Like the title said, I'm looking for the casinos with the best live cash game action (preferably 2/5 and 5/10). I had a friend tell me that the MGM was a good game during the WSOP so I'm initially planning to stay at the Excalibur. I'm sure there's other good games out there though and I want to give all of the potentially good ones a shot.

If we play poker tournament online and we sit out (voluntary or not), we will simply be folding automatically until the blinds and/or antes force us all in and allow us to win the hand in that all-in scenario. Because of this, people who sit out can end up cashing, having pay jump, even eliminate someone else if their chips cover them, (might technically win if he wins non-stop and blind jump high enough to cover his opponent; can also happen if two people end up sitting out heads up until they are both all-in, LOL), etc. Basically, it is like playing but folding every hand until blinds force you all in.
Now in live, I am doing searches, and saw that some casino handle it that way, some might disqualify you if you say you leave and you are not coming back, some might disqualify you automatically if you are sitting-out/not-playing for X orbits, etc. I can imagine all sort of rules applied.
Regarding all this. Is there any official poker rules? Is there an authority responsible to define those rules? Or have there be an attempt to do this? I guess we could take for example WSOP rules (they must have some kind of defined rules for all these details).
Do you know if some live tournament would apply the rules exactly as in online... making you muck until blinds force you all in and allow you to have the same possibility of winning something?
I am interested to know all cases you know in practice regarding this (even if I "believe" that this situation has more chance to occur online than in live, I am sure there are situation where someone has to leave "live" and so, we have to decide what we do with it).
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Some players feel it is unfair someone not playing can earn something in the end.
We can also consider someone has paid, earned his chips, etc.
What are your opinion on this? (if you had to vote for which rules to apply if we were defining a set of "official rules")
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I found this fast on the subject so far:

• https://kontenderspoker.com/players-in-online-games-sitting-out-for-a-long-time/
  • "So, the bottom line is that, in our online games, we do what every online poker site and nearly every casino does, with respect to absentee players. The stack absent players have earned is not forfeited. If they won enough chips to “fold into the money,” they will be awarded the prize that they earned by virtue of the size of their stack."
    • I found his way to phrase it here rational and well said to justify why a non-playing player can still earn his due. After all, he paid AND he played to earn his stack that allow him to survive the blinds for a while.
• https://pokerfortress.com/can-you-leave-a-poker-tournament/

For the first page CLICK HERE (page 2 in comments etc.)
‘Oh no honey, it’s 44’’
So I finally got my Vegas experience and although it wasn’t a great success from a money point of view, it was a great first experience.
Like every player I’ve wandered about what Vegas would be like ever since I first played cards, watched 2 months 2 million and saw the famous Chris Moneymaker footage.
We go back roughly six years in time and we found a very young me in New Zealand. I was there for a Marketing internship and was already grinding the low stakes online .If you ever have the opportunity for sure go to New Zealand, and play in the SkyCity Tower Casino in Auckland. Very nice poker room with a view over the whole city . I always sold a bit of action to play live because I definitely wasn’t rolled for those games, being an intern student.
Anyways, my internship ended and I have my good friend Rick visiting me all the way from Holland. We find ourselves sitting in the Irish Pub, drinking Heino’s.
We’ve had a good amount of them and I notice an older woman a few tables further down winking at me. I’m 22 and tell Rick what I just noticed. Being a true friend he immediately encourages me to seal the deal. ‘A true milf man, you have to go for it’. I approach her, we have a drink and she tells me she’s 34 years old and from Brazil. 12 years age difference and from South America, nice.
We end up in her hotel room and the next day Rick, me and another guy are off the South Island. I can still remember the cab driver laughing when I told him about what happened the night before. During our trip in the South Island we visited the casino in Christchurch. I’m the first one to sit down and there’s an Asian gentleman next to me in seat 1, he’s in the middle of a big pot when he is handed the hot tea he ordered. Being polite he decided to take it off the waitress and put it on one of the tables close to him, but not without getting up from his chair. It was his turn to act and when he turned around, literally 10 seconds later, he saw that the dealer mucked his hand. This led to an incredible outburst which was very understandable to be honest. His hand must have been very strong. Poker is weird, if someone gets screwed it’s always funny, except when it’s you. It’s like seeing people miss the train after giving it all during a last sprint, it never gets old.
I didn’t speak to the Brazilian woman but when we were back in Auckland I decided to contact her. She’s keen to meet again that night, she’s staying at another hotel.
Being a young gentleman I invite her to a classy place for some drinks. We’re casually talking and I mention I really would love to go to Vegas one day. She said ‘Oh it’s great I’ve been there 15 years ago’. I ask her how that’s possible because she’s 34 and you have to be 21 to go out and play. She looks at me and says ‘Oh honey, no not 34, 44’. Well this was certainly interesting, the age difference wasn’t 12 but 22 years. We had a great night and apparently she focused more on her performance between the sheets than she did on making breakfasts in the past 44 years. Worst breakfast of my life.
Back in the now, I’ve returned home from Vegas and the money part starts worrying me a bit in the back of my mind. It’s not that I didn’t have money, I just didn’t want to spend money while being home. Money had better purposes, I’d rather spend it towards experiences like the Vegas trip and finding yourself in spots to sleep with 22 year older woman. However, the gap year was a calculated decision, so at the end of the day it would be fine. The only thing you can do is keep showing up and play your best.
Within 5 days I got a really good run online and won the full 5k back, this is great. Vegas has basically been turned into a free trip now. In the meantime Gary let’s me know he’s staying close to the mailbox while being home, he doesn’t want his mom or dad to find a hospital bill. I picture the scene out of Harry Potter where Harry is waiting for his letter from Hogwarts. Things are going a whole lot better for our other Irish friend Clicki, he made the final table of the Crazy 888 WSOP event! One thing is sure, that backer he wanted to keep happy, he must have been very happy.

A few weeks ago my friend was telling me how he thinks I might like poker, but I've never had any interest or new anything about it. I typically stay away from gambling that involves any effort, usually slots, blackjack and roulette is all I play. He told me just to check it out online so I pulled up a few videos and I was almost instantly hooked. I still know nothing about how cards are valued and what not but just watching people scoop those pots up is crazy. So all that being said I want learn. What are some good casinos to practice at with low buy ins? Any tips or recommendations welcome.

I grew up in a very poker heavy family. I’m talking basement parties with 20 adults and kids. I grew up watching and learning and then when I was old enough to play (16) I could drop money at game nights. We would save all our change and dollar bills and meet up as much as schedules allowed, birthdays, and holidays. When we weren’t having big get togethers I would just play cards with my parents plus a couple random friends or cousins. I haven’t lived at home and moved about an hour away a couple years ago for my fiancé and my job and shit happens so my family doesn’t get together as much as others got losers and grandkids happened etc.
I’ve tried teaching my fiancé to play and don’t have a lot of friends so I’m pretty solo in terms of poker. I play WSOP on my phone but it’s not at all the same experience and I can’t afford to play at a casino or something. Not to mention COVID.
I just miss playing cards and especially with people who understood and were good at it without me having to explain things.

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SimCasino is in early access. I was curious if the devs have any kind of a road map for features they plan to add in to the game.
But in the meantime, here are some ideas I'd love to see implemented one way or another...
​

• Poker Room. This should be a zone-able room. I could potentially make the same case for blackjack and other table games, for the sake of being able to set the same rules for a whole room full of similar games without setting the rules for the entire casino, but I think poker especially should have a room. A poker room would allow a poker desk where the poker room manager handles making/breaking tables. Instead of the player deciding how many tables are Hold'em or Omaha or whatever other game, the player can select what games are allowed at the poker desk and let the poker floor manager run the making & breaking of games (this is how it works in real life). Additionally, a poker room would allow the tables in a specific area to be connected to each other in order to allow for poker tournaments. Poker tournaments are generally less profitable for casinos than normal cash games, but they can help the poker room fill up empty tables at otherwise less busy times.
• Spas, shopping malls, restaurants, golfing, sports arena (boxing, mma, etc), convention center. Lots of casinos, especially in Las Vegas, aren't casinos so much full featured resorts that happen to also have a casino attached.
• Megaprizes. Think National Lampoons Vegas Vacation where Russ ("Papa Giorgio") keeps winning the cars. It'd be great to be able to pop in a car attached to a slot machine that serves as both a gambling interaction point for guests, but also decor and entertainment. It'd basically be a jackpot-only slot machine. It could be a car. It could be a giant oversized slot machine with a huge jackpot.
• Standalone restaurants. Unless I'm missing something, the only dining option currently is a buffet. It's probably the best option if you only have the one option, but one of my favorite parts about visiting Las Vegas is actually the food. All of the casinos are full of restaurants under the name of celebrity chefs. Looking at just Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, there are 2 Gordon Ramsay restaurants, 1 Bobby Flay, 1 Guy Savoy, and a few others by less famous yet still celebrity chefs. And that's just Caesar's Palace alone.
• VIPs. Whether famous professional poker players or just general celebrities, it'd be neat to have the opportunity to attract them as a visitor which in turn could drive more normal guests to your casino. To a degree, this could even have your casino develop a reputation (think modern Rat Pack?).
• Events. Ocean's 11 style heists. Super Bowl weekend overflowing your SportsBook. Major poker tournaments (special higher limits versions of the poker tournaments mentioned above, think like WSOP, WPT, etc). Major conventions in town spiking demand for business guests. Downturn in economy just overall reducing demand across the board. These would all be events outside of the player's control. But there should also be promotional events the player's can run to encourage certain kinds of behaviors. This would include aforementioned poker tournaments.. but weirdly, casinos also have slot machine tournaments. Casinos also can do things like give away "free" chips when you check in to a hotel room or for signing up with the player's club (I say free because usually they're special chips that can't actually be cashed out, but can be used at the table games [other than poker] as if they were real).
• A more fully fledged tech tree. I'd kind of like to immediately build blackjack tables without any research. But also other table games would have to be researched. Also, additional rules for blackjack (that ultimately improve the profitability of the table) should be researched. Meanwhile, with slot machines, we should start with slot machines that aren't even in the game yet (the ones with the 3 spinners, 3 lines and you need to make a line or diagonal, with cherry, bar, etc.). These get researched into 5 spinners, 5 lines and then you can go to the computer poker machines (which are in the game) and more modern fully digital slot machines and stuff. With slot machines, after the ones with the physical spinners, the research would be more along the lines of unlocking the different themes for them.
• Roaming staff. I don't know, maybe I'm not there in the game yet... but generally in a casino, you have servers walking around trying to bring alcohol to patrons (and in the poker rooms and sports books, this can even include full food deliveries from the restaurants). In Las Vegas, this is free in every casino I've ever been in. Outside of Vegas, you typically still have to pay for the alcohol, but nonetheless someone is bringing it to you... because the casino wants you sat in front of that slot machine continuing to feed it.

Bored and was reading two plus two again and wanted to repost my black jack degen story.
I got into poker like we all did, watching that fat clown moneymaker luck his way into $2 million on ESPN. Was never that good, would run up an initial deposit into thousands, move up stakes, move higher, then lose it all. I existed for awhile at 5/10 NL on FTP for a couple of years, but I remember taking a shot at 25/50 and losing to that drunk Layne Flack, or at least someone who was playing under this name. Looking back on it now, how those guys just stole from us, still bothers me to this day. And not one of them ever got arrested. I heard Ferguson even dared to show his face at the WSOP and not one person knocked his ass out. Anyway, I digress.
The point is I was a break-even player at best. Understood the stats, could even read people, but had no interest in playing if the stakes didn’t scare me. And we all know what happens when you continuously play over your head or with scared money.
Once Black Friday came, I got my occasional poker fix in AC. I started at the Trop, played a bunch at the Taj, but once I discovered Borgata I never went anywhere else. Over the years I had my mini degen moments, sitting at 5/10 NL with my last $800, spinning it up to $5k and then dumping at blackjack, etc.
By 2014, I would only go to AC once in awhile and only blow a few thousand I could afford. Until early that summer I got dumped by a girl I assumed I would marry. She was beautiful, came from the same background as me and was wealthy. I just figured this was finally it. As my wife now tells me, I was a clueless dick to her and deserved to get dumped, but at the time I was shattered. If anyone has been in love and has been dumped, you know the empty sorrow, the soul crushing despair, the feeling like what is the freaking point of even living anymore. I took those feelings with me back to the Borgata.
I would be itching all week till Friday, try to sneak out of work early, catch the greyhound and ride down to AC. Catch the shuttle or taxi to Borgata and start playing any game I could get into. This went on for some weeks. I was about break even, but break even to a degen is like losing to a normal person. I was getting ancy and poker was too slow a grind. So I remember taking some amount to the blackjack tables and losing it. I then remember thinking its only Friday night and I am not going back to my place and do nothing for the rest of the weekend. I decide to cash advance the max on my card. I think it was around $20k, or perhaps a little less after fees. You feel like such a degen when they fingerprint you on those advances.
Anyways, I somehow blow $20k at blackjack in under an hour. I have no idea how someone can do that. I remember being a mixture of angry, sad and disgusted. I do not want to go home and I know have lost the most amount of money at one sitting as I ever had. I think at that point my biggest one night loss was when I had bet a 2 game parlay for $8k. So this was a huge loss figure for me.
You know at the Borgata how there are the low limit blackjack tables in one area, and right behind there is this like raised dais of a room where the high limit tables are, and to the right of that is the “credit” office. Well I freaking walked in there and asked for a $20k marker. I was kind of hoping they would laugh at me and tell me to get lost. I have never been in there or knew how any of it worked. Sometimes I dream about that night and wish they had thrown me out or arrested me or just told me to eff off.
Instead this manager guy asked me to log into my bank accounts. I showed him my checking account, my investment account and my 401k account. Logged into them with passwords right on this random computer like a total degen. I had around $40k in checking, $150k in investment account and even more in 401k, so this guy couldn’t green light the $20k fast enough.
I took the cash and went right to the blackjack table in the high limit room next to the credit place, right in front. I remember changing the cash and getting started. My whole body was shaking, but when you are in degen mode you just don’t give a crap about the consequences. You just want to get even.
I wish I could tell you some of the hands I got. I wish I remembered anything specific. What I do remember are snap shots. I remember at one point putting purple chips in three spots. I remember playing every base and splitting ten’s like a total psychopath. I remember going on the biggest heater of my life. I remember getting tapped on the shoulder by the pitboss. At that point I was kind of freaking out. They must assume I am cheating. They must think I am underage. I look to the pitboss and ask him what the problem is. He laughs and goes you know what the problem is sir. I say I have not done anything wrong search me. He looked at me quizzically for a second, I don’t know what he was thinking, but then he gestured to the dealer. He said dude, we are out of chips, we’ve called for a refill. I had literally won the vast majority of the chips from the dealer. I take this as a sign and cash the heck out.
I insta pay back my marker, pay my credit card advance right away and go to my room. I had sat down with $20k, gotten to a low of like $10k and run it up to just over a $100k. I remember walking out of the high limit bj room so happy, but thinking very briefly I wonder if this is the worst thing to happen to me.
The thing with betting big is that when you try to go back to your normal stakes, it feels like a giant waste of time. Like my old stakes were beneath me. I take my new massive roll and start sitting in games I had no business being in. I would play the large PLO games they had, I would play the highest limit poker game they had. I remember once night around the superbowl, the one where the pats beat the seahawks at the last minute, playing in a room next to the high limit poker room in the back of the Borgata poker room. It was like this room off to the side with a gate. I had never even noticed it before. I was playing in some massive PLO game and had no idea what I was doing. I remember playing with Shaun Deeb, who is really fat irl, and this kid called Paul Volpe. They kicked my ass so hard. I remember playing in 2/4 stud and the game revolved around this old angry guy named Norman. There was also a douchey pro named Mike I think in the game. He would take the most crap I have ever heard.
Anyways, after floating around for a few months randomly jumping from plo to stud to high limit and no limit games, I discovered the 2/4 mixed game that ran Friday to Sunday. And I was totally hooked. The games were so crazy compared to the boring hold em I was used to. I learned about triple draw, badugi, badacey, super stud, ace-to-five, and other crazy games I don’t even remember.
When I first joined those games, I think people assumed I was good. I was young looking and played such high stakes. But within a month they all realized I was a new fish. The funny thing is at those stakes they tell you right to your face. I was told several times, there is always a seat for me, I was in way over my head, I am bleeding money. Compared to other younger players I was a real pleasure to play with. Respectful, never threw a tantrum, no showboating. I think a couple of the pros even felt like they liked me. I remember one pro, Jordan, tried to teach me the games and how to improve, but I didn’t want to hear it. I just wanted to drink and splash around and be a freaking moron.
I slowly blew through the epic black jack winnings and began taking out more $20k markers. I remember I had just gotten off the phone with the Borgata one night and my roommate walked into the living room and was like, dude did you just wire $20k to a casino? Wtf is wrong with you.
I eventually started playing in underground games in the city. I blew about $40k in those games and looking back on it, I was clearly getting cheated. But even knowing that I still played lol. I also think I was the only degen mark they ever encountered that paid off his debts on time. They even asked me once to stop writing such large checks, could I please make it out in $5k increments lol.
After blowing another $20k one weekend, I went back to my room and looked in the mirror. Disheveled, grumpy but most importantly just unhappy. The thrill of high stakes was gone. It was not a rush anymore. It felt like every week I would work and then go to AC to get kicked in the face. I lost so much cash in the 2/4 and 3/6 mixed games that I cannot blame it on run bad or variance. Someone has to be a real terrible player to lose that much in those games. Look I understand the pros probably cross booked each other, soft played and squeezed me – but I lost something like 25 straight sessions.
When I finally walked away from the disaster, I had lost $100k in blackjack profit and another ~$325k of my own money playing the pit, high stakes mixed games and games in the city. The amazing thing is I was able just walk away. I have not been back to AC since the end of 2014 / early 2015. The money I lost was all the money I had saved since 2010, busting my ass as an analyst and associate. I am grateful I finally stopped before liquidating my retirement accounts, which I had been contemplating at one point. I remember wanting to kill myself during the degen run, but never really had the courage to do it.
I wonder if the regs at the mixed games think I am dead in a ditch somewhere, blowing all that money so regularly every week and then never showing up ever again.

This is how I won $129,000 in my 3rd ever poker tournament. Note: don't try this, it probably won't turn out well for you.
I spent about 6 months grinding up a $5,000 bankroll playing home/casino games ranging from .5/1 to 1/3. The week that I hit that $5,000 mark, Matt, one of my best friends from college informed me that his job had placed him in Las Vegas for the next month and that I could crash with him for a few nights if I wanted to come on out west. I had frequent flyer miles for the flight and some Mlife/Fremont hotel comps for the rest of the trip. My grand total for flight and lodging for 10 days came to $200.
Now, I’m not going to bore you guys with low-level cash hand histories. The next 10 days were filled with me playing lowstakes poker for 10-12 hours a day. It’s as fun as it sounds – it’s not. I was having a good time in Vegas otherwise – but towards the end of the trip I had a realization: 1/2’s the same everywhere. I didn’t have to fly out to the desert to raise to $7 preflop.
After 10 days, my grand total from poker (and a fair amount of dumb degenerate shit on Fremont) was -$186. That wasn’t what I came out to do — I knew that I was a better player than my recent results had indicated. The morning of my return flight, I decided I was going to play tournaments until I either busted my $5,000 bankroll or hit something worthwhile.
I impulsively decided to not get on my plane at 11:30am. Checkout time from Luxor was at 11:00 – and I didn’t know where I was going yet. I had 30 minutes to pack up my stuff and figure out where I was going before they’d charge me a fee. I sorted TripAdvisor by cheapest first – I’ve stayed in crappy hostels/motels before and overall am a very low maintenance person. I figured that by staying somewhere for $20 a night, I’d be able to maximize the amount of shots I could take before flying back home. I accepted that there was a real chance I’d go back broke – but I didn’t really care. If I didn’t take my shot now, then when?
I booked the cheapest bed in Vegas - a 6-person shared hostel just past the Stratosphere. Let's just say you get what you pay for — it was not a happy place. A fair amount of the people in there were bordering on homelessness and there was barbed wire surrounding their outdoor gym. In addition to this, I had the constant stress of knowing that all that separated my bankroll from the rest of my roommates was a tiny lock. I took the Deuce to the strip, lived off food comps, and turned down invites from my friends to hang out. I was in town to play poker, nothing else.
Disclaimer: I had never played tournaments prior to heading out to Vegas. My only knowledge of hand ranges was from watching televised events. I downloaded a free Nash chart app on my phone while on the Deuce to the strip and studied it for 5 minutes – whatever, I get the jist of it. Let’s play some cards.
The first day of doing this I played the $140 daily at the Aria. Top 13 spots paid -- I finished in 15th. It was depressing to say the least — I felt as if I was at rock bottom. Before the first night of sleeping at the hostel I called the airline to see if I could get on the flight that I had deliberately missed the day prior. I couldn't.
I made it my goal to at least cash something so that I could get a decent hotel room.
I couldn’t have slept more than 2-3 hours the first night there. One of my roommates was loudly vomiting all night, the sheets itched, and I was going through an existential crisis... like dude, you’ve got a finance degree and you’re really doing this shit?
While on the bus to the strip, I opened Poker Atlas and saw that there was a $200 satellite to win a seat into the $1,600 Venetian main event. I decided that I was going to go take a shot at that.
I was at risk twice in the satellite but after studying the GTO method on how to win coinflips, I persevered and won a seat to the main.
The first day was surreal – once again, I was running on minimal sleep due to my housing arrangements, but I remember the following hands from day 1:

1. Button opens to 2.2x, I’m in the BB with Q9cc. SB folds, we go HU to a flop of 832c. He c-bets, I call. Turn 4x, x/x. River Ax. I check, he bets, I x/r to like 3x his bet, he insta folds. I take it down and show air.
2. UTG+1 opens, MP calls, I flat on the button with K10ss. 3 ways to a flop of Qs43xx. UTG+1 bets 40% pot, MP calls, I call. Turn is the Js. UTG+1 bets 60% pot, MP calls, I flat. River comes the 8s. UTG+1 snap bets 80%. MP flats, I flat. I announce king high flush, they both muck.
3. Folds to the SB, he limps, I look down at Q10o, and check. Flop comes KQ6r. He leads 35%, I call. Turn 10. He bets, I call. River comes a J. He bets, I tank for about 45 seconds then flick in a call, he shows 76o… ship it.

The average stack after day 1 was around 40k, I bagged like 65k. I walked back to the Deuce stop outside of the Venetian and headed on my 30 minute ride back home. I kept thinking to myself, someone’s gotta win this thing, why not me?
I had to get in the money for this tournament to be able to get the fuck out of there. A min cash here was over $3k – that was more than enough for me to get a suite on Fremont for a few nights and party for a bit, then get home with my head held high.
Day 2: I get up at 7am after already being completely awake for the past 4 hours. There’s no way I slept more than 3 hours last night. I hit the Denny’s by the Stratosphere then get on the Deuce.
I get to the Venetian and feel like I’m about to fall asleep. I go to the self-serve coffee/tea dispenser in the middle of the room and make myself an iced coffee. I get to my table, and the cocktail waitress comes around. I ask for another iced coffee and toss her a fiver.
Here are some highlights from the 1st half of day 2:

1. I open 97ss on the button, BB flats. Flop comes AK3s. BB checks, I bet 35%. He throws out a 5k chip – which I interpret as a x/r to my bet. I groan, make a joke about it being the first hand of the day, and start to muck. The dealer stops my cards midway before hitting the muck, and informs me that he didn’t raise, that he called my flop bet. Everyone laughs, I go silent and wait for him to make change. Turn is the 2s. He thinks for a second and bets 30%. I tank for like 30 seconds, then flat. River is a blank. He thinks for a second, then checks. I bet like 30% pot. He tells me that I’m an angle shooter and mucks. I tell him I’m not an angle shooter and show my 9 high. Everyone laughs, we get on with playing.
   
2. CO opens, I 3b 87dd in the SB to 4x, he flats. Flop comes 1032d. I check, he checks. Turn is the 6d. I bet 55% pot, he flats. River comes the Kd. I bet 60%, he tanks, tells me he thinks I backdoored diamonds, then folds. Damn, these players are pretty good.
   
3. I open KK UTG to 2.5x, UTG +1 flats. Heads up to a flop of K43r. x/x. Turn 8, I bet 40% pot, he calls. River 3, I bet 80% pot, he tanks, then calls with AK.
   

I bring my 3 racks of chips to the new table and immediately get some comments – whatever, I’m just on a heater, it happens. At this point, my body was giving out. I was trying my hardest not to fall asleep in between every hand.
Cutoff opens, I’m in the SB, I look down at KK. I put in the 3b, folds back to him. He puts in a healthy 4. We’re the two big stacks at the table – I’d guess he was 50bb effective while I was around 65bb. God damn, am I good enough to fold kings here? No, I’m not. I shove, he snaps, I know that I’ve just fucked up my tournament. He shows the aces. The dealer puts a king in the window, and I hold. I’m for sure the chip leader now.
I lose a few 40/60 and 60/40 flips and chip down a bit. I still have a very healthy stack, probably around 80bb.
The next 3 hands are from the second half of day 2:

1. Aggro Asian guy on the button. Folds to him, he opens to 2.2x, SB folds, I look down at 43ss and raise to 7.5x, he flats.

Flop comes 894cc. I check, he bets, I call. Turn’s another 9. I check, he bets 75% pot, I call. River’s the 10c. I check, he bets 1.2x pot. I ask the dealer for a count of the bet – meanwhile, villain looks like he’s going to shit himself. I flick in a chip, he throws down KcQx. I laugh a little, show my 43ss, and obnoxiously say ship it.

1. I open KQo UTG+1, MP 3bets me. I figure that a 4b from UTG+1 could take it down a fair amount of the time, so I decide to go for it. He thinks for a second and flats.

Flop comes AK4r. I check, he checks back. Turn is a 6, goes x/x again. River’s another brick. I put in a 30% value bet. He does a little grimace and tanks for like 20 seconds. It looks like he’s going to fold so I start verbally telling him that his queens are good. The dealer informs me that you’re not allowed to talk about your hand to another player. I inform him that I’m not talking about my hand, I’m talking about villains’ hand. Dealer laughs and lets me continue to antagonize villain. MP starts talking back, asking if I’m really bluffing. I inform him that once he folds, I’ll show the bluff. He ends up calling, I snap show, he pays me then gets up from the table to go for a walk.

1. We’re playing 6 handed. UTG opens, MP flats, I flat TT on the button. 3 ways to a flop of AT9ccc. UTG bets 50% pot, MP folds, I put in a medium sized raise. He thinks about it and flats.

The turn is the Kd. He pauses for a second then checks. I figured AxKc was his most likely combo. I didn’t think he could fold AxKc to any sizing – I decide to overbet jam 2x pot. He tanks for like 5 min and eventually lets it go. He tells me later he folded AxKc. Nice fold sir.
I finished day two 2nd in chips out of the 64 players remaining. More importantly, I was in the money. My friend Matt offered to give me a ride to the hostel to grab my stuff.
On the way to the hostel I’m telling Matt how trash the place is and he’s kind of like yeah man, whatever, it can’t be that bad. We gather my belongings and head on out. Matt remarked to me that the hostel reminded him of jail mixed with a summer camp.
I open a same night hotel app and see a room at the Four Queens available for $110. The lady at check in was nice enough – however, she informed me that the only room they had available at my price point was a smoking room overlooking the Fremont St. experience. I paid the $20 to upgrade to a non-smoking in the quiet part of the hotel. Vegas man, I swear.
It’s like 2am at this point -- I get to my room, sit on the bed and close my eyes. I open them and it’s 11:00am. Ah fuck man, I gotta get to the Venetian. I hop in the shower, brush my teeth, and freshen up. Even if I don’t have clean clothes, whatever, I’m second in the main, who cares.
Some interesting hands from the first part of Day 3:

1. I had two inexcusable punts in this tournament. This is the first one: I open 5h5c from LP, BB calls. Flop comes J62hhh. x/x. Turn is a 4x. x, I bet 50% pot, BB jams 15bb. I called – and immediately realized I fucked up, big time. He had 2 big chips in his stack that I didn’t see, making his shove effectively like 25bb. In addition, I didn’t have the 5h, I had the 5d. I really didn’t ask for a count or double check my hole cards. Villain turns over 64o and holds. In my defense, I literally didn’t know what ICM meant at the time. Whoops.
   
2. Someone who I recognize from poker TV jams 22bb UTG. I’m in the CO with JJ, I ask him how much it is, he’s talkative and seems genuinely comfortable/down for me to call. I fold – I run into him a few days later at the Aria, he tells me he had AA there. I believe him.
   
3. CO opens, button instantly jams 30bb effective. I’m in the SB with TT and 25bb – live reads, we’re flipping. I call for all in my effective stack, CO folds, button has AQ. I hold. He’s not happy I called with tens. Oh well, sorry bro, gg.
   
4. MP opens, CO 3 bets to 7bb, button jams 20bb. I look down at 2 black aces in the big blind. I reshove, MP folds, CO calls off his 20bb stack. I’m up against AQ and QQ. I hold.
   

Even with my atrocious punt earlier in the day, I’m the chip leader again.
We’re down to about 15 left in the field. UTG opens, I 3b AKo on the button, he jams 20bb, I call. He has 99, a king comes on the flop and he’s gone.
It’s day 3 of the main and we’re playing 5 handed with 12 people left. Let’s fucking go.

1. Button opens to 2.5x, I’m in the BB with A8dd, I flat. Flop comes A104r, I check, he bets, I call. Turn is a 7, x/x. River A, I bet 1.2x pot. He tanks, calls, I show, I’m good.
   
2. CO opens to 2.5x, I’m in the BB with 108dd, I flat. Flop comes Kd4x2d, it goes x/x. Turn is a Kx, I check, he bets 60% pot, I flat. River is the 4d. I check, he bets pot. I tank and let it go. He tells me later he checked back a weak king on the flop.
   
3. SB completes, I’m in the BB with J9o and I check my option. Flop comes Q108r. The SB donks out into me for 60% pot. I flat. Turn comes a brick and he leads into me for 60% again. I raise to 3.5x his turn bet, he thinks for a while then flats. River is another brick. He bets 80% pot into me. I tank for a while, then shove. He starts laughing and folds QQ face up.
   

Less than a week ago I was grinding buffet comps at Planet Hollywood. Now I have guys correctly folding top set to me.
I’ve made it to the final table. I pick up a few small pots and the two shortstacks at the table get eliminated in quick succession.
This is without a doubt the most pointless and just plain out stupid punt of my entire life: I open J2dd on the button into a ~18bb SB and a GTO robot with mid 7 figures in career earnings in the BB. Don’t do this, this is quite literally lighting money on fire. SB folds, BB flats. Flop comes Kh8h3d. I cbet, BB calls. Turn is the Kd, goes x/x.
River comes a 7h, he leads into me for half pot. Whatever, I’m going for it – I put in a raise. He thinks for all of 5 seconds then calls me with KQh. Wow, I just punted away $50,000 in ICM. Jesus Christ dude, what the fuck.
For the next orbit or two, I’m clearly pissed at myself. I get up after my button and do a lap around the poker room – I’m good. The monkey tilt is gone, and I’m ready to get back to playing normal ranges.
Anyway, nothing else really happens for a while – I look down at AKo UTG and raise it up. Folds around to the BB, he thinks for a while, then jams for about 20bb. I snap, he has AQo. I hold. I’m now second in chips. We go on a 10-minute break.
When I get back to the table, the prospect of a 5-way chop comes up. We’re all tired – and the pay jumps are very significant. If you couldn’t tell from this story, I’m a degenerate, but in this spot, I’m willing to reduce variance a bit. We run the numbers and come to an agreement – we all agree to take a very slight ICM bump to give 1st place a bit more money than his stack is worth.
I just won $129,000 -- huh? This was my second tournament cash – not too bad considering that it was my third tournament ever. Maybe I should start learning how to play MTT’s now.
I take $124,000 in a check and $5,000 in cash. I’m leaving Vegas in 4 days and don’t plan on coming home with any of the cash.
The winner of the tournament’s a pretty cool guy and he asks if I want to crash in his guest room tonight… like yeah, if that’s a real offer, I’m down. I pick up my toiletry bag from the Venetian concierge and we hit the Uber.
The next morning Matt picks me up at his house – I hit the Chase bank and deposit the $124,000. I take Matt and my other friend, Spencer out to the Sterling Brunch over at Bally’s – the entire time, Spencer just kept repeating “Davis, what the fuck”. I don’t know dude, seriously, what the fuck.
I get a suite at the D downtown that night and (very) long story short I end up hitting $100 on a number at roulette at 5am. It’s time for bed.
Here’s a link to my Hendon Mob, verifying my tournament result. Hopefully I see some of you guys at the WSOP in 2021.
https://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=783521
Davis

Bored and was reading two plus two again and wanted to repost my black jack degen story.
I got into poker like we all did, watching that fat clown moneymaker luck his way into $2 million on ESPN. Was never that good, would run up an initial deposit into thousands, move up stakes, move higher, then lose it all. I existed for awhile at 5/10 NL on FTP for a couple of years, but I remember taking a shot at 25/50 and losing to that drunk Layne Flack, or at least someone who was playing under this name. Looking back on it now, how those guys just stole from us, still bothers me to this day. And not one of them ever got arrested. I heard Ferguson even dared to show his face at the WSOP and not one person knocked his ass out. Anyway, I digress.
The point is I was a break-even player at best. Understood the stats, could even read people, but had no interest in playing if the stakes didn’t scare me. And we all know what happens when you continuously play over your head or with scared money.
Once Black Friday came, I got my occasional poker fix in AC. I started at the Trop, played a bunch at the Taj, but once I discovered Borgata I never went anywhere else. Over the years I had my mini degen moments, sitting at 5/10 NL with my last $800, spinning it up to $5k and then dumping at blackjack, etc.
By 2014, I would only go to AC once in awhile and only blow a few thousand I could afford. Until early that summer I got dumped by a girl I assumed I would marry. She was beautiful, came from the same background as me and was wealthy. I just figured this was finally it. As my wife now tells me, I was a clueless dick to her and deserved to get dumped, but at the time I was shattered. If anyone has been in love and has been dumped, you know the empty sorrow, the soul crushing despair, the feeling like what is the freaking point of even living anymore. I took those feelings with me back to the Borgata.
I would be itching all week till Friday, try to sneak out of work early, catch the greyhound and ride down to AC. Catch the shuttle or taxi to Borgata and start playing any game I could get into. This went on for some weeks. I was about break even, but break even to a degen is like losing to a normal person. I was getting ancy and poker was too slow a grind. So I remember taking some amount to the blackjack tables and losing it. I then remember thinking its only Friday night and I am not going back to my place and do nothing for the rest of the weekend. I decide to cash advance the max on my card. I think it was around $20k, or perhaps a little less after fees. You feel like such a degen when they fingerprint you on those advances.
Anyways, I somehow blow $20k at blackjack in under an hour. I have no idea how someone can do that. I remember being a mixture of angry, sad and disgusted. I do not want to go home and I know have lost the most amount of money at one sitting as I ever had. I think at that point my biggest one night loss was when I had bet a 2 game parlay for $8k. So this was a huge loss figure for me.
You know at the Borgata how there are the low limit blackjack tables in one area, and right behind there is this like raised dais of a room where the high limit tables are, and to the right of that is the “credit” office. Well I freaking walked in there and asked for a $20k marker. I was kind of hoping they would laugh at me and tell me to get lost. I have never been in there or knew how any of it worked. Sometimes I dream about that night and wish they had thrown me out or arrested me or just told me to eff off.
Instead this manager guy asked me to log into my bank accounts. I showed him my checking account, my investment account and my 401k account. Logged into them with passwords right on this random computer like a total degen. I had around $40k in checking, $150k in investment account and even more in 401k, so this guy couldn’t green light the $20k fast enough.
I took the cash and went right to the blackjack table in the high limit room next to the credit place, right in front. I remember changing the cash and getting started. My whole body was shaking, but when you are in degen mode you just don’t give a crap about the consequences. You just want to get even.
I wish I could tell you some of the hands I got. I wish I remembered anything specific. What I do remember are snap shots. I remember at one point putting purple chips in three spots. I remember playing every base and splitting ten’s like a total psychopath. I remember going on the biggest heater of my life. I remember getting tapped on the shoulder by the pitboss. At that point I was kind of freaking out. They must assume I am cheating. They must think I am underage. I look to the pitboss and ask him what the problem is. He laughs and goes you know what the problem is sir. I say I have not done anything wrong search me. He looked at me quizzically for a second, I don’t know what he was thinking, but then he gestured to the dealer. He said dude, we are out of chips, we’ve called for a refill. I had literally won the vast majority of the chips from the dealer. I take this as a sign and cash the heck out.
I insta pay back my marker, pay my credit card advance right away and go to my room. I had sat down with $20k, gotten to a low of like $10k and run it up to just over a $100k. I remember walking out of the high limit bj room so happy, but thinking very briefly I wonder if this is the worst thing to happen to me.
The thing with betting big is that when you try to go back to your normal stakes, it feels like a giant waste of time. Like my old stakes were beneath me. I take my new massive roll and start sitting in games I had no business being in. I would play the large PLO games they had, I would play the highest limit poker game they had. I remember once night around the superbowl, the one where the pats beat the seahawks at the last minute, playing in a room next to the high limit poker room in the back of the Borgata poker room. It was like this room off to the side with a gate. I had never even noticed it before. I was playing in some massive PLO game and had no idea what I was doing. I remember playing with Shaun Deeb, who is really fat irl, and this kid called Paul Volpe. They kicked my ass so hard. I remember playing in 2/4 stud and the game revolved around this old angry guy named Norman. There was also a douchey pro named Mike I think in the game. He would take the most crap I have ever heard.
Anyways, after floating around for a few months randomly jumping from plo to stud to high limit and no limit games, I discovered the 2/4 mixed game that ran Friday to Sunday. And I was totally hooked. The games were so crazy compared to the boring hold em I was used to. I learned about triple draw, badugi, badacey, super stud, ace-to-five, and other crazy games I don’t even remember.
When I first joined those games, I think people assumed I was good. I was young looking and played such high stakes. But within a month they all realized I was a new fish. The funny thing is at those stakes they tell you right to your face. I was told several times, there is always a seat for me, I was in way over my head, I am bleeding money. Compared to other younger players I was a real pleasure to play with. Respectful, never threw a tantrum, no showboating. I think a couple of the pros even felt like they liked me. I remember one pro, Jordan, tried to teach me the games and how to improve, but I didn’t want to hear it. I just wanted to drink and splash around and be a freaking moron.
I slowly blew through the epic black jack winnings and began taking out more $20k markers. I remember I had just gotten off the phone with the Borgata one night and my roommate walked into the living room and was like, dude did you just wire $20k to a casino? Wtf is wrong with you.
I eventually started playing in underground games in the city. I blew about $40k in those games and looking back on it, I was clearly getting cheated. But even knowing that I still played lol. I also think I was the only degen mark they ever encountered that paid off his debts on time. They even asked me once to stop writing such large checks, could I please make it out in $5k increments lol.
After blowing another $20k one weekend, I went back to my room and looked in the mirror. Disheveled, grumpy but most importantly just unhappy. The thrill of high stakes was gone. It was not a rush anymore. It felt like every week I would work and then go to AC to get kicked in the face. I lost so much cash in the 2/4 and 3/6 mixed games that I cannot blame it on run bad or variance. Someone has to be a real terrible player to lose that much in those games. Look I understand the pros probably cross booked each other, soft played and squeezed me – but I lost something like 25 straight sessions.
When I finally walked away from the disaster, I had lost $100k in blackjack profit and another ~$325k of my own money playing the pit, high stakes mixed games and games in the city. The amazing thing is I was able just walk away. I have not been back to AC since the end of 2014 / early 2015. The money I lost was all the money I had saved since 2010, busting my ass as an analyst and associate. I am grateful I finally stopped before liquidating my retirement accounts, which I had been contemplating at one point. I remember wanting to kill myself during the degen run, but never really had the courage to do it.
I wonder if the regs at the mixed games think I am dead in a ditch somewhere, blowing all that money so regularly every week and then never showing up ever again.

I have a video of Harrahs Cherokee River Valley charging new players more than minimum on three card poker and they admitted it on camera. I know that recording on casino grounds means I’ll be banned from Caesar’s entertainment property. ( really sucks for WSOP I’m Cherokee ) just nervous and just wanted to let it out. I hope that poker ( even three card ) is being handled correctly at your casinos or local games. Do yall have any advice on other steps I should be addressing?

Similar to its World Series of Poker cousin (WSOP), live Texas Hold'em has you and the dealer being dealt two cards face down, with the aim to make the best hand from your two plus a set of five community cards dealt face up in the middle. 스포츠토토 Instead of betting against other players, however, you bet on the odds of your own hand improving against the live dealer's. Simply beat the dealer's hand and you win. Live Hold'em is great because it's you one on one with a real dealer - you at home, he or she is in the casino live - and the game lends itself to some great chat as you suck him out with that last river card! It's fast, it's furious, and the winnings could be huge.

Or, Softest Poker Rooms in Vegas?
I'll be going to Vegas, mid-June, staying at Paris and I was wondering where the softest games were? I'd like to stick to 1/2, possibly 1/3. Will probably do a few tournaments, especially if the cash games go poorly.
I'm working on my game, with a premium sub to pokercoaching.com, but putting opponents on a range is still a work-in-progress (nicely put), and not letting go of top/middle pair earlier. Hence, why I'd like to find the softer games.
Thanks!!

Sometimes it’s not the money it’s the principal. And I truly wish I knew whether or not I can swear in this post because holy heck do I want to unload. I have been playing poker since I was 14, slots not far after, sometimes as hobby, and years at a time as profession. Black Friday for the US crippled me, I was at a point that I was so determined to play the wsop 10k ME that I had 4-5 of the top “Steps tickets” worth 2k each and 1 win away from MAin event entry. Along with that prob 5-10k that I would get approx 1/3rd of back nearly 2 years later. On poker rankings I was consistently top 99%, partly because I played all day everyday, and partly because I was decent. After gov seizures I went on a crazy tilt, downward spiral where I degened away close to 100k of funds. These were any funds I could get my hands on, not all I could really pay, and mostly lost online. I played pokeslots online basically 24/7 for months straight. At the end I hated myself, hated my life, and knew I was effed in the a. But the next 3-5 years of not playing anything I was atleast comforted knowing or feeling like it was myself responsible for my own success, having once turned my very first deposit of 200$ into 22,000$ on full tilt, and unbelievably still $1.86 to nearly $30,000 on poker stars in 3 weeks. However the comfort came from also knowing I was the reason for my own failure and poor poor decision making. Atleast I didn’t feel cheated.
Here we are what feels like 10 years later, I did manage to scrap together 1,000$ 5 years ago for a live satty at the rio, and right as the main event started I won a seat. Busted day 2. Pretty much hasn’t played since.
Recently my bracelet winning friend got me to follow him around all over the state and neighboring states to check out his slot grind. I quickly got back into it and in downtime turned to gambling online. I struggled so much on the last sites I had known that were still around, but my faith will never waiver from them again. And after the bs I encountered I will never stray again. In any case I stumbled on these shoddily thrown together sites (it seems) such as Planet7 and Coolcat casino to be specific out of a long list of Royalaces, casinoextremes, captain jacks. Now I can’t say for sure the gameplay is rigged, but I will say for the 1000 or 2 thousand of dollars I’ve put into them, I have been able to withdrawl exactly 0$ dollars.
When I signed up on coolcat, it was from my phone, when I went to login on my computer, it appeared I had a really old previous account but I couldn’t figure out the password. I have the chat screenshotted when I went to support straight away and told them that I believe I had opened multiple accounts and asked what I need to do, if I could play, and if it could potentially come back to bite me later on. The agent assured me and even transferred me to another who also assured me, I didn’t need to do anything accept stick to the account I was on now, never log into the old one, and only deposit from the one I just contacted them. They happily took my deposits, 1 after another. Until I hit for just under 2k with no bonus restrictions to pull bs with or max cashout to cap my winnings. Over the next 30 days I submitted and re submitted each document they requested. 12 days in the withdrawal was cancelled, and I was informed “since you’re doing BTC withdrawal you actually need to complete this other completely different verification process” 15 more days of pick and chose what documents the new support person would say I was missing and repeat the phrase “please wait 5-7 days for a response” and 5-7 days went and never once did I get a response. I took to complain on several forums as it was very clear my identity matched my account and everything was in perfect working order. The day after my complaint was posted on the forums for the casino to respond....
I go to access the casinos...
Suddenly I’m not allowed access to my accounts, my accounts are closed, my funds are taken, and they will tell me this and only this....
“We regret to inform you that your casino access has been revoked. The decision is unfortunately, irreversible. Any casino account can be closed solely at our discretion as part of our policies to ensure game fairness, the safekeeping of company assets, and our third party payment service providers. I nor any of my supervisors can give you any further information or explanation”
service provider left the chat
That’s it, that’s all, that’s forever it seems what it will be. They happily took my money, confirmed in support that I have the pictures and transcripts of. Heck they even gave me a $50 no deposit bonus when I asked because the chat agent assured me, “I can offer this $50 chip because you have never opened an account here with us” well turns out both Planet7 and coolcat are full of it, and the whole 5-7 days withdrawal is dishonest at best but more likely is a straight up lie. I plead for anyone considering playing there, DONT! In 17 years I have never once been treated in this fashion, what feels like straight up mugged in the streets. I’ve had a gun put to my temple for 30 dollars, and still that doesn’t give me the sinking hopeless feeling of anger and despair this does. Atleast the addict with the gun had to get off his a** and put in the effort to steal my money. Shit had he not brought the gun I’d almost have respect that he got it. This just feels like some prince of Nigeria finally managed to suck me in and scam me, or my windows service tech was actually a Indian scammer all along. Surprised picachu
Yet this is the only thing I can do because what the heck else can I do? If I could hire a lawyer, I would spend the money. If I could file complaints I would take the time. If I could deposit again and no I would be able to cashout, I would try to take every dollar, penny, and pixel they are worth until the site disappears. Nothing would make me happier than to put my foot soooooo fing far up there pooper that I’d tickle their tonsils with the tip of my toe.... instead
“We regret to inform you that we told you you’d be okay, we gladly accepted your deposits for several months, we happily updated your address when you moved and emailed us updated address verification documents, we cheered when you won, and then we robbed you of every dollar you made.”
Oh did I mention
“There’s not a single thing you can do about it”
Don’t take the risk. If you need legit gambling sites as a us player I can give you several other solid companies that actually care and actually payout and actually want you as a customegamer. You may not get 40090990% percent deposit bonus * (see terms and conditions)
1$ max cashout
But atleast you’ll get the full experience of playing.

About 7 years ago I developed an interest for poker, specifically NLH. I was in my early 20's and wanted to seek a new hobby since I needed to occupy my mind from a brutal breakup.
It began with randomly coming across wsop on cable. Immediately I was hooked and wanted to learn more about the game and how the pros made a very good living by playing.
Years went by and I was still watching wsop on the tv and even taught my brother on how to play. Since all my friends vanished right after high school I virtually had no one to play with except for them.
I've always had the urges to play at my local casino but never had the confidence.
A few more years went by and finally decided to go in. After seeing years of poker vloggers and wsop on tv I realize that playing a cash game is way harder than it seems.
1 year went by as a weekend rec player and with a bankroll that was putting my finances in a tight spot I decided to call it quits.
I was hoping to maybe hear any feedback similar to my situation. Since Covid has force my local casinos to shut down it's been several months since I've played and I kinda want to keep it that way. Well anyways any feedback will be great. Thanks.

Noob-ish question: all the live casino games I've played in are 9-handed, but all the online tables (ex. WSOP, ACR) are 6-handed?
Any specific reason for this?

Bored and was reading two plus two again and wanted to repost my black jack degen story.
I got into poker like we all did, watching that fat clown moneymaker luck his way into $2 million on ESPN. Was never that good, would run up an initial deposit into thousands, move up stakes, move higher, then lose it all. I existed for awhile at 5/10 NL on FTP for a couple of years, but I remember taking a shot at 25/50 and losing to that drunk Layne Flack, or at least someone who was playing under this name. Looking back on it now, how those guys just stole from us, still bothers me to this day. And not one of them ever got arrested. I heard Ferguson even dared to show his face at the WSOP and not one person knocked his ass out. Anyway, I digress.
The point is I was a break-even player at best. Understood the stats, could even read people, but had no interest in playing if the stakes didn’t scare me. And we all know what happens when you continuously play over your head or with scared money.
Once Black Friday came, I got my occasional poker fix in AC. I started at the Trop, played a bunch at the Taj, but once I discovered Borgata I never went anywhere else. Over the years I had my mini degen moments, sitting at 5/10 NL with my last $800, spinning it up to $5k and then dumping at blackjack, etc.
By 2014, I would only go to AC once in awhile and only blow a few thousand I could afford. Until early that summer I got dumped by a girl I assumed I would marry. She was beautiful, came from the same background as me and was wealthy. I just figured this was finally it. As my wife now tells me, I was a clueless dick to her and deserved to get dumped, but at the time I was shattered. If anyone has been in love and has been dumped, you know the empty sorrow, the soul crushing despair, the feeling like what is the freaking point of even living anymore. I took those feelings with me back to the Borgata.
I would be itching all week till Friday, try to sneak out of work early, catch the greyhound and ride down to AC. Catch the shuttle or taxi to Borgata and start playing any game I could get into. This went on for some weeks. I was about break even, but break even to a degen is like losing to a normal person. I was getting ancy and poker was too slow a grind. So I remember taking some amount to the blackjack tables and losing it. I then remember thinking its only Friday night and I am not going back to my place and do nothing for the rest of the weekend. I decide to cash advance the max on my card. I think it was around $20k, or perhaps a little less after fees. You feel like such a degen when they fingerprint you on those advances.
Anyways, I somehow blow $20k at blackjack in under an hour. I have no idea how someone can do that. I remember being a mixture of angry, sad and disgusted. I do not want to go home and I know have lost the most amount of money at one sitting as I ever had. I think at that point my biggest one night loss was when I had bet a 2 game parlay for $8k. So this was a huge loss figure for me.
You know at the Borgata how there are the low limit blackjack tables in one area, and right behind there is this like raised dais of a room where the high limit tables are, and to the right of that is the “credit” office. Well I freaking walked in there and asked for a $20k marker. I was kind of hoping they would laugh at me and tell me to get lost. I have never been in there or knew how any of it worked. Sometimes I dream about that night and wish they had thrown me out or arrested me or just told me to eff off.
Instead this manager guy asked me to log into my bank accounts. I showed him my checking account, my investment account and my 401k account. Logged into them with passwords right on this random computer like a total degen. I had around $40k in checking, $150k in investment account and even more in 401k, so this guy couldn’t green light the $20k fast enough.
I took the cash and went right to the blackjack table in the high limit room next to the credit place, right in front. I remember changing the cash and getting started. My whole body was shaking, but when you are in degen mode you just don’t give a crap about the consequences. You just want to get even.
I wish I could tell you some of the hands I got. I wish I remembered anything specific. What I do remember are snap shots. I remember at one point putting purple chips in three spots. I remember playing every base and splitting ten’s like a total psychopath. I remember going on the biggest heater of my life. I remember getting tapped on the shoulder by the pitboss. At that point I was kind of freaking out. They must assume I am cheating. They must think I am underage. I look to the pitboss and ask him what the problem is. He laughs and goes you know what the problem is sir. I say I have not done anything wrong search me. He looked at me quizzically for a second, I don’t know what he was thinking, but then he gestured to the dealer. He said dude, we are out of chips, we’ve called for a refill. I had literally won the vast majority of the chips from the dealer. I take this as a sign and cash the heck out.
I insta pay back my marker, pay my credit card advance right away and go to my room. I had sat down with $20k, gotten to a low of like $10k and run it up to just over a $100k. I remember walking out of the high limit bj room so happy, but thinking very briefly I wonder if this is the worst thing to happen to me.
The thing with betting big is that when you try to go back to your normal stakes, it feels like a giant waste of time. Like my old stakes were beneath me. I take my new massive roll and start sitting in games I had no business being in. I would play the large PLO games they had, I would play the highest limit poker game they had. I remember once night around the superbowl, the one where the pats beat the seahawks at the last minute, playing in a room next to the high limit poker room in the back of the Borgata poker room. It was like this room off to the side with a gate. I had never even noticed it before. I was playing in some massive PLO game and had no idea what I was doing. I remember playing with Shaun Deeb, who is really fat irl, and this kid called Paul Volpe. They kicked my ass so hard. I remember playing in 2/4 stud and the game revolved around this old angry guy named Norman. There was also a douchey pro named Mike I think in the game. He would take the most crap I have ever heard.
Anyways, after floating around for a few months randomly jumping from plo to stud to high limit and no limit games, I discovered the 2/4 mixed game that ran Friday to Sunday. And I was totally hooked. The games were so crazy compared to the boring hold em I was used to. I learned about triple draw, badugi, badacey, super stud, ace-to-five, and other crazy games I don’t even remember.
When I first joined those games, I think people assumed I was good. I was young looking and played such high stakes. But within a month they all realized I was a new fish. The funny thing is at those stakes they tell you right to your face. I was told several times, there is always a seat for me, I was in way over my head, I am bleeding money. Compared to other younger players I was a real pleasure to play with. Respectful, never threw a tantrum, no showboating. I think a couple of the pros even felt like they liked me. I remember one pro, Jordan, tried to teach me the games and how to improve, but I didn’t want to hear it. I just wanted to drink and splash around and be a freaking moron.
I slowly blew through the epic black jack winnings and began taking out more $20k markers. I remember I had just gotten off the phone with the Borgata one night and my roommate walked into the living room and was like, dude did you just wire $20k to a casino? Wtf is wrong with you.
I eventually started playing in underground games in the city. I blew about $40k in those games and looking back on it, I was clearly getting cheated. But even knowing that I still played lol. I also think I was the only degen mark they ever encountered that paid off his debts on time. They even asked me once to stop writing such large checks, could I please make it out in $5k increments lol.
After blowing another $20k one weekend, I went back to my room and looked in the mirror. Disheveled, grumpy but most importantly just unhappy. The thrill of high stakes was gone. It was not a rush anymore. It felt like every week I would work and then go to AC to get kicked in the face. I lost so much cash in the 2/4 and 3/6 mixed games that I cannot blame it on run bad or variance. Someone has to be a real terrible player to lose that much in those games. Look I understand the pros probably cross booked each other, soft played and squeezed me – but I lost something like 25 straight sessions.
When I finally walked away from the disaster, I had lost $100k in blackjack profit and another ~$325k of my own money playing the pit, high stakes mixed games and games in the city. The amazing thing is I was able just walk away. I have not been back to AC since the end of 2014 / early 2015. The money I lost was all the money I had saved since 2010, busting my ass as an analyst and associate. I am grateful I finally stopped before liquidating my retirement accounts, which I had been contemplating at one point. I remember wanting to kill myself during the degen run, but never really had the courage to do it.
I wonder if the regs at the mixed games think I am dead in a ditch somewhere, blowing all that money so regularly every week and then never showing up ever again.