More on my Foxwoods trip

Hey all,

Our show was going a little long today, so I left out a few things that happened to me at Foxwoods' $1-2 NLHE table, figuring if anyone cared they could read about it here.

During the hour ride to the casino I thought about the different strategies I might take given certain situations and players. My predetermined approach was that I was going to have to be real creative. I have had three straight winning sessions at Foxwoods (though the last time I was there I netted $25 after just an hour and had to leave). But to be honest, during those sessions I pretty much played just premium hands or good hands in position and then played pretty straight-forward. The reason being was that the players I faced were very aggressive and all I had to do was find a hand and there was always someone there willing to give me action.

So this time I thought I would come in and really play differently to keep them off their toes, etc. But you know what? It was a real passive table to start (and I think that was because they started a new table with the 10 of us so everyone was a little hesitant to loosen up.) This passivity allowed me to limp with hands like suited aces or suited connectors/1-gappers, which paid off handsomely. I flopped a straight when I was holding 8♠10♠ in position. I let him bet the whole way, but when a third heart, which also paired the board, came on the river I knuckled behind him and missed a bet. He had made trips and was trying to trap me. I could have made a ton more on that hand but still made about 50 units.

But to get back to my original point, I really didn't have to do anything except play clean poker. And that's the lesson here, boys and girls. Always be prepared to adjust. If you get invited to a home game and someone tells you the players are very good, don't take that person's word for it unless you really respect their play, etc. I was convinced I was going to have to elevate my game to come out a big winner, but when I sat down these players were either beginners, drunks, tourists or just plain poor. I tend to give players too much credit when I first sit down with them, which is a good general rule of thumb, but in this case I identified in the first 10 minutes who the fish were and who would lose a lot of money to me.

One guy, who was in his 70s, kept betting middle pair like he was holding the stone cold nuts. And the one time he picked up a decent hand (aces and fours) he ran into my Dead Man's Hand, which I made on the river. I raised his 25-unit bet on the river to 50 and he quickly called. I think that frustrated him even more, but it didn't keep him from reaching into his pocket and pulling out two $25 chips over and over and over again. I would say he lost close to 500 in about 3 hours.

If you guys think I misplayed the KK hand at the end you may have a point. But I'm not really sure I made all of my points on the show because, again, it was clearly running long and I was just skimming through my notes. If I had reraised preflop to at least 130 units, would I have lost the guy in the middle? And did I want to? Also, if the guy with the big stack came back over the top with everything he had, was I really willing to risk it all there? I did put him on QQ or JJ, but I'm not Daniel Negreanu. I could have been wrong about that "big-chip" tell, or that reaction he had when I asked him how much he had left. If he pushed for 280 more units, did I really want to call off my 5 hours of hard work and profit? If my read was wrong I'm down to less than my original buy-in. So by smooth-calling I was hoping for a flop that didn't have an ace or paint, and then I would take what I could from him. I think if I had pushed preflop he may have folded, especially after I asked him what he had left. I think he knew he was beat. Since I only smooth-called and then made the bets small enough where he had to call, he wasn't really getting the right odds to do it since he knew he needed trips to beat me. Could I have bet more on the end and gotten a call? I don't know. I always scream at the TV when someone pushes all-in at the end and loses the guy with the second-best hand. I wanted to make more money but I didn't want to lose him. What was the magic number? Maybe I hit it, maybe I didn't. But I do know I got paid off because of the size of the bets. And remember, this isn't the Internet and it's not a tournament. If you watch High Stakes Poker (my new favorite show) Negreanu isn't betting the pot when he has a monster, he's betting what doesn't look fishy and what he thinks his opponent will call. If you watch the cash games you'll see the bets don't always reflect pot-sized or half the pot. During the hand, those bets I made were the ones I felt that would get called. But by the turn, if he had come over the top I would have pushed because I was convinced I had the best hand. But there was no way he was going to push because he knew I had him beat, hence my smallish bets.

This may seem hard to believe, but I estimate there was only one hand that I folded preflop that would have won had I stayed in, and I say that knowing I played for 5 hours. The button raised to 15 units when I was in the small blind with A-2. I folded and the flop would have given me trip-twos. But really, other than that, if I folded preflop, I wouldn't have made the winning hand at any other time. It was really weird.

I also mentioned the AJ hand where I laid it down after a flop that had an Ace and a King. I was surprised he showed me the AQ, but like I said he liked to show his hands, which ultimately cost him a bundle when I picked up those kings. Anyway, that AJ was the best laydown I made, but there were a few other times where I laid it down and was correct to do so, including once with pocket 10s preflop, and another time with the same hand postflop when it came Q-9-3. I knew these were good laydowns because on the preflop fold pocket aces were shown and on the latter hand it went to the river and one guy showed AQ and the other guy had trip 3s. They were clearly hands where I could have gotten into trouble, but my discipline really took over and paid off.

I think I said this on the show, but it really was the most complete, satisfying session of my young poker career. I read players really well, gambled when I needed to, laid off when I needed to, made a bunch of big hands and posted the biggest single win of my career. Did I miss a few bets? Absolutely. Did I misplay that KK hand at the end? Maybe. Did I overplay a medium pocket pair a coupla times? Yes. But overall, it was a great session the saw a 650% gain on my buy-in. Not bad for five hours' work. I haven't felt that good about my poker play since I won the first tournament I ever entered.

I may be headed back tomorrow. We'll see.

Comments

[Erwin Blonk]

It seems I can buy a cross-Atlantic plane ticket, go to Foxwoods, play and head home with an overall net result ;)

[ElSnarfoGrande]

Wait, wait, wait. You showed a 650% profit and you MIGHT go back??? C'mon, you better be back there. If you are running good and feel you are playing well, strike while the iron is hot. Who cares about family and nutmeg there is money to be had!Good luck out there and keep killing the game.

[ZowieZ]

I'm heading to Foxwoods next week for a few days, in route to a Cape Cod vacation with my wife. Interesting to read your take on the opponents -- similar to what I've found during my trips to Lost Wages.

[Christopher Cosenza]

I'm 90% sure I'm headed back tonight. Going to a Yankees game tomorrow, so it'll have to be tonight. I'll keep you posted. Lost Wages, that's hysterical!

[tim]

Congrats. The morning game here at Gold Coast is a $22 buy-in. I hadn't planned on playing tournament poker while i'm here -- covering the WSOP is enough tournament for one week -- but $22 is cheap enough to warrant the time. Too bad they start at 10 and I have to be at the WSOP for noon kickoffs... at least for days 1A through 1D. Next week once we get into day 2 i might be able to excuse it :-) stay tuned for some audio clips, reports, whatever else I can give you.

[Poker Junkie]

OK you're review of Foxwoods completely through me off.I was last there shortly AFTER they opened the new room downstairs.1) You said you couldn't tip with chips.... HUH?? I've always done that!2) Sun?? Downstairs? Did they open up a new hole in the ceiling? the only sun was from the side window by the stairs??I guess I need to get back over there.AKA Unimpressed

[brettotte1]

easily in my top 5 of episodes, possibly top 3. keep it up guys.any word on that whole pokerpodcastchallenge freeroll via crappyroom, cough, i mean pokerroom?

[Christopher Cosenza]

Early on in the session I saw a guy get a soda and then reach into his pocket for cash. Then another guy didn't tip. I turned to the guy next to me (who had tipped with cash) and said, "That sucks, he didn't tip." That's when the guy said "You can't tip waitresses with chips anymore; he probably doesn't have any small bills on him." We talked about how stupid that was and then another guy concurred. So I didn't tip either. If you CAN tip with chips NO ONE did it at my table. Plus I didn't see any chips on their trays. But now I feel terrible. I will promise to tip double the next time if that's the case.Maybe Zowiez can check on that for us? Like I said, if what was said at my table was true, you couldn't tip with chips.As for the sunlight, my table was directly below a cutout in the ceiling, which shed a ton of light into our area. The glass along the back wall also allowed a ton of natural light into the room. It was brighter than any other poker room, and you could tell it was early in the day, which is normally something casinos hate.As for me going back, it didn't happen. Family obligations got in the way, and I have plans tonight. I guess I'll have to be happy with my big sesssion.