Still Playing…

I’m not sure what happened but I kind of ran out of blogging steam.  As I’ve commented before, part of that is that nothing surprises me in poker anymore.  People hit 2 outers on the river (I did it the other day).  People call down with flopped gutshots to big bets and catch on the river.  They don’t seem like bad beats as much anymore.  They seem like the way I’ll eventually make money at this game.

But, don’t take the lack of posting for lack of playing.  On the contrary, I’ve played a lot in the recent history.

I’ve made a couple of trips to the Horseshoe in Hammond (my favorite Chicago-area location to play, though a long drive).  I’ve played a couple times at the Grand Victoria (snagged a $600 $1/2 pot when pocket aces held up to two callers).  I’ve played a lot online (lately, I’m one of the many weak players trying to win a WSOP main event seat).  All that said, I’ve hit a couple of milestones.

I made my first trip to Vegas.  It was like a poker bender.  I think I played 40 hours of poker in 3 1/2 days.  I had several big-win sessions and a few small losing ones.  I cashed in a multi-table tournament and won another one.  The best part is that my poker-playing paid for the trip (with a profit of $82, woo-hoo).  Short trip report: the nicer the room, the harder the competition.  So, in order of descending niceness or descending hardness, I played at: Venetian, Bellagio, Caesars, MGM, Hard Rock, Harrah’s, Excaliber and the Flamingo.

Favorite hand in Vegas: I have to leave Harrah’s to catch a plane in 3 minutes.  I decide this is the last round of the table and and UTG+1 with 2s 6s and bet $8.  CO calls as does the loose BB.  Flop comes 345 rainbow.  BB bets out $15, I re-raise to $40, CO folds, BB calls.  Turn is irrelevant except that there’s now a potential flush draw.  BB checks and I bet $75 and he shoves and I insta-call.  River is a blank and I scoop a $250+ pot, play two more hands and fly home with a smile on my face.

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When I get back, work sends me to Lansing, Michigan to work with a customer.  I’m less than thrilled, until I realize 2 things.  Lansing has a poker room in it and I’m driving right by the Horseshoe, the Blue Chip and the Four Winds casinos.  The Blue Chip is newly renovated (by the same people who own the uber-nice Borgata in AC) and looks very nice.  The Four Winds advertises in Chicago all the time.  The poker room in Lansing is at a bar called Tripper’s.

I get to Tripper’s on Wednesday night in time for the $50 hold em tourney.  I get to the final table and bust out in 7th (they paid 4 spots).  Oh well.  I play cash for 3 hours or so and end up with $2 more than I started.  Oh well, that’s entertainment.  Tripper’s is one of many local spots to play cards.  Apparently they have a poker room at the Days Inn.  They have a place called Club on the River (clever name) and a couple other places.  Tripper’s is #2 in niceness according to the locals.  As with a lot of places like this, it is populated by just locals and they are mostly decent players.  Though the college town does make for a little more action than most locals-only poker rooms.

On the way home, I stop for 2 hours (just to avoid Chicago rush hour) at the Four Winds.  First off, this casino is very nice for being in the middle of nowhere.  The poker room, which is in the back corner, is the biggest all-electronic poker room in the world (according to the floor woman).  They have around 25 PokerTech tables.  This day two of them were full playing $.50/1 NLHE.  I sat with another group of regulars who were all very friendly and ground out a $200 profit in my short stay.  I had some fun insulting the regulars who did their best to pretend they didn’t play that often, while the waitress asked about their families and they recounted stories of tournaments from weeks past.

Tangent: I’m finding that I can’t stop myself from making fun of anyone at the low-stakes cash tables I play at who wear sunglasses at the table.  My favorite line is something like “man, do you think we could get them to turn down the lights in here, my eyes are killing me.  Oh, it probably isn’t bothering you with those sunglasses on.”  $1/2 is not the WSOP main event.  Sunglasses make you look like you’re trying too hard.

Anyway, I’ve been playing and playing and my results are the same.  I’m a consistent winner live and small loser online.  I can’t seem to become a winning online player.  I’m not sure what I do wrong.  I’m afraid that it might be that the stakes don’t matter enough to me, but I’m not going to play much higher online unless I can consistently eek out a profit.