O-Poker

I was excited to head out on the gambling boat when I woke up at the beach condo on Thursday morning. The boat was supposed to leave at 11 AM and return at 4 PM. Our plan was to get the kids dressed, head over to the my Mom and stepfather's hotel, eat some breakfast, and then my stepfather and I were going to head out on the boat. My phone rang right before we left the condo. It was my Mom asking when we were coming over for breakfast. She also informed me that my stepfather no longer felt like going on the boat. Huh? WTF? He is the first to try to plan any trip that involves slot machines, so I wasn't sure what was going on. I guess the main problem was that they brought their dog with them and the dog and the hotel were not getting along. Oh well, I decided to open a few beers after lunch and forget about the gambling cruise.

Fast forward to later that night.....We decided to head to the Port for an early dinner (a few miles from our condo). The gambling boat was docked literally right next to our choice of restaurants. The gambling bug then started to take full effect on my stepfather - having to deal with the stressed out dog all day may have played a part also. After not wanting to head out on the cruise 10 hrs earlier, he decided it was a great idea. I agreed.

I wasn't sure what to expect in the poker room since the last time I was on the Suncruz was probably before my 7 year old daughter was born. I had seen their poker room advertised and talked to a few people that had gone out years ago. They used to have some limit games (5/10 and 10/20) and several NL games (1/2, 2/5).

After boarding the boat, I immediately went to the poker room on the top floor. If they had a list I was going to get on it. I didn't want to be left waiting for a seat when we only had a few hours to play. All (6 or 8 maybe) of the poker tables were covered and no one was at the poker cage. No big deal. We hadn't left port yet and gambling wasn't allowed until you get 3 miles offshore. Time for more beer while waiting for the boat to leave and make it's way to international waters.

I went back to the poker room a little after we left port. No one was at the cage, but there was one table with people playing poker. I walked over and asked if they started early and was informed that this was a $20 sng with 1 rebuy ($20). Money would be collected after we reached the 3 mile point - until then the dealer would hold onto your ID. The dealer urged me to grab the last seat. The bar sounded like a better idea than a $20 live sng. The dealer said that I might want to reconsider since he was the only dealer on the boat and that the cash games wouldn't start until the sng was finished. I expected a small turn out on a week night (Thurs), but this seemed a little ridiculous - one dealer and one cash game. WTF?

I decided to head to the roulette table with the money my wife and Mom gave me to bet for them. Five dollars from my wife to bet on black and $5 from my Mom to bet on red. :) I was playing the outside and was up and down from my initial $100. I decided it was time to leave and check out the poker room. I had $120 left, took my initial $100, set it aside, and bet $5 on four numbers. One of them hit for $175. I bet a few more numbers on the next spin and left with $240 (+$140).

The sng finally ended about 20 mins later and we were ready for the cash games to start. It was a $1/$3 NL cash game with $200 max and $30 min. Several people bought in for $30. Dealing with short stackers online is bad enough, but live is even more frustrating. I decide to the keep the beers coming and play almost every hand.

Some fun hands

Trapped by a short stacker
I was in the CO with 7s8s.
There were a couple of limpers, so I raised it up to $15.
The SB shoved all in for $27 total ($12 more).
The BB thought for about 20 seconds and called the $27 (leaving about $20 behind).
The limpers folded.
I called.
I wiffed on the flop, turn and river. We checked the flop, checked the turn.
I folded my 2 unders (I think) to his massive overshove of his remaining $20 on the river.

The SB had KK. The BB had AA - he didn't bet his last $20 with his Aces on any street until the river. He told me that he was trying to trap me. I told him that I was lucky there wasn't an Ace on board.

Toothless Old Timer (well only missing one tooth, but it was in the front)
Shortly after one of the short stacks lost his $30, a seat opened up. A toothless old timer named Charlie sat down with $60. I wound up doubling him up($50ish) a few hands later with 77 against his TT. He was grinning ear to ear (minus one tooth). I started chatting with him quite a bit (thanks to the beer) - nothing disrespectful, just something along the lines of him being a shark that comes out on the boat to take all of our money. For some reason it made him decide to come after me.

I'm a little fuzzy on the details (against thanks to the beer), but we were in a hand. I had been the aggressor and an 8 hit the turn gave me the nut straight with JTs. He immediately shoved all in for around $100 into a $60 pot. I immediately called. He had hit 4th pair on the turn. Yikes, I guess he picked the wrong time to "make a move." I was sad to see Charlie leave right after that hand.

Ummm, you have pot odds or something like that
I was dealt J8s in late position and decided to limp along with every other player before me that had already limped in.

Flop was T99. (Pot - $27) - 2 hearts
Seat 9 bets $10
Seat 2 calls $10
Seat 4 calls $10
I call (in seat 6) $10

Turn Q (Pot - $67) - hit the str8; hope it's good
Seat 9 bets $15
Seat 2 folds
Seat 4 moves all in for $35
I raise to $75
Seat 9 calls leaving $50 behind.

River - low card heart(Pot - $252)
I put Seat 9 all in.
He thought for a while, so I knew I was good.
He looked at his $50 in front on him and said, "I was about to leave, if I fold now I am even."
I went on to explain how much money was in the pot and how much he would win if he called his last $50 into a $352 pot. He finally called with A9. I scooped the side pot and shorty all-in on the turn was pushed the main pot with his rivered flush.

I wound up leaving the poker table losing -$145 including drink tips (bluffed $100 off to a calling station and lost $120 on the last hand of the night with KT vs KJ on a King high flop). Total for the night was a waffle like -$5 after drinks.

I forgot how much fun live low limit NLHE can be, especially when you are enjoying a few cocktails. Waking up and heading back down to the beach again the next day was pretty nice too.