Junkies Poker Open Recap

The last week has been a bit manic so I didn't have a chance to blog about this sooner but last week I drove up to the Borgata for the Junkies Poker Open 8. Its a $260+40 MTT run at the Borgata in Atlantic City. With a fairly cheap buyin and big prize pool (I believe that 35-40 tables started) it was looking like a very nice payday.

I got really excited about this because the tourney is sponsored by a local DC sports radio show which I have listened to for over 15 years called The Sports Junkies. They are a bunch of local MD guys who started out on public access and hit the big time. My birthday was on the 16th so a trip up on the 20th seemed justified. To top it all off I have been really meaning to start giving some action back to the Borgata since they are starting to give away poker room rates again for play. However, most times I can get up there I just stay at Harrah's since they have always been good to me and usually hook me up with free rooms. In my mind the main problem with Harrah's is that I love the poker room, but the games there suck, and I love video poker but they only have like 3 9/6 JoB machines in the whole stinking place. Contrast that with the Borg which has great live poker action and an entire bar full of 9/6 JoB machines where you can get instant drink service (plus tons more on the floor) and there is really no comparison. Plus as I remembered the Borgata hotel rooms are unbeatable.

Ive been trying very hard not to take time off work because my wife and I have a few very long trips planned later in the year. I also had major deadlines at work so I worked all Sunday (my actual birthday) and by Wednesday evening I had 40+hours logged for the week already.

Wednesday night I threw everything in a bag including work clothes for Friday and headed up to Atlantic city. I was feeling very positive about the trip. I have not played a ton of live MTT's but I am pretty confidant about my understanding of proper play as these things tend to play pretty similar to a large MTT SNG online. I got a surprise from Hunter in the mail on Monday and inside was a Drag the Bar baseball cap and some large DTB patches. They are pretty sweet looking and if I can later tonight I will post a pic of them. Not surprising since everything Hunter does for this site seems top notch all the way.

So I am driving up to the Borg with my DTB hat on and just really pumped up and positive about the poker open. I get there and get my room. 29th floor with a good view of the water. The rooms all have an amazing shower and bathroom and as always the Borgata bed is extremely comfortable.

I headed down to the poker room and played 2h of NL 1/2 running so/so and ending up about $100 ahead. Not bad, but I want to be up early to watch the Junkies broadcast live and also make sure I am not a zombie for the tournament. I decide to bag it it at midnight.

Day 2: MTT and Cash
The MTT was not a fantastic success. I played pretty well for the majority of the tournament but I did have one or two errors. I overbet when raising a pot with KK based on the previous pot's prf and before I realized it and got no action. I also made a small error (stupid live action) where I forgot to announce raise and threw a big chip into the pot with AQs from early position. Of course I got 5 callers once the dealer announced it was a call.

I dropped a few chips early on and was joking with the guy next to me about how the guy who didn't show up and was getting blinded off was outplaying me with his ultratight strategy. Finally I shove about 5BB from the button with a junk hand and double through the big stack at the table.

I then resteal from him with AQ and double again so that I have about 30K chips with the blinds at BB=1600 antes =300. 9 handed this equates to 1600+6*300 => BB = 3400. With just under 10BB I look down UTG to see TT and I shove. BB who I have been chatting it up with says sorry, I have to call and flips AKo. We race and he wins crippling me. Next hand is the BB where I call all in and after the cards come down I check my cards finding that indeed I do not have the winning hand. 4h to the minute, my MTT is over. GG NH WTF, I thought I was going to win this one.

I headed downstairs for a little sushi then back to my hotel room for a little shuteye but couldn't sleep. I figured if I slept, I could play later when the games were better and still be up early the next morning. Unfortunately with a casino 29 floors below me calling my name I could not sleep and I threw my DTB hat back on and headed to the cash tables.

I played till 6:30pm at a fun table right in front of the cashier. A reg sitting directly to my right tells me that the actions at those tables are always good. Sometimes 2-5 and 5-10 guys who have taken a beating head for the cashier and then decide to slum it at those tables instead. I get the feeling that he is talking about himself. The table is full of terrible players and within a few hours I am up +$300. Tourney loss covered.

I decide to head to Harrah's for a nice dinner and to burn off some comps. I choose the steak house for a nice prime rib dinner. It was pretty much the best prime rib I have ever eaten. They slow roast it for 8h and it was very very tender. My wife who is home dieting is very jealous but eating alone kinda sucks so I ate fast and headed back to Borgata feeling full and ready to play.

I hit another Borgata table and realize that this place is really poker heaven for AC. Every table is good. Maybe its all the busted out tourney donks but the games mid week were fantastic. I am chatting it up with a guy with no front teeth and raking pots. Mostly even the guys at the table I was nervous about are not playing that well and I am really having to open up my river standards based on the garbage people were willing to show down for 2-3 bets post flop. Valuetown.

I witnessed an Asian lady put the worst burn on the guy with no teeth ever. I don't think she realized how rude it was, since she seemed nice overall. On the flop they both get all in for like $60. Asian lady has been know to show down middle and low pair type hands. Toothless flips KJo and Asian lady flips cards showing a 4 for a pair. The turn and river come out and toothless smiles thinking he is going to drag the pot with top pair. Asian lady slides the 4 off to the side revealing a 3rd 4 and just smiles. Toothless is not happy but at least I don't have to look at his crazy teeth. Later on toothless convinced me to drink the most dreadful drink called an orange julius. Its like a orange creamsicle taste but it was so sweet it was nauseating.

Again as we approached midnight I decide that having to get up at 6am to drive back for work means I should probably crash. I end up +$700 in cash games for the trip. I associate my incredible good fortune 100% to the DTB hat which will now become a staple of any live outing in the future. My cash win paid the cost of the tourney as well as my associated expenses etc. Its a wash but I had a great time and racked up a bunch of hours so that next time maybe I can play the Borg rather than Harrah's.

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