Confessions of a donkey....my trip report

[osmosis21]

I'm going to start of by saying I had a great time in AC and really enjoyed meeting everyone. I thought it was pretty funny how many ppl told me that I was nothing like they expected.....I guess I should start being a bit more obnoxious on the forum


I got into AC on Wednesday night....I had a general description of Primitive (that he's tall), and I went to the poker room to try and find him....amazingly enough I was able to find him in less than a minute (he's tall even when sitting down) and he looked at me and I think the description I gave him worked because he nodded at me and got up to introduce himself.

We walked (yes walked) over to the borgata to register for the mtt the next day. It was only about a 15 minute walk which wasnt bad until we got to this overpass and had to cross the highway and some very marshy grass to get there.......

We got back to the taj and both sat down in the 10/20 game....Instantly I was in heaven. Its been a while since I played in a loose game like that, but I knew right away that it would be profitable. Most ppl in the game were around 60 and were burning through buy ins. I dont think they liked having me in the game because I was playing pretty aggressively. I felt like I had a number of older ppl just mumbling and grumbling about me all weekend long. I guess I dont play nice.

The next morning we head over to the Borgata and get there at 10:45 for the 11:00 am tournament. We meet up with Ammbo and his wife who were so eager to meet us that they got there 3 hours early...

As I was playing I got to meet Tanya and Piemaster and SteveGriff (Pie and Steve had been up since 5 am...thanks ammbo).....

My table was pretty tight and only one real weak player. I did have a WPT winner (Spree something) and I think I was sitting next to Vince Van Pattens brother.

I was pretty card dead but used my tight image to stay above my starting stack most of the morning. I ended up going out to my girlfriends favourite hand. Blinds were 200/400 and a new player sat down and limped in MP and I raised on the button with KK. Flop was J42 and he pushed all in and I called. He flipped over 47o. Since that is my gf's favourite hand I knew I was in trouble....he turned the seven (also giving me a flush draw) and he rivered another seven and I got to hang out with Torch and his wife (Michelle) and Ammbos wife (Christina) for a few hours while we watched Ammbo and Prim play. I instantly liked everyone there....and if I ever play movie dialogue trivia I want Torch on my team.

We went back to the Taj for the meet and greet and I had the opportunity to meet a lot of other IThers. My first impressions was that Albert is a great guy and if this ITH thing doesnt work out would have no problems being a bartender...he would clean up in tips.

I also got to meet Wynton, Jane (and her hubby Martin) Ciaran, Sami and a few others Im forgetting right now (sorry Im tired)....

AFter the meet and greet I rushed down back to 10/20 and just started hitting every hand. If my cards were suited I was hitting a flush on the river, much to the dismay of the ppl at my table.

On Friday I went downstairs to play the limit tournament, and can proudly say I was the first to bust out. Mxrider gave me a tshirt for my efforts, and I proudly walked back to 10/20.

In the 7:00 NL tournament I really tried but I couldnt duplicate my strong showing in the first tournament.......I busted out on the second hand (but I wasnt first to go)....I quickly ran back to 10/20 as this was such a juicy game.

Eventually Prim, Sandstorm and Nside joined my table. The ITHers were sitting at the other side of the table, and a regular in the game was too my right. After Nside came out betting second pair and Prim raised KJ in EP this regular started ranting for an hour at how bad they were (he didnt comment on his cold call of the UTG raise on the button with 33) but he just thought the ITHers were crappy players and wanted to let everyone know it....during that time of course the regular's stack was dwindling quickly even though he got lucky a couple of times.

On Saturday I felt that I needed to redeem myself in the ITH tounaments. In the limit mtt I toned it down a bit (well not much but a bit)....my raises werent getting any respect (nor should they). The highlight for me was this fantastic read that I made on the button. It was folded to Wynton in the HJ and he looked at his cards and then looked at me and asked (what was a rhetorical question) "If I raise are you three betting?"....I said yes, but he knew the answer as that is basically how I played all weekend long (If PT was running I think I would be running 38/29/4 for the weekend).
It was folded to me and I raised and as bugs (sb) thought about his hand, MX (in the bb) asked if he three bet from the bb would I cap....I did say yes. I think Wynton asked me about what I would do if Bugs three bet, and he found out as I folded to bugs strong three bet.....(as I typed this I think you had to be there )


I eventually got knocked out after collecting the bounty on Pi (which became my mission to attempt to collect bounties). I ran back to the 10/20 and ran into what might have been the worse player I had ever played against. Wynton mentioned him earlier, but I want to share my first hand. When I sat down he looked like he could play, but I quickly realized that wasnt the case (the 10 beers didnt help). I raised an early limper after I posted with KJ. The BB called as well as the limper. The BB led out a flop of QJ2 The limper folded and I raised. He coldcalled but led out the turn which was T. I raised again looking for a free showdown but he three bet. I reluctantly called and then before the river card hit the felt he open folded. I just sat there stunned, not sure what to make of this. It became quickly evident that he didnt know what he was doing and was drunk. He really pissed off a couple of players at the table, because he kept on string betting when he wanted to raise, even though he was shown how. He really didnt care when ppl got mad at him, but I was blown away that some of the regulars werent doing everything they could to keep him at the table. I think I would have given him a foot massage if it mean him sticking around. To give you an idea of how bad he was, I saw him call two bets on the river with the nut low

I really didnt want to leave but was starving and ran up to Mattew's suite to grab a couple of slices before the main event. At the table I was dismayed to discover Tanya was sitting to my left. As loose aggressive as I was playing she was doing pretty much the same and I didnt like her having position on me. I was glad when our table broke, because we just kept on butting heads passing chips back and forth. I think our strategy would have been much more effective if everyone didnt know we were both donkeys. My raises werent getting that much respect, but everyone looked at us before deciding what to do in their hands. And when someone got eliminated at our table, everyone else looked to see whether is was tanya or myself

I ended up going out to Wynton at the final table before he knocked everyone else out too (congrats bud).

My two cousins drove in from Cherry hill and I decided to play the midnight madness tournament and buy my cousins in (they really dont know what they are doing, but I didnt think they were that -EV against the other players as long as they were aggressive). I also jumped at Prims offer to go halfs in staking some ITH'ers in the 10/20 game that I had been playing all weekend. Although I hadnt seen some of the ppl I helped stake play limit poker or knew if they had played that high I knew they had a huge edge in the game, and smiled when Prim kept on finding other ppl to back....(overall the stakees did very well for us)

So my two cousins, Ammbo and Matthew played the midnight madness. 12k startiing chips and 12 minute blinds. Matthew had a big smile on his face as he got knocked out early. He placed 13th? in this tournament on Thursday and he made the same hourly rate as the guy selling hotdogs on the boardwalk, and I knew that he didnt want to stay up that late again.

With the quick blinds I played power poker and just went about stealing pots preflop, on the flop or on the turn. I thought my opponents were pretty easy to read and were reasonably tight compared to the same mtt on the Thursday. I quickly built my stack up and really frustated everyone else who thought I was a big donkey (I ddnt say they were wrong).
Things were rolling along until one guy took a stand with J8 vs my 99. He was just tired of me pushing ppl around. He hit his jack and I was crippled. I was down to 2500 chips and the blinds were 200/400. I then went all in three hands in a row with 76s, 68s and A7 and sucked out each time to build my stack up to 24K chips. From there I just sat back for an orbit or two and then went back to stealing. Ammbo was rolling along at the table next to me. I walked over and saw him all in with TT vs AJ. The flop had an A, but I called the two outer on the river and he was on his way to a big stack.

I think I should mention that I wasnt dealt AA once all weekend long and I think I might have had KK only 4 times (two of them were my knockout hand in mtts). Due to the games and my style I played so many junk hands in situations that I havent had a chance to in ages. By the end I was pretty comfortable playing any two cards in any situation in AC. I definitely was able to turn junk into chips.

Ammbo ended up getting moved to my left from his table. We just took turns being aggressive and we both were in good shape. I think the players were happy that I was got moved because I was making them uncomfortable. I gave Ammbo the lowdown on them, and he picked up where I left off. When I looked back over he had a massive stack.

We both were among the chipleaders at the final table. I lost a big pot with Aq vs AK and on my next hand pushed again and got called by another AK and Ammbo called in the bb with 94. As soon as I saw his hand (the 94 I knew I was done). Ammbo knocked out two players and then took his chiplead to the final four when they decided to chop. The blinds were huge at this point and a chop was the right move.

Overall I had a super time and couldnt believe how juicy the games were. I enjoyed meeting all the Ithers and I know I didnt offer stories about nside, bull, suited, KT, Wade, elmo and a few others but my fingers are starting to get sore

I cant wait till the next convention, but in order for my raises to get respect, Im getting a haircut, shaving and starting a new account with a nit persona so nobody will recognize me

[osmosis21]

Oh and I forgot to add one of my favourite moments, sitting at the next table hearing Ammbo proudly say bottom pair, bottom kicker as he slapped down his hand with full confidence and took down the pot.

[Bullajami]

Great meeting you, wild man. I think that Wade swiped the right avatar from you. Your resemblance to the muppet "Animal" is uncanny.

[Wynton]

[nsidestrate]

I only played at that table briefly, but it was very juicy. Great report, Os. It was cool to meet you.

[taz115]

Thanks for the report... wish I was there to play that 10/20 game... sounded great.

Hope to see you at the next convention.