Tiger's Foxwood Trip Report

Hi ya, folks!
I'm back from a weekend at Foxwoods, and I have this strange
compulsion to tell you all about it! In a separate post, I've already
discussed some "house rules" issues. Here's the trip
report! Enjoy! :) Tiger…

For someone who has become used to the garish and tacky opulence of
Atlantic city's Taj Mahal, Foxwoods is a breath of fresh air! yes,
it's nowhere in the middle of the woods, and it's not really near
anything, and the place is simply * huge *...but it's quite pretty....
and I loved it!

The poker room has close to 100 tables, and there are separate sign-up
boards for low-limit and high-limit. you can call in to the room, and get
your name on a list even before you actually arrive - and it's probably a
good idea for you to take advantage of this feature. well, I don't know
the real situation during an ordinary weekend, but during tournament time,
every list for every game at every level had at least 30 names on it!

The cage is "two-way" - that is, players can buy and sell chips at the
cashier. the racks at the tables remain constant (at $1000 at the 10/20
level), and chip runners replenish a rack low on chips. the rake (or time
payments) go down the slot. players can request a deck change or a new
set-up at any time. dealers are not required to change-up cash as soon as
the bill is comes into play.

Overall, I thought that dealer & floor men competence, efficiency, and
friendliness was a cut or two above average. And whenever I mentioned
that I was associated with "that bunch of computer people - you know, the
FARGO gang", I'd receive a big smile!

We're booked into a room at Two Trees inn. the inn is only three or four
hundred yards from the casino, which would be a nice brisk walk, but it's
winter and we're happy to take advantage of the shuttle bus, which runs
about every 15 minutes. We'd gotten a late start leaving the city (we had
to wait for Kathy's plane to arrive from Shanghai/Anchorage, and for her
to clear customs), so I didn't get to the poker room until after midnight.
My weekend gets off to a lousy start when I drop a couple stacks of red
in my first session of 10/20 stud. I pick up and wander around. There
are lots of RGPers in this weekend, and I see perennial tournament
overlay Scott Byron at the final table of a 7-stud super satellite.
Scott's 6th place finish isn't quite enough to win a seat, but he does get
a $500 lammer for his efforts. wtg Scott!

It's now 2:00 AM, and I figure that I'll play a little 5-10 stud, have a
few drinks, and hit the sack. That'll give me plenty of time to sleep and
awake refreshed well in time in order to triumph at Saturday's $100+20
7 card stud tourney (the low buy-in is expected to attract a monster
field! I overhear one player offer over/under action at 550!). I'm
seated at a table, and wait for a cocktail waitress. uh oh. it seems
that "last call" for alcohol was close to an hour ago....no scotch for me
tonight.... :(and although I'm at a fabulous table, I can't win two
hands in a row. I play for more than four hours and finish dead even for
the session. ::::sigh::::

and I've got to go to bed stone cold sober.
::::sigh:::: (again)

I don't sleep very well, and can't stay in bed past 10:00 am. when I
arrive at the poker room, I see RGPer warren sander about to enter a $20
one-table satellite for today's 7-stud event. I pull out a jackson, and
sit down. RGPer Dave Tahitian sees the two of us, and decides not to try
this one. some 90 minutes later, we're down to three-handed. I'm a
medium stack, Ponytail is the big stack, and Warren (who has * not * played
one single hand) is a small stack. warren is the bring-in, and I've got
split aces with a queen. I raise. Ponytail, who is showing an ace,
re-raises. Warren folds. I call. I make my queen on 4th street, and
Ponytail gets a small card. I check-raise, and Ponytail makes it three
bets. I go to four, and Ponytail re-raises me all-in. he makes a king on
5th and a king on 6th to win the hand with aces and kings. ::::sigh::::
even though Ponytail must have a 10-to-1 chip advantage over Warren, they
strike a deal, where Ponytail gets the entry, and Warren gets back his $20
- and another $10 to boot! wt. warren!

I realize that I'm in no condition to play a tournament. I was a damned
fool to play all night, and I know that I don't have the strength or
stamina to play good poker for the straight eight or ten hours it will
take to get down to the final table. so, after chatting with RGPers Ray
Didonato, Matt Treasure and Ming Lee for a while, I sit down at a 10/20
7-stud game. I hear the guy in seat #2 talking about poker on the
internet. "Who are you?" "I'm Steve Andrews!" "hi ya! I'm tiger123!" it
turns out that Steve, a relative newcomer to RGP, is a first cousin of
RGPer Mark Mantel! Steve stands up to play in the tournament, and I wish
him good luck!

I finally hook up with Nolan Dalla. He and I had previously arranged to
have dinner on Saturday, but he's entered into the tournament. I'll keep
a close eye on his progress, and if he's busted out by dinnertime, we'll
get together by 7:00 or so, I'm plus almost five stacks of red in my ring
game, and stand up to see what's happening in the tourney. I think that
there were something like 521 entries. my roommates have already busted
out, but Nolan, Steve and Scott Byron are alive and well! I wish Nolan
good luck, and we agree that we'll do dinner some other time. I spot
RGPer John Walsh dug in at a 7-stud ring game and we chat (I'll see john
in the very same place tomorrow....).

My roommates Larry Bernstein and Mike and Kathy Morell and I go
downstairs. there is a complete no-smoking casino on the lower level (I'm
pretty sure that this is where the old poker room used to be), and a
delightful Italian bistro. Dinner is potato bisque and clams and salmon
and veal and mushrooms and about a dozen other delicious things. I
heartily recommend this place for dinner!

We finish dinner just in time to hear an announcement for a $35 buy-in
super satellite for Monday's $1500 7-stud tournament. Nolan (who's
busted out by now) and Matt convince me to pony up. why not? I'm not
going to be in town then, but if I win anything, I can always sell the
entry or the lammer! Nolan and I are seated next to each other, but our
table is the first to be broken down. The cry of "rebuy!" is heard every
30 seconds or so. At the time of the last rebuy (and final add-on), I'm
in pretty good position chipwise, and I still haven't rebought! hey!
this could be pretty good! hehehehehe....it could be, but it wasn't.
Soon there after, I've got an up-and-down very live straight flush draw on
4th...the aggressor is a weak player with the big stack ....and it's
five-way action! I use most of my chips in that hand, and finish with a
very live up-and-down straight flush draw. the aggressor didn't improve
her deuces, and the pot is won by a pretty good player who made a pair of
kings on 5th street (he wound up 5th in the satellite - they paid three
places, and 4th and 5th got two $500 lammers). when I leave, Matt and
Nolan are still alive!

Back to the 10-20 stud game. I win about a stack-and-a-half in an
hour-and- a-half (what could be bad about that?). Here's one interesting
hand: there's an early raise from a 10. I've got split jacks with a queen
and re-raise. three folds, and a decent player with an eight comes over
the top and makes it $30. we both call. the 10 gets a king; I get a
queen; the eight gets a low card. the king checks; I bet, and the
re-re-raiser makes it $20. the ten-king folds, and I call. I make a
queen on 5th street (to make queens full of jacks) and my adversary gets
an ace. I bet and get raised. I've got a bad feeling, so I just call.
she hits another ace on 6th street and bets. I call. she bets blind on
the river and I call. yeppers. four aces.

I head back to the satellite. on the way, I see that Scott Byron and
Steve Andrews are * still * alive in the tourney! they both make it to the
next to last table, and win about $950 each! wtg Scott and Steve!
hehehehehe..... Scott announces that 7-card stud is now his new "road
game"!! lol! later, Steve tells me that he busted out due to what he
describes as a "brain fart," and he promised to post a report about
it..... };)

The satellite is down to six-handed. Matt is standing behind Nolan (the
second biggest stack). Nolan is showing an ace and a ten, and he bets on
5th street. His opponent is an Asian male with the biggest stack. He
calls. Nolan re-checks his hole cards, and I see he's got a queen and a
jack down stairs. He doesn't have a pair, and he doesn't have a flush
draw. I think to myself, "what in hell is he doing?". On 6th street, the
Asian catches a king, and Nolan gets a low card. Still high with the ace,
Nolan bets. He is called. I can't believe what I'm seeing. Why is Nolan
in this pot in the first place? Why is he banging heads with the big
stack? Nolan peeks at his river card. rofl!! It's a cowboy for the
gutshot broadway!! He blandly bets with all the aplomb of a man who
* knew * the card was going to be there all the way! He's called and our
hero wins a big pot! Matt and I give him a big hug, and Nolan has the
perspicacity to admit that he mis-read his hand on 5th street.
hehehehehe....

I lean forward and give Nolan some advice I'd heard from former Resorts
tournament director Eddie cooper: when you're only one or two spots away
from the money and you've one of the largest stacks....* Don't even look
at your cards! Let the other guys play! * Some 45 minutes later,
they are down to four-handed and the same Asian guy (who plays nine hands
out of ten) raises with a ten. Nolan's got split aces and re-raises. the
Asian is all-in by 5th street. The dealer delivers the rest of the cards.
the Asian guy squeezes...and shows tens, five's and threes. Nolan needs
help. He's got a couple live cards, but a couple dead ones too. He
squeezes.....and pulls the case three to make aces and threes! lol!! wtg
Nolan!! he'd already made a deal to sell the entry (or the two lammers if
he didn't win) to another player.

The post-mortem include a lengthy discussion of a hand Nolan played
against Bill Seymour (which has been discussed elsewhere). I see that my
name has been mentioned in Nolan's post, and I'll respond like this: a
member of the poker industry whom I greatly respect once told me, "* Every
time * you make a play in a poker game, whether it's a fold, bet, call, or
raise, pretend that there's a videotape camera right behind you, recording
the entire event and be prepared to justify your play when you show the
tape the next day to all your friends!"

Nolan offers to buy me a drink. Hey! I can do that! However, it's once
again after last call... ::::sigh::::

and I've got to go to bed sober...
::::sigh::::

again.
::::sigh::::

Sunday, I play some 10/20 stud for a while and win a couple stacks. I also
have a nice chat with Warren Sander, Ming Lee and Andy Latto, which
includes a discussion of some of the problems which might accrue to
hapless internetters who allow disclosure of personal information about
themselves. I use the balance of my hard-earned wampum comp money to buy
a souvenir Foxwoods T-shirt and it's time to go home!

I'd only been to Foxwoods once before, more than two years ago, even
before they opened their new room. I was quite impressed with the entire
operation, and I shouldn't wait so long before I go back!

:)

tiger

Published with the permission of the author.
Reproduction without the author's permission prohibited.