Resorts Trumps Majestic II

... or at least I assume it does. I haven't been back since the weekend before I went to Austin, because a reliable source told me that they let go 90% of their poker dealers (we knew the layoff was coming - just not how severe it was going to be), and not only did they keep the less talented dealers, they didn't keep ENOUGH dealers to spread games.

So, I knocked off work a little early last week, as I know resorts only has 16 or so tables compared to the 21 that Magestic Star II/Trump has and they only run 3 tables total of no-limit; thus you need to get there early or you're going to wait some time for a seat. I got there around 4 pm or so, and there was still quite a wait for a 5/10 seat, not to mention a NL seat. I sat down at the 5/10 game for an hour or so, and did pretty well. I guess Otis is right - I do have a scary image sitting at the felt: I was dealt AQ in late position, there was a raise, and then a tight-ish player reraised, there was a call and I called instead of capping it.

The flop came down Q high, the original raiser checks, the three-better bets, there's a call, I raise, the original raiser drops, the three better reraises me, the middle guy drops, and I call.

Turn is a blank, flop is still q high, the better bets, I raise, and he calls. River is another baby card, and it's checked to me and I bet and get called. I flip my cards over, and the other guy turns over cowboys, and says, "Man you really had me worried, I really thought you had a set!" Puhleeeeze. If I had a set or KK I'd be getting every bet in there I could!

The NL game at Resorts is a crazy structure: $200 min / $500 max with $5/$10 blinds. Yes, the blinds are way out of proportion to the buy-in, but if you could take Party Poker or Full Tilt and put it in a live game, this would be it. There are people raising and calling with TPGK, and all sorts of crazy things going on - the only issue is that raises are often $55 preflop, and there is not a lot of limping. BUT, if you can beat TPTK, you are going to get paid off - I even got paid $200 when I flopped quad kings! and I didn't slow play them preflop either, and had someone at the table saying "she's got quad kings man", as a joke.

So, this whole trump situation may be a good thing, as the game at Resorts is more aggressive and will force me to play a much better game than I'm used to - to be more aggressive in position, etc.