So I spent the better part of 13 hours at Foxwoods yesterday. Shockingly, the tables weren't nearly as crowded as I expected them to be. Still packed, yes, but no 4 hour wait for a table.

I put my name on a 2/4 list to start. When I sat down, I got some ribbing for not posting right away, instead I opted to wait for my BB. They were like "c'mon man, it's 2 friggin dollars...besides, they call this 'no fold 'em hold 'em." So my first hand as the BB is QQ, and I raise a limped pot. I get 3 or 4 callers, I forget. Flop comes 10 2 3 rainbow. I'm first, so I bet out, and I get 2 callers. Turn is a blank, I fire out 4, 2 callers. River is a 4, I bet, seat 1 raises, I call, he has a straight. Stayed in on a gutbuster the whole time. Hey, that's the name of the game right, no fold em? Anyway, I took a little bit of a pounding at this table, so this guy Jared I met, and I get transfers to a 4/8 table.

Having never played anything else but 2/4, my instincts told me that this game would be better i.e. tighter. Hmmm, kinda right, but still a pretty loose game. I don't know why, but I was intimidated at first of playing higher stakes. I got over it.

My table had your usual charachters. The college kid with sunglasses, the foreign guy (usually eastern european), the middle aged guy with a big stack of chips, but it's because he bought in for that amount, not won them, and the quiet guy who never says a word and just takes your money.

Well, once I sat down, the cards got so cold, you'd get frostbite. I couldn't hit a card on the board, even my mucked hands which were about 93%. I counted a few hands in when I realized it, and i got up to 43 hands without touching a board card, till I hit trip 3's, which I had folded. The next hand I hit 2 pair which boated on the river, but alas again, I had folded preflop. So, I said that whatever 2 cards I get next, I'm going to play. I got 7 9 of hearts. I hit my straight on the turn, and raked in a 50 dollar or so pot. I went on a bit of a rush here for about 3 hands, then things got cold again.

It was then that I heard them announcing an Omaha 8/b game that changed to Hi Lo Stud every 1/2 hour. Jared and I signed up for it and switched tables. Quickly, the game was good, Jared got 3/4 of a pot one time when a guy was quartered on the low. I scooped a pot with the wheel one time. I had pocket Aces in the Stud portion and i had another pair showing, and they got cracked by a straight. Only time I saw AA all day.

After having enough of this I went back to a 4/8 table and sat down. Different table and right to the right of me was this Asian girl who had never played in a casino before. Some guy was explaining the betting structures to her cause she had played home games before, but not like this. Well, she was your basic, I bet really strongly, and raise really strongly when I have the best hand, but people didn't realize this, and her 100 dollar buy in tripled in 4 hands. She had 4 pocket pairs that tripped up on the flop, J's, 7's, and 4's. Then she had pocket 9's, and she quadded on the flop, and people had straights and flushes and everything you could possibly want in that situation. I was so jealous of all those pots she raked in. 2 kids at the table, I really respected. Tight, aggressive players who only really played when they had premium starting hands, and their chip stacks showed it. I too, was up around 200 bux when the following hand occured:

I had J 8 o in the BB, and no raises. Flop comes J 8 2. I bet out, there's a raise, a call, and I call. Turn comes a 4, I bet again, another raise (now to 16) another call, and I call. River comes a 10, I bet, call, now the 3rd guy raises! I call and flips over 9 Q offsuit, another gutbuster straight draw that he paid almost 30 bux for a 4 outer. The original raiser had AJ, which is what I had figured on. What really annoyed me is that my stack is now depleted a bunch. I spent about 60 bux or so on that hand, but "that's poker".

Well, that annoyed me, so let me continue on to 2 more hands. First off, I get 77 and I raise, and I get no callers except for the BB, which is that Asian girl. She brings her cards up to her face, kinda giggles and says, "I NEED to see a flop". Flop comes J 3 2. She can't stop laughing, bets first, I'm forced to muck, and she flips over 33.

My last hand was A 3 in middle position. Flop comes 2 4 5 rainbow. Golden. I bet, there's a raise, 2 calls and me. Turn comes a goddamn 3, the worst card I could possibly see. 6 high straight sends me back home.

I noticed things that I have to change about my ring game playing. I'm used to too many tournaments and I was rusty in the beggining of my 12 hour stretch yesterday. Believe it or not, it's kind of a different game, and I know what I need to do to make myself a better player. No more 2/4 though, I think 4/8's a better game, but that's just me.

Ok, off to more SNG's on Party Poker. I have 3 Firsts in 2 days. Till next time....

-Gregg-