PREGAME
it's a nice morning in central pennsylvania. i'm up early and heading south for my final 2014 appearance at the beautiful new horseshoe casino in baltimore, md!! there's a big ravens-browns game beside the casino and it's $40 to park but the horseshoe generously gives me a free pass. the hometown team needs a win (and some help) to secure a playoff berth and proximity needs a big win too to climb back into contention as we prepare for a final big game.
but first my play at horseshoe, showboat ac (rip), harrah's ac, and bally's ac has gained me 12,904 total rewards tier credits. 15,000 are needed for diamond but there is apparently a 1,000 tier credit bonus if you gain over 1,000 in a day. it's a lot for me, but an 1,100 tier credit day at horseshoe should get the job done!!
i arrive around 9:40 and spend the next three hours getting crushed on the slots as ravens and browns fans circle the casino. as the clock approaches 1:00 they head for the stadium and i head for the poker room. it's time for kickoff...
KICKOFF
at 1:00 we begin our final 3/6 hold em game of the year at horseshoe. i'm red hot in the first hour. with AQ from the small blind i lead out on an ace high flop and the rest of the way when another ace comes on the turn. when a donkey raises pre flop i reraise with JJ which proves best despite an ace high flop. 22 flops a set and turns a full house!! as the football game approaches halftime we're up $91 and an hour later we're still up around $80 when we come to possibly
the hand of the year....
HAND OF THE YEAR??
with another 6-2 hand in the big blind i see a flop of QJ8 and drop out on a flop that features intense action between two players we'll call
general tso and
chalkie. the general has KT and chalkie has J8 and they start raising each other back and forth. the general asks if they can go all in and the dealer allows it even though i don't think that's right since the hand didn't begin heads up? (whizz?) anyhow both players agree and the general stacks off at least a dozen big bets when the draw misses. amazing hand, though you would have swore they both had T9!
ONE ART
the art of losing isn't hard to master;
these cards seem so filled with the intent
to be mucked that there loss is no disaster...
one thing i'm not sure i'm getting across in the reports is how
long some of these games are. you're losing and folding hour after hour. the only thing keeping you going is the anticipation of finally getting that good hand which seems to miss the flop completely when you need it the most.
and after the first hour, that's the kind of game we're having today at horseshoe.
QT suited flops top pair but goes down to JJ. fortunately the villain is all in pre flop but AK goes down to K9. a turned queen of spades gives me an ace high flush but another queen on the river fills up pocket 6s. TT can't raise out K9 and we lose again to this cruddy hand after a J99 flop. shortly after 5:00 i finally fall behind and about a half hour later
chalkie makes a dramatic departure....
CHALKIE'S DRAMATIC DEPARTURE
things don't always run smoothly at the casinos and the horseshoe gets hostile when
chalkie's hand accidentally gets mucked after he makes a pre flop raise to $6. you'd think he'd chalk (pun intended) this up to just random bad luck and still be in good spirits after taking that huge all in limit hand off general tso, but chalkie isn't happy with the dealer and wants to see the floor. the floor lady apologizes but rules that his hand is indeed dead and chalkie erupts and gets ejected after dropping some f-bombs.
"don't log him out," the floor lady instructs the dealer. "i want his information."
idk if she's going to get chalkie's address and burn his house down or just give him a long suspension from the horseshoe? maybe both?
all over $6. 
DOWNEY'S NO NOVICE
after chalkie gets shown the door, his all in rival
general tso rejoins the game around 6:00. a new player we'll call
pfc downey joins also joins the game with his buddy
lance cpl dawson sitting behind him.
as
dawson watches the game and the cocktail waitresses,
downey raises eyebrows early by calling down against tight "old man coffee" type players with hands as weak as ten and queen high. there's some kind of comment about him being a "beginner" but downey tells the table he's
only new to the casino. he's been playing
the game since he was six years old!!
in his hour at the table downey has been giving his chips a
code red and it's (finally) my turn win some of them when i raise first in with 99. downey and the big blind call and when we check an AJ6 flop to downey he fires out $3 of his $8 stack. the big blind folds, but i'm ahead of downey's range and make the call. 2 on the turn and i check and call downey's $5 all in shove and table my 99. the hand is good for the moment until the dealer flips over another heart which completes a flush for downey's 9-5 suited. the loss puts me behind about $40 and i'm approaching $70 of losses when i get a text from
ronsmac about printing drf in windows 8.1.....
RONSMAC TO THE RESCUE
when i get the text from
ronsmac i need a break and get up from the table to call him so i can understand his problem. unfortunately i'm not much help to him but the break ends up doing me some good when i post missed blinds to re-enter the game and get dealt an 87 off suit hand that i otherwise would have mucked before the flop. 87 turns the nut straight and i win a big pot that gets me back to within $10 of even!! for the next hour i go back to being card dead until 8:30 when i flop a straight...
FLOPPING STRAIGHTS AIN'T THAT GREAT
the lucky post after the ronsmac call keeps me alive in the game but overall i've been extremely card dead since about 2:00. shortly after 8:30 though i actually flop a straight with 48 from the big blind. flop: 567!!
unfortunately another four falls on the turn. then a seven comes on the river. another player can't check and call with his 8 and we get stuck paying two bets when a guy raises 66 from late position.
then just minutes later with 98 suited from late position.... i flop another straight. flop 765!! being sarcastic, i try to shove all in on the flop, lol but when 4h5h hangs around to see running hearts the joke's on me as my second flopped straight of the orbit goes down to a backdoor flush.
AH, DISTINCTLY I REMEMBER IT WAS IN THE BLEAK DECEMBER
once upon a midnight dreary, i was card dead, weak and weary,
big suited red cards and low black flops
one by one my chips would drop...
after the two losses with flopped straights, my misery continues until after 10:00 when i flop top set with 99. i actually manage to win this hand and get back to within $40 of even again. unfortunately i continue to fold rags until after 11:30 when i flop a full house with 66. flop k6k!!
but this win only gets me to back with in fifty dollars of even. i finally start getting some good hands but miss the flop by a mile every time. as the clock approaches 1:00 am i'm all in for my $100 buy in with KJ but lose to a dominated K9 for the third time in the game.
HORSESHOE POSTSCRIPT
out in the casino i grind some more slots on a double diamond machine. eventually i stop to check my account and find that i've reached 14,019 and gone over 1100 for the day which should make me diamond for 2015 if the 1000 tier credit bonus is applied. if....
on the drive home though i was disappointed that i couldn't close out the horseshoe baltimore chapter of our tour with a win. overall though it was a great poker experience at horseshoe. unofficially i went 15-4 in games there and won $979. i also received $125 in rakeback as well as free slots play and generous comps in the form of total rewards reward credits. thank you to the horseshoe players, staff, and management!!
friends, we are now down to our FINAL game.
thank you for reading!!
game -100 (3/6 lim)
year +1071 (81-54)
