Africa by PBC

I hear the grinders echoing tonight
But she hears only whispers of some quiet conversation
She's coming in, 12:30 flight
The moonlit wings reflect the stars that guide me towards unstuuuuuck
I stopped an old man along the way
Hoping to find some long forgotten chips or ancient shitty adviceee
He turned to me as if to say, "Hurry boy, there is a seat to left of the fish waiting there for you"

It's not gonna take a lot to take that stack away from you
There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the flops down in Africa
Gonna take some time rake to play the hands we normally wouldn’t 

The nitty grinders cry out in the night
As they grow restless, longing for some 10- handed company
I know that I must do what's right
As sure as Borgata rises like Olympus above the Serengeti
I seek to cure what's deep inside, frightened of this stack that I've attained...

But i paid to see!!

A lot of times in poker you just need to be honest with yourself. You need to realize when things aren’t profitable and make an adjustment. No more 2/5 NL at Foxwoods. Way too many smart guys who play all the time and talk strategy with each other. I don’t have that. Bill Potts and I used to do that but not too too much anymore and it definitely loses context and particulars when you text what happened. So I decided to stick to 1/2 on Saturday. They play bad, they don’t discuss poker in any meaningful way, and it’s way less pressure. Winning small which acquiring points and hours for rooms sounds good to me. Some might say I should play 2/5 other places where it’s easier and they are right...in a bubble. I still got the 2/5 plo8 on Friday’s and literally zero expenses. THAT IS SO KEY TO YOIR WIN RATE.

So I got to Foxwoods, turned 75 slot into 90 cash but lost the 60 bus spin. Mike and I twice did alternate colors on the Euro roulette and chopped up the 60 profit. Sadly this time Mike is in borgata doing high stakes PLO since it’s tournament time. So I played some 2-5 NL and lost 700. I got somewhat unlucky and somewhat outplayed. I love the outplayed part. It makes me know to not play that anymore. I mean if the game looks ridiculous sure I’ll jump in but once the grinders start up I’d run.

I played some pai gow and got 450 back. I had reasons beyond just trying to win money for playing, but let’s just say they watch closely. Happy to win though. I roomed with Adam the Snoring guy again. He snored bad. I actually feel kinda bad because I told him he snores heavily and the last day we were supposed to room together he went home instead so he wouldn’t disrupt my sleep. I had the earplugs so I was ok.

Plo8 was funny. Once again Dave didn’t want to play, and we had 5. I know why now. He’s afraid of me short handed. That’s 100% true. He will never admit it but it has to be it. I couldn’t get it going early. I was literally uncomfortable in my seat and it messed up my play. Eventually I turned my chair  and game around and by the end of the night I won over 1200. I compare it to Lincoln Hawk turning his hat around.

Saturday was 1/2. They played like shit. The incredible thing happened was I lost this hand(my AK lost to K9) and I threw my cards near the muck pile. The opponent was A FUCKING RETARD. Literally the stereotype of a stupid black guy. Loud, obnoxious, slowed the game down. He literally took my muck cards and looked at them. Everybody was like WTF are you doing?? Apparently because he called my bet he “paid to see” aka he can look at my cards. If I play with him again I’ll warn the floor that I’ll get him banned if he fucks with me again like that. Or I can be obnoxious and make his life miserable. Call the clock on him over and over. Gut him in the bathroom. Something like that.

Fear cuts the trip short

Last week, in the northeast, there was apparently a snow storm that was just gonna destroy the tri-state area. People were afraid. I had to call the bus to make sure that buses were heading up to Foxwoods that night(they get really cautious and I’ve gitten burned multiple times). They did indeed go up there Thursday. The storm didn’t hit NJ. It didn’t hit NY. Apparently it hit Connecticut for only a few hours Saturday night and that made the bus station close down on Sunday. I had to cut the trip short and leave Saturday. Very annoying since I had slot play coming to me Sunday. I did go home and watched NXT UK quite a bit since there was a PPV that I wanted to catch up on. That’s pro wrestling btw.

As for the trip, pretty break even. Lost about 300 in plo8. I chopped or got quartered(small quartered) in pots where I’m drawing to scoop. Just didn’t break well for me. Cancer Bruce got crushed again. He tried that play with the Ace suit and three on the board and not paired. The other guy took 2 seconds to call him with a jack high flush. Not because he reads souls or anything he just can’t fold lol. Bruce called him an idiot. It’s funny that Bruce lost but I’ve been in his spot and tried that too and it seems to fail a lot.

Hold em was decent. Cold decked a guy with AA vs AK on a AK3 rainbow board. That was a big pot. I lost a big pot with KK vs QQ on a Q109 board. I turned a massive draw and I check raised but he was going nowhere and I bricked out. Mike is at borgata this week so I’m rooming with Adam, and he snores like a monster. Luckily I got my ear plugs this week. Anyway I’m almost there.

Cards of you!

One thing i enjoy doing is taking mainstream songs and turning them into poker songs. So heres one:

I'm in love with the cards of you

We shove and fold like a magnet do

Although my heart flush is falling too

I'm in love with your bad odds

And last night you were in my poker room

And now my hundred dollar bills smell like you

Every day discovering something brand new

I'm in love with your bad odds

Oh—I—oh—I—oh—I—oh—I

I'm in love with your bad odds

Oh—I—oh—I—oh—I—oh—I

I'm in love with your bad odds

Oh—I—oh—I—oh—I—oh—I

I'm in love with your bad odds

Every day discovering something brand new

I'm in love with the cards of you!

Dirt worst 2-5 NL

Apparently the 2-5 NL game is just opposite land at Foxwoods nowadays. The classic memo about how Saturday night is the best time to play poker was apparently read and studied by all the grinders and they all believe it. Even when they’re facing each other every week at the same time. There was a point when I literally counted every player at a table and they were all at least decent. It drive me to 1-2. Bigger pool, nobody is any good, yet shitty rake. I think I can beat the game for around 15 dollars an hour though. I’ll have to jump in there when the 2-5 is terrible. 36.8k royal aside, it’s better than playing in the pits.

The peak of the trip came literally the first table I sat at. This guy Pete was playing 48 hours straight and I got into a big hand with him. I tanked, but I called off a massive over bet with TPTK and I was right. I also flopped a set and won a solid pot. All was pretty bad from there.

It was such a bitch getting PLO8 going this week. The early regs are becoming few and far between, and we need those guys to get it going. A few of them wanted to play 1-2 plo8 instead of 2-5 because it’s more in their comfort zone, but no way. Larry and I stood strong and eventually this guy Stan arrived and we got it going 4 handed. Of course it soon fills up. I actually lost 294. We had some new players eventually and I was calling draws a bit light and missing rivers. But I’m ok with it. These were information calls. Plus I think I made a couple loose plays for the sake of the game. I also caught a cold and was fighting that. You better believe that I’m feeling good and ready to rock this week.

So I won about a thousand this week. Let’s try to match that or better.

Hearts baby...but just never again

Those of you who read my Twitter know that I hit a royal flush on a 46 dollar hand in VP late Saturday night. I was dumb for playing and now that I hit it I must only play when I get free slot play.  The ridiculous thing was i was up like 800 or so in poker and then the games were bad. Grinder city. So I was like ok ok 10 bucks a hand of VP for 200 hands then I’ll come back and see how the tables are. Slippery slope. So eventually I’m down 3k, and then I put another 3k in and somehow I’m up over 4300 and THEN I just get dealt a royal. I was getting a ridiculous run of like boats and quads and I just couldn’t believe it. The sick part was I just dealt it. No keeping 4 and praying for the fifth. Just bam. I called Bill Potts and broke the news. He was happy for me and def warned me to not spend money on this stuff again. He’s definitely right.

Poker itself is very repetitive. I played well, won money. This guy Miroslsv is a piece of shit and faced me briefly in 5-10 plo8. He always tries to intimidate me with his words and his look and it never works. He’s a terribly fishy player too and he did get me in a big pot in NL when he called my raise of 45 pre(2-5 NL and he straddled) with 26 suited and flopped two pair against my QQ. Whatever. I saw Mike play plo 3 handed. I saw a funny hand. The board was x256 with two hearts. It goes check check, then an Asian does nothing and dealer puts out the river and it’s a heart. There was flop and turn betting btw. Asian says I didn’t say anything and card goes back in. I figured he had a straight and no flush. He ended up having A1033 so he had the blockers. He did end winning the hand. The royal thing happened afterwards cuz I didn’t find a good game still. A proud moment for me was winning 887 after that in NL.

I roomed with Mike and this guy Adam. He’s a good guy. He snores like a monster though to a degree where neither Mike or I can sleep properly. I actually have ear plugs now. He’s not supposed to stay with us this week but I feel bad saying no. Ok just hit fox right now.

Putting money where my mouth is

Considering I now have  a fanduel account, I took a look at NHL Futures. One thing jumped out at me were the Penguins to win the Cup at +2900. That’s a great price IMO. I put 506.75 on it. I also have 800 to win 500 on Golden State winning the NBA Championship. Parlays too. We shall see.

Last week was pretty good. I got into a hold em game and lost 1k. The idiot guy that was accused of the 900 dollar thing was just leaking money. He’s a real piece of shit too. I actually think I played bad because of him. Reacting to his dumb shit too much. I also wore the wrong hoodie and I think it messed with my head.

The next day we got the plo8 going. I won 2032 in 13 hours 50 mins. Good session. I playedy hands well I suppose. I ended up playing heads up with this super chatty black guy reg. I wanted to play him 5-10 heads up but he didn’t want to buy up to 500 min. I took a few hundo from him but too much rake. I think of that happens again I’ll just play it but let him be short. I’m not sure that’s a great strategical play but still. I beat him for all of it. He did hit a royal and got a space heater tho.

The next day was weird. I went to the gym but got this terrible pain between my shoulder and neck. I couldn’t do crunches or a single push-up. I booked an emergency massage at the spa for 4. In the mean time, we got plo8 going again. Full table too. I won 1250 in 3 hours 45 mins. I told them to keep the game going but they didn’t for some reason lol

I won a few hundred Saturday night too in hold em. So I won a few grand yeah.