Monday/Martin Luther King Day: Hard Rock Tampa
They've made some changes to the hard rock casino. I believe in July of last year, the state allowed them to start running NL cash games. 1/2NL and 2/5NL are now popular. However, max buyin for both games is $100 (2/5NL has min=max=$100 buyin). They also run sit-n-go tournaments with horrendous amounts of rake. They also run 2/4 omaha (with a kill?), 1-5 spread stud (no ante, $1 bringin) and 2/4 holdem.
I played 1/2NL and found sort of a boring table. Most players were loose/passive preflop (no limp stealing, position/isolation raises, etc). If someone raised, they usually had a very good hand. However, people would limp/fold to $10 raises. A couple of players would play very loose for small bets (~10 or $15), but mostly folded whenever larger bets were made. A semi-loose/agg player showed up to my right and started making plays for the small pots. He seemed to be doing fine until one of the loose/passive players to my left started turning/rivering flushes for what seemed like 10 minutes.
I played very tight, and possibly a little weak-tight postflop. Got it all in with KK vs A7o (uber short stack, $25) and won, all-in with KK vs AA and sucked out (yay, only set i flopped, i'll take it!) and all-in with KK vs AK and held up (whoo!). After awhile, all the loose/bad players left, and i was stuck with some loose preflop players who mostly folded postflop unless they actually made something pretty decent. Plus, my image was really uber nitty, so I left. +232 for the session.
Tuesday: Derby Lane in St. Petersburg
I decided to play 2/4 limit because I was kinda tired at the end of the day, and 2/4 is usually my favorite game. They run 2/4 limit with a 5/5 kill (if you win 2 pots in a row, and pot #2 is >=$20, you post $5 and betting limits are 5/5). They started the table with 6 players (wtf? seriously?) and it never totally filled up. I ended up down a lot after bricking some very nice draws, but clawed my way back up value-betting my decent hands and getting some sets to hold up. Personally, I don't like playing at a short table, so I left after a couple of hours (all the bad players left, only players left were poor). Didn't make any flushes or straights, -$19 for the night.
I wandered around for a bit and watched some of the 1/2NL action. I noted that people at Derby lane play way worse than the players i saw at the Hard Rock. $17 UTG raises would get called by 4 people -- astounding.
Wednesday: Hard Rock in Tampa
I decided to go back to the Hard Rock and play some 2/4 limit there, cuz they would probably have full 2/4 table action to my liking. While I was waiting, I saw the first hand of a $250 sit-n-go tournament. 25/50 blinds, 2K stacks. UTG limps, 1 caller, UTG+2 raises to 250, 3 people call. UTG pulls the limp-reraise all-in (all-in-first-hand,loldonakments!) and UTG+2 CALLS with ATo. Everyone else folds. Naturally, UTG's AK flops 2 pair, and UTG+2 is OUT on the first hand. Totally stupid.
Had a great table, but kind of a cold run of cards. Again, no flushes or straights, but value betting top pair is my new hobby now. Players would call down with any pair (trying to make 2pair), backdoor flush draws, gutshot straight draws, Ax, god-knows-what. And they'd pay you off on the river every time if you had TPTK -- astounding. And they'd usually bet into you if they made their draw -- made for some easy folds when I had 2pair and the board looked uber dangerous.
I was probably a little aggro for my own good -- should have played a little tighter preflop. I was down for most of the night, but one final hand set me up pretty good:
limpers to me, i pop it with A
K
, everyone calls (of course).
flop is A
6
3
Bingo, monster draw.
Inexperienced (but aggressive) girl bets into me. 2 people call, i call, old lady in the SB calls.
Turn is a blank. old lady checks, girl bets, 1 caller, i raise, old lady folds, girl calls, 1 caller.
River is A
Girl bets, 1 fold, i raise, and the girl calls with AT. Whoo!
It was getting late, so I took my +$2 profit and liked it :P
Next time I'm in the area, I'll go check out Tampa Downs.
Hope you guys enjoyed the report
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