And then, there are three new restaurants and a "cafeteria" which is like any food court in a major mall. It's not going to be a problem finding a place to eat anymore at the Borgata.
So...the tourney. First off, they definately weren't ready for the amount of the people that showed up for this tournament. The line was probably 2 hours long at around 11:00am. It was a $50,000 guaranteed tournament which means that they were expecting at least 200 people to show up. Believe it or not, there was over 500 players that signed up for the tournament. The kitty must've been at least $125,000.
The tourney got started a little late because of the long lines and the chaos of the new poker room. We threw the cards in the air at around 12:30pm - 12:45pm. BTW...I loved the blind structure...10,000 starting chips, 30 minute levels, and blinds started at 25-50. This was perfect for the better players because it allowed more freedom. With the tourneys in the WSOP, you only start with 1000 chips and the blinds started at the same levels. It sucked!
Okay...back to the tourney. There were four hands that lead up to me going home. The first hand:
I had A
5 in early position. Blinds were at 25/50. One player before me limped in, as did I. Another player limped in from middle position and the button raised it to 350. Everybody folded, except for me and the middle position player. I decided to play the hand because I honestly didn't think that the button had a strong hand. He took a sip of his water as soon as he raised, which is an instant tell of a weak hand. Anyways, the flop came TJ
K. I had the nut flush draw and a gutshot. I was in early position, so I decided to bet out 500, for three reasons.1) I could take the pot down right there.
2) I didn't want to get caught in the middle because the middle position player probably would've checked it and the button most likely would have bet, making me make a decision before the middle position player made a decision...understand?
3) Even if someone called my bet, I still had a ton of outs.
I wanted to take the lead to make the middle position player make a decision before he saw what the button was going to do. This would tell me the strength of his hand. He ended up folding and the button called my 500 bet. At that point, I was thinking that he probably had KQ, maybe pocket queens because he didn't raise me. The turn brought a 4
. I checked and the button checked. The river brought a 7 giving me Ace high. I decided to take a stab at the pot because there was over 2000 in the pot and I figured that that was going to be the only way that I could win the hand. I bet out 800 and he thought for a second and called my bet. He showed AJ for second pair. Oh well...I lost about 1600 in that hand. I still had over 8000 left.In the second hand. I had KQ offsuit in the big blind and just called a preflop raise to 300. The flop gave me top pair and I check raised the preflop raiser to 1500 on the flop. A player in middle position called my check raise and the proflop raiser folded. Me and middle position player ended up chopping the pot, both of us had KQ. That brought me back above 9000.
In the third hand, I had 7
4 in middle position and limped in for 50. Yeah, I know...a lot of you guys are probably thinking "why in the hell did you play 74 suited?". Well, the answer is simple...it was cheap and we were still in the first round. Anyways, the flop came 775. I lead out with a small bet of 300 just to make it look like I was trying to steal the pot. Well, a player in early position check raised me to 1200. I had to see where I stood, so I quickly reraised to 2300. He immediately went all-in. It was a no brainer decision for me. I had to fold...so, I folded. He showed pocket fives. I could already tell that it wasn't my going to be my day. At that point I still had about 6000 and change left, so I wasn't in bad shape at all.The fourth hand...and final hand...I had 9
9 in late position and the player to my immediate right raised it up to 350. I just called his raise along with 5 other players. Yeah, 5 other players. The flop came AT9. Everybody checked it to me and I bet out 1200 into a 1750 pot. The player in the big blind raised me up to 3000. I only had about 4000 or so left. Everybody else folded. Now it was decision time. A raise up to 3000 didn't tell me shit because he could've had AT or A9 and he still would've bet the same amount and I know that he didn't have pocket Aces. Perhaps pocket Tens? But WHAT were the chances? I decided to just call his raise giving me the option of folding on the turn because the only hand out of the three that I put him on that was a huge favorite against me was pocket tens. Before the turn even came out, he declared all-in. That immediately told me that he had a strong hand and a MADE hand, but I only had about 2200 or so left. I called and he showed pocket tens...IGHN. BTW...I read that on Terrance Chan's blog...I thought that acronym was funny as shit.So, that was my tournament. I lasted all of 25 minutes...maybe. Did I play bad? Ehh...I don't know...I could've folded my lower set, but there were two hands (AT & A9) out of the three possible hands that I put him on that I could've won with and I was getting about 3 to 1 on my money. Obviously it was a bad call because I got my money in with the worst of it, but it was one of those "how in the world can I fold my set" kind of hands. Oh well...IGHN.
The only good thing that happend today was the fact that while my buddies were waiting in line to pay for the tournament, I sat down at the blackjack table and ended up cashing out with +$1400. My net tally right now is:
+$225 ($50 BJ)
+$1400 (Quarter BJ)
-$280 (tourney)
-$70 ($10/$20 limit)
Net: +$1275
I still have three more days here, so there's still plenty of time to win or lose big. I'm out...time to go gamble...I'm feenin for some action...
