PlatKat.com: Sittin' Pretty in Atlantic City

Monday, March 12, 2007

Sittin' Pretty in Atlantic City

...and the whole time before this, I thought it was shitty.

My first visit to Atlantic City was fun and successful. I was prepared for a completely run-down hell hole and was pleasantly surprised to find that it's just a half-way run-down hell hole. Like Vegas, AC has its share of sad, decrepit old people, but instead of also being filled with sexy strippers and Colombian drug lords, there are a bunch of thugs and ho's. Since there are quite a few East Coast poker bloggers, someone decided to plan a gathering there, which is great because I needed an excuse to go.

Gus, Heather, and I stayed at Caesar's, which isn't as nice as the one in Vegas, but more than met our needs for beds and a bathroom. I booked a room there because we were planning to play their $300 + $40 NL event at noon. Gus ended up having to work Saturday morning and due to scheduling conflicts beyond our control (e.g., our bus driver stopped in the middle of the trip to use the bathroom), we arrived in AC around 6:30pm.

We met up with Heather at the Borgata where she'd been playing hold 'em. The poker room is nice and apparently, full of fish. Noted! The nice restaurants were already packed with the Saturday night dinner crowd, so we headed downstairs to the cafeteria, which could have only been made better by adding the slogan, "You've emptied your pockets, now fill your fat, nasty body."

We ate some greasy Chinese food, read our fortunes, and then played some craps. I had a terrible roll and just wasn't feeling the table. I lost half my bankroll and decided to sit out before I lost the other half. Heather had a great roll, and Gus made money, and I convinced them to meet up with the other bloggers for the happy hour at 10.

We reached the Showboat where we found the I Had Outs girls, who took over arranging the gathering for Jordan. A bunch of other East Coast bloggers were there, including SoxLover, who I mistakenly thought was Jordan for a good portion of the evening, perhaps because I'd had a bit to drink. While a bunch of people played craps, I totally Van Goughed F-Train.

Then Gus, Heather, SoxLover, and I went back to Caesar's to play craps some more. Heather and Gus went to do something responsible, or maybe we just got lost, but either way, SoxLover and I went off to find a bathroom and then a craps table.

"Crap" seemed to be the word of the day. After walking for what seemed like hours looking for a bathroom, we decided to ask someone. My new friend was almost ready to explode, so I interrupted two ladies talking at the Information desk with, "Excuse me, my friend here needs to take a mad crap. Where can he do that without getting in trouble?"

They laughed and pointed us to a bathroom. I guess it's okay to interrupt as long as you have something entertaining to say.

Somehow, we made it to the craps table before Gus and Heather did. We started playing and I, of course, started yakking with the people around me. For some reason, rolls go better when the table is positive and enthusiastic. Yeah, I'm a fucking hippie for saying so, but that's how it's been in my experience, and it's about as incoincidental as bacteria growing faster with prayer.

But I digress.

I started talking to the guy next to me, and then the girl he was with, both of whom were about my age. He was a pretty quiet guy, which kind of sucks because a quiet table is a losing table. I think the girl was annoyed because she thought I was hitting on her boyfriend. Although he was a pretty attractive guy, I had my own on the other side of the table, so I wasn't really interested in taking hers.

But instead of also being quiet, after awhile she started being really rude to me. She mimmicked me a little and then started mocking me for making $10 bets. We were at a $10 minimum table. Had I been more sober, I would have suggested she move to one of the many openings at the $25 or $100 minimum tables, if she was such a high roller.

As it turns out, she was not much of a roller at all. Neither was her boyfriend. To making things worse, he was also a poor player in general. As I'm listening to his girlfriend shower me with her insecurities, I'm watching him lose $100 on the Don't Pass Bar in the middle of a decent shoot, then another $100 on the field, then again, and again... It was sad, he looked like he was trying to compensate for something. Maybe it was the only way he knew how to leave. Don't let the revolving doors hit your asses on the way out!

Once they took off, the table mojo greatly improved. We ended up having a good night and a good trip overall. Things were going well so we stayed a little later than we planned yesterday. We multiplied our bankroll several times over and I got to see the beach. (The weather was gorgeous!) The bus ride home was faster and less eventful, although I really need to come up with some fun things to do on the bus if I'm going to start visiting AC regularly.

I'm going back again this weekend with Heather and April, who will escape the noisy, swirling vortex known as South By Southwest. We'll probably play more poker than craps, which is good because I've been wanting to play a live game ever since the Toronto trip. Good luck, me!

posted by platkat @ 11:05 AM