Message Board : Foxwoods trip report - notes from a new guy

Foxwoods trip report - notes from a new guy

Ed's archive piece came on the perfect day.  Friday I ventured down to Foxwoods for my first casino cash game with a couple of friends from work.  

First a little background.  I arrived a bit late to the no limit game.  I picked up the game last year when a buddy of mine invited me to his NLHE tournament.  He and a friend switch off running a small buy-in NL tournament every other week.  They run the game with casino rules (no string bets, verbal declarations are binding, etc, etc) and all of the players are very good about coaching new players so that people taking a trip to Foxwoods are well versed in the rules and procedures when they sit down.  It's a great way to start and I was very comfortable with the flow a the table.  I would recommend anyone getting started find a good home tournament like that.  I also play online quite a bit.  Sit and goes are my best game.  When I play cash, I play .25/.50 and am quietly profitable.  Lets just say I'm not looking to quit my day job.

We drove down from the Boston area, leaving at about 5:00.  By the time we arrived, got parked and made our way to the poker room, it was just after 7:00.  We checked in at the desk and was told there was a 5-10 minute wait for 1-2 NL.  Beautiful.  We made out way over to the poker cage to get our hands on some chips.

The buddy I went down there with hadn't been since before the new poker room was put in.  Back in his day there was a 1-2 NL game that you could buy in for $100 max.  He also said it was a bit of a hassle to get chips at the table.  He recommended getting a stack of red at the poker cage prior to getting called for your seat.  The game we bought into turned out to be a $300 max game.  In retrospect buying in short was a good thing, but when I first sat down I was thinking that it would have been nice to have 100BB or so.  I never ended up all in and wished I had more, but it is liberating to play the short stack.  You can play much faster pre-flop without getting yourself into trouble.  I like it.  Also, it is way more convenient getting chips at the table for that size game instead of at the cage.  Next time I'm definitely getting chips at the table.

The new poker room is very, very nice.  Lots of different games at a variety of limits.  Tons of tables.  I'm told that it could use a little competition and that the California card barns cater to the player a bit more, but I thought the it was clean, well run operation.

I got called to my table and I ended up in seat 10, just to the right of the dealer.  I really don't like seat 10.  I'd recommend avoiding it if you can.  You can't really see the players in seats 1 and 2 very well.   You are also right in the dealers wheelhouse.  All of his/her dealer kabuki takes place in your space.  It's also where the cash box is and the plaque where the dealer puts the rent, so you have a little less space than seat 1.  But, the thing I most disliked was that all of your actions take place right on top of the auto shuffler.  Really a much poorer tactile experience with your chips clanking all over the place and your cards getting caught up on the lip when you muck.

Foxwoods doesn't rake individual pots.  It works on a rent system.  $5/half hour.  If you come into the game more than 15 minutes to the 1/2 hour, you get a free ride until the next dealer change.  It seems to make sense to post unless you only have 2 or 3 hands to wait if you pay rent for the partial 1/2 hour.  I came in with right at 7:15, didn't pay rent and only had to wait one hand for the BB.  No wait, no rent, no post… I'm running good and I haven't even been dealt a hand yet.  I must say that I've been spoiled by low internet rakes.  $10 and hour really can eat into your profits, though the game is plenty soft enough to overcome it.

My table had a mix of players.  1 or 2 really solid players, 1 or 2 limp/call the flop/fold the turn types, 1 or 2 look you up with 2nd pair types and 1 or 2 gamblers at any given time.  The table turns over pretty quickly as people bust out or head off to other games.  The level of play felt like something between .10/.25 and .25/.50 online. Lots of limping.  Not too much 3 betting.  A whole lot of terrible, terrible calls.  When I first sat down one of the seemingly better players was 2 seats to my right sitting on about $700 in chips.  He was picking his spots, not paying anyone off and really playing well.  I'm glad he was to my right.  There were two players on my left who were burning through cash at a furious pace.  I wish one of those guys was on my right as well.  They only hung around for an hour or so.  I was sad to see them go.  The rest of the table was moderately tight and not half bad.  Pretty predictable, but doing ok.

Over the course of the 3 hours at the table I only played 5 or 6 hands of note.  In three hours of play, I probably saw 120 hands total.  This is a lot different than online where I generally play 2 tables and see 100+ hands an hour.  

Before detailing a couple of hands, a quick note on the table dynamics.  The currency of the 1-2 game is the $5 chip.  There are a few $1 chips on the table, but they end up getting toked back to the dealer as quickly as they are changed out in the blinds.  This means that most of the betting is done in increments of $5, which is a little awkward.  You occasionally say a $7 pre-flop raise, but more often it was $10.  Any raised pot gets big quickly.  Also all post flop betting is generally in $5 increments.  I made the mistake of betting $17 with 4 reds at one point.  Perfectly legal and the right size be at the time.  But, it involved much change making and many angry glares.  Stick to the reds.  Everything works more smoothly that way.

I played tight and aggressively most of the night.  Good cards in position.  That was my mantra.  My first pot of note, though was ATo out of position.  Doh.  4 limpers to me in the BB with ATo.  I check my option.  The flop came QTTr.  Trips top kicker.  I immediately  ignore Ed's advice and check it.  I'm in the BB and I'm looking to check raise.  It checks around.  I should have listened to Ed.  Turn is a J. I don't love it, I don't hate it.  It checks to me, I bet out $10 and get one caller.  Miss calls with a pair.  I think she picked it up on the turn.  She would have led the flop with a Q and raised a T.  River is blank and I bet for value.  I lead for $20 and she grudgingly pays me off.  She mucks, but I think definitely a J.  My first casino pot.  Oh so pretty.

The next orbit I bit up AKs in mid/late position.  It is raised to 7 and called to me.  I three bet it to $20.  Both call.  I love these guys.  Flop comes AQx.  I lead for $40 and both fold.  I'm on a roll.

I pick up AK again in short order.  I three bet it again.  This time I get some respect and rake the pot directly.

My biggest pot of the night comes on my rattiest hand and against one of the people I came with.  Very sad.  4 limpers to me on the button.  I pick up A5o.  Normally I wouldn't play this, but there a lot of people in the pot, I have position, and I'm not going to get myself into trouble if I catch a bare A.  We take off for some 7 way action.  Flop come A75.  Bingo.  My friend leads for $10, I pop it to $25.  She calls.  Turn is and 8.  She checks, I put her all in for her last $30.  She calls with AQo.  No help on the river and I have doubled up by cleaning out my friend.  Sigh.

My second biggest pot of the night was not so happy.  I picked up AA UTG and popped it to $10.  The SB smooth called.  Flop is KQx with 2 spades.  SB check I bet $10.  He calls.  Turn is another Q.  He checks.  I bet $20. He calls.  I honestly think I'm behind at this point.  This guy calls all kinds of flop bets, but very few big turn bets.  I think he's on QJ or QT, but who really knows.  River is blank.  Here's where I make my fatal mistake.  He makes some sort of hand motion that I interpret as a check.  I check behind and he moves in for his last $60.  As it turns out, it was some sort of nervous spasm and not a check.  Now, I don't know if he's putting a move on me.  There are 2 draws on the board that didn't come in.  He has never raised.  It's less than a pot sized bet.  I have AA.  I have tipped my hand by checking out of turn.  I have AA.  I suck it up and call.  He has KK.  Oh well.  The guy next to him told him he played it well.  Wow, I don't think so.  He gave me every chance to get away from that hand.  He didn't raise when there was a straight and a flush draw on the board.  Yuck.  If he had raised my on pre-flop or on the flop we would surely have ended up all-in.  I don't think he could have played it worse.  But it didn't matter, I paid him off anyway.  The call was defensible, but I really should have been able to get away from it.  Damn my out of turn check.  That was the deciding factor for me.

I'm back to about where I started.  I'm up and down a little bit in some small pots here and there.  I come into the next hand with about $120.

My favorite hand of the night.  I limp with Ah5h in middle.  2 limpers in front and 1 behind and the blinds come along.  We take the flop 7 ways.  Flop comes Ad6h7h.  I flop top pair, the nut flush draw and a back door straight draw.  I will be betting on this hand.  SB checks, BB bets $10 and the guy to my right raises to $25.  He is almost surely on a draw.  He would have raise a good A pre-flop and he's been betting his draws since he sat at the table.  A gambler he is.  I start cutting out some chips.  The dealer tells me it's $25 to call.  I continue cutting.  She tells me it's $25 to call again.  Does she not see me cutting out chips?  I raise to $75.  I have about $40 behind, so there's no getting away from it.  The kid thinks and thinks, turns a bit green and gives it up.  A well executed semi-bluff.  Honestly, it's altogether possible I was ahead the whole way, but I'm sticking with semi-bluff.  Feels more pokery that way.

A little bit later was the biggest hand of the night.  I wasn't in it, so some of the details are a bit hazy.  There was a raise and a reraise pre-flop.  The flop cam Axx.  A bet and a call on the flop.  The turn was another A.  I believe it was check-check on the turn.  The river was a Q.  The pot is already about $200.  The first player pushes in for about $200 more and is insta-called.  The first player flips up AA for quad Aces.  The second player flips up QQ for queens full.  What a killer card on the river.  The quad Aces fellow rakes a $600 pot.  He hasn't been playing very well up to that point, but struck gold there.  In the next three orbits, though, he give it all back betting into a flopped nut flush, betting into a flopped FH and finally going to the felt with AK to AQ on an AQx board.  The money just keeps moving.

After that there weren't many hands of note.  I called a few raises with pocket pairs and check folded, picked up the blinds with open raises.  By the end of the night my open raises were getting way too much respect.  I never had the right sorts of cards in late position to take advantage of that.  Too bad you don't have an image token to carry to the next game.  I had really built up a solid one.  I tread water and pay rent for a bit.  At about 10:30 my friends want to call it a night.  Here is the most important lesson of the night.  Drive your own car.  I was really just getting into my groove and had 2 or 3 good hours in me.  We called it a night.  I ended up about $20.  Not bad, not great.  I didn't really catch any really big hands.  I made one call that a regret, but just a little.  If you have some time to kill, bring a little money and your a game and you will find that there is gold in them thar hills.

I was just playing the $1/2 NL there myself today. I agree with most of what you say. On my table typical raises were about $15, as they've been in the past. But it varies, and I've only been there a few times. Lots of limped pots too, though I've been on tables where everything was raised.

I was in seat 10 too. I didn't think it was so bad, but I haven't been there in a while so I can't remember if the other seats are significantly better.

I like the restaurant. Quick, reasonable prices, generally good food. 

It's a pain to find your table. They give you a number and you have to ask people where it is. Why couldn't they just put table numbers hanging above the tables? Or a map?