I fling open my curtains at Hampton inn Charles town (wv).
it's a beautiful morning. the sun is shining. and I have a great view of the historic Charles town bullring.
yesterday had to have been a nightmare?
just a bad dream?
but when I look in my wallet there's a big chunk of bankroll missing.
unfortunately, Maryland live! was no dream and being a poker loser is again my reality.
after all the bad beats over the months, it's incredibly depressing to claw and scratch all the way back and then have the rug pulled out from under me in one terrible game. I try not to focus on the year though, instead noting that i'm only behind $40 for the 2015 vacation. it's salvageable.
it's a quiet afternoon over at the casino and I get on the list for a brand new 1-2 no limit game on table 1.
the game starts fast though and the cards are in the air with heavy action before I can even get to the table with my buy in.
just as I sit down a younger player two seats to my right is
already all in. today's version of "the kid" looks like he just stepped off the set of the (now cancelled) starz series
magic city.
I can see that "magic city" is an enthusiastic newcomer that's been bitten by the poker bug. (he must not read these reports
) he has an annoying habit of giving American pie-esque "band camp" commentary about
every hand. except instead of "this one time, at band camp...." it's "last night I had a XY and the flop came ***." rinse and repeat.
not long into the contest I get dealt (you guessed it) KK and raise a few limpers to $16 ($41 behind). there are three out of position calls and we see a flop of J93.
donkey #1 leads out for $25 with 43 OFF.
donkey #2 calls with "a draw."
magic city calls with J7.
I shove the $41 and everyone calls.
turn:3. river: x.
on a rebuy I fall behind even more but eventually launch a comeback with KT suited flopping top pair and a flush draw from the button. the flush comes in and I actually move ahead $53 when AQ flops top pair and a villain calls my turn shove. (he doesn't show)
soothing elevator music is flowing over into the poker room from 9 dragons restaurant and I joke that I expect jim nantz to pop out and whisper "hello friends, and welcome to the Charles town races and slots. a racino unlike any other....."
it was around this time that a new player named roger joined our table.
like others, roger had picked up poker in an attempt to move away from the evils of blackjack..... a blackjack career on steroids.
"you know that statue outside Caesar's ac? I paid for that," roger (kinda) jokes.
a far cry from magic city's band camp style hand histories, roger is a great guy to play with and really entertains the table with the way he tells his gambling stories.
he masterfully relives the highs and lows of the golden age of atlantic city gambling.
he tells of one game where he was losing for 40 hours straight at Caesar's. dealers clocked out and when they came back, roger was
still there.
one well meaning dealer tried to tell him to go to his room and get some sleep, but roger pressed his bets.
and began to win.
and win, and win, and win..... finally cashing out with $335,000!
he gets some sleep and when he
finally wakes up there's 14 naked people in his room!!
roger had experienced the thrills of blackjack victory, but he'd also endured the agony of 21 defeat; the worst time being when he'd lost all of his own money
and tapped markers from like every casino on the boardwalk.
you'd think it
can't get worse than that but it
does.
depressed, he's sitting on the ground outside of the ac mc Donald's when suddenly a bird flies over head and.....
anyhow, back on the felt I've pulled ahead but i'm completely card dead for the next six hours. 93, 94, 92, 94, 9x...... before it shifts to T3, T6,Tx for a couple orbits. eventually I do hit a set of 2s and fill up on the turn but I also drop a hand with trip jacks that run into a set of 6s. naturally I get no help on the river.
just two nights ago I left Maryland live! as a poker winner who was just cruising along on a relaxing vacation.
one game to go on our poker vacation.
thank you for reading.
game -110 (1/2 nl)
vacation -150 (5-3)
year -455 (29-25)
Good one
