Borgata's Professionalism

So I started working the Borgata Winter Poker Open on the 15th, and I am super pleased with how things are going so far. I know my standards are low because most of the A.C. rooms (that I have dealt/played in) haven't been run all that well, but Borgata does things at such a high level. To start off they have an amazingly large and visually pleasing tournament room. The staff seems like a family and they welcome you into their family as soon as you walk in, it is very comforting. Also, the dealers are just 10x better skill wise than the dealers at the WSOP Circuit event at Harrah's. There are still a few sore spots, but for the most part all the dealers are more than competent.

Since there are so few things to complain about as a staff member and a player the atmosphere is much more relaxed and upbeat at this tournament. The players always seem to be in a good mood regardless of winning or losing. This makes my job so much more fun and the time just flies.

A Few Fun Hands

I work the 11pm to close shift. So as soon as I come in we deal a $80+$20 super sat to a $500 sat to the WPT Main Event. Most of the people busted out of the first 2 tournaments of the day, but are still in a good mood. The starting stacks and the structure is pretty good for a super in my opinion. You start with 10K in chips, blinds start at 25-50 and the levels are 15mins (probably the only sore spot of this tourney).

Everything was going smoothly and then this crazy hand came up. 5 people shoved all in pre-flop the hands were: 99,JJ,AK,AK,Q Q, and the flop comes 9JQ! How sick of a flop is that? Turn and river are two blanks and the AK takes down the whole pot. He ended up coming back and playing the super sat again today so I assume he didn't cash.

This hand was the very next hand. 4 people all in pre-flop: 99,AA, JJ,QQ. The flop came down 9 high and the person with the set of nines takes down the whole pot. I had side pots everywhere all day in this tourney but it was a super fun time.

Can I Stay Please?

Since the Showboat is not bringing me and the other person who got the "on-call" position there quite yet (word is they are waiting until they open their new room) I had to choose the 11pm-Sunrise shift to make sure that I didn't have any conflicts. Little did I know that I wouldn't work more than 4 hours in my first two nights because it gets so slow. If I could go back to the time I scheduled I would be taking the 6:30 shift. They seem to work the most. It's all good though, I am getting a ton of experience in a very well run room. I have learned more and picked up on more in these two days than I did in the whole WSOP Circuit. I guess I won't be making much money, but hopefully I can learn a lot and make a few connections.

Meet and Greet

I met my first person from the interwebs on the first night of the tournament. I was about 3am when I was signing out to leave and an Asian kid looks at me and goes, "Tworags?" I was like, "Yea..." and he says hey what's up I am Foxypham. He was a really cool kid, he lives in the area and stuff and it was really cool to meet him. I was a little uncertain about meeting people from the site because it just seems weird to me, but Foxypham was a real cool kid and I hope to see him again at some point during the tournament.

Alright, it is like 4am now and I am tired so I am going to get some sleep but I hope to post a daily if not every other day about some pro's that I have seen or some crazy hands that came up. Only other update I have is Hevad Kahn was at the first event railing one of his buddies who won a pot and either him or his buddy screamed, "BULLLLDOOOOZERRR" loud enough for the entire room to hear. It was pretty funny. Hope to see some of the other tworags.com guys and hope you guys do well in the tourneys, good luck at the tables.

Unfortunately, I have nothing to really update in this entry. I came back to A.C. after New Years and I just sit at home all day. I went to the Showboat to see if my paperwork is ready yet and it is still not. They are clearly having some issues with the department that takes care of these things. One of the guys I talked to said it could be because they locked that position up since I already got the job and they aren't hiring for it anymore. I don't know anymore. Basically, I am working the 11pm-Sunrise shift at the Borgata Winter Poker Open and whenever things get cleared up I should be working somewhere during the day--I assume at the Showboat. For now I just get to play a lot of hands of poker.

Check in with you guys soon.