Atlantic City was the site of June 2009 PokerSoup.tv meet-up. Blazman came down from Connecticut, ElSnarfGrande made the relatively short drive from his home in Jersey, and I hitched a ride with two of my neighbors from D.C. Not quite making the early departure from work I had planned on, I was stuck in D.C. and Baltimore Friday afternoon rush hour which meant I arrived at Harrah’s promptly at 8:15, hit the late registration for the $105+$20 NLHE tournament, and took my seat – on Blaz’s immediate left – Excellent! Snarf, meanwhile, decked out in his classiest Phillies jersey, had to battle a donkalicious table by himself.

Blaz doubles up early in the tournament and I’m still finding my footing. This is only my second live casino tournament and first in Atlantic City. I’m scouring the room and 6 tables trying to find the sharks that are here feeding on AC tourist. Well, my eyesight isn’t that great, but at the first break, Blaz and Snarf let me in on the secret… there are none here! The people sitting at these tables have all seen poker on TV and play a pair (not even top pair) as the stone cold nuts. This place is awesome!

Second break comes around and we are all sitting just below the average chip stack with about 35 of the 60 runners left. The structure has been really good, 20 minute levels and small jumps, giving lots of play for the starting stack of 15,000 chips. My only real complaint is that the chips have no denominations on them, so early on, trying to keep track is a bit painful, but gets easier over time. Coming back from the break, the average chip stack is probably only an M ~16, so action should heat up (of course, there are only three people in the room that know what M means…).

I’m moved to another table, and shortly after the second break, Blaz comes over to let me know he’s busted out and heading to the cash games. It’s not long and we’re down to two tables with Snarf and I still treading water. With 14 players left, I decided to make my exit. The table chip leader is in the small blind on my right, I post the big blind, there’s a limper from mid-position… chip leader completes and I check my T6o. The flop is a beautiful KT6 rainbow giving me bottom two pair. Chip leader checks, I put in a half pot sized bet, mid-position calls, and the chip leader shoves all-in. I don’t contemplate to long… the chip leader definitely doesn’t have pocket Kings, and my T & 6 almost eliminate the other two sets. He’s got to have top pair (this guys not smart/tricky enough to shove with a straight draw)… I call. To my surprise, mid-position player calls too!

Flipping our cards over, I’m delighted to see that I’m slightly ahead in this three way pot… the chip leader indeed had K7s for top pair and mid position had a naked Ace. The turn is a harmless three followed by a 7 giving the chip leader a better two pair and takes out two players. I’m speechless, but don’t regret my play. Only 6 players got paid, so this was my opportunity to chip up or go home. I limped off to find an empty seat at Blaz’s 2-4 LHE game and started to grind back my losses. Snarf joined us about 20 minutes later after busting around 12th place.

It was getting late and Snarf was driving back that night, so we made a relatively early exit from Harrah’s. Blaz and I headed over to the Taj to grab my gear from my neighbor’s comped room, then headed to the Super 8 for some rest.

Grand total for the day:

Harrah’s $105+$20 NLHE Tourney                    – $125
Harrah’s 2-4 LHE Cash                                         + $ 15
Total                                                                          - $110

Author: pointledge

pointledge is a regular contributor to PokerSoup and our own GetAStake.com success story. You can find him playing games online and live.