THE FREE DRINK TENT

In a casino, guys will throw chips at pots like peanuts to monkeys and this seems especially true in no-limit games. The added action means bigger swings in your stack, but the money making potential is greater than online where players seem more serious especially when their money is counted out neatly as dollars and cents.

I found myself in Phoenix this past weekend for a wedding and any pre-trip planning to a new city includes a casino search. It turns out that the natives of this land own a little patch of country in Scottsdale that doesn't look like it would yield a bushel of broccoli. Desert everywhere and this big circus tent in the middle welcoming me in.

Every state has its quirky laws. In Florida, you cannot bet more than $2 in a game of poker. It turns every contest into 7 card showdown. I don't even bother anymore. In Arizona, you cannot bet more than $150 on a hand. So although you cannot play no-limit, they spread a game 5-150 with the blind at $3-5. It was an interesting concept and certainly a better alternative to playing $4-8.

Without yet knowing the blinds I bought in for $200 and folded my hands to watch the action around me. The $3-5 blinds I would later learn made my buy-in a bit light. It clearly revealed itself to be typical casino play. Guys leading out under the gun with second pair or top pair and weak kicker. With the board AKJ84, I saw a guy make it three bets on the river and the winning hand was a pair of aces with a 9 kicker. Glorious.

Two buddies were at opposite sides of the table. Neither was all that good, but I lost a big hand to each of them pretty early. First I found myself with KK in mid position and I put in the standard raise to $15. The guy on the end raised it to $50. I knew he didn't have aces, but I couldn't decide how to play it. Since he only had about $75 left in front of him, I figured that he might fold to my re-raise, but he was very probably play all-in after the flop if I feigned weakness. I decided to smooth call and the flop came QJx. I checked and he bet a weak $20 that screamed set, but I figured the pot was too big to fool around. If he had AK, AQ, AJ or AT, then I was giving him a free card by not coming over the top. Likewise if he had an underpair. I pushed all-in and he said, "I guess you got me" and turned over a set of jacks. One strong play and he convinced himself that I had QQ. The other buddy was to my right and we were both on the blinds when the flop came KJ9. I had J6 and called his $5 bet on the flop and turn, figuring I was probably ahead. A 6 hit the river and I re-raised him, he raised me and turned over K6. Rats!

I was down as much as $250 on the day, but I won a couple of little pots with good reads and re-raises. My stack was sitting at around $200 and I decided to call $5 with KQo. The button raised to $20 and I called behind another guy. The flop was Q high and normally I would have bet out, but one trend of the table was that guys would always continutation bet whether they hit or not, and I didn't want to decide whether to call a raise out of position. I checked and the preflop raiser bet $30. The other guy folded and I called. The turn brought a K. I checked again and the button bet $50. The pot was big enough now that I was ready to take it down and shoved in my remaining chips with top two pair. The button called with AA and I hit the fullhouse on the river just to rub in the salt. He was so steamed that he tilted the rest of his chips in five minutes and walked.

I won another big pot when I called 88 to a raise and although I missed the flop (AQ9), the guy who raised was maybe scared of the A and checked too. My set came on the turn and I again decided to check to see if he would bet. To my surprise, he threw out $80, which was bigger than the pot. Did he have AQ on a slowplay, or did he have KK and wanted to take it down with a too large bet? I raised him to $160 to see if he would come back again, but he simply called. The river was a blank and he folded to my $150 bet. He must have had KK, and feared the re-raise on the flop. I'm not sure why he called the $80 raise on the turn unless he was playing for another K.

One thing that really intrigued me about the table was that a lot of paired flops were hitting and no one ever gave anyone credit for trips. It gave two-gapped low cards a lot more value than normal. I found TJ in the big blind and flopped three tens slowplayed to a fullhouse on the turn and quads on the river. Finally, a guy that picked up a fullboat on the river made a bet and I decided to make a large re-raise just in case he had top full house, but he folded.

A married older couple at the other end of the table was building two pretty good stacks against the mediocrity. Neither had any deception in their game, but in this situation all you needed to do to win money was bet and raise your hands for value. I think that they saw me lose money early and show down hands like T8o convinced them that I was as weak as the others at the table. I once split a pot with the wife when we had identical 43 hands. Mine was suspect because I played it under the gun while hers made more sense with all of the limpers. It was just the kind of advertising that made me money later. When my preflop raise with JJ floped a T high board, I made a $100 from the husband by the river because he had KT. When I raised preflop with AA, he also paid me all the way down with second pair.

The wife took a pretty tough hit when a new wild man to my right raised one off the buttonn with 76o. The wife called with 55 and flopped a set, while the maniac flopped a straight draw and made it on the turn. She played it a little slow putting him on an overpair, and he doubled his stack like that. Ironically, I also held 76 that hand and cursed my bad luck at folding the nuts. The wife and the husband together despite a couple of rough knocks still made $1000 between them.

When that maniac with the 76 left a new one took his palce. He raised every hand he entered which was something like 75%. With him to my right it was just a matter of picking up a good enough hand to play back at him. Finally I found AK, and raised his $15 to $50. He called. I flopped both pairs but also three spades. He checked and my $100 push in ended the contest. He said he would have called with any Spade in his hand. Had I played something like AQ with the Q of spades he would have been in a world of hurt. The play I made ran him from the table soon after. It was obvious that he sits down with these tourists and takes advatange of their timid play and didn't like that he wound up with someone like me to his left.

Trish had spent the afternnon eating lunch with the soon-to-be bride and some other friends and I had call my poker day early to get back in time for the rehearsal dinner. In 3 1/2 hours, I pocketed $627 depite being down $250 early on. It only strengthened my resolve that I'm a better casino player than online player. I lamented a week or so ago that the worst thing about busting out on the bubble isn't the lost money but the lost time, because I feel like I have so many other things I want to do. My quick win in Phoenix allowed me to read two books while away and enjoy other festivities such as seeing Frank Lloyd Wright's Talesin West.