Foxwoods and Then Some

Since the last time I blogged, I was en route to the glorious Foxwoods Casino and I say glorious with only a little bit of sarcasm. Before this trip it was total sarcasm but after it, I’ll probably be going back in the future. So I flew Delta for $110 one-way from LA to JFK and then my brother, Justin, drove from JFK to Foxwoods, about a 2.5 hour drive. There were no rooms available in the two main hotels so we were maligned to staying at one of their off-property hotels called the Two Trees Inn. There was a shuttle that took us from there to Foxwoods so it wasn’t terribly inconvenient but it felt like a bed & breakfast place for senior citizens. I mean, there wasn’t even internet in the hotel rooms. Well, correction, there was dial-up! So if I wanted to reminisce about the good ole days when modems made that crazy noise, then yea maybe that’d be right up my alley.

We got there on Wednesday and decided to play the first night of the FTOPS. I brought my Verizon Wireless air card but my brother didn’t have one so we had to find a place to play so he could play as well. We decided to play in the lobby of the MGM so we could also watch game 6 of the World Series. By the way, as a poker player it is a necessity to have some sort of backup internet at all times. When the internet goes out it really can cost you lots of money. While I don’t use the air card all that often and I pay around $300 a year to have it, the times when the internet goes out and you have a backup, is well, priceless.

Okay, anyways after that mini-rant, let’s get back on track. Neither of us did particularly well. I stone bubbled the UB $1k and went from 8-tabling to two tables by 11PM. One was the aforementioned UB $1k, and the other was a $50 freezeout. Even though I had to play the Foxwoods main the next day for whatever reason I was compelled to play this tournament that started at 9:30PM and if I happened to do well in it I’d be up until 5 or 6AM trying to win it. Of course that’s exactly what happened. By 1250/2500 I had $450k in chips and was well ahead of 2nd place. I was running out of my mind. After a while I decided to get some grub at Fuddruckers and play some of the tourney there. That’s another reason why I love the aircard — it’s mobile! Long story short, I got a little tired and finished in 17th place, which was about the worst case scenario for all the time spent. Whatevs. Ish happens.

Thursday was the main event and it was a solid turnout, 340 players, $900k for first. Even in the current state of US poker, $900k for first is still a very healthy prize. Day 1 was pretty blah. I opened the most at the table but it didn’t matter because everyone kept folding. How annoying! I ended the day with a whopping $1k of progression from my starting stack of $30k.

Day 2 started off poorly. I had to check/fold a pair and a flush draw that turned a gutshot and was left with 15 big blinds after it. It was a pretty ridiculous hand and I ultimately decided to just muck it. The next hand I pick up AJo and shove on Allie Prescott’s early position open. While I’m all in, a guy to my right sits down and notices a quarter that was apparently left by the previous player in that seat. He sees I’m all in and tosses it in the middle and says “good luck” to me. I’m like sure whatever. I suck out and double up. Then I start jokingly use the quarter in all of my allins. I kept sucking out and by the end of the day I end at 130k, 65 big blinds. I even bagged the quarter. I’m not superstitious but what do I have to lose? Why not, right? Definitely a solid day.

Day 3 was another up and down rollercoaster. I started at a table with eventual winner Cornel Cimpan and we got into it in a spot where had I had a little more time to figure out his game I probably would not have played the hand the way I did. Regardless, I was down to 27k at 1.5k/3k. but I battled back hard and finished the day at $450k with 27 left in the tourney. On top of that my table was tough: Christian Harder, Jason Mercier, Todd Terry, and MazeOrBowie. While it was a really tough table, we were all going at it and playing poker. At one point Todd Terry opened to 14k at 3k/6k. Mercier 3-bet to 36k and Harder cold 4-bet to 70k. I was sitting in the big blind with 77 and really wanted to ship it but that just seemed kind of crazy to do. I fold, Terry folds, Mercier thinks for three minutes and folds. Harder is throwing his cards into the muck when Terry says “Show the deuce!”. Harder complies and flips over the deuce of clubs. Just sick poker being played at the table!

Day 4 was a grind. It started off well but once blinds got bigger my cards got deader. With two tables left I played 4 hands in the first 6 orbits. Then finally once we were 6-handed on each table I picked up Aces, Kings, and Queens all in on orbit to skyrocket to 40big blinds going into Day 5 when we play from 10 to 6 people.

Day 5 did not go so well. I was card dead once again and the table dynamics were not in my favor. The big stacks were to my right opening all the time and the short stacks were to my left. Also, there were opportunities for other people to bust but the short stacks kept doubling up which I took as an omen. With 9 people left, I shoved to Soheil Sommeddin’s(Christ! It’s a hard name to spell) raise with A9cc for 20 bigs. He took little time to call with QQ. I flopped a flush draw but bricked the turn and river and I was out the door in less than 30 seconds. Even though I was fairly disappointed to not make the TV table, I was satisfied with my play the entire tournament and really feel confident with my live game now.

After I busted I was privileged enough to eat at the best Italian restaurant I’ve ever eaten at. I did not expect this whatsoever but everything was so original along with the impeccable service. The restaurant was called Altastrada and I would highly, highly recommend going there next time you step foot into Foxwoods.

I know this blog is already a bit lengthy but I’m off to Bellagio in a week or two for the Five Diamond Classic. I did not play Festa Al Lago so I’m stoked to be playing at Bellagio again. Even though I’m not a total fan of the way the tournaments are run, there’s just something about playing at the Bellagio that makes it really enjoyable to do so. Until next week, good luck at the tables!

Posted on by Roothlus in Blog

One Response to Foxwoods and Then Some

  1. Hamid

    Believe me, the thought of oevrturning UIGEA the same sneaky way it was passed has been discussed many times by persons both in and out of our industry.It would be quite a fitting end to the stupidest law ever written.

Reply to Hamid