I finally had a nice session here in Tampa, Florida.
The last time I was in Tampa, towards the end of summer in 2013, the results were mixed but negative. This session evened me up for the two trips, though. The session was a mostly decision-free session, albeit
on the short side.
I got to the Tampa
Hard Rock Hotel & Casino around 8:30 and was seated almost immediately at a
shorthanded table for a little 2/5 action.
(I’m still executing my New Year’s resolution to play a lot more 2/5 in
2014.)
The table consisted of (in clockwise fashion:
- A “pro”
to my immediate left (who was nice enough, wasn’t trying to run me over, who
was capable of a few moves and loved to raise limped pots with position)
- An older gentleman in seat 10 (or 9; not sure
whether the tables are 10- or 9- handed) who would lead almost every flop
regardless of action pre-flop
- A few nits in the 1-4 seats
- A complete and utter fish in the 5 seat (who was
more than happy to dump buy in after buy in, before getting bored and going to
play Blackjack for $25-100 / hand)
- A newbie / straight forward chick to my right,
which rounds out the table
There weren’t too many hands of note, but I have 5 hands to
discuss / share.
Hand 1: I take advantage of seat 10. It’s limped around to me in the SB with 89hh
and I complete. We see a flop of 3 5 6 –
not sure whether there’s a heart on board.
On queue, seat 10 leads $15 (as he always does) into the $25 pot and it
folds to me. I flat my gutter + 2 overs.
Turn is bingo – I hit an 8.
Of course, I’m checking to him yet again and he leads for $25 this
time. I just call.
River is a 5, pairing the board. I’m not happy with that card, but I’m happier
than the river being an overcard. I
check a 3rd time and he contemplates his bet – and leads for
$30. I beat him to the pot and say
“call.” I wait a while for him to flip
and he shows KJcc for a complete bluff.
I scoop with my 8’s and a few eyebrows are raised with my snap / “weak”
call. Really? Why are they surprised? Have they been paying any attention?
Hand 2: I raise on the BTN with AQo to $25 after one
limper. Seat 10, in the BB is the only
one to call and we see a HU flop of 5 7 T, two hearts. He leads (on queue once again) for $20. I raise to $55. He thinks for a bit and flats.
We check the non-heart 2 turn and check the
blank river. I wait for him to flip once
again (not sure whether the rules are last action flips first or clockwise flips
first). He shows after a bit, he shows
A6ss for a missed backdoor (????) and I show AQ for the scoop. I should have bet the turn! Oh well.
Hand 3 (questionable hand): I’m dealt KK (with Kd) in the
BTN. I raise to $35 after 2 limpers and
seat 4 (tight gentleman) calls.
Flop comes 7 8 T (2 diamonds). He checks and I lead $40 into $~70. He check raises to $90. We’re sitting on about $275 effective to
start the hand, so I’m looking down at around $200. There’s $200 in the pot - $250 if I make the
call with $150 behind. It’s very
possible this guy limped 77’s and 88’s (I think he raises TT, but I haven’t
seen him make an aggressive move all day), but I doubt he’s showing up with J9,
after calling a sizable PF raise. I just
don’t see waiting for the turn to get it all in when there’s not a lot of turn
cards that I will like: a 9 sucks, a diamond sucks, a face card sucks, a T
sucks. I put him on a cross between a
diamond draw and A T (both with about 25-35% equity), so after careful
deliberation, I opt to shove. He thinks
for a few and finally folds. Is it wrong
to shove there? Should I be flatting and
letting him shove the turn, calling off all cards? It just felt so wrong to let him have a card
here.
Hand 4 (questionable hand): I get mixed up with Seat 4, the
fish where I limp Ad8d along with ~3 others.
I’m sitting on $225 effective.
Flop
comes 8 9 4 (two diamonds). Fish leads
$20 into $30 and I raise to $65. He
calls.
The turn is a diamond (which also completes the straight –
though don’t remember which particular card – may have been the Td if that
makes a difference). He leads for $75
into the growing pot and with less than $175 behind, I shove the
remainder. Is this a mistake? He deliberates for a good long time and
finally folds. Before he folds, I show
my 8d to rile him up a bit that he’s folding to mid pair because he thinks I
have a diamond flush. I told him I
didn’t want to see the river diamond because I wasn’t sure my 8d would be good
enough. This hand bothered him quite a
bit because he went on to dump about $1.3k to the table over the course of
about an hour and a half. Unfortunately,
none of his dumping was to me – but this guy took his losses in stride; I think
he had a good time doing it.
Hand 5 (I think I played it okay, but open to opinions): I raise to $35 with AKo from SB after a few limpers. "Pro" to my left flats and everyone else folds. Flop comes K Q X and I check. I think if I bet here, I blow pro off all his bluff hands, and this seems like a "scary" flop for a PF raise / flop check that pro can lead. As expected, pro leads for $40; I consider check / raising but opt to call hoping for further continuation bets.
Turn is J and we check through. River is another J and here's where I think I should consider leading about $50-60 but I'm hoping he can't let it drop the fact that I checked 3 times. I opt to check and he insta-checks. I don't know whether he'd call a small value bet - perhaps $40-50 instead of $50-60. I begrudge the fact that he respects my play and isn't trying to push me off hands. As soon as he checks, I know I'm good and flip up AK without waiting for him to move. He sighs and folds; I think he had a pair of Q's. I just felt like it was so standard for him to at least fire off one more barrel, but I guess I judged him wrong.
Oh yeah!
I almost forgot to detail that I had the
opportunity to play with a former bracelet winner and 2004 6
th place
WSOP main event finisher,
Al
Krux.
It was pretty cool sitting
down with a guy who has likely seen it all.
I categorized him as a tight nit – he never really made any moves in the
time that I spent at the table.
He was
more having fun, enjoying a cocktail.
Cool experience, nevertheless.
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