Angle shooting & cute grinders from the Casino del Sol, Tucson, AZ

Damn Word screwed up this post for google reader. Sorry. Reposting. I am in Tucson, Arizona for a few days, working.  I have had all of my nights available, and having been to Tucson before, I have decided to put my time into playing poker (surprised?).  I played Sunday night, when I got in, and last night (Monday), having a positive experience.  I stopped into the Desert Diamond, where I've played before, only to find no NL games running.  I decided to then make the 10 mile drive over to Casino del Sol, and was very happy with choice.

• Casino del Sol

The state of poker play out here is woeful!  The players simply have no clue how to read hands, are more than happy to pay off, and don't understand ranges.  They play a hit or miss kinda game, for the most part.  Couple that with a mostly cheerful crew and patrons, and it makes good times for me.
The poker tables are new-ish, advertising events planned for 2012 on the felt, which leads me to believe they have less than 4 months of wear.  The chairs are decent, comfortable and padded, not worn out.  The only complaint I can come up with is the chips are well-worn.  However, the poker room is very friendly, and will add your name to the waitlist if you call in ahead of time.  Although professionally run, it had a very friendly feeling to it.  Max buy in to their 1 / 2 NL game is $200, and though they call it no limit, it is truly spread limit, with the maximum single bet equaling $500.  Sitting down at the table, you need not post.  Hands are raked normally; I assume 10% up to $4 plus a $2(!!!) drop for the bad beat jackpot.  On the Sunday and Monday nights I was there (~9:00pm), del Sol had 2 1 / 2 NL tables running.  By 12:30am, the tables were ready to combine into 1 game.

Sunday was fairly uneventful; I was sucked out on twice on the river (all in on the turn), for effective stacks, but against shorter stacks, I would generally wind up with my original buy in.  The players far overplayed their weak Aces, and were consistently rewarded with bailout two pair on the river.  Regardless, I majorly messed up the final hand, which cost me my initial buy in: down to 4-way action, I raise to $12 from UTG.  SB who was the only other competent player, raises to $25.  He knows that I’m capable of a move on him because he’s seen me bluff raise the river vs. him and show, and I have no doubt that he’s looking to extract his revenge.  I 4 bet him to $50 and he insta-raises to $100.  At this point, I’m fairly certain he holds AK, but I decide to see a flop for the remaining $100 in my stack – not something I’d likely do online, but if I have him on AK / AQ, I can see a flop and fold to those cards or shove a Jack high or worse flop, and get in as a 75% favorite.  Regardless, the flop comes 8 3 3 and I shove.  He, as expected, calls, and shows AA for the legitimate hand.  Bummer – 4 way action and I run into AA…

• Angle shooting

Anyway, I’m playing Monday night and run in semi- G-d mode.  I chipped up to around $400 profit on the session, making up for my prior night’s $200 loss.  Time is nearing midnight and I have to get to bed in order to wake up the next day, so I start racking up when the following happens:

I limp 92s on the BTN alongside a host of limpers.  We see a flop of 2 5 J, rainbow.  Checks around to me and I stab for $7 into the $10 pot.  I may have gotten 2 callers, which tells me I’m in fairly bad shape with my naked deuce.  Turn is a 6 and it checks around to me, once again.  I pot control check, really unsure of where the heck I am.  3 5 go there, obv, but there are no other draws, so WTF?  River comes a beautiful 9 and here’s where it get’s interesting

Checks around to me again and I “toss” out $12 – 2 $1 chips and 2 $5 chips.  One of the $5 chips bounces back across the line and lands behind the bet line.  The BB (facing the action) immediately starts to complain that I bet $7, not $12.  He says that the $5 chip never crossed the line and that my bet is $7.  Floor is called and makes the [correct] ruling that the intent of my bet was to equal $12, not $7.  This guy continues to jaw about how the $5 chip never crossed the line, so I start to get into it a bit and tell him that I feel like he’s angle shooting over $5.  After a little verbal sparring, he admits that he wants to call $7 and though he will call $12, he wants to call $7 – the very definition of angle shooting / cheating.  I explain that to him, which is clearly lost on the player (he’s a 35 year old guy, not a curmudgeon retiree, so WTF?) but after the floor’s ruling, he grudgingly throws in his $12 to pay me off.  I guess the longer I play, the more frequent I’ll see that type of behavior, but WOW!  You’re arguing that a chip didn’t fall in the right spot on the table and so it doesn’t count as a bet?  Even though you know it was intended to be a bet?  Cheat much?

• Cute Grinders

I’ve been reading Josie’s blog since she started, more or less two years ago.  She’s predominantly a live player, and is convinced that clothes are everything for girl poker players.  Her thought is that wearing low cut or provocative shirts / blouses distracts the male players and breaks their concentration.  While in theory, it works, I’ve yet to see a hot chick sit down at a live table – let alone combined with the knowledge of how to play poker.

Here in AZ, there’s a really cute chick that has the whole cleavage / clothes down pat, though.  She’s got a ~10 body with a cute face, and knows how to play.  I was talking with her briefly – she just moved from NY, so she cut her teeth in AC.  She seems to know her game, but she is simply so distracting to watch that it makes it hard for me to watch the other players and get reads.  Fortunately, I did a thorough job of avoiding pots with her, so it never became an issue directly, but yeah; it may be a distraction of sorts, checking out the ‘ole cleavage.  This girl’s dress / looks take away components of my overall game.  I’ve never met Josie in person, but she’s definitely onto something…