Atlantic City Mistake Pays Off

So I drove the hour down to Atlantic City tonight. Let’s say that this is the most “real” poker experience I’ve had since I’ve never been to Vegas or anywhere besides online, home games and Bozeman, Montana. So I went right to the Borgata which I’m told is the nicest room in AC. It was very nice. I sat down at the $1/2 table with $200. I counted 2 loose-aggressives at the table and at least two good tight-aggressives. The other player of note was the tight-aggressive who was sick of the loose-aggressives and was determined to take them out.

The most notable players were the LAG in seat 6 (I was in seat eight) with a stack of about $900 and the TAG in seat 9 with a stack of around $800. Seat 6 was the table captain for sure. I believe she raised every single pot no matter what for my first 2 revolutions of the table. She was raising to $12-$24 every time. The amazing part is that she showed her hands whether she was called or not on any street. She never showed down a bad hand except once where she went to showdown with A4 after the flop was TJK. I guess she was hoping to draw the straight and bluffed at the river just in case she could win. Otherwise she was playing very good hands: QQ, AQs, AJs, KJ, KQs… I resolved to get into a pot or two with her when I had good hands and push them hard if and only if I hit a good hand.

I literally played about 8 hands in about 3 hours (probably 12 revolutions of the table). I was playing tight. I won a few hands post-flop when I flopped TPTK. Apart from that, there were 4 interesting hands of the night.

The first when I decided to play JT off from the cutoff. I called seat 6’s raise to $15. There was one other caller. The flop came QJT rainbow. I crossed my fingers that seat 6 had AQ or even KT. I checked. The early caller checked too. Seat 6 bet out $35. I pretended to think and called. The other caller folded. The turn came J giving me a full house. I checked and seat 6 checked. The river came T, now I had 2 sets. Unfortunate for me because she most definitely missed that. I decided to bet out $40, but she folded.

The next time I decided to play, seat 6 raised to $12 and I’m in the cutoff with AJ off. She’s definitely not stupid and has been paying attention to how infrequently I’m playing so I decide to see what she’ll do when I raise. I raise to $32. Apparently the SB and the BB weren’t paying attention because the SB calls and the BB raises to $135 (all-in). Someone has made a mistake, but I can’t call. Seat 6 folds and I have to fold. Want to hear the punch line? The flop comes JJx. The SB had KK and the BB had TT. If the BB had been paying attention, he would have folded TT against my clear sign of strength and I would have seen the winning flop. The board didn’t get any better for anyone and the SB took the rest of his chips. Idiot!

A little later I get 88 in middle-to-late position. She bet $12 and I called. There were 2 more callers. The flop comes 4 6 7 rainbow. She checks to me and I decide to bet it out and see where I stand. I bet $40. One fold and the button calls as does seat 6. I’m nervous but I put her on something like A7 or A5 which are both within her starting range. She might have folded if the button hadn’t staying in. The turn comes A and now I decide that with her playing lots of aces it’s best if I check. The button checks too and seat 6 bets $50 which is only about 1/3 of the pot. I fold. The button thinks forever before pushing all in for about $120. She calls and turns A5…he turns the other two 8s. I’m glad I folded, but I lost more chips than I’d like with an overpair to the board. Her LAG style has paid off again and this time its some of my chips she’s raking in.

Now here’s the embarrassing part. Its getting a little late (or at least seat 9 told me it was…he was wrong by an hour…told me it was 1:30 AM 20 minutes earlier when it was really 12:30 AM…I wasn’t wearing a watch). I get dealt 55 in the cutoff and I call seat 6s bet of $15. There are 3 more callers including seat 9, on the button. The flop comes 578 rainbow. I see that straight, but I doubt anyone kept 69 or 46 so when it checks around to seat 6 and she bets $25 I bet $60. Now I’m surprised when the button raises to $135. I turn to him and say “you make that straight?” and he stays quiet. I’m watching him and I can’t get a read. We’ve been talking all night. He’s been my buddy, but he knows that I don’t play as much as him. He definitely knows how tight I’m playing. I’m afraid he’s decided that I won’t stand up to a raise. Could he possibly have the straight? I can’t imagine. Seat 6 calls. I think about it and figure that if he does have the straight (which I doubt he does) I’ve still got 7 outs. The worst case scenario is that he’s got me set over set. I decide to put in the rest of my chips, a raise of about $65. He calls and seat 6 calls. The turn comes a 7 making me the boat. Seat 6 checks and the button bets out another $150. Seat 6 folds and I turn over the boat. He turns 69s…he had made the straight on the flop. The river is a 9 and seat 6 announces that she would have made the straight. I win $680 and I ask for a rack. Seat 9 is fuming mad that I’m leaving. I had decided I was leaving after the hand either way. I did feel bad sucking out on him and running, but I thought it was 2 AM and I had a 1 hour drive back north and I had to be with a customer in the morning. It turns out his bad time-telling had robbed him of the chance to win back his money. I would have stayed another hour had I known it was only 1 AM.

Either way, this is the biggest win I’ve ever had on the poker table. I feel like it was a ton of money (not to brag, but it wouldn’t take much for me to earn $480 doing software development/consulting). That’s not the point. I held my own at the poker table (even if I did make a foolish call). Somehow the fact that I sucked out doesn’t cheapen it much. I still won.

This feeling is why I play this game.