Still Card Dead

I'm supposed to be writing a tech spec and/or figuring out how to run FirstLogic from DataStage right now. But I don't much feel like it. Instead, I'm going to write about Monday night.

In follow up to my last post, I did, in fact, go play poker at Commerce. When 8:30pm rolled around, I was in between getting in the car and staying planted on the couch to watch nothing in particular on TV. I finally hit the street at about 8:50pm. No traffic so I arrived at the Commerce Casino's valet near 9:20pm.

I have a little superstition that has developed around my arrivals at Commerce. When I leave my car at the valet, I could use any of three casino entrances. The furthest is a short cut along the driveway and would put me right at the lower section where I play. The nearest entry is right next to where I drop off but leads to a hotel registration desk just north of the top section. This is where I normally enter. I realized some time ago that I could not recall ever going through another entrance. Couple that with my history of generally running good and leaving winner at Commerce and a superstition was formed.

But I'm not really superstitious. So this time, when I caught myself heading for the middle thoroughfare, I opted to continue on via its revolving door. Maybe that was the root of my demise...but I don't think so.

I'm still card dead. Its been a week and a half now. That's not very long but, given my intended venture into professional play, its hardly reassuring. Let me be clear. I'm not running bad. If that were the case, I'd have lost a significant amount in my recent sessions with big hands running into bigger hands or big draws. In contrast, I have not been getting cards to even consider playing. So I haven't found much trouble. For instance...

A couple Fridays ago, I went to the Bike. I had not played at the Bike in at least a year and was happy to find a lot of improvements in the top section (that's where they run 3-5NL and above). The tables and chairs are nice and the dealers and floor people seem to really know what they are doing. Unfortunately, I'm not all that fond of the games they run. Their 5-10NL (my game of choice) has a $500 min buy-in with no max. So, depending on the table, it can require a minimum of $1000 in play to play it right.

I put my name of the list for the two 5-10NL games that were running anyway. But after waiting ten minutes, watching both tables, I realized I was not likely going to get a seat at one of them for quite some time. The action was slow and most players seemed very rocky. So I opted to put my name on the list for their 5-5NL game as well. It has a spread buy-in from 300 to 500 so at least there is a cap. But I feared those blinds would make it like a 3-5 game.

After another 5 minutes or so, the board for 5-5NL had grown enough to start another table. I was one of the first to appear and snagged the 2s. Once under way, I realized that this was definitely not like 3-5. Several of the players were aggressive with their preflop bets, typically $40 with no one limping in front, and that style was adopted by the more passive players. It turned out this would play more like a 5-10NL game...good. Unfortunately, as I have been whining about, I didn't find many playable hands without a raise ahead of me. In the long run, I managed to work out a $150 winner for 5 1/2 hours of play.

On the following Wednesday night, I headed back to the Bike. My plans to play tennis with John had fallen through so I figured I might as well do something productive. Poker is productive, right? Right. This time, there was only one 5-10NL game running and there were two open seats. I decided against playing it because players appeared to be giving no action. Everyone was sitting around waiting for the preflop nuts. Once again, I got into a new 5-5NL game. Still card dead, I played well and minimized my down swing through 2 1/2 hours. In the last 30 minutes there, some players packed up and a couple others sat out leaving us 4 handed. We played on for a few rounds which was to my advantage. I had a clear edge on these guys short-handed. I dragged the blinds a few times and got action in one pot that I was able to take down on the turn. After that, the other players decided it best to wait for the 'out' players to return. They did shortly and we played a few hands 6-handed. But I still wasn't finding any cards and I was stuck so I decided to bug out. I cashed out, stuck $160.

Instead of going home, I headed for Commerce. I didn't think there would be much action there because tournaments were running at the Bike. But it was worth a short trek to check it out. Unfortunately, the short trek took a long time. I had never taken the drive between the Bike and Commerce before so I didn't know there is no 5 south connector from the 710 north. I blew past the 5 and turned around at the next off-ramp. Good news: There is a 5s connector from the 710s. How in the...!? Whatever. I made it to the 5 only to find gridlock. The two right lanes were closed nearing the Commerce exit. Turned out they were closed at the exit and it was closed, too.
I started thinking that this entire journey might be a sign that I should just call it a night...but, like I said, I'm not really superstitious and I don't believe in signs (especially the one for the 5s). One exit later and I was back-tracking to the casino. Pulled up to the valet, went through the usual entrance, walked past the top section and was pleased to find the lower section buzzing. However, there was a list for 5-10NL and it was already late. I just wanted to get into action. So I took an immediate seat in a 3-5NL game. I figured I could at least take advantage of the lower class of players even if I didn't get any cards.

And that's the way it went. I played for another 2 1/2 hours and cashed winner for the room but stuck $30 overall. Not bad considering one of the rare big hands I found, KK, fell to pocket JJ. I had disguised my hand preflop by just calling a raise in position. Then I raised him on a Q-high flop. He called and checked a rag on the turn. I moved in for my last $120 into a $240 pot. After sweating over it for about a minute, he called saying, "If you've got queens, you're good." I showed him my kings to which he did not appear happy. The river brought a J and he gleefully turned up his cards to show the winning set. It didn't phase me as I reached into my pocket for a re-buy. The rest of the players at the table were more surprised by the way I handled it than the way the hand came out. I later told them, "Its nothing we haven't seen before. There were two jacks in the deck. So it wasn't a 'miracle.'"

That was my first loss in quite some time. But I was happy with my play and the fact that it was only a small loss. Now we come to Monday. I felt a need to play poker and try to expell the bad-card demons. I arrived at Commerce casino with no trouble this time out. And I landed in a 5-10NL game right away. To my delight, there were a ton of chips in play at this full table. Two guys had over $800, one had about $1100, another had $1800, and the big stack had $2800. That's pretty damned good for a $400 fixed buy-in. Fortunately, these guys were wild and good to give action. Unfortunately, I still wasn't finding any cards. It started to have a physical effect on me, too. I didn't have much to say. Its not my style to sit quietly in a game. However, I would have found it difficult to get a word in since most of the players at this table were motor mouths. My mood was worsened by the subject matter: bad beat stories and critiques of every hand (if you had blah blah, I would have blah blah).

Eventually, the table got down to 5-handed and we asked the floor man to find us seats. There were plenty available for us. I got first pick after drawing the high card (best hand I found all week). So I spotted an empty 3s in a game that was full and appeared to be pretty soft. It was a good read as there were no tough players. But, like the previous table, these guys were yapping about bad beats...and my streak continued. There were raises ahead of me and I woke up with junk. It became apparent that limping was allowed in a lot of pots so I tried to get involved in position with small-mid suited connectors and any suited aces. Too bad I kept finding 6-2o and J-3o. Not much limping for me.

Then I found a couple good starters. After two limpers, I raised to $40 with A-Qo in middle position. Two callers behind then one of the limpers moved all-in for about $240 more. That would just about put me all-in, too. I laid it down, one person called (with 6-4o) and the raiser showed A-Ko. Good laydown on my part but it was painful.

A couple rounds later, I found 9-9 in middle position. There were already three limpers. I decided not to raise because I would have to make it $50 and didn't want to create such a big pot knowing that I would get action. So I joined in the limp-fest. One other guy limped in behind me then one of the blinds raised to $50. I had already planned to call a reasonable raise. This was it. I would also have position on the raiser. However, one of the early limpers reraised to $150. I counted down my chips just because I hadn't had anything to think about all night. But I wasn't ever going to call. I folded. So did the first raiser. The reraiser showed J-J. Another good laydown but still painful.

Two hands later, I picked up T-T. I opened raised to $35 (the extra $5 was a mistake because I thought there was one limper). One player called then the button raise $100 more. I went into the tank to see if I could muster up some gamble or find any reason to put this guy on less than a big pair. At that point, I would have pushed all-in if I thought he had A-K. But I new he had a monster. I folded as did the other player and the button showed K-K. This is gettin' re-god-damned-diculous!

It was more of nothing for a little while longer before I decided to pack it in. I cashed out loser $261. Not bad considering I was just sitting there, bleeding all night. Most people would have dropped a couple buy-ins. So I'm proud of my patience and control. But I still need to get this monkey off my back. A solid winning session is in order. Don't look for it too soon, though. I won't be able to play again this week. But with no plans for the weekend, I'll look forward to another trip to Commerce on Saturday. Pray for me.

SEEYa