Grind It Out

Florida poker

2008-06-05T17:18:00.002-04:00

As some of you know -- I've relocated to Tampa, which in the poker realm is sort of a good news/bad news scenario. The bad news first - I will no longer be donating $150 a month to Jay or Greg's bank account. The good news - I live about 20 minutes from the Seminole Hard Rock Casino and their 50 poker tables.

The Seminole used to offer $1/1 LIMIT, and $2/2 LIMIT Hold'em and Stud. Now however, due to the infinite wisdom of the Florida legislature they spread $1/2 No limit, $2/5 no limit, $1-5 Stud and $1/2 Omaha. Sounds terrific right...not as terrific as you'd think...the buy-in is capped @ $100. That's right...$2/5 with a hundo limit, 20x the big blind.

Let's look @ how this might play out...or for that matter actually did. I sit, 2/5, ten handed right behind the button. I muck the first 6 or 7 hands and learn a few things...

There exist only a few kind of players @ the Seminole...old men who are classic tight and aggressive, young kids from SFU (South Florida University) who are loose and aggressive and about 10% passive calling stations
The average price to see a flop is $20
That means I can see 5 flops and lose my buy-in, or be crazy tight and crazy almost Melvin-style aggressive

Lucky me I get KK under the gun. I make it $20 to go. I get raised to $40 by a late position, and the $40 is called by the button. I call -- so it's 3 to the flop for $120ish. I spike a set and push, get a caller and the last 2 cards are uneventful. So I collect around $140 in profit after the rake.

A happy ending for me; but I hate this kind of poker...I think the buy in is simply too small to play right @ the $2/5 level. So my question for you guys...how much of a difference does initial buy in make? Keep in mind, some stacks @ this table were 6 or 8x the max buy in.

Responsible Poker?

2008-03-08T09:59:00.004-05:00

For those of you that know me, you know that I had made a deal with myself not to step foot in a casino until my family could recover from some financial downfalls. For those of you that do not; here is the deal. In June of last year I was in Vegas when my wife called to tell me that our German Shepherd was sick and at the vets for all kinds of testing; to make a long story short she was diagnosed with hemangiosarcoma a.k.a. “BAD CANCER”. These tests were not on the cheap side; 3 mortgage payments. After getting home I was able to spend a few hours with our “Sadie Girl” until I took the dreaded ride for her to cross over to the Rainbow Bridge. After mourning our loss that weekend (fathers day), my wife noticed a “Nat” at our front door, she said it looked like an ant with wings, my checkbook screamed or it was me not sure which one; FYI ants with wings are TERMITES, hiring an exterminator and replacing our front door, let’s say another 3 mortgage payments. Well things happed in threes right; here comes the next one, 3 weeks later our A/C goes out in July when it is 102 degrees “great” outcome; new A/C 4 mortgage payments; are you keeping track that is 10 mortgage payments in less that 2 months. On top of all that my wife and I had to bail out a family member earlier in the year. With all of this I had to make a tough choice and curtail my poker until I could recover financially.

The deal was that I would only play in my monthly home game that I run, no other poker until I could pay my self back. Well 8 months later I am back and taking me first trip to Atlantic City on Saturday March 15, my budget is lower than it was before, but I am looking forward to playing in a real casino. If you have a passion for poker like myself and my friends you might understand how it felt, but you should also understand that responsibilities come first and foremost.

2008-03-06T16:08:00.001-05:00

I have to agree! Poker is a game of skills, one layered on top of the other. There are the odds, betting appropriately, playing position, knowing your opponent and making the right decisions. For example - Kevin laying down A-Q to my all-in bet (I was holding A-K); most people can't do that, and 72% of the time they will lose.
I also feel that getting cards is also very important in this game. But!! once you get the cards - you have to know how to play them in order to get as much money as possible from your opponent.
There is a great web-site, CardPlayer.com where you can actually calcuate the odds of each hand. Check it out.

Is Poker a Game of Skill or Luck

2008-03-06T15:11:00.006-05:00

This question has been debated forever, and I will most likley not change the mind of anybody. I thought I would give my two cents, since that is all it is worth. If you are a math person this is not a game of luck, but playing the odds; every hand has a chance to win even 22 vs AA, the ducks are going to win a certain percentage of the time. If I have AA I want 22 to call me everytime, do I want them to catch there 2 outer? NO! It will happen. Is that "luck"? No it is mathmatics pure and simple. The lottery is LUCK, having a computer pick 5 numbers for you and paying for it in the chance to win; I call that gambling, I have no control over my investment. In poker I decide when my money goes in. Keno is gambling I have played that once or twice in the last year for fun; just to kill time. Poker is a game of skill; do players get lucky some people think they do, but 67 is going to win 23% of the time against AA (i think my math is correct) so if they win you might call that lucky, I call it odds.

I am sure I will get some comments on this one, no grammer checks please.

Final Table

2008-03-02T12:15:00.005-05:00

The final table started off with Jay, Dwayne, Kevin, Vinny, Mark, Kenny, Terry, Greg.

Mark was the first busted when Jay made two pair on the river. Jay kept his streak up when he hit the flop and took Kenny out also. Mrs. Smith moved all in with her AQ and Greg called with JJ the Classic race, in which Terry hit her A on the flop, only to have her dreams crushed by a J on the river.

Jay was the chip leader at this point, while Dwayne was short stacked, since he did not believe Greg earlier when there was 4 spades on the board and paid him off until the river (I think) might have been the Jack Daniels but not sure. After one or two hands, it was time for Dwayne or Vinny to make a move, they decided to make it at the same time; Dwayne moved all in, I folded, Vinny called which put him all in, Greg called both all-ins, Jay had a tough decision, but decided to fold. Dwayne had 99, Vinny had 33 and Greg had J10, all looked good for Dwayne to double up until the river gave him a set, but straightened Greg out with 78910j. Two for one deal and down to three.

Was not long that Greg and Jay would battle it out in the blinds, I folded on the button, Greg raised and Jay called, flop was Q9? Greg bet Jay moved all in, Greg called, Jay had Q9 to Greg's QJ, down to 2.

Heads up with Jay, I have not done so well heads up, so I was very motivated to win this one. Started off pushing some chips around then we chopped 2 hands, and the 3rd I made a bluff that would have been another chop, that is when I got on a roll, won close to 8 in a row, then had A5 in small blind, limped Jay checked, flop AJ3, I bet Jay went all in and I called. Jay had the J and I had the Ace and it held up for my first win.

Another eventful night all around Jay and I keep our 1 and 2 place while Dwayne moved into 3rd place, Greg made a much needed 3 place and 20 points to go over the 60 mark.

Check out the Standings!

Talk about Catching

2008-03-02T11:56:00.003-05:00

I have renamed last nights tourney the "Night of Catching and Re-Catching". So many people got busted by making thier hand and losing on the river , i.e.

Terry vs Greg: AQ vs JJ Terry hits A on flop; Greg rivers J
Dwayne vs Greg 99 vs J10 Dwayne makes set on river; greg makes Straight.

Not to mention me and Jay, making two pair more than once on the River. It s called Gambling for a reason

We also kept up the streak of a very intoxicated person from Mt Airy: Jack. Whos turn next month Paul or Mark. (Just Kidding no worries).

Standings

2008-02-28T16:09:00.001-05:00

As of March 1 2008

Jay 109
Kevin 108
Dwayne 86
Tony 74
Belushi 72
Leland 67
Jamie 63
Greg 63
Bill 54
Keith 52
Fred 51
Terry 49
Zach 38
Mitch 36
Paul 36
Vinny 35
Kenny 34
Justin 31
Doug 29
Melvin 26
Aaron 16
Mark 13
Jack 8

To all involved

2008-02-28T11:45:00.000-05:00

I have just created this blog so we have one specfic area to view standings, next tourney info and other information. I will recap after every tourney, I know we only have 3 left, but I plan on starting up again after this one is over.