A trip report from Nashua, NH (outside Boston, MA) and 2 hands

It’s been awhile since I’ve taken a business trip.  As my long term readers (are there even any readers anymore?) know, whenever I get the opportunity to go somewhere new, I’ll try to check out the local poker scene if there is one.  This past week, I had meetings outside of Boston, MA – around 20 minutes from Nashua, NH.  Checking around on the typical sites (pokeratlas, 2p2, etc.), I found a card room that was recently fined, and a continuing card room in operation.  Unwilling to go to a place that was potentially shut down, I opted to check out the Boston Billiard Club & Casino (BBCC).

Before I get into the details, I will give a little background on the New Hampshire poker scene, or more broadly, the NH gambling scene.  I’m not sure when NH received the legal precedent to open card rooms and offer casino gaming, but it’s a more recent (within the past few years) turn of events.  As it currently stands, the maximum bet for the casino is $4, meaning you can play blackjack all day at $4 / hand!  That limit is apparently increasing in the near future, to $10.  On that same vein, the poker room is beholden to the max bet rule; the maximum big blind is $4, meaning the biggest hold’em game offered is $2/4 no limit (none of which were running on a Monday night).  FWIW, besides the $1/2 NLHE game I played, the BBCC was spreading a $1/3 Omaha game.

As it turns out, in order to legally offer casino gaming, the casino operator undertook a concession to contribute most of the proceeds to charity.  That said, other than a sign on the door upon arrival, the feature charity (which changes daily) is completely obscured to the player; in other words, I wouldn’t have known that I was playing in a casino for charity vs. a casino for profit without that sign.  Located in what amounts to a strip mall, BBCC took rake the same way I’ve seen most do it, 10% up to $5 – no flop, no drop.  It offered $0.50 / hour in comps.   Waitress service was terrific.  Seats were fairly basic, as was the table itself, featuring no automatic shufflers (all decks were hand shuffled).  Dealers were competent.  They open at 12pm, close at 1am.  In fact, if I had to nitpick one thing, it would be that buy-ins and rebuys were by runner only; one cannot rebuy at the table.  Although the runners are efficient, I can imagine this could be a problem when the poker room is busy (5 tables were running during the night I was visiting).

As is typical of “new-ish” poker rooms introduced to an area, play was atrocious.  Obviously given limited data (I played one session for ~4 hours), I saw obvious bluffs, poor to terrible pre-flop hand selection and otherwise idiotic play.  For example, I saw a guy call a 3bet of $35 that he opened for $6, with $60 behind holding 23cc.  Obviously, he flopped a flush vs. pocket Queens without the Qc, so he’s a poker genius, but LOL.  This same guy would double through with KJ vs. AK AIPF against the same player later on in the night, and pay me off with a small pocket pair vs. my KK AIPF on the immediate following hand, so nice score for me.

Overall, I had a good night with one or two hands that were “questionable,” which I’ll share below:

• First hand, I hold 35cc in the CO against a $6 raise by the aforementioned feature player from above.  There winds up being 8 of us in the hand; I opt to call with my speculative hand rather than giving any thought to 3bet / squeezing, given that the fish is clearly calling a 3bet with a wide range, which will cause the trickle-down effect of one caller joining multiple other callers.  Granted, I do have position, but I don’t want to inflate the pot without a purpose, and 5 high is not likely to showdown as the winner.  Anyway, we see a flop of Q J 3, two spades.  I check my pair of 3’s and the BTN bets $10 (into a ~$50 pot!).  I call, as does the original raiser.
  
  Turn is a 5 and I turn two pair.  The original raiser again checks, and I decide to take control of the hand, leading for $40, as I’m 99% sure I’m ahead at this point and want value.  I’m not afraid of the original raiser; I’m not sure what he’s doing or why he’s still in the hand, but I’m happy he’s still with me.  The BTN immediately folds and the original raiser again calls.  I have plans to check through any river that isn’t a 3 or 5, but I still can’t put original raiser on a hand.  I feel as though if he had a hand, he’d have bet the flop given so many players involved in the hand.  Looking at the hand from his position, I wouldn’t want my opponents seeing a turn / river for free, because if I have a hand I want to get value along the way.  I would be cbetting the flop, and continuing the turn, unlike him, who is check / calling and playing passively.
  
  That notwithstanding, we see a river of a Queen, leading the final board to read Q J 3 5 Q, rainbow.  He instantly leads for $75.  WTF?  Check / call, check / call, then lead with a board pairing Q?  Nuts or bluff – a polarizing bet, clearly, but it seems like such an odd spot for the nuts given the passivity.  I don’t waste much time in calling my 5’s and Queens, and he say’s “nice call” before flipping over K6o (WTF????).  I show my 5’s and the table is pretty astounded (really????  I suppose he could have been bluffing with a pocket pair, but it’s just such a weird spot to bluff there!).

• Second hand is against a tighter player, who’s pretty passive post flop but will open PF.  At this point in the night, I’m raising a few hands in a row and look down at AJcc on the BTN.  I open to $17 after 4-5 limps, and he’s the only one who calls in early position.  Flop comes AdQd3x and he checks to me.  I lead for $27 and he check / raises me all in for $160 effective.  Thoughts on a passive post flop player who all of a sudden gets aggro after seeing me become aggro PF?
  
  
  
  Click to see results
  
  
  I couldn’t put him on AA, QQ, AQ or AK, as he would have raised PF without a doubt. I absolutely can put him on 33 here – that’s an easy limp / call hand from EP.  I can also put him on a ton of diamond draws. The check / raise seems so out of character for him, though. If he’s going for value, wouldn’t he either lead or c/r to $75-80 and shove the turn? Why bomb a check / raise all in? I eventually wind up calling him and he shows QTo.

Again, as I said, idiotic play…  Idiotic players…  Just weird spots for bluffs that make no sense.

Montreal Playground Poker Club trip report: just when I think I’ve seen it all, I realize that I haven’t seen anything

My wife and I took the kids up to Montreal, Canada for an extended weekend so that my wife could see her Canadian cousins. It had been a while since we’d been up there, so I took a few days off of work and we all drove the 10 hours from our house. It was nice; we got to see all of my wife’s family, and met the newest member of our family, a 3 month old baby boy. The weather was nice for the most part, so we were able to spend time outside, walking around and checking out Montreal’s sites. My kids have never experienced poutine, so we definitely had a serving to share. We broke up the trip on the trek home, making a stopover in New Jersey to visit my cousins. My cousin’s kids are close in age to my kids, so it was a welcomed relief from the all-too-long car ride.

To cut to the poker content, throughout the 15 years my wife and I have been married, I can’t recall a single time where I’ve been able to get away and check out the Montreal poker scene. For years, I knew about the Casino de Montréal, but I don’t think I’ve ever actually played poker there – I’ve read the games are bad, the poker room is tiny, and it’s generally expensive. However, I googled Montreal poker and found a place I’ve been reading about over the past few years, the Playground Poker Club. The poker club is a strictly poker room located on the Native American [Indian] Mohawk reservation. Saturday night, I was able to get away for a few hours and check it out. It happened to be around 25 minutes driving from the place we were staying.

My initial impression of the poker room was that it was imposingly big. 78 tables big. Seemingly just a warehouse of poker tables surrounded by TVs. Getting on a table was fairly easy; I needed to first get a Playground card to get on the waitlist. After doing that, I had a short 5 minute wait to get on a table. The place maybe had 30-40 tables running at 10:00 on a Saturday night. I went and got chips; using U.S. dollars, they changed my $200 into $256 CAD. The $1/2 tables were $200 max, so I pocketed my extra $56 and put the $200 on the table when I got called.

Some observations:

•  The room is very strict and rule-oriented; non-players are not allowed to congregate around the table; they must stay behind the rail at all times.
• Rake is 10% up to $8 + $1 for the bad beat drop!  Ouch.
• You don’t have to post when entering the game though you can buy the button if you’d like.
• The chairs and table are very comfortable.  They have 9 player tables, so there’s lots of room as well.
• All food and drinks are free.  They have an extensive menu of food selections and it appears that they have a fully stocked bar.  The food looked very good; order as much as you’d like and your only cost is the tip for the server.
• The food and drink service seemed very quick.  There’s seemingly always a server around.
• The Montreal players seem to like to bet their draws.
• The play was very poor.

A real quick inconsequential hand history relating to the title of the post:

I’m sitting for maybe an hour – there’s a lady across from me who I’ve pegged as absolutely atrocious. She’s hitting hands right & left; only bets when she has top pair or better (top pair - she’s never folding regardless the action). Anyway, I’ve seen her runner a boat, straight, two pair, etc. Usually, she has no idea that she has the winner, but somehow gets there. Anyway, I’m in the BB in seat 8; she’s in the 2 seat across from me as the second to act. As she’s lifting her cards, she accidentally flashes me the Deuce of diamonds, but also accidentally flips over the Ten of clubs for the entire table to see. She looks at the dealer and asks for a replacement card, but he relents; it’s her fault for flipping the Ten. The whole conversation is taking place in French; I don’t think she speaks any English. Therefore, I’m embellishing a little bit; she may have said to the dealer, “Beautiful weather in Montreal this weekend; what are you doing on Sunday?” while he replied, “Very fine weather – I’m planning a nice Easter brunch,” but what do I know? Body language -wise, it looked like she wanted a new card and was trying to blame the dealer for her folly. Anyway, despite showing the table 50% of her hand and me the other 50%, she decides to limp her powerhouse, throwing in the $2.

So, it’s not unexpected that she limped T2o (I've seen her play 93o to a raise; she's calling nearly every hand she sees), but I don’t get continuing to play your hand when you’ve played half of it face up! This is not a hand that should be too hard to fold! WTF? Have you ever seen that before?  Unfortunately, I looked down from the BB to see T3o, so I had her dominated, but we both totally missed the flop and one of the other 4 or 5 limps took it down :-(.

Short Trip Report from San Diego - Palomar Card Club

I went downtown to eat with my coworkers last night and found myself 10 minutes away from the Palomar Card Club.  I figured I'd try to get a little poker variety while I'm here, and was kinda nervous when I drove by and saw what basically amounted to a Starbucks-sized "club."  Parking was fairly easy, but I was nervous from the cast of characters hanging outside on the street, taking a break from the non-smoking rules of the club inside.  Nevertheless, I persevered against my initial judgement, parked and went inside.

There were around 7-8 tables total, of which 6 were in action.  There was a constant buzz as well; somewhat noisy with no discernible background music.  I felt like this place was right out of an underground poker club, except this place was fully licensed and legal.  Going up to the brush desk, I was surprised to find that they hold their chips in an unlocked, seemingly insecure cabinet.  The brush was able to ship me my $300 buy in (same stakes as the Oceans Eleven Casino, 2/3), and I was seated almost immediately.

I sat down, and like Oceans Eleven, I wasn't required to post.  I started to settle in, watching players, looking for ideas as to how they play, etc. but before long, I was told to move to another table - i.e. the "must move" feature, which I don't believe I've ever experienced.  I'm not quite sure the logic behind a must move, but I didn't have to re-post blinds or anything, so it was okay by me.  Unfortunately, though, I was moved over to a table with better players, where I really needed to think about things rather than autopilot my way through the donks.  Make no mistake; these players were no Tom Dwan or Phil Galfond...  but they certainly new how to run a bluff and were aware that aggression is key.

Third or fourth hand, I wake up to QQ in the BB and watch 3 or 4 overcallers calling a mid position $12 raise.  I 3bet it to $45 (which in retrospect, should have been more) and a supposed loose player and an unknown call.  (I was told the loose player was loose / aggro by a player to my left who had apparently had a lot of history with him.)  Flop [natch] comes A K 3 rainbow.  I [stupidly] lead out for $45 and get raised by aggro to $140 ($300 effective, FWIW).  Folds to me and I think through the situation...  I truly truly contemplate a shove / call but can't bring myself to actually execute...  I fold and he flips J 7 hh for the bluff.  DAMNIT!  I knew his story didn't make sense.  Welcome to aggro poker :-).

Here was my thought process:  I 3bet PF and he's flatted 2 raises.  If he's aggro he's almost definitely raising pocket pairs and certainly good Aces.  He's calling down all his other weak Aces, wanting a cheap showdown.  He *HAS* to be concerned with AK, AA, KK, all within my 3bet range.  Granted there are some bluffs in there, but  is really trying to raise me off my bluffs (unless he has a bluff himself)?  Lesson learned...  against this player, take your time and think through the situation.

I would get a few chances to extract some money from him; he would frequently raise his BB and aggress his way into a non-showdown win, but whenever he'd get his money in, he always had "some" equity.  I stacked him once when he called a 3bet (again I'm OOP) to $45 and I held AQss - flop of Q Ts 3s.  Checked the flop, check / jammed the turn and stacked his KTo (nice call of a 3bet), but broke even on the pot because a short stack degen had essentially called all-in PF and turned a guttter KJ straight.  (I would also later nut on him with with a QT straight vs. his supposed set ($10 raise PF, check flop... $290 all in on the turn with the turned straight FTW & $300+ winnings).

EDIT:  I want to include a comment made below in response to a question about the QQ 3bet hand and how it plays into the hand above.  In the QQ hand, I thought about it after the hand... and I realized I made the "classic" "same bet" tell, where I bet the same bet on the flop as I had PF.  This is usually a weakness tell that more astute players know.  After 3-4 hands, I'm not very accurate at sizing up this guy's game, so I choose the default fold, unwilling to stack off with what could very easily be an A or K.  Noted.  It would play into the AQ hand, though, which I failed to fully describe until being reminded of it from the below comments.

So the action went like this: 3bet to $45 and 2 callers, the KJ turned straight guy with an effective stack of ~80 and my nemesis.  I check the flop, looking to induce his bet which he doesn't bite.  Then, I decide to cbet the "same bet" on the turn as a delayed cbet... the turn was an offsuit 9, if I recall correctly.  As if scripted, he immediately raised me to ~$140, putting shorty all in.  I contemplated for a few seconds, sizing him up and announced all in myself.  He insta-called, believing me to be bluffing / hoping for his gutter Jack / over King / trip Ten to hit.  I believe he's drawing WAY thin (as was the gutter boy) because I'm 4 flushing and I don't think any of them had spades in their hand.

The crux here, though, is that I was able to use a false tell to induce action and stack someone (although the resultant pot was *A LOT* lighter than it should have been due to the short dick winning the main pot).

The only hand that "bothered" me on the night was where I jammed my TPTK AcTx against his 98 two pair on a T 9 8 cc board and I went runner runner QQ for the better two pair.  As I said, he's wont to raise BB and he did so with 98hh PF after a few limps (he raised to $15).  My plan was to limp raise but I don't remember why I abandoned that plan...  Anyway, I feel like I'm pretty good jamming TPTK against this type of player because he has so many draws that he's calling where I'm on the good end statistically - he had snapped off with mid pair and no re-draw earlier, and I had seen him play up & down poker...  Egg on my face, but happy to sweep up the winnings for a decent winning session.

I don't know that I'd go back to Palomar Club, because it felt very much like a home game where everyone knew everyone by name.  However, it was fun to get back into the "home game" scene for a respite from the casino scene.  It's always also nice to get a decent win :-)

Short trip report from San Diego - Oceans Eleven Casino

This post will read more like a stream of conciousness because I'm sitting in meetings and only have a few minutes to bang this out.

I only had around 2 hours of play time before I got tired and packed up to head back to the hotel.  However, those were 2 nicely profitable hours.  I was able to steal at will, constantly raising the BTN / CO and getting little to no resistance.  I played 2/3 $300 and doubled through on a flush over flush (I nutted, he had the KQ high flush).  It was an interesting hand because I was able to check / raise 2 streets...  despite, I took home nearly a buy in during those 2 hours.

These players are *AWFUL*. The guy in the seat 1 would call call call only to suckout and get lucky on *MULTIPLE* occasions.  I saw him call a shove with a non-nut flush draw vs. another player's set of Aces.  He flatted my $20 open in position against my AA and we saw a flop of Q T 9 rainbow.  I lead $35 into the $40 pot and his hands started shaking.  He carved out the $35 then took a long time before fumbling with his chips and adding up a raise of $80-90 on top... it didn't even matter; my read was so strong on his hand that I insta-mucked the minute he started fumbling.  Of course, he flipped QT for flopped 2 pair...  nice $35 for the trouble :-).  The table was wowed by my insta-muck, but I *KNEW* it -  and it was nice to be reassured when he flipped his 2 cards to show the 2 pair.

As I was saying, these players were weak / passive.  There were few exceptions, but for the most part, I steam rolled this table and felt damn good about it.  I was the cocky ass a the table and no one could do anything about it :-).

All work & no play makes me a dull boy... greets from Charleston, SC

Note: Poker content in the second section.

So I'm having a bit of poker withdrawal.  I wasn't able to get seat time in last week, save for the Tuesday after we got back from the cruise.  I'm not going to be able to get any seat time this week.  After work, I'm huddled in the corner of my room, shivering, in the fetal position from lack of pokerage.  Not really.  But it makes for a good story, no?

Actually, Charleston turns out to be quite a pleasant city.  It has a small feel to it; very quaint and rustic.  I've kinda taken a liking to it - though I can't get over the odor that seems to permeate the area.  It almost smells like a sawmill; I suspect that's because this is considered low country and the smells roll in from the marshes?  Perhaps I'm wrong - maybe I should check the internet?

Ok - back from a simple search of "Why does Charleston smell" results in the fact that there's a paper mill in town...  wow; I really nailed the smell!

Anyway, the women are absolutely gorgeous here - and they're all friendly!  Too bad I'm a married man.  The food is *EXCELLENT*.  The buildings are all old school; typical southern like one would expect when visiting the south.  I'm having fun here, catching up with colleagues who I haven't seen in such a long time (it's been a year and a half since I've supported the particular meetings that I'm supporting today).

Online poker update

At any rate, I've been doing a bit of online play lately.  I've been playing on a place called Seals With Clubs.  For those that don't know, you can grind for Bitcoins, which while not readily available to convert into hard currency, are at least something "meaningful."  That is to say that people treat these bitcoins seriously; you don't see players donking off as they usually would with 72s in a PokerStars play money situation because... "they were sooooooted."  When suckouts invariably happen, people are genuinely upset in the chat box.

The way sealswithclubs.eu works for me is they run hourly freerolls for 50 chips (each chips = 1/1000 of a bitcoin).  I was able to win the very first freeroll I played, and tried unsuccessfully for a few more 50 chip wins.  Finally, I said screw it and started playing 1/2 -200 with my meager roll.  The min buy in of 40 chips allowed me entry.  I was able to turn that into a full 200 coin buy in that same day, and haven't looked back since.  I'm up to 2400 chips (2.4 bitcoins) at this point; it's been a month or so since I started.  FWIW, the USD equivalent for 1 BTC is around $14.  Additionally, they allow multi-tabling (I'm up to 2 HUD-less tables at this point) and offer a tiered rakeback program.  All in all, it seems very generous and easy to get started with the sole risk being time.

Note that sealswithclubs.eu does not have a downloaded client; it runs in flash through your web browser.  Therefore, I don't believe you can run a HUD to track hand histories / player tendencies.  I've found that with recent my live experience, I'm much better suited now to playing an online game sans PT3 / HEM (though I would love to get back into tracking players / fish).  sealswithclubs.eu has been rolling out mobile software as well - I got involved with their pilot program for software on the Android tablet which works well so far.  The best part about the whole thing is that bitcoins (BTC) are not regulated by the government, and thus cannot be shut down by the DOJ.  It's a very small site currently, but at least it's better than nothing and it seems to be growing.

It should also be noted that I have not yet cashed out anything, so I caveat your play with an "at your own risk" warning.  However, so far, so good.  I'm enjoying being back online.  Come & join me!

Status update & a hand history

My wife & I took our kids on their first cruise this past week.  We went from Miami to the Bahamas.  Fortunately, the kids had a blast (5, 7 & 9) - cruises will likely be the Poker Meister family's vacation of choice going forward.  Better, since cruises leave from Baltimore, we won't have to pay for airfare; cruises seem to be great value for the money.

Onboard, I got to sit in on some of the fishiest games I've ever played.  Either the players were partially retarded or spewtarded.  Numerous times... check that... almost every time - I'd see limp / calls with $12 behind and auto folds to cbets.  Every once in awhile, it's a good feeling to be the HUGE fish in a little pond, as I was far & away the best player at the tables.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to put my skill into quantifiable dollar terms.  The digital PokerPro tables treated me terribly; I would get it all in more than 3 times as a dominating favorite only to be sucked out on.  Notables included: KQo vs. K9o all in PF (I raised and he 3bet all in to not much more; running 4 flush), 33 vs. K6 on a 3 6 8 K board (6 on the riv; checked flop and check / raised AI turn to ~$100 stack), AT vs KTdd on a 2c 5s 7d (aggrodonk called PF $15 raise and shoved $42 into $45 on flop - good call by me) board (diamond turn, K river).  Nevertheless, I persevered for a +break-even 3 nights, happy to escape the clutches of run bad.

Trying to get back in gear, I went out & played a session at Charles Town yesterday, with mixed results.  I had to make my own luck as I simply was not getting the cards.  For the majority of my 3-4 hour session, I was break-even, never swaying more than +-$25.  Towards the end of the session, I limped 32o in mid to late position and saw a 3 way flop where I flopped a J56 under-gutter with 2 hearts and a spade on board.  I lead the flop for $15 into a large-ish field and got 2 callers.  At this point, I was determined to boom or bust and steeled myself to pound away at the pot.  To date, I had never really been to showdown and hardly played any hands.  I figured my reputation, for anyone watching, would precede itself, and I could be given credit fora  two pair / set type hand.  The turn brought a 3s, giving me a bit of equity to the river.  I was fairly sure that the pair of 3's was not the best hand, but continued my story regardless - firing $35 into the $50-ish pot.  1 sticky caller was all who remained to a blank river.  After his check, I shoved my remaining $200+ into his effective $160, repping a two pair / set.  He folded after a few seconds of thought and showed 64ss so I showed my 23 bluff and was done with the session + 1/2 buy in...  Not bad for a completely card dead  / water treading session.

Hand History

From a session ~2 weeks ago at Charles Town:
New player (claims to have just turned 21; his first time casino, playing "pro" poker).  He's on the HJ and opens to $12 (note that whether or not he's a new 21, he handles his chips poorly and is clearly new to poker).  I decide to 3bet him to $40 with QQ on the BB.  My 3bet folds out the limpers and he shoves $200.  The action is on me, so I start to talk...  I ask him what he has and get an answer: he tells me Aces.  I tank and fold.  Comments?




BTW, he showed his Aces.  :-)  Next hand.

What goes down must go up....

Short post: I had a very very decent session at the 1-2 Ctown tables last night.  I was dealt Aces 4 times within 6 hours, got dealt 2 sets and a nice sprinkling of flushes and straights.  I got paid on nearly all of my hands, and more than overcame the run bad I experienced the other night at Ctown.  My table was absolutely TERRIBLE - 2 competent regs and the rest totally loose passive players who would fit or fold the flop - a great setup.

Charles Town opened their newly relocated poker room on Wednesday, so I was playing in it on the second day that it was open.  What a difference!  They situated it downstairs, steps away from the table games, with plenty of slot machines within eye shot.  The location is SO MUCH better than before; there were a TON of walk-ins from slots / tables, which is precisely what I want as a player.  The result was a ton of action without any tough decisions.  They kept the old poker room upstairs for tournaments - 30 tables - while the new poker room holds 26 tables or thereabout.  Needless to say, I was extremely happy with the new setup and the results.

Updates & Trip Report - Celebrity cruise from San Juan to the Southern Caribbean islands

It's been awhile since the last post.  First, a few updates:

• Life is going well.  I continue to excel in school, with 5 classes now under my belt in pursuit of my MBA at Johns Hopkins.  Last semester was one of the more useful classes, Corporate Finance.  Net Present Value (NPV), Future Value (FV), Free Cash Flows (FCF), NPV of annuities, etc. was very useful.  I'm in fact using it to value investments I'm considering in the form of purchasing real estate in the Univ. of Maryland / College Park area.
• Segue to the investments.  I'm considering purchasing a small condo in the College Park area as I alluded to above.  The price is fairly cheap, but getting a loan for an investment property is apparently incredibly difficult.  I'm running into funding issues.  Moreover, it seems that even though 25% down is required for the loan, investment purchases in Prince George's County, where College Park is located, require quite a bit of up-front escrows in the form of taxes.  I'm looking at about 25% + ~15% in closing costs alone.  I was considering partnering with my brother-in-law, but I think he's uncomfortable with the net cash requirements.  Anyone out there know how to get real estate investment loans?  Any suggestions for contacts?
• I've been toying with the idea of starting an investing blog.  It would be nice to have a place where I can convey my thoughts about ideas I have for investments.  I have been on somewhat of a buying binge (since February), when I was able to roll out prior 401(k) moneys that had been rolled into my current job's 401(k) when I joined my current company.  I've purchased a few companies, and have done well thus far: MAKO Surgical (MAKO) @ $36.21 & $35.58, Corning (GLW) @ $12.95 & $13.53, Jinpan International (JST) @ $8.42, Microsoft (MSFT) @ $30.21 & New York Community Bancorp (NYB) @ $13.23.  Would love to go into my rationales for purchases, but am happy I'm up around 8% collectively.  Problem I have is that the S&P500 is up ~6.9% over the same period...  are my returns simply beta from the market?  I'm confident in my investments, but I'm never sure as to how to properly measure them.
• Bodog / Bovada is shutting down its business to residents of Maryland.  No big loss here; I wasn't playing all that often since they stopped publishing names of players.  However, this leaves me without an online poker home.  Any suggestions for U.S. facing sites that I could deposit?

Celebrity cruise trip report:
I got back from a cruise with my wife, originating from San Juan and hitting: St. Croix, U.S.V.I., St. Kitts, Dominica, Grenada, St. Thomas, and back to San Juan, Puerto Rico.  It was a fun time - beautiful ship, the "Summit" - and they naturally had a poker table.  It seems that every ship I've been on has at least one table, and this ship did not disappoint.  The table was a PokerMate table consisting of 8 player seats with 8x ~17" 4:3 touchscreen displays, coupled with a ~30"16:9 display in the center to show bets, community cards, blinds, etc.
I've played on this type of table prior, and the interface remained identical.  Once you get the hang of protecting your hole cards by pressing in a location on the screen, it is similar to playing online poker with the exception that your opponents are sitting in front of you.  You can set up preferences for you session (i.e. auto-muck, auto-post, etc.), and change languages.  Other than that, the game plays like a regular poker game - bet / fold / raise / etc.
The play was ridiculously soft; I would love to be trapped on a ship with these turkeys as my captive audience.  Besides the one other player who knew what he was doing, the rest of the players fell into two types: ones that were happy to take gambles for the entire stacks with any pair and others who would meekly fold to significant action.  Figuring out each player type was fairly easy, and it became as simple as waiting for a hand to stack the calling station types (who would call all manners of pre-flop bets as well - didn't matter whether I 3-bet or initially raised big), or pre-flop raise the meek who would usually call and fold to a cbet.
The primary problem with the poker on board the ship, though, was the arduous task of getting enough players for a game in the first place.  I refused to play the sit-n-gos that they scheduled (twice nightly, but at inconvenient times - during dinner and the show), so I was relegated to cash games.  Gathering up enough players at the right time was such an ordeal that I played a total of 3 one-hour sessions before the game broke up.  The first session, I ran poorly and dumped ~$70, but the next two I would wind up winning for $170, making my 3 hour poker foray a profitable one.
The secondary problem with the poker on board was the rake.  It is a miracle that I beat the rake, a hefty 10% up to $15!  Highway robbery, anyone?  I get that the Celebrity Cruise Line needs to make their nut, but come on - you want games to play, so why not encourage them?
The nicest part about the tables, in addition to the personality of each player who, by the way, were in vacation mode and super happy to be gambling, was that the casino would offer us a round of drinks whenever we got a cash game together.  At least "some" money was "rebated" back to us.


At any rate, I have a quick hand history for you:
$200 effective stacks around.
EP raiser who was semi-loose / solid raises to $6 which was fairly customary for the table.  MP (loose / bad player) flats and LP (tight / bad player) flats around to me with AKo.  I jack it up to $25 which folds the blinds and gets EP to flat, along with MP and LP.
Flop comes a very coordinated 4♣ 5♣ 6♣ - all clubs - giving me the nut flush draw holding the A♣Kx.  Checks around to me and I lead into the big pot with $40.  I get instantly check/raised from EP to around $80, with MP flatting and LP flatting.  I'm getting GREAT odds and sit there for a minute to figure things out.  While I'm contemplating my move (which skews heavily towards a shove for my remaining ~$160), MP shakes his head and says, "you're not going to believe this."

What would you do?

Click to see results

I folded my cards. I couldn't imagine any scenario where I was ahead, and had huge floating visions of straight flush, once the loose / bad MP started yammering. I knew that I was beat by the EP at the moment; was pretty sure he flopped a set (solid though straightforward player as he is). I had no clue what LP was doing in the hand, but my main concern was EP... Why are EP & LP flatting to a check-raise instead of getting it in? Things were not adding up for me, and I conceded that even though I'm getting great odds, I have to fold here. The turn, natch, was a club and the river a blank, netting me the nut flush. However, on the reveal, EP shows a set of 5's, LP shows a Q high flush (Q♣Qx - no preflop 3bet / 4bet / etc.) and MP shows ... 7♣ 8♣ for the flopped straight flush and the sweet triple up. Needless to say, I was patting myself on the back. Probably the only time I've folded for a read of a straight flush.

Quick follow-on: same player who called my 3bet would sit down 2 nights later with ~$100 and go broke on the third hand of that night to weird action he called my $8 PF raise with A2 vs. my KQ on the button.  The flop was 2 x Q - an EP caller led $10, he flatted, I raised to $30, EP folds, he raises to $60 and I shove (he calls).  See what I mean?  Bad players abound...

Angle shooting & cute grinders from the Casino del Sol, Tucson, AZ

Damn Word screwed up this post for google reader. Sorry. Reposting. I am in Tucson, Arizona for a few days, working.  I have had all of my nights available, and having been to Tucson before, I have decided to put my time into playing poker (surprised?).  I played Sunday night, when I got in, and last night (Monday), having a positive experience.  I stopped into the Desert Diamond, where I've played before, only to find no NL games running.  I decided to then make the 10 mile drive over to Casino del Sol, and was very happy with choice.

• Casino del Sol

The state of poker play out here is woeful!  The players simply have no clue how to read hands, are more than happy to pay off, and don't understand ranges.  They play a hit or miss kinda game, for the most part.  Couple that with a mostly cheerful crew and patrons, and it makes good times for me.
The poker tables are new-ish, advertising events planned for 2012 on the felt, which leads me to believe they have less than 4 months of wear.  The chairs are decent, comfortable and padded, not worn out.  The only complaint I can come up with is the chips are well-worn.  However, the poker room is very friendly, and will add your name to the waitlist if you call in ahead of time.  Although professionally run, it had a very friendly feeling to it.  Max buy in to their 1 / 2 NL game is $200, and though they call it no limit, it is truly spread limit, with the maximum single bet equaling $500.  Sitting down at the table, you need not post.  Hands are raked normally; I assume 10% up to $4 plus a $2(!!!) drop for the bad beat jackpot.  On the Sunday and Monday nights I was there (~9:00pm), del Sol had 2 1 / 2 NL tables running.  By 12:30am, the tables were ready to combine into 1 game.

Sunday was fairly uneventful; I was sucked out on twice on the river (all in on the turn), for effective stacks, but against shorter stacks, I would generally wind up with my original buy in.  The players far overplayed their weak Aces, and were consistently rewarded with bailout two pair on the river.  Regardless, I majorly messed up the final hand, which cost me my initial buy in: down to 4-way action, I raise to $12 from UTG.  SB who was the only other competent player, raises to $25.  He knows that I’m capable of a move on him because he’s seen me bluff raise the river vs. him and show, and I have no doubt that he’s looking to extract his revenge.  I 4 bet him to $50 and he insta-raises to $100.  At this point, I’m fairly certain he holds AK, but I decide to see a flop for the remaining $100 in my stack – not something I’d likely do online, but if I have him on AK / AQ, I can see a flop and fold to those cards or shove a Jack high or worse flop, and get in as a 75% favorite.  Regardless, the flop comes 8 3 3 and I shove.  He, as expected, calls, and shows AA for the legitimate hand.  Bummer – 4 way action and I run into AA…

• Angle shooting

Anyway, I’m playing Monday night and run in semi- G-d mode.  I chipped up to around $400 profit on the session, making up for my prior night’s $200 loss.  Time is nearing midnight and I have to get to bed in order to wake up the next day, so I start racking up when the following happens:

I limp 92s on the BTN alongside a host of limpers.  We see a flop of 2 5 J, rainbow.  Checks around to me and I stab for $7 into the $10 pot.  I may have gotten 2 callers, which tells me I’m in fairly bad shape with my naked deuce.  Turn is a 6 and it checks around to me, once again.  I pot control check, really unsure of where the heck I am.  3 5 go there, obv, but there are no other draws, so WTF?  River comes a beautiful 9 and here’s where it get’s interesting

Checks around to me again and I “toss” out $12 – 2 $1 chips and 2 $5 chips.  One of the $5 chips bounces back across the line and lands behind the bet line.  The BB (facing the action) immediately starts to complain that I bet $7, not $12.  He says that the $5 chip never crossed the line and that my bet is $7.  Floor is called and makes the [correct] ruling that the intent of my bet was to equal $12, not $7.  This guy continues to jaw about how the $5 chip never crossed the line, so I start to get into it a bit and tell him that I feel like he’s angle shooting over $5.  After a little verbal sparring, he admits that he wants to call $7 and though he will call $12, he wants to call $7 – the very definition of angle shooting / cheating.  I explain that to him, which is clearly lost on the player (he’s a 35 year old guy, not a curmudgeon retiree, so WTF?) but after the floor’s ruling, he grudgingly throws in his $12 to pay me off.  I guess the longer I play, the more frequent I’ll see that type of behavior, but WOW!  You’re arguing that a chip didn’t fall in the right spot on the table and so it doesn’t count as a bet?  Even though you know it was intended to be a bet?  Cheat much?

• Cute Grinders

I’ve been reading Josie’s blog since she started, more or less two years ago.  She’s predominantly a live player, and is convinced that clothes are everything for girl poker players.  Her thought is that wearing low cut or provocative shirts / blouses distracts the male players and breaks their concentration.  While in theory, it works, I’ve yet to see a hot chick sit down at a live table – let alone combined with the knowledge of how to play poker.

Here in AZ, there’s a really cute chick that has the whole cleavage / clothes down pat, though.  She’s got a ~10 body with a cute face, and knows how to play.  I was talking with her briefly – she just moved from NY, so she cut her teeth in AC.  She seems to know her game, but she is simply so distracting to watch that it makes it hard for me to watch the other players and get reads.  Fortunately, I did a thorough job of avoiding pots with her, so it never became an issue directly, but yeah; it may be a distraction of sorts, checking out the ‘ole cleavage.  This girl’s dress / looks take away components of my overall game.  I’ve never met Josie in person, but she’s definitely onto something…

Quickie - any of my readers live in Tucson?

I'll be there Sunday to Wednesday.  I've played at the Desert Diamond before, but I'd like to hit up Casino del Sol this time around.  Any information on the poker room there would be appreciated.  I'm getting in Sunday night, so hopefully I'll be able to get in a little session at the DD prior to bed time.

Greetings from Marseille, France (continued)

Last I left off, I was playing in Cassis, France.  I closed out the night with a modest 150EU win, and never really had to face a decision.  The players here are ridiculously soft, having little to no clue about odds, hand strength or hand reading.  Quite often, I saw calls of shoves with top pair no kicker against obvious overpairs, top top versus top bottom, and otherwise hopeless play.  I would go on to play a second night, winning an additional 50EU, only to be sucked out on in my third night by an idiot who was overwhelmingly happy to get it in with a naked gut shot, naturally hitting his four-outter on the turn (straddled 8EU pot where I raised 3 overlimpers to 40EU with 200EU total - get one caller, idiot, in the SB.  Flop is dry 4 4 7 and he leads; I raise all in after careful assessment and he INSTA CALLS 3 5 for the gutter and is SO happy about it).

At any rate, the rules in Cassis are pretty different from the U.S., and since this is a trip report, I'll detail them out here:

• Seat changes: You *CANNOT* change the order of the table, i.e. your seat position, under any circumstance, unless you are moving to the right and the seat is open and it doesn't change the order of the deal.  In other words, when you sit down, you are essentially stuck in your seat.  Otherwise, you must leave the table for 1 hour and then you can get a new seat.
• Buying the button: nope.  No such thing.  In addition to me not speaking English, they looked at me as though I was an alien when I merely suggested posting from the would-be BB.
• Straddles: nope.
• Rake: Wow!  4% uncapped!  No bad beat jackpot, no nothing.  Just a naked 4% uncapped rake.  I would see drops of 10-18EU regularly.  It was crazy.  Rake happens whether players see a flop or not.  The casino provides a calculator whereby, at the end of each hand, the pot is totaled and the rake is calculated to the nearest .50EU.  Rake is not taken as the hand plays out.
• New tables: You draw cards from 1 to 10 to determine seat positioning.
• Getting up for a break: If you leave your stack there, they continue to take blinds from your stack, whether you play or not.  Interestingly, on that note, absent players are dealt each hand, though they are automatically folded.  Yes, this is a CASH game.

I'm still fuming from the gutshot douchebag - he called my shove so excitedly that I thought he had a 4.  I wish I had more money to play there - it would have been a field day.  I had a similar experience with Paris a few years back, where the players were generally donkeys, but this experience took the cake.  It was as if they were there to play slot machines on a poker table.  I couldn't believe how loose each player was with their money.

Greetings from Marseille, France

If you've been reading this blog long enough, you'll know that whenever I travel for business, I try to hit the local casino to check out the poker scene.  For today's post, I greet you from Saint Cyr sur Mer, France, near Marseille, on the French Riviera.  As you can see from the pictures below, the region's sights are absolutely stunning.

Greetings from the hotel Dolce Fregate

There's a picturesque golf course on the grounds, as well as sundry amenities such as massage, spas, pools, etc.  Of course, me being me, I don't waste time with that "girly" stuff - I'd rather get around, see the sites, and check out the locals.

View from the balcony of my hotel room

Before talking about the area and giving my trip report, I want to mention that the French roads here are ridiculously terrible.  Getting to the hotel was a feat in and of itself, in that the road signs are absolutely horrendous.  Only now, 2 days later, am I acclimating myself to the way roads seemingly trail off into one another.  I realize that one must pay keen attention to road signs in order to stay on the intended path.

Regardless, after a 2.5 hour journey from the airport (what should have taken 1 hour), I immediately headed to Bandol, which is the closest town.  Bandol is a town laid along the harbor, with expensive yachts lining one side, and shops and restaurants opposing them.  Walking along, checking out the different stores, I realize that I'm in a FAR different country - one which I clearly don't know or understand the language.  The throngs of people walking along the shops speak French, and don't stick to a pattern of walking on the right side; it seems to be mass chaos - no particular order seems apparent.  I purchased a large water and tried to complete the goal of my trip to town: getting souvenirs for my 3 kids.  No luck :-(.  However, I did find the local casino, located immediately on entrance to the town.  During the day, on a Sunday, though, it's pretty empty - I vowed to return later.

After catching up with a few colleagues for dinner, I decided to return to the casino to check out the local poker scene.  The casino in Bandol was still empty; the poker room was essentially a ghost town.  However, as it turns out, there happens to be 2 casinos within 20 minutes; the other one in Cassis.  The Bandol poker room manager was kind enough to call ahead to ensure a game was active at the other casino, and I ventured off to Cassis. 


I arrived at Casino Barrière de Cassis, after driving the crazy winding back roads of the region carved essentially into a mountainside.  I felt like I was in a bad '60's movie where I could drive off the cliff side at any moment.  Though I rented a Ford whatever-its-called-European-car, it was fun to drive, though I would prefer to take the roads a bit faster when I learn them a bit better.  Regardless, I arrived at the Casino in one piece, with all four wheels intact.


The casino primarily spreads 2/4, 5/5 and 5/10 (all in Euros) - and there were 2 tables running when I got there; both 2/4.  Unfortunately, though, I had taken 260EU out at the ATM when I got into France, figuring it would be enough for at least 1 buy in and expenses - and 400EU would provide a full buy in.  Oh well; I settled for a 200EU buy, figuring that if I go broker, that'd be it.  Upon sitting down, I found that I had most players covered, as I'd imagined that they bought in for the minimum 100EU initially.  As it would turn out, my stack size would never be an issue for the 2 hours I'd play that night...


(To be continued...)

Poker is tough when you hit the nuts - Trip report to Chumash Casino / Santa Ynez, CA

Sorry for the lack of posts; nothing interesting has happened lately.  I've been continually cashing out of my Bodog account, my only current online bankroll.  I was able to achieve $650 in bonuses this past month (plus winnings), and worked my bankroll beyond my comfort level given the state of online poker in this country.  Therefore, I dropped my roll back down to the $200-300 level, and I'm back to playing 25NL :-(.  Regardless, it's still a profit center, though I wish legislators would weigh in and pave the way for legalized online poker.  It's still tilt-inducing to read about the Full Tilt debacle; it would be very very very nice to get my money from them.


Back to the title: Trip report to Chumash Casino - I'm in San Luis Obispo this week on business travel.  After work, it's just an empty hotel room & me - and once I'm done with my studies, I have the opportunity to play some poker... this being California and all.  Unfortunately, the San Luis Obispo area has 2 very small poker rooms, but Chumash is an hour's drive south, which is where I headed when I came in last night.

The Chumash Casino is somewhat bland; nothing exciting to report - fairly typical of an Indian Native American casino.  They had a small-"ish" table game area, surrounded by a wealth of slot machines.  The poker room, located at the far far back end of the casino (and upstairs), is not likely to be visited by your casual slot machine / blackjack gamblers / players.  On the Sunday night that I was there, they had 3 1/2 $60 min/max buy-in  (typical for California) tables coupled with a 2/5 $100-500 buy-in game and a smattering of 2/4 limit games.  In all, roughly 10 tables were running, but I was able to find a seat within 15 minutes (playing 3 hands of 2/4 limit before getting called for 1/2NL).

Once seated, I realized that my table would be a very easy / pushover table.  The typical raise would be a  min raise to $4 or even $5.  The typical host of limpers / overcallers would oblige the raise and flat their any two cards.  It was fairly easy to 3bet to $30-40 or even $20 and drag a decent pot without risk (at worst, I'm putting a max $60 buy in at risk to start anyway, and my table was totally weak/tight).  Over time, (I'm not pushing any other players off a pair of Aces or mostly any pair for that matter, I built up to $85 and the table broke.  I was moved to a table with larger-than-starting stacks - averaging around $100 stacks.  I was able to build a TAG image, raising the hands I entered and cbetting to take them down on the flop most of the time.  Finally, I raised $12 AQs on the BTN into 3 limpers who called my raise.  A beautiful AQQ flop (2 diamonds) comes and it checks to me.  I debated cbetting, but they had seen be check / flop and cbet turn a missed AK in a prior hand, so I wanted to follow a similar pattern.  Therefore, I opted to check the flop and see a turn 8.  The MP limp / caller leads for $20 into the ~$36 pot and I opt to flat (he had around $10 behind).  The UTG check/raises to $100, which has me roughly covered.  The MP folds (no idea why he folds here for $10 more) and instacall & double up - UTG complaining the whole way about a HUGE cooler where he has a Q.

That hand sets me up with ~$230 effective stacks for the next hand; it's folded around to me on the CO and I raise my A2s to $8.  The one other big stack at the table, $~230, and the most competent player of the group, 3bets me to $18.  Normally, I'm folding to this bet - clearly, though, given the stack sizes, and the fact that he knows that I know how to play, I flat, in position.  I'm getting nice immediate odds, it's not likely that he holds a dominated Ace (I'll find out immediately if an Ace flops regardless), and if I hit a flop, it's likely he'll think that I'm playing him.  Note that I said competent, not good...  Of course, the flop comes down 7 2 2, rainbow, giving me trips.  He cbets $25 into me and I feign pain and call.  The turn is a 5 and he once again leads with $40.  Putting on my best act, and PRAYING that he has a very strong range given the 2 streets, I opt to put him all in for the remaining $~150, which clearly caught him off guard.  It felt like eons before he finally made a call - I knew he would NEVER put me on trip deuces, but I was ultimately concerned that he would think I had either a set or JJ+.  Putting myself in his shoes, nothing really made sense for him in the hand; the only hands I would be able to put myself on in this spot are sets and <=JJ, given the PF action.  Granted, there are plenty of bluffs in my range, but why would I shove a marginal overpair in this spot given that he's repped such a strong range.  With most hands 88-even JJ, I would be calling each street.  I could be spazzing, of course, but he was correct in narrowing my range (he even said it while he talked out his reasoning before the call) to 88-99.  In the end, I have to believe that if I'm in his shoes, I'm folding, putting my opponent on a stronger-than-overpair range more likely than a bluff, but like I said, he's competent, not good.  He shows TT for the overplayed overpair (I know that I'm not basically min 3betting PF, OOP, against the other big stack at the table who happens to be the other competent player (not good either :-) ), and cbetting 2 streets only to call a shove with a weak-"ish" overpair).  Regardless, I scoop a $450 pot FTW, and go home 30 minutes later with a heavier pocket than when I began the night.

Trip Report: Hustler Casino

As I mentioned in my last post, I finally broke through with a decent win at the Commerce Casino.  I followed up my win at Commerce with a nice session at Hustler.  The Hustler Casino is quite a bit closer to my hotel, so I decided to head out for dinner prior to my session.  Since I was in the mood for sushi, the front desk recommended a small hole-in-the-wall restaurant, Sakura Japanese Restaurant and Sushi Bar in Los Angeles.  I highly recommend it; prices were incredibly cheap and the food was very good - particularly for the price.

Entrance to the Hustler Casino

Stomach filled, I headed out to Larry Flynt's casino.  The casino is somewhat small, with an understated entrance.  I was figuring there would be tons of neon, bright lights and half-dressed women roaming the property, akin to what I'd imagine the Playboy mansion is like.  At any rate, I was not there to check out women nor party it up; I was there to make some money.

The poker floor at Hustler Casino

Consistent with the exterior, the interior was pleasant and clean, but smaller than the cavern I had seen at the Commerce on the prior night.  The buy in structures for Hustler are different, as well.  They offered a 1 / 3 game (I think; perhaps it was 1 / 2) with a lower buy in, but 2 2 / 5 games - one with a $100 - $300 buy in and one with a $300 - $500 buy in.  I opted for the 2 / 5 $300 buy in game, starting with $200.

Having had one prior experience with a 2 / 5 game, the players at this game seemed unlike prior players I have encountered.  The action was typically loose passive - players limp / calling large raises to check / fold cbets.  I got nice value from JTs to a pocket second pair on a Jack high board, and stacked a player with a turn check / raise where I flopped a set to another player's AA (which totally tilted him, FTW!), but other than that, I had very few decisions.  The one "threat" at the table wound up quitting, leaving me as the table aggro.

A few observations: In this game, I would constantly raise my button to the limpers - a price of $40 would force the limpers to fold, as they were not keen on playing a large pot out of position.  In this game, players were able to fold their hands a lot easier than the 2 / 3 or 1 / 2 games I have played.  Finally, I walked away with a decent profit of $475 for the 3-4 hours of play - not a bad profit for a Wednesday night.

The coolest thing about the night, though, was a fellow player who was involved with movie production - a contractor who started a company applying EVMS to movie schedules / costs.  This is in my bailiwick as an engineer, so my interest was definitely piqued.  We exchanged emails and he'll hopefully contact with future opportunity.