Borgata's New Poker Room Grand Opening Trip Report

I heard that The Borgata's new Poker Room was opening yesterday so I decided I wanted to see it for myself. After unsuccessfully attempting to recruit Bill and Dominick to accompany me on this trip I realize that I would have to go it alone.

I leave from work at the stroke of 3:00pm to begin my adventure and encounter some resistance from the Grand Central Parkway's Friday Holiday traffic. It was manageable so I arrrived at The Borgata at 5:00pm.

The new room is awesome. It has 85 tables and is now the largest Poker Room in AC. As I start walking through and taking in the sites I see a charity Poker tournament in progress with Charles Barkley playing at one of the 3 tables. This section has a grandstand for spectator seating so I take a seat and watch the action. After about 2 minutes I grow bored and walk over to watch a few hands of the 550 man $275 tournament that has been in progress since 11:30am. First prize is about 38K. Again after about 2 minutes I'm bored. It's time to play.

I put my name on the 1/2 list and go to the new food court and have a burger at Fatbuger. It was absolutely great, I highly recommend The Kingburger. After a wait of about an hour due to a system malfunction and the general confusion that I attribute to it being the new room's first night, I grab a seat at a new game. Generally I like to sit at a table that is just being opened, where all the stacks are equal and no one has any reads. This time it works to my disadvantage somewhat and I find myself down almost $200 within the first 2 hours. I attribute my deficit to general bad play where I have a semi-strong hands yet fail to lay them down.
1. I lose with trip 8's to a full house
2. I lose with a 9 high flush to a straight flush (ouch!!)
2. I lose a busted nut flush draw

It is somewhat debatable if I should have folded the first 2 hands on the river, but I always find hands better than 2 pair hard to fold.

Now before anyone gets ready to criticize my skills I am letting you know I finished up for the session. I ended up stacking 2 small stacks for my profit, but was unable to win the pot when I went all-in on two occasions.

In one hand I am dealt 10 J off-suit in late position. I call and get about four callers. I have over $300 behind

flop
7c 8d 9c

ep1 bets 12
fold
fold
ep2 raises to 30
I re-raise to 100
ep1 folds
ep2 calls

turn
7c 8d 9c Qh

ep2 checks
I' push all-in
ep2 calls for his remaining stacks

about $550 in the pot

river
7c 8d 9c Qh 10d

he turns over Jc4c to split the pot.
The table goes nuts and I congratulate him on his hand.

In the other hand I get AA in EP

I raise to 12
1 call
lp re-raises to 35
I 3bet to 100
1 fold
she pushes all-in
after I call I said "You got rockets" she smiles, give me a high five and shows me AA

Even though I only came out with a small profit for the night it was a good session for me and I look forward to going back. Stay tuned for a possible part 2 during this Holiday weekend. As always comments and questions are welcome.