Donkey Boy vs D-Bag

March 10-12th, 2009

"I'm going to play some big pots", I proclaimed.

We were driving down to Harrah's Resorts, making a Atlantic City run after a long hiatus. Mudmucker had just informed me that he wasn't going to play any poker, because he didn't feel like grinding it out for hours. I concurred; I wasn't going to grind it out either, and that's when I announced my aforementioned strategy aloud.

After sucking down some oysters and drinks at happy hour at Phillips on the 2nd day, I finally sat down for some $1-2 no-limit poker at the card room in Caesars. After a few hands, I got dealt A-5 of clubs in the big blind. A d-bag, the only person at the table wearing sunglasses (lightly tinted, so clearly it was for looking cool and not to obscure his eyes), raised it to $11 from the cut-off [he had raised 3 out of the last 4 pots]. I called and the flop came 10 high with 2 clubs. I checked, and d-bag led out for a pot sized raise of about $30. My previous tight poker incarnation would have just called, but this time, sticking to my new anti-grinder mindset, I popped it to $100- about what he had remaining in his stack. We got all the money in the middle for about $10 more, and after a blank on the turn, I hit the club on the river. I showed my nut flush, and he smirked before finally mucking. I assumed I had cracked either a pair of jacks or higher.

He muttered something about having been rivered 3 times already, and told me, "Nice hand, donkey boy. Keep playing that way."

"Thanks", I replied.

The d-bag soon changed seats at the table, moving from my right to my left. He continued to spew off chips to everyone at the table, busting, re-buying, and insulting people the entire time. D-bag was on serious tilt, enhancing his douchbaggery by ordering Coronas with lime wedges, raising pre-flop blind, and criticizing the play of everyone else. When he left the table to take a break, the entire table ribbed him, and we all agreed to "not to tap aquarium glass" (Don't scare the fish! Don't antagonize him, just smile and collect his chips!).

I soon got into another hand with d-bag. He raised from early position to $8. There about 4 callers, and I looked down at Q-Q in late position. I re-raised to $40 and after considering it for a while, d-bag was the only caller. I checked in the dark, and the flop came Q-4-5 rainbow. Boy, was checking in the dark ever the right move. I watched as he put out a $42 bet, which I considered, and smooth called. The turn was a bit scary, a 6. I didn't think he had 2-3 or 7-8, but maybe he had a 5-7 which would have given him a pair and an open-ended straight draw. I checked again, and he shoved for about $100 more which I insta-called. The river came another 4, and I flipped over my boat. He stared for a long time at the board and at his cards, saying he couldn't believe he lost with his hand. He called me "donkey boy" again, and reached in his wallet to rebuy for another $200. He claimed he had pocket sixes, which meant he was behind every step of the way in the hand.

I scooped a few more uncontested pots, and ended the session up $375. By my conservative estimation, d-bag lost at least $1000 in just the couple of hours I had spent at the table. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.
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Lungfish's Poker Challenge update:

I'm currently north of $70, having graduated from $0.02-$0.04 to $0.05-$0.10 and recently, after my last session, I'm on to the $0.10-$0.20 tables. Nothing exciting, just playing solid A-B-C poker. Still doing cash games, but maybe I'll try some sit and gos soon too. It seems that every internet poker phenom I see on TV nowadays claims they started with just a $50 initial deposit and never looked back.

Atlantic City Run: 10/10/08

I took the day off because I couldn't fall asleep the night before.  Maybe it was because I was nervous about losing money to the casinos as the stock market continues to take a hit.  Or maybe it was just the pot of coffee I drank in the afternoon.  Nevertheless, I spent the waning hours of night watching Gus Hansen, OMGClayAiken, trex313 and some others playing $500/$1000 Cap Limit ($30K) Hold' Em on Full Tilt.  Seeing those guys mucking $500 small blinds and  exchanging $1K to $30K from hand to hand made me feel a little better about the $500 bankroll I planned to play with on our trip.

1:30PM 

Lungfish calls to say that Moser will be heading out from the city at 4 and should be arriving between 5-5:30 to pick us up.  The plan is to drop off our stuff at the beach house in Margate and grab dinner before we hit the tables.

5:30PM 

Lungfish drops by to wait.  We watch online videos of Phil Ivey playing craps.  He loses $200K in 2 minutes and then another $200K in the next 10 minutes.  He buys in with the remaining $600K in his $1M bankroll and goes on a run to finish up.  Inspirational.  We receive a call from Moser to let us know he's running late so we fill up on some Tostitos while we wait.

8:00PM - 10:30PM

Moser is here and we're heading out two and a half hours behind schedule.  We get to the house around 10:30 but run into another hitch.  No keys.  We end up hoisting Moser up through an open window in the back.  After years of med school and residency, he finally finds his true calling.  Burglary.

11:00PM

None of the Pier Shop restaurants at Caesar's serve food past 11:00 and we observe that even Easton Ave is livelier at night than it is here.  We leave the depressing scene and head over to Cafe Rosa for a much anticipated dinner.  We think that the food is great but maybe it's just because we were starving.  It's like what Eddie says in Raw:

"If you're starving and somebody throws you a cracker, you gonna be like this: That's the best cracker I ever ate in my life!  That ain't no regular cracker, was it?  What was that, a saltine?  That was delicious.  That wasn't no saltine.  That was... that was a Ritz.  That wasn't a Ritz?  That was the best cracker I ever ate in my life."

11:30PM - 2:00AM

Our stomachs are full and we're finally cruising the tables and checking out the action.  The $15 min blackjack tables at Caesar's are a little stiff for us and I'm still wary of the unfriendly dealers we encountered a few trips ago.  The craps tables downstairs are packed but also unappealing.  We decide to head over to Wild Wild West instead.  

I love Wild Wild West because it's down to earth, a little more low-key than the other casinos and the dealers are friendly.  But mostly because I've had some pretty good luck there.  We find a $10 min blackjack table with only two players and sit down as the dealer's reshuffling.  I buy in for $200 and we're off.

On the first hand, the guy to the right of me doesn't take a hit on his 16 even though the dealer's showing a 10.  Even though I win the hand, Lungfish and I give each other an "uh-oh here we go" type of look at the questionable play.  Thankfully the guy leaves after two more hands and I feel better about the table now.  I move over to the first spot, my favorite, and I go on an immediate run, winning 7 hands in a row.  I raise my bet to $20, hit blackjack and I'm feeling great.  When I eventually lose my first hand I feel like saying "well, you can't win them all" but I hold my tongue since I'm not keeping track of how the other players are doing.

I'm up around $110 at this point and am thinking of getting up but I can't because I'm waiting for the drink lady to bring me my free coffee with Jameson.  I mistakenly order it black and it tastes horrible but I drink it anyway.  This free coffee ends up costing me about $60 since that's what I lose in the time I'm waiting.  I get up from the table up $50 and head over to watch some craps.

The table looks crowded but I notice that this ghetto lady is taking up about 4 spots at the end of the rail and a middle-aged indian guy's wife is taking up another spot.  I stand around a little longer and it looks like the table's heating up.  Ghetto lady's man is rolling and he's just hit two points.   I squeeze my way between ghetto lady and the stickman and buy in for $200.

I'm up a little bit after the first shooter hits a couple winners on his come out roll.  I have 1x odds behind my $10 pass line bet when I place a come bet and the shooter rolls a seven.  At this point the stickman sweeps up all the chips, including my come bet and I protest.  She sees what happens and yells to the pit boss, "I took his bet by mistake" to which the pit boss responds, "Make it right and don't let him catch you next time."

The next shooter is the middle-aged indian guy.  I bet $10 on the pass line and he rolls a 4.  I back it up with 1x odds and place $12 on the six and the eight.  He hits the six after two rolls and I press it.  Two rolls later he hits the eight and I press that too.  He then goes on a ridiculous run shooting sixes and eights while wiping out every dealers' stack of chips with the dice.  I'm stuffing chips in every pocket at this point.  All throughout this session, ghetto lady is yelling at him to roll a four.  I back up the point to 3x odds when she finally gives up saying "I'm not yellin' anymo'.  I'm tired."  Perfect timing.  He rolls a 4 and the table erupts.

I'm ready to leave after the indian guy finally craps out but the dealers are counting the chips in the middle.  They tell me that I can color up at another table but I decide to stick around for ghetto lady's roll though just to see how it goes.  She rolls a 4, I back it up, and she immediately hits it.  Great times and I have no idea how much I'm up.

Final tally:

-20 dinner: -13 cash, -7 comps

-5 parking

+50 blackjack

+345 craps