Atlantic City and The Eternal Question.. East Coast vs West Coast

Posted by poker kat

July 3, 2008

Today I’m blogging from NJ. I am a New Jersey native.. born and raised in South Jersey. My boyfriend moved here in High School and that’s actually when we met. His twin is marrying an elementary school friend of mine this weekend so we’re both staying with our folks.. anytime I visit my mom I have no choice but to travel the 30 minutes down the Parkway to Atlantic City.

On Tuesday night we took a red-eye out of LAX, changed plans (w/ a 3 hour layover in Ft Lauderdale) and eventually found ourselves in Atlantic City airport. Our flight was horrible and we didn’t eat or sleep. When I finally got to my mom’s house Wednesday at about 1pm.. I showered and took a 2 hour nap. I wasn’t feeling too well so I didn’t eat when I got up but I did have a cup of black coffee and drove to the casinos…

At 7pm I joined a daily deepstack tournament at Showboat. There were 80 players buying in for $65. This was a decent showing. When I was around in May there were only 40 people. With 4th of July weekend in the near future the New Yorker’s and Philadelphians are making there was here. I love playing in AC.. maybe because it feels like my home turf.. maybe because I get used to LA and Vegas style of players. I just feel like I know these guys and they can’t fool me.

This brings me to the Eternal Question of East Coast vs West Coast Players.. I’ve heard this talked about on a few podcasts, PokerRoad comes to mind as one that definitely brought up the conversation. They decided that West Coast players are definitely better. I wouldn’t say “better” was a good word. I think west coast players are more aware and more aggressive for sure.. East Coast players feel like a giant caricature of themselves. I mean, there was a well known local by the name “Snake” at my table… full on accent w/ smoker’s voice, white suit coat w/ black shirt, cigarette hanging out of his month.. the entire package. (Very nice guy, btw) Everyone was so predictable. I loved it. I could pick up tons of pots off of them and build a nice stack through 2 breaks.. I got caught w/ QQ vs KK and couldn’t catch up. I ended up finishing around 35. I couldn’t pull myself away from these games though so I moved to cash.

My mind was trying to convince my body I was crazy.. I just flew into town, haven’t eaten anything or slept.. what am I doing… but I played. (btw, the poker room at Showboat was pretty nice. There were big windows on the back wall that were right on the boardwalk. Any break (or smoke break) you just stepped right on to the AC boardwalk..

My cash games did not disappoint. As usual.. I can count on the preconceived ideas about me as a player as soon as I sit at the table. I patiently wait until I know my opponents and then I make moves against them using what they think of me.. and what I know of them. These East Coast players also think they’re a lot better than they are and that they know a lot about math. It’s amazing what horrible math they spit out as their excuse for calling or getting involved in a hand. It’s not too difficult to pick spots and make them make bad calls. I had a great moment where I flopped the nut flush and just put on this amazing acting job (which I would have had to act on another level in LA.. this weak equals strong show was just too obvious to any real aware players) The way my opponent was playing though I put him on top pair.. so when I made the perfect sized bet on the river for him to call (when the 4th flush card missed- I had him thinking I had the A or K to the flush and that’s why I was calling his bets) he reraised me, even (!!) and I reraised back and put him in a position where he couldn’t put me on the flush and didn’t know where this aggression was coming from.. He asked, “two pair?” and folded his top pair face up- hiding the kicker. I was pretty satisfied with that pot and my play. My most successful tournament winnings are in AC. As for cash, last night I came away with a nice sized profit for the day. Still my best days pay in cash is at the dog track in St. Pete, FL.

I stayed for a 5 hour session after the tournament… and pretty glad I did. I miss playing with these guys. Not only are the East Coast players easier to take money off of but their such characters- I just love it. I drove home late and totally crashed… got my well needed sleep. Now, if only my mom could realize it’s insanely humid here and air conditioning is an amazing advancement that should be used.

So I was thinking about maybe going back tonight after the rehearsal dinner (which I’m leaving for in 5 mins..) but the traffic may be too bad with tomorrow being the 4th. We’ll see….

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