Atlantic City Recap

Here’s a quick rundown of my trip to Atlantic City, followed by analysis:

Wednesday, January 23rd
5:30 PM – 10:30 PM: Played a 5 hour session of $1/$2 NLHE at the AC Hilton; net profit of $22

Thursday, January 24th
11:00 AM – 5:00 PM: Entered Event 11 of the Borgata Winter Open ($500 + $60 NLHE); finished approximately 220th out of 578.
5:30 PM – 7:00 PM: Played a 1.5 hour session of $1/$2 NLHE at the Borgata; net profit of $208
10:00 PM – 1:00 AM: Entered a $40 + $10 NLHE tournament at the AC Hilton with 18 entrants; chopped the pot 3 ways for a net profit of $190

Friday, January 25th
12:00 PM – 2:30 PM: Played a 2.5 hour session of $1/$2 NLHE at Caesars; net loss of $536

For the trip, I finished with a net poker loss of $676.

Despite the net loss, I’m actually quite happy with the way that I played, especially the way I responded to difficult situations. I was tested on the very first hand of poker that I was dealt when pocket jacks hit a runner-runner flush to beat my pocket queens for my entire stack. In case that isn’t clear, I didn’t just get stacked on the first hand that I played, I got stacked on the very first hand that I was dealt.

In the past, getting off to such a horrible start would have probably affected my play for the entire trip. However, I constantly reminded myself throughout the 3-day excursion of the 5 objectives that I had set out to accomplish (stay prepared, stay patient, stay composed, trust my instincts, and take things one step at a time), and doing so really helped me make pretty solid decisions even when things were going bad.

And boy did things ever go bad.

After fighting my way back into the black during the Wednesday night cash game at the Hilton, I entered Event 11 of the Borgata Winter Open the following morning, only to encounter one of the worst stretches of starting hands in tournament play that I’ve ever endured, either live or online. I waited patiently for hours before eventually deciding that I might just have to settle for the next unsuited single-gap connector that I saw. Hell, even 96 or 74 off suit would’ve looked like gold to me at that point. But even with a starting range that wide, I couldn’t seem to catch anything playable; it was basically just a never-ending streak of Q3 off suit. Given the cards that I was dealt, outlasting nearly two-thirds of the field is probably about all I could’ve hoped for. My fortunes did take a slight turn for the better when I rounded out the evening with back-to-back cash game and tournament wins, but it would only be a matter of hours before my composure was tested yet again.

Before heading back home Friday afternoon, my friend told me about some action-heavy $1/$2 tables that she had played at over at Caesars the night before, so we decided to play one last session before calling it quits. To make a long story short, I ended up dropping nearly 3 full buy-ins in less than 30 minutes on 3 big hands:

Hand 1: I open-raised to $10 in middle position with KQo. The player to my left, whom I had pegged as somewhat loose-passive, called, and the player in the small blind (a fairly conservative player) made it $35 to go. I made the call figuring that I had position on the raiser as well as 3-1 pot odds after the late position’s likely call. After the flop came out KQT rainbow, the SB lead out with a $50 bet. I pushed all-in for another $120, thinking that the SB might pay me off with a hand like AK or AA, and with KK being a little less likely considering my holding of KQ. Unfortunately, the late position player pushed all-in behind me having flopped the nut straight with AJ.

Hand 2: I limped behind 3 other limpers with pocket fours, which induced 3 more limpers behind for a total of 7 players who saw the flop of A64, all spades. Action was checked around to me when I bet $15 into the $14 pot. Everyone folded except for the big blind, who had been involved in practically every other hand, usually calling all the way to the end before folding to a bet on the river. The turn was a blank, and my opponent, who had started the hand with a little over $100, checked to me. I pushed all-in, figuring that he would likely call me with almost any spade in his hand. Unfortunately, after instantly making the call, he turned over AA for a very dangerously slow-played big pair/set, and I failed to catch the case 4 on the river.

Hand 3: I once again had KQ in middle position, and after action folded to me, I again raised, this time to $12. The loose-passive player to my left called, as did the big blind. The 3 of us saw a flop of K85 with 2 diamonds (I had 2 spades). The big blind (whom I didn’t have much of a read on) checked to me, and I bet $35 into the $37 pot. The player to my left (to no one’s surprise) made the call, but then the big blind pushed all-in for another $40. I had a hard time putting the big blind on a hand that beat me, given his check-raise with so few chips on a flushing board. Even if he did have me outkicked, I couldn’t fold to what was effectively a minraise. The decision I had to make was whether or not to raise in an effort to force out the player to my left, who (as usual) was probably on some sort of draw. I decided to push all-in for my last $197 in an attempt to isolate the big blind, though I only had enough chips to just barely price out a flush draw or open-ended straight draw. The player to my left ended up calling with his OESD (76 in the hole), and the big blind turned over the ace-high flush draw. As you’ve probably already guessed, I lost the $262 main pot when the turn brought a third diamond and the $314 side pot when a 9 came on the river.

I don’t recount these hands just to bemoan my bad luck, but more so to illustrate the obstacles that had the potential to affect my decision-making. In this past, I probably would have crumbled in the face of such misfortune, but I'm convinced that I've finally reached a point where short-term results truly mean very little to me. Losing $676 is still a big deal to me at this point in my life, but it was well worth it to have reached this new level of understanding.