I could easily make about $10/hour on average (if I don’t multitable). I could play 1/2 limit holdem cash, in which I would probably make about 2 to 3 BB/100 (multitabling). Or I could play NLH cash in which I was a losing player in NLH cash games online.

So sitting there looking at my options, what do you think I chose? Of course NLH! The game that I have statistically in the past not been able to dominate. But the last time I played NLH cash games seriously, it was about a year ago. There has been a ton of stuff that I have learned in the past year about NLH deepstacked play, that I felt I could beat these games now with the knowledge I possessed.

As of today I have been playing $25 6-max NLH the majority of my online time. Though it is an extremely small sample, I have thus far played 1379 hands playing 3-4 tables at once. I have been averaging a whopping 65BB/100 hands! Now I know I won’t be able to keep those numbers up, but these games are soooo easy, and really fun at the moment. It is bringing me back to my roots of when I was sitting in college playing NLH cash games against my buds.

What have I done differently than what I was doing in the past? I have been playing an overall loose/aggressive style. But, I will only get a ton of money into the pot when I have a big hand, and no top pair/top kicker is not really a big hand when you are playing with 100bb stack. I have been putting my money in consistently good with 2 pair, straights, flushes, and sets. Maybe I have been running good, I don’t know. But things are just too easy right now, and I am really enjoying this little rush.

My bankroll is now at $1273.80. Technically, I can move up to $50NL now, but I think I will sit back in the $25NL games until my BR gets up to $1500.

Until next time, keep pwning.