Poker Here and There

I’ve been playing a lot of live poker as of late. Home games, Arizona Casinos, Atlantic City, the Underground Card Games in NYC, and of course Vegas. I wish I could give a nice trip report for all of these sittings but I will just paraphrase the best I can.

Wall Street Poker: This is a great home game that I can travel to rather easy and is in striking distance from many of the faster NYC trains. They tend to play no-limit and no-limit tournaments and neither of which I am good at so I try and skip those. But from time to time they spread a good mixed game. About two weeks ago they had their O8 and Stud8 3/6 game. I love the table, great chips and friendly people. Then my number one tilting machine walked through the door, Stephanie from IHO poker. I need not even talk about that for those of you who have played with her know she is can tilt anyone. I send you love, Steph. Then there is BWOP who played a really solid game of O8 and I learned a lot just watching her on certain hands. J-HOP was there and I can’t really get his rhythm down in a game. There was a lawyer who sat to my left that I thought would me an ATM but he knew the games rather well and was solid. There is our host but you can link to Wall Street Poker to find out more about him. There were some other good players and I don’t know them well enough as of yet.

In any case, the game was great because the dealers were fast and the flow of the game was rather fast which I love in these games. I hate those hands that just take forever and ever. Although it is a friendly game there are some great things I learned about certain hands and how I could play them better next time. At the end of the night is also a good time to practice short handed play because a few people leave for they have to work the next day.

Arizona Casino: My main man Zeem told me in Vegas that these games were rather soft and that I should be killing them. I was happy to hear this but what Zeem didn’t tell me was that the Asians are crazy players there. Dear God. The poker room is rather odd in spreads. 8/16 and such...I got use to round numbers. As F-Train would say, why not just make it 10/20. Serious, I didn’t get the blind structure for a while. One thing I noticed here is that they made the dealers wear their badges when they were playing and there were plenty of dealers playing.

In any case, my sessions there were a lot of up and down. I played in this 3/6 stud game and lost 100.00 bucks there by getting chased down three times by old funny senior citizens. I just smiled, gathered my Roosters and walked to the next game. In the end it was all worth the funny banter between the old men.

The 8/16 limit hold’em game was a Wild West shootout. Dear God. Serious, any two cards can bring a winner was the motto. After losing a rack I thought this might not be my day and that I should come back another time. I was able to get back and walk out with a losing session of 100.00. Forgot to mention the Asian lady who almost tilted me...she was ribbing me into not call her bet and I did...I was ahead but she hit the river and won the huge pot from me. I loved her comment...I told you not call, I always hit river card. Haha! She was a sweet lady though...plus she was a river rat...hit everything there from a flush to three of a kind. God bless her.

Next Day: I’m playing at the 8/16 game again and I’m up a rack and walked out. There was this one kid that couldn’t miss. Dear God he was destroying the table. He was like the Asian lady above and when I would ask him about the miracle river and how he could call with a pair of deuces all the way down he told me something funny...I got Baby Jesus on my side...he was dead serious. Being that it was x-mas I didn’t go on a Bobby Bracelet and Human Head rant.

Final Day: I was playing o.k. poker but I couldn’t get on a rush. I was stuck another rack at the 8/16 and figured there was some major flaws in my game at that time. I re-bought and got my half rack back and was walking to the window when the announcer yelled: We have a seat at the 8/16 Stud 8 or better game. I raised my hand that I would take the seat. So there I am with all these older people who are playing the game. I asked if I had to declare...haha!haha! I kill myself, for those of you that don’t know, that is how Stud 8 use to be played...you had to declare your hand as a Hi/Lo Hand. In any case, I was down close to a rack and a half that I brought to the table. Now I’m like...something is just not right here for The Rooster. I was going on another losing session and that sucked. Then something started to happen...I started catching cards. A,2,4 – A, 2, 5 soooted. Finally I got a good run going...once that happens for me...RAM and JAM baby so that is what I did. I ended up close to losing two racks to winning three big hands and I was back. I ended up cashing up and decided...8/16 O8...why not. Dear God. My junk was getting kicked there all over the place and I went home inking out an 80.00 dollar profit for all whole session. Some of those O8 hands...boy I can’t tell you enough about how bad those beats were...wow!

Atlantic City: I sat down at the 10/20 table to see what would transpire over the next 8 hours. It was a rather fast game with two guys controlling most of the action. I just sat there and watched until I got Aces and that kind of set my image at the table for the rest of the session. There is one flaw that I really need to improve on here...betting that final bet at the end when there is a scary board. Sure there is the rock in me that is content to take the nice pot down...but those missed bets add up in the end. I also need to tighten up a bit in the big and small blind. I got it into my head that I must always defend those two places. Not sure why? But I have. I left a bit up and I went to go eat a nice dinner at NOW (Noodles of the world). I was about to leave but I decided to cruise by the poker room one last time and a seat at the 10/20 mixed game had an open seat. Why not some O8 and Stud 8. The game is beatable and there is a good group of guys who always play together which can cause some problems when they check all the way down to one another. I hate when friends do that…either you are in it to win against everyone or don’t sit at the table. I ended way up here when I was able to scoop on a few O8 full houses and a straight that I hit…they were all high hands only so...SCOOP! By this time it was 6am and I decided to head back to the city.

NYC Card Rooms: The games are good and the players are o.k. with a few bad ones...but they tend to spread only no limit. So after AC I came home to shower and sleep a bit. I woke up and headed to an underground game. Only three tables running and everyone here has cash. There are two 2/5 tables going and one ½ table. I sit at the ½ table because that is more my pace. I leave there up 50.00 bucks and decide that is good dinner money. I’ve off to eat some good grub and a glass of win.

I wasn't up much on all these trips...not much at all. But I think it was good to remember what it is like to chase games. All the fun meeting the old men at the Stud 8 and O8 games was fun. I seen a few old men that I use to play higher stakes stud with and they were just fun to be around. I still laugh that there aren't many young kids playing these games.

Some points of weakness that I am getting back to. Calling that last call even when I know I'm beat. I did that like 8 times on the above trips. I hope to cut that down by four the next time out.

posted by Joaquin "The Rooster" Ochoa @ 9:53 AM