Trip Report--Tampa
Just got back from a business trip to Tampa. While there, I was able to make it to the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. It has a large poker room with over 50 tables and it was busy every time I was there. They offered hold'em, omaha hi/lo, stud at cash tables but the highest limit (yes, the highest) was $2/$2. I sat at one of the hold'em tables when I first got there and "no fold 'em hold 'em" was definitely the name of the game. You would get at least 6-7 players seeing the flop and usually 4-5 calling until the river. You can't raise anyone out of the pot for $2 and when people are calling 4 bets with 29o, any resemblance to poker is gone. I was astounded at the play on this table and literally got a headache so I left down $8 after an hour.
The good news is there was always single table tournies going on. They had $40, $80, $120, $225, $535, and $1050 buy-ins. I first signed up for a $40. I went to sit down and found out it was "new fangled" poker table called PokerPro. These tables had 10 individual monitors and one large monitor in the table and you play electronically. You had to deposit money onto a card and insert the card into your monitor. One of the best things about live poker and one of the keys to winning (in my opinion) is watching people with their chips. This was just like playing online.
Since I had already signed up, I played the tourney. The play on this table was awesomely bad. On the first hand, three players went all in preflop. The cards were shown and the three hands were A3o, A7o, and 33. An ace hit and the A7 took the pot. It didn't get much better. I played tight and made it to the final two with a 2:1 chip disadvantage, but then doubled up two hands in a row with weak aces. I won the final hand with pocket 8's against ATs.
I then played $120 STT's the rest of my time there. The house rake for these tournies was still outrageous, but the pay outs were a little better. First place got $450, second got $300, and third got $200, with the house taking $250.
The rest of that night and the other two trips I made, I played 14 tournies.
First place: 3 times
Second place: 2 times
Third place: 3 times
I placed in 9 of 15 tournies and ended up ahead about $1000. I can't really say that I played awesome poker. I made a few good reads and was able to recognize some obvious bluffs, but I did make a few mistakes.
One big mistake was when I was second in chips with 4 players left. I had KJ in the BB and was able to limp in. The flop was QQJ. I bet 400 (2BB) and the chip leader thought for about 30 seconds then moved all in. I thought it was an obvious steal, so I called and he turns over pocket queens. ooops. He said he was trying to make it look like a steal. It worked. This guy was a good player. We ended up in the final three together in 4 different tournaments. I won one of them and placed second to him twice and was knocked out in third by him once. He told me he had a good read on me. I didn't think I was that easy to read, but he had my number.
A couple of good plays stick out. Late in one tourney I called a 2BB raise of 800 with 89s. I was the chip leader at this point and that was only about a tenth of my stack. I completely missed the flop of AKT. I checked and the button bet 500. I didn't hesitate and raised to 1000. The button re-raised to 2000 and before he put his chips in I moved all in. He thought about it for about a minute and folded. He showed pocket tens. I of course told him I had the straight but didn't show.
In another tourney, I had an average stack with 4 players left. I had been watching this one guy the whole time because he was the only one at the table who I was worried about. I had pocket 9's UTG and called his 2BB raise to 400. I had noticed that he always raised 2BB with small pairs. If he had any paint, it was always a much larger raise. The flop was AJJ. I checked. He bet 400 and I re-raised to 800. He then moved all in. I called and he turns over 33. My nines held up.
I had a great time overall. Winning money in most tournies obviously helped, but playing live poker is "da shit." The house rake at the Seminole is ridiculous but if you have the only game in town, I guess you can take whatever you want. The poker room allows smoking at the tables and I second hand smoked about 2 packs each time I was there. If anyone has a chance to make it to that casino, stay away from the cash games. They resemble poker in no way, shape or form.
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