Angle Shooting at the Trop in AC

"Angle Shooting", for the non-poker player, means to bend the rules (or slightly break them) for the purposes of winning a hand. Maybe you complain a player mucked their hand without showing the winner, maybe you claim someone's hand full of chips came out past the line and they didn't bet, maybe you whine about a string bet. In any case, you're not playing your cards, you're tweaking the rules. In general, I hate angle shooting.

Unless I'm doing it.

Nah, I didn't do it at the tables, I did it to get in some table time in AC. My boss knows the phrase, and he may even read this, so have a sense of humor Danny!

Turns out I had a customer to see in King-of-Prussia PA and then had to fly to Tokyo the next day, so I thought AC was a very convenient place to stay. After all, it is only a 53 mile drive to the Philly airport. And my flight was at 730AM, so it was perfect.

I decided to stay at the Trop. I remembered from my last visit they had a good non-smoking card room with lots of games spread. After a few hours of in-room conference calls, I hit the tables.

AC is so different from Vegas and Cali. In Cali card rooms, Asian players outnumber everyone else by a factor of 2-1 easily. Regularly for me, English is not the spoken language at the table. There's also very few women. In Vegas you see more of a mix but with tons of tourists playing. AC is all about the regulars.

My first game was $1-5 Stud. The game was just kicking off (I was the magic number person to get the game going) and I was probably the only non-regular at the table. I was also the youngest by 25-30 years (and I'm damn near FOURTY TWO) and the only one not named Saul, Morty or Joey. It was a kick- like an Elk's lodge game but in a casino. And 3 of the 8 players were women.

Very soft game, any raise of the full amount ($5) generally resulted in the speed of folding seen only in dry cleaners. I just couldn't bring myself to do it though. We were all having a good time, me and Morty and Saul talking about the old days and where did all the good music go and damn these kids today. I couldn't blow them off a hand, that would be mean.

So what if I lost a few bucks (like a whopping $20); I still had my integrity. I can still count on a few good shots at shuffleboard some day coming my way by the old-timer karmic express.

I was not so kind in the $4-8 hold'em game I got into after dinner. Sure I still had some mid-timer competition, including my buddies from Philly, Judi and Mary (50-something gals in on their regular weekly pilgrimage to AC.) My favorites were the mid-timer dudes across the table, one of whom liked to stare me down over $8 bets.

In one hand I had jolly-jack-fuck other than the Ace of clubs (maybe a 9 kicker, on the button). I was getting tired of him raising all the time so I re-jacked him before the flop (did I mention I was also a tad bored?). Don't remember what the flop was, but it wasn't particularly good for me. It did have two clubs. He bet, I called. I'd seen him bet with A-4, A-5 etc. with only Ace high several times already.

Now I know if a club falls I am bluffing at this pot. It is the only way.

Turn's some other card. He bets, I call (feeling slightly donkeyish).

River's a semi-magical club. He bets, I raise. He starts to stare me down. He continues. I give him a goofball smile, he looks away, waits another 30 seconds and...

...mucks. Domo ariagato(, mr. roboto.)

I debate showing my hand, maybe just the Ace of clubs, but I figure a guy like this can twist himself up better than I can so I just slide my cards into the muck as well. I just love a well executed bluff against a dickwad.

I chatted up my new friends from Philly for a while then headed out to try to get a little exercise and a nap before my flight to Narita. Managed the exercise, not so much sleep.

You see, my hotel's not that close to the airport and I had to get up a little early :-).

[P.S. I did try to find a game in Tokyo, but had to make do playing on PokerStars in the Admiral's club...]