Welcome to Florida

So I'm here in the lovely state of Florida, visiting my parents. It's a great vacation and I spend the mornings at the pool catching some sun, listening to my Ipod and going for a swim. But...I found some card rooms too! First stop was on Thursday all the way down in Hollywood to visit the Hard Rock Casino. Fun little place, but it was then I realized some major differences with how we gamble up north.

First off, there's no table games. None. So you're probably thinking, Gregg, what do they have? Well, they have slot machines. But they're not really "true" slot machines. They're basically video bingo. Picture this: A bingo card above the animated slot graphics. Then you put your money in and hit the button. You see what happens and get paid accordingly. But...if you just look above at the bingo card when you hit the button, you can see before the graphics ever load, if you have a winner by seeing if the line is complete with red marks. So, it's instant gratification if that's what you like, but to me it just felt cheap.

So, blackjack is illegal, which I hear they're working on, so the only other thing they have is poker. Perfect! So what game did I play? Let's see, was it 3/6, 4/6, 5/10? Well, after looking for a game higher than 2/2, I was told that Florida only allows a max bet of $2. $2? WTF?

I put my name on a list and get one of those beeper/pager dealies that lights up and vibrates when you have a table at TGI Friday's. I waited for about 20 min and got a seat at the 2/2 game. It's weird just saying it...2/2.

So how do you play a 2/2 game? Well, the blinds are 1/2 and you bet $2 on every street. No doubling on the turn and river here folks, no way to trap anyone for extra bets or check raise on the turn for value...nope, just bet it out, and hope your good hands hold up. Well, we were kind of on a time restraint at the Hard Rock so I could only play for 90 min or so. In that time period, I made a profit of $165 in a game where you can only bet $2. It was crazy, and I didn't make a flush or a straight at any time. The best hand I was was a set of Queens. Top pair was ALWAYS good and you got overcalls like crazy. This is a new thing I try not to do, as it's a loose part of my game. Well, I got paid off like crazy, and it was time to go.

The next day, not much was going on and I decided to go down to West Palm Beach to go to the Palm Beach Kennel Club. Yes, a dog track, but the signs on I-95 told me they had a poker room with "new, higher limit games!" So I went on down, and signed up for....oh shit, they lied 2/2!!!

I began to think that maybe they had run .50/1 at one point, and this was their "new higher limit game." Well, I sat down at a 1/2 game first while I waited for a "straight 2" game to open up. Well, the 1/2 game threw me for a loop too. First off, there's only 1 blind....I'll repeat that. In a 1/2 game, there's only 1 blind. The Small Blind for $1. Then I figured you can raise up to 2 preflop. Ok, then the button raises from 1 to 3! Huh? I ask the dealer and you can raise in 1 or 2 dollar increments. Ahhh so up to $7 preflop, and you can lead out for either 1 or 2 on the flop, and raise in that increment. Gotcha. Well, I won $14 on this table and got called to my other game. This one was brutal. The long and short of it was that I got beat up and was a $85 loser. I guess it was beginner's luck.

Funny story I actually read online at Josh Arieh's website today that said he lost $1000 playing 2/4 the first time he played. And he only had $1100 to his name....haha..

I went back again today, Sunday. Again, nothing really going on. I decided to play a tournament as they're offered Sun-Thurs. Everyone who reads this is going to rib me, but it was a $45 tournament where you start with 800 chips, the blinds start at 25/50 and they go up every 10 min. Oh, and the fee works out to be 32+13, for about 29% juice!!!!

They call them "Turbo Tournaments" and I can see why. I wanted to try a strategy of "if i get a pair and there's action before me, I move in." Basically the same thing with any 2 big cards. It was definitly a gamble, I won't lie. Ok, on to the action!

The first hand I pick up 2 black Q's. Only having 800 chips and I'm UTG +1, I raise to 225. The player to my left quickly calls and everyone else folds making the pot 525. The flop comes A96 rainbow, and I hate this flop. I plan to check/fold, and the player checks behind me! The turn came a J, and I bet 300. The player folds, and I win the first pot. I'm in the BB 2 hands later a bunch of people limp and I have KJd. The SB bumps it another 100 and everyone calls. The flop comes K89 and the SB checks. I bet 300 and the guy to my left calls, everyone else folds. The turn is the Ad, and I push all in. The guy only has 100 left and he couldn't reach for it faster, it's now obvious he had A9 and I say "I think you got me, and he has AJ! Called 3/4 of his chips with no pair on the flop!!! WOW...the river is no help and I'm in trouble now.

Only having 450 left, I need to pick up a hand. The blinds have now gone up to 50/100 and I fold for a couple of hands. I eventually get AhQs in the cutoff and one player goes all in for 150, I push in for 450, I get called by that pesky player to my left, who I want a call from now, based on his crappiness earlier, and the SB goes all in for 275. Side pots a plenty and here's what I'm up against. SB has K2, MP player has A2, and the pesky guy has KJ, 2 live cards. Well, the flop came QJ3 alll clubs. The guy to my left has the Kc and honestly, I didn't even see that I had flopped the best hand, all I saw was that he paired his J and had a club draw. When the club draw hadn't gotten there, I announced that I was done, and started to get up. The dealer informed of my tomfoolery and I felt like an ass.

After busting 2 players getting a nice stack, I went on a run on the motormouth of the table in the 8 seat. The player in the 10 seat raised to 300, and I looked at 88 in the BB. I had to keep to my strategy and reraise with any hand I thought had value in it. I asked how much he had left, and he had another 300, which was definitly going in on the flop. I took a bunch of chips out of my hand and proceeded to make it 600, but I had 7 chips in my hand. The dealer told me that all the chips I brought out played, so the bet was 700. I was not too happy but obliged to the rules. The motormouth, who was the chipleader at this point, called quite smugly, and now I was concerned. The flop came KdJd8c. I was first to act, and no doubt had the best hand in my mind. Here's where the other guy made a cruicial mistake in my eyes. I only had 700 left roughly and would he call all of it here? It was then that I noticed him eyeing my stack and putting chips in his hand. Why would he do that and let me know he would call? I've seen plenty of people do that and be bluffing to get a free card, shit I've done it. But it was here that I knew I had to push in, no sense to trap, the pot was 2K. I pushed in and he called quickly with....99....yes, 99. Now why woud he call so quickly with 9's when those overcards came out and I had reraised before the flop. He almost seemed proud when he did it too, which made the next moments all that much sweeter. The dealer asked us what we had, to which I replied "just a set." The dealer lost it, apparently never hearing that one before. The other guy told me he had a set also, he was just gonna get it on the river, with no joking in his voice at all. Well, he didn't get it, and thankfully so. I then busted the pesky player to my left when we were 3 handed and I found A5c and moved in. He called with Q9o. The flop came A43, and it as over for him. After playing a few hands we decided to chop the pot, with both of us taking $160. We each tipped the dealer and with the cash game I played for 2 hours, I was a $101 winner today. Well, I leave on Tuesday, and I'll finally tell all about Eddie's game 2 weeks ago, and this past week, (one is more interesting than the other). Later, and leave comments dammit!!