One day I'll get used to the swings. Right now, I am on a huge down swing. My pride in having brought my BR to over $200 is long gone. And I've whined about this a lot, many times on this forum; why am I doing it again? Because in the past when I've done it my down swing ends. Hopefully that tradition will continue.Ok, let's get to the huge news from this week, MY FIRST CASINO VISIT!!!!!!This past Saturday I hopped on a casino tour bus to head to the Grand Casino Coushatta in Kinder, Louisiana. On the way to the casino I tried to sleep, however I was way too excited. Once I got there I got my "casino card" and made my way to the poker room. I had about $330 in my pocket, and I got $160 in chips. I then made my way to the 3-6-12 Hold'Em table that was just setting up. Most of the players in the room were involved in a tournament, so the cash games were a little bare. However, my table filled up nicely pretty quick. I got a coke and started to play...and fold...a lot. At one point I realized that my hands really were shaking when I put out my bets. To calm my nerves I ordered two beers (I normally would never drink when I play). After the two beers I went back to soda. The first thing I noticed was the truth about how loose these games are. I saw three people go through over $100 pretty damn quick. I couldn't believe what cards they were playing. The other thing I noticed, as opposed to online play, is that even when I got "good" cards, they weren't that good. I got A,K twice (and never caught crap on the board) and I got QQ once (and got beat by a guy with K,5). No, my first win at a live table would come with 9,9. I won a small pot off of a sweet elderly lady (and calling station) who stayed in with 5,5. The big hand for me this day would be J,9. On one hand with that I got 7,8,x on the flop and a 10 on the turn. I got the bets going up high on the river (I like the $12 bet option on the river) and ended up going heads-up with the man next to me who had the bottom end of the straight. The second time I got J,9, I got two 9's on the flop. What did I do? I did exactly what most people say not to do, I slow played it. Checked around to one guy who bet and I called. When the river came with a J I had fireworks going off in my head. The only thing that worried me was someone with A,9 since there was an Ace on the board. If it wasn't for that ace I would've raised the final bet up to $36 instead of the $24 it was at. I flipped my cards over and brought in what was close to a $100 pot. At this point the sweet, elderly calling station informed the table that she was going back to her slots. Through the entire day I made only one major mistake as far as casino ettiquite. I had 8,Q and the flop came 5,5,x. I had crap. Two guys bet on the other end of the table and I had thought that it was my turn. The guy next to me had his cards covered with his hands and having been distracted pre-flop I thought he had folded. So, I reached out and laid out a raise (seeing if I could bluff). The dealer then informed me that it was not yet my turn; I was mortified. 3 hours of being a great casino player and now I made a mistake. I apologized to the gentleman to my right, he said it was no biggie and folded. I then laid out my bluff raise. The gentleman to my left called, and the two guys on the other end folded quickly, one of whom commented, "Boy, that's a tell if I ever saw one." The turn came and I quickly bet $6. The man next to me folded and I bluffed my pot. I bought in with $160 and then cashed out for about $327. All and all a very successful casino visit. And I plan on going back in a couple of weeks. It was an interesting ride back to Houston, looking at the faces of the people who lost their money on slots, Blackjack, Roulette and Craps. My only moment of bragging came when the man across the ailse from me was lamenting his losses and turned to me to ask, "So, did YOU punish the casino?" I replied, "No, I punished other people; I played poker." Now if I can just get my online game back together.Before I close this out I want to send a huge THANK YOU to all the people on the Live Play boards who kept my head on straight and let me know what to expect. I also want to send a personal thank you to "JimmyJohn" who I got to meet at Coushatta on Saturday. Thanks for all your help man, it was great meeting you.
