FARGO 2017 - Trip Report - Jhiym

Thursday:

Packed and picked up my mom and headed to Fargo. Left around 9:30am and got there around 4pm. Minimal traffic and no jersey devil to be found along the way. Checked in to the new Earth Tower atthe Mohegan Sun. Slightly smaller than the Sky Tower, but more modern and cheaper. Had dinner with mom at Bobby’s Burger Palace and then she went off to play slots and I headed to the Fossilman Heads-up Invitation tournament.

This year, we had 4 groups of 7 players, with each group winner advancing to the final 4. I drew Uncle Al, Aardvark (Tom Hummel), Omaholic (Rich Bremer) and Big Mike as well as two people I didn't know. Piece of Cake! I went 1-2, losing to Aardvark and then Big Mike before beating someone I didn't know. By then someone was already 5-0 in our group so there was no need to go any further.

I chatted with Katie Baxter for a while, while she was playing Greg Raymer in a heads up match. Greg went all-in and Katie called. Greg flipped over pocket 8’s and said, "this is my favorite hand", it’s the one he won the 2014 WSOP with. Katie flipped over Queens. Greg then hit an 8 on the river to beat Katie.

Went on to play some slots for a while but they were not winning so on to bed.

Friday:

Mom and I went to the buffet for breakfast, then off she went to play slots and I headed to the poker room for the Pairs tournament. My best finish was a two years ago when Cactus Kev and I cashed in 6th place. My partner this year was Dean the Dream, he played Hold’em and I played Omaha. I get to go first with Omaha and am feeling really confident, waiting for other players to arrive.

Then Uncle Al sits down to my left. Awesome! He’s a good Omaha player. Then to my right, Greg Raymer. Cue the fat lady! I proceed to get good drawing hands that never draw any help, round after round losing chips which Dean tries to build back a bit. As a hand ends, Greg tells me I should just fold the next hand because he’s going to have the nuts. I have nothing and fold. He bets and gets some callers, eventually someone has a better hand and he loses and calls the winner a rat bastard. :)

A round or two later and Greg finishes his plastic bottle of water and wants to make a prop bet that he can throw the bottle from his seat into the trash can that's over two poker tables and about 15 feet way. I say "I’ll give you a bonus if you bounce it off Kuznick's head", who is sitting at the table near the trash can. David Kuznick just stares at us for a while wondering what's about to happen. I know how you feel David, I get that feeling with a straw wrapper aimed at me all the time. In the end Greg just walks over and throws it a way, but it was fun.

A few rounds later I come back to switch with Dean and we are suddenly down to about 400 chips as Dean had Kings that lost to Aces. I get A346 with a Suited Ace and raise to make us all-in. We get two low cards on the flop but none after that and we are out nowhere near the bubble.

Friday Night, I play in the Mohegan Sun $100 bounty tournament. There are a few ARGers at my table including Dean and Crunch. It's fun but I am not really winning too many hands. Eventually I get moved to another table and see a guy lose an all-in and he goes to re-enter. While he’s away the rest of the table says, yeah he’s a bank for the rest of us, he plays any hand and won’t fold. He ends up back at our table after re-entering. I look down and have KK. A few folds to me and I bet and he calls as well as one other. Flop comes out all low rags. I bet, he raises, and I go all in and he calls. Then he shows Aces and I am out. Busted by the Bank!

Saturday:

The whole gang meets at the buffet for our group breakfast. Tracy and Rick Becker sit with me and my Mom and make her feel really welcome. After breakfast she heads off to slots and I go with everyone else to the poker room for the NLHE event.

Another easy table draw, David Klutchman to my right and Meredith to my left. Today I am getting really bad cards, 29 offsuit, 26 offsuit, and not much better. I tell Meredith that my strategy is to just fold every single hand and limp into the money from the start. Yes Jhiym, not far from how I play anyway! The bad hands keep coming so people start to believe that’s really my strategy and start to estimate the odds and such. Whatever, just give me a hand that the cards add up to more than 11. I finally win a hand when I am the BB and the SB folds to me and I get a walk. I should have taken a picture as that is the only hand I would win in the tournament. Eventually I get busted by the same guy who gave me the walk. I spent the rest of the day playing slots with my mom, neither one of us winning much.

Sunday:

This is the tournament I have been waiting for, HORSE-DUGI. And we have a decent turn out for a Sunday event too. This is HORSE, but when you get to Razz it’s a split pot between Razz and Badugi. I just focus on the Razz. I am in seat 1 and have two new Argers to my left, then Uncle Al, Tracy Becker, Jessica Kuznick, Bugsy, and some others. I am focused and only playing stronger hands in the stud games with 3 starting cards to a flush and/or straight, hidden pairs etc. The guy to my left is getting some good cards, but when we get to 7th street I have a flush, then a straight, then a set. My chips start to stack up quick and he starts to tilt. “Un f’in believable, he has the nuts every hand, WTF!” His girlfriend comes by and he starts to moan to her about all the hands I am getting lucky with to beat his single pair. We get to Hold’em and I am in a big hand with someone and they eventually fold, so he says to his girlfriend, watch what he has. So I just muck and he gets all mad because I didn’t show so his girlfriend could see my cards. Whatever buddy. We get back to Omaha and I have A38T with the 8 and ten being diamonds. Kenny Shea bets and I call everyone else folds. The flop gives me the wheel and the turn a ten high flush. Kenny and I keep betting until he is eventually all in on the river and I knock him out. Whiny guy is then gone, then Tracy and soon we are down to 2 tables with 8 places paying. I am feeling good.

Uncle AL and I end up moving to a new table that already has Telford, Ashly Adams, Rich Bremer, David Klutchman and some other big stacks. I ended up in a four way hand in Stud8 and all-in with Klutchman, Rich, and Telford. I have 2 pair and 4 to a low on 5th street. Rich wins with a flush and I never get a low so I am out in 12th place. Only top eight get paid. Oh well, so close!

I have some dinner with Mom and then I decide to play one more tournament, the Mohegan Sun Sunday night 5pm Superstack with the locals. We have over 70 players. I get some good hands and start to grow my stack. Started with 20k. I keep getting low pairs that turn into sets and some high pairs that also turn into sets. At least 8-10 times, I had 3 of a kind. They hold up every time, sometimes with people folding, twice doubling me up and twice knocking out smaller stacks.

This tournament also pays the top eight spots. I am determined to be in the money so I get extra focused and play some good hands and keep building my stack. Eventually we are down to the final table. We get to 9 players pretty quick and then we all decide to chip in $10 for a bubble save so at least the last nine all get something.

There is a really pretty girl at the final table. She looks like Marisa Tomei from My Cousin Vinnie. She agrees to the $10 bubble save but has no money so she sends a voice text to her guy friend who is playing slots that she needs ten from him right now. Somehow the voice translator sends a text that says I need sex from you right now to which he showed up pretty quick. Then she explains it was a typo. We get to 8 players and someone mentions a chop, but some say no, so we keep playing. The pretty girl is the short stack and wants to chop and tells us she was once in a tournament with 5 guys and they all agreed to chop and they let her have 1st place money and they split the rest. Some old guy at the table loudly says, "that’s not happening tonight toots!” so we play on. I would have given her 1st place money. A few hands later she is gone and out in 8th place. By now we are at level 18 and there’s a 3k ante with 10k/20k blinds. One guy has more chips than the rest of us put together so we are just trying to outlast each other for second, basically. A couple more go out and then I end up out when my KT suited loses to an AT suited, I finished 5th and took home $559 just after midnight.

Monday:

We check out and drive home. We stop at the rest stop in Delaware near Delaware Park and I finally get an EZ pass. Yes, after going both ways through about $30 of tolls each way I then get the EZ pass, but I’ll have it for next time.