Yea, both cards in both hands must play.
I was talking to pokerjuice1 when you saw me.

I will catch you on Friday for the $200 WPT, I am playing my satellite on Tuesday and may have a friend putting up 100% of the money for me in the $770. Time for some run good.

So glad that I'm heading North for a few weeks after the WPT. If that is the promo it sucks. More tables/dealers will be taken up by $2-4, etc. It will almost never hit/hold at $2-5.

are the sng satellites running often?

any ideas on how many ppl have registered for some of the smaller wpt events?

thanks

Just moved to FL for the next few months! Only played at HR a few times (1/3 2/5 typically). My comparison so far to PA and AC casinos back home: 1/3 is comparable to 1/2. Smaller buy in and stacks at 2/5 and seems to be more fish and less regulars than home. Overall the night crowd seems quieter and less rowdy.. good and bad thing I guess. Feel safer walking to/from parking lot, maybe except for one Sat night I parked in North. Learned I need to come wide awake if I play late night again since there's not much energy and noise going on in that room to keep me awake. It is always cold though!

GL, I've allready got my ticket for the 200

Played at HRT Saturday night after the Lightning game. I thought they had raised max buy-in to $200. Was surprised it was still 50 bb which is dumb. By law, right?

Anyway, had a strange situation at the table with a middle aged man who was sauced up and a younger guy (relative?) to his left. The middle aged guy was hitting hands and getting paid off. Coolered the same guy all-in twice, KK v QQ and then AA v KK. He started accumulating chips and then his younger friend/relative started stacking his chips for him. The dealer asked, what's going on over here? The young guy just said, I'm just helping him stack his chips. But he kept like most of the chips in between the two of them. When a new dealer came to the table, the young guy put his arm around a stack of two hundred like it was his. The middle aged guy still had enough in front of him to cover everyone at the table, so I couldn't understand what they were doing or what the benefit of doing that would be and I left a couple of hands later so I didn't say anything and no one else noticed or seemed to care. New dealer didn't know better. Any idea what this could be about. Anyone seen this happen at HRT before? #confused

IDK, I would like to think that most people would say something in your situation

Yes, I was going to but then the guys I was with showed up and wanted to leave. Maybe I should have said something as I was leaving, but I didn't think of it at the time.

[QUOTE=Omaha8A2;30073641... Any idea what this could be about. Anyone seen this happen at HRT before? #confused[/QUOTE]

Haven't seen it there, but have seen it lots of times in other places. It is NOT ok. It's just a variation on going south.

Occasionally one player will have a large stack and have the table well covered, and will loan another player $ if that player asks. This should only be done with the consent of the whole table, and in that case, player 1 should still be seen as playing behind. Of course, this means that you are essentially letting player 1 play on credit if he gets low, so there's a risk.

Unless player 1 is awful and player 2 is a shark, whenever I've been at a table I've usually said ok.

But I've also said no on occasion. I was at a table where a husband and wife were playing, and she sucked out on me for a 300BB pot (she was on my right). She then wanted to pass about half her money to her husband, who was short stacked and on my left, but he was a pretty good player. I politely said "no" but bought them both a cocktail to show no hard feelings. (They stayed, we had fun, I won my money back.)

You should have said something. (Nicely)

TRIP REPORT 11/18 – 11/21

I always enjoy reading trip reports so I thought I’d try one myself. I realized after writing it that I’m a terrible writer and I rambled way too much so just skip unless you’re really bored. Here are the cliffs if you care for them.

----------
CLIFFS
- I hate the 1-2 buy-ins at Tampa Hard Rock
- I love the action at 2-5 at Tampa Hard Rock
- I think Derby Lane is run remarkably well. Their customer service may even be better than the Borgata (and that’s high praise… of course they don’t have nearly the number of tables running as the Borgata)
- Drunk girls suck at poker and are easy money. They also make the table more entertaining.
- I love the Tampa airport
----------

I normally play strictly 1-2 in Atlantic City and Pennsylvania casinos. I had made one trip to the Tampa Hard Rock previously and started watching this 2+2 thread since my sister now lives there and I figure to visit a few times a year. In my previous trip I came away with 2 distinct impressions. The first was how terrible the buy-in structure was for 1-2 (and not being a great player myself, I have a tough time adjusting my style to accommodate all short stacks… nor do I think I would particularly enjoy it). The second was that there seemed to be a lot more “wild” poker players in Florida… which I think I play well against with a very tight style. So I came back last weekend and was going to take my first shot at 2-5.

Well… 2-5 was all I had hoped for. I think there was maybe one “good” player at my table. At least 3 total idiots that loved their top pairs and chasing draws… always in a calling-station fashion. The action was incredible. Everyone thought they were on a TV highlight show. almost every hand had bet sizes so big that if they went to the river, the appropriate bet should have been all in. of course, they'd get to the river, then make a small bet (or same as turn so they weren't all in) and then get folds. I quickly dwindled 200 trying to see flops and continuation-bet before I realized that my aggression was being run over and these guys all looked at me like some weak fish they could beat with their own aggression. It was like the only thing they've ever learned about poker is that the great players are super aggressive and that's how they win. So I told myself to be a smart player, don't play scared and adjust. So with a stack of just under 300 I reloaded to just under 600, the max buy in. I could see them all look at me with confusion and happiness. And then I basically played a short stack strategy...with a full stack. I didn't 3-bet pre-flop. I didn't play mediocre hands. I bet AK, AJ (I think) and folded easily on the flop. After about 45 minutes after reloading I get 5-5 in the cutoff. 5 limpers to me. I make it 25. 5 callers. Flop comes K 2 5 rainbow. Jackpot. Checks to me (which I didn't expect) I bet 50 hoping to induce a raise which I thought I would get for sure. Instead I get 4 callers. Good enough. Turn comes something I don't remember but brings a flush draw. Checks to me. I bet 100. 4 callers. Odd I would get that many callers and not a re-raise. But maybe they're all thinking they'll float me. River comes a 5 that completes the flush. Well that couldn't be better. Surprisingly again it checks to me... not one of them tried to at least steal the pot. I go all in obviously... I have about 350 betting into a pot of about 900. They all fold (wtf) except for the one Asian guy who is short stacked (and most likely to be chasing a flush... a racial stereotype I still believe... older Asians love chasing flushes). the guy calls for his last 40 dollars or so. I turn over quads.

I play another hour. I probably lost about 100 in that time. I left up 450 after 2.5 hours having won only one pot of decent size. Maybe one other for about a hundred.

Next day I went to derby lane just to try it. It’s only 15 minutes from my sister’s instead of the 35 (which is still close). I expected the same bad players and a terrible rake. It was great! But the action wasn't as good. Not a great players, but much more nitty. But what a well-run room. I lost 50 but then won 150 in a WPT registration money from some random high hand lottery drawing. I sold it for 100 to some random guy. The rake wasn’t terrible. The customer service was awesome. The room was super nice and I could even see dogs racing out the windows once in a while. The jackpot promotions were abundant. People were constantly winning cash or WPT tournament registration credit. I don’t like a $2 jackpot drop… but I would bet that they give a much higher percentage of their jackpot money back to the players than the Tampa Hard Rock does. And most of the jackpot prizes are very attainable... high hand over a 3 hour period and then random drawing for others at the table. They ran every game that was requested and had enough players. So there was 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 2-5, etc. Although this spread the players out a bit, if you really wanted to table jump you still could… you just had to jump between stakes a little bit. They didn’t have a player’s card so you don’t get comps... but with the prices they charged at their café you didn’t them. I had an excellent turkey club sandwich for 4 dollars. It was clear everyone was instructed to be super friendly and accommodating. Even the dealers that you could kind of tell were getting annoyed with players would keep their smile and manners. The room in general just really seemed to cater to the customers.


Sunday night I went back to hard rock hoping to get the same juicy action I saw on the Friday. I signed up for 2-5 but looked like a bit of a wait so I played 1-2 in the meantime. Well this experience was different than my previous visit. It started with 2 girls and a guy playing extremely drunk. They had no clue what they were doing but had a “don’t tell me I don’t know poker!” attitude. I saw them get lucky going all in and catching cards about 5 times in a row. This was perfect. Some of the boring short stackers (who were playing 40 dollars at a time so they were extra short stacking) left and the drunk trio had 200 – 500 in front of each of them. I waited and waited. At one point I raised AK and was called by the blonde girl whose birthday it was (and she repeatedly made sure everyone knew it was her birthday) and then barreled to the river. When I got to the river I thought to myself “what are you doing! You don’t barrel calling stations, especially this drunk chick! Stupid!” Well I’m already at the river with 100 in the middle so I go all in for my final 30 and the blonde girls calls and flips over and A and a 5… for an A high. I couldn’t believe it. I embarrassingly turn over AK for a better A high and double up. I get in a couple more pots and get my stack to 300.

I get called for my 2-5 seat. I don’t want it. I look for a floor to tell them and they are all standing at a podium next to the registration desk. All of them! I get called again. I get called a third time. I get called for almost 10 minutes and the floor never left the podium. Well **** this. I’m not going to leave my seat and go tell them at the desk if the floor isn’t even going to watch the floor. I mean, what the ****! How are you getting paid to stand there and talk to each other instead of walking around and making sure games are running smooth and answering questions from players and dealers?? Absolutely ridiculous. They eventually passed over me for the 2-5 seat.

At one point the drunk trio leave and one of the guys at the table (probably the best player there and a very friendly kid who I enjoyed chatting with throughout the night) says he saw the blonde girl throwing up. About 10 minutes later the drunk trio come back and the one girl who was extra confident sits down and she’s not smiling. They all look angry and she puts down 100. Shortly after the blonde girl sits down too and put down about 50. They had an attitude of “we’re going to get our money back from you *******s!” They promptly lost it to the nice kid I was chatting was and as they get up, the blonde girl says “Well we’re going to party while these nerds sit here all night and maybe this guy (looking at the nice kid) will see a Vagina someday… but I doubt it.”

Their seats are soon taken by a guy and a girl and the whole table is laughing about the drunk trio and enjoying our winnings and every time someone references one of the drunk girls, the new girl that just sat down makes a comment like “oh, you’re surprised to see a girl at the table? You probably think I’m not good at poker because I’m girl” (turns out she was not good at poker, but I’m not sure if it was because she was a girl or for another reason). She played with 40 dollars at a time. Her initial confidence made me weary but I soon realized she sucked and over-paid to see flops and had no idea she should be shoving her tiny stack when she hit something. Well we finally get it into her head that there were drunk girls there before her and we’re not talking about her and she states “well I never drink”. An hour later she’s on her 4th whiskey drink she kept loudly referring to as a “wet pussy”. It became a table joke to make her keep saying it. “What are you drinking again?” “Waitress, I’ll have what she’s having… what’s it called again… oh right, actually cancel that order”. The table was moving money around like crazy. There were always at least 5 decent stacks. The only problem was the large number of guys that would take at least 60 seconds to make any decision. I don’t know what the hell they were doing. I actually don’t mind people thinking. I get annoyed when I read on 2+2 complaining about people taking time to make a decision at low stakes... you’re still trying to win! But there were distinct people that would do this every time at the Hard Rock. After a few hours, you know they’re just acting and it’s really annoying. But small price to play for that action. I left up 250.

Right before airport I went back to derby lane and played 1-3. It was a Monday mid-morning so I expected less “action” and that’s what I got. So I took on aggressive role to nitty table. Built stack up to 450 from starting 300. Then made one major mistake where I 5-bet shoved JJ and got called with KK by the big stack. I knew as soon as I did it that it was a mistake. “Let that hand go!” I thought to myself. Lost it all. I played extra aggressive for last 30 minutes and made back 50 bucks then left for the airport.

I should have stayed another 45 minutes. I have learned in my trips to Tampa that this airport is fantastic! They get you through security and to your gate lightning fast every time... and even TSA is friendly! (I love friendly people… and they’re hard to come by in New Jersey).

If I didn't make that one huge mistake with the J’s I would have made significant money (to me anyway) on the trip. Instead I left having paid for my flight and part of my rental car and not spending enough time in the sun. But still a good weekend. I got to a beach bar. I saw the Devils beat the Lightning (great arena by the way… and I love the lightning they shoot near the roof when the Lightning score). I hung out with my sister. I just wished I had made time to golf at least once.

Back to Atlantic City and PA. I’ll be back at the Hard Rock again in January.

@85chickasaw:

Great TR, very good read. Glad you enjoyed it. Another good room up the way is the Silks Poker Room at the Tampa Bay Downs (horse track). The 2/5 is 200-1000, so it plays real deep, if you like that. Just wanted to throw that in and also that your perceptions, I think are dead on. Glad you had a good time.

85checkasaw, definitely should've checked out Tampa Bay Downs.... sick room.

Very cool TR though. Nice to hear an outsider's perspective on my stomping grounds. I am very glad to hear of your good experience with Derby Lane and the city in general.

Andymalman, pming you... do you know me?

What is the largest game that goes regularly at Tampa Bay Downs?

thanks guys! i already have 2 more trips planned during this cold season. i'll check out tampa bay downs. thanks for the advice!

$25/$50 but you have to be invited I believe. $5/$10 other then that but not nightly. The $2/$5 is deep like andymalman said.

PM when you do!

Webernaut, are you coming to HR during the WPT? I still don't know who you are.

I've been a #bleeping# ghost lately.... I know.

Made some -EV life decisions or so the story goes...

I think I will make it up there for some satts. I don't have the coin for the big one but I plan to play a side event or two if time permits. I literally wrote off poker from all aspects of life for awhile. I didn't even know about the events til I signed on again like 3 days ago. I will be sure to post if I play or not. It would be nice to put some faces to the names...

Ron you are my goodluck charm. Always win a nice pot after talking to you. Ho did the sat go?

Just busted 23rd out of 144 with 14 getting a $2250 seat and 15th getting $900.
Played great but level 4 put everyone in short stack phase and it stayed that way throughout because they take 2 levels out of the 1st 5 and only starting with 7k.

PokerXanadu was still in it when I left.

anyone selling a satty ticket tomorrow? (wednesday) i'll buy

I'm also interested in buying, PM me if anybody is interested in selling.

Also, are they going to have the $240 deepstack tomorrow? I still have one of their stupid tickets that I need to get rid of before the end of the year.

Well for some reason the $100 or $120, whatever the normal crap on Tuesday night they run, didn't run tonight because not enough players they said. That could be because alot of players played the Satellite today instead or maybe they would rather save their money for a solid tournament for the $220 WPT Friday.

No telling, there might be a good field tomorrow or crappy.

Apologies if this is the wrong place or has been addressed already but i was hoping somebody could let me know about the cash game action at the Tampa Hard Rock casino (or elsewhere in Tampa)
What kind of 2-5, 5-10 action and higher do they get (# of games, quality of games/players, ect)

Usually 4 to 6 2/5nl games and either one 5/10nl and one 10/20nl game or sometimes two 10/20nl games but 10/20nl goes daily.

2/5nl games are not bad and can't say about the bigger games.

You're too nice Parisron... lol

I'm here now. Tbl 29.... Yellow shirt with a gray hoodie. I'm heading to my car for some meditation at the moment but I'll be here til 1ish.