Poker Strategy

Nine's and Eight's with a Four Kicker - February 9, 2004

Yes, that's the hand I won with in the pink HE game in the Trop this week. It was late Sunday night and the game was short-handed; so we were not chopping. I was dealt 94 in the Big Blind; everyone folded to the Small Blind who called.

The flop came down 922. The SB bet out and I called. I didn't think he had deuce (he would probably slow play it a little on such a raggy flop. On the other hand since it was heads up I didn't feel like raising him either. If he's got me beat, then why raise and if he's got nothing, he probably won't improve on the later rounds, so why not let him bluff his ass off.

The turn was an eight and I called again. The river was another eight; my opponent bet and I called once more. At that point, I didn't think he was bluffing. It seemed that he was betting for value but the only thing I could really give him is a nine. Since I had no kicker, I thought that I would probably lose to a better nine but my policy is to significantly lower my betting and calling standards when it's short-handed. Therefore, I considered my hand a must-call.

When it came to the showdown, the guy said he had nines up. I said, "so do I" and I hesitantly turned over my 94. I was sure I lost. Surprisingly, however, he was analyzing my kicker and he only turned over his nine. I thought he was simply slowrolling me. After several seconds, he said "good kicker" and mucked. I couldn't believe my eyes. A four kicker wins? The only hand he could have is 93

I have never before won with a four kicker. This is the first of its kind and if there wasn't two pair on board - the deuces being one of them, it would not be possible since the kicker on board would have played as long as there was no three or four (which would make one of us the sole winner with bigger two-pair).

A mad chase for an inside straight - February 9, 2004

The game was 20-40 stud in the Taj Mahal early Saturday morning. I had a couple of bad beats earlier losing with trips three times to river flushes and I also lost with split aces several times to two-pair. The whole situation pissed me off and I was down almost a grand. I decided to play a shitty hand; maybe I'll win.

I played a 357 (two clubs) for the bring in. The turn card was a Ten of clubs giving me three clubs. Again I called the bet hoping for some miracle. On fifth street, I caught a three, giving me split three's. Since I had decided to play this garbage and I suddenly just caught some huge improvement (my first pair!), I felt compelled to continue. An ace came out betting and a good player with a Jack high showing raised it to 80. I called without much hesitation. The guy was surprised that I called and he tells the dealer not to give me a club.

On sixth street I catch an off-suit 4 but my opponent also caught a scary card. His board was now showing four to a straight (I think it was JT97). I didn't think he raised on the come with a gutshot straight draw, so I figured trips or a straight would be good as might be two pair.

Sure enough, the river was the six of clubs giving me a seven-high straight. My opponent checked, as expected and I was staring at my cards in disbelief. I couldn't believe that I was actually rewarded for this mad chase and caught that gut shot. Even though he thought I was on a flush draw and he could conceivably be checking with a bigger straight, I didn't think he had one and so I came out betting. My opponent moaned and said something to the effect of I'll pay you off and he sure did.

He was surprised to see that straight, so I explained to everyone that I had a straight draw AND a flush draw and that's what I called the $80 with. Well, sometimes you gotta defend your play. It has to make some sense, so you don't look like a lunatic. Lucky me that the river was the six of clubs. What would I say if the river six wasn't a club...?

Four Fours first Four - February 26, 2004

That's what I got in the 15-30-45 Hi//Lo stud game last w/e in the Trop. I was rolled up fours and the next card was another four. I ended up with four four's and two deuces. The funny thing is that this is the third time it happened to me in B&M play. All three were in the Trop and in all three cases it was quad fours. Isn't that amazing? The other time it happened it was on Paradise Poker (4-8 stud); I was twisted with Queens (that's my lingo - I call quads first four "twisted").

Royal Flush in the Borgata - February 26, 2004

It was a 10-20 HE game and I held the QT of spades. My opponent - a very bad player, seemingly a novice - held an A3 offsuit. The board looked like this:

I was in EP and came out betting on the flop (as a semi-bluff) and I was called by this bad player. On the turn I had the flush already, so I bet out again and was called again. To my big surprise he raised me on the river when I improved to a Royal Straight Flush. I was hoping he had a big full house so that we can raise each other several times until he realizes that I got the Royal, but I knew that it was unlikely. I would have been surprised to see any full house. He turned over the A3 offsuit - he did not even have a flush!. That raise was as bad as poker can get.

This is my first Royal flush in HE. My very first Royal was in clubs in a 4-8 game on Paradise Poker (I caught the queen of club on the river). My second Royal was in a 5-10 stud game in the Trop - had the Royal in diamonds on sixth street. And finally this is my third one. The previous two were called down by my opponent. This is the first time that I got raised when holding a Royal.

82o beats KK in 20-40 HE in the Borgata - March 2, 2004

It happened to me last w/e in the Borgata. The maniac holding the 82 was to my immediate left. The pot was raised before action got to me. Since I was running very bad I just smooth-called with my KK and so did the 82. A wild player (but not necessarily a maniac) behind him reraised and another player capped it. I called the cap and so did the 82. The flop came 8xx both x's being overcards. Turn card was blank and the river was deuce. It was checked around on the river. The wild player who reraised showed one medium pair he hit on the flop, I showed the pocket kings (I was all-in) and I thought I won. Then, surprisingly, the maniac turns over 82. I was horrified and amused simultaneously! I couldn't believe that he called a capped bet ($80) with that utter piece of garbage and now he's being rewarded for this with a huge pot! is this fair?

This came after suffering a bad run at the $15-30 game that had just broken up moments earlier. This bad beat sent me to the ATM where I took out $500 which I ended up losing several hour later in that game after catching cold cards and getting beat up with the few good cards that I did have (99 to KQ, KQ to K8s, AJs to 95 and some more). It's such a shame that I couldn't make any money in such a good game. I just couldn't win a hand no matter what! I ended up down $1500 this w/e for two bad weeks in a row. It hurts!!

A $1,500 pot in the 20-40 HE game in the Borgata - March 2, 2004

The pot was capped preflop, capped again on the flop, three-bet on the turn and double-bet on the river. The board looked like this:

player 1: KQo (straight)
player 2: A5 of diamond (nut flush - winner)
player 3: TT (set)
player 4: AJo (top two)

Only the A5 and the TT showed their hand, but the other players later told us what they were holding and judging from the action, it seems plausible that they indeed held those cards. It's the biggest pot I've ever witnessed in a table at which I was playing.

96h beats KQd on the river - May 3, 2004

It happened in the club on 14th Street last night in a 10-20 HE game. I had the KQ of diamond and raised with it on the button. An EP limper and the two blinds called. The flop was AhJdTd. I flopped Broadway and a straight flush draw to boot! I bet after it was checked to me and both blinds called. The turn is 5h and I get check raised by the small blind. The big blind cold calls the raise without hesitation and so does the SB. The river is 2h. It looks like a safe card... but to my surprise the BB bets out. I realized that he made a flush, but the pot was so big now, so I called. He turns over 9h6h. I'm sitting there and wondering how he called the flop??!! He has a nine-high and there's a diamond flush draw, possible straight, and three overcards on board! And it's not like the pot was unusually big... There was just one raise preflop and four players! Final board looks like this:

Winning odds:	Odds preflop:	Odds on flop:	Odds on turn:
My hand:	63.6%	95.1%	79.5%
Opponent's hand	36.4%	4.9%	20.5%

Rolled up aces lose to sixes full of jacks on the river! - May 3, 2004

It was a 3-6 Hi-Lo game today on Party Poker. I started with AAA and my opponent started with J6J. I limped from an E, the jack raised, a 6 called and I reraised. The jack and the 6 both call. On the turn, the 6 catches a 5 and he raises. I am aware that he could be open-ended, so I just call with the intention of seeing what he'll catch next. I did not want to see a 2 or 7. Alas, he hit a seven while I and the jack both hit apparent blanks. I check, the jack bets, the low raises -as expected- and I reraise. My original plan was to just call all the way if the low hits a 2 or 7 or other dangerous low card that could give him a straight. But now that the jack is gambling and he clearly is behind me, I figure that I'll gamble with him, hoping that the low does not have a straight. On sixth street we all call the low's bet and on the river, I am forced to call a capped bet figuring that I'm beat. My opponents turned over exactly what I expected to see.

Player 1:
player 2:
me:

I watch in horror as my two opponents chop up my pot in front of my computer screen!

AKh wins an over $1,000 pot unimproved! - August 24, 2004

It was last weekend early Monday morning in a 20-40 HE game at the Borgata. I had been playing non-stop since Saturday midnight (over 30 hours straight!). Our table had just broken up, so we were transferred to the other table.

I was in the small blind with AKh and virtually the entire table limped in front of me. I decided to build a pot, so I say "let's build a pot, raise!". By the time action got around to me again it was already capped with 8-9 players in for $80. The flop was T4T, two hearts. I liked my nut flush draw but I did not like the pair on board. Clearly, I'm not giving anyone a full house, so I decided to play it aggressively and so the action was capped on the flop. The turn brings a horrible 4 pairing the board. I'm in deep trouble now if anyone has a ten or four. Nonetheless, I bet out on the turn without much hesitation, just to see what happens. The guy who did the raising on the flop hesitated and then folded; what a relief!! so I was left with just one guy who called my turn bet. The river card was an offsuit 8, which didn't help me. I figured that there is no point in betting now, for my opponent will surely call with any kind of hand that beats an ace and if he has a ten or four he might even raise, so I checked. I wasn't very surprised to see my opponent bet, but the pot was so big that I called him without any hesitation; not because I thought I had a winner. I thought I lost for sure, but the pot odds were clearly there to call him. To my great delight he says "you win!". Oh my god! I turned over my hand and I was shoved a mountain of red chips, with which I filled up two racks!

The guy who folded on the turn after doing the capping pre flop and the raising on the flop said afterwards that he had pocket nines and he mucked on the turn because he was afraid someone had a ten, in which case he'd be drawing dead.

The board:

My hand/winner:

AKT5 is a favorite over a set in O8B!! - Sep 27 2004

It happened about two weeks ago when I was playing in the Play Station in the city. The game was Omaha High-Low 8 or better. I had AKT5/two spades and my opponent had QQJJ. The board on the turn was QJ24, two spades. I had a wrap on the broadway draw and I also had a wheel draw and a low draw for half the pot. This was one of the situations where I am actually a favorite over a set even though I essentially have notning at the moment. This situation is virtually impossible in Holdem or Stud where a set or trips is never an underdog to a drawing hand with one card to come. But in Omaha it is common and this is one example. See the table below for an explanation why I am favored:

AKT5 vs QQJJ in Omaha Hi-Lo
my hand is:
my opponent's hand is:
the board is:
20 river cards that will win me the pot: 13 for a wrap straight, 4 for a wheel, 3 for a flush.
11 river cards that will lose me the pot
9 cards that will split the pot
50% of the time I will win the entire pot
22.5% of the time I will split the pot
72.5% of the time I will win or split
27.5% of the time I will lose the entire pot.

If the game was Omaha High only, then it would be exactly a 50/50 toss up and in Pot Limit it is then common for opponents to agree on multiple river cards, so as to minimize the luck factor. But since the game is hi-lo split, I will chop the pot 22.5% of time anyway and that works to my advantage. I am now a favorite. I kept reraising my opponent until the it was capped and then -sure enough- the river was a king and I scooped the pot.

Q764 beats AJ52 in OHL - March 15, 2005

It was 75-150 Omaha High-Low in Taj Mahal two weeks ago. It was actually the first time I had ever played that game and I wasn't doing very well. I was in the blind with my Q764 and was heads-up against an EP raiser. The flop was AQJ, not a good flop at all for my hand but I did nonetheless call. The turn was a seven giving me two pair and a 65 low draw. At this point I was going to call anyway, so I bet out and he called. The river was a king which didn't help me and at that point I sensed that my two pair might not be good. I figured that if I check here I might lose in a showdown, so I bet again. He hesitated, showed me his AJ52 and folded. I was so far behind!! but my bluff worked. I did not show him my hand or tell him what I had.

Q764 beats AJ52 in OHL
board
my hand
opponent's hand

85s loses to full house on the river in 1-2 NLHE - May 27 2005

It was during the weekend in Borgata and I had just finished playing 20-40 HE and was heading towards the cage with my chips to cash out when I encountered the 1-2 NL HE game right next to the cage and I figured I'll sit down and see some hands cheaply, perhaps I'll get lucky and score big quickly and so I bought in for the max of $300. After several minutes in the game I was dealt the 85 of spades and limped from EP. In a regular limit game I would never play this from EP but in a 1-2 no limit game where it only costs me $2 to see the flop, I thought it was worthwhile to play it. There was a modest $8 raise behind me and many players called and so I called too. The flop was 766 with the 76 of spades giving me an open ended straight flush draw. I checked and the preflop raiser moved all-in. I didn't like the fact that I am still drawing and disliked the pair on board even more. Yet, I obviously did not give him a full house and I didn't even give him trips because he probably would have slowplayed it. Most likely he had a big pocket pair but I didn't preclude the possiblity of him holding just two big cards either. Regardless, with my straight flush draw, I didn't see anyway I could lay this hand down and so I called for all my chips. Turn card was the queen of spade and river was a six beating my flush with a miracle full house on the river.

88 vs 85s
Board
Chances of Winning
	Preflop	Flop	Turn
	84.6%	48.9%	6.8%
	15.4%	51.1%	93.2%

A4 suited loses to 86 offsuit "by mistake" - June 9, 2005

It was an online $30 NL Holdem tournament on partypoker.com and I had about 600-700 in chips. I was in the small blind with the A4 of diamond and several players saw the flop of JT3 with two diamonds in an unraised pot. I did not want to check call with my draw here because check-calling does not work well in tournaments, especially no limit ones. I figured that chances are good that nobody has a jack or better and so I will take it down right there for an all-in bet. If I do get called I still can hit the diaomond with two cards to come or the ace. In my mind I might even get called by a draw such as KQ, 98 or a smaller flush draw, all of which I am a considerable favorite over and I don't quite mind getting called by such hands.

To my surprise, the person to my immediate left (the big blind) called immediately, as if he were holding such a big hand that caling there was obvious. But wait until the cards were exposed... holy shit it's an 86o!!! No pair, no draw, and there two overcards on board. What the hell was that? Turn card is a 4 and river is an offsuit 6 and so my pair of fours lost to sixes on the river. After he took down the pot he said that he meant to hit the fold button but mistakenly pressed the call button. Man... I gotta believe that was the case because I can't possibly imagine it otherwise but let me tell you, it sucks losing on the river by a "mistake"!

Mixed results in my maiden 40-80 Holdem serious venture - July 3, 2005

I came to the Borgata with $2,000 and was down a $1,000 in Blackjack and 10-20 HE when I decided to buy in to the 40-80 for the minimum $1,000 buy-in with whatever I got left. I initially won several pots and then some more and I was up almost $5,000 at my peak but I lost most of it back towards the end although I did manage to make $2,000 at the game. Some of the highlights follow:

Many of the pay-offs in the beginning of the list could have been avoided. Still I consider myself to have played reasonably well.

First it was the qualifier supersatellite in Borgata, $65 buy-in, top six get a $550 voucher for the Friday satellite. At one point I had A6o in the small blind and called after there were many limpers. The flop came 236 rainbow and I liked it quite a bit here in an unraised pot and so I made a considerable bet. To my surprise, the guy right next to me moved all-in on me. I was thinking to myself, perhaps he flopped two pair or has a medium pocket pair or maybe he has 45 for the straight. But the straight is unlikely for he would be slowplaying it and the other two possiblities, although entirely possible, I just didn't think he was that strong. More likely he has the typical playable holding of a pair and straight draw (such as 43, 53, 64) or top pair with a worse kicker and since he was relatively low on chips he decided to move in and so I called, having him covered. To my relief he turned over 86 but to my great dismay the turn brought an eight. I didn't have much time to think about my bad beat before the dealer turned over ace on the river while two guys claim to have mucked an ace! A one outer? Well, so it seems! I have no reason to believe the ace-muckers were lying.

Okay, so I went on to come in in the top six and get my voucher for tomorrow's $550 TNM the winner of which gets a voucher for the $10,000 buy-in TNM. This is like the main event in my eyes even though I still have a long way to go even if I do win it. So we started the TNM 12:00 PM on Friday and played the following hands:

KQ in unraised pot. The flop came KT3 and an Asian (known for their aggression) makes a probing bet of ~250 into me. I rasied him another 500 and he came over the top for another ~2000. I thought and thought; could he have AK? could he have KT or a set of three's? The AK was very unlikely since he called so quickly preflop without even thinking and a set just doesn't come around that often. So basically the only likey holding that I cannot beat was a KT but am I going to really give him that and lay my hand down? I said to myself: This TNM is very important to me but if I don't have the courage to play it out properly then it's a waste of time anyway. Since I most likely have him beat here, I decided to move all-in and he folded, later claiming to have had a weak king. I nearly doubled through.

QQ. I make a typical 3xBB (three times the big blind) raise and everyone folded.

99. I got the pocket nines right after the pocket queens and made the same raise as before. This time, a MP guy moved all-in on me. After everyone folded he started staring at me intensely and I took it as a sign of weakness. For some reason I became convinced that he had smaller pocket pair or maybe TT and he's putting me on overcards and is moving all-in to put the pressure on me to fold my coin-flip hand. Why would he stare at me so defensively otherwise? I decided to call and was quite surprised to see pocket aces. He won and crippled me.

65s. Soon afterward I was dealt 65s UTG and called, under distress from the pocket nines. The flop was Q24 with two of my suit and I check-called the flop and turn but caught no help and so I lost another 1500 in chips. At this point I needed a miracle to come back to life.

44. After the break I mucked several hands and moved all in with my remaining 1500 when I was dealt two black fours. Everyone folded to the blind who started counting his chips to see how much he would have left if he lost this one and then decided to call. I was expecting to see comething like JT, QT or the like thinking that he's probably taking a cheap shot with his mediocre hand against an an all-in who is low on chips and in which case he would be about a 50/50 to win. But I was pleasantly surprised to see pocket three's! A random hand (containing one over card for three outs) probably has a better chance of beating my four's than his pocket three's! In addition, the guy next to him says he mucked a three. And so we get to see a flop: T98, turn is Jack of clubs and I'm saying to myself: no queen or seven for I will be forced to split! Little did I notice that there were now four clubs on board and that I had the four clubs while my opponent had no club. The river... three of hearts!!! what a card!!! I couldn't believe it!!! a one-outer. Oh well, it didn't bother me that much because I considered myself dead anyway ever since I lost with the pocket nine's.

So to summarize: I caught a one-outer on the river in the qualifier with a hand I was a big favorite with on the flop and became an underdog on the turn, but in the main event I lost to the one-outer with a hand I was big favorite with all the way! The story of my life: Win the small bets and lose the big bets!...

I casually decided to play the $6 TNM on partypoker.com last night and little did I know that this would be a record-setter: my first tournament ever for me to beat 350 players and come in at number ONE! Well, the number one prize was only $436.35 but it's the principle of beating such a large field that counts and this will really boost my morale after having some bad sessions in my cash games at the borgata. As usual, I did get lucky at some key points in the tournament (TNM) but for the most part I tried really hard not to put my money in unless I thought there was a reasonable chance I had the best hand or if the aggressor was short-stacked. I played good cards and I hit some key flops that gradually resulted in huge chip build up. I was chip leader on many junctures and when I faltered I quickly managed to regain my status. Some of the hands I played are enumerated below:

JJ vs TT. I smooth-called his raise preflop and raised him on a king-high flop. After a king paired the board on the turn I moved all-in on him and he reluctantly called.

A2 vs AJ. The guy was short-stacked and moved all-in preflop. I was in the blind and called; the river brought a deuce and gave me the pot

KQ vs AK. I made a modest raise preflop in LP and the guy behind me moved all-in with a big stack that would have broke me if I had lost. In retrosepct I should have laid it down but I didn't and the flop came QJJ and then a queen on the turn to seal it up.

99 vs AQ and Kx. The AQ raised preflop and I just called from EP as well as the Kx. The flop brought a nine and some other garbage. Preflop I am putting the raiser on overs but now I'm hoping that he really does have something and so I check. He moves in with a relatively big stack and I happily call.

KK vs 98s. The guy was desparate for some reason even though he still had a decent stack and he moved in preflop. I happily called and the KK held up.

AJs vs TT and KJs. I called a modest raise preflop and I flopped the flush. Surprisingly the KJ moved all-in with absolutely nothing (flop was queen, rag, rag) and the TT eventually went all in too.

Q9 vs JT. I raised preflop from steal position and the blind called me. Flop was was JT? giving me an open ender and so I bet. The guy made a modest raise on the flop which I called but when he moved all-in on the turn I correctly layed my hand down and he showed me his hand.

QT vs KQ. I made a steal raise from MP and got reraised by the KQ. Again, I probably should not have called but I did and lost a lot of chips in the hand. Neither of us caught any help and the KQ held up.

44 vs ?? I limped from MP after there were 1-2 limpers already and the flop was JTx. I checked but then decided to call a relatively big bet by the player behind me. I thought perhaps he's playing his position or has some kind of a draw. But then when he moved all-in on the turn, I mucked. If my call on the flop was a mistake it wasn't such a big mistake considering the circumstances.

A2 vs 99. An MP player raised and a short-stacked player moved in. Somehow, I put the raiser on paint and so I called. The flop was a small pair with rags and so I bet my ace-high and -as I predcited- the preflop raiser folded. The short-stack had the 99 but an ace came on the turn.

AT vs A9. This was the second-to-last hand of the TNM! We were both all-in preflop and an ace popped up on the turn but my ten kicker played and I won a huge pot.

JT vs Q2. We were heads up in the blind with no preflop raise. The flop was QJx and so I raised him. He moved all-in on the turn but I didn't give him a queen and called and lost. This may have been a mistake as well since the all-in bet on the turn was quite big.

It was yesterday in the 10-20 Holdem game in the Borgata. I've been doin pretty bad lately in poker and this is compounded with my other financial troubles and loss of job. To top it all off, I got scammed out of my pokerstrategy.org domain name and website. Someone going by the name "Exotic Design" contacted me by email asking to buy the domain name. After some back and forth correspondence, I said That I would be willing to sell the domain name and a non-eclusive license to host the content of the website, for $4,500. He agreed spoke with me on the phone and wired over the money. I was expecting to use an escrow service (such as escrow.com) and was a bit surprised that he was willing to send me the money without any strings attached and no guarantee that I will give him the domain name once I get the money. However, money is money and if my online bank statement shows that I received it, there is nothing more to ask for, or so it seems... 2-3 days later I was out shopping and it suddenly occured to me that something was fishy. I said to myself, somewhat kiddingly, "I betchya if I log in to my bank statment again now, the money won't be there". Sure enough, as soon as I got home I checked my account and the money was gone. I couldn't get over how I was foolish enough to allows this to happen. During the transaction, I did think about calling my bank and making sure that the wire transfer is permanent and cannot be reversed but I didn't do it (I think it was a weekend, and I didn't consider this important enough to go out of my way to verify). I feel like a fool; I am typically quite untrusting when it comes to these kind of things but I was duped this time. Still, I think that the bank is to blame too. How can they allow the deposit and then withdrawal of money by a third party without my consent? A wire transfer is supposed to be a one-way street only. I still didn't speak to my bank but I am sure that I won't see the money again and all I will hear is some stupid explanation.

Anyway, back to the poker. I was playing 10-20 and was struggling. I really wasn't getting any cards and wasn't hitting the board. My pocket pairs never held up, I never flopped a set and my big cards didn't hit ot they got cracked. Finally, I get pocket sixes in the blind. Most of the table limps and then somebody raises and everyone calls. The flop is J76 rainbow. In my mind, I got the virtual nuts here with my set of sixes and no straight or flush and I'm not slowplaying against this field. I bet right out and am happy to see a raise and reraise behind me. I cap it and about 4 players see the eight on the turn. I didn't really like that card and I am aware that it could have made someone a straight. But I wasn't going to check into a pot this big. If I get raised and I think that I'm beat, I surely have enough outs to go for the full house. The middle position player raises and the guy who did the reraising on the flop called. I realize that I probably got beat by a straight and call. River card pairs the board with another eight. I happily bet out, the raiser on the turn calls and the reraiser on the flop raises. It didn't look good. He is representing a full house and my full house is the smallest one out there. I say "You got a set of jacks or sevens?" and I call. He says "no" but then turns over J8o for eights full of jacks. What a horrible beat!! He was drawing dead on the flop and he caught a miracle runner runner after reraising on the flop! How stupid is this? only in Holdem! Sure enough, the other guy showed a T9 for the nut straight.

But this is not it. There is another bad beat story. Listen to this one: I raise preflop with KQ and I flop KQ7 with two spades. I bet out, get raised and so I reraise. The turn is a six, I bet out again and get raised again by the same player. I reraise again and he calls. The river is a six of spades; I know he's not raising me on the come, so I bet out and he raises! this is when I knew that I just got beat. It didn't make sense how the six could beat me but I knew that he wasn't trying to bluff me after I had reraised him twice. I thought that he probably had the king of spade or some other two spades and has made a flush. I said "this is disgusting... I don't even wanna pay you off!". I showed my hand and mucked. He then turned over his hand K6o for sixes full of kings he went for the runner runner picking out two perfect cards out of three in the deck to beat me after raising me on the flop and the turn!!! Now you tell me, is that not a bad beat? No, I don't want your sympathy! I'm just talking to myself, so that I maintain my resolve and discipline in face of all this insurmountable hardship. I will survive!

Let's see how much of a favorite I am on the flop: There are 990 possible combinations for the next two cards (45 Choose 2). I will win them all except the following:

AA - 6 combinations. chopped pot, we both have aces and kings with queens kicker.
77 - 3 combinations. chopped pot, we both have sevens full of kings.
KQ - 2 combinations. chopped pot, we both have kings full of queens.
66 - 3 combinations. I lose with kings and queens to sixes full of kings.
all other - 976 combinations. I win.

976/990=.986 - I will win 98.6 percent of the time
11/990=.011 - I will chop the pot 1.1 percent of the time
3/990=.003 - I will lose the pot .3 percent of the time (that's 3 out of every 1000 hands!!)

Borgata steals my money, revokes an employment offer due to an informal CCC complaint and then attempts to get me fired from my job - November 15, 2007

This has been an ongoing saga between me and Borgata. I personally kept ignoring it and shoving it aside but Borgata is refusing to let go. For the record I will now recount precisely what happened so that my readers can see for themselves what has been going on here and let them judge between us.

It all started on 11/7/06 in the evening while I was playing "Asia Poker" at Borgata. Asia Poker was at the time a relatively new game (only Borgata was offering it at the time) and it was common for dealers (with floorperson approval) to mis-set their hand due to the complexity of the "house way" rules and inadequate dealer training. The game is a variation of Pai Gow Poker in which everyone receives seven cards and must divide them into a 4-card hand, 2-card hand and 1-card hand keeping the 4-card hand higher in poker value than the 2-card hand and the 2-card hand higher than the 1-card hand. Whoever wins 2 out of 3 hands wins the bet; house wins all copy hands (which is the sole house edge in this game since there is no commission).

There is an interesting rule regarding the "house way" in this game which doesn't seem intuitive or sensible in some cases; yet it is the way the house sets their hand. If the dealer has a pair inside a straight or flush (that is, if the straight or flush is played in the 4-card hand, a pair cannot be played in the middle 2-card hand) and does NOT have an ace, a King or Queen-and-Jack to play in the middle and low hand, then the dealer does NOT play the straight or flush; they play the pair instead. The reasoning behind this is that if playing the straight or flush produces a weak middle and low hand, the house is better off playing just a pair in the back hand thus raising the value of the middle and low hand and giving themselves a better chance of winning 2 out of 3 hands.

A situation like this came up in the course of my play. If the dealer had correctly played the pair I would have won but the dealer played the flush which caused me to lose. I brought it to the attention of the dealer and floorperson but they refused to correct it. The pit boss, furthermore, refused to change the hand setting and so I told him that I will complain to the commission. They took my money on that hand and I immediately hopped over to the commission booth in Borgata to tell them what happened. NOTE: It was not a big bet and I didn't mind the money as much as the incorrectness of the play. If and when I play any house game I need to know what I am getting in to. I ALWAYS know what the house edge is and what the best player strategy is. Obviously if the house play is unpredictable then the house expectation is also unpredictable and THAT is utterly unacceptable to me, and --of course-- violates the rules of the game. It's a matter of principle and I am a very principled person; I will make a huge deal out of a seemingly inconsequential event (as far as money is concerned) if I believe the opposing party is exploiting or deceiving me.

The Casino Control Commission representative called the shift manager. He came over to the pit and discussed it with the pit boss there. The pit boss --I suspect-- may have known he was wrong at that point but was probably embarassed to admit it and so he convinced the shift manager that the play was correct. The Shift Manager rubber-stamped his decision (he didn't seem to be very knowledgable about the game and neither was the CCC rep.) and so my only option was to file an official complaint with the Commission. It so happened to be that the Borgata personnel were relatively nice to me so far and so I accepted their proposal that I don't file the complaint just yet and I first speak to Mr. Tang, the inventor of the game, who works on the Day Shift at Borgata and if he agrees with me then he will give me a $100 comp. If I am not satisfied, they assured me, I can then file a complaint with the Commission. Again, I didn't mind the money (the $100 comp is --of course-- useless to me since I got hundreds in comps already and the comps are not worth much anyhow) and so their willingness to admit wrong upon my discussion with Tang was acceptable to me; I was sure that Tang would agree with me and apologize. However, since I usually work during the day and I virtually never play in the casino during the day I did not get around to speak to Mr. Tang anytime soon and the whole incidnet was just about forgotten.

In the meantime, I had no serious ill feelings towards Borgata in general. I considered this whole incident relatively minor. After all, many people make mistakes and then for whatever reason refuse to correct themselves even when it becomes apparent that it's a mistake, or maybe they just really don't know the rules and are mistaken. This whole story could have ended here but Borgata had other plans.

I had been hired as a temporary poker dealer for the Borgata Sep 06 poker tournament and succefully dealt in that tnm. In late November 06 they called me up and asked me to deal the upcoming Jan 07 tournament as well. I promptly accepted. In the meantime I played Asia Poker several more times at Borgata without any further incident and was a happy camper, until...

On 12/5/06 while playing Asia Poker I incidentally mentioned to one of the floor people that I am slated to deal the poker tnm in Jan. The next day I got a call from the Poker Hiring Manager that he cannot hire me. At that point I recalled that I had never followed up on the original incident and so on 12/8/06 I managed to get hold of Tang to discuss the hand. He admited that the correct setting is the pair but he claimed that the house way hadn't been revised as such at that time. Moreover, he knew nothing about a $100 comp. At this point I was infuriated. He is lying to me straight up about the house way not being "revised" until a later point. I had a copy of the house way revision dating to FOUR DAYS before the 11/7/06 incident (see the image copy here and here) which prescribed the pair play and not the flush. I rushed over to the Commission once more, this time intending to file an official complaint. However, The reps there informed that it was too late to file an official complaint. Instead, they suggested I send a letter to their legal representative, which I promptly did the next day. See a copy of the letter here.

At this point, it would normally seem obvious that Borgata is not for me and I would give up my employment attempt there. Yet, I still insisted that since Borgata is the newest and the premier casino in town I had to get a job as poker dealer there. And so I launched a new campaign trying to get hired as a dealer. The original poker hiring manager had quit and so I had a talk with the new manager who several days later left a message on my answering machine saying that the decision not to hire me is from high-up in casino management and is resolute and indefinite. In response to this I sent an additional letter to the CCC hoping that they would enforce that "equal opportunity" clause in the laws governing the casinos. Instead, I was told by phone that the CCC does not enforce such matters and they suggested instead that that I write to their attorney. See the letter I wrote to the CCC here. See a scanned copy of the CCC response here and here.

In the weeks and months that followed I cut down both my poker play and table-game play at Brogata and often opted instead to go to less sophisticated casinos that were also located a bit farther from my home. Slowly but surely, the "Borgata lure" started to dissipate. I was no longer drawn to Borgata as much as had been the case previously. In fact the principal thing that kept me coming back was their pool and sauna facilities which I could access free with my comps. In the course of my visit, however, they usually got some action from me too, unfortunately. At other times I made it my point to go out of my way NOT to give them any of my action.

In the meantime, in Sep 07 I while playing Pai Gow Tiles I asked the floorpeople at Borgata to give me a copy of the house way. They said they don't give such information out and so once again I went over to the CCC booth and asked them to furnish me a copy of the Borgata PGT house way. They said they didn't have it on file and called over the Shift Manager. The Shift Manager changed the point of conversation and called my a "digruntled employee"?? suggesting that I am requesting the house way of PGT and giving them a hard time because they did not hire me. He also asked me "you work in an AC casino which one is it?" to which I responded that it was irrelevant. He made a phone call to one of his cronies and somehow found out where I worked and then said to the CCC official "he works at XYZ!" as if that had anything to do with the matter at hand. This time the CCC rep. was extremely unfriendly and uncooperative; they first suggested that the floorpeople "show" me the house way as I play along, which is of course a ludicrous suggestion in the first place. Moreover, when I responded that the floorpeople are not very good in English, the CCC rep. took offense to that. I was very disapponited with the way they handled the matter. their final verdict was that it was up to Borgata whether to give me a copy of the PGT house way and it was not obligatory. I highly doubt it! However, I did not follow up on this.

Finally on 11/13/07 I was pulled aside by my Shift Manager while at work who said that an email was sent from Borgata to my Casino Manager about me. He did not ask me for details and I did not provide any. Why in the world is Borgata sending an email to my employer?

I should also note that on two occasions within the past two months after sitting down to play PGT for the table minimum, the pit boss raised the table limit . This act was clearly designed to "send me a message" that they don't want me (there was a dead spread $20 table right next to mine). Also, While making friendly small-talk with a dealer at the PGT table this very same pit boss asked the dealer "is he giving you a hard time?" apparently hoping to get me in trouble. They also excessively scrutinzed the way I was holding the tiles caliming that others can see them.

At this point, in response to the unwarranted email I now resolve that from now on, I will NEVER EVER EVER again play any table game at Borgata. I will liquidate my comps if still available and then cease all visits. I will also make every effort to avoid playing poker there as well.

What is the source of all this? After all, I am a very easy-to-get-along with person. I will do anything for the sake of peace and cordiality and I am definitely not a warmongerrer. I have given it some thought and I realized that the problem here is that Borgata is simply too arrogant. They are the newest casino in town and have been immensely successful in attracting players from other casinos and so they feel like they don't have to be accountable and accomodating to players when and if an issue arises. They don't have to review their play to see maybe they played incorrectly and stole money from a player since they can get the business anyway. They don't have to divulge the House way because... they can get away with it; they will get the business anyway. It's --of course-- easy to be nice to players as long as everything is honky dory. It's when a hitch arises that the caliber of casino management is really tested. Do they do what's right? Do they go the extra mile? Do they give the player the benefit of the doubt? In my case there is no doubt, of course, but at the very minimum THEY should have perceived a doubt "maybe the player is right?" Maybe it is more important to correct a wrong than to have the last word? No. Not Borgata! They are too popular, too prestigious to admit wrongdoing.

Therefore, my comclusion is: if they don't respect the small-time player and if they don't give weight to a minor mistake then they will not respect the high-roller either in a critical moment. My advice: take your business elsewhere. If you like Vegas-style glitz and glamor go to Harrah's they're pretty nice. Other casinos are also in the process of renovating or have recently completed renovation. Or...wait until Revel or Pinncale opens doors in 2010 and 2011 respectively. Or... better yet keep your money and don't play at all. But for your own sake... don't play at Borgata! There are seven other casions in town who appreciate your business much more and will show you their appreciation by being cooperative and accomodating rather than beligerent.