What a bad night at the Trop

It's been months since I sat down at a poker table in Atlantic City. Not like one or two months, probably something in the six to nine months range.

I've been waiting for a few things to come together, namely paying off my credit card bill. Well, I'm officially out of debt and I didn't waste of second to get back to playing poker.

I probably should have waited.

I'm not one to bore people with hand-by-hand analysis. I don't normally read other posts about the same sort of thing, but I lost $400 last night at the Tropicana.

Ouch is right. That was how I felt driving back home after that bath.

First hand I went broke with, I raised black Kings to $15 under the gun in a $1/$2 no limit game. The guy to my immediate left calls and so do three other behind him. The flop comes down queen high, all clubs.

I can't remember the exact breakdown of the flop bet, but my chips went all-in on the turn when a red card peeled off. I was the aggressor the whole way. One guy was all-in for $47 on the flop.

When I moved all-in on the turn against the guy to my left, I knew he didn't have the flush or the ace-high draw. He took too long to call me, which he did. He turned over red aces.

The river didn't help and I lost my first buy-in.

The second hand I chose to go broke with was with another draw. I played it wrong two ways. The first mistake was not raising the initial bettor pre-flop. From under the gun, he made it $7. I looked down to AQ clubs and just call. It was a terrible call, but it happened because I hate AQ. It's my least favorite hand to play and I let that get the better of me.

There were a few other callers. The flop with A-4-7 with two diamonds and one club. It gets checked to me and I bet, two people call, including the initial bettor.

Turn: 2 clubs

Now, I have top pair with the nut flush draw. It's checked to me, I bet $35. Folds to the initial raiser and he min-raise me to $70.

I have $110 in front of me. The right play (now that I think about it) should have calling the $35 and getting a peek at the river for cheap. Instead, I push all-in for my last bit of money.

He calls the $110 because he has a monster stack behind him.

He turns over 3-5 of diamonds. He turned a straight.

He raised 3-5 of diamonds from under the gun to start the hand. I never put him on that.

River didn't help and there went the rest of my money.

I was too aggressive. My play seemed more suited for tournament poker than a cash game. But as I get to play more, I will remember some of these lessons.

By the way, the bad beat was up to 101K at the Tropicana.

Lessons of the night:
1. Play your hand and don't be scared of AQ.
2. Dont' go broke on a draw
3. There is no folding equity in $1-$2 NL
4. Tropicana ain't what it used to be.