Trip Report, Day 2 Act 2
On my way home from work yesterday, I realized that I DO remember a few things about that $10-20 session.
It was a pretty standard game, with mostly solid players and a few weakies. I didn’t get the best starting cards (a recurring theme on this trip), so I just played tight and waited for the opportunities to come. If the list for $6-12 hadn’t swelled to huge proportions, I would have switched games. As it was, I was stuck at the Mirage because I wanted to play in the tournament, and so I just stayed in this not-so-great game.
After a while, a short-ish, balding, middle-aged guy arrives and sits in the one seat. He starts talking to some folks at the table, and I hear him say that he had just finished playing in the rec.gambling.poker WSOP satellite. I asked him about the tournament, and told him that I was an active participant in RGP. He said he’s not much of a fan anymore, and sticks to a moderated, commercial forum (ugh)-he still knows a number of people from RGP and still participates in some of the events. His name was Barry Tannenbaum. I didn’t know it at the time, but he writes for Card Player and is (apparently) reasonably well known.
So, a hand played out that I don’t remember clearly, as I wasn’t involved. The general gist: Barry is betting all the way in early position, this touristy guy (TG) is calling in middle position, and a late position player is calling behind. On the river, Barry bets, TG calls, and the late position player raises. Barry calls, TG folds. Late position player shows his hand, and Barry moves to muck his cards.
But . . . TG wants to see Barry’s hand. The dealer takes his cards, taps them on the muck, and tables them. Again, I don’t remember the hand very well, but after seeing his cards, there was nothing unreasonable about his play on any street. It is a rule at the Mirage (and most poker rooms) that anyone at the table can request to see a hand that went to the showdown, even if the hand was discarded as a loser.
Barry goes right off the deep end, angrily asking this player why he wants to see a losing hand. TG is clearly a fairly inexperienced player, and has no idea that asking to see the losing hand is something of a breach of etiquette. But Barry just goes on and on, laying into him. The player explains that he invested a lot of money in the hand, and wants to see if he made the right read. Barry ignores his statement, and asks if he thinks there was some sort of collusion going on between himself and the third player. TG very apologetically says no, of course not.
I don’t get this. Barry has clearly played a lot of poker in his lifetime, and surely has run into this situation hundreds upon hundreds of times. Has he determined that berating another player is the best way of dealing with it? Now, this player wasn’t the worst I have seen-it wasn’t as if making him uncomfortable and getting him to leave would have been some terrible tragedy, but his presence at the table was likely positive EV, and I just don’t understand why any player worth his salt would make waves like that. If you’re going to say anything, tell him in a friendly manner that his request is impolite, and implies an accusation of cheating. TG seemed like a decent guy, and I’m pretty sure an even-tempered reproach would have been plenty.
And losing your cool at the table under any circumstances just seems -EV to me. You want the other players to be in a good, happy, action-y mood. I think tension in the air detracts from this, even if marginally.
At this point I’m just going to summarize the rest of Thursday, for two reasons. (1) Not much happened that was interesting for the rest of the day, and (2) I am so long-winded that this trip report is going to spin out of control if I don’t take some countermeasures.
I played in the $200+30 (1 Rebuy) tournament. I lasted 2.5 hours, which was a miracle because my cards were terrible, and my stack peaked at 300 above the starting chip amount. I didn’t see a showdown until my bust-out hand, for which I have no complaints, as I was never ahead.
I also played in the $225 second chance event at the Horseshoe. It was a madhouse, with tons of people milling around and lining up to play at the last minute. I wasn’t crazy about the format, as the blinds went up pretty fast and you didn’t start with a ton of chips. With the starting blinds at 25-25, and T1000 to start, raising to 4x the blinds in the first level is already 10% of your stack. It doesn’t leave you a lot of room to maneuver. I did fine in this tournament, making it to the top 27 (18 got paid). My cards went cold late, and I think I waited a bit too long before making a move. Eventually the antes and blinds put me in a desperate position, and I had to call all-in with marginal cards on a multi-way pot.
Finally, I played in a HORRIBLE short-handed $10-20 game with a half-kill back at the Orleans. I was smart enough to get out of it after an hour, but with the starting cards I got and the lack of strong flops when I did have good cards, it was not a fun session.
Mirage Tournament:
Session Time: 2:45
Session Total: -430
Second Chance Tournament:
Session Time: 2:00
Session Total: -225
$10-20 at the Orleans :
Session Time: 1:30
Session Total: -261
Cumulative Total: -880
It was a pretty standard game, with mostly solid players and a few weakies. I didn’t get the best starting cards (a recurring theme on this trip), so I just played tight and waited for the opportunities to come. If the list for $6-12 hadn’t swelled to huge proportions, I would have switched games. As it was, I was stuck at the Mirage because I wanted to play in the tournament, and so I just stayed in this not-so-great game.
After a while, a short-ish, balding, middle-aged guy arrives and sits in the one seat. He starts talking to some folks at the table, and I hear him say that he had just finished playing in the rec.gambling.poker WSOP satellite. I asked him about the tournament, and told him that I was an active participant in RGP. He said he’s not much of a fan anymore, and sticks to a moderated, commercial forum (ugh)-he still knows a number of people from RGP and still participates in some of the events. His name was Barry Tannenbaum. I didn’t know it at the time, but he writes for Card Player and is (apparently) reasonably well known.
So, a hand played out that I don’t remember clearly, as I wasn’t involved. The general gist: Barry is betting all the way in early position, this touristy guy (TG) is calling in middle position, and a late position player is calling behind. On the river, Barry bets, TG calls, and the late position player raises. Barry calls, TG folds. Late position player shows his hand, and Barry moves to muck his cards.
But . . . TG wants to see Barry’s hand. The dealer takes his cards, taps them on the muck, and tables them. Again, I don’t remember the hand very well, but after seeing his cards, there was nothing unreasonable about his play on any street. It is a rule at the Mirage (and most poker rooms) that anyone at the table can request to see a hand that went to the showdown, even if the hand was discarded as a loser.
Barry goes right off the deep end, angrily asking this player why he wants to see a losing hand. TG is clearly a fairly inexperienced player, and has no idea that asking to see the losing hand is something of a breach of etiquette. But Barry just goes on and on, laying into him. The player explains that he invested a lot of money in the hand, and wants to see if he made the right read. Barry ignores his statement, and asks if he thinks there was some sort of collusion going on between himself and the third player. TG very apologetically says no, of course not.
I don’t get this. Barry has clearly played a lot of poker in his lifetime, and surely has run into this situation hundreds upon hundreds of times. Has he determined that berating another player is the best way of dealing with it? Now, this player wasn’t the worst I have seen-it wasn’t as if making him uncomfortable and getting him to leave would have been some terrible tragedy, but his presence at the table was likely positive EV, and I just don’t understand why any player worth his salt would make waves like that. If you’re going to say anything, tell him in a friendly manner that his request is impolite, and implies an accusation of cheating. TG seemed like a decent guy, and I’m pretty sure an even-tempered reproach would have been plenty.
And losing your cool at the table under any circumstances just seems -EV to me. You want the other players to be in a good, happy, action-y mood. I think tension in the air detracts from this, even if marginally.
At this point I’m just going to summarize the rest of Thursday, for two reasons. (1) Not much happened that was interesting for the rest of the day, and (2) I am so long-winded that this trip report is going to spin out of control if I don’t take some countermeasures.
I played in the $200+30 (1 Rebuy) tournament. I lasted 2.5 hours, which was a miracle because my cards were terrible, and my stack peaked at 300 above the starting chip amount. I didn’t see a showdown until my bust-out hand, for which I have no complaints, as I was never ahead.
I also played in the $225 second chance event at the Horseshoe. It was a madhouse, with tons of people milling around and lining up to play at the last minute. I wasn’t crazy about the format, as the blinds went up pretty fast and you didn’t start with a ton of chips. With the starting blinds at 25-25, and T1000 to start, raising to 4x the blinds in the first level is already 10% of your stack. It doesn’t leave you a lot of room to maneuver. I did fine in this tournament, making it to the top 27 (18 got paid). My cards went cold late, and I think I waited a bit too long before making a move. Eventually the antes and blinds put me in a desperate position, and I had to call all-in with marginal cards on a multi-way pot.
Finally, I played in a HORRIBLE short-handed $10-20 game with a half-kill back at the Orleans. I was smart enough to get out of it after an hour, but with the starting cards I got and the lack of strong flops when I did have good cards, it was not a fun session.
Mirage Tournament:
Session Time: 2:45
Session Total: -430
Second Chance Tournament:
Session Time: 2:00
Session Total: -225
$10-20 at the Orleans :
Session Time: 1:30
Session Total: -261
Cumulative Total: -880