Late Florida Recap - Day 4 (Last day)

I got up this morning with one thing on my mind. HARD ROCK CASINO. I hadn’t been able to play Omaha all weekend and I figured the Hard Rock would have it. So I packed up all my bags, loaded up my car and headed out. I got seated pretty quickly at a 2-5 NL table while being put on a waiting list for O/8. I was 4 hands off the BB and I decided to get a feel of the table by waiting for the BB. So I sat and waited and got a few reads on how the table was operating. My first hand in the BB, I get KK. Hooyah! A few people limp around and there’s now $30 in the pot. I raise another $25 and get one caller a few seats down. Everyone else folds. Here’s where the drama starts. The dealer, a young and twitchy character who was dealing about 1000 miles an hour, drops the deck into the muck and starts pushing the pot towards me! The table objected that there was a caller and he called the floor over. I saw the deck in the muck and I assumed the hand was dead. My opponent turned his cards over and said, “Let’s chop the pot”. I said, “Ok” and turned my cards over. He had QTo. The floor came over and ruled that the hand wasn’t dead and that we would still play it out! So I told the guy I was going to check it down with him. The floorperson then admonished us for making deals! Are you kidding me??! So we took our cards back and ‘played’ the hand. The flop came down with a King. I checked, he checked. The turn was a Ten. I checked, he checked. The river was a Ten! Goddammit! If not for this dealer’s fuckup, I would have rivered Kings full to his trip Tens and I would have gotten the rest of his short stack to be sure. I jokingly said, “all in” and waited for him to thrown down his cards which he did face up with a laugh. I threw my cards forward face down. The dealer, unbelievably, started to push the pot to my opponent! He claimed that I mucked! WTF?!?! I said ALL IN! I asked the floorperson, who had witnessed all this, “Did he call my all in?!?!”. Even the floorperson agreed with me. The Dealer was just trying to be a dick to me. I finally got the pot and I’ll be damned if I tipped him. Not only was he purposely prickish to me at the end, but he cost me $40 with his screw up. Not a good start to the day.

I was waiting for the O/8 game to start, and I was on the list. About 30 minutes later, I look up at the brush board and they’re taking names for a running O/8 game! Huh? I didn’t hear my name being called! So I went to the desk and asked what happened. They claimed to have called my name but I didn’t hear it. So I put my name back on and went back to playing. I’m peeved again. I’m UTG at my table and I get AcKc. I limp, intending to possibly check-raise, but someone behind me raises to 15 and gets 5 callers! I decide that’s too many so I just call. The flop is AKQ with 2 spades. I make it 60 to go and get re-raised all in by the guy who raised to 15. What does he have? KQ? QQ? Nut flush draw? It gets to me and I call. He has TdJd. Wow, flopped broadway. I can’t be too upset about it but he gets plenty mad when a King comes on the turn to boat me up. Sweet! Now I’m up to $300 and I’m feeling happier. I go back to check on my Omaha table and my name is off the board again! And there’s an empty seat! WTF??!?! So I bug the brush desk and they say, “Are you Jimmy?” Yes, they spelled my name wrong and then called “Jimmy”. I wonder why I didn’t hear it….

I convinced them that was me and I went back to my 2-5 table to pick up my chips. I’m walking over to the end of the O/8 table when someone says to me, “Don’t I know you?”. He looks familiar. An older fellow hunched over with a…Wall Street Poker cap on his head. Holy Shiite! It’s Paulie’s Dad! At my O/8 table! In Florida! Turns out he lives about an hour away and came for the day to play. Weird. I just think it was awesome that he was wearing a Wall Street Poker hat. The legend continues….

I only played O/8 for about an hour because the table broke up quickly. I was peeved about that, adding to my general malaise. Especially since I lost a bit at the table. So I sat myself down at a 1-2 NL table and this is where my vacation ended on a sour note.

My 3rd hand at the table, I get KK. Remember now that you have to sit down with no more than $100 at a new table. I raise to $10 in early position, get one caller to my left and a guy at the end raises to $20. Bring it on Biotch! I re-raise to $40 and the woman to my left (who was preposterously beautiful, as an aside) calls. The re-raiser calls and the flop is J53 rainbow. I have $50 left in my stack and I, of course, move all in. The woman folds what turns out to be AQ. The guy calls! He asks if I have a set. I turn over my KK and he keeps his cards close to his vest. I guess he doesn’t have AA. The turn is a ten and NOW he flips over his TT. Holy crap. That was some of the worst play I EVER saw. At which point did he think he was ahead? Was it when I raised and then bumped his re-raise? Was it when I went all in on a fragmented flop with an overcard to his TT? When he called my $50, he was getting a little less than 4-1 on an 11-1 draw. Great play Einstein. He dragged the pot with a smile and I went on insta-tilt. The VERY NEXT hand, I get KK UTG. This time, I limp, hoping someone will raise. No one does and I drop my hand quickly when an Ace flops. Grrrr…. I start losing more chips and I’m down to about $30 when I get QsJs in the BB. Einstein raises to $10 PF, a standard move on his part and he does it to set up steals I noticed. One guy calls and I move all in. Both players call. Flop is KK9. Check-check. Turn is Q. I think I’m good here, but I have no chips. It goes check-check. River is a Jack. Check-Check. Einstein turns over Tc3c! AAAAARRRRGGGHHHH!!!! I feel like Charlie Brown after having the football pulled away from me for the umpteenth time.

To make a long story shorter, I tilt off another buyin and am forced into desperation tactics to chase my money, like straddling. My last hand of the vacation, I straddle UTG and get 8c9c. I’ve got $55 in front of me. I get a few callers and the flop comes 6s7sTs. Wow, did I just flop a straight? Yes, I did. Is it three spades and I don’t have one? Yes. Why does everything have to be so difficult. When it gets to me, I bet half my stack. I get two callers. One is on a flush draw. The other I’m not sure. The turn is a brick and I move all in. The flush draw folds. The other guy calls. “Do you have a set?”. That’s a popular question it seems. It also tells me he doesn’t have a flush. He turns over T7 for flopped top two and is dismayed to see my straight, which miraculously holds up. I take my chips quickly off the table, having almost salvaged the night, and head off to a last diner dinner with my parents.

So I ended the trip down $60 after having been up about $300. LEMON. The one thing I know, though, is that if I had unlimited time, I could easily make a living at this place. My god, this is some bad poker playing.

My flight was delayed 90 minutes and I’m going to get home really late tonight. A full week of ‘stuff’ is ahead of me and we have a Wall Street extravaganza planned for Sunday. I need to work off this tilt somehow.

On another bright note, as everyone knows, The Giants are going to the Superbowl! And Dallas isn’t, more importantly. Don’t ask me why I’ve always hated the Cowboys. Perhaps it’s jealously because they *do* have the best jerseys. But more likely it’s that they’re damned arrogant. Too bad. New York wins. And take it from me, The Giants are going to win. No, seriously, stop laughing. They have a fire in their belly which had been missing from the Pats the last two games. My prediction is Giants 31, Pats 24.

You heard it here first.