proximity poker tour 2014....

[proximity]

returned to penn national for another 1-2 game and actually had a pretty good game this time!!

started off winning hands with both a-k and a-q before beating a guy's two high flush with a three high flush. :rolleyes: it appeared i couldn't lose before my luck ran out with k-t suited from the button. i miss the flop and turn which get checked around. i hit my ten on the river and lose a small bet to a guy who turned a set of 3s and gave a free card.

i'm winning and this is only like a $10 bet but it's still frustrating. they give a free card an the perfect card hits. :bang:

anyhow we move on and i cash a flop and turn bets vs a 2-5 player with a flopped nut flush. no bite on the river but i come back vs this same villain with a flopped top two pair before winning another one with a-q dominating a-j.

the last hour i go cold and it's getting late. i quit $150 to the good putting me within $18 of being 50% as good as i want to be for the season. almost half the player i want to be, but for here and now i will take it.

game +150
year +482 (32-23)

[proximity]

after skipping poker for sleep after a Friday night racing session I sat out the weekend and finally returned to the racino for some more 1-2 nl limit action tonight.

I parked my car beside the new wheels of pen expert tonyk@hsh and parked my butt at a table beside harness expert frank cotolo in the racing clubhouse.
I sat on my hands while nibbling on a delicious turkey club sandwich before making a move on majestic player in the 9th at penn national.

"let's see if this place overlay holds up?" I said, with the late dinero suddenly flooding the place pool just as the words left my lips.

majestic player lagged behind the field early but was full of run as they went by the 1/2 mile pole and collared the field at the head of the lane before drawing out to an easy win.

embarrassed I collected my $2.20 to place. :blush:

downstairs the scene was a sad one with only three tables running; all "America's game" of 1-2 no limit hold em.

I took a seat at a table with "slow roll" who defeated me with q-9 in post #177 (another great game:/) and we were soon joined at the table by "six out" who defeated me in post #129 (another big losing night).

slow roll didn't last long, losing (at least ) his first buy in before eventually resurfacing to my left after a trip to the atm. meanwhile six out was already on the way to losing the first of his three buy ins. proximity wasn't doing much better, falling behind early by paying some blinds and throwing an extra $4 in to call a raise from the big blind on a hand almost the entire table was in. eventually though I got a-q in the big blind (never fails:rolleyes: ) and made a raise to $8 which half the table called. on a flop of 7-3-3 though I took a chance and threw out a continuation bet and everybody mucked. later i'd also stay ahead with another bluff by betting out when the turn paired top pair on a flop that was checked around. this is a play I like in certain spots. I believe it failed me in the infamous granpappy game but it would work out for me twice tonight.

I was staying ahead with my bluffs but eventually got a hand: pocket aces and repopped a $16 raise by six out to $36. of course six out calls and calls again when I go all in on the flop. i'm ahead, but true to his name he has q-t on a flop with k-j and goes on to hit his six outer (I had two of his outs, lol) by turning a nine. :faint:

I rebuy and am battling when I flop top two (kings up for ww) on a suited flop which I overbet and receive a call from slow roll.

"don't do it to me," I say to the dealer as he slams down a 4th of the suit. i fire out my final $21 (half out of frustration and half as a bluff) right into the ace high flush (turned) of slow roll who of course calls with the nuts. however, the dealer and probably karma from the slow rolling incident of post #177 step in to save me as the dealer slams down another king on the river to fill me up!!

"what did you think i called with (on the flop)?" inquired a frustrated slow roll.

"i wasn't sure since my big flop bet should have priced you off the draw," i responded. :rolleyes:

anyhow i'm still alive after my loss to six out but am shocked to come back from a lap around the casino during a card change to find that this almost full game has suddenly broken.

i move tables ahead a little bit on the rebuy and start out bad betting a queen high flop and turn with k-q before having to drop to a calling station's sudden river bet. (he rivered a straight). this loss would leave me still down about a buy in for the night and i decided to stick around awhile and see if i could make any headway.

over the hours i folded a lot of rags, but would get some good hands including a flopped set of 10s which i ended up check raising. on the drive home though i thought a lot about this hand though and think i could have gotten more out of it by betting out at least on the flop. i'd also win small pots with kings and aces again. the game was a grind but eventually i'd get aces yet again and was able to get action on the hand, this time booking a win.

the session was kind of a grind and it had its ups and downs. but in the end i was able to tough it out and ultimately survive the intense games of the evil poker villains slow roll and six out.

game +43
year +525 (33-23)

[proximity]

finish may with a 9-3 record and $415 of profits.

it was a long month.

along the way I possibly cement my status as a true compulsive gambler by getting ezpass so I can speed to a.c. without bothering to stop to pay tolls.

I again visit atlantic city where i'm the beneficiary of some generous hospitality from Caesar's entertainment. I experience the golden nugget for the first time ever while playing at every poker room in the city during my stay!!

on a bad note I continue my struggles from the blinds at Tropicana a.c. and continue to have bad luck away from the felt, losing my cousin far too early in life.

I do get to attend the black eyed susan and pimlico special and meet another p.a. forum member phantom on tour all due to forum member wiffleball whizz who generously set me up with a free ticket and track program!! thank you whizz!!

hope to be back at it later this week with another atlantic city trip!!

month 9-3 +415
year 33-23 +525
bonus ytd +90

[tucker6]

along the way I possibly cement my status as a true compulsive gambler by getting ezpass so I can speed to a.c. without bothering to stop to pay tolls.

That's a no-brainer. I gave up EZpass recently as I live in SC, but man did it suck having to pay by credit card, etc. I'd rather rip my eyeballs out than do that again. And I mean that. A kid in front of me wanted to pay his auto toll with a C note. He wanted me to back up so he could get out of line. I was throwing my money at him to just go. So I paid twice for the same trip. :bang:

[tucker6]

have bad luck away from the felt, losing my cousin far too early in life.

My condolences Proximity!!

[proximity]

That's a no-brainer. I gave up EZpass recently as I live in SC, but man did it suck having to pay by credit card, etc. I'd rather rip my eyeballs out than do that again. And I mean that. A kid in front of me wanted to pay his auto toll with a C note. He wanted me to back up so he could get out of line. I was throwing my money at him to just go. So I paid twice for the same trip. :bang:

:D

there are times I wished I had a c note to pay tolls with on the way out of there. :rolleyes: hopefully this week's trip doesn't join that list!! :)

[proximity]

going to get the tour rolling again here later tonight with another run to atlantic city, but before I leave I wanted to post a link to a little article I read in ante up magazine about bankroll management.

http://www.anteupmagazine.com/news/poker-commandments-thou-shalt-protect-thy-bankroll.htm

I like how the author first stated his recreational player philosophy of "lifetime hobby of profit and fun."

we've kicked around thoughts on here about the necessity of having such rules and if so what exactly they should be. I guess in the end it's a highly individual thing and it is up to us to try to abide by our own standards.

liked the article though, so thought i'd post it!!

[proximity]

the ppt continues on with a two night complimentary stay at the fabulous showboat atlantic city!!

the trip down was smooth sailing and i arrived safely late Wednesday night and settled into my premium bourbon tower room for some much needed sleep. Thursday i'd get up early for a long walk on the boardwalk, stopping only for some free total rewards breakfast at café roma in Caesar's. nothing was going on back at showboat, so I decided to spend some time on the beach, taking another long walk down to almost where the Hilton (?) was and back the whole way past revel until I got to the rocks that extended the whole way to the boardwalk. when all this was done I returned to showboat only to find small lists for the only two games going.

it was time to play though so I took a walk next door to taj mahal which had an open seat in a 2/4/6 limit hold em game.

as usual, things start bad with a ton of folding and paying blinds. eventually though I look down and can't believe my eyes as I see AA!!

I raise, but of course in vintage 2-4-(6) limit style an old lady guns me down with 8-5 off suit. later it appears i'm going to win with a turned pair of dimes after a jack high flop gets checked around but a guy actually had a jack. :rolleyes: he checks the flop with top pair? :rolleyes: I bet the turn for him.:rolleyes: :rolleyes: and then we check down the river. :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

geez, he really got great value out of the hand. :)

anyhow , you'd think it can't get any worse.... but it does when the game breaks and we draw cards to move into open seats in another 2-4-6 game.

of course I draw a three and am the only one waiting. :bang:

(side story: this same situation once happened to me at bally's. four of us drew for three seats in another game. you know who drew the low card. you know who was patiently waiting for the next open seat when 15 minutes later the bad beat jackpot hits at a table like ten yards away. every player in the room collects at least the $775 room share except YOU KNOW WHO. ;) end of side story)

continuing on, fortunately it doesn't take long for a seat to open up and I pick up where I left off. :rolleyes: I raise ace-king and hit my ace right on the flop. I bet again and receive a call from the genius to my left who isn't getting any where near the 23-1 he needs to hit his set of jacks on the turn.

he hits his set of jacks on the turn. :bang:

next another old lady cracks my pocked queens with 10-7 off suit.

"is that all?" she says when I showdown my queens. :rolleyes:

I think there was maybe one other bad hand, but I don't want to strain my memory to try and recall it. I was down over $80 in this little game but began to rally with a series of wins. it was getting towards free showboat buffet time when I won a big hand with j-8 from the blinds by flopping trip 8s and rivering a nice jack to fill up against a guy playing q-8 and another villain who didn't have an 8:rolleyes: but was actually doing the betting in the hand, lol. I win twice with aces to get up slightly over $20 before dropping some late and heading back over to the showboat with a (too) hard earned $6 profit.

game +6 (2/4/6 limit)
year +531 (34-23)
june ac trip +6 (1-0)

[tucker6]

haha. Is that all ya got?? Gotta love old ladies. :lol:

[proximity]

after stuffing myself at the showboat buffet with about as many calories as I usually eat in a week, I retire upstairs to my quarters in bourbon tower and crash in the comfort of my bed while some kind of college rugby tournament is playing on Comcast in the background. the next time I look at the clock it's like 11:30 pm and i'm still tired but feel that I do owe showboat some play for all the hospitality Caesar's entertainment has extended to me. so I trudge down to the card room and take an open seat in 1-2 "super" no limit game.

i'm facing a diverse cast of characters in this one including an extremely effeminate player who is raising/bluffing almost every hand. "he" makes Richard simmons and pee wee herman look like a couple of lumberjacks ready to go moose hunting up at the lodge. his range is atc: any two cards. to his left is a player who resembles a guy "big al" who is famous for using his face to beat up philo beddoe's fist in the eastwood classic every which way but loose.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcT4bLJA5xE

btw, i'm sure the lady sitting at the bar in that scene slow rolled me at some stop on this poker tour which should probably be renamed every which way to lose. :rolleyes:

anyhow we've got Elton john, big al, a few familiar slowboat faces, a couple of resort guests, and yours truly who is sitting on his hands folding rags and throwing in the occasional eye roll :rolleyes: when "big al" or some other goofball reopens the betting preflop by "raising" to silly amounts like $4 or $5 with the occasional $2 post flop bet tossed in for good measure.

eventually I get dealt pocket kings in late position and am delighted to see almost everybody in the hand with a raise to $7 to boot!! I repop it to like $36 or so and get reraised all in by a player out of the blinds. everybody folds and I snap call and watch as my kk holds off his a-k.

i'm only really involved in one other hand in this one and it kind of left a bad taste in my mouth. in a hand with one of the small raises, I call with pocket 9s and me, Elton john, and another resort guest see a flop of all low cards with two clubs. Elton checks and I bet $18 which the resort guest and Elton both call. third club comes on the turn and Elton bets like $40. I have his range of any two cards beat and want to reraise him but the resort guest is behind me and called so fast that I thought he was almost certainly on a club draw. I decide to fold and the resort guest immediately mucks. :mad:

after about an hour of this i'm still tired and maybe growing a little impatient listening to sir elton ramble and bluff and big al with his straddles and $4 raises from the small blind. i'm in decent position just a couple players to the left of these two characters but ahead $72 i opt to call it a night.

be back tomorrow with a couple long sessions!!

game +72
year +603 (35-23)
june ac trip +78 (2-0)

[proximity]

wake up early on day #2 at showboat atlantic city and have some free showboat breakfast before heading up the boardwalk and taking a walk to the outlets behind Caesar's and trump plaza. I shop for a little while but don't buy anything and walk over to the new world series of poker themed room in bally's wild west.

there aren't any open seats and I jump on the 1-1 no limit list behind a player named jj. apparently some seats come open but bally's seems disorganized and never bother to call my name. eventually I seat myself after I see another player jump into a game. poor customer service by bally's. :ThmbDown:

anyhow i'm now in a 1-1 game and immediately see some aggression directly to my left but quickly see that it's justified as pocket aces take down pocket kings. the player with pocket kings would take bad beats a couple times in the game but in the end I would have no sympathy for him.

i'm not getting any cards in the game but semi bluff a couple draws, folding out a player or two on the flops and firing a "double barrel" on the turns to take a couple pots off an indian girl at the other end of the table with a distracting cleavage. these relatively small losses wouldn't end up meaning much to her though as she CRUSHED the table by hitting flush, after flush, after flush...... rinse and repeat about 15 times. amazing cards.

the semi bluffs are keeping me ahead and eventually I hit a set of nines on a draw heavy flop. I raise a bet and a call or two and take down the pot uncontested. I've forged to a $70-$80 lead without getting much other than these 9s and feel i'm possibly "due" for some cards..... but hour, after hour, after hour.... the cards NEVER come.... except for three lousy times.

so far in 2014 1-1 nl at bally's has been a disaster and this continues as I go 0-3 in these three times when I get a hand.

with ace-9 off suit I bet the pot on a flop of 9-9-8 with two clubs. a woman at the far end of the table who is on like her 10th buy in :rolleyes: calls and we see a 3rd club fall on the turn. she fires $20 with $15 behind. I have the ace of clubs and trip 9s. I know she hit her flush but I make an announcement at the table that "i'm not going to fold the hand (period)" and shove all in. she calls the $15 and of course despite having the final 9, any club, three aces, three eights, three of the turn card..... an inconsequential three of diamonds falls on the river and her FIVE HIGH FLUSH :rolleyes: holds up.

cliffs notes: I lose to a lady chasing a five high flush on a paired board. when she hits it on the turn though I have a redraw to like half the freaking deck and of course miss. :rolleyes:

anyhow we move on. not immediately as there's an hour or two of folding before I raise with pocket queens and three players call. on a king high flop I throw out my final $24. two players fold but the indian girl (flush master) calls and I know i'm beat. indeed she holds a limped ace-king and i'm forced to rebuy.

I struggle later with this play which I think isn't usually that bad because you're beating most of the logical hands that would just flat call a raise pre flop except maybe king-queen..... which is less logical since i'm holding two of the queens. but our opponents don't always play "logically" and in fact more often than not they'll surprise you. I ultimately conclude that FRUSTRATION maybe played too big of a part in my flop bet but this is certainly a better play than when you have kk and an ace flops since people will play ace-rag all the time to a raise but are much more hesitant to call raises with king rag.

moving on, I rebuy and continue folding absolute rags. the game is dragging into its seventh hour when I raise with ace-queen. I see a flop of q-5-4 with two clubs. I bet the flop and receive a call from the guy who had been getting bad beat all day. all draws miss on the turn and I shove all in. he calls and I flip over my ace-queen when another queen falls on the river.

"oh, you think that's good?" he says, before pausing and tabling pocket 4s for a full house.

i'm getting along with this guy all day and despite rarely getting a hand myself even show sympathy to his continued woes and he returns such civility with his cocky comment and a slow roll?

the floor treats you like the invisible man and then you're subjected to such despicable behavior by your fellow players? :faint:

another great day at bally's!! :rolleyes:

game -120
year +483 (35-24)
june ac trip -42 (2-1)

[LottaKash]

Good stuff Proximity...:ThmbUp:

I am still enjoying your adventures and exploits at the tables.....It is getting like putting on a good ole comfy pair of shoes now, when I read your posts...:cool:

Plus, I do believe that your knack for writing a good recant, is on the improve, as well...

Keep on..:jump:

[proximity]

Good stuff Proximity...:ThmbUp:

I am still enjoying your adventures and exploits at the tables.....It is getting like putting on a good ole comfy pair of shoes now, when I read your posts...:cool:

Plus, I do believe that your knack for writing a good recant, is on the improve, as well...

Keep on..:jump:

thank you lottakash. i really do appreciate all the comments and feedback i've received throughout the thread.

the results may not show it, but i do see myself (maybe too slowly) getting better. i've been sprinkling in an increasing number of bluffs in good spots and i'm becoming more tight aggressive.

as for the recants i pride myself on being terse in my main forum posts and try to balance that here with being as descriptive as possible. lately some of the posts have been kinda long and i do apologize if i've bored any readers.

[Red Knave]

I'l echo LottaKash's sentiments (well, maybe not the comfy shoes part :) ).

I look forward to living vicariously through your exploits and I too believe that you have a writer's knack.

Keep truckin'.

[thaskalos]

thank you lottakash. i really do appreciate all the comments and feedback i've received throughout the thread.

the results may not show it, but i do see myself (maybe too slowly) getting better. i've been sprinkling in an increasing number of bluffs in good spots and i'm becoming more tight aggressive.

as for the recants i pride myself on being terse in my main forum posts and try to balance that here with being as descriptive as possible. lately some of the posts have been kinda long and i do apologize if i've bored any readers.

I personally happen to like those long posts the best. Keep them coming...and don't worry about boring us. And remember: There is nothing wrong with calling a small raise with a speculative holding, when you are in position. :)

[tucker6]

I'll add my two pennies for the story telling. I relish seeing a new Proximity post. Like a new chapter in a book. One of these days, you'll be the Indian girl with the big bosoms and flushes galore. Sounds like a low budget Bond movie. :lol:

[proximity]

One of these days, you'll be the Indian girl with the big bosoms and flushes galore.

I believe the late, great handicapping author dick Mitchell called such days "Christmas."

and it did not feel like "Christmas" walking back up the boardwalk towards the showboat for the june ac trip's final showdown. i'd waited all day for three good hands and when they arrived I was beaten each time with a slow roll to boot on the final hand. the loss with ace-9 though was so ridiculous that it probably stung the most.

"I didn't deserve to lose that hand," I thought as I slumbered dejectedly past the furlongs of 99 cent t-shirt shops and (legit) Asian massage parlors that make up 90% of the boardwalk.

but like philo beddoe said to gene Hackman in unforgiven:

"deserve's got nothing to do with it."

"massage, massage?" a voice beckoned from my left.

no boardwalk massage for this grumpy gambler. if there was going to be a happy ending tonight it was going to have to (ahem) come at showboat.

it's Friday night and there's good action at the showboat. I take one of two open seats in a 1-2 super no limit game. they're right beside each other and I take the seat to the left, hoping a donkey will sit to my right and send some chips my way.

I start off good this time, raising with pocket jacks and pocket tens and taking down both pots with bets on the flop. an older taj-esque player with a European accent sits down to my right. he's confused about where exactly he's supposed to sit though. at most poker rooms you line up your seat directly on the cup holder, but at showboat you sit between the cup holders. this tells me he's new to showboat (he may have been kicked out of taj?) and since no one takes the lead I politely explain this to him which I think he appreciates because I seem to be the only player at the table he can get along with. he first gets angry with the kid on the other side of him who is calling EVERY raise preflop and puts a couple bad beats on the old man. eventually the kid leaves and a new guy comes in beside him who looks like a cross between tarzan and Fabio.

"tarzio" seems like a pretty good player but early on I put a bad beat on him with pocket aces. I raise preflop, he calls and we see a king high flop with three clubs. I bet $25 and he raises to $50. i'm pretty sure he would have reraised me before the flop with kk and i'm a little worried because I don't have the ace of clubs. weighing everything though i'm pretty sure i'm ahead and shove over top of him. when he hesitates I know i'm good. he does call with qq and I go on to take down the pot!!

more controversy with the taj reject to my right as he slow rolls an Asian girl across the table on her final all in bet. this may be business as usual at bally's but here at showboat the dealer actually rips into the guy, lol!!

meanwhile i'm going back and forth. I river a lucky jack to fill up against a guy with trip sevens but lose twice with ace-king to a showboat regular.

"are you going to beat me every hand," I laugh, folding the ace-king face up, prompting the villain to show his set of 8s. :)

the Asian girl has left, but an aggressive Asian guy enters the game and tarzio moves into the Asian girl's seat, possibly to get to his left? the Asian boy says he's new to showboat but that he's been gambling at Borgata for three days straight. his fingernails are so long though, that I think it could have been three months straight, lol. seems like a pretty nice guy though and I silently hope he wins though so he can get some nail clippers. :D

the old man to my right taps and is replaced by a showboat veteran that I remember from past games. I have ace-queen and we get into a big pot. he's called all the way and i'm thinking it's going to be another beating with ace-queen but I prove to be good at showdown.

I get up as high as $154 and settle at +$110 about 4 1/2 hours in. I lose $10 for the day, but finish the trip 3-1 with $68 of profits. could have been better, but a happy ending at showboat nonetheless!!

game +110
year +593 (36-24)
june ac trip +68 (3-1)

[proximity]

also thank you to red knave, thaskalos, and tucker6 for the positive feedback. I've enjoyed all of your posts over the years at p.a. and i'm happy I can give something back. thank you!!

[proximity]

after a late night/early morning drive back from atlantic city i grab some sleep before getting up in time to watch the belmont.

i think about staying in for the night and maybe playing a long session on sunday, but quickly abandon that plan. curious as to what i might see, i decide to cast my line at the racino fish and see if i can get a nibble.

when i arrive i do stop briefly in the emptying racing section to send birthday wishes to pen guru tonyk@hsh. guy's been picking winners in grantville since they opened the doors!! happy birthday tonyk!!

downstairs i'm marooned on a waiting list but eventually get seated in a 1-2 nl game with some of the worst players i've seen on this tour. sadly, i get 2-5 about a million times and it takes nearly an hour and a half before i finally win a hand, giving a lesson on how to play kings pre flop. in case the table wasn't taking notes, i'd give the lesson again.... but only after about another hour of folding off suit cards whose sum rarely reached double digits. :mad:

very frustrating to get such horrible cards against such horrible players. but it gets even worse as this fish tank starts running out of guppies. eventually the table breaks and frustrated to only win 2 hands and $16 try my "luck" at another table.

rinse and repeat at the second table.

easy company, but zero cards.

there is some entertainment from the peanut gallery in the food court right outside the room though.

three "ladies" are sitting around a table and gabbing about pretty much everything. no topic is taboo.... especially sex.

one girl's husband cheated on her with a girl.

so she got triple revenge on him by cheating with three guys!!

when it was finally over, i told the table that it was like watching an episode of sex in the city in 3d with some other players chiming in with some wisecracks as well, lol. :D

while i was laughing at the ladies though, i was crying over the cards. i may have won a hand in the two hours i was at the table but i lost some money on a raise with a-k that completely missed and was getting blinded out otherwise. i was about to leave and had $25 left when i picked up ace-queen suited. one newer player in the game who had contributed more handle in his six hands at the table than i did in probably the entire night raised to $30. he had just called a raise with rags (like 10-3 or something), so i figured i'd give it a try and tossed the $25 in. we see a flop of a-k-j. a queen comes on the turn AND on the river.

i flip over my queens full, but mr 10-3 (of course :rolleyes: ) has pocket kings for kings full and beaten by maybe the easiest field in racino history, i head for the exit.

for some racino guests it was sex in the city. for proximity, it was tap city. :mad:

game -60 :blush:
year +533 (36-25)

[proximity]

http://www.rockygapresort.com/casino/

I have been invited to rocky gap resort in western Maryland for a free two night stay and $40 of free slot play. I ran the $40 through a machine and got $28 back and am waiting for a game to come together!! word is they usually play 1-3 no limit!!

[proximity]

well our first "live report" on the ppt turns out to be a dud as the Thursday night game at "da gap" only gets an interest list of 3 players including myself.
so instead of poker I break another new year's resolution and get drunk playing five dollar blackjack. (I actually don't drink too much, so no blackjack was the resolution)

no poker, but a nice and relaxing evening at rocky gap. between the blackjack and the drinks I end up dropping a little over the hours. a couple guys get lucky ladies at the table, the second one with a chance for dealer blackjack that fell through. on a key hand a girl at third base was going to hit a 12 against the dealer's six but her boyfriend/husband talked her out of it. the dealer went ten-six to bust and the table cracked up laughing when the next card out was a nine, lol. everyone thanked her for her stand and I told her the move doubled my net worth, lol.

the floor swears both poker tables will be going all weekend so hopefully we'll be back tonight with live report, part 3!!

[proximity]

the great steelers coach chuck noll had a quote:

"before you can win a game, you have to not lose it."

rest in peace coach noll. :(

[proximity]

reporting live from rocky gap resort in scenic western Maryland after a ten hour war at the 1-3 no limit tables.

woke up late this morning, logged on p.a. and then went out for a hike on rocky gap's lakeside trail. surprisingly when I came back inside the resort, the action on the felt was already underway. I waited upstairs three deep on the list and the poker boss gave me a call when my seat was ready at about 3:00.

I bought in for my usual $60 but probably should have went deeper because of the higher blinds and the fact that the table was playing really deep. there was a $300 cap on the buy in but one player in the game was really bad and was basically donating to the rest of the table. unfortunately I didn't win a single hand off of him though and started bad with good cards. I was able to see a lot of flops with hands like q-t suited or ace-rag suited but missed every time. eventually though I called a raise with pocket jacks and thought my fate was sealed on an a-q-k flop. there were four or five players in the hand total, but incredibly the flop, turn, and river all checked around with my jacks beating the raiser's tens.

the players early in the game didn't seem very strong although the table would get tougher as the night went on. after the jacks I was able to add to my lead with aces and later a flopped set of 7s that led to a full house on the turn. I was ahead about $115 at this point when the fog started rolling in. i was paying blinds, getting raised off some hands, and missing flops completely when i did see one.

ace-king was killing me as i must have went zero for about four or five with this hand. i missed every flop with this hand and tried a couple continuation bets which only made matters worse. now down $5 after an ace-king raise, i tried another $30 continuation bet with this hand, leaving me with $25. the turn was another blank, but put a third heart on the board and admittedly out of frustration i threw the $25 out there. (i did have the ace of hearts for a redraw to the nut flush) the villain paused but would make the call with a flopped middle pair. no heart. he called my raise with ace-six off suit and raked in the pot when i missed the river. no heart, no king.

once up over $100 i was now losing at rocky gap and was seething with rage but would stay calm with my table decisions and eventually mount a comeback hitting three straights and getting paid on each hand. i'd also flop a set of queens and later a set of sixes, betting each hand and getting raised by the same villain. possibly too aggressive, i came back over top of him on each hand, forcing him to fold.

as the game dragged on though the fog would start to roll in again. at one point i flopped a flush draw with 8-7 suited from late position and picked up the bottom end of a straight draw on the turn. i called $15 on the flop and turn as did a player to my immediate right.

i had a suspicion that both players were also drawing, a suspicion possibly confirmed when the river missed everything and both players checked it to me. a call by either player would hardly leave me with any profits for my efforts, but i decided to act on my instincts and threw out a bet of $25. the flop and turn bettor folded and things were looking good. but the player between us paused and reached for chips before setting the chips down, pausing again to look at his cards..... and throwing them in the muck!!!

next, i was about to leave when i was dealt pocked aces under the gun.

i raised to $19 and four of us see a flop. :rolleyes:

"here's where i lose it all," i thought when two jacks hit the flop.

i tossed out a $40 bet though and raked in the pot when apparently nobody had a jack.

not wanting to hit and run i stuck around for a few orbits and made a small bet with k-7 from the big blind on a flop of k-q-x. there was one caller and i bet another small bet when a second queen appeared on the turn. a lucky king came on the river and i checked hoping the villain would sense weakness but he checked behind and my kings full were good.

it wasn't exactly smooth sailing at the rocky gap resort. but in the end i was able to weather the storms and pilot the ship home for win #37 on the year!!

game +206
year +739 (37-25)

[tucker6]

reporting live from rocky gap resort in scenic western Maryland after a ten hour war at the 1-3 no limit tables.

woke up late this morning, logged on p.a. and then went out for a hike on rocky gap's lakeside trail. surprisingly when I came back inside the resort, the action on the felt was already underway. I waited upstairs three deep on the list and the poker boss gave me a call when my seat was ready at about 3:00.

I bought in for my usual $60 but probably should have went deeper because of the higher blinds and the fact that the table was playing really deep. there was a $300 cap on the buy in but one player in the game was really bad and was basically donating to the rest of the table. unfortunately I didn't win a single hand off of him though and started bad with good cards. I was able to see a lot of flops with hands like q-t suited or ace-rag suited but missed every time. eventually though I called a raise with pocket jacks and thought my fate was sealed on an a-q-k flop. there were four or five players in the hand total, but incredibly the flop, turn, and river all checked around with my jacks beating the raiser's tens.

the players early in the game didn't seem very strong although the table would get tougher as the night went on. after the jacks I was able to add to my lead with aces and later a flopped set of 7s that led to a full house on the turn. I was ahead about $115 at this point when the fog started rolling in. i was paying blinds, getting raised off some hands, and missing flops completely when i did see one.

ace-king was killing me as i must have went zero for about four or five with this hand. i missed every flop with this hand and tried a couple continuation bets which only made matters worse. now down $5 after an ace-king raise, i tried another $30 continuation bet with this hand, leaving me with $25. the turn was another blank, but put a third heart on the board and admittedly out of frustration i threw the $25 out there. (i did have the ace of hearts for a redraw to the nut flush) the villain paused but would make the call with a flopped middle pair. no heart. he called my raise with ace-six off suit and raked in the pot when i missed the river. no heart, no king.

once up over $100 i was now losing at rocky gap and was seething with rage but would stay calm with my table decisions and eventually mount a comeback hitting three straights and getting paid on each hand. i'd also flop a set of queens and later a set of sixes, betting each hand and getting raised by the same villain. possibly too aggressive, i came back over top of him on each hand, forcing him to fold.

as the game dragged on though the fog would start to roll in again. at one point i flopped a flush draw with 8-7 suited from late position and picked up the bottom end of a straight draw on the turn. i called $15 on the flop and turn as did a player to my immediate right.

i had a suspicion that both players were also drawing, a suspicion possibly confirmed when the river missed everything and both players checked it to me. a call by either player would hardly leave me with any profits for my efforts, but i decided to act on my instincts and threw out a bet of $25. the flop and turn bettor folded and things were looking good. but the player between us paused and reached for chips before setting the chips down, pausing again to look at his cards..... and throwing them in the muck!!!

next, i was about to leave when i was dealt pocked aces under the gun.

i raised to $19 and four of us see a flop. :rolleyes:

"here's where i lose it all," i thought when two jacks hit the flop.

i tossed out a $40 bet though and raked in the pot when apparently nobody had a jack.

not wanting to hit and run i stuck around for a few orbits and made a small bet with k-7 from the big blind on a flop of k-q-x. there was one caller and i bet another small bet when a second queen appeared on the turn. a lucky king came on the river and i checked hoping the villain would sense weakness but he checked behind and my kings full were good.

it wasn't exactly smooth sailing at the rocky gap resort. but in the end i was able to weather the storms and pilot the ship home for win #37 on the year!!

game +206
year +739 (37-25)
you seem to have come out of your spring funk, as the last couple weeks have been positive. You have skill, and in this game you had luck as well. I didn't see anything abnormal in your play. Next time I'm up north, we'll have to hook up for some play. Probably in Bethlehem.

[proximity]

you seem to have come out of your spring funk, as the last couple weeks have been positive. You have skill, and in this game you had luck as well. I didn't see anything abnormal in your play. Next time I'm up north, we'll have to hook up for some play. Probably in Bethlehem.

i'm holding my own and hopefully can put together another winning month here in june to creep back into contention. i'm pleased with my atlantic city results, but it was frustrating to come back and lose at penn national and then fall behind at rocky gap. but that is the nature of the beast.

if you're ever at sands, let me know and i'll try to make it out.

[proximity]

after my getaway to the mountains of western Maryland I return to the friendly confines of the racino for another session of 1-2 no limit texas hold em.

before taking my seat in the card room though I stop upstairs for some racing action. I nail a winner at Charles town and all my horses hit the board but I can't hit an exacta to save my life. i'm up slightly with one race to go but it's a horse I think will run well: funky box in the 7th at prairie.

I have a line of 3-1 on funky box with estimated off odds of 9-2. he would go off 4.4-1 but finished a dismal 9th, destroyed by 20+ lengths by winner denali south peak. the loss drops me into the red for the ponies, but there is still poker action downstairs.

first though, I search the clubhouse for drfs. I thought I saw a guy using one earlier, but it turns out to be a false alarm. of course he's using the $4 track program with 16 tracks, 17 if you include royal ascot. I come up empty handed in my clubhouse search but do finally spot a drf on the final desk I come to in the second floor simulcast area. despite all these article reading fans of the horse at tracks around the world i conclude that you're more likely to find buried treasure behind the tote board than a drf at penn national. :lol:

anyhow, downstairs i take my seat at a 1-2 table with two wild players, one i'm familiar with who we'll call Oscar sitting a couple seats to my left and another who has a resemblance to tom berenger..... think the substitute rather than major league.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3rDokiFU9w

i'm not getting much early and miss one hand when i'm priced in on an open ended straight draw. i'm looking to move seats but there's a reserved button on the seat i want. Oscar is struggling and eventually moves to another game while the aggressive substitute is thriving.

i'm down $16 and in the big blind when the guy to my left who seems like a pretty good player and a nice guy decides to straddle.

"i don't do this too much he says," as i look down at two black kings.

"well, you picked a bad time to start, " i respond, eventually throwing my $44 in after the substitute raised the straddle to $17.

but my friend to my left didn't snap fold, instead he took some time and eventually made the call. the substitute and another player call and we see a flop of like q-6-5.

the straddle bets, the substitute raises, the other player drops out and i was all in pre flop. the straddle puts the substitute all in for a little more and the board runs out blank-blank with me taking down the main pot and the straddle busting the substitute for the side pot.

at this point i'm up over $100 but would encounter some more bad luck from the blinds. after flopping bottom two pair on a a j-6-7 flop i lead out for the pot ($10) and receive a couple calls...... one from a horseplayer who I've had good luck against in this room, but who always represents the veteran horseplayers well by his good play.

an 8 comes on the turn and i lead out for $30 and the horseplayer pauses but ultimately i lose neither player.

the river was another jack..... one of the cards i didn't want to see, but I've been leading out the whole way and if these players are drawing, i can't let them bet me off the pot. i toss out a smaller "call me, i have the jack" bet that will probably either win me the pot or be called by a jack that maybe fears i have him outkicked...... which unfortunately is what the horseplayer had, j-9, the 8 on the turn killing me by giving him an open ended straight draw in addition to top pair.

i was working on another multi-hundred dollar win, but in the end one final river card does me in and i eventually depart with a humbler score of $42.

game +42
year +781 (38-25)

[proximity]

the straddle bets, the substitute raises, the other player drops out and i was all in pre flop. the straddle puts the substitute all in for a little more and the board runs out blank-blank with me taking down the main pot and the straddle busting the substitute for the side pot.


for tour readers who are curious about this side pot, the straddle's pair of queens with k-q suited outkicked the substitute's pair of queens with q-9.

sorry for the omission.:)

proximity

[proximity]

the ppt resumes with a day trip to Charles town in wild and wonderful west Virginia!!

I arrive around 3:00, grab some chips at the cage, and wait on a small list for a 1-2 no limit game.

before too long I'm seated and we're underway!!

not a very tough table but i'm COMPLETELY card dead and start painfully slow again, not winning a single hand until an hour and fifty plus minutes into the game when I flopped top two with an ace-ten hand I probably played from too early of a position.... just trying to make something happen I guess. this pot wasn't very big though and i'm basically getting crushed. I have my original $60 buy in and another $60 I've added over time for a total of $120 into the game but after I lose a promising hand with a pair and a straight draw I find myself down to a pathetic $13.

I don't want to add any more money and try to nurse the $13 until it's time to go over to racing when I pick up pocket aces from under the gun. I toss the $13 in and everyone folds. I guess when it rains, it pours.

eventually i'd lose the $16 ($13 + the blinds I won, lol) though and still having some time to kill, and let's face it... too much pride to lose again at Charles town.... I toss out a third buy in.

buy in number 3 starts well when I raise with ace-queen, get a couple callers, and take down my third pot of the day with a continuation bet on a 7-7-3 flop. I've almost reduced the losses to two digits, but time is running out. (I really wanted to go over and relax and enjoy the live card like old times)

with the seven o'clock hour fast approaching I pick up pocket aces again and raise to $12. I get three callers and we see an incredible flop of a-t-6!!

holding half the aces in the deck I think this is just going to be another routine hand but after the first player checks there is a bet of $20 and a call.

my next move probably wasn't the right one, but I guess my anxiety over the day got to me and I min raised to $40. the first player folded, but the bettor SHOVED and folded out the caller. of course I call and we flip the cards over. in an amazing hand the player called my $12 pre flop raise with t-6 and hit two pair!! he would need running tens or sixes to win.... a dream that was quickly crushed on the turn.

with a profit of $13 it wasn't a fantastic game.

but it was a fantastic finish!!

game +13
year +794 (39-25)

[proximity]

after an Alcoa fan-tas-tic finish in the afternoon session I cash in my chips and head over to Charles town's racing section to take in the Friday night card.

I pick up "book 2" of the daily racing program for (despite the $4 cover price) $3.50 for fifteen tracks!!

i strike quickly playing both mommy did it and glenliteful in the second and cash an exacta box when "mommy" runs down "glen" in deep stretch.

from there i go cold though missing with hot ziggity in the 4th and smoking green in the 5th. backyard boogie gets nailed on the wire in the 6th. i drop a silly angle play at evd and sense my early lead slipping away when i make a key decision to favor peb hughes to turn the tables on the horse that beat him may 10th, should we say his cross town rival, lol.

as predicted peb hughes continued his improvement cycle and i had doubles locked in with dicola's brat and mecaro in the 9th. dicola's brat didn't fire, but mecaro got to the line first with the $31 double sealing the deal in the horse department.

there was still some time for poker though and i took an open seat in a friendly 3-6 limit game featuring several players new to the racket.

the issue was never really in doubt in this brief session although i feel i did make a couple errors. in one hand i missed some outs i had and dropped out of the pot too soon and in another i probably should have dropped out but (luckily) stayed in to turn a set and river a full house. at one point i was up nearly $50 but dropped a few hands and when i lost with pocket kings, it was time to head back up rt 81.

just a small $22 profit in about 90 minutes, but lordy lordy.... it was tour win number 40!!

game +22 (3/6 lim)
year +816 (40-25)

[wiffleball whizz]

Love these war stories

[wiffleball whizz]

Since this is the official poker thread let me ask you guys what this means as I sit at a table 40 hours a week.....

Player A wins the hand

Player B says nice hand (standard)

Player A says back "nice hand to you too"

WHAT THE **** IS THAT?!?!?!??? I see this 5 times a week!!!

[thaskalos]

Since this is the official poker thread let me ask you guys what this means as I sit at a table 40 hours a week.....

Player A wins the hand

Player B says nice hand (standard)

Player A says back "nice hand to you too"

WHAT THE **** IS THAT?!?!?!??? I see this 5 times a week!!!

It means that player A is an idiot.

But then again...player B is an idiot too. As if the pot-winner needs to be reminded that it was a "nice hand". :rolleyes:

Some people are confused about the meaning of "poker etiquette".

[proximity]

headed out to the racino for some sunday 1-2 nl action and picked up where I've pretty much left off in nl games this month and unfortunately a good portion of the ppt: CARD DEAD. :mad:

rags, after rags, after rags...... I can't even see a flop, let alone win a hand. I stay at the racino for almost five hours and win a grand total of five lousy hands. twice I win with jack-rag from the blinds and I pick up another win with t-9 from the blinds. despite a wet flop I drag a pot with k-q and win with my ONLY raise of the game with a-q.

note: the a-q raise is almost 4 hours in and 4 players call this raise. this tells you what kind of players we're dealing with here. :faint:

anyhow as we approach the five hour mark I've dropped almost half of the $100 total i'm in for (actually a pretty good performance) and flop the bottom end of an open ended straight draw with 6-7 and quickly come up with a plan, betting half the pot to price out any jacks and planning on making a bigger bet on the turn if a third heart misses the board. one player drops out and I hit my straight when a black ten falls on the turn. I have $45 and throw out $25, but get raised with a player after the raiser calling for the $27 he has left.

I figure q-j of hearts is about the only hand that has me beat and throw in the $20. the raiser did have queen-jack.... but not of hearts and indeed stayed in for the three card GUTSHOT that I priced him off on the flop. I was drawing dead but stuck around for the river card which was a 3rd heart, giving the donkey with the $27 the main pot with an impressive eight high flush.

I finally....and I do mean finally... hit a card and finish third place in the hand. :faint:

on the drive home I try to console myself with thoughts that "it's just a game" and "lifetime hobby of profit and fun" like it said in the ante up magazine article I posted. but with the $100 loss, my profits for june have dipped below my $200 a month goal, DESPITE PLAYING AGAINST TABLE AFTER TABLE OF ATROCIOUS PLAYERS. and fun? sitting completely card dead hour after hour, after hour...... at casino, after casino, after casino???:mad:

game -100
year +716 (40-26)

[proximity]

back at the racino where things haven't been progressing to my satisfaction in the poker department.

first though i'd start upstairs with some racing but didn't find too many plays. i win enough to pay for my program and head down to the card room after the 9th at ct.

unfortunately there is a list for poker, and not a very encouraging one: three call ins and three other players. i elect not to get on the list and take a lap around the casino. the list doesn't show much progress after my first lap and i think about chatting up a casino regular who is showing off some nice legs while her captivating caboose is parked at a slot and i probably would have if i hadn't seen this girl split 7s against a dealer's face card while passing a blackjack table a few months ago.

ugly horse and poker players disqualifying girls because of poor blackjack play? what is this world coming to?

anyhow after another lap around the casino, for some reason i take one final trip over to the card room and find the list gone and a seat available at America's favorite game of 1-2 no limit hold 'em!!

i enter the game in late position and don't make a single play until the big blind gets to me. a kid to my left who seems to be in a lot of hands straddles my big blind and i look down at pocket queens!! there are a couple callers and i raise the straddle to $20. the straddle and the player to my immediate right call and i take down the pot with an all in shove on a flop of all low cards.

later in another hand with these same villains i flop the top end of an open ended straight draw with pocket 7s on a 6-5-4 flop with two clubs. the player to my right bet $17 on the flop and i raised to $35. i thought the player to my left would have folded, but since he was involved in so many hands i should have known better. he called and the player to my right who bet the $17 folded to my min raise.

the turn brings an 8 of clubs, giving me my straight, but also completing a flush. i bet either $20 or $25 and the villain threw in his last $35. i called and wasn't happy to see a 4th club on the river (the ten), although the card gave me a flush with my 7 of clubs...... but no matter as the villain didn't have any clubs and had called my flop raise with 8-4 (a pair and a gutshot) and turned two pair.

the player to my left goes to get more money and when he returns he of course makes another pre flop raise that i call out of position from the blinds with ace-king of clubs. i lose this kid after i lead out for $20 on a flop of all low cards with two clubs. the big stack at the other end of the table does call though and we both check a non club turn card. a backdoor flush comes in on the river and i toss out another $20 with ace high and fold the player out.

i stay a little longer and drop almost $20 from my peak but still book a nice win for such a short appearance at the table.

the list for the games didn't look encouraging on laps one and two, but on this night my third lap around the casino would provide and open seat and prove to be a charm!!

game +157
year +873 (41-26)

[tucker6]

i think about chatting up a casino regular who is showing off some nice legs while her captivating caboose is parked at a slot and i probably would have if i hadn't seen this girl split 7s against a dealer's face card while passing a blackjack table a few months ago.

ugly horse and poker players disqualifying girls because of poor blackjack play? what is this world coming to?

Unless you were going to chat her up about blackjack strategy back in your room, I don't see where she disqualified herself. I would have weighed legs and caboose against blackjack skill. Something tells me that she has less going for her than you're letting on as the equation I presented should have had you talking to her. :D

[wiffleball whizz]

Unless you were going to chat her up about blackjack strategy back in your room, I don't see where she disqualified herself. I would have weighed legs and caboose against blackjack skill. Something tells me that she has less going for her than you're letting on as the equation I presented should have had you talking to her. :D

Nothing more unattractive then a woman whose gambling not to be recreational who makes bad play after bad play.......whether it's poker or bj.....blackjack that is

[tucker6]

Nothing more unattractive then a woman whose gambling not to be recreational who makes bad play after bad play.......whether it's poker or bj.....blackjack that is
so you ask a girl for her poker advice when the lights go out? Youth is wasted on the young. :D

[proximity]

or bj.....blackjack that is

:D

lol, the cards are so dead that these side topics provide all the ppt entertainment.

u going to ct?

[wiffleball whizz]

:D

lol, the cards are so dead that these side topics provide all the ppt entertainment.

u going to ct?

Yes sir.......leaving my house around 330 I guess....left work early....rent money will be in play!!!

[proximity]

Yes sir.......leaving my house around 330 I guess....left work early....rent money will be in play!!!

ok, i'm going to have a six pack of red bull for breakfast and make my way down there. :D

[thaskalos]

Yes sir.......leaving my house around 330 I guess....left work early....rent money will be in play!!!

I hope you have an understanding landlord...like I do. :)

[wiffleball whizz]

I hope you have an understanding landlord...like I do. :)


HAHAHAHAHA......it's due on the 9th so I got time to recover....

Landlord thinks I don't watch sports LOLOLOLOL

[proximity]

took off for another trip to Charles town in wild and wonderful west Virginia!!

I arrive around 3:30 and get immediate seating in a 1-2 no limit game featuring a wild raiser and straddler a couple seats to my right.

the game starts a little slow for me but I stay even with a top pair hand I flopped from the big blind. it doesn't take long for trouble to come though as I call a hokey $5 raise with ace-jack and lead out for $17 on an ace high flop. only the player to my immediate right calls. he seems like a pretty good player and I put him on a club draw.

the flop was a-t-x and the turn brings a non club king. the villain checks and I bet $25 and he puts me all in for the $10-$20 I have left. I call and find that I was right in reading him for the flush draw, but unfortunately he also had a gutshot straight draw with q-j of clubs that he hit when the king fell. i'm alive on the river with a queen myself, but another worthless ace falls and I reach into my pocket for a rebuy.

before too long we're joined at the table by 2013 paceadvantage man of the year wiffleball whizz who doesn't take long to make his presence felt.

i'm losing on my rebuy when I look down at pocket fives but face a $10 raise from none other the whizz himself. i'm pretty much set mining at this point and toss my buffaloes into the muck and naturally a five high flop follows. whizz declares a lady has flopped a straight though and mucks his hand too.

maybe he saved me? we'll probably never know.

when 6:00 rolls around though the great west virginia Phillies fan Corazon enters the dealer's box and brings me the luck our Phillies seem to lack on the diamond. on one hand Corazon deals me "aces up" and I lead out the whole way before the villain pushes back after a seemingly innocent six falls on the river.

"really?" I mutter, but can't fold for $16 or $17 and toss it in expecting to lose but I guess the six just gave the villain a smaller two pair and I drag the pot.

meanwhile whizz has flopped a monster straight with a redraw to a straight flush. but the turn brings another heart and gives the villain an ace high flush. worse yet he holds one of whizz's outs for the straight flush. the one outer doesn't fall on the river and whizz suffers possibly his worst bad beat since his Belmont stakes day experience.

Corazon has done her job rallying me to within $16 but her time is up and the cheerful Asian princess apple sits down to deal with two hands to go.

apple deals me ace-7 off suit but "mr discipline" folds the hand from utg+1 and watches whizz drag the pot after two aces fall on the flop.

over in the racing section we are joined by the great p.a. contest moderator track collector!! I start slow before making a small rally but quickly fall behind again.

in the 9th I strike with the aptly named pa adventure who rolls to an easy victory paying $17 and change, but my exactas miss and like at poker I fall just short in my comeback attempt.

for those concerned, I believe whizz also hit pa adventure in the late pick 3.... so for here and now the rent money is safe!!:cool:

thanks again to both wiffleball whizz and track collector for a great evening at the races!!

game -16
year +857 (41-27)

[wiffleball whizz]

Anytime you can play cards and then hang out with some people that love horse racing it makes for a great night.....

The flopped straight was a nightmare but lost the bare minimum...

Free meadowlands program Made me happiest guy on earth....

Stat of the night......timonium is inside of 60 days and will be a double header of opening day at horseshoe baltimore......great times aren't far off!!!

[proximity]

back at the racino to round out june with another session of 1-2 no limit hold em!!

this game would feature numerous peaks and valleys and as has happened so many times here in the first half of our tour, I would start out behind. I flopped top pair and a gutshot with king-queen and when the action was checked to me I fired out a bet and received a pair of callers. same action on the turn though, but the second caller would actually shove for slightly more than my bet. I called and would lose to his flopped straight and for good measure i'd drop the rest of my initial buy in on the side pot to caller number two who called down with bottom pair and a gutshot and hit trips on the river.

like at ct on Friday, I was quickly down a buy in and buy in number two wouldn't go much better. I lost a chunk of the second buy in after raising with ace queen and losing (again) to a caller with queen ten. ace-five with an ace high flop would finish me off. i again bet the flop and go all in on the turn, pricing out a flush draw..... but these racino drawers just power right through these things and make the calls. of course the spade hits and i toss out buy in number three. :mad:

i start to rally with this buy in, but every time it seems i'm about to break through..... i take a step or two back. this happens several times. one time i get in my own way by giving a free card for some reason on the turn after flopping top pair with k-t and raising the flop. the flush doesn't hit but the player to my left called my raise with k-2 and hits the two on the river. totally my fault as i should have fired again on the turn. i guess i was hesitant because of how badly the game started? no matter, bad play on my part but it wouldn't be my last of the night.

at this point of the action there is an open seat to my right that is filled by a younger player that i can tell is unfamiliar with casino poker. in one crazy hand with five low cards that could make a huge number of straight and flush possibilities a regular player tries to bluff this kid off the pot with k-q off suit. the regular player fires out like $67 on the river with "the kid" having about that much behind. the kid makes the call and you can sense a sinking feeling come over the regular. "you got me," or something like that he says, but luckily the regular doesn't muck his cards.... because "the kid" tables k-q off suit too for a chop!! :faint:

the table is amazed and the kid then proceeds to tell a story about a relative chopping a pot against the famous poker playing actress Jennifer tilly.... aka "dejen." allegedly they chopped at a tournament two days before the world series of poker or something with the kid's relative declaring that he was going to come back and get dejen with the same hand in the wsop..... which he supposedly did. the story didn't get much reaction from the table though but there was some brief discussion about some classic cable movie scenes featuring dejen displaying her impressive assets.

moving on, i forge to a lead after flopping a straight and holding off the kid's flush draw. he rebuys and is joined by his girlfriend. meanwhile the cards are starting to come as i turn the nut flush with a-k suited and take a nice pot off a player with a ten high flush. down two buy ins early, I've moved to about a $170 lead and feel i'm starting to roll.

the kid, meanwhile, is narrating the action to his girlfriend and using some poker terms I've never heard in my life. on one hand there is a bet, a call, and a raise on the flop. the kid calls the raise and the initial bettor and caller also call. "we've got some jumpers.... some jumpers in the pot," the kid whispers to his girlfriend. about this time i catch him taking some chips off the table. (this is called "going south" and is not allowed) i figure i won't say anything if it makes the kid comfortable, but the villain in the k-q chop hand does catch him when he grabs another handful and gives them to his girlfriend. of course naturally when they try to put the chips back on the table, they end up falling all over the floor, lol.

anyhow, i'm not doing this part of the story justice, but eventually the kid and his girlfriend leave the room for some blackjack and slots. there's a list for the game and you hear "lance for 1-2" come over the loudspeaker, to which i look at the empty seat and joke "lance has some pretty big shoes to fill there, lol." special thanks to the player on the other side of the kid who was taking it all in too and remembered the "jumpers" comment.

"the kid" was gone, but with $170 in profits, things were looking good for proximity.....

at least i totally butcher a hand against a new player to my left. i raise with queens pre flop, he calls, and the two of us see an 8-6-6 flop heads up. i bet and the villain raises. i call and make another $20 bet on the turn. the villain raises to $50 and i call. it's all low cards on the table and i check the river. the villain fires in his final $64 and i hesitate, but ultimately put him on a smaller over pair and call. but unfortunately he called my pre flop raise with 6-3 of spades and flopped trips. total donkey call pre flop by the villain, but even worse post flop play by me. i drop almost all of my profits for the game in probably my worst played hand of the year.

from this point i fall behind again and get down as much as $35. after some time passes i do end up winning a hand or two to move to +$15 when i make a raise with a-k clubs and receive three calls. a flop of low cards with two clubs is checked to me and instead of taking the free card i make a small bet of $10 from late position. "lance" check raises me to $25 and i call. the turn is a blank and i call lance's bet of $35 and hit my flush on the river. i believe lance bet $85 which i shoved all in over top of. he folded, but the damage was done. the win put me back ahead and some late pots pushed my total to +231.

this game featured another horrible start, but could have..... and should have been my best game of the year. in the end though i was fortunate to win and hopefully can learn from the mistakes i made as we get set to head into the second half of our 2014 poker tour!!

game +231
year +1088 (42-27)

[tucker6]

nice read Proximity. How often do you bluff, and under what conditions/positions do you normally do so?

[proximity]

nice read Proximity. How often do you bluff, and under what conditions/positions do you normally do so?

i don't bluff often and in fact most of my gambling (both horse and poker) is pretty vanilla. if there is a bluff for any decent size pot it will almost always make the game report (like at rocky gap) but some smaller pots won't be in the reports.

situations that come up where i'll have absolutely nothing include hands like the one at rocky gap where i'm drawing against a limited number of players and sense that they're drawing too. usually i'd want to have late position for that situation. another situation could be when the turn pairs top pair on a checked around flop. naturally, the dryer the board the better. this can work from any position and can sometimes be more believable if you're playing out of the blinds, giving the impression that you didn't bet out on the flop due to possible kicker issues.

pre flop i guess i'd say i never bluff. too many people in these games just have to see a flop. if i'm bluffing pre flop it'll probably be a "reverse bluff" (sounds like something "the kid" made up, lol) where i may make a small raise with a big hand from early position to try and coax a table with frequent raisers to reraise me.

hope this helps.

[proximity]

i opened june with another atlantic city trip. after a hard earned $6 win at taj mahal i continued my 2014 good luck at showboat, but would also continue my 1-1 nl struggles at bally's.

there was no game at all on a relaxing thursday night at scenic western maryland's rocky gap resort but friday's game would bring a much needed win. back home at penn national there were a lot of laughs at the tables in june but i started out frustratingly slow before closing strong with a pair of solid wins.

i found limited success at charles town but did get to meet up with some p.a. members for a night of racing!!

special thanks to caesar's total rewards and rocky gap resort for their hospitality as well as wiffleball whizz and track collector for a great night of racing and handicapping discussion!!

month +563 (9-4)
year +1088 (42-27)
bonus ytd +90

[tucker6]

i don't bluff often and in fact most of my gambling (both horse and poker) is pretty vanilla. if there is a bluff for any decent size pot it will almost always make the game report (like at rocky gap) but some smaller pots won't be in the reports.

situations that come up where i'll have absolutely nothing include hands like the one at rocky gap where i'm drawing against a limited number of players and sense that they're drawing too. usually i'd want to have late position for that situation. another situation could be when the turn pairs top pair on a checked around flop. naturally, the dryer the board the better. this can work from any position and can sometimes be more believable if you're playing out of the blinds, giving the impression that you didn't bet out on the flop due to possible kicker issues.

pre flop i guess i'd say i never bluff. too many people in these games just have to see a flop. if i'm bluffing pre flop it'll probably be a "reverse bluff" (sounds like something "the kid" made up, lol) where i may make a small raise with a big hand from early position to try and coax a table with frequent raisers to reraise me.

hope this helps.
It does. Thank you. Do you ever feel the rest of the players then view you as a conservative who only bets solid hands? I find it helps to mix it up a bit even if you have to lose a few bucks occasionally to show you're willing to play from behind. Keeps others more honest. The less trends you have the better. Similar to NFL football where they'll occasionally run instead of pass on an obvious passing down. Evens out the tendency stats.

[proximity]

It does. Thank you. Do you ever feel the rest of the players then view you as a conservative who only bets solid hands? I find it helps to mix it up a bit even if you have to lose a few bucks occasionally to show you're willing to play from behind. Keeps others more honest. The less trends you have the better. Similar to NFL football where they'll occasionally run instead of pass on an obvious passing down. Evens out the tendency stats.

the whole table? not even close. maybe a player or two sometimes. and a lot of times if you buy in short or are losing that player will come along anyhow with a marginal holding that they know they should fold.

generally a proximity raise will get as much action as a raise from any other player!!

[thaskalos]

the whole table? not even close. maybe a player or two sometimes. and a lot of times if you buy in short or are losing that player will come along anyhow with a marginal holding that they know they should fold.

generally a proximity raise will get as much action as a raise from any other player!!

You've stated repeatedly that you consider yourself to be a "novice poker player", proximity...but you sure don't sound like any other novice player that I've ever encountered. You know your stuff...and you are disciplined. That distances you from the novice player by a long way. If I were you...I wouldn't be concerned solely with making a profit at the $1/$2 tables. I would also be concerned with improving my game so I could move up in stakes...to where the "real money" is. Playing continuously at the $1/$2 tables will not necessarily increase your poker-skill level; only deep thought and careful study away from the table can do that.

The main goal should be one's continual growth as a player, not the steady accumulation of low-limit profits...and there is a difference between these two aims that most players don't appreciate. I am not telling you to jump to the higher tables before it's time...you understand. I am just asking you to define your goals in this poker-playing venture. Are you just interested in consistently beating the $1/$2 games...or are you willing to climb as high up the ladder as your poker skills will take you?

[proximity]

You've stated repeatedly that you consider yourself to be a "novice poker player", proximity...but you sure don't sound like any other novice player that I've ever encountered. You know your stuff...and you are disciplined. That distances you from the novice player by a long way. If I were you...I wouldn't be concerned solely with making a profit at the $1/$2 tables. I would also be concerned with improving my game so I could move up in stakes...to where the "real money" is. Playing continuously at the $1/$2 tables will not necessarily increase your poker-skill level; only deep thought and careful study away from the table can do that.

The main goal should be one's continual growth as a player, not the steady accumulation of low-limit profits...and there is a difference between these two aims that most players don't appreciate. I am not telling you to jump to the higher tables before it's time...you understand. I am just asking you to define your goals in this poker-playing venture. Are you just interested in consistently beating the $1/$2 games...or are you willing to climb as high up the ladder as your poker skills will take you?

this 2014 tour is my first series of documented results and while i have won $1088, i've also shown that i can lose $1100+ so i don't feel it's right to pencil me in as any kind of established winner.

for a player like myself i'm not really sure i totally agree with the first hi-lited section as i'm going to need to win thousands of dollars over the course of hundreds of games to start to have some confidence about this. also i'm not sure how much i'd get from technical study away from the table as opposed to maybe the kind of stuff you are planning on talking about in your racing book: progressing in the level of focus and concentration that i have in my "a game" at the table.

as for the final part, i'm not just interested in consistently beating 1-2, although with the 2-5 game running less and less at my main casino, 1-2 may prove to be the only game that there is for me to consistently beat. i doubt i'd ever move just to play poker, but maybe someday that'll change?

how is the book coming, btw??

[proximity]

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/174/poker-goals-challenges/2014-1-500-hours-100-000-profit-live-poker-1404832/


here's a link to maybe a better thread for some of you to read. I like the way I write the posts and track the results of better, but you can't argue with the world class results this kid is getting: up over $74,000 in live games this year!!

[thaskalos]

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/174/poker-goals-challenges/2014-1-500-hours-100-000-profit-live-poker-1404832/


here's a link to maybe a better thread for some of you to read. I like the way I write the posts and track the results of better, but you can't argue with the world class results this kid is getting: up over $74,000 in live games this year!!
23 years-old...and he's been an online player for "many years". :)

It's a brand new world...

[Robert Goren]

Is there that many 5/10 NL games out there on a regular basis? Even in the heyday of online poker there were not a lot of 5/10 games going considering there were players from most of the world playing.

[proximity]

when we last left off, we'd reached the half way point of our humble tour. we closed june with a nice win and moved ahead of pace in our goal to win thousands of dollars for the year, but remained behind pace in our other beginner goal to win hundreds of dollars a month.

kicked off the second half of 2014 with another racino 1-2 nl game, this time facing some actual solid competition for the 1-2 level. I was able to stay ahead early with a-k, missing the flop three times but winning twice with continuation bets and once with "ace high" on a checked down hand when I didn't c-bet.

incredibly, i'd get a-k again and my $8 raise was called by four players. this flop I would hit (a-j-x with I believe two diamonds?) and I bet $25 and received a call and a raise to $55 behind me. I figure this kid probably called behind me with the dominated hand and hit two pair, but he could also have a-q or a flush draw. anyhow there was over $140 in the pot and for $30 (all in) to call I figured I was getting too good of a price to fold my a-k.

indeed the villain did have a-j and when my king didn't show up on the turn or river, it was time for my first rebuy. I don't recall ever totally losing this money but I was struggling and eventually added $80 more to put me in the game for a grand total of $200. with about $100 of this extra $140 gone, I raised pocket aces and saw a nine high flop with two callers. I shoved, got called by maybe both players (?) and led until the river when one of the villains (who almost folded to my flop shove) hit a set of tens.

I was now down $200 and really struggling. I bought back in for the minimum and was starting to a make a little run when I flopped "aces up" with ace four. I fired out a bet of $10 and a new player went all in for $41. I called and his set of 4s held up when no ace came on the turn or river. some time would pass until I was dealt pocket jacks in a straddled pot with several callers. from late position I raised to $25 and one of the limpers put me all in..... again for $55. I snap called and led his king-jack for a split second until a king came out right on the flop, with a second king on the river for good measure. when it rains, it pours.

(later in an even worse hand this same villain would call a $25 pre flop raise from the player beside me who had a-q. a-k-x flop with two clubs, the raiser bets $100 and the villain calls. queen of spades on the river. raiser shoves for over $120. the villain calls with k-8 of spades and hits a backdoor spade flush on the river. :faint: )

I throw out another $100 and i'm losing again when I'm dealt king-queen in another straddled pot. almost the whole table called, I called, the player to my left called, and the button raised to $15. not my style to call out of position with a dominated hand, but when nobody folded I figured I had to see a flop for $10 more. a flop of q-8-4 was checked to me and I figured that this pot was so big that if the raiser actually had a-q, he's got me. I shoved in my final $66, but it wasn't the raiser I needed to worry about.... but the player between us. he flopped a set of 8s and this would send me to the exit with my worst loss of the year of $360.

everything that could go wrong on the night did go wrong as the racino villains returned my second half kickoff for a touchdown.

game -360 :mad:
year +728 (42-28)

[ManU918]

You should try to make a "tour stop" at the Parx Big Stax VII that is running at the end of the month into August. Great value in the tournaments and tons of cash games going (These are always going regardless of any tournament series running)...

From the website...

Big Stax Tournament Series Stats*

Big Stax 300: 1320 players, $380k prize pool, $80k for first place

Big Stax 500: 570 players, $275k prize pool, $65k for first place

Big Stax 1500: 405 players, $590k prize pool, $155k for first place

*Stats represent the average totals from Big Stax I through Big Stax VI.

[DeltaLover]

when we last left off, we'd reached the half way point of our humble tour. we closed june with a nice win and moved ahead of pace in our goal to win thousands of dollars for the year, but remained behind pace in our other beginner goal to win hundreds of dollars a month.

kicked off the second half of 2014 with another racino 1-2 nl game, this time facing some actual solid competition for the 1-2 level. I was able to stay ahead early with a-k, missing the flop three times but winning twice with continuation bets and once with "ace high" on a checked down hand when I didn't c-bet.

incredibly, i'd get a-k again and my $8 raise was called by four players. this flop I would hit (a-j-x with I believe two diamonds?) and I bet $25 and received a call and a raise to $55 behind me. I figure this kid probably called behind me with the dominated hand and hit two pair, but he could also have a-q or a flush draw. anyhow there was over $140 in the pot and for $30 (all in) to call I figured I was getting too good of a price to fold my a-k.

indeed the villain did have a-j and when my king didn't show up on the turn or river, it was time for my first rebuy. I don't recall ever totally losing this money but I was struggling and eventually added $80 more to put me in the game for a grand total of $200. with about $100 of this extra $140 gone, I raised pocket aces and saw a nine high flop with two callers. I shoved, got called by maybe both players (?) and led until the river when one of the villains (who almost folded to my flop shove) hit a set of tens.

I was now down $200 and really struggling. I bought back in for the minimum and was starting to a make a little run when I flopped "aces up" with ace four. I fired out a bet of $10 and a new player went all in for $41. I called and his set of 4s held up when no ace came on the turn or river. some time would pass until I was dealt pocket jacks in a straddled pot with several callers. from late position I raised to $25 and one of the limpers put me all in..... again for $55. I snap called and led his king-jack for a split second until a king came out right on the flop, with a second king on the river for good measure. when it rains, it pours.

(later in an even worse hand this same villain would call a $25 pre flop raise from the player beside me who had a-q. a-k-x flop with two clubs, the raiser bets $100 and the villain calls. queen of spades on the river. raiser shoves for over $120. the villain calls with k-8 of spades and hits a backdoor spade flush on the river. :faint: )

I throw out another $100 and i'm losing again when I'm dealt king-queen in another straddled pot. almost the whole table called, I called, the player to my left called, and the button raised to $15. not my style to call out of position with a dominated hand, but when nobody folded I figured I had to see a flop for $10 more. a flop of q-8-4 was checked to me and I figured that this pot was so big that if the raiser actually had a-q, he's got me. I shoved in my final $66, but it wasn't the raiser I needed to worry about.... but the player between us. he flopped a set of 8s and this would send me to the exit with my worst loss of the year of $360.

everything that could go wrong on the night did go wrong as the racino villains returned my second half kickoff for a touchdown.

game -360 :mad:
year +728 (42-28)


Honestly, I think you are doing OK and should try to forget about this nasty night and go ahead.

Some commentary about the hands you posted:

(1) The AK hand was played OK and you did not have much of choice.. One think I would have probably done differently is going all in on the flop, since I do not want to give a free card on the A J X flop.

(2) The A 4 hand, concerns me a bit.. How did you got involved in the pot with such a marginal hand? Been able to much weak aces is very important especially in ring games...

(3) I also do not like your KQ play... It seems that you are calling early up in a straddled pot with a weak holding... In this spot you certainly need a better hand to get involved.

[proximity]

manu918,

i'm not a tournament player, but i'll definitely go to parx at some point on the ppt. it's actually surprising that I haven't yet been to parx or mdlive in 2014. aiming for sands tomorrow.

delta,

thanks for the encouragement and advice. I know you're against such things but I probably should have stepped away from the table in the last game before the losses spiraled out of control. live and learn.

proximity

[ManU918]

manu918,

i'm not a tournament player, but i'll definitely go to parx at some point on the ppt. it's actually surprising that I haven't yet been to parx or mdlive in 2014. aiming for sands tomorrow.

delta,

thanks for the encouragement and advice. I know you're against such things but I probably should have stepped away from the table in the last game before the losses spiraled out of control. live and learn.

proximity

Sands Bethlehem? I love that spot.

[proximity]

Sands Bethlehem? I love that spot.

that's the one....

[LottaKash]

that's the one....

Proximity....What about Harrah's in Chester, PA..?...Right off of I95 just south of Philly....Are they only slots ?...

[ManU918]

Proximity....What about Harrah's in Chester, PA..?...Right off of I95 just south of Philly....Are they only slots ?...

They have a poker room there....

[lansdale]

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/174/poker-goals-challenges/2014-1-500-hours-100-000-profit-live-poker-1404832/


here's a link to maybe a better thread for some of you to read. I like the way I write the posts and track the results of better, but you can't argue with the world class results this kid is getting: up over $74,000 in live games this year!!

I'm not a poker player, so don't usually look at posts of this kind, but when I came across this link, I was astounded by the demeanor of this young player. Clearly, this guy is a skilled player, but this level of maturity, discipline, and sense of perspective is virtually unique in my experience of young gamblers, and especially young poker players, who, even if they're good (especially if they're good), are typically bullying, egomaniacal, ultimately self-destructive ass*****. More important, he has a very solid grasp of the concepts of equity, EV and ROR, which I'm sure is as instrumental to his success as his skill at reading opponents. You seem like a very solid, and level-headed guy yourself, and the fact that you singled this thread out suggests that you're on the right path. This young guy should be a role model not only for every poker player, but for any gambler.

[thaskalos]

I face guys like this on a regular basis, although I try to avoid them...and I've even befriended a couple of them. Getting involved in serious poker at such a young age has made them utterly FEARLESS...and the online game has prepared them for a quicker tempo of poker than most of the "live" players are used to. What I find most admirable in these young players is their willingness to keep improving their game and moving up in stakes...even though they are successful at their former levels. It takes great courage to keep "jumping in class", instead of getting comfortable with consistent profits at lower levels.

Their fearlessness and their aggressiveness makes it exhausting to face these guys...especially at my advanced age. I admire their attitude and their skill...but I sure hope that their tribe does not increase too rapidly. :)

[proximity]

Proximity....What about Harrah's in Chester, PA..?...Right off of I95 just south of Philly....Are they only slots ?...

like manu918 said, there is poker there and you can see some of the general casino excitement in the background behind steve and heather on the weekly episodes of pa harness week!!

http://harnessweek.com/

[proximity]

More important, he has a very solid grasp of the concepts of equity, EV and ROR, which I'm sure is as instrumental to his success as his skill at reading opponents..

somewhere in the thread he had a good brief description of what he called estimated growth too.

I liked the part when his friend dropped the cocktail tip on the floor at parx. talk about a +ev and +eg play!! the parkettes are indeed the nuts!! :D

[proximity]

when we last left off......well, let's not even talk about it.

for today's episode we take a trip out to the sands casino in Bethlehem, pa where i'd arrive around 3:00pm and get immediate seating in a 3-6 limit game on table 33.

incredible as it may seem, there was a guy at the table with an actual drf!!

I struggle to find someone using one at actual racetracks but find one at sands? what are the odds?:D

we should note though that the gentleman with the form was busy handicapping mth and los al and at no time did I see him reading the articles. :D

on the felt I started off a bit slow before hitting a few hands at the end of my first complete dealer shift to forge to a small lead. I took a break to do some shopping at the puma outlet in the sands mall and returned to another memorable hand with ace-queen where I flop broadway (ace high straight) on a board with two clubs. me and a player across the felt who seemed to play pretty well are going back and forth and cap the betting on the flop with several other players going along for the ride. long story short, the ace-queen holds up as the nuts and fortunately I chop with the player across the table who also held ace-queen..... but with the flush draw. :faint: so many players were in the hand that I still made money with the chop though and maybe an hour later I take a break to go grab a blueberry banana smoothie and come back to find that the game has broke!!:eek:

the floor at sands did have a new seat ready for me at table 12 and I took a $32 lead to that table and before too long would pick up a win with pocket aces against a girl to my left who called my raise with a-4 and chased me all the way to showdown when a four hit for bottom pair on the flop.

and that's the kind of players you'll face at the sands. cold calling raises pre flop and chasing the whole way with bottom pair...... or worse.

for a period of several hours I go back and forth and can't seem to get more than $55 to the good before a sudden surge of winning hands puts me up close to $100. but then the bottom drops out and I don't win a single hand in this humble game for probably at least 4 hours, ultimately surrendering my lead and falling $100 behind. sad times on a Saturday night at the sands.

meanwhile I encounter some questionable dealing/rules at the sands. heads up on the river on a hand where I've been beaten (again) I flip over one of my cards before deciding on my action (the villain had bet) and the little Asian girl dealing snaps at me. "you no do that" or something she snaps and I tell her "what's the big deal.... we're heads up for goodness sakes." :bang: another hand features a guy who's betting all kinds of junk and with multiple players going to showdown I figure my marginal hand has been beaten and muck. but the player who has been betting junk just mucks his hand too (despite betting the river with a call) and we never see the winning hand. "can we see a showdown next time?" I ask and get some kind of bull answer that despite the bet and call the villains don't have to show at the sands and can just declare one of themselves as the winner. :bang:

we're not playing for big stakes here but some of these incidents certainly wouldn't give me the confidence to play bigger stakes at the sands. get with it sands.

anyhow it's getting late and things are looking bleak but as the table starts getting shorter I pick up some momentum. on one key hand I raise with pocket aces and receive a couple calls. I bet a flop of k-q-x and we see a ten fall on the turn. a girl bets into me and I sense that she's picked up something here. I make the call and we see another ace fall on the river.
two players check to me and I check behind. "three aces on the river" I announce and fortunately nobody has a jack and the hand is good. the girl who bet the turn did pick up two pair though with k-t.

as we approach the 12 hour mark (3:00 am) I've come all the way back to forge to almost a $50 lead but drop some tough hands late. at 3:00 I call it quits with a humble profit of $16. not the come back game I was looking for, but it was good to get back to the tables and start to put my bad game at penn national behind me a little.

game +16
year +744 (43-28)

[LottaKash]

like manu918 said, there is poker there and you can see some of the general casino excitement in the background behind steve and heather on the weekly episodes of pa harness week!!

http://harnessweek.com/

Thx for the head's up on Harnessweek....I didn't know that it existed...:ThmbUp:

And continued GL in your poker-adventures....:jump:

[lansdale]

I face guys like this on a regular basis, although I try to avoid them...and I've even befriended a couple of them. Getting involved in serious poker at such a young age has made them utterly FEARLESS...and the online game has prepared them for a quicker tempo of poker than most of the "live" players are used to. What I find most admirable in these young players is their willingness to keep improving their game and moving up in stakes...even though they are successful at their former levels. It takes great courage to keep "jumping in class", instead of getting comfortable with consistent profits at lower levels.

Their fearlessness and their aggressiveness makes it exhausting to face these guys...especially at my advanced age. I admire their attitude and their skill...but I sure hope that their tribe does not increase too rapidly. :)

As I said, I'm not a poker player, but I can see why it's unwise to play at any table with more than one or two guys like this. And as you say, young guys can afford to take risks - they usually have few or no responsibilities and for those who have moved up fast, the money has no real meaning. Amazing to look at some of their bankroll swings. Also, since so many have been multi-tabling at fast-paced online games for years, they've played much more poker than the average habitué of live games.

As far as this guy goes, I'm a little surprised he hasn't already moved up to 10-20, since he seems to be averaging ca. 8-10 BB at 5-10. Always best to stay within your comfort level though.

[lansdale]

somewhere in the thread he had a good brief description of what he called estimated growth too.

I liked the part when his friend dropped the cocktail tip on the floor at parx. talk about a +ev and +eg play!! the parkettes are indeed the nuts!! :D

In my experience, eg can often make you forget about ev, and suddenly you realize your ev has evaporated! Haven't been to Parx (playing BJ though) in about 5 or 6 years, shortly after whenever it was that it opened. The CWs then were nearly as hot as Borgata girls but much more friendly, especially in sight of green or black checks. Since Chester offered (and may still) much better BJ conditions in the Philly area, have never been back to Parx, though this thread did make me nostalgic. Maybe I'll just drop by for some eg.

Thx again for posting this thread and good cards to you.

Cheers,

lansdale

[thaskalos]

As I said, I'm not a poker player, but I can see why it's unwise to play at any table with more than one or two guys like this. And as you say, young guys can afford to take risks - they usually have few or no responsibilities and for those who have moved up fast, the money has no real meaning. Amazing to look at some of their bankroll swings. Also, since so many have been multi-tabling at fast-paced online games for years, they've played much more poker than the average habitué of live games.

As far as this guy goes, I'm a little surprised he hasn't already moved up to 10-20, since he seems to be averaging ca. 8-10 BB at 5-10. Always best to stay within your comfort level though.

He is wisely biding his time while accumulating the necessary bankroll for the higher game. The aggressive kind of game that he likes to play demands a bigger-than-normal 10/20 bankroll...because his swings are guaranteed to be more turbulent than they would be for the more "passive" players.

The kid is very smart...and he is odds-on to make it big in the game...IMO. Unless, that is, some young girl steals his heart...and his mind.

It's happened before... :)

[tucker6]

The kid is very smart...and he is odds-on to make it big in the game...IMO. Unless, that is, some young girl steals his heart...and his mind.

It's happened before... :)
Happens more often than not ...

Little heads think big. Big heads think small.

[proximity]

after the small win at sands I decided to try some late night action at Maryland live!! unfortunately I got off to an even later start than I wanted to though and before my car reached 83 south I reconsidered and steered it back out to the racino for some 1-2 nl action.

and 1-2 action was indeed all there was.... a mere three tables going. I jumped on the waiting list (I was about 5th) but after a lap around the casino the list really started to fill up, despite the late hour, and I was called for a brand new game!!

and not the strongest game at all!!

but would I get a hand?

long story short...... NO.

yet another abysmal start on the proximity poker tour as I would only win two lousy hands in my first four hours at the table.

but 4:05 into the game I would try and limp with 8s from one off the button. the button raised to $12 though and fortunately 2-3 players called between us which made my decision to call much easier. (I like to play the raiser in these situations and he only had like $50 behind)

FINALLY in as long as I can remember I actually hit a set on a flop, which came t-8-5 with two clubs. the action was checked to the player on my right who bet $15 which I raised to $45. the button folded but the bettor and another player in early position called. blank on the turn and I went all in with only a call from the flop bettor who was drawing dead with 8-5!!

yet another session with hours of misery, but with patience i'd forged to a lead despite winning only three hands for the session. i'd win one other small hand in the final hour of the game but unfortunately would lose a couple more hands to finish at +62 for the game.

patience had paid.... sorta.

game +62
year +806 (44-28)

[proximity]

back with another live report, this time from the historic turf motel just outside the gates of Hollywood casino at Charles town races!!

ct programs with game on dude on the cover were on sale at the turf's check in desk for $2.50+ tax but tonight it'll just be poker for me. tomorrow night I will be taking in the live card though and I believe wiffleball whizz also plans to come over for the racing action. any players in the area are welcome to join us, just drop me a pm.

now, off to the card room!!

[tucker6]

back with another live report, this time from the historic turf motel just outside the gates of Hollywood casino at Charles town races!!

ct programs with game on dude on the cover were on sale at the turf's check in desk for $2.50+ tax but tonight it'll just be poker for me. tomorrow night I will be taking in the live card though and I believe wiffleball whizz also plans to come over for the racing action. any players in the area are welcome to join us, just drop me a pm.

now, off to the card room!!
Don't come back with a sad poker story Proximity.

[thaskalos]

back with another live report, this time from the historic turf motel just outside the gates of Hollywood casino at Charles town races!!

ct programs with game on dude on the cover were on sale at the turf's check in desk for $2.50+ tax but tonight it'll just be poker for me. tomorrow night I will be taking in the live card though and I believe wiffleball whizz also plans to come over for the racing action. any players in the area are welcome to join us, just drop me a pm.

now, off to the card room!!

Don't spend the night folding now... :)

[proximity]

tried to type up a report on this horrible game, but the wireless internet here keeps going on and off and it got deleted.

started in a good 1-2 nl game at ct but was in a bad seat just two seats to the right of a very aggressive Asian whale and three seats to the right of whizz's good friend bear hunter.

the Asian whale is raising almost every hand but of course when i'm dealt pocket queens and limp in the raise never comes. :bang: a-k-x on the flop and i'm out of there.

i'm folding (sorry t'los) but eventually pick up ace-queen. i call a $20 raise like five ways and toss my final $21 in with a big chance to really multiply my stack on a queen high flop with two spades. of course though another spade falls right on the river and bear hunter takes down the pot with an a-7 spades called for $20 from early position. :mad:

down $60. :mad:

[proximity]

down $60 and looking to move seats to get to the left of a wild Asian whale and bear hunter. meanwhile there are a couple 2-5 pros in the game and one right beside me crushes the Asian whale with trips. the other 2-5 pro isn't as lucky though and with pocket kings he comes over top the Asian whale on a flop with two tens. this time the whale has a ten and when the pro heads for the exit i take his cozy seat three spots to the left of the whale and two spots to the left of bear hunter.

after awhile the whale makes one of his $20 raises with a call from bear hunter and i shove for $95 with two black kings. the Asian whale calls with a red a-2 and bear hunter allegedly folds a-8. flop and turn of low cards with three spades and i'm looking great until the dealer puts a red ace down on the river and i'm beaten by a-2. :bang: :bang:

now down $120, and buy in for $100 more.

[proximity]

on buy in number three and get kings again with a player beside bear's seat suddenly all in for $31. i go all in and unfortunately everyone folds. :rolleyes:

we flip the cards and i'm looking good (the villain has jacks) until the dealer puts out a jack high flop. later i try a small river bluff after leading the betting with an open ended straight draw on the flop and turn. a girl named crystal at the other end of the table raises me though and i have to fold my lousy draw.

getting down to the felt i raise with ace-queen. crystal calls, the button calls, the small blind min raises, the Asian whale calls, i call, crystal calls, the button reraises the min raise :rolleyes: and we all call with me and crystal both being all in.

we show each other and a pretty cool guy between us (nate?) our cards which angers the Asian whale for some reason :rolleyes: but ask me if i give a fvkc. crystal has k-7 and we see a flop of 5-4-3.

small blind checks, Asian whale checks, button bets, small blind calls....

and the dealer slams down a 2, giving me a straight..... but wait a minute..... the Asian whale has yet to act. :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

rules are rules though and the river must be dealt and the two shuffled back into the deck. :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

in the end, it didn't matter anyhow though (atleast i think they burned a card:rolleyes: ) because a six comes out to give crystal the winning seven high straight.

[proximity]

i was going to leave at this point, but crystal insisted i get back $25 (there was a long period where they were trying to sort it out where i was steaming mad) and i proudly tried to refuse, but she insisted.

i nursed the $25 for awhile before trying to limp with 7s and facing a raise from the blinds (?) and a couple callers i call and throw in my (or crystal's) final $7 on a king high flop with two cards lower than my 7s. there is a jack on the turn and i'm about to head for the exit but the bettor's eliminated everyone from the hand and i'm actually beating his ace-eight until the dealer puts one final ace down on the river.

less than two weeks ago i had dead aim on my modest poker goals.

now i'm just hoping to survive the tour period. :mad:

game -220
year +586 (44-29)

[proximity]

after maybe four hours of sleep and a bowl of frosted flakes i'm heading back over to the Charles town racino for day two of the mini trip.

apologies to tucker6 for returning last night with another sad story.

[proximity]

returned to charles town for day number two of our mini trip after another flogging on day number 1.

for this game of 1-2 nl i'm assigned the very same table and almost the very same seat i was in for thursday's game. this game would start better though as i got aces three times from the first two dealers and kings once. the first two times though my $13 raise took down only the blinds with only a player i've seen there before who i call jack kent cooke giving me any action on my third and fourth big pairs.

i've gotten good cards, but little action and was ahead $54 when things started to go south. i raised with queens twice but was beaten by players hanging in with ace-rag and flopping two pair both times. the lead was gone and eventually i'd make another mistake limping with q-j diamonds from late position and trying to raise a queen high flop off of a player who had flopped two pair with q-8. when he bet the river i knew i was beat but cracked and called for my final $27 (?). just bad play in what wouldn't be my best day.

things started going bad immediately with buy in number two. i'm all the way down to $17 when i get aces and shove all in, ultimately beating a pair of callers with broadway. after the rake, bad beat, and dealer tip i had a little less than $50 left and started going bad again when i was dealt j-t of diamonds from one off the button and tried to limp again. i guess some people never learn. :bang:

the button, however, had other ideas and raised to $12. this player was raising a lot and playing a lot of hands in his short time in the game. maybe because of his wild playing style, i had started to silently root against him and my attitude actually disgusted me because the guy had actually openly rooted for me on a couple pots (like the aces). anyhow there were several callers between us and i made the call and saw a beautiful flop of j-9-8 and after at least one bet before me i shoved my dwindling stack all in when the action got to me. but the button again had other ideas and raised, knocking the other players out of the hand.

"some protection?" i thought but feared that he actually had a big pair this time. unfortunately though he had raised with exactly t-7 and had flopped a straight. :faint: and worse yet, had i not limped and raised pre flop with my hand i possibly could have knocked him out of the pot and won?

things are going incredibly bad here at charles town but i'm playing with some really nice people. after folding out the other players the raiser says he doesn't even mind chopping with me but i miss both the turn and river.

a bad game and this time there's no bad cards or bad luck to blame. true, the hand t-7 was a long shot but i'm far from playing my "a game" and am letting anxiety from the recent negative results influence my play. i bet nobody is perfect and that even the great 5-10 nl players on 2+2 have such lapses but i'm not at that level of overall skill or money. at my inferior level of skill and higher relative rake i can't afford such blunders. :mad:

game -120
year +466 (44-30)

[proximity]

again tried to write a game report for game number 3 of the Charles town trip and lose connection to the wireless internet. can't win a session of poker and can't stay connected to any wireless internet? I guess when it rains, it pours.

after my day 2 morning loss at Charles town I took a break before returning to the poker room for an afternoon session of 1-2 no limit hold 'em. I take an early lead after a win with ace-king and from the button call a raise with several callers before me with k-j of diamonds. on a king high flop with two diamonds i'm all in on the flop and move to about a $75 lead before going absolutely ice cold yet again.

eventually I do flop two pair and make another huge error. nate, one of the players from Thursday's game is all in for $22 and I just call, not even considering the two players behind me. of course a third spade comes on the turn and I call a $20 bet from a player before me but have to fold to an all in raise from the player behind me. I actually had the all in player's smaller two pair beaten but the first player had a flush. I don't know if I could have raised this particular player off of his flush draw, but raising was the proper move on the flop and I blew it. later I lose to another straight and with $440 of losses in two days at Charles town I need a break from nl hold 'em.

game -100
year +366 (44-31)

[DeltaLover]

again tried to write a game report for game number 3 of the Charles town trip and lose connection to the wireless internet. can't win a session of poker and can't stay connected to any wireless internet? I guess when it rains, it pours.

after my day 2 morning loss at Charles town I took a break before returning to the poker room for an afternoon session of 1-2 no limit hold 'em. I take an early lead after a win with ace-king and from the button call a raise with several callers before me with k-j of diamonds. on a king high flop with two diamonds i'm all in on the flop and move to about a $75 lead before going absolutely ice cold yet again.

eventually I do flop two pair and make another huge error. nate, one of the players from Thursday's game is all in for $22 and I just call, not even considering the two players behind me. of course a third spade comes on the turn and I call a $20 bet from a player before me but have to fold to an all in raise from the player behind me. I actually had the all in player's smaller two pair beaten but the first player had a flush. I don't know if I could have raised this particular player off of his flush draw, but raising was the proper move on the flop and I blew it. later I lose to another straight and with $440 of losses in two days at Charles town I need a break from nl hold 'em.

game -100
year +366 (44-31)

You are still ahead for the year, which is remarkably good for any poker player after so many games.


Your few sessions loosing streak, is nowhere close to mine:

In the past, I have managed to loose at least 11 consecutive sessions playing high stakes poker reaching a six figured loss.

It is not that I am exactly a fish, since even after these extended loosing period, based on my recorded poker performance, I was still getting offers from backers who wanted to have a piece of my (terrible) action!

Prox, you are one of my favorite posters in this forum and I like your honesty and some aspects of your game, like your commitment to it and your consistency in logging your results...

Still, I think you need some more work on your poker.. Some points I can make are the following:


Do not get excited by stories like the 2+2 thread that was refereed here before. People claiming that they run $100 to $100K in a year or anything similar are either lying (in most of the cases) or became extremely lucky.


In poker, even if you are a winning player, your advantage is so tiny, that needs thousands of hours to be materialized in real profit. One of the worst poker related misconceptions, is the treatment of a poker table as some form of an ATM machine, where you can regularly withdraw money.


The only guaranteed winner is the casino itself. It is quite possible for the rake, to be enough to eliminate the chances of all the player to show a profit based on their abilities.


You need to do some more research and thinking about poker on both its technical and psychological aspects. There are quite a few of related books and software, that you need to study and apply in your way to improve your game.



Some of the books, I think you need to master are the following:

http://www.twoplustwo.com/books/poker/theory-of-poker/

http://www.twoplustwo.com/books/poker/poker-essays/

http://www.twoplustwo.com/books/poker/poker-essays-volume2/

http://www.amazon.com/Poker-Essays-Volume-Mason-Malmuth/dp/1880685272

http://www.twoplustwo.com/books/gambling/gambling-theory-topics/

http://shop.tommyangelo.com/

http://www.amazon.com/The-Mathematics-Poker-Bill-Chen/dp/1886070253

http://www.amazon.com/How-Think-Like-Poker-Pro/dp/1886070296

http://www.amazon.com/The-Psychology-Poker-Alan-Schoonmaker/dp/1880685256
http://www.amazon.com/Inside-Poker-Mind-General-Concepts/dp/1880685264/ref=pd_sim_b_9?ie=UTF8&refRID=0GH42MQR5ZAE2Z0YB0Z6

Also a very good related software that you need to have access is the following:

https://github.com/andrewprock/pokerstove


As you said, I think you should take some time off the poker action, thinking and working on you game and come back to it with some fresh ideas and positive energy...

[wiffleball whizz]

Whizz trip report 7/13/14

-140

Played solid

Keep your head up proximity what your going through now is what I've been going through the last 15 years

I play so bad anymore it's beyond belief

Side note:

Though I did lose 140 in poker I booked wins of 240 in racebook and 260 in baccarat..........temporary loan though

[DeltaLover]

Though I did lose 140 in poker I booked wins of 240 in racebook and 260 in baccarat

Wiz, you should know better..

Baccarat: impossible to beat

[ManU918]

You are still ahead for the year, which is remarkably good for any poker player after so many games.


Your few sessions loosing streak, is nowhere close to mine:

In the past, I have managed to loose at least 11 consecutive sessions playing high stakes poker reaching a six figured loss.

It is not that I am exactly a fish, since even after these extended loosing period, based on my recorded poker performance, I was still getting offers from backers who wanted to have a piece of my (terrible) action!

Prox, you are one of my favorite posters in this forum and I like your honesty and some aspects of your game, like your commitment to it and your consistency in logging your results...

Still, I think you need some more work on your poker.. Some points I can make are the following:





Do not get excited by stories like the 2+2 thread that was refereed here before. People claiming that they run $100 to $100K in a year or anything similar are either lying (in most of the cases) or became extremely lucky.
In poker, even if you are a winning player, your advantage is so tiny, that needs thousands of hours to be materialized in real profit. One of the worst poker related misconceptions, is the treatment of a poker table as some form of an ATM machine, where you can regularly withdraw money.
The only guaranteed winner is the casino itself. It is quite possible for the rake, to be enough to eliminate the chances of all the player to show a profit based on their abilities.
You need to do some more research and thinking about poker on both its technical and psychological aspects. There are quite a few of related books and software, that you need to study and apply in your way to improve your game.
Some of the books, I think you need to master are the following:

http://www.twoplustwo.com/books/poker/theory-of-poker/

http://www.twoplustwo.com/books/poker/poker-essays/

http://www.twoplustwo.com/books/poker/poker-essays-volume2/

http://www.amazon.com/Poker-Essays-Volume-Mason-Malmuth/dp/1880685272

http://www.twoplustwo.com/books/gambling/gambling-theory-topics/

http://shop.tommyangelo.com/

http://www.amazon.com/The-Mathematics-Poker-Bill-Chen/dp/1886070253

http://www.amazon.com/How-Think-Like-Poker-Pro/dp/1886070296

http://www.amazon.com/The-Psychology-Poker-Alan-Schoonmaker/dp/1880685256
http://www.amazon.com/Inside-Poker-Mind-General-Concepts/dp/1880685264/ref=pd_sim_b_9?ie=UTF8&refRID=0GH42MQR5ZAE2Z0YB0Z6

Also a very good related software that you need to have access is the following:

https://github.com/andrewprock/pokerstove


As you said, I think you should take some time off the poker action, thinking and working on you game and come back to it with some fresh ideas and positive energy...


I don't know Proximity but he seems like a good guy and maybe during his tour he will stop at Parx and we can have a beer or 20. So what I'm going to say next am I in anyway trying to put him down... Because like you, I do enjoy reading this thread.

You say he is still up on the year... But is he really? Add in the rake, tips, gas, hotel's, parking, tolls, etc...Where is he then? Surely when you add in all of the above it totals out to be way more than $366.

I think some of your recommendations above are great... But IMO I would never recommend the Mathematics of Poker to anyone. I have the book and have read it several times. It's one of those books that makes sense to some and looks like mandarin to most. I watched every live stream of the WSOP this summer and Bill Chen made some deep runs and each time a poker professional was with David Tuchman in the booth and spoke of Chen and his book they would go on about how they tried to read it but didn't understand it at all. So its one of those buyer beware things. If you are really good at math and calculus, then go for it. If not stay away.

[DeltaLover]

I don't know Proximity but he seems like a good guy and maybe during his tour he will stop at Parx and we can have a beer or 20. So what I'm going to say next am I in anyway trying to put him down... Because like you, I do enjoy reading this thread.

You say he is still up on the year... But is he really? Add in the rake, tips, gas, hotel's, parking, tolls, etc...Where is he then? Surely when you add in all of the above it totals out to be way more than $366.

I think some of your recommendations above are great... But IMO I would never recommend the Mathematics of Poker to anyone. I have the book and have read it several times. It's one of those books that makes sense to some and looks like mandarin to most. I watched every live stream of the WSOP this summer and Bill Chen made some deep runs and each time a poker professional was with David Tuchman in the booth and spoke of Chen and his book they would go on about how they tried to read it but didn't understand it at all. So its one of those buyer beware things. If you are really good at math and calculus, then go for it. If not stay away.

Although I already knew almost all the material presented in the TMOP, I still feel that it helped me progress my understanding of the game a little...

What I found interesting was the introduction of the toy games, the chapters about game theory, bluffing and Portfolio Theory..


A simpler book which can serve as a prerequisite is:

http://www.amazon.com/Weighing-Odds-Holdem-Poker-King/dp/0935926259

[proximity]

You are still ahead for the year, which is remarkably good for any poker player after so many games.


Your few sessions loosing streak, is nowhere close to mine:

In the past, I have managed to loose at least 11 consecutive sessions playing high stakes poker reaching a six figured loss.

It is not that I am exactly a fish, since even after these extended loosing period, based on my recorded poker performance, I was still getting offers from backers who wanted to have a piece of my (terrible) action!

Prox, you are one of my favorite posters in this forum and I like your honesty and some aspects of your game, like your commitment to it and your consistency in logging your results...

Still, I think you need some more work on your poker.. Some points I can make are the following:

Do not get excited by stories like the 2+2 thread that was refereed here before. People claiming that they run $100 to $100K in a year or anything similar are either lying (in most of the cases) or became extremely lucky.
In poker, even if you are a winning player, your advantage is so tiny, that needs thousands of hours to be materialized in real profit. One of the worst poker related misconceptions, is the treatment of a poker table as some form of an ATM machine, where you can regularly withdraw money.
The only guaranteed winner is the casino itself. It is quite possible for the rake, to be enough to eliminate the chances of all the player to show a profit based on their abilities.
You need to do some more research and thinking about poker on both its technical and psychological aspects. There are quite a few of related books and software, that you need to study and apply in your way to improve your game.

Some of the books, I think you need to master are the following:

http://www.twoplustwo.com/books/poker/theory-of-poker/

http://www.twoplustwo.com/books/poker/poker-essays/

http://www.twoplustwo.com/books/poker/poker-essays-volume2/

http://www.amazon.com/Poker-Essays-Volume-Mason-Malmuth/dp/1880685272

http://www.twoplustwo.com/books/gambling/gambling-theory-topics/

http://shop.tommyangelo.com/

http://www.amazon.com/The-Mathematics-Poker-Bill-Chen/dp/1886070253

http://www.amazon.com/How-Think-Like-Poker-Pro/dp/1886070296

http://www.amazon.com/The-Psychology-Poker-Alan-Schoonmaker/dp/1880685256
http://www.amazon.com/Inside-Poker-Mind-General-Concepts/dp/1880685264/ref=pd_sim_b_9?ie=UTF8&refRID=0GH42MQR5ZAE2Z0YB0Z6

Also a very good related software that you need to have access is the following:

https://github.com/andrewprock/pokerstove


As you said, I think you should take some time off the poker action, thinking and working on you game and come back to it with some fresh ideas and positive energy...

delta,

thank you for taking the time to make your post. idk if i'll get any 2+2 books on no limit but maybe i'll try one of the tommy angelo ones? i'm also interested in thaskalos's racing book when he releases it.

I know you're not a fish and also unfortunately know that sometimes (actually a lot of times) bad things happen to good people. so I hope you can find your way back to the big games and start winning again.

as for my play my most immediate need is just to regain the focus that I brought to the beginning of the tour. sometimes a gambler can reach a stage where he's starting to know enough to be dangerous..... often to himself.

again I really appreciate your post and suggestions and thanks for taking the time out of your early morning to post.

proximity

[proximity]

Whizz trip report 7/13/14

-140

Played solid

Keep your head up proximity what your going through now is what I've been going through the last 15 years

I play so bad anymore it's beyond belief

Side note:

Though I did lose 140 in poker I booked wins of 240 in racebook and 260 in baccarat..........temporary loan though

I know enough to know that you don't play bad.

personally I like your table image. kind of talkative but kind of tight.

in the long run there's no way those players at ct can beat you.

[proximity]

I don't know Proximity but he seems like a good guy and maybe during his tour he will stop at Parx and we can have a beer or 20. So what I'm going to say next am I in anyway trying to put him down... Because like you, I do enjoy reading this thread.

You say he is still up on the year... But is he really? Add in the rake, tips, gas, hotel's, parking, tolls, etc...Where is he then? Surely when you add in all of the above it totals out to be way more than $366.


manu918,

we've already covered accounting practices back around pages 15-16 of the thread so I won't go into detail repeating all of my thoughts. however, over 70 games (and hundreds of winning pots) I've beaten the other players out of thousands of dollars while paying thousands of dollars in rake, tips, and bad beat. even $1 off the rake at Hollywood properties ($5 rake instead of $6) would have drastically changed my results and have me well on my way to my humble goal even with the bad swings.

when I go to parx i'll be sure to let you know and always have time to sit down with p.a. members, especially Phillies fans.

what days/nights do you usually play there?

proximity

[proximity]

crushed again at Charles town and I get up to clear my head before the night's racing card. however, I receive a text from wiffleball whizz that he's been called in to work at Maryland live to help run a tournament. not sure if I actually believed that, he probably had another high stakes bowling match going against the live! cocktail waitresses!! :D

anyhow i'm not in the zone where i'm playing anywhere near my "a game" and at least have the discipline to pull myself from no limit action for the night. I do sit down to open a new 3-6 limit table though and have the good fortune to get pocket queens on my very first hand!!

I raise the queens and see an amazing flop of q-5-5 and get action all the way to the river against a caller with a-q!! this is great, but where were these cards in no limit?? :rolleyes:

moving on, earlier on the tour (wild, but not so wonderful part 1) a cowboy was cracking my big pairs and I wondered if he'd strike again when I raised with pocket 10s and he called cold. this time i flop top set (t-9-8) and he stays with me the whole way. before the river i whisper "pair the board" to the dealer and he obliges by slamming down another 8. raise, reraise...... back and forth. pocket 8s? really?

no, he called my raise with 9-8 in another beautiful hand!!

over the hours i built up a $140 lead but the game would eventually break and bad luck would follow.

ofcourse i draw the lowest (actually second lowest, but don't ask) card and despite opening the friggin' table have to wait the longest to get on the new table.

patience sorta paid last week at penn national, but it wouldn't here as i basically just waited to get mauled. i lose hand after hand and when a girl sits down that looks like a young bo Derek, she crushes me in two hands too.

i lose almost all of my winnings :bang: before finally outlasting almost the entire table with a pair of tens. what they were calling with, i have no clue.:rolleyes:

but after this win, i start to lose again and when i lose with aces and queens i actually fall behind. :mad:

just before the game ends though i win with a-q and then turn a straight on a hand where i flopped top pair and a straight draw.

$28 win, but it beat losing, which at Charles town in 2014 i'm all too familiar with. :blush:

game +28 (3-6 limit)
year +394 (45-31)

[ManU918]

manu918,

we've already covered accounting practices back around pages 15-16 of the thread so I won't go into detail repeating all of my thoughts. however, over 70 games (and hundreds of winning pots) I've beaten the other players out of thousands of dollars while paying thousands of dollars in rake, tips, and bad beat. even $1 off the rake at Hollywood properties ($5 rake instead of $6) would have drastically changed my results and have me well on my way to my humble goal even with the bad swings.

when I go to parx i'll be sure to let you know and always have time to sit down with p.a. members, especially Phillies fans.

what days/nights do you usually play there?

proximity

My favorite weeknight to play there is Tuesday night. They run a really good double stack tournament (20Kss). Other then that Thursday nights... If you can make it over there tomorrow night... Let me know... I'll shoot over instead of going out for the all-star game.

[proximity]

Honestly, I think you are doing OK and should try to forget about this nasty night and go ahead.

Some commentary about the hands you posted:

(1) The AK hand was played OK and you did not have much of choice.. One think I would have probably done differently is going all in on the flop, since I do not want to give a free card on the A J X flop.

(2) The A 4 hand, concerns me a bit.. How did you got involved in the pot with such a marginal hand? Been able to much weak aces is very important especially in ring games...

(3) I also do not like your KQ play... It seems that you are calling early up in a straddled pot with a weak holding... In this spot you certainly need a better hand to get involved.

after another drubbing at Charles town I returned home for another game of 1-2 nl at penn national.

I start off in a wild and usually short handed game featuring a relatively new player in the room who reminds me of the guy clint eastwood kept beating up in his movie gran torino.

tonight this kid has a lot of chips and he'd lose almost all of them.... but none to me. I lose one hand with queen-jack of hearts but am mostly getting blinded out and get 2-5 about 12 times. eventually I lose with pockets 7s (which I should have just folded) and rebuy.

the game is so ridiculous though that when over half the already short handed table is out smoking or roaming around the casino the floor moves the rest of us to full games. I continue my bad play at the second table, getting called on a turn bluff and then hitting top pair but getting raised off of it on the river.

i quoted the above post by delta that i'm not sure i wanted to believe, but know is true. i'm starting to play too many marginal holdings from too many marginal positions. i'm not dancing with the girl who brought me.

at this point i steady myself and win two pots with ace king to move to a lead on the second buy in. my plan is to get ahead for the session and go home to bed but unfortunately i make one final mistake.

with pocket 10s from the big blind the player to my left limps and the player beside him raises to $17 with a call behind him. for $15 with about $74 left i should probably fold here but call and the utg player calls. we see a flop of q-t-x and i decide to check raise. utg checks, the raiser checks and is anxious to see what we're all calling with, and the other player does bet. i shove all in and he calls.

i'm leading with my set of 10s but get nervous when the board runs out a-q.

it's worse than that though as the guy actually flat called the $17 raise with pocket aces. :faint: a two outer on the turn and quite possibly a one outer with the raise to $17 and call from the utg player. :faint:

when i got home i went over a lot of these posts which i think are correct. i'm not sure i need a huge amount of work but i do need to sit down and begin to define "my game" and what i'm looking to play in certain situations. in the beginning of the tour i had a "healthy fear" or respect for the game that probably started to subside towards the end of the two winning streaks i went on. but that will be one of the lessons from the tour. learning where i can go wrong and trying not to repeat the same errors in the future.

game -120
year +274 (44-32)

[proximity]

My favorite weeknight to play there is Tuesday night. They run a really good double stack tournament (20Kss). Other then that Thursday nights... If you can make it over there tomorrow night... Let me know... I'll shoot over instead of going out for the all-star game.

unfortunately i almost always work on Tuesdays.

i'll try to go some Thursday or possibly tues, august 5th which falls in the middle of a 10 day poker vacation i'm planning.

i was looking to go to a.c. that day but they aren't giving me any rooms so maybe i'll just try parx?

[thaskalos]

after another drubbing at Charles town I returned home for another game of 1-2 nl at penn national.

I start off in a wild and usually short handed game featuring a relatively new player in the room who reminds me of the guy clint eastwood kept beating up in his movie gran torino.

tonight this kid has a lot of chips and he'd lose almost all of them.... but none to me. I lose one hand with queen-jack of hearts but am mostly getting blinded out and get 2-5 about 12 times. eventually I lose with pockets 7s (which I should have just folded) and rebuy.

the game is so ridiculous though that when over half the already short handed table is out smoking or roaming around the casino the floor moves the rest of us to full games. I continue my bad play at the second table, getting called on a turn bluff and then hitting top pair but getting raised off of it on the river.

i quoted the above post by delta that i'm not sure i wanted to believe, but know is true. i'm starting to play too many marginal holdings from too many marginal positions. i'm not dancing with the girl who brought me.

at this point i steady myself and win two pots with ace king to move to a lead on the second buy in. my plan is to get ahead for the session and go home to bed but unfortunately i make one final mistake.

with pocket 10s from the big blind the player to my left limps and the player beside him raises to $17 with a call behind him. for $15 with about $74 left i should probably fold here but call and the utg player calls. we see a flop of q-t-x and i decide to check raise. utg checks, the raiser checks and is anxious to see what we're all calling with, and the other player does bet. i shove all in and he calls.

i'm leading with my set of 10s but get nervous when the board runs out a-q.

it's worse than that though as the guy actually flat called the $17 raise with pocket aces. :faint: a two outer on the turn and quite possibly a one outer with the raise to $17 and call from the utg player. :faint:

when i got home i went over a lot of these posts which i think are correct. i'm not sure i need a huge amount of work but i do need to sit down and begin to define "my game" and what i'm looking to play in certain situations. in the beginning of the tour i had a "healthy fear" or respect for the game that probably started to subside towards the end of the two winning streaks i went on. but that will be one of the lessons from the tour. learning where i can go wrong and trying not to repeat the same errors in the future.

game -120
year +274 (44-32)

Read this book, Proximity...it'll be the best money you've ever spent.

http://www.amazon.com/Automatic-Poker-Short-Stackers-Winning/dp/160746926X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1405402238&sr=1-1&keywords=automatic+poker

Short-stack play must be a part of an overall playing strategy.

[tucker6]

what is strange is that you either have small wins or big losses on the night. I've noted on several occasions that you build big leads but they whittle away to small gains by the time you finish, as if you feel you are playing with house money. Having a lot of chips in front of you can alter ones betting strategy, so be mindful.

[proximity]

Read this book, Proximity...it'll be the best money you've ever spent.

http://www.amazon.com/Automatic-Poker-Short-Stackers-Winning/dp/160746926X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1405402238&sr=1-1&keywords=automatic+poker

Short-stack play must be a part of an overall playing strategy.

I checked out the website and did like some of the author's comments.

thank you for this suggestion and I will add it to my wish list with some of the books delta said.

[proximity]

what is strange is that you either have small wins or big losses on the night. I've noted on several occasions that you build big leads but they whittle away to small gains by the time you finish, as if you feel you are playing with house money. Having a lot of chips in front of you can alter ones betting strategy, so be mindful.

in the two limit games where I won small I just had ridiculously bad runs. I didn't hit anything in like a four hour span at sands and you're going to lose money there no matter what. at ct when I finally got back into the game I did play one hand bad but was still playing solid cards overall and just getting sucked in to some bad situations.

in no limit i'm going to play more hands as my stack grows if i'm up against comparable or larger stacks. the first night at ct was just a disaster. I got in good in pretty much every single hand. I did start to crack some on the second day and noted where I did...... not always easy to "show your azz" so to speak, especially when ww is really the only consistent poster in the poker section that I've met irl.

there is insecurity though when you aren't a winner and just like at +1300 leaving the Borgata, and +1088 after the first six months, at +274 i'm not a winner. established winners have won thousands of dollars at the casinos period. fortunately there are a lot of hands to be played.

[proximity]

minor correction to "burned on the turn."

was actually 45-31 after the limit win at ct so the loss moved my record to 45-32.

[proximity]

well, things haven't been going the best lately on the proximity poker tour but they say failure isn't falling down but rather not getting back up and it was time to get back up with a 15 hour marathon session at the east coast's largest poker room (at least in number of games) maryland live! casino at arundel mills mall in hanover, md.

11:15 am take a seat at a 4-8 limit hold 'em game on table 17 in the front of the room, hoping to win some pots.

11:17 am after an uncontested river, one player mucks a straight on the board!! :eek: :faint: :eek: :faint:

11:49 am raise pocket queens from early position. "straight mucker" and several other players call 2 bets cold and i lead out on a flop of k-j-x. straight mucker and another donkey call. jack on the turn and i check and fold. straight mucker also has qq and loses to the other player who not only played, but called a raise with j-7. :rolleyes:

"uh, straight mucker? you know you can reraise queens and force the other idiots to call three bets cold?" :rolleyes:

3:37 pm we're over 4 hours in now and i'm +$28, but am lucky to have won a single hand. the table has given me every hand i've won:

* i win a hand after flopping broadway with ace-jack. ace-queen gives me action the whole way, but acting before me actually could have raised me off ace-jack by raising pre flop.

*after an uncontested flop with at least two over cards i turn a set of sevens and get action on the turn and river from players with those over cards.

*from late position i flop middle pair on an ace high flop and bet when the action is checked to me. i bet again on the turn and a guy playing and calling raises with any two cards pre flop folds an ace due to my higher kicker!!

4:08 pm raise kings and lose to a cold caller with a-6. "horshack" never hits his ace, but hangs in the whole way to hit the bottom end of end of a 9 high straight. there was a jack on the board too and the fact that anyone holding a ten could beat him with a higher straight didn't keep horshack from betting...... if he even realized this at all. one of the worst players i've ever encountered!! :D -$18

8:53 pm +$224. losing to these players isn't easy. :rolleyes:

9:03 pm win with aces. +$302.

11:06 pm +$304. lose with flopped set of 4s vs a-t. ten on turn. :mad: win with flopped full house with pocket queens. a-a-q flop. rags on turn and river. raised on river? did villains really call with ace-rag and pair their hole card? not at maryland live! and my crying call is good.

2:15 am working on my best game of the year and raise with a-q but finish like 8th place in the hand. :rolleyes: q-9-6 flop. 3 on turn. k on river.
harry cold calls the raise with q-3 :rolleyes: , george calls with 9-6 :rolleyes: , carl calls with k-9 :rolleyes: ........

game +313 (4/8 limit)
year +587 (46-32)

[wiffleball whizz]

Proximity invades Hanover!!!!!!!

Always welcome to stay at wiffleball whizz resort and spa.,,,,,.maybe not so much a resort but there is a spa

[proximity]

Proximity invades Hanover!!!!!!!

Always welcome to stay at wiffleball whizz resort and spa.,,,,,.maybe not so much a resort but there is a spa

did you go to Delaware?

we want a report!!

[proximity]

was up early on a sunday morning and couldn't go back to sleep. I took to the couch and was watching the movie antwone fisher. in the end dr davenport asks "are you hungry, sailor?"

"I could eat, sir" answers antwone and I noted that I was hungry too, but not for food, I was hungry for live poker action!!

in our last report we hit one of the two major mid atlantic rooms we hadn't been to in 2014 and since I was up so early I decided today might be a good day to check out the other one. and so it was back to the turnpike and off to north Philadelphia's parx racetrack and casino!!!

I arrived at parx around 12:30 and jumped into a game of 1-2 no limit hold 'em. I wouldn't get a lot of action in this game. I lose two hands from the blinds and once on a raise with ace-queen but do win a hand with ace-queen and another with ace-king to be profitable for the session.

in a tough hand one player's ace high flush loses to a straight flush with queen-nine. meanwhile, an older player beside me seems quick to be calling for the floor to bag the chips of an Asian girl on the other side of him. I don't know if there was some negative past history between these players but once she got up he started calling for the floor to bag her chips in only like 30 minutes and they finally did bag them at like an hour and five minutes. I guess I should be happy that they filled the seat since I didn't have to pay blinds as fast, lol, but I didn't see what all the anxiety was about?

towards the end of the session the seat to my right is vacant and i'm about to post my small blind..... but wait a minute.... a new player enters the game...

"do you want to buy the button.... or wait?" the dealer asks.

the kid elects to buy the button but doesn't seem sure and the dealer has to move the button back a space when he grabs it and puts it in front of him.

"you're buying it for next hand," the dealer explains.

but there wouldn't be a next hand as the kid hits two pair with king-queen but stacks off to a flopped set of 2s. :faint:

"he didn't understand buying the button (or something)" one player utters.

"well," I joke, "I think he understands better now." :rolleyes:

game +20
year +607 (47-32)

[thaskalos]

well, things haven't been going the best lately on the proximity poker tour but they say failure isn't falling down but rather not getting back up and it was time to get back up with a 15 hour marathon session at the east coast's largest poker room (at least in number of games) maryland live! casino at arundel mills mall in hanover, md.

11:15 am take a seat at a 4-8 limit hold 'em game on table 17 in the front of the room, hoping to win some pots.

11:17 am after an uncontested river, one player mucks a straight on the board!! :eek: :faint: :eek: :faint:

11:49 am raise pocket queens from early position. "straight mucker" and several other players call 2 bets cold and i lead out on a flop of k-j-x. straight mucker and another donkey call. jack on the turn and i check and fold. straight mucker also has qq and loses to the other player who not only played, but called a raise with j-7. :rolleyes:

"uh, straight mucker? you know you can reraise queens and force the other idiots to call three bets cold?" :rolleyes:

3:37 pm we're over 4 hours in now and i'm +$28, but am lucky to have won a single hand. the table has given me every hand i've won:

* i win a hand after flopping broadway with ace-jack. ace-queen gives me action the whole way, but acting before me actually could have raised me off ace-jack by raising pre flop.

*after an uncontested flop with at least two over cards i turn a set of sevens and get action on the turn and river from players with those over cards.

*from late position i flop middle pair on an ace high flop and bet when the action is checked to me. i bet again on the turn and a guy playing and calling raises with any two cards pre flop folds an ace due to my higher kicker!!

4:08 pm raise kings and lose to a cold caller with a-6. "horshack" never hits his ace, but hangs in the whole way to hit the bottom end of end of a 9 high straight. there was a jack on the board too and the fact that anyone holding a ten could beat him with a higher straight didn't keep horshack from betting...... if he even realized this at all. one of the worst players i've ever encountered!! :D -$18

8:53 pm +$224. losing to these players isn't easy. :rolleyes:

9:03 pm win with aces. +$302.

11:06 pm +$304. lose with flopped set of 4s vs a-t. ten on turn. :mad: win with flopped full house with pocket queens. a-a-q flop. rags on turn and river. raised on river? did villains really call with ace-rag and pair their hole card? not at maryland live! and my crying call is good.

2:15 am working on my best game of the year and raise with a-q but finish like 8th place in the hand. :rolleyes: q-9-6 flop. 3 on turn. k on river.
harry cold calls the raise with q-3 :rolleyes: , george calls with 9-6 :rolleyes: , carl calls with k-9 :rolleyes: ........

game +313 (4/8 limit)
year +587 (46-32)

Proximity...have you ever seriously considered that the 4-8 limit game might suit your playing style a lot more than the no-limit game does? Your patient style seems to me to be tailor-made for the limit game...where the suckers like to chase with their third pairs.

[proximity]

Proximity...have you ever seriously considered that the 4-8 limit game might suit your playing style a lot more than the no-limit game does? Your patient style seems to me to be tailor-made for the limit game...where the suckers like to chase with their third pairs.

i do seem to be somewhat of a natural limit player and should definitely visit mdlive! more. i can do well at no limit too though and just have to maintain focus. as jackie chan might say, my focus could use more focus. :)

[proximity]

since every time i've ever been to parx there has either been a foot of snow outside or near zero wind chills i decided to take some time off to go outside to get some much needed sun and experience the thrills of parx live racing.

with only two races left on the card i diabolically think of staying in the game and abandoning my chips to (further) raise my neighbor's blood pressure. :D

i decide two wrongs don't make a right though and decide to cash out and start a new game after the parx live racing card.

things aren't going the best in the new game on table 41. i get aces and queens but my $12 raise basically only takes down the blinds. i flop a nut flush draw with a suited ace from the big blind and bet out only to get raised off the hand by a player in late position.

in a similar hand though with a-8 of spades i lead out on a flop of a-a-7 and receive a call or two before getting raised by the same player. i go all in for slightly more and my 8 kicker ends up playing over the villain's 4!!

finally some good luck from the blinds!!!!!

later with pocket 8s i hold off the same villain's straight draw. he then raises q-j or q-t and gets called by a player beside me holding k-4. king high ends up being good and in frustration he blurts out "floinking donkeys always win!!" :D

one final hand for the road i raise with pocket jacks and this time get a couple callers. i check a queen high flop of all clubs but bet my flush when another club falls on the turn. no ace or king out there and i rack up +$105 and join paceadvantage member and local tournament pro manu918 at the parx poker bar where he buys me a much needed rockstar energy drink. (i was so dead at this point that i'd need two rockstars and a cup of coffee to get me home, lol)

the phillies/braves game is still laboring on and we watch marlon byrd hit probably his final solo home run in a phillies uniform.

"too bad, he was the only good move (phil's gm) ruin tomorrow ever made," i joke.

i'm the first p.a. member manu918 has met in real life which is sad because the guy really seems to have it together and you can tell he has the poker smarts to read into what's really going on in different situations. i find myself repeatedly agreeing with his insights and he has a lot of good ideas. he wasn't playing a tournament that day and not too many people would take time out of their weekend like that to come out to parx to meet a complete stranger. thank you manu918!!

in the end i was more than a little tired, but it was a good trip to parx. two winning poker sessions, some live racing, and got to meet another pa member manu918. along the way we learned not to buy the button and that floinking donkeys always win. still getting crushed in july, but a good week here to make the month (maybe somewhat :blush: ) respectable.

game +105 (1/2 nl)
year +712 (48-32)

[ManU918]

since every time i've ever been to parx there has either been a foot of snow outside or near zero wind chills i decided to take some time off to go outside to get some much needed sun and experience the thrills of parx live racing.

with only two races left on the card i diabolically think of staying in the game and abandoning my chips to (further) raise my neighbor's blood pressure. :D

i decide two wrongs don't make a right though and decide to cash out and start a new game after the parx live racing card.

things aren't going the best in the new game on table 41. i get aces and queens but my $12 raise basically only takes down the blinds. i flop a nut flush draw with a suited ace from the big blind and bet out only to get raised off the hand by a player in late position.

in a similar hand though with a-8 of spades i lead out on a flop of a-a-7 and receive a call or two before getting raised by the same player. i go all in for slightly more and my 8 kicker ends up playing over the villain's 4!!

finally some good luck from the blinds!!!!!

later with pocket 8s i hold off the same villain's straight draw. he then raises q-j or q-t and gets called by a player beside me holding k-4. king high ends up being good and in frustration he blurts out "floinking donkeys always win!!" :D

one final hand for the road i raise with pocket jacks and this time get a couple callers. i check a queen high flop of all clubs but bet my flush when another club falls on the turn. no ace or king out there and i rack up +$105 and join paceadvantage member and local tournament pro manu918 at the parx poker bar where he buys me a much needed rockstar energy drink. (i was so dead at this point that i'd need two rockstars and a cup of coffee to get me home, lol)

the phillies/braves game is still laboring on and we watch marlon byrd hit probably his final solo home run in a phillies uniform.

"too bad, he was the only good move (phil's gm) ruin tomorrow ever made," i joke.

i'm the first p.a. member manu918 has met in real life which is sad because the guy really seems to have it together and you can tell he has the poker smarts to read into what's really going on in different situations. i find myself repeatedly agreeing with his insights and he has a lot of good ideas. he wasn't playing a tournament that day and not too many people would take time out of their weekend like that to come out to parx to meet a complete stranger. thank you manu918!!

in the end i was more than a little tired, but it was a good trip to parx. two winning poker sessions, some live racing, and got to meet another pa member manu918. along the way we learned not to buy the button and that floinking donkeys always win. still getting crushed in july, but a good week here to make the month (maybe somewhat :blush: ) respectable.

game +105 (1/2 nl)
year +712 (48-32)

Prox, the pleasure was all mine... I really appreciate the kind words. It was cool meeting you in person. You're definitely one of the few posters whose opinion and posts I respect. If you ever plan on stopping by Parx again... Try to let me know a day or two in advance. That way you can make a trip report about how your AA beat my KK in a PF all in hand for $1000.

[PaceAdvantage]

You're definitely one of the few posters whose opinion and posts I respect.Stay classy.

[wiffleball whizz]

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: Stay classy.


Always good to see PA keeping an eye on this thread :lol: :lol: :lol:

[ManU918]

Stay classy.

Will do. Don't worry, if we ever cross paths in the future I'll buy you a drink too and then try to help you implement an IQ test before allowing new members onto this board.

[mutualwagerer]

ok, so I am a new poker player prox, actually only gone once but cashed 300 but was over 500 at one point, mostly just play online. I must say I have enjoyed reading your posts but one quick question a few times I have seen you say a flop comes up for example t-5-x, what do you mean with the x? because initially when I saw you do it by itself I thought you meant a ten but now puzzled after seeing them together.

[tucker6]

ok, so I am a new poker player prox, actually only gone once but cashed 300 but was over 500 at one point, mostly just play online. I must say I have enjoyed reading your posts but one quick question a few times I have seen you say a flop comes up for example t-5-x, what do you mean with the x? because initially when I saw you do it by itself I thought you meant a ten but now puzzled after seeing them together.
He means the card is of no consequence to the hand.

[proximity]

ok, so I am a new poker player prox, actually only gone once but cashed 300 but was over 500 at one point, mostly just play online. I must say I have enjoyed reading your posts but one quick question a few times I have seen you say a flop comes up for example t-5-x, what do you mean with the x? because initially when I saw you do it by itself I thought you meant a ten but now puzzled after seeing them together.

thanks for reading and posting!!

congratulations on the win!! what and where were you playing?

[mutualwagerer]

ahh ok that makes sense, that's what I kind of thought but was used to you saying rag when it was basically a junk card :cool: I live in Buffalo I ended up going to the Buffalo Niagara Casino up in Niagara Falls, but the old lady isn't to keen on the idea haha so haven't been able to go back so just been playing online since :bang: :bang:

[mutualwagerer]

you ever been up this way to play prox or any other members?

[proximity]

after our trip to parx, i tried to make a thursday night return to the felt at the racino but a pre-game power nap ended up extending through the entire night. friday i was up and ready to go though with another trip to hollywood casino at charles town races in wva!!

there's been a lot of heartache so far on our tour but in this humble 3-6 limit hold 'em game pretty much everything would go right. there were a few small valleys, but mostly peaks as i was playing really well and (for once) being hit by the deck!!

in one big hand i raised with pocket aces and the betting was capped (maybe before it even got back to me, lol) several ways. on an amazing flop of 4-4-4 only a solitary 4 in a capped pot would beat me. 7 on the turn made pocket sevens possible now but when the case 4 falls on the river i now have the absolute nuts...... but of course now i'll be chopping with any single ace out there.... but no ace is out and i take down a monster limit pot!!

in another big hand with jc-ts i'm trying to hold off a new player with ac-7h who has already beaten me twice with rags in her short time in the game. on a tc-x-9c-7c board i have to hold off an ace, seven, or any club on the river..... except the one that actually falls.... the beautiful 8 of clubs which gives me a straight flush!!!!!

meanwhile a tough limit player named john enters the game and we're having a lot of laughs talking about the classic hockey movie youngblood.

john knows the movie cold and we just keep quoting it over and over and laughing about the absurdities like "pillow fists" youngblood hitting a punching bag in the family barn for a few days and suddenly returning to hamilton like he's marvin hagler, lol. or youngblood even leaving hamilton in the first place??? youngblood's in town two days and he's having trysts with both his cougar landlord and the coach's gorgeous daughter? i don't care if sutton was my best friend since birth, a pack of rabid wolves couldn't chase me out of hamilton, lol.... :D

Q:what's the only thing better than a glass of beer?

A:tea with miss mcgill!! :D

anyhow everyone seems to be having a good time except one player who keeps getting beat on the river and getting up for 25 minute walks when he does. like at parx there's talk of getting the bag, but he always comes back in time. after one bad river beat he claims that he taught johnny chan to deal poker!! someone asks if he taught him to play too and i chime in that johnny's actually not a very good limit hold 'em player and tell about how one time at taj mahal i saw him 4 bet a kid in a limit game and then fold to the kid's 5 bet. :D

my only regret of the night was i didn't get to sit down with wiffleball whizz who was there for poker and horses. i kept saying i was going to buy us some supper at 9 dragons (?) but as a compulsive gambler i couldn't pull myself up from the table. that is embarrassing and i apologize to the whizz.

great session at the table though, i believe our best so far on the 2014 tour with the $355 of profits even bringing me close to even for what started as a horrible month.

game +355 (3/6 lim)
year +1067 (49-32)

[wiffleball whizz]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ HAHAHAHAHA never ever have to apologize when not wanting to eat.......there will me a next time....

Proximity wired the field for fun!!!!

A mini whizz trip report...

10 hands in stuck 40 pick up aces under the gun just call guy makes it 12 2 calls I make it 65.....clown goes all in for 240 I call he tables kings I know the king is coming but it never did...

I'm sitting on 550 or so I look down at 10-9.....I make it 12 2 callers into a K-10-8 flop......I bet 15 old guy calls turn brings the miracle 10 I got trips.....old guy checks I check getting ready to harpoon this guy....

River comes it the 9 to fill me up like a porn star....board reads K-10-8-10-9.....bozo bets 15 ( also had the fake fold motion on) I come over the top for 45.....the old guy ponders and says 125......I think for about 7 seconds in disgust and table fold the full house.....guy in disgust says how the **** you fold that and shows K10.....lolololo I laughed my balls off!!!!

Took some coolers for next 3 hours and lose 240

In the process I'm stuck a silent 200 on horses or there abouts....

Go on a baccarat heater for 260 to trim losses for night


Proximity couldn't see over his checks....

Maybe next Friday I'll go play in this 15-30 game at parxxxxxxxxx and force the issue.....maybe manu918 will come out

[proximity]

I'm sitting on 550 or so I look down at 10-9.....I make it 12 2 callers into a K-10-8 flop......I bet 15 old guy calls turn brings the miracle 10 I got trips.....old guy checks I check getting ready to harpoon this guy....

River comes it the 9 to fill me up like a porn star....board reads K-10-8-10-9.....bozo bets 15 ( also had the fake fold motion on) I come over the top for 45.....the old guy ponders and says 125......I think for about 7 seconds in disgust and table fold the full house.....guy in disgust says how the **** you fold that and shows K10.....lolololo I laughed my balls off!!!!


lay-ying down a monster?

was the guy eating oreo cookies at the table? :D

[wiffleball whizz]

lay-ying down a monster?

was the guy eating oreo cookies at the table? :D

HAHAHAHAHA......parx next week I think

[ManU918]

Maybe next Friday I'll go play in this 15-30 game at parxxxxxxxxx and force the issue.....maybe manu918 will come out

If you guys decide to go next week let me know. The Big Stax series will be running so there will be plenty of action.

[proximity]

returned to penn national for another session of 1-2 no limit hold em.

after an early loss with pocket jacks, I stayed alive with a-j flopping a jack for top pair and holding off some draws. later I flop 2 pair with 7-5 from the big blind and get action on both the flop and turn. finally with pocket aces from the small blind I shove over a pre flop raise and a call. I almost get an action player to call but he ends up mucking his hand.

after a couple hours i'm not feeling too good so I rack up with a $62 win. the victory is my 50th of the year and incredibly moves me back ahead for the month of july!!

game +62
year +1129 (50-32)

[proximity]

i'm not sure i'll go anywhere this week. i'm on vacation from wednesday through the following saturday. in june's recap report we thanked caesar's total rewards for their hospitality but this month they've let me down. caesar's sent me a flyer saying that i have 2 free 2 night stays for august and i already have some that i didn't use for july.

problem: when i call caesar's none of the offers are available. :mad:

so this week i might just stay home. next week is looking like sun-tu @ mdlive! and wed-fri @ ct!!

[DeltaLover]

:ThmbUp:

Boys, our friend prox knows what he is doing!

Keep on the good job!

[tucker6]

:ThmbUp:

Boys, our friend prox knows what he is doing!

Keep on the good job!
He certainly caught his breath. Proximity, I'm traveling through Western PA and OH next week, so will not be in your neck of the woods to play some cards. Maybe next time. Tom

[mutualwagerer]

I was watching this tonight and saw quite possibly either the worst luck or best luck ever depending on how you look at it. These two guys are going heads up at the feature table and both ironically have AA. One eventually goes all in, flop comes up diamond-heart-heart then the turn heart, and river heart. Guy that lost of course was the one all in. I couldn't imagine that's a sickening kind of loss. :bang:

[tucker6]

I was watching this tonight and saw quite possibly either the worst luck or best luck ever depending on how you look at it. These two guys are going heads up at the feature table and both ironically have AA. One eventually goes all in, flop comes up diamond-heart-heart then the turn heart, and river heart. Guy that lost of course was the one all in. I couldn't imagine that's a sickening kind of loss. :bang:
that's some nasty right there. It would take a while to get over that. What size was the pot?

[098poi]

I was just going to post this and saw your thread. 1,000,000 buy in I think.
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=11279204

[wiffleball whizz]

Dealing 2/5 no limit......

$25 raise preflop flop comes J84.......small blind bets 50 button calls 50....

Turn 8.......small blind checks and the button checks...

River 10.......small blind bets 60.....button makes it 200.....SB tanks and makes it I 700 (I remember cuz for first time in a while I pulled in the 200s) button ponders for 20 seconds and goes all in for like 1700 (he had a orange and a stack of black) SB says "I call I got quads" button tables pocket jacks for jacks full.....just a sick beat just wanted to share

[thaskalos]

Dealing 2/5 no limit......

$25 raise preflop flop comes J84.......small blind bets 50 button calls 50....

Turn 8.......small blind checks and the button checks...

River 10.......small blind bets 60.....button makes it 200.....SB tanks and makes it I 700 (I remember cuz for first time in a while I pulled in the 200s) button ponders for 20 seconds and goes all in for like 1700 (he had a orange and a stack of black) SB says "I call I got quads" button tables pocket jacks for jacks full.....just a sick beat just wanted to share
No limit ain't for the faint-hearted... :)

[mutualwagerer]

ya your right it was over a million and if I remember right the guy didn't even cash :bang:

I was just going to post this and saw your thread. 1,000,000 buy in I think.
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=11279204

[proximity]

He certainly caught his breath. Proximity, I'm traveling through Western PA and OH next week, so will not be in your neck of the woods to play some cards. Maybe next time. Tom

give us a report if you play out there at all!!

[proximity]

Turn 8.......small blind checks and the button checks...



not that it mattered here, but they both missed a bet there on the turn.

[proximity]

kicked off the second half of our 2014 poker tour with another 1-2 game at the racino. unfortunately that kickoff was returned for a touchdown as racino villains pounded me for a tour high $360 loss.

after small wins at sands and penn national a trip south to Charles town went south in a hurry with $440 of no limit losses before a humble $28 limit win on my way out of town.

my bad luck continued at pen where a flopped set of tens was overtaken by possibly a one outer on the turn.

i'd start to rally with a big win in a long 4-8 limit session in our tour's first stop at Maryland live! and would edge closer to having a respectable losing month with a pair of wins at parx where I got to meet forum member manu918.

I was as unstoppable as a dean youngblood penalty shot in 3-6 limit at Charles town and a final win at penn national would complete the biggest comeback since Andrew luck rallied the colts past the chiefs!!

month +41 (8-5)
year +1129 (50-32)
bonus ytd +90

[thaskalos]

not that it mattered here, but they both missed a bet there on the turn.

You can't fault the button for playing the hand the way he did...because the SB's check on the turn was suspicious. You lead for $50 on the flop...and then you check the turn when the eights pair? What can this mean? It's common knowledge that the suckers have a natural impulse to check when they hit a miracle card...and I think that's what happened here. The fourth eight shocked the SB...and he impulsively checked -- as all suckers would.

If I am the button, I suspect that the SB has an overpair or trip eights, so I can't bet the turn after he checks...because I don't want to betray the power of my OWN hand. I am not thinking about missed bets here; I am going after his entire stack.

Of course, in this hand...the hunter became the prey -- which often happens in no limit.

But I think that the button was the much-better player.

[tucker6]

You can't fault the button for playing the hand the way he did...because the SB's check on the turn was suspicious. You lead for $50 on the flop...and then you check the turn when the eights pair? What can this mean? It's common knowledge that the suckers have a natural impulse to check when they hit a miracle card...and I think that's what happened here. The fourth eight shocked the SB...and he impulsively checked -- as all suckers would.

If I am the button, I suspect that the SB has an overpair or trip eights, so I can't bet the turn after he checks...because I don't want to betray the power of my OWN hand. I am not thinking about missed bets here; I am going after his entire stack.

Of course, in this hand...the hunter became the prey -- which often happens in no limit.

But I think that the button was the much-better player.
The only fault you could lay on the button was not re-raising after the flop. That was his only opportunity to take down the pot without a fight and he simply called.

[proximity]

If I am the button, I suspect that the SB has an overpair or trip eights, so I can't bet the turn after he checks...because I don't want to betray the power of my OWN hand. I am not thinking about missed bets here; I am going after his entire stack..

if the sb didn't reraise an overpair to jj preflop or bet it on the turn why would you expect him to suddenly stack off with one playing 300-400 bb deep on the river? it just seems to me that the bottom/middle of his range is more likely to call a turn bet than a river bet and the top of his range is going to call anyhow??:confused:

[thaskalos]

The only fault you could lay on the button was not re-raising after the flop. That was his only opportunity to take down the pot without a fight and he simply called.

When you hold JJ and the flop comes J-8-4...that's as good as it gets. You are not looking to "take down the pot without a fight"...you are looking to disguise your hand...and build the pot as high as it will go. You try to take the pot down without a fight when your hand is speculative. Here...what do you fear on the turn that would cause you to try and take the pot down without a fight? In this case...you WELCOME a fight.

[thaskalos]

if the sb didn't reraise an overpair to jj preflop or bet it on the turn why would you expect him to suddenly stack off with one playing 300-400 bb deep on the river? it just seems to me that the bottom/middle of his range is more likely to call a turn bet than a river bet and the top of his range is going to call anyhow??:confused:

At this limit, people LOVE to slow-play a big pair out of position...and they'll even call a raise. Some players love trapping...and they don't mind missing the occasional bet. "Missing a bet" is primarily a limit-poker term anyway. In NL...there are certain situations where you don't mind missing a bet...because you can more than make it up on a later round.

The SB led out with a $60 bet on the flop...and then checked when the eights paired on the turn. What does he have? If he was the original raiser in this pot...then we could say that he held AK and was making a continuation bet on the flop. The Whizz said that there was a $25 preflop raise...but he didn't say who made it. Let's say that the SB raised to $25...and then led out with a $60 bet on the flop. Now he checks the turn when the eights pair...and we think he might have AK. What do WE do with JJ on the button...bet our Jacks-full and lose him...or give him the chance to hit his AK on the river? I would give him a free chance on the river.

The SB couldn't have a medium or a low pair in the hole...because such a hand would not warrant a $60 lead bet on the flop. When a player leads out on the flop, out of position...then the flop helped him...and you expect him to also lead out on the turn. What would possess you to bet $60 on the flop and then check the turn?

If I am the button, then I ask myself. Did the SB raise his OWN blind preflop. If the SB was the original raiser...then he could have AK, and he made a continuation bet on the flop. He didn't hit his hand on the turn...and now he is giving up on the pot. If I didn't hold a hand myself...then I try to take the pot away from him with a turn bet of my own. But with a full house...I give him his chance of hitting his AK on the river. If I bet the turn I lose him. I only gain by giving him his chance on the river.

If the SB WASN'T the original raiser preflop...then why did he lead out with a $60 bet on the flop out of position...against a raiser sitting behind him? And now he checks the turn when the board pairs? This is very suspicious...and would make me think that he has a strong hand...in which case, I disguise the strength of my OWN hand...so I check as well.

[proximity]

If the SB WASN'T the original raiser preflop...then why did he lead out with a $60 bet on the flop out of position...against a raiser sitting behind him? And now he checks the turn when the board pairs? This is very suspicious...and would make me think that he has a strong hand...in which case, I disguise the strength of my OWN hand...so I check as well.

this is how I viewed the hand and I agree that the turn check is at least somewhat suspicious. on the river though what hands are you expecting the small blind to stack off with? j-8? 4-4? they're almost 400bb deep here?

I don't see the small blind stacking off with your read of trips or an overpair. I do see him calling a turn bet and probably your river raise with these hands though and you winning more overall on the hand against these holdings. is this wrong?

[thaskalos]

this is how I viewed the hand and I agree that the turn check is at least somewhat suspicious. on the river though what hands are you expecting the small blind to stack off with? j-8? 4-4? they're almost 400bb deep here?

I don't see the small blind stacking off with your read of trips or an overpair. I do see him calling a turn bet and probably your river raise with these hands though and you winning more overall on the hand against these holdings. is this wrong?
I am driving in the rain.

We'll talk later. :)

[proximity]

I am driving in the rain.

We'll talk later. :)

raining here too, haha.

hope to be back at it tonight, but doing some racing first.

good luck to whizz and manu918 @ parx, btw!!

[tucker6]

When you hold JJ and the flop comes J-8-4...that's as good as it gets. You are not looking to "take down the pot without a fight"...you are looking to disguise your hand...and build the pot as high as it will go. You try to take the pot down without a fight when your hand is speculative. Here...what do you fear on the turn that would cause you to try and take the pot down without a fight? In this case...you WELCOME a fight.
I completely agree with you, and if I was the button, I would slow play the hand too. I was just saying that by not taking down the hand early, he played into a bad beat. That's the risk of slow playing a hand.

[proximity]

ok, after a big comeback to make july a profitable (but behind pace) month it was time to kickoff august with some 1-2 nl action at the racino.

but first I would stop in the clubhouse for a night of live racing and simulcasting. this was a disaster though as I got crushed on both live racing and almost every simulcast track the racino was showing. several wins at asd though (through my out of state aunt mildred's account of course) would make the night's losses "acceptable" enough to keep me from jumping off the top of the clubhouse and down to the poker room we would go!!

i'm like seven deep on the 1-2 nl waiting list and take a lap around the casino. I pass a couple fat middle aged guys in my travels that smell absolutely horrible. one eventually makes his way into the poker room..... fortunately he wasn't at my table.

you're going out in public to a casino. maybe it would be a good time for your monthly bath before leaving the house? maybe wear some clothes that have seen a washer and dryer at least once this century?

moving on, I start the month fast when after a few orbits I pick up aces on the button. I raise to $16 and get two or three callers. one player in middle position shoves for like $26 on a flop of a-j-x and (going for an overcall) I just call. the other player folds but I beat the bettor's a-6 and the poker is off to a good start.

unfortunately the lead wouldn't last. I raise a-q from the button and get check raised off a queen high flop on the turn. the lead is gone but i still have most of my first buy in. getting ground down though when i get a-q again on the button and opt to call a small raise from early position.

i call a bet on a safe looking a-q-6 flop and when the flop bettor bets $25 on the turn i shove all in for $28. in a vintage racino hand he has 6-6 and of course no ace or queen falls on the river. :bang:

my second buy in isn't going that great and when the game starts breaking up i get up and head for the exit before i crack and donk off the final $31.

tonight will be another game.

hopefully the cards will look better and the casino guests will smell better!! :faint:

game -89
year +1040 (50-33)

[proximity]

started off august on a losing note in our last report and would make a rare Saturday trip to the racino for this 1-2 nl game with hopes of notching our first win of the month.

first I surveyed the live racing scene with a rare trip to the paddock where I was treated to an up close glimpse of paceadvantage's favorite pen trainer and partnership manager!! I watched his charge rally for a solid 4th to keep the big purse $ coming in and it was off to the poker room.

i'd get off to a good start in this contest, raising a straddler:rolleyes: with pocket 9s and betting an 8 high flop when the straddler called and checked the flop. usually i can remember the details of the hands fairly well but i'm a little foggy on this one with regard to both the exact cards and the action. he may have check raised me when a 2 fell on the turn??

anyhow i didn't have too much behind and made the call. when another 8 fell on the river the villain tabled 2 something..... i couldn't tell whether he actually picked up two pair on the turn or just had a two and a gutshot? he had some ridiculous hand though and deserved to lose but i should have paid closer attention.

next i'd get in a real hand against a familiar foe: the exact same villain that hit the ace on the turn against me after i flopped a set of 10s maybe 2 weeks ago at penn national.

this time he would raise to $10 but i was in the blinds again and had pocket 10s yet again. i made the call and again flop a set of 10s on a j-t-x flop with two spades.

the flop was good for me but very wet with both straight and flush draws out there. i decided to check raise and did so when the bettor made it $20 and two players behind him folded. i raised to $60 and he called. a very safe looking 6 of hearts hit the turn and i shoved. the villain called and i tabled my 10s but as soon as they hit the table the dealer slammed down an ace of clubs on the river.

NOOOOOOOO. SAY IT ISN'T SO. ANOTHER SET OF 10S BEATEN BY THIS SAME PLAYER????

whew. fortunately, not this time as the villain flipped over pocket queens in frustration!!

this would put me up $170 or so early but that would be about the last thing i'd do in the game. before it was over i would crack and make one mistake, limping with k-q suited from under the gun. of course this wouldn't work out, but hey i deserved it.

the straddler from the pocket 9s hand raised to like $7 or so and several of us see a k-8-7 flop. i lead out for $25, a guy who is usually a pretty solid player calls, and the straddler raises to $60. this time i fold and the good player turns a straight to beat the straddler's 8-7. :rolleyes:

not my best hand there but a solid game overall as we get closer to next week's poker vacation to Maryland live! and Charles town!!

game +112
year +1152 (51-33)

[proximity]

back at penn national for one final session before my five day road trip to Maryland live! and Charles town.

not a lot going on in this one and found myself battling but down $8 about 4 hrs in with time running out. I raised ace-king from middle position and got calls from the button and small blind. I should have bet the 9-4-3 flop but I let it go to the button who tossed out $10. the small blind called and I called and was ready to give up on the hand when a jack fell on the turn that didn't improve my back door flush draw. but the button checked too and I hit my king on the river. the small blind bet and not sure what he would call my raise with and hoping for a possible overcall from the button, I just called. the button folded and ace-king was good!!

next up: Maryland live on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Charles town on Thursday and Friday!!

game +36
year +1188 (52-33)

[proximity]

and....we...are... off on a five day proximity poker tour vacation to Maryland and west Virginia!!

I leave Pennsylvania Monday morning and cross the mason Dixon line around 10:00 or so. as I approach the state fairgrounds site of the much anticipated late august Timonium race meet I see sign that says "have YOU considered light rail?"

"uhh? well no. I've only ever considered dark and heavy rail," i say to my dashboard. :rolleyes:

and soon after this (taking the proximity scenic route to mdlive!) i swing out onto I-70 west and come across another semi-famous sign:

COLUMBUS 420
ST LOUIS 845
DENVER 1700
COVE FORT 2200

and where exactly is cove fort?

Utah. literally the end of the road. final stop off I-70 west.

anyhow, enough sight seeing. we pull into mdlive! around 11:00 and jump in a 4-8 limit hold 'em game on table 17.

things start bad.

i'm folding everything but not long into the game flop a straight flush draw from the big blind vs a tremendous donkey i call "horshack" who we discussed in our last mdlive! report.

i river my straight but of course horshack had already hit 4s full of nines on the turn, playing 4-9 off suit. yes, the board was paired.... but trust me, horshack is sooooo bad that you just have to grit your teeth and power through such situations. you'll be right more often than not.

much more often.

continuing on things aren't going well. next another donkey from Charles town fills up against me with q-4 off suit.... and no, not from the blinds. we're about 5 hours in and I've already went through a rack of blue chips ($200).

i take a break to get some food and when i return to the table i pick up where i left off, losing with pocket kings.

i can't win a hand here today at mdlive!

but i do chop with several.

in one hand that sums up the frustrations of the day quite well, i flop a set with pocket aces...... BUT.... there are three spades on the board.

i bet and bet again when another spade hits the turn. i'm praying for the board to pair on the river, but yet another spade falls. :rolleyes:

i check and the lone remaining villain checks behind. he called my pre flop raise as well as flop and turn bets with ace-three off suit.... fortunately no three of spades :rolleyes: and we chop the pot.

signs, signs everywhere a sign on the way to mdlive! has turned into sighs, sighs everywhere a sigh on the way out. :bang:

game -268 (4/8 lim)
year +920 (52-34)
vacation -268 (0-1)

[Fwizard]

I gotta say this may be the most enjoyable thread on this board--no fighting and I Believe everyone looks forward to your posts and I also think we are all rooting for you to win....

[wiffleball whizz]

I gotta say this may be the most enjoyable thread on this board--no fighting and I Believe everyone looks forward to your posts and I also think we are all rooting for you to win....

Correct.....this thread is awesome!!!!

I'm even lucky enough to see it first hand playing and sometimes at work!!!!

He paints the picture perfectly

[proximity]

I gotta say this may be the most enjoyable thread on this board--no fighting and I Believe everyone looks forward to your posts and I also think we are all rooting for you to win....

thank you for reading and for the kind words, fwizard.

I've gotten so much from reading paceadvantage that I only hope to do my best to give back to the board with a quality thread.

right now i'm behind in my quest to reach my humble novice player goals but big games can happen and there is still a lot of poker to be played!!

thanks again!

[proximity]

Correct.....this thread is awesome!!!!

I'm even lucky enough to see it first hand playing and sometimes at work!!!!

He paints the picture perfectly

in the next game report you do come in to deal at my table and I don't mean to embarrass you but that doesn't deserve to be buried in some random post about some compulsive gambler grinding a 16 hour session at Maryland live! because you were definitely the BEST dealer I saw at Maryland live! (and there were several good ones) and probably the best on the whole freaking tour.

I hope readers here don't just brush my comments aside as being biased because you are a fellow paceadvantage member although I guess that is human nature. jesus said "no prophet is accepted in his own hometown." mark twain defined an expert as being "an ordinary fellow from another town." and will rogers said an expert was "a man from (at least) 50 miles away with a briefcase."

wiffleball whizz gets the cards out lightning fast and right on the spot and has total control of the table with the personality thrown in to add to the gambling experience. the best really is right here in our own backyard.

again I don't mean to embarrass you but you deserve to be recognized for the skill and effort you bring to the job. definitely signs of a quality human being. thank you and honorable mention to Sylvia at Maryland live! too: those little golden fingers really whipped out those cards. truly a pleasure to sit at your tables.

thank you!!

[wiffleball whizz]

Do we have a approximate time of details being released where our very own fellow poster as well as tournement director and timonium coordinator TRACK COLLECTOR made his presence felt at the table???,

Also looking forward to your description of that jack flush where people were swarming at every angle to beat you in the hand!!!!

This is the official poker thread

[proximity]

Do we have a approximate time of details being released where our very own fellow poster as well as tournement director and timonium coordinator TRACK COLLECTOR made his presence felt at the table???,


his presence felt, pun intended, lol.

since I can see this is going to be THE single most anticipated post in paceadvantage history....... :) :) :) :) :) :)

[Track Collector]

Do we have a approximate time of details being released where our very own fellow poster as well as tournement director and timonium coordinator TRACK COLLECTOR made his presence felt at the table???,

OK, where was the security leak? :)

I am not even close to the hand details and excellent commentary by proximity, but here goes.

First, while I have played poker and understand a lot of the basics, I had never played a single Texas Holdem game, not even casually in a home game. I did do a little research on the internet, and then watched some of the poker tables at Charles Town to make sure I understood the protocol. Finally, I spoke with proximity at length to make sure I was not missing anything really important, and I am very thankful for his guidance!

I arrived at CT early Thursday evening with the intention of playing about an hour, you know, just get my feet a little wet, then go on to play the races. I located the table proximity was playing at, engaged in some talk, then watched, and watched, and watched. I was too nervous to make the plunge, so I decided to try again after the races.

At about 11:00 p.m., I made the move. I was entered into a 1-2 no limit game. I bought $100 at the cage (I think $60 was the minimum buy-in) and decided I would play about an hour (if I had any chips left :)). I was nervous on the inside, but managed to keep it inside. I played VERY conservatively, mucking about 25 hands before I was dealt K-K. The flop was all over the place but fortunately had no aces. I checked or called the whole way until it was just me and one other player. Never showed his cards, but I'm thinking he never improved upon a mid-level pair. My first win!!! All the small calls of $2 by a number of players with no raises still made for a very nice pot, and now I am all but assured not tapping out that $100 starting bankroll.

Sometime later, I ended up having the inside card to complete a board straight, and was fortunate the last remaining player did not have a higher straight. Another win.

Then near the end of my planned length of play, I started out with J-J. Just small calls and no raises, which encouraged me to stay to the river, which ended with a J, giving me a set and my third win.

During the evening I only stayed in a few other hands where I could limp in as the big blind and get a "free" look at the flop. Never encountered improvement (or "enough" improvement) to call beyond that.

It was already about 30 minutes AFTER my wife expected me to return home, so a quickly texted her, then played another 2 times thru having the big blind, then went to the cage to cash out. The net for the day was +175. I recognize that future games would include more difficult (and losing) situations, so I felt fortunate for the result.

I then decided I would enjoy my very first hold-em experience, and perhaps not play again for several weeks.

[Track Collector]

That didn't last long. :lol:

Unbeknown to anyone, my second-ever hold-em game came just two days later on Saturday between the races.

After about a 20 minute wait, they put together a new table for 1/2 no-limit players.

I played about 90 minutes, again being very conservative. This time though there was a little more aggression, with 2 different players employing some raises to push out fellow competitors. About 50 minutes in (it was actually a slow playing table), I found A-A in my possession. I called the $2 and was delighted to see an A on the flop. I checked as did a few other players, only to have an asian woman (one of the two previously noted "bully" raisers) first bet $10. I of course called. Since I was the first to act, I would first check. She bet $15 after the turn, then $25 after river. No full house would appear, but I noticed that the community cards would not support any straights or flushes. Since she "seemed" intent on pushing me off my hand (like she had successfully done to a couple of other players earlier in the game), I checked after the river, then re-raised her $25 bet with an all-in when I knew I had the "nuts".

My only win, but it was +80 when all said and done.

Again I felt somewhat fortunate as one can play for hours and not get any good hands, or have the few that you do receive get beat by better hand. Perhaps after another 50 to 100 sessions will I know if I can hold my own or not.

[proximity]

..... then re-raised her $25 bet with an all-in when I knew I had the "nuts".


yesssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!

great job and great, well written reports.

only missing one thing:

game +80
year +255 (2-0) :)

ps... welcome to the table!!:ThmbUp:

[thaskalos]

They must be giving money away at CT. :)

[proximity]

They must be giving money away at CT. :)

we're trying to lure you to come east with these posts.:D

[proximity]

back for day number two of our five day md/wva poker vacation!!

special thanks to the Homewood suites of Arundel mills for taking me in at a very low rate and for the two free slots vouchers which I went 2-0 and exactly covered the cost of the two nights with!! great place to stay for anyone visiting Maryland live!! :ThmbUp:

we kickoff today's 4-8 limit hold 'em action about 1:00 and stay until 5:00..... am.

1:00 let the games begin!! :)

1:37 another great start. already down $50. :rolleyes:

1:52 actually win a hand!! :eek:

2:30 start a run with back to back winning hands!! forge to about a $170 lead and am about to make up yesterday's losses and then some when I turn broadway in a HUGE pot. but the card that hit me was a club and a third club falls on the river giving a villain a backdoor flush.

3:00 still nursing like a $100 lead.

4-5:00 hanging on, but miserable. the game itself is hanging on and miserable too. we're playing shorthanded and the game almost breaks several times but survives.

7-8:00 brutally beaten by construction foreman lady from caddyshack 2. she almost taps out like five times but then hits her "all-ins" against me..... every time. in a hand that pretty much sums up the hour I limp with a-j and almost everyone folds. she raises from the bb and I call. j-2-x flop. x turn. ace on the river. she raised preflop with pocket 2s and hits the set while I flop top pair and go on to river two pair. rinse and repeat for the entire hour.

9:00 after getting crushed yesterday i'm now all in with a weak top pair ace from the big blind...... but I showdown the river against a kid that has absolutely NOTHING :rolleyes: and stay "alive" with the buy in.

10:00 a character named "truck driver" (although apparently nobody has ever seen the truck) is lingering around the table..... quietly, although there's been talk of his "big mouth" never shutting up at the tables.

12:00 the table is getting short again. i'm battling long duk dong from sixteen candles, a trio of gypsy sisters, and the delivery guy from the miller high life commercials.

12:27 sitting at -50 again after losing twice with ace king to long duk dong.

1:00 put a bad beat on miller high life delivery guy with q-5 from the bb. he led out from the sb on a queen high flop and I raised. this slowed him down on the turn. he checked and I checked back and hit a five on the river for two pair. he checked that card and I bet with my two pair winning the pot.

1:05 table breaks and I move to table 16. it's diversity central here at mdlive!. i'm not at penn national battling luke, bo, enos, roscoe and uncle jesse. I am facing several celebrity lookalikes though. moving in and out of the game we have music star usher, colts hero #87 reggie wayne, reggie Wayne's girlfriend, a gypsy husband, truck driver, a couple bloods, a crip or two, some latin kings, and an Antonio esfandiari poker wizard nerd wearing what looked like the banana knish wore to the rounders taj game before it started to ripen.

2:00 can barely get a hand to play here, let alone win a hand. poker wizard nerd is showing a complete lack of self awareness and is criticizing the play of reggie wayne and truck driver's mouth is motoring on.

2:10 maybe too aggressive but I limp early with t9 diamonds. of course my vpip is in the single digits at the table while everyone else (except the sklansky disciple in the green banana) is at like....oh... 100%. :rolleyes:

2:11 k-q-j flop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2:12 ten on the turn. :mad: usher leads out. like almost the whole table is behind me. It's going to cost at least $16 to see the ace. at least. I have to be beat. I fold.

2:13 blank on the river. usher's set of queens takes down the pot over the other remaining players. :bang: :bang: :bang: :bang: :bang: :bang:

2:14 I punch the wall by the cage at mdlive! pulling back just enough so that my fist doesn't bash a hole in it and I can still use my $1 an hour comps.

2:15 actually sit down and laugh about it with some of the bloods and crips. truck driver never would have folded that nine though. of course he's all in by the turn on like half the hands he plays anyhow, so..... :rolleyes:

2:30 finally win a hand, but it's a small one so.....

2:45 rebuy for the second consecutive session at mdlive! :mad:

3:00 flop a set of 6s vs poker wizard who is being aggressive with me from the blinds. 6-4-2 flop.... did he really hit the straight.

3:01 six on river for quads!!!! (pw says he had 2s)

4:00 truck driver's woman left him because he wasn't "delivering the goods" so to speak. we appreciate the honesty.... I guess. :rolleyes:

4:45 a new dealer comes in vowing to "run this game with an iron fist." :D

4:55 playing the category 4 (?) sklansky hand j-9 suited whizz deals me a flush!!!

5:10 down only $24 but want to get at least some sleep at the Homewood suites. no mas. :sleeping: :sleeping: :sleeping: :sleeping: :sleeping: :sleeping: :sleeping: :sleeping: :sleeping:

game -24
year +896 (52-35)
vacation -292 (0-2)

[proximity]

after starting our trip 0-2 I get up late Wednesday morning to check out of Homewood suites. I miss the free breakfast but sit down at a nearby denny's to relax over a grand slam and a pot of coffee before heading back over to Maryland live! for day number three of our trip.

1:00 begin 4-8 limit hold 'em game at table 1. tough table for Maryland live! with several competitive players.

2:05 a lady three seats to my right gets mauled twice within one orbit around the table. she loses set over set (4s vs js) and then rivers a set of aces against a guy with quad 4s. I've been cursing my luck, but what a brutal run of cards for her.

2:29 get quad 4s myself!! +57

2:46 girl to my left flops a flush and a royal draw with ah-kh. there is like a $500 bonus for royals. she checks the flop but bets the turn. there isn't enough $ in this pot to chase and I fold the missing ten of hearts face up.
"sorry to break your,...... heart," I joke.

3:34 lose three times to a donkey. tell the dealer that I want to burn (md) live! down. "wait until October," he responds. "I may not be able to afford the matches by then," I joke. -73

3:49 on a huge tv behind the table we're watching people ski down an almost vertical hill on what must be like espn 9 or something. a girl to my right asks, "what's that thing on their backs?"

because the hill is sooo ridiculously steep I joke that "it should be a parachute."

3:55 lose with pocket 10s and announce that i'd rather ski down that hill backwards than play a big pair at Maryland live!.

4:30 after dealing me two sets on his down, dealer Gregory leaps over ww in my mdl! dealer rankings. (he is in a "league" of his own, ha ha) the second set actually fills up on the turn to deal another heart break to the girl on my left who had again flopped an ace high flush.

5:00-9:00 doing a great invisible man impersonation. it's like i'm not even in the game.

9:00-10:00 get the cards I wished for from 5-9 and get crushed. i develop a new appreciation for "invisible man" poker.

12:00 game breaks and i have to drive over to Charles town but i have too much pride to lose again at mdlive! and move upstairs to table 46.

table 46: (1) folding everything but eventually play k-j and hit top pair but old lady on my right runs me down with a gutshot. :rolleyes:

(2) in an incredible hand from the bb where almost the entire table folded pre flop, i flop a flush draw with t2 diamonds. i lead out on a 6-6-q flop with two diamonds and both players call. i check the turn and the button checks behind. i miss again on the river and the old lady checks the small blind. i fire out my bluff of the week and fold out the button who was drawing to a straight (although there was no straight draw, lol). the old lady calls though with ace high and takes it down. :rolleyes: she called me with my single digit vpip but wouldn't have called the button with his almost every hand vpip??? i'd tell you why but i might have to change my screen name to "proximity on the bay." :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :faint:
(3) tap out after flopping top pair and a flush draw. two players go runner, runner to hit backdoor straights. :faint: good night!!

game -200
year +696 (52-36)
vacation -492 (0-3) :mad:

[proximity]

after a nightmare of a "vacation" to Maryland live! I wake up Thursday morning in Charles town and wonder if i'd died and gone to heaven?

the morning sun is peaking through the curtains of rm 519 of the Hampton inn and suites and when I open them all the way I am greeted by a tremendous view of the historic bullring, the barns, and the remains of former sister track Shenandoah downs!!

i catch some brunch at the nearby ihop and return to the hotel where i call p.a. member track collector who will be visiting the track later in the day and is interested in trying his hand at poker!!

eventually i head over to the racino and sit down at a 1-2 no limit game.

after two early wins with a-k it doesn't take long for bad luck to find me. i raise with pocket queens and receive a call from a player to my right. i bet $20 on a flop of all low cards and he shoves for $29. i call the extra $9 and he doesn't like what he sees when i table the queens.

"i didn't expect that," he says, adding, "i need a king."

he flips over king-queen and of course hits the king on the river. :rolleyes:

eventually i get ground down and rebuy for $100 this time.

track collector shows up around 6:00 and brings good luck as i flop a full house with pocket 7s (7-2-2) as soon as he walks up to the table. :D

a villain from the blinds has a 2 and pays me off, but this game isn't going well for me. over the hours i lose with every big pair except aces.... which (maybe fortunately:rolleyes: ) i never get dealt.

eventually i raise with tt and get a caller from early position. i shove on a flop of 7-x-x and the villain calls. he called my raise (from out of position again) with j-7 and has flopped top pair.

but no worries, the board runs out j-j to fill him up. :faint:

what a sick joke this vacation has turned into.

somehow i scrape together $60 for a rebuy and rally hitting two pair with q-j suited from the button and finally winning a hand with a-k after four consecutive losses with "big slick" during the middle of the game.

meanwhile, track collector is rolling!!

he hits a 4 digit pick 4 over at live racing and after watching a few more hands at my table, he jumps right into the deep end, debuting in 1-2 no limit at the table beside me where he crushed for a $175 win. the score moves his lifetime mark to 1-0!!!!!!!!

over at my table it is getting late. i'd love to lose with aces and "hit for the cycle" so to speak :rolleyes: but this trip has been a nightmare and i'm just drained. i don't know why i can't beat donkeys at Charles town anymore, but i just can't. i drop $59 but after losing with kk, qq, jj, tt twice, and ak 4 times i must say that i was proud to still be hanging in there at the end.

tomorrow we will wrap up our md/wva poker vacation!!

game -59
year +637 (52-37)
vacation -551 (0-4)

[proximity]

between losing with big pairs and ace-king in our last game I spent most of the 10+ hour session sitting between two fellow Pennsylvania players. one was wearing new York giants apparel from pretty much head to toe and he explained to us that his son actually works for the giants. the man seemed to have a really good knowledge of football and after a couple hours tapped me on the shoulder and pointed out a guy walking by the poker room that you could have passed in the casino without giving a second thought.

"see that guy?" he said, pointing.

"at one time he was the fastest guy in the nfl!!"

that guy was Charles town native james jett a 1992 Olympic gold medalist (4X100m relay) and a wide receiver for 9 seasons with the raiders!!

30 career touchdowns!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLYR-wgeBTw

we have met the fastest man in Charles town history and in our next post we will meet the fastest horse!!

[proximity]

in our last post we met the fastest man in Charles town history, and now it is time to meet the fastest horse!!

in over 80 years of racing at Charles town no horse has stopped the timer faster (50.09) over the track's signature 4 1/2 furlong distance!!

he has won 17 races and over a million dollars lifetime including at least 9 wins (mostly stakes) at Charles town!!

introducing IMMORTAL EYES!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmJNeJ0rdoU

immortal eyes wouldn't win the Maryland sprint handicap on the day of this 2013 video but would go on to win both the mr prospector and teddy drone at Monmouth park before finishing out 2013 with a win in the de francis dash at laurel where he stopped the clock in 108 2/5 with a 108 beyer!!

like buddy revel in the 1980s movie three o'clock high, the trainer's wife Christina dilodovico explains that immortal eyes is a touch freak.... he doesn't like to be touched. mrs dilodovico goes on to explain that "he doesn't like people."

but fans of Charles town racing sure like him and there is now a framed immortal eyes winner's circle photo and result chart on a pole between the program stand and tellers in the main racing section at Charles town.

mrs dilodovico explains that immortal eyes can't read morning line odds, but if he can read paceadvantage i'd like to say one thing: thanks for the memories!!

[proximity]

woke up late on the final morning of our five day poker vacation to Maryland and west Virginia. after grabbing some late breakfast at the ihop again it was time to head over to the track and casino.

for players coming to Charles town from the west, construction on flowing springs road is finally finished and they've done a really good job on this. the new road runs right by the Shenandoah training track with nice sidewalks and street lights lining the road.

I start out in a 1/2 no limit game but am on the list for my traditional Charles town game 3/6 limit. with new casinos coming to Baltimore (horseshoe on august 26) who knows if the 3/6 game will survive? with its history, tradition, and scenery Charles town could still be a great gambling destination but the way pen gaming management treats the players will ruin any chances of that.

pen gaming casinos have the highest poker rake in the area and offer zero comps to the players. one player on my trip to Maryland live! mocked Charles town saying, "i'm playing in a casino.... I should be getting comps."

and it is that simple. no respect for the horseplayers and no respect for the poker players. places like pen and ct could be the best places to gamble in the area, but instead they are the worst. sad really.

anyhow in this brief game I'm patiently folding rags but eventually make a raise with a-k. despite my tight play, several players call this raise but fold when I shove all in on an ace high flop. later I raise aces from the big blind but don't get any callers.

there was a lot of curious play to my left. in one hand a player two seats to my left raised pre flop and built up a pretty big pot vs the player to his immediate left. the board ran out a-j-x-a-j and the pre flop raiser checked the river. the other player bet and the raiser paused and shoved for like $15-20 more...... folding out the river bettor. the preflop raiser then tabled pocked 10s in a vintage Charles town hand. :faint:

not a lot of action for me, but I at least get to experience a winning game on the vacation!!

game +46
year +683 (53-37)
vacation -505 (1-4)

[proximity]

back at Charles town for the final game of our vacation. in this contest I sit down for a session of 3/6 limit hold 'em. I've always enjoyed this game at Charles town but like I said in our last report, I don't know how much longer it will survive as the game continues to expand in the Baltimore and Washington area.

unfortunately I start bad in this game, falling behind almost $100.

and there is more bad news as the game gets tougher and tougher as the day gives way to night. despite my poor start and the dearth of weak players the game is relaxing and enjoyable. there is good "local" poker conversation covering a notorious slow roller, Maryland live, "truck driver," and taj mahal.

at around 10:00 a dealer named mike comes in to deal and I have a chance to come back. i get pocket kings, tens, and jacks on consecutive hands. i get lucky with the kings cracking another player's aces when i hit a set on the flop and turn quads. the jacks win too, but unfortunately the dimes get run down on the river.

the player with the cracked aces was having terrible luck. in another hand he hits two pair but loses to a gutshot. in yet another hand he flops a set of 3s vs pocket kings, but a king comes on the turn. finally he has kings and raises. i call with 5-4 suited from the big blind and flop two pair against him..... but another player takes the pot with a straight on the river.

in the end i drop $66 in possibly one of my final limit hold em games at Charles town. i finish the vacation 1-5 with $571 of losses. it's a quiet trip home but on the way back i hear a chris ledoux song called cowboy up that is germane to the situation:

you've got to cowboy up
when you get throwed down
get right back in the saddle
as soon as you hit the ground
you've heard that the tough get going
when the going gets tough
around here what we say is
boy you've gotta cowboy up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DUG5mL7seg

game -66 (3/6 lim)
year +617 (53-38)
vacation -571 (1-5):mad:

[proximity]

after a relaxing 1-5 poker "vacation" where i lost $571 (almost half of my yearly winnings) i returned to penn national for another round of ponies and poker.

it's deja vu all over again on the horses as i again win at asd and lose almost everywhere else.

i do get off to a quick start though on poker, winning a pot with pocket queens.

the lead was short lived though.

a few orbits pass and i'm dealt pocket jacks from the big blind in a straddled pot. there are several limpers and i raise to $22.

everyone folds except the small blind.... who shoves all in.

"you're really going to risk letting four players see a flop from out of position with a hand that beats pocket jacks?" i'm thinking, although i know that two wrongs don't make a right and i should just throw this hand in the muck.

i make the call though and the small blind does indeed have pocket aces.

he deserves to lose for trying to limp with the hand but like clint said in the town of big whiskey, "deserves got nothing to do with it."

no jack falls, i'm tired, and poker isn't fun anymore.

i decide not to throw gas on the fire and head for the exit.

and a quick exit it was.

game -60
year +557 (53-39)

[proximity]

what kind of an idiot plans his whole vacation around poker, goes 1-5 with hundreds of dollars of losses, and comes home and stacks off pre flop with pocket jacks? :bang:

it was time for another poker vacation, or shall we say a vacation from poker.

so a whole 8 days of relaxation away from cards but i'm never going to reach my humble poker goals sitting on the sidelines so tonight it was back to the racino felt for some 1-2 nl hold 'em.

I played pretty well in this game but was really card dead for the most part. i fell behind early after missing with pocket 10s and checked an a-k-k flop with a-5 diamonds from the big blind. the flop checked around and the turn brought a 4th diamond (the 4). i lead out for $8 on the turn and receive a pair of calls. another 4 falls on the river and i led out for $15. this was probably a mistake and i almost immediately regretted it when the next player to act raised me to $22.

but he just put the $22 over the line..... the raise was 50cents short and i made the dealer make it just be a call. from a distance it would have been an easy fold for my final $15 but in the emotion of the moment i can't say i wouldn't have called. of course the villain had a slow played k-j and i just had to roll my eyes thinking "if i slow play trips, there's no way the diamond or ace doesn't fall on the river.... NO WAY!!"

anyhow i'm leaving early Friday morning for the big TIMONIUM meet at the Maryland state fair so it was a one buy in limit. the faulty raise saved me and i would soon take advantage of my good fortune by calling a $27 all in with my remaining $15..... putting me all in too. a third player joined the party and my ace-king held off a-q and a-j when all low cards fell on the board!!

i could never get ahead though but would move close late when i flopped a set of 10s vs pocket kings. after this though it was back to jack rag off suit and shortly after the four hour mark i decided to call it. unfortunately it would be loss number 40 on the year. :ThmbDown:

game -26
year +531 (53-40)

[proximity]

it seems like august has been dragging on forever and it hasn't been a pleasant experience. try to go on a poker vacation and lose every day. can only win at Canadian tracks on the horses. come back to the racino and pick up where I left off in Maryland. card dead and losing. lose, lose, lose, lose......

the rest of my life is going terrible and I go to the racino and can barely get a hand. other people make it look so easy. deep down I know it isn't easy and that i'm actually the one with a $531 lead on the year but my peak of over $1300 leaving Borgata in February (?) is just a tiny speck now in the rearview mirror of this tour.

I have to guard against feeling that i'm entitled to win again and by "again" I mean EVER again. smartly I've withdrawn some and have been playing it slow but we are on a poker tour here and tonight I finally return to the felt.

we start out bad with one of my worst hands of the year in my very first hand of the game when I stack off with top pair, mediocre kicker vs an admittedly loose player. overall though a pathetic hand.

you have nothing in your life but discipline and now you want to throw that away too proximity????:bang:

anyhow I quickly regroup and play solid poker from this point on.

but it wouldn't matter as hardly get a hand and miss the flop by a mile when I do. after losing with another top pair hand flopped from the blinds I add the last $20 in my wallet to my stack.

but that doesn't help and i'm still waiting for my first winning hand when i'm down to $18 and get a-q in late position. I raise several limpers to $8 and four of us see a flop of q-j-6.

I shove all in for my final $10 when the betting is checked to me an one player calls from early position with pocket 8s!!

jack on the turn, 8 on the river. :faint:

I exit the game WITHOUT WINNING A SINGLE HAND and take a lap around the casino. I shouldn't have done this though because I see only happy people with careers, relationships, and friends having fun on a late summer night.

I should have stayed home and watched the Phillies lose again to the cruddy mets. how do you lose to the mets?:bang:

game -140
year +391 (53-41)

[thaskalos]

it seems like august has been dragging on forever and it hasn't been a pleasant experience. try to go on a poker vacation and lose every day. can only win at Canadian tracks on the horses. come back to the racino and pick up where I left off in Maryland. card dead and losing. lose, lose, lose, lose......

the rest of my life is going terrible and I go to the racino and can barely get a hand. other people make it look so easy. deep down I know it isn't easy and that i'm actually the one with a $531 lead on the year but my peak of over $1300 leaving Borgata in February (?) is just a tiny speck now in the rearview mirror of this tour.

I have to guard against feeling that i'm entitled to win again and by "again" I mean EVER again. smartly I've withdrawn some and have been playing it slow but we are on a poker tour here and tonight I finally return to the felt.

we start out bad with one of my worst hands of the year in my very first hand of the game when I stack off with top pair, mediocre kicker vs an admittedly loose player. overall though a pathetic hand.

you have nothing in your life but discipline and now you want to throw that away too proximity????:bang:

anyhow I quickly regroup and play solid poker from this point on.

but it wouldn't matter as hardly get a hand and miss the flop by a mile when I do. after losing with another top pair hand flopped from the blinds I add the last $20 in my wallet to my stack.

but that doesn't help and i'm still waiting for my first winning hand when i'm down to $18 and get a-q in late position. I raise several limpers to $8 and four of us see a flop of q-j-6.

I shove all in for my final $10 when the betting is checked to me an one player calls from early position with pocket 8s!!

jack on the turn, 8 on the river. :faint:

I exit the game WITHOUT WINNING A SINGLE HAND and take a lap around the casino. I shouldn't have done this though because I see only happy people with careers, relationships, and friends having fun on a late summer night.

I should have stayed home and watched the Phillies lose again to the cruddy mets. how do you lose to the mets?:bang:

game -140
year +391 (53-41)

Your poker-playing might have hit a snag...but your writing has improved by leaps and bounds. :ThmbUp:

[wiffleball whizz]

Your poker-playing might have hit a snag...but your writing has improved by leaps and bounds. :ThmbUp:

The writing in unreal to be honest!!!!

[ctownraces@bp]

The writing in unreal to be honest!!!!


I agree its been my favorite thread to read on pace ad. by far

[proximity]

thank you to thaskalos, wiffleball whizz, and ctownraces@bp (ctownraces@bp) for your positive comments about the writing and the thread.

I only started playing poker at all just a few years ago and this is my first year of "documented" play. so there is uncertainty and to be frank, at times a lot of anxiety about how things will turn out..... especially as I begin to fall farther and farther behind pace in trying to meet my profit goal for the year.

we still have 4 months of tour left so right now I just need to keep calm and prepare to dig in and battle when I get to the casinos.

sigh....:)

[proximity]

was at Timonium yesterday in the simulcast room when wiffleball whizz keenly observed that one of my favorite casinos, showboat atlantic city, was in its final moments. and indeed at 4:00 sunday afternoon everyone was kicked out, the doors were locked, and the lights were turned off. :(

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2014/08/showboat_casino_closes_doors_as_atlantic_city_gamb ling_market_tightens.html

[proximity]

the bad news continues here in august. getting crushed on the felt and now this showboat closing. it isn't just sad because I enjoyed playing, staying, and eating there but here on our tour showboat ac was the one place that NEVER let us down....

post.....result......comment

150..... +21....... the highs and lows of mr Caesar's palace
162..... +75....... ten on the turn for a very lucky broadway straight!! (whew)
217..... +33....... 2/4 limit bluff vs drunk lady
260......+72....... aggressive Elton and big al, the "re-opener"
267......+110...... happy ending!!

total..... +311 (5-0)

THANK YOU SHOWBOAT!!

[proximity]

first, i'd like to say good luck to the showboat staff and hope that they can quickly find new jobs and move on with their lives. the ppt's thoughts and prayers are with you in this trying time.

my favorite dealer there was probably soraya who would always sport her troy polamalu jersey on fall sundays. she also played horses and I remember watching orb win the 2013 derby in the poker room with her. if she had a bob sanders jersey she would have been perfect!!

the 2-4 "pro" mentioned in the nj.com article I posted was a great choice as "trouble" was synonymous with the showboat poker room. there weren't too many trips to showboat when I didn't see her in the card room. I remember whizz saying "that girl plays her butt off," but I always had her number. she may have won one or two showdowns against me in my showboat career. my presence was always troubling to her. :D

my favorite memory was probably a trip about a year ago when I took my dad along. I went back and forth between showboat and revel and was undefeated on the trip. I even got dad in a 2-4 game and laugh when I think about a river with me, dad, and an older man to my left. I was running over the table, getting a-k like every other hand and hitting the flop EVERY time. and this old man was incredibly tight and might have struggled to call with the second nuts if I bet into him. anyhow we come to a river where, for once in the game, I have nothing. I've never been so sure a player would fold to a bet though in my life and fire out $4, knowing our proximity family would be a virtual lock to take down the pot. sure enough, the old man folded and dad was struggling so badly ("what do you have proximity...") that I was actually rooting for him to make the call.

he folded though and after that night sometimes at showboat i'd think about the hand where I bluffed the old man and the old man. :D

not all of the memories were good though like the night I was getting destroyed on blackjack and surveillance still busted me for wrongly collecting a $10 miss-payment. (yes ten, one zero):faint:

i'll miss the breakfast smoothies and scrambled eggs at crossroads at house of blues and the delicious holiday turkey sandwiches from earl of sandwich.

sorry for rambling about da boat, but it was one of my favorite poker destinations and it will be missed but not forgotten.

rest in peace. :(

[proximity]

after Sunday's 9th race at Timonium i decided to make a trip into the city of Baltimore to sample the action at the brand new horseshoe casino!!

http://www.caesars.com/Baltimore/

the horseshoe was very easy to get to and i parked up on level 6 of their garage and had a great view of m&t bank stadium, home to the nfl's ravens.

i walked around the top floor of the casino and found the poker room where i signed up for a 3/6 limit game hoping to put an end to my recent losing streak.

the room is 25 tables and is has a world series of poker theme like the new room at bally's atlantic city. the cage was a little slow or understaffed and the front lobby area could use some couches or chairs for waiting players but overall they were doing well for a room that has only been open a couple days.

i start playing around 6:00 and not long after that run into my first tough hand, flopping top pair with j-2 from the big blind. i check and fold after there is a bet and 3-4 calls behind me. of course j-2 was tons the best and i just roll my eyes, take a deep breath, and move on. :rolleyes:

i really struggle in the first hour. i order a coke that comes in a nice glass (like Borgata) but is incredibly watered down. i ask if i can get another one and the second coke is almost the opposite. two cokes, two dollar tips, and two terrible sips. another player warns me about the hot chocolate which he says tasted like "muddy river water" but says the coffee was ok.

i stick with coffee the rest of the night. :D

meanwhile, i'm not doing much better on the table.

a new player accidentally raises with j-7 and the strict dealer rules that the raise must stand. it's ok with me and i reraise to $9 with kk.

you know the rest. seven high flop and seven on the turn. :bang:

that would be the low point though as i'd come back to win with jacks, kings, and aces winning a big hand over a villain's queens!!

around 11:20 i'd drop one final frustrating hand. facing a raise with pocket queens i reraise to $9. a guy cold calls the raise with a-7 off, the original raiser calls with a-x, another player calls with a-3.

ace on the flop......:faint:

overall though a solid debut at horseshoe Baltimore!!:)

game +131 (3/6 limit)
year +522 (54-41)

[tucker6]

nice start to Sept Proximity

[proximity]

nice start to Sept Proximity

the horseshoe game was still august.

how are you doing? how was the ohio trip? did you get to play??????

[proximity]

august was a long, long, long, long month.

building on some late july momentum, i'd start by going 2 for 3 with $59 of profits at the penn national racino before coming up with a brilliant plan to go on a five day poker vacation to Maryland live! and Charles town.

unfortunately the "vacation" isn't very relaxing as I get crushed at Maryland live! before moving on to Charles town, where I do get to experience an actual winning session but still manage to lose overall.

back at penn national I play a couple bad hands and lose three more sessions before finishing strong in my first appearance at horseshoe Baltimore.

the month seemed to drag on forever and was very demoralizing but I have to put it all behind me and, as the late chris ledoux might say, "cowboy up."

month -607 (4-9)
year +522 (54-41)
bonus ytd +90

[proximity]

jan. 6-6. +107
feb. 10-1. +1176
mar. 5-6. -677
apr. 3-7. -496
may. 9-3. +415
jun. 9-4. +563
jul. 8-5. +41
aug. 4-9. -607

[tucker6]

the horseshoe game was still august.

how are you doing? how was the ohio trip? did you get to play??????posting less because I'm really busy these days. Ohio trip was business, so got in and out too fast to play. Will be in Vegas in a couple weeks and will play then. Keep at it Proximity. You're still up for the year, and you have four months left to reach your goal.

[proximity]

after a disastrous august, we move on to september with hopes reversing our recent bad fortunes.

we kickoff the month with a trip to sands casino in bethlehem, pa where we sit down in a game of 3-6 limit hold 'em.

after a slow start i battle back to within $3 of even and am about to move ahead with pocket 8s on a j-8-6 rainbow flop. i bet the flop, turn, and river and can't shake a woman at the far end of the table. the board runs out 3c 2c and i figure i'm 100% when she just calls the river but after i table the 8s she flips over Tc 7c. she has called the whole way with a gutshot straight draw and ends up with a backdoor flush. :bang:

i have no idea why she didn't raise the river? i guess she thought i was betting out in anticipation of hitting a higher backdoor flush? :rolleyes:

moving on, i'm not winning any hands but lead out with a-j on another jack high flop. of course the other three players in the hand all hit the flop too :rolleyes: ..... this is how bad these people are.

the board runs out 4-x with me leading the betting again without ever getting raised. i figure a-j is probably good here but my neighbor flips over pocket 4s..... calling the flop with only an under pair to the board and hitting the longshot. :mad:

i didn't attack or criticize the villain or his play directly but this time i do lose composure and blurt out an expletive which i believe does lead to him racking up within an orbit or two. he tries to "defend" himself by saying he had to calculate whether there would be $50 in the pot :confused: ...... well, there wasn't and i don't think there was in the end either but even if there was YOU'RE STILL NOT GETTING THE PRICE TO CALL WITH A TWO OUTER YOU *&^%$#@ MORON i'm thinking while silently stewing in my chair.

those of you still reading our poker tour blog may note that these ridiculous longshots hit against me almost every time i go into a card room now. even when i won at horseshoe i couldn't even order a coke in two tries and then have to overcome outrageous hands like the j-7 "accidental raise" vs kk hand. :bang: :bang: :bang:

back at sands, we're not getting many hands and the ones we are getting are missing the flop by a country mile. we can't blame the rake, dealer tip, and bad beat because only players who actually WIN pots have to pay those. and even the zombies i'm playing here at the sands are smart enough to count the number of pots i've been pushed. they can count that number without going to their toes. what a sick joke this tour has turned into. :mad:

towards the end a limit hold 'em hyper lag in a mets :mad: hat sits down to my right. this is actually good because i can reraise to $9 when i get a hand but of course this never happens.

one hand i call this donkey's raise with a-9 from the button. normally this isn't a hand i like to play, but the table is a little short at this point and of course a-9 is ahead of his range.

naturally though with my luck, he has a-j this time although we're headed for a chop on a board of a-8-8-k until a jack falls on the river. when it rains, it pours.

in another hand against this clown i have a-j and pick up an ace on the turn after a flop that has been checked around. the ace, however, gives bozo a gutshot straight draw with 2-5 off suit.

i fire out a bet of $6. einstein eyes the nine or ten dollars laying in the pot, calculates that he's getting his price and makes the call, naturally hitting his gutshot on the river in yet another beautiful hand. :rolleyes:

finally at the bitter end i turn a straight, but a villain at the other end of the table rivers a boat.

seven hours of pure misery. :)

game -300 (3/6 lim)
year +222 (54-42)

[tucker6]

well that was just a nasty read there fella. Not much more to say. A ton of bad beats sprinkled in that blog report. Keep your chin up.

[wiffleball whizz]

-300 in 3/6...........I've accomplished this many times in my life I lost 575 playing 3/6 at the taj....those $18s and 12s add up fast

[proximity]

can't break out of this losing streak but was able to get some $ together to play this weekend and we'd start with another session of 1-2 nl hold 'em at the penn national racino.

truth be told I was just looking to win a couple pots in this one and book a quick win to maybe swing some momentum back in my favor.

and of course the ss minnow was just supposed to sail on a three hour tour. :rolleyes:

i'm not getting a lot early in this one (as usual) but note that the table is pretty passive and take a couple chances for $2 with some hands i'd usually prefer to play in later position.

just a couple hands though, overall i'm playing pretty tight. with one of the hands though (jc tc) I limp and flop the bottom end of an open ended straight draw. a girl at the other end of the table fires out one of her $2 bets and me and pretty much the rest of the table call. on the turn I hit my jack and she fires out another $2, stringing me along. no ace, nine, or jack on the river though and her top pair holds up.

shortly after this hand the same villain leads out for $7 and I'm looking down at QQ. call, call, call, raise to $25 (loose player, doing all the raising) and I shove all in for $47.

miss two dollars is hesitant to call, but does and it's fold,fold, fold behind her until it comes to mr frequent raiser who is also hesitant to call. with all the hesitation I sense i'm best here with my queens and for a brief second I am until the dealer puts out an A-X-X flop.

miss two dollars' A-K takes down the pot over mr frequent raiser's J-J and I rebuy.

of course the rebuy is going about as smoothly as a root canal from a first year dental student. i'm able to limp and see flops with several low-middle pairs but miss the flop every time. on one hand I fire out a raise with a-q but miss the flop completely.

down to $31 I crack and limp with q-9 from the button.

on a 9-7-3 flop a new player from utg+1 who has already contributed more handle to the game in the half orbit he's been there than I have in my entire 2 hours fires out $20 and it folds to me and my $31.

I've already discerned that this guy's range is about as wide as the grand canyon but narrow him down to a-9, t-9, and 9-8. i'm beating two of these hands but still have an uneasy feeling.

I shove in the $31 and mr grand canyon calls with his 9-7 from early position and of course holds off the queen or running cards higher than 7.

before I lose the rest of my money, I get up from the table and walk out into the casino. again, I fail to win a single hand.

driving away I see the racino lights behind me, fading into the night. just $102 to the good for 2014 it may be the final time I exit the casinos as a winning player on this tour. :(

game -120
year +102 (54-43)

[newtothegame]

Hey prox......
First off, I am greatly appreciative of your thread! It is an awesome read. I look forward to it although, this is my first post in it (I believe).

Not sure if it helps or not but I do strongly believe that mindset has a lot to do with the game. Sure, you can't mentally change the cards but, mentally, you can change the way you play them.

As of late, you seem to come across (from my take) as defeated. I can tell you from my past experiences, when I am in a dismal mood, I always seem to lose....(amazing how that works).

When I am happy go lucky, I tend to win.

All I am saying is possibly your outlook going in might need to be visited.

Keep the chin up and may turns and rivers be your friends!!!

[proximity]

Hey prox......
First off, I am greatly appreciative of your thread! It is an awesome read. I look forward to it although, this is my first post in it (I believe).

Not sure if it helps or not but I do strongly believe that mindset has a lot to do with the game. Sure, you can't mentally change the cards but, mentally, you can change the way you play them.

As of late, you seem to come across (from my take) as defeated. I can tell you from my past experiences, when I am in a dismal mood, I always seem to lose....(amazing how that works).

When I am happy go lucky, I tend to win.

All I am saying is possibly your outlook going in might need to be visited.

Keep the chin up and may turns and rivers be your friends!!!

I do think there is something to that and I know in our game Andrew beyer talked about it in the winning horseplayer in chapter nine "the winning attitude" where he discussed a guy who won $61,908.80 one day at caliente.

"winning does something for the psyche," the man (a guy named ernest havemann) goes on to say.

unfortunately though so does losing and that is where we find ourselves at this point on the tour. and right now I cannot break free from its grip.

some rainy conditions but I have today off and i'm going to try and make it down to horseshoe Baltimore. $25 free slots play and i'll certainly eat for free with all my total rewards points. hopefully I'll still be in the black for the tour when I get back tomorrow morning but I can just go and do my best.

the amount of good people reading and posting here on the thread is truly humbling and thank you newtothegame for taking the time to read and post your thoughts!!:)

[thaskalos]

The lower-stake games are hit hard by the rake, proximity...and profit there is only for the very few. I hate to keep harping on the same thing...but you are going to have to improve your game if profit is your main motivation. The winning player is always trying to take his game to the next level, and that can only be done by working on our game AWAY from the table. In gambling...you don't get better just by playing.

There is a lot of worthwhile information out there for the poker player...and I urge you to avail yourself of it. You wouldn't BELIEVE the size of my poker library. There are also excellent online poker-training sites, for as little as $19.99 a month. Well worth the time and monetary investment...IMO.

[proximity]

You wouldn't BELIEVE the size of my poker library..

as a favor, either here or through pm, would you be able to provide a review of professional no-limit hold 'em by Flynn, Mehta, and miller? specifically as it applies to LIVE, FULL RING, single digit blind casino games?

[proximity]

it sucked to leave the racino losing to 9-7 which happened to be my birthday and was just another miserable day in an overall miserable period of life. two days after the sands debacle I spend the day alone with no human contact except for when I pick up my Chinese takeout before the colts-broncos game. so no English speaking human contact all day and of course my beloved colts fall behind 24-0 to that all-star team in broncos uniforms. happy birthday proximity!!:bang:

anyhow it's a rainy Saturday morning and I depart early on the exactly 100 mile trip to Baltimore's brand new horseshoe casino. it's miserable driving conditions on 83 south and those who have read the entire thread know that these tires have already betrayed me once. so it's a white-knuckle drive down to the horseshoe but I arrive safely just before noon and park in the garage on level 6 and have a good view of the lights from Camden yards where the orioles are getting set to face off against the new York Yankees.

inside the casino, i'm getting set to face off against a double diamond machine where I have $25 of free slots play compliments of Caesar's total rewards. but (of course) in true proximity fashion the machine brings up that I have the $25 but won't load it into the credits so I can play. :bang:

after multiple attempts at this, I just give up and head for the poker room where I help them start a new 3-6 limit game:

12:15 cards in the air.

12:41 +52 after two early wins!!

12:59 aces cracked by a tepidly played set of 4s. of course another donkey with 7s is raising to help the 4s win more $ from both of us. :rolleyes: +22

2:08 aces cracked again. :mad: -4

4:16 four hours in and only four winning hands so far. -68

4:26 2-3-5-6 rainbow. five players see the river. :rolleyes:

5:51 all in with middle pair and an ace high flush draw. the loss of my $100 buy in is going to leave me only $2 ahead for the entire tour. the board runs out blank-blank but miraculously middle pair holds on vs like half the table. :rolleyes:

8:09 survive a second all in after flopping a flush with 10-2 of spades from bb. I dodge a spade on the turn and river for win #9 on the day. -71

9:30 showing incredible resiliency I survive three more all ins. ace-jack flops an ace and rivers another one although I think the first ace was good enough. 7-6 connects on a straight and pocket 7s fill up when three kings hit the board with two undercards.

10:34 hit a hand to get back within $50 of even!! :rolleyes:

11:31 win with pocket kings to get back to exactly even. i fall behind but then connect with ace-king to get back to exactly even again.

12:00 lose twice with two pair. once to a donkey who limps with q-2 off suit from under the gun and a second time to another donkey chasing a gutshot with no money in the pot. very nice. :rolleyes:

12:20 steaming mad but launch a comeback winning with a straight, a flush, and ace-king dominating ace-jack (this doesn't happen nearly as much as is implied in most poker books) . after 12 hours I've forged to the lead here at horseshoe!!

1:02 i'm on the doorstep of another three digit win at horseshoe but whiff the flop completely with four two big card hands.

1:30 flop a royal flush draw with q-j of diamonds. a-k of diamonds on the flop so i also have the nut flush draw and a straight possibility with a ten. board runs out blank-blank and over 13 hours in i exit the game with a humble (but better than usual) $25 win.

outside the casino is buzzing with energy on a late Saturday night. dime pieces everywhere you look. the double diamond machine still won't take my free slots play but it works on another machine and i end up getting $17.15 out of it. starving hungry i order at lenny's (?) deli and am shocked when a solid 9 starts asking me about my tuna sandwich. is this what steve davidowitz means when he writes about a congenial gambling atmostphere? i wish the racino could be more like this and even pick up another $4 while eating my sandwich at the double diamond machine!!

no rain on the way home to Pennsylvania.

maybe the tide will begin to turn?

game +25 (3/6 lim)
year +127 (55-43)

[thaskalos]

as a favor, either here or through pm, would you be able to provide a review of professional no-limit hold 'em by Flynn, Mehta, and miller? specifically as it applies to LIVE, FULL RING, single digit blind casino games?

This is an excellent book...but not one for the undercapitalized beginner. The book is targeted towards the more serious player, who is trying to maximize his profits while also embracing the corresponding risk. The aggressive style that they recommend requires a serious bankroll, otherwise, financial ruin is a sure thing.

I would recommend to you Jonathan Little's new book on NL holdem cash games. "Professional No Limit Holdem" is a great book for later on in your journey though. It's just not a book for the squeamish. Mehta talks about how he went through 30 full buy-ins while experimenting with the advice in this book. :) This bad luck was magnified by Mehta's penchant for short-handed play...but not by much.

[proximity]

There are also excellent online poker-training sites,.......

the one poker-training site I like to read is bart hanson's crushlivepoker.com and I also enjoy mr hanson's regular column in cardplayer magazine called crushing live poker with twitter.

and that's where I find myself for today's game. marooned 13 deep on a racino waiting list and reading mr hanson's most recent cardplayer offering. however, when I read his july 22 tweet I just have to roll my eyes:

july 22-when you are on a multi-session heater.....

multi-session heater?

on the proximity poker tour?? :rolleyes:

loudspeaker: opening a new table of 1-2 no limit hold 'em. proximity and a bunch of other donkeys for 1-2 no limit hold 'em...

and with that we're off on a brand new game. i actually win the button for this one but start off with a loss with pocket 5s. however, i do manage to get on the board quickly when i flop quads with pocket 8s. two sixes on the board but unfortunately no pocket 6s.

my early lead is short lived though as i make a bad play with a-k when i miss the flop and fire a continuation bet followed by a double barrel on the turn on a board i should have been wary of. i have to fold to a check raise and it will go down as a lesson learned.

i will battle back though with jacks taking down a player obviously new to hold 'em who went way too far with not much of a hand and folding out the field on another decent hand with a pair and an ace high flush draw.

in the big hand of the day i get nickels again and this time they don't let me down when i flop middle set on an 8-5-3 board and fill up with running queens.

the game was a much needed win at this stage of the tour and if i can somehow follow up with another win i could find myself on (gasp!) a multi-session heater!!

if it does happen, i will then need to remember the lesson of bart hanson's july 22 tweet:

don't get overconfident.:)

game +108
year +235 (56-43)

[wiffleball whizz]

the one poker-training site I like to read is bart hanson's crushlivepoker.com and I also enjoy mr hanson's regular column in cardplayer magazine called crushing live poker with twitter.

and that's where I find myself for today's game. marooned 13 deep on a racino waiting list and reading mr hanson's most recent cardplayer offering. however, when I read his july 22 tweet I just have to roll my eyes:

july 22-when you are on a multi-session heater.....

multi-session heater?

on the proximity poker tour?? :rolleyes:

loudspeaker: opening a new table of 1-2 no limit hold 'em. proximity and a bunch of other donkeys for 1-2 no limit hold 'em...

and with that we're off on a brand new game. i actually win the button for this one but start off with a loss with pocket 5s. however, i do manage to get on the board quickly when i flop quads with pocket 8s. two sixes on the board but unfortunately no pocket 6s.

my early lead is short lived though as i make a bad play with a-k when i miss the flop and fire a continuation bet followed by a double barrel on the turn on a board i should have been wary of. i have to fold to a check raise and it will go down as a lesson learned.

i will battle back though with jacks taking down a player obviously new to hold 'em who went way too far with not much of a hand and folding out the field on another decent hand with a pair and an ace high flush draw.

in the big hand of the day i get nickels again and this time they don't let me down when i flop middle set on an 8-5-3 board and fill up with running queens.

the game was a much needed win at this stage of the tour and if i can somehow follow up with another win i could find myself on (gasp!) a multi-session heater!!

if it does happen, i will then need to remember the lesson of bart hanson's july 22 tweet:

don't get overconfident.:)

game +108
year +235 (56-43)


Marooned 13 deep lolololo......hung over as shit and I still laughed!!!

Horseshoe?!?!?!?

[proximity]

Hey prox......
First off, I am greatly appreciative of your thread! It is an awesome read. I look forward to it although, this is my first post in it (I believe)......


happy birthday!!

hope it goes better than mine (post 441). :)

[proximity]

Marooned 13 deep lolololo......hung over as shit and I still laughed!!!

Horseshoe?!?!?!?

sober up yet?

are you following roy cooke's transition to no limit in cardplayer?

i see he won a big hand with king-jack!! :)

[how cliche]

my $0.02.

i highly reccommend phil galfonds' www.runitonce.com (http://www.runitonce.com)

[proximity]

after a much needed win in our last start at the racino we would again take to the road for our third trip to the congenial gambling atmosphere of the brand new horseshoe baltimore!!

today's contest would be our 100th game on what has so far been a long and rocky tour.

i arrive at horseshoe around 12:30 and swipe my total rewards card at a kiosk for 2x reward points. i get immediate seating in a 3-6 limit game that i quickly size up as being weaker than average.

playing the always powerful j-4 off suit (two red cards) a derek jeter fan flops middle pair and calls down all the way on a board with four clubs.

i'm thinking "this guy is baaaad" when suddenly a woman joins the game that will end up making "el capitan" look like stu ungar.

it is amazing, but over the coming hours aunt hortense will prove to be probably the single worst player i've encountered on this entire poker tour.
a special match on the 50 yd line of m&t bank stadium pitting her against horshack from maryland live! would be a tremendous marketing coup for maryland poker. maybe an honorary wsop bracelet could be awarded to the loser?

pre-flop aunt hortense plays every single hand until almost the bitter end when out of the blue she makes her lone pre-flop fold of the game. pocket aces maybe?

while she plays literally 99%+ of hands pre-flop, aunt hortense never raises.... except out of the big blind.... where for some unknown reason she raises approximately 80% of the time. :cool:

post flop, four clubs or not, at least the maryland yankees fan had middle pair. aunt hortense repeatedly shows down hands that can't possibly win.... and often calls $12 cold to do so. :eek:

no amount of proximity poker tour writing will do justice to the depths of her game. NO AMOUNT!! :faint:

anyhow, this is the proximity poker tour.... not the aunt hortense poker tour (although i think an aunt hortense poker tour would certainly be more interesting) and in this game i would strike quickly with pocket kings before two losses with pocket tens and another set back with pocket nines would push me into the red.

however, i would soon come back with a turned straight with 8-5 from the big blind and then it would be off and running. i'd build a $255 lead as the sun set over the horseshoe but after dark pocket kings, jacks, tens, and especially pocket nines (i must have lost at least half a dozen times with this hand) would fail me over and over and over (and over)... again.

what was a $255 lead has withered to only $67.

it's getting late and i'm playing at a table with several drunks. the game is moving slower than a traffic jam on 695. you could go to the bathroom and the food court without missing most of the hands. but i soldier on. a set of jacks fills up when running buffaloes fall. t-9 suited flops two pair. nine on the turn. another win at horseshoe baltimore!!

game +148 (3/6 limit)
year +383 (57-43)

[proximity]

after an 11th hour win at the brand new horseshoe Baltimore saved august from being the single worst month on our tour we moved to September with hopes of turning things around. instead the month greeted us harshly with limit donkeys at sands crushing me at every turn (and river). i'd hardly win a hand and when I returned to no limit action at penn national I wouldn't win a hand and up only $102 for the year I exited the racino as a "winner" for possibly the final time.

I fell behind early in a return trip to horseshoe Baltimore but would rally for a hard earned $25 profit. back at penn national a set of buffaloes would lead me to a needed win and i'd close out the month with another win at horseshoe where we'd meet aunt hortense..... probably the worst player we've seen on this tour.

September was a depressing month and featured only five games..... a tour low. i'd go 3-2 in the games but financially couldn't rebound from that opening game pounding at sands. we lose $139 in September and prepare to move to the final quarter of our tour.

month -139 (3-2)
year +383 (57-23)
bonus ytd +90

[tucker6]

remember, you're still playing with house money. I know you have to add in gas and hotels, but you're getting a valuable education (I hope) for little expense other than your time. I expect you to change your handle to Fast Eddie sometime next year. :ThmbUp:

[proximity]

we last left off with another win at the brand new horseshoe baltimore where we battled a world class donkey named aunt hortense. so far i've been quite impressed with the horseshoe.... both the casino itself and the aggressive comps. such comps keep suckers like myself coming back to the casinos and with their ridiculous takeouts racing really has a chance to offer unprecedented comps (player rewards) but of course most tracks still only offer insulting tenths of a percent.

anyhow, after sleeping all day and all night on wednesday i was up early on thursday for another trip to maryland. i would first stop at maryland live! to cash out my $43 of comps before they expire next month. with only $5 rake, maryland live! offers a better deal for local players but despite the $6 rake horseshoe is the better bet for an occasional maryland player like myself. i have lunch at live(!)'s luk fu (general tso's $17) and spend the rest of my comps on bottles of 5 hour energy and live! pens in the gift shop.

i leave live! without gambling and point my car towards horseshoe. there is a bit of slow traffic getting off exit 52 and you can see the lights from camden yards where the orioles and tigers will do battle in about three hours.

inside i swipe my total rewards card for 600 reward points and 2x points and head to the poker room where i join a 3-6 game that is about to open. out of the corner of my eye, i spot aunt hortense enjoying a sandwich. unfortunately though she's not in my game.

we start slow in this one and encounter some tropicanaesque bad luck from the big blind where i flop top pair with 8-2 and turn two pair. a couple donkeys are chasing me though and i check a river card that possibly completes a straight. sure enough donkey number one leads out and donkey number two "just" calls. my post flop play has been really solid at the horseshoe, but i can't find it in me to lay this hand down and call the $6.

sure enough the two donks hit the straight with their rags and chop. note that donkey number two (most certainly by accident) actually made a good play by not raising the river and getting the overcall from me.

moving on, it takes over an hour before i can win a single hand and i struggle to average one winning hand an hour over the first eight hours of the game. between 1130 pm and 230 am i fail to win a single hand and i've fallen behind $213 before suddenly striking with straights on back to back hands.

around 3:30 am i (somehow) win a nice pot with pocket 5s and at 4:00 am i hit a flush to get within $52 of even.

the game gives me one final chance when i'm dealt pocket aces, but unfortunately they get cracked by a donkey playing q-6 and i'm shut out the rest of the way.

when i finally wake up friday night i notice that my caesar's total rewards points haven't gone up by an amount commensurate with my horseshoe play.

"et tu, horseshoe?" i think but when i check again this morning my points do go up!!

unfortunately i suffer my first lifetime defeat at horseshoe, but continued great treatment by this casino which is rapidly becoming my favorite gambling destination!!

game -127 (3/6 lim)
year +256 (57-44)

[proximity]

after suffering my first career defeat at horseshoe Baltimore I return home to penn national. instead of sitting home alone on a Saturday night and watching shows about bigfoots, ghosts, and aliens I decide to make my way out to the racino for a recreational game of hold 'em and a fresh cup of coffee.

when I arrive at the poker room I see something even more unbelievable than bigfoots, ghosts, and aliens: a limit hold 'em game at penn national!!:eek:

i join what is possibly the first 2-4 game in penn national history and start fast by winning with a-k flopping an ace and 8-5 from the bb hitting a buffalo.

next i get lucky with j-t. several players call pre flop and the big blind raises, doubling the pot and pricing me in with a gutshot straight draw on an a-k-x rainbow flop. in a rare lucky moment on the tour i hit the queen on the turn for broadway but without the big blind's pre flop raise i would have had to fold!!

some of these players aren't the best post flop, going too far with too little but pre flop there is a lot of folding so this by itself makes the game tougher than the Maryland limit games.

in one big hand though there are several callers sprinkled in with some raises and i get caught up in this capped pot with pocket 6s and am set to win a monster 2-4 pot on an 8-7-6 rainbow flop!! i check raise the flop and in vintage proximity poker tour luck see a 9 fall on the turn. :rolleyes: believe it or not, i'm still winning at this point but when a ten falls on the river:rolleyes: :rolleyes: i don't even see the showdown. jj chops with k-j. :bang:

overall though i do win some hands in this one and forge to about a $70 lead before going cold late and cashing out +$43.

in the end fresh coffee and fun times on the felt beat bigfoot, casper, and e.t. every time. :)

game +43 (2/4 lim)
year +299 (58-44)

[proximity]

our tour continues with a late week trip to atlantic city where i'll stay three nights at bally's with plans to play at Borgata on Saturday in a big October feature game of 6-12 limit hold 'em featuring double Borgata points!!

I arrive at bally's late Wednesday night and get a nice room in the curtisonthebay tower but am disappointed that there isn't much to eat at this late (or early) hour. showboat (rip) always had the 24 hour earl of sandwich with its delectable holiday turkey sandwich but there are only stale donuts and "gourmet sandwiches" here at bally's? I see what appears to be some tuna and chicken salad in a display case but there doesn't even seem to be any other indications of what a late night bally's gourmet sandwich even consists of? mystery meat, I guess?

anyhow I go to bed hungry and when I get up a few hours later I take a nice walk to resorts for some coffee at the dunkin donuts in the back. after breakfast I continue north on the boardwalk and it is a depressing scene. i pass the shuttered showboat and revel and nearly make it to the north end but stop about five feet from the last board when i almost fall through the worn walkway. :rolleyes:

such a catastrophe would have been par for the course on our poker tour but i stay upright and actually have a nice morning walk on the boarwalk all the way to ventnor city at the south end.

back at bally's it is 10x reward credits Thursday and i survive a nice session of slots, racking up almost 200 tier credits along the way before making my way over to the casino's new world series of poker room where i kick off the trip with a game of 1-1 no limit hold 'em.

this is a tough and tight game but i win two early pots to take a small lead into the big hand of the day where i see a flop of 5-3-2 (2 spades) with pocket 5s from the button. there is a bet of $7 and a raise to $15 before the action gets to me. i raise to $30 with $37 behind and fold out everybody but the $15 who calls.

the next card about sums up this entire pathetic tour: six of spades on the turn. :bang:

check-check and when a red nine falls on the river i face what feels like a small blocking bet from the villain. i ponder raising but in the end i buckle and just call with my set of buffaloes taking down the pot over the villain's set of deuces. i'm finally on the right side of a no limit set over set hand but the horrible turn card really threw water on the fire. on the bright side my flop raise did fold out both flushes and straights at this tight table so at least i was able to scoop the pot.

although that six of spades actually helped the villain, it always sucks to lose with a set but his run of bad luck wouldn't be over. not long after this hand he flops two pair with 7-6 (a-7-6 flop) but when a jack turns he loses to another player with a-j. then the guy is winning a nice pot (for the table) with pocket queens and when an ace hits the turn he makes a nice crying call against another guy who is all in with pocket jacks..... but this time a jack hits the river. :bang:

terrible run for this guy, but my luck in the game isn't much better. i "get tricky" with a-k suited from the small blind and just call a raise from a big stack in early-mid position but it will be a lady who also "just calls" from the button who i have to worry about. i lead out on a flop of a-t-t and call her min raise. a king on the turn rubs salt in the wound but fortunately she bets too much and it makes my fold relatively easy. i toss the ace-king in the muck face up and she tables k-t for a full house.

on the slow elevator ride back to my quarters in the Curtisonthebay tower i scolded myself for not reraising preflop but she may have called anyway. also, i could have even folded to her flop raise since i was pretty certain the original raiser had one of my outs with a weaker ace. i did have a back door flush draw though too although out of position and with a paired board that shouldn't have received too much consideration in such a tough game.

tj cloutier called a-k "walking back to Houston" but although i wasn't completely satisfied with how i played the hand, i was at least able to eventually lay it down and open the trip with a win in a pretty tough game. so let's call this particular a-k hand "walking back to ventnor city" if you will. :)

game +25
year +324 (59-44)
trip +25 (1-0)

[wiffleball whizz]

Wiffleball whizz trip report horseshoe casino 10/10/14

-354 and never a factor

[proximity]

Wiffleball whizz trip report horseshoe casino 10/10/14

-354 and never a factor

is there any more to this story? were you playing 1-3?

you gotta bring dennis out one of these Fridays maybe when baseball is over. a lot of good places to eat there, we can get some supper.

[Track Collector]

After reading the proximity poker exploits thread and being inspired, I decided to get my feet wet back in August. Listed below are some statistics and comments from my play since then. All are from 1/2 no-limit games.

Sessions Played: 19
Average Session Duration: 4.5 hours (Approximated)
Biggest Session Loss: $198
Biggest Session Win: $405
Longest Losing Streak: 3 sessions
Longest Winning Streak: 5 sessions (still active)
Year-to-date: (12-7) and +$532

Subject info above does not include a very nice house bonus, which helps my bankroll but does nothing to reflect skill level.

My play started out very tight, which is a good thing to minimize the initial financial risk. After about 10 or so sessions I recognized that playing too tight gets you noticed to the point where it was not uncommon to win only the $3 blinds. I have subsequently opened up my initial starting hands with good results. I need to become Tight/Agressive so that I am not pushed around on "aggressive" tables. I am pretty good now with making decisions in accordance to table position. On the flip side, I need a lot more experience and practice in putting certain players on a range of hands.

All in all I think I am doing decent, and having a lot of fun in the process. My total of 19 lifetime sessions is still too small to determine whether the to-date results are based on a better than average skill level, or are simply due to luck and a good run of cards.

Thanks again to proximity for your help and inspiration, along with your poker book recommendations! I greatly enjoy and look forward to your poker reports, as I am sure many others do as well. Your memory to recall key hands is outstanding, and your talent to weave them into a story makes for very interesting read. And, to be on the profit side after such a high total number of sessions puts you in the minority group of poker players. Best wishes as you continue your 2014 tour, and towards your goal of a consistent monthly profit.

Maybe I'll travel to Baltimore for a game sometime. I would even consider doing so on a regular basis were it not a 180-mile round trip vs. the current 65-mile round trip. The rewards/player comps are much better, but I'm not sure it would make up the increased gasoline expense and longer trip "fatigue" factor. Of course, I might get the pleasure of seeing 2-time Timonium "fan of the day" recipient wiffleball whizz in his element as poker dealer extraordinaire! :)

[proximity]

My play started out very tight, which is a good thing to minimize the initial financial risk. After about 10 or so sessions I recognized that playing too tight gets you noticed to the point where it was not uncommon to win only the $3 blinds.

this shouldn't be happening too much at ct. maybe your raises are too high for the table??

has the royal been your only bonus so far or have you cashed on full house thursdays too??

glad to hear things are going well and keep up the good work!!!

[proximity]

after taking off thursday night to watch my beloved colts defeat the houston texans to move into first place in the afc south, friday finds me back in the bally's poker room facing a table of regulars in 1-1 no limit hold 'em action.

table captain bloody mary (don't ask) is certainly a familiar face and as usual she doesn't seem happy. the room is too cold, another player had apparently (somehow) amassed more hours than her last month (which apparently gave this guy a bigger rakeback?), and now bally's outsider proximity has sat down at her end of the table which prompts her to request a seat change button.

so bloody mary isn't exactly the happiest player on the tour but she's far from the worst and in fact none of these bally's regulars seem overly anxious to donk off their stacks.

they aren't going to give their money away. i'm going to have to take it and i start doing this with three bluffs before losing a hand with pocket queens.

i do come back though winning a small pot with pocket tens before q-9 from the blinds falls despite flopping two pair. the blinds eventually pay me back though when i flop two pair again with k-4 suited and river a full house on a board that runs out a-k-4-9-k.

i win the hand, but was i actually losing again with a flopped two pair before the river? later the villain (who called down the whole way but never revealed his hand) mentioned to another player that he keeps getting beat on the river? hmmm?

moving on, i'm not getting many hands and not hitting any flops. i lose with a-q and i'm getting blinded out. when i toss a-4 in the muck pre flop and watch it turn a boat it's time for a dinner break. i cash out with another mini win at bally's. maybe i'll find a better game later tonight?

game +15
year +339 (60-44)
trip +40 (2-0)

[proximity]

after our afternoon battle against bloody mary and the gang at bally's i head back down the boardwalk planning to grab some supper at country kitchen restaurant at days inn beside the tropicana.

of course i get to the country kitchen at 7:00 only to find that it has already closed for the night and so the walk isn't a total waste of time i decide to stop at tropicana to practice my limit hold 'em for tomorrow's big 6-12 game at borgata.

i get the feeling that the tropicana poker room (if a player can even find it :rolleyes: ) probably hasn't changed much... if at all... since the place opened way back when. there are two small pieces of paper taped to the desk showing 2-4-6 limit and 1-2 no limit games as being available and there is a list for these games on a whiteboard laying on the desk. there's no bravo system and the floor has to go around and collect players cards every hour to log comps. pathetic. :rolleyes:

i get on the 2-4-6 list but end up jumping in a brand new 1-2 no limit game that is opening short. i end up raising my first button and stealing the blinds and win my next button flopping top pair with q-j suited.

i'm there for a couple orbits when i'm called for 2-4-6, but when i approach the podium with my chips the floor has given away my seat in track record time and of course my 1-2 seat has also been quickly filled. :rolleyes:

"we can put you at the top of the list?"

"uhh.... no thanks."

game +4
year +343 (61-44)
trip +44 (3-0)

[ronsmac]

Wiffleball whizz trip report horseshoe casino 10/10/14

-354 and never a factor
Did you show brief speed at least?

[tucker6]

Did you show brief speed at least?
He shoulda taken a dump in the gate to lessen the load. Maybe next time. :ThmbUp:

[Track Collector]

this shouldn't be happening too much at ct. maybe your raises are too high for the table??

has the royal been your only bonus so far or have you cashed on full house thursdays too??

glad to hear things are going well and keep up the good work!!!

Due to Bible Study (I know, a Christian playing the horses AND poker :faint:) , I usually get in about 45 minutes to 1 hour of play before the Full House promotion ends at 10:00 p.m. Thus, almost no opportunity to benefit from this promotion.

[proximity]

He shoulda taken a dump in the gate to lessen the load. Maybe next time. :ThmbUp::D

the natives are getting restless. possibly time for the powers that be to rescind the recent ban on "partnership" posts? :D

I think the whizz will be ok though. if he checks his total rewards account he probably has $300 of free slots play for sunday during the ravens/falcons game. ;)

[proximity]

after another stellar poker experience at Tropicana :rolleyes: , I return to bally's where I get a horrible meatball sub at taste of the shore or sack of subs..... whatever the official name is. "two for one" comps at this joint is just ridiculous and bally's should be embarrassed. :blush: :blush:

downstairs in the wild west poker room I take an open seat in a 2-4-6 limit hold em game. I don't find any horshacks or aunt hortenses in this game but it is softer than the tight afternoon 1-1 games I've played so far on this trip to bally's .

I get off to a quick start with four nice wins in the first hour of the game, but in two of the hands i'm the beneficiary of some rare luck on the river.

with pocket 8s I flop an overpair, but i'm losing to two pair until the board runs out 9-9, counterfeiting the villain.

next, facing a raise from early position, I reraise with pocket jacks. several players call three bets cold though, but I have another overpair on a flop of smaller cards with two hearts. one of the callers has flopped a set of sevens, but never makes a move. i'm "value owning" myself as he calls my flop and turn bets like he's on the flush draw. when I check a flush completing jack of hearts on the river, he finally bets and my crying call is good.

I win $100 in this opening hour and play about four more hours, gaining another $50 along the way.

game +150 (2/4/6 lim)
year +493 (62-44)
trip +194 (4-0)

[proximity]

back at atlantic city for the final day of our trip which finds me at the beautiful Borgata poker room hoping to do battle in their October double points feature game of 6-12 limit hold 'em.

however, despite it being Saturday, there is no 6-12 limit hold 'em game and in a tropicanaesque scene the main board in the front of the room is stuck on a tournament screen from Friday so you have to ask what games are available. i wait a couple minutes and help open a brand new table of 3-6 limit where i get off to a slow start.

a Borgata visitor from Alaska on my right is making his casino poker debut, but this veteran of over 100 games this year alone can't beat the guy. twice i flop top pair with a good kicker but my new friend from the arctic circle shows down an overpair both times. he's awkwardly picking up his cards with one hand and after the second beat i roll my eyes and note that i should look at his hand before i play queen-jack suited again. :rolleyes:

when another drooler hits a gutshot on me, the top chip of what was a $100 buy in is dangerously close to the felt but i stave off "elimination" several times. i win three hands with pocket jacks to build my stack back up to $79 and when the table breaks i (somehow:rolleyes: ) survive a draw to get a seat at the other 3-6 table where i proceed to go on a two hour cold run.

again i stave off first buy in "elimination" several times before rallying in the final 90 minutes of the game. ace-3 rivers a three to beat a flopped two pair with ace-two. ace-queen outkicks ace four. a set of fours beats trip aces. i finally lose a hand with pocket jacks but in one final hand i rally with pocket 9s to move ahead by $14 and finish the trip undefeated.

downstairs i finally get some good atlantic city food at the Borgata cafeteria where i grab a delicious fat burger for the road. it will be a nice ride home.

game +14 (3/6 lim)
year +507 (63-44)
trip +208 (5-0)

[proximity]

back at penn national racino after a successful atlantic city trip where I went 5-0 at the poker tables and had some pretty good results on the slots too.

I stop at live racing and have a brief visit with local expert tonyk@hsh who is in his regular seat in the mountainview dining room. upstairs, i find that the once proud clubhouse snack bar menu has nearly been pared to my cousin vinny "breakfast lunch dinner" menu status.

it could be penn national racing clubhouse vs 3:00 am bally's for the first annual proximity poker tour aunt hortense award for culinary excrement. :rolleyes:

what a joke.

anyhow i'm studying my form and sipping my ridiculously expensive track coffee when twinspires harness expert frank cotolo stops by. in addition to his usual level of excitement, fc is pumped about breeders cup and his twinspires harness blog. check it out:

http://www.twinspires.com/blog/2014/10/15/big-stakes-menus-maywood-woodbine-and-yonkers

after the Charles town simulcast wraps up i head downstairs to the racino poker room and i'm sent to a short handed table against the far wall. there are three younger players at my end who seem pretty inexperienced (one folds his bb, for example) but then a couple joins the table at the far end that is obviously totally new to the game. note, however that the girl is quite impressive and reminds me of a (ahem) healthy Lindsay lohan.

now let's set this scene: just days ago i'm going 5-0 in atlantic city against tables of calloused regulars flirting with 200 hours of play a month and now i'm at penn national facing a table of poker novices who need to be told by the dealer that they can check or bet or call, raise, or fold?

WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG HERE? :rolleyes:

back on the felt the dealer explains that Lindsay lohan can either call the big blind's $2, raise to a higher amount, or fold. Lindsay lohan calls the $2 and her boyfriend receives the same instructions and raises to $50. everyone folds and he just leaves his $50 sitting there in the middle of the table after the dealer gives him the $7 he won from the blinds and limpers. :D

while Lindsay's beau has his struggles, ms lohan herself is on fire. i'm not even sure she knows she can actually fold her hand in some situations, but this doesn't stop her from raking pot after pot after pot after pot after pot.....

meanwhile i'm folding 8-4, 2-3 (a ton of 2-3s), j-6...... and one of the younger players at my end of the table has had enough. i'm not sure why he did this against a girl who i'm not certain knew she could fold sometimes, but he pulls a Lindsay's boyfriend and shoves all in for $50 with 4-3 off suit.

as predicted, Lindsay calls and on a flop of 5-4-4 the younger player flips over his hand and appears headed to victory until after the river card when (on the dealer's instruction of course) ms lohan tables ace-four and rakes in yet another pot!!

unfortunately Lindsay's boyfriend isn't doing well at all and they have to leave and in fact the table is getting ready to break when i flop two pair from the big blind with 9-4. sensing an opportunity to win my first hand of the game :faint: i bet the pot on the flop and turn, but unfortunately get run down by an "experienced player" playing a suited jack who chases a flush but goes runner to river a straight. :rolleyes:

what a sick joke of a game!!

game -60
year +447 (63-45)

[proximity]

in racing there's always the threat of milkowski, quinn, or beyer swooping in with a final fifth of a second overlay killing wager made from their high speed laptops in the comfort of their dining rooms.

at the poker table though you can see the donkeys you're playing right in front of you. and while this is probably the best thing about live poker it can also be the most frustrating.

you've just returned from a successful trip battling against calloused grinders in atlantic city and now you're facing a table of pennsylvania novices. all the money on the table should be yours. you should never lose. you're folding rags and missing flops by a mile. you're waiting for your hand. waiting for the rush. you know it's going to come. but it never does. and now you're a loser that's lost to losers. how did everything that was so good, turn so bad? and how did it happen so fast?

anyhow after a frustrating loss against total novices at penn national we take to the road for a game of 3-6 limit against donkeys at the sands. with (i believe?) two ridiculous losses in our last three trips to the sands, we were certainly "due" for a win but as a great racing mind (barry meadow?) once said, "a baby may be due, the rent may be due, but a winner.... is never due."

i start fast in this one, winning my very first hand in the game, but the donkeys don't take long to strike. in two hands i flop top pair with an ace, but they stick around with their bottom pairs and hit their turns and rivers. at about the two hour mark i battle back, winning with pocket kings and then a set of fours to move ahead $1 but then go on a 2 1/2 hour downswing that taps my $100 buy in.

it's another nightmare here at the sands. all donkeys at the far end of the table, but i can't hit a hand. i flop at least a dozen open ended straight draws but only hit one.

despite being card dead again at the sands, i'm showing steely discipline and start battling back on the rebuy. i'm about to win again on a flop of k-t-6 with t-6 from the big blind but a guy playing k-3 hangs in the whole way to river a three. i raise with pocket kings and like half the table calls two bets cold. a donkey runs me down on the river with t-7 of diamonds (flush) and leaves the game not long after i say, "who calls a raise with t-7?"

i guess i'm some kind of poker sinner for "tapping the tank," but let's see the geniuses on 2+2 just sit there stoically after enduring all the ridiculous beats i've taken at the sands in 2014. the truth is that i'm beyond tired of losing to lotto hands at the sands and if the occasional feelings of a drooler calling raises with t-7 get hurt from caustic proximity comments, well then cry me a river because i just don't care.

later at night some "great guys" sit down at the table. and they really are great guys. the kind of guys that were in fraternities. and got good jobs. and went on to have a nice wife. and two point two kids. and a dog. the kind of guys that golf with the boss and smoke cigars in the pro shop. the kind of guys that go to the local brewery and sample obscure beers. cool guys, normal guys, winners.

the kind of guys who don't need to "find themselves" through gambling.

but this isn't me. i'm not some great guy or winner lurking in paceadvantage off topic. there are certainly worse cases and i'm far from "all-in." but the truth is that my self-esteem will always be at least somewhat tied to gambling results. all of this sounds bad, but i've pretty much made peace with the fact that being a broken down gambler is my lot in life. i will never make peace with losing at the sands though. ever.

unacceptable. :mad:

game -135 (3/6 lim) :mad:
year +312 (63-46) :mad:

[ReplayRandall]

but this isn't me. i'm not some great guy or winner lurking in paceadvantage off topic. there are certainly worse cases and i'm far from "all-in." but the truth is that my self-esteem will always be at least somewhat tied to gambling results. all of this sounds bad, but i've pretty much made peace with the fact that being a broken down gambler is my lot in life. i will never make peace with losing at the sands though. ever.

unacceptable. :mad:

game -135 (3/6 lim) :mad:
year +312 (63-46) :mad:

Proximity, you are an honest man and have my respect. Thanks for always keeping it real...........you're a great read.

[thaskalos]

Being a gambler is my lot in life too, Proximity...so you've got company. We don't always choose our destiny; sometimes our destiny reaches out and chooses us. You are not alone...those bad beats happen to all of us, and we all have to learn to deal with them. At least take comfort in the fact that they cost some other players a lot more than they cost you... :)

[proximity]

Proximity, you are an honest man and have my respect. Thanks for always keeping it real...........you're a great read.

i'm trying to win and give the tour a happy ending, but it just isn't working out. I thought if I could basically stay even like I am that somewhere in a 100+ game stretch i'd have a decent game where I win 800-1500, but so far I haven't even been close.

thanks for reading, and cool avatar btw. :cool:

[proximity]

Being a gambler is my lot in life too, Proximity...so you've got company. We don't always choose our destiny; sometimes our destiny reaches out and chooses us. You are not alone...those bad beats happen to all of us, and we all have to learn to deal with them. At least take comfort in the fact that they cost some other players a lot more than they cost you... :)

the beats just keep coming and coming and coming..... and I admit i'm not "learn(ing) to deal with them" very well.

there have been some cardplayer articles lately (bryan Devonshire articles maybe?) that have shown computer simulations of what can happen to a player of a given edge over large numbers of hands (certainly more than I've played on this tour) and these simulations show an uncomfortable level of variance. so in that sense I should be happy i'm still in positive territory at all, but on the other hand, I can't break through to "established winner" ground and that is unsettling. and when donkeys just pound you week after week it just destroys your confidence and you get a heavy feeling like the next "suck down" is going to be the one that pulls you under for good.

thanks again for reading and for your posts in the thread. I really appreciate them and i'm sure others do to. :)

[proximity]

after another demoralizing loss at the sands we return to penn national for another game of 1-2 no limit hold 'em.

I start fast in the game winning with pocket aces, a bluff with a-k, a set of 4s, and a-q. unfortunately i'm not winning any decent sized pots and after losses with pocket jacks and pocket tens i'm still ahead but the lead is dwindling. I can't bring myself to raise with pocket 9s, but see a flop of 8-7-5 with the hand. there is a bet of $10 and a call in this limped pot and I raise to $25 (not enough) and both players call. a jack comes on the turn which completes the top end of an open ended straight draw, although I had two of the nines blocking this possibility. when the hand was checked to me though I shoved my $46. the first player labored to call, but shoved for $56 with a gutshot and a flush draw that he picked up on the turn and the second player really struggled but ultimately called and won the pot with j-9..... a double gutshot and two over cards.

bad play on my part as i should have raised more on the flop, but of course they hit again on the turn and i go from winning to -60 in one lousy hand.

a rebuy with $100 doesn't go any better at all, and in fact i fail to win a single hand. i limit my losses with jj against qq but overall the damage was done. i suffer another defeat in what is starting to look like my third losing month in a row. fortunately the game breaks before i tap out totally.

game -131
year +181 (63-47)

[wiffleball whizz]

In my years of playing cards had to be the worst hand I played last night at the horseshoe in baltimore......

Playing with a friend I'm watching a nw Nebraska game on my iPhone (-520 betting football by the way) the game goes to commercial I look down at Js4s....i call $16 preflop 4 ways and the flop comes K-J-J....

Under the gun I check one player bets $30 2 others fold....turn the magical 4 falls from the clouds.....I check other guy check rivers a 5.....i check clown bets $30......I'm worried I make it $75 he raises to about 160 and has about 90 left....

I think I'm beat but just call.....he turns over J8 I win the pot

Now maybe I did the right thing by just calling as I know when I'm in danger but what made it bad was at horseshoe if you lose with jacks full you win 200 :bang:
I just forgot about it....

Long story short the whizz had no problem visiting losers lane again to a tune of -320.......it's just amazing how bad I have become at cards


Cliff notes:

- Football game goes to commercial

-I make bad call with J4

-turn jacks full

-don't reraise with extra 90 or so with a $200 promotion if I lose the hand


Trip report
Poker -320
Football -520

[thaskalos]

In my years of playing cards had to be the worst hand I played last night at the horseshoe in baltimore......

Playing with a friend I'm watching a nw Nebraska game on my iPhone (-520 betting football by the way) the game goes to commercial I look down at Js4s....i call $16 preflop 4 ways and the flop comes K-J-J....

Under the gun I check one player bets $30 2 others fold....turn the magical 4 falls from the clouds.....I check other guy check rivers a 5.....i check clown bets $30......I'm worried I make it $75 he raises to about 160 and has about 90 left....

I think I'm beat but just call.....he turns over J8 I win the pot

Now maybe I did the right thing by just calling as I know when I'm in danger but what made it bad was at horseshoe if you lose with jacks full you win 200 :bang:
I just forgot about it....

Long story short the whizz had no problem visiting losers lane again to a tune of -320.......it's just amazing how bad I have become at cards


Cliff notes:

- Football game goes to commercial

-I make bad call with J4

-turn jacks full

-don't reraise with extra 90 or so with a $200 promotion if I lose the hand


Trip report
Poker -320
Football -520
So...you are bold enough to call $16 out of position with a lousy J-4...but you won't reraise the additional $90 with a full house. Stop watching the football games at the table! Multitasking is only for those who know what they are doing. :p

[wiffleball whizz]

So...you are bold enough to call $16 out of position with a lousy J-4...but you won't reraise the additional $90 with a full house. Stop watching the football games at the table! Multitasking is only for those who know what they are doing. :p

HAHAHAHAHAHA.......I'm the worlds worst

[proximity]

HAHAHAHAHAHA.......I'm the worlds worst

I know you're not the world's worst but j-4, seriously?

whizz plays j-4, then gives the villain $90 when it hits, thaskalos plays his own j-4 in the sports forum where he picks against the colts, and of course my own miscues are well documented here.

i'm certainly not the biggest optimist on paceadvantage, but I do know that we're better than this guys. so let's take some deep breaths, maybe take a day or two off, and (even if she steps on our toes sometimes) get back to dancing with the girl who brought us. :ThmbUp:

[proximity]

after another bad run here in the keystone state, we take to the road again for a two day trip to the beautiful new horseshoe baltimore for some 3/6 limit hold 'em.

for our first game i arrive at the casino around 1:00 and immediately see a mousy regional player that some pen associates refer to as "stanky poo." every time i spot stanky poo at a casino i always snap a grainy "loch ness monster" pic and text it to a pen horse player known as "the lion." this time also fire off a text to wiffleball whizz who knows exactly who i'm talking about and shocks me by saying that the poo is actually banned from another casino (live! maybe?) for chip theft. amazing!! :eek:

at the table i'm facing a major donkey named leo, who whizz gave me a heads up about earlier this summer. leo is indeed really bad but he does fold and play ok sometimes so i wouldn't quite put him in the league of fellow maryland donks aunt hortense and horshack. to see this trio at a table though would be a poker players dream!!

today though the other players sure love seeing me at the table. another great start where it takes over an hour for me to win a hand. after leo cold calls a preflop raise with a-3 off and beats me i'm down over $60 but rally back over the next several hours to forge to plus $72 at about five o'clock.

around 6:00 a younger player that is a dead ringer for the schofield kid from clint eastwood's classic unforgiven requests a seat change and moves beside me.

schofield kid: you procksimitee? you don't look like no meaner than hell, cold blooded, damn poker player?? :confused:

procksimitee: maybe i ain't?

schofield kid: yeah, well uncle pete said you was the meanest summabeech alive and if i ever wanted to kill a bankroll, you was the worst one.....

procksimitee: uhh? that was back at the borgata kid.... a long, long time ago. :(

anyhow, moving on i've reached +72, but bad times are soon to follow and after calling a raise with a suited ace from the big blind i make a terrible mistake by giving a free card on an a-q-q flop which ends up getting checked around and bringing the preflop raiser a third jack on the turn. brutal mistake because this was actually a rare maryland player that could have folded to a flop bet instead of going for a two outer.

next with pocket 2s, i actually benefit from a free card when a 7-7-x flop is checked around and a deuce falls on the turn!! however, when a queen falls on the river my raise gets reraised and i'm shown q-7. remember this hand readers. the villain got lucky here, but i will get him back!!

after this beat i raise pocket queens from late position and call a bet seeing if i can improve on a flop of like a-j-9 (?).

blank on the turn though and most certainly facing an ace, i fold to a bet and two calls on the turn. blank on the river and three donks table middle pair. :bang: queens were tons the best. :bang: i guess the old "if you can't fold a winner, you can't be a winner applies" but a frustrating hand nonetheless.

my $72 is gone and i fall behind again after failing to hit a flop over several dealer shifts.

it's getting late when i raise with pocket jacks and see a flop of k-x-x. mr q-7 calls a flop bet and a turn bet that folds out the rest of the field. i check the river and he fires out a bet. i pause to replay the hand in my head. "k-q?" i ask before just throwing the chips in and flipping over the jacks.

"you're good," says mr q-7.... but note that this isn't the hand where i get him back for that rivered queen.

the jacks get me back to even and on one of my final laps i'll limp with 8-7 of hearts from the button. a flop of two 8s is great and a turn of 7 is heaven.

brutal game where i really struggle to hit a flop, but i hang tough and pull it out in the end. :)

game +30 (3/6 lim)
year +211 (64-47)

[RunForTheRoses]

Another great post. These are great for the Sociology/Cultural Anthropology of 2014 NE Megalopolis Poker Culture.
Finish up with two great months.

[proximity]

Another great post. These are great for the Sociology/Cultural Anthropology of 2014 NE Megalopolis Poker Culture.
Finish up with two great months.

thanks run, glad you are enjoying the thread and don't be shy about dropping a trip report if you hit any of our area rooms!! :)

[proximity]

after grinding out $30 in our first of two 3/6 limit sessions at the beautiful new horseshoe Baltimore i'm back in the card room around noon for day number two.

2:36 it's been another slow start but i'm about even when I return from a bathroom break, buy the button, and look down at pocket kings!! finish 4th place in the hand. -13

3:40 lose with jj and qq on back to back hands, but comeback to hit a straight with pocket 7s. -23

3:44 Charles town replays suddenly showing on poker room tvs!! :D

3:50 lots of action here in the last 15 minutes and I move to +11 hitting a queen with q-9 from the big blind. nobody will fold, but at showdown there's no two pair and not even a lower queen. can't believe some of the hands these players think will be good!!:faint:

4:06 lose again with qq. k-j-9 flop, but pocket 4s hang in and catch the two outer. +13

4:30 it's pepsi in the room now? I could have sworn I was poisoned by two bad cokes just a few weeks ago here???? +61

5:09 really struggling to hit flops on this trip and still waiting to flop my first set. cocktail waitress confirms that it was coke back at the casino opening. +30

5:30 actually flop a straight and somehow hold on despite three to a flush and a pair on the board at showdown. +39

7:30 haven't really been a factor in the game for the last two hours and see a k-3-3 flop with a-k. three of us in the hand and i'm last to act. player b bets the turn, I call, and when player a check raises, player b decides to fold. I hang in, player a has nothing and I win the pot but was possibly lucky as I believe player b had k-q..... and a queen hit on the river. :) +31

8:10 finally hit a set on this trip to horseshoe and drag a nice pot to move from +5 to +88!!

9:15 after another bad hour i'm back down to +30.

9:49 win again with a-k but chop with a-9 and a-4. +52

9:58 pocket queens, a-t, 4-4, and j-3 (yes, jack-three) cap a pot preflop. mr q-7 from yesterday's game takes it down with his j-3 hitting two threes on the flop!! :faint:

10:56 win big pot with kk vs novice player who won't fold. I actually feel bad for her but remembering the sage words of fast eddie felson, i don't "ease off"...."not when there's money involved."

*** just a brief note about what, in a post here yesterday, runfortheroses called "the sociology/cultural anthropology of 2014 ne megalopolis poker culture" and that note is that as nice as people below the mason Dixon line usually are, the horseshoe players should be ASHAMED of the way they treated a player who was obviously new to this racket. an embarrassing lack of compassion and no, we're not talking about local gang members, but supposedly mature adults with aarp cards and casino experience. shameful. :blush: ***

11:50 flop two pair with a-9 suited but lose to a gutshot on the river. +35

12:00 flop two pair with a-t. turn boat. +63

1:00 see flop of t-5-5 with a-5 from the button. i raise the flop and the turn (blank) receiving calls from MR Q-7. there's been a lot of heartache on this tour and mr q-7 has pocket tens here, friends. but i told you i'd get him and i will.....

1:02 five on the river. ;)

game +100 (3/6 limit)
year +311 (65-47)

[wiffleball whizz]

Don't know how you book these wins in 3/6...... Any win over an extended period of over an hour is great!!!!!!!

[proximity]

Don't know how you book these wins in 3/6...... Any win over an extended period of over an hour is great!!!!!!!

play at my table and if you play fewer hands than i do you'll probably win.

are you going friday? you should be getting a ton of fsp that day??????

[lamboguy]

years ago at the Sahara Hotel on the strip they had a no ante $1-$4 7 stud game.

there were guys that sat in the game that never played a hand that started with less than queens. if an ace or a king came up on the board that would constitute an automatic fold. the game had a 10% rake and those guys would play about an 8 hour shift. they would make up to $50 a day. 2 other things about that game, there wasn't a low man to bring in the first bet and they never played with another pro in the game.

[proximity]

years ago at the Sahara Hotel on the strip they had a no ante $1-$4 7 stud game.

there were guys that sat in the game that never played a hand that started with less than queens. if an ace or a king came up on the board that would constitute an automatic fold. the game had a 10% rake and those guys would play about an 8 hour shift. they would make up to $50 a day. 2 other things about that game, there wasn't a low man to bring in the first bet and they never played with another pro in the game.

yes, something like the hold 'em equivalent of this. you can get good odds in some of these lower stakes games i'm in, but you also need a bigger edge to overcome the rake, tip, bad beat.... so i stay tight. basically category 4-6 sklansky hands as my position improves.

he's such an experienced player at much higher limit stakes that idk if $50 a day would satisfy whizz? of course he's a total rewards diamond member too and should be getting great comps and lots of free slots play at horseshoe too....

in hold 'em a couple decent players in the game might actually help you keep your sanity. :D

[wiffleball whizz]

yes, something like the hold 'em equivalent of this. you can get good odds in some of these lower stakes games i'm in, but you also need a bigger edge to overcome the rake, tip, bad beat.... so i stay tight. basically category 4-6 sklansky hands as my position improves.

he's such an experienced player at much higher limit stakes that idk if $50 a day would satisfy whizz? of course he's a total rewards diamond member too and should be getting great comps and lots of free slots play at horseshoe too....

in hold 'em a couple decent players in the game might actually help you keep your sanity. :D


I'd be on my knees doing favors if I could win $50.....

I got diamond cuz of 7 slot binges.....let me explain how to do it if you have the bankroll (I didn't have the bankroll just didn't pay my electric bill in ac for like 7-8 months.....always had a story)

You go in the morning get 500 tier credits.....you go home go about your day then you get another 500 tier credits playing (I was doing nickel slots but now do dollars for $3 a pop).....

In return you get 1000 for your play and a BONUS 1000.....do that 6 or 7 times mixed in with poker play and whatever else your diamond in a heartbeat....

[proximity]

I'd be on my knees doing favors if I could win $50.....

I got diamond cuz of 7 slot binges.....let me explain how to do it if you have the bankroll (I didn't have the bankroll just didn't pay my electric bill in ac for like 7-8 months.....always had a story)

You go in the morning get 500 tier credits.....you go home go about your day then you get another 500 tier credits playing (I was doing nickel slots but now do dollars for $3 a pop).....

In return you get 1000 for your play and a BONUS 1000.....do that 6 or 7 times mixed in with poker play and whatever else your diamond in a heartbeat....

thanks whizz, if it gets close at the end i'll give this a try.

last trip I got like 1700 tier credits for the two days, but that probably included a platinum bonus? if I go tomorrow, i'll probably be over 7000 tier credits..... not even half way to diamond though with only 2 months left.

in truth, platinum's probably enough for me, but it sure would be nice to go in that diamond room with you, stanky poo, and all the high rollers!! :cool:

[wiffleball whizz]

thanks whizz, if it gets close at the end i'll give this a try.

last trip I got like 1700 tier credits for the two days, but that probably included a platinum bonus? if I go tomorrow, i'll probably be over 7000 tier credits..... not even half way to diamond though with only 2 months left.

in truth, platinum's probably enough for me, but it sure would be nice to go in that diamond room with you, stanky poo, and all the high rollers!! :cool:

You have through march 31 2015 by the way

[proximity]

with $65 of free slots play we are up early on halloween morning and as anxious to get to horseshoe baltimore as an escaped michael myers is to return to haddonfield.

when i arrive at horseshoe i have an egg sandwich for breakfast at lenny's deli and actually turn the $65 into $70.

upstairs in the poker room i take my usual horseshoe seat in 3/6 limit hold 'em and today we get off to a fast start. i build up a $233 lead over the first five hours of the game before losing my first river. i bet ace-queen the whole way but check a flush card on the river. my crying call loses, but not to a flush. a woman we'll call miss gutshot chases down what is essentially a three out straight draw (i guess it was four :rolleyes: ) and drags the pot. with a $200 lead this is no big deal, but unfortunately it won't be the last time miss gutshot strikes tonight.

around 5:20 our table is called for a $100 "splash pot" a new horseshoe promotion. unfortunately i don't win and we won't have to debate generally accepted splash pot accounting practices here on the 2014 ppt thread.

my lead falls down into the low-mid 100s but i get hot between 7-8:00 when i win four pots and surge to +280.

but from 8:00 on i'm as cold as ice. in one brutal hand a guy button straddles my big blind and i raise to $9 with a-q suited and an older woman calls three bets cold with a-j off suit.

flop: a-j-j. :faint: :mad: :bang: :faint: :mad: :bang:

later miss gutshot strikes again and when she goes runner-runner with 8-3 off suit to chase down an 8 high heart flush :rolleyes: , another guy at the table actually inquires about her, ummm, strategy.

"sometimes i like to play bad cards, and then change to play good cards later and fool people....." :cool:

shortly after 11:00 i hope to reverse my fortunes with pocket kings from under the gun. i raise. miss gutshot calls with k-t and a goofy new player who has been straddling every other hand (but not this one) calls with t-2.

flop: q-t-t. :faint: :mad: :bang: :faint: :mad: :bang:

miss gutshot and goofy straddler are raising back and forth and i get up to go for some chip racks. i'm not paying anymore blinds at this table.

i leave the game ahead exactly $100 (again) and when i get $7 from another $20 of free slots play i trudge out of the horseshoe $177 richer than when i came in but infinitely more angry. i'm like a spoiled trick or treater not satisfied with his big bag of candy. always wanting more.

special thanks to the horseshoe baltimore for the $85 of free slots play. and next month they're even giving rakeback! best casino on the circuit!!

game +100 (3/6 lim)
year +411 (66-47)

[proximity]

after back to back losing months we needed to start October strong but unfortunately endured our first career defeat at the beautiful new horseshoe Baltimore.

back home at penn national though we'd book a win in a rare racino limit game before heading to atlantic city where we walked over the boardwalk and the competition.

when we headed back north to Pennsylvania though our results went south.

we'd close strong though and get up on the wire with three late month wins at horseshoe.

unfortunately though the win wasn't big enough to get us back in contention and we continue to lag far behind pace in our goal to win thousands of dollars for the year.

month +28 (9-4)
year +411 (66-47)
bonus ytd +90

[proximity]

jan. 6-6. +107
feb. 10-1. +1176
mar. 5-6. -677
apr. 3-7. -496
may. 9-3. +415
jun. 9-4. +563
jul. 8-5. +41
aug. 4-9. -607
sep. 3-2 -139
oct. 9-4 +28

[proximity]

after wrapping up October with a bittersweet win at horseshoe Baltimore, we return home to penn national racino to kickoff November in a game of 1-2 no limit hold 'em.

I open a new table about 2:15 or so and start slow but eventually raise to $12 with two black kings. two players call and I shove over a younger player on a queen high flop of all spades. the villain calls with his q-j off and actually takes a brief lead when another queen hits the turn before a 4th spade falls on the river to give me the winning flush.

unfortunately that is about the only hand I win during the eagles/Texans game. I drop a couple hands with pocket jacks and eventually miss two open ended straight draws in a row, the second loss tapping out my first buy in.

on a rebuy i'd beat the q-j kid with pocket 10s but eventually i'd squander these profits and $5 more dollars, sending me to a new table down $65 when the first game breaks.

at the second table i'd catch fire though.

with pocket 6s i'd river a set, but was good anyway. with a-5 of diamonds i'd flop a flush and with pocket jacks i'd hold off a villain drawing to a king high flush on a paired board.

after a couple wins with ak and another win with jj i'd surge to a $220 lead before losing a couple pots late, missing with pocket 4s in an almost "family pot" and aj losing to a short stacked ak in a decent sized straddled pot.

I retired $182 to the good as the steelers -ravens game was winding down.

at halftime of the game the steelers honored the legendary mean joe greene who was coached by the great chuck noll, who we quoted earlier in the thread.

"before you can win a game, you have to not lose it." --chuck noll

coach noll also said,"some coaches pray for wisdom.... I pray for 260 pound tackles. they'll give me plenty of wisdom."

here on the proximity poker tour we too pray for wisdom. but we also pray for aces, kings, queens, and jacks. they'll give us plenty of wisdom!!

game +182
year +593 (67-47)

[proximity]

here on the proximity poker tour we try to stay on the felt.... or at least inside the casinos for our reports but there is life away from the game and one major behind the scenes issue here in 2014 has been my mom's battle with lung cancer. fortunately she was able to win that fight but the cancer didn't stay down for long and is now attacking her brain. I cancelled a trip to Baltimore this week to be with her in the hospital Wednesday and Thursday when we got "good" news that the cancer is treatable and our situation is not totally hopeless. prayers for aces, kings, and poker wisdom have been replaced by prayers for my mom and I ask all readers to please keep her in your prayers and thoughts. thank you.

back on the felt i was eventually able to make it out to the racino for a session of 1-2 no limit hold 'em and got off to another slow start in that same jinxed seat i had for the recent "Lindsay lohan" game.

after an hour without winning a hand my anxiety takes over and i play a suited king-jack hand that should have been mucked from middle position. i end up getting two pair but lose to a villain playing king-queen who had a bigger two pair.

fortunately just a few hands into the rebuy i was able to win my losses back and forge to a small lead by winning a hand with pocket tens from the button. this win seemed to calm me down and i was able to go on to have a winning session.

it sucks that my home casino has the highest rake and zero comps for poker but tonight i could at least appreciate that it exists at all and that the game could distract me from life's problems. if only for a few hours.

game +71
year +664 (68-47)

[Fwizard]

Prayers to you and your mom---things like this remind us there are a lot of worse things then having your opponent hit the inside straight draw...

[Track Collector]

Yes, prayers for your mom. It will not be an easy journey, and she will need your support.

[Red Knave]

My best wishes and prayers for both your Mom and for you.
Many of us reading this can relate (me with my Dad) and regardless how you do 'on the felt' family will always be in your mind somewhere.
Make sure you cut yourself some slack.

[proximity]

thank you to fwizard, track collector, and red knave for your posts and support and also thanks to the other p.a. members who have reached out to me through pm and other means. since there is usually so little traffic here in the poker forum it always amazes me how many people have followed and posted on the thread.

THANK YOU PACEADVANTAGE!

[proximity]

our next game finds us back at penn national for yet another session of 1-2 no limit hold 'em.

for the first hour of the game i'm not good for much except folding rags. however, when chris carter is called for $500 of free slots play though I joke that "all he does is catch touchdowns and win fsp."

maybe not my best effort, but when only the dealer gets the joke I know i'm at the right table.

actually, I knew well before that but moving on I eventually win a hand on a raise with pocket aces followed up immediately by a miracle win with a-j on an a-k-q-x-j board.

I've surged to a $32 lead after this rush but go cold for another hour and find my lead down to $18 when I'm dealt kk from the bb.

I raise a couple limpers to $17 with this hand, only getting a call from the villain beside me. on a flop of q-5-5 with two spades I just shove my $61 (about 2x the pot ) but apparently it wasn't enough.

after (1) limping utg with ks-8s and (2) calling a big raise from a guy with only $61 behind, the villain completes the trifecta of terrible play by (3) calling my 2x pot shove on a paired board.

spade on the turn. (did I even have to say it?) :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

minus $60, but there's plenty of time to come back against players that are so bad and 20 min later I make another raise with a-k.

two donkeys call this raise with identical q-9 hands.

flop:9-x-x :bang:

seven minutes later i'm in late position facing a raise to $6 when I look down at pocket queens. I raise to $18 but the villain calls with 9-7 and hits two pair.

this is yet another terrible run here on the proximity poker tour but I'm actually playing some of my best poker and i'm not paying anyone off and still only find myself down $97.

I flop an overpair with pocket 8s and survive an all in shove but a set of kings is wasted against another "Lindsay lohan" girl who unfortunately picked up the art of folding a little quicker than the other Lindsay did.

for the next two hours I do nothing but fold rags until I suddenly win back to back hands from the big and small blinds. unfortunately though another ace-king raise misses the flop totally and i'm down about $80 when we come to an interesting hand with a-x spades from the big blind.

a-2-x flop and 2s on the turn giving me two pair and a spade draw. I see a third 2 on the river with the small blind and another player from late position. the small blind leads out and I consider raising, but I didn't have a whole lot behind and ultimately opt to fold. the other two players chop with their aces.

after more folding I see a flop of j-9-9 (two spades) with q-9 from the big blind. I have $15 behind and bet the pot on the flop and toss the rest in on the turn. spade on the river. the villain beside me (mr k-8) leads out with a very tepidly played a-j and the donk beside him calls with t-7 of spades for the flush. :bang:

all chris carter did was catch touchdowns and here on the proximity poker tour all we do is lose to donkeys. :mad:

game -120
year +544 (68-48)

[PaceAdvantage]

here on the proximity poker tour we try to stay on the felt.... or at least inside the casinos for our reports but there is life away from the game and one major behind the scenes issue here in 2014 has been my mom's battle with lung cancer. fortunately she was able to win that fight but the cancer didn't stay down for long and is now attacking her brain. I cancelled a trip to Baltimore this week to be with her in the hospital Wednesday and Thursday when we got "good" news that the cancer is treatable and our situation is not totally hopeless. prayers for aces, kings, and poker wisdom have been replaced by prayers for my mom and I ask all readers to please keep her in your prayers and thoughts. thank you. Just catching up on the board now and came across this. Best wishes and hopeful prayers to your Mom to beat this second round.

[proximity]

Just catching up on the board now and came across this. Best wishes and hopeful prayers to your Mom to beat this second round.

thank you pace. my mom is going for radiation this week and next week.... but i think that is all? i believe patients usually go for about a month so i'm cautiously optimistic that the (only) two weeks is a good sign.

thanks again to everyone here for the positive thoughts, prayers, and well wishes!

proximity

[proximity]

our tour resumes with another trip to the beautiful new horseshoe baltimore where we have another $40 of free slots play waiting and 1,000 free rewards credits ($10) just for showing up! and all of this in addition to the already generous comps given by horseshoe make this the best casino on the tour imo!!

while horseshoe is treating me great however, there is trouble in paradise.

I suddenly have ZERO total rewards "offers" for atlantic city rooms.

with a career high 7800 tier credits (despite not living anywhere near a Caesar's property) I didn't see this coming but I guess I should have. possibly some of my habits have done me in like for example the last trip where I checked in late at bally's on Wednesday night and then ate breakfast at Caesar's on Saturday morning? In my mind I was there gambling at bally's almost two full days (Thursday and Friday) but possibly Caesar's is saying I was there four days and this is hurting my average daily play?

i'm sure it's nothing personal but while it's fashionable to slam atlantic city these days, we've given this place a lot of good publicity here on the proximity poker tour and i do feel betrayed.

anyhow back at the table, we're at horseshoe Baltimore and after turning $40 of fsp into $36 we help open a new 3/6 limit hold em table. the casino is uncharacteristically dead on this Thursday afternoon and we start only five handed, hoping for more players to join us..... but the game stays short the whole time.

a girl hits a couple straights against me and i fall behind over $30 before rallying back with a turned full house with t6 from the big blind and later hitting a nut flush with aq diamonds. i surge to a $41 lead about 2:45 in but get crushed in the final 15 minutes and when the game breaks after about 3 hours i head to the cage with only $81. the $19 loss being only my second career defeat at horseshoe.

can't get a room in atlantic city. and now we can't get a game at horseshoe. :bang:

game -19 (3/6 limit)
year +525 (68-49)