Bankers Casino and Gambling With Collin

It wouldn't be a trip to visit Collin without some casino poker and home gamble gamble. First we went to the Bankers Casino in Salinas. I enjoy checking out new card rooms and it is a nice small place. The floor staff, dealers, and patrons were very welcoming and we had a nice time.

The first thing I noticed is that they play with $2 chips. I absolutely hate that and thought that the dreaded Turlock Poker Room was the only room left that was stupid enough to use them. Wrong. Besides that, it is a very nice room. They had aces cracked running, royal flush boxes, mini bad beat, as well as the standard lose with quads bad beat jackpot. There was a surprising 3 games going at 1PM in the middle of the day and it wasn't all a bunch of old nits. There were 2- $1/2NLH and 1- $2/5NLH tables running.

We sit down at a $1/2 NL Holdem table and after the first few hands I pick up 77 utg. It was a super passive game with a few stations that gave a lot of action. No foldem holdem is good news to us. I raise to $8 and we get 5 callers including Collin right next to me in the BB. The flop ($40) comes 764dd and I'm loving life. If they have the 58 or 53, sucks to suck but I'm not folding on that wet of a board. It checks to Collin and he leads $20 into me. I like to give Collin the hint right away so we don't go to war against each other. I also definitely need to protect my hand on that wet of a board. There are too many draws out there and lots of cards can kill my hand and action. I raises Collin to $75. It folds back to him and he Jams all in for $230 ish. Really Collin? Really? I guess he is out for blood on me right away. He definitely could have just smooth called and we didn't need to play a gigantic pot right against each other.

I know he is never jamming with the nuts right there so I of course snap call. It was kind of a cooler flop and neither of us should really be folding. He turns over 89 of diamonds. Were playing a 60/40% for $460 and one of us is going to be felted. Miraculously I hold and stack Collin. Sorry bro...

After that he rebuyed and we ordered some food. The menu looked great, it was a combination of Mexican and American food. I got a Margarita with Silver Tequila and 2 asada tacos with beans and rice. Collin bought a coke and burger and fries. They were quick to take our order but really slow. We didn't our drinks for over 45 minutes and then the food came out after an hour. I don't know what happened but it was super tilting as we didn't really eat breakfast. Collin bought the food and we should have checked with the waitress before ordering. Usually card rooms make things the most cheap it could be but she charged us for everything. My Margarita was $14 and charged me $10 for a Silver tequila upgrade., and my taco plate was $12. She charged me a la carte instead of combined. Our bill was almost $34 and was way too much for table side service. The food was really good but after the long waiting we were not amused.

After that I a bluff gone wrong and 2 coolers killed my profit and first buy in. I was pretty card dead and then when I had something they had a better hand. I got pipped a couple of times. I had a10 and a9 in small pots and lost to a limped AJ suited both times. I could have lost way more but that's how passive the game was. Then I lost A10 to AJ on a K105AJ run out. That definitely sucked, that river be a bitchhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

The bluff gone wrong hand: I raised k10 in middle position to $10 after a limp and both blinds called and the limper called. The flop ($40) came j104hh. They checked to me and last to act I bet $20. One of the blinds called, and the limper check / raised to $50. He was very active and started 3-betting my opens pre and was caught bluffing several times. It screamed weakness and I called. The blinds guy called too. Turn was a low heart and the check raiser bet $30 into the pot of $190. I thought he was weak and went for it seeing how I could rep a flush draw easily here. I made it $110 to go and he 4 bet all in for 75 more of my bet. Clearly I ran into the nuts and had to fold. Bluff gone wrong... What you gonna do. I went with my gut but it was wrong. Sooooooo Collin profit and 1st buy gone.

I re buyed and won several small pots. The max buy is $200 and I worked it up to $325. I floated in position in some good spots, and made some top pair hands and won a bunch of small pots. I also backdoored the nut flush on a four to a straight board and overbet the river double pot and got called by K5 for only top pair. Thanks Doug Polk. Collin enjoyed that one. Yeah.... I told you the game was good... Shortly afterwards the hand of the session happened:

I felt very comfortable at the table and no one was really playing back at me. Everybody limped and I looked down at 109cc on the button. I raised it to $12 and several people called. The flop $72 came q104cc. I flopped a pair and a flush draw and I was ready to win a big pot. It checks to me and I bet $50. An older man in the small blind called. He was a station but seemed capable of bluffing in spots. The turn $172 came a 6x and he he lead $50 into me. I go into the tank and start talking out loud to the table. I say this really feels like a Blocker bet and I feel that I need to punish it. I have a ton of equity and I really don't think he is doing this with any strong hand or a queen. I feel like he would check raise the turn with those hands. If I just smooth call and he bombs the river I am in a really gross spot. We both had well over $250 and I didn't want to jam and get snap called by a monster. I say all of this out loud and say if I raise and he goes all In I guess I am still calling as I have a lot of equity. I decide to make it $100 more to go raising him to $150. He immediately goes all in and I snap call. River is another 6 and he shows j9o. I couldn't belive it but my blocker bet read was totally right. He should have folded to the $100 more especially after my speech that reeks of strength lol. I only had to fade a j, 8, or k that isn't a club and I did it. He had me covered and doubled me up. He left shortly after.

Afterwards I lost with pocket aces and was super tilted about it, but lost the absolute minimum. I raise to 12 and 2 people called. Flop $36 comes k94 rainbow. I bet 30 dollars and they both call. Turn is a 10 and I hate that card so freakin much. I didn't want to see any paint. A pretty tight conservative guy leads into me for $50 and I just folded the aces. I knew he had me. The 3rd player only had $10 left and called off. The original bettor had K10 for 2 pair and the other guy had AK. I seriously can't fade 4 outs with my aces and I was pissed. River bricked off and I was proud that I lost the absolute minimum and my read was dead on.

After that hand I won some more small pots and we had to rack up in order to go to dinner. We played 1PM-6PM and had a nice time. GUYS THE LOSING STREAK IS OVER we booked a WIN! A shot of my stack before cash out... I had about $80 more (2 more green stacks) towards the end.

Collin wanted to play some black jack and unsurprisingly that didn't go well. We had a nice dinner at Il Forniao and headed back for some Collin Jared Gamble Gamble Shenanigans. We played Pineapple OFC Poker and Collin ran like god. He had some big fantasy land hands and had a streak of 4 in a row staying in fantasy. Variance was definitely on his side. He was up 172 points or something like that. 3 am came pretty quick and we stopped and played some Omaha Flips for $5, $10, and $20. I pretty much broke even on those and the grand total (chinese and flips) for the night was Jared down $88. We had fun time and it was nice to do our routine that we haven't done in a very long time. Hopefully Collin can go to whatever my 30th Birthday trip ends up being. I'll probably play somewhere this weekend and will recap that soon. Until next time...