I like to think I'm pretty aware of how the scumbag regs in a casino will try to angle me out of my money if given the opportunity and I haven't felt taken advantage of in a long time. I don't muck until I see the winner no matter what my opponent announces. I don't act out of turn even when my opponent tells me it's on me until they affirm that they've checked. Etc., etc., etc. But this week I got a new one pulled on me and while it wasn't particularly graceful, it was effective and it cost me $30.
I was playing at Borgata Thursday night and unbeknownst to me prior to my arrival, they have been running a high hand promotion in which $250 is given away to the high hand in 15-minute intervals. I love the idea of the bonus money going out in a flatter payout structure than with the BBJ, but hate the effect this has on the games which is that people play much, much tighter and pretty much try to grind out their high hand equity rather than just playing fucking poker. Had I known it was running I probably wouldn't have gone, but I was there so what the hell.
I sat down at $1/2 NLHE and figured out that I was going to have to play some hands in weird ways to get paid off, but also that I was going to be able to pretty easily take lots of pots away post-flop. It was going well enough for me and about an hour into the session a reg that I recognized from $2/5 sat down. It became apparent pretty quickly he was playing a very similar game to mine, so I knew we'd get into it sooner or later. This hand occurred a half hour after he sat.
I raised to $10 UTG+1 with two red tens. I got 3 callers including our friend who called in the BB.
Flop ($40): 238dd
Checks to me and I bet $20. BB calls.
Turn ($80): Jo
BB checks, I bet $40 and he calls.
River ($160): Qo
BB grabs a stack starts cutting chips over the line. He cuts out three stacks of $30 and as soon as he releases the last stack I slide a stack of red in to call. Simultaneously with my call he puts his hand back on the last stack of red he had cut out and pulls it back behind the line and says, "You got it."
I say, "You know you're going to have to put that last $30 back out there," and he just says, "What?" and starts squaring up his chips including the stack he had just pulled out after my call. I look at the dealer who naturally is as useful as a blow up doll in adjudicating the dispute. I ask the guy - who I have played with many times and who I know knows me - if he is going to put the $30 back in or if we have to call the floor. He says he doesn't know what I'm talking about.
I call the floor and unluckily for me it's one of the worst floors in the place. I explain and he asks BB if that's true. BB denies (natch). Floor asks dealer. Dealer didn't see (natch). Floor asks players at our end (BB was in seat 1; I was in seat 3). UTG says that he saw and that BB had released and pulled the money back. Not good enough evidently because the floor says he has to go to video.
He comes back half an hour later and pulls me and BB aside and says the only camera that caught it was positioned essentially directly above the table and it was clear that BB had raised his hand, but that it was unclear how far he had raised his hand when I slid my stack in for the call. He offers me $30 comp dollars and I counter with $60 (they spend 2 for 1 at a lot of places at Borg) and he says okay. My honest guess is that he saw the guy's hand come up, but that the guy puts in 60+ hours a week and didn't want to rule against him and so wanted to give me something since he knew I was getting fucked.
In any case, that's a long way of saying I've learned a new lesson to let a guy's hand come all the way back to his balls before calling a bet. My normal tendency is to try to move the game along as quickly as possible, but obviously literally 2 or 3 more seconds isn't going to hurt anyone.
Anyone else have any stories of getting angled or seeing a good/bad angle run?
I was playing at Borgata Thursday night and unbeknownst to me prior to my arrival, they have been running a high hand promotion in which $250 is given away to the high hand in 15-minute intervals. I love the idea of the bonus money going out in a flatter payout structure than with the BBJ, but hate the effect this has on the games which is that people play much, much tighter and pretty much try to grind out their high hand equity rather than just playing fucking poker. Had I known it was running I probably wouldn't have gone, but I was there so what the hell.
I sat down at $1/2 NLHE and figured out that I was going to have to play some hands in weird ways to get paid off, but also that I was going to be able to pretty easily take lots of pots away post-flop. It was going well enough for me and about an hour into the session a reg that I recognized from $2/5 sat down. It became apparent pretty quickly he was playing a very similar game to mine, so I knew we'd get into it sooner or later. This hand occurred a half hour after he sat.
I raised to $10 UTG+1 with two red tens. I got 3 callers including our friend who called in the BB.
Flop ($40): 238dd
Checks to me and I bet $20. BB calls.
Turn ($80): Jo
BB checks, I bet $40 and he calls.
River ($160): Qo
BB grabs a stack starts cutting chips over the line. He cuts out three stacks of $30 and as soon as he releases the last stack I slide a stack of red in to call. Simultaneously with my call he puts his hand back on the last stack of red he had cut out and pulls it back behind the line and says, "You got it."
I say, "You know you're going to have to put that last $30 back out there," and he just says, "What?" and starts squaring up his chips including the stack he had just pulled out after my call. I look at the dealer who naturally is as useful as a blow up doll in adjudicating the dispute. I ask the guy - who I have played with many times and who I know knows me - if he is going to put the $30 back in or if we have to call the floor. He says he doesn't know what I'm talking about.
I call the floor and unluckily for me it's one of the worst floors in the place. I explain and he asks BB if that's true. BB denies (natch). Floor asks dealer. Dealer didn't see (natch). Floor asks players at our end (BB was in seat 1; I was in seat 3). UTG says that he saw and that BB had released and pulled the money back. Not good enough evidently because the floor says he has to go to video.
He comes back half an hour later and pulls me and BB aside and says the only camera that caught it was positioned essentially directly above the table and it was clear that BB had raised his hand, but that it was unclear how far he had raised his hand when I slid my stack in for the call. He offers me $30 comp dollars and I counter with $60 (they spend 2 for 1 at a lot of places at Borg) and he says okay. My honest guess is that he saw the guy's hand come up, but that the guy puts in 60+ hours a week and didn't want to rule against him and so wanted to give me something since he knew I was getting fucked.
In any case, that's a long way of saying I've learned a new lesson to let a guy's hand come all the way back to his balls before calling a bet. My normal tendency is to try to move the game along as quickly as possible, but obviously literally 2 or 3 more seconds isn't going to hurt anyone.
Anyone else have any stories of getting angled or seeing a good/bad angle run?
