HARD ROCK TAMPA

Playing in the regular Monday night game at Mike’s, Robert and Tony have been talking up the Sit N Go tourneys at Hard Rock. Last night I joined them for the first time.

They have $100 +$20, $200 +$25, $500 +35 and $1000 +$50

I started with a $100 + $20 and stuck to Robert’s advice to play tight at first. You start there with 1500 units and he said that I shouldn't worry if I fall down to 700 or 800, because a lot of riff raff will be gone by then anyway. The game is full of gamblers pushing early for no good reason. Lucky for me I didn’t squander any big pairs early. In fact, I didn’t win a single hand before pushing all-in with my ace face to double up when my stack fell to half. I made it to heads up with a severe short stack at one point 2600 to 12400. The guy I was playing coincidently knew both Robert and Tony as solid players from a cash game back in Orlando. We made a deal to both go to the restroom after the third guy was sent packing. We were surprised to return and see the dealer dealing hands. It turns out that the dealer stops for nothing. Since I figured I was a gone goose anyway, I made some all-in raises when I had any two decent enough cards and instead of putting me away, he gave me credit and folded. I think this was a combination of knowing Robert and Tony and seeing me play so tight earlier. Anyway, without ever having my all-in called, I wound up in virtual chip count dead heat and gladly accepted a chop. It gave us each $375 minus the $120 minus the $25 we tipped the dealer. So the net was $230, not really a great take.

I jumped into another $100 +$20 and it was a wilder table than the first. The blind structure is such that they increae every ten hands regardless of the clock and two players were knocked in the first 6 hands. The first guy had his aces run into a full-house (I would have had a bigger one if I played) and he was good natured about it. He also played at my first table, but left after doubling up early and eventually busted before the payout. He told me before the second table started that his 16 year old daughter was calling and he had to help her with something. Then he told me about how crazy his wife is and how she’s starting to rebel after marrying young. He seemed like a decent enough guy with worse troubles than cracked aces. Like the first game, I played it pretty slow and saw a flush and a straight materialize on hands that I was long gone from. It was one of those situations that can convince you to gamble if you don’t quell it ASAP. With the blinds 100-200 and the players folding around to me on the button with KJ, I figured this to be an automatic all-in. I pushed and was called by T9. He hit one of both and the angry Q never rang the bell. I think that finished me 6th place. -$120

The third game was my only $200 + $25. I picked up some chips relatively early when the board was a straight to the Q and I held a K. The hand I was waiting for finally came a few minutes later. A bunch of people limped in for $50 and I had 55 on the button and joined them. The flop brought Q53 with two spades. The small blind bet 200 into a 350 pot. Two players in the middle called. So with 900 in the pot, I had to decide whether to push everyone out or value raise and I opted for the latter. I bumped it another 500 and to my surprise two guys called. The turn was a blank and both guys checked to me. Now I was squarely ahead and figured that at least one of these guys had a flush draw and the other guy had either a strong Q or two pair. I pushed my last 1400 in and to my surprise they both called. The small blind turned over the nut flush draw and the middle guy turned over the second nut flush draw with a pair. I was an 85-15% favorite. The first guy had 5 outs left (7 spades minus the two that would give me a fullhouse) and the second guy overcalled drawing dead. To my luck the miraculous spade came to knock me to the ground. -$225

I decided to play one last $100 + $20. It was a great example of playing situations instead of cards. This time Robert was two to my Left. I was finding good situations early and Robert wasn’t. The first big decision I had to make was limping with Jacks with about 3000 in front of me. The button pushed all-in 500 and that was an easy call, but the big blind pushed all-in 1200. Did I want to risk 1/3 of my stack with just Jacks v two players? I finally decided that I was probably up against an under pair and a big ace so I called. I was up against KT and AK. They both hit their King, but I hit a J and there was no stopping me from there. I was able to play big stack poker for the first time all night and took advantage playing hands like 86o. That flop brought a 6 and 3 hearts. After it checked all around, another 6 came on the turn. I decided to check again waiting to see if weakness or strength would bet. The button player finally threw in 300 chips. When it came back around to me I pushed all-in which would have cost him another 800. He let it go. So did Robert with the A of hearts.

I had a chance to knock out two more players when Robert pushed all-in from early position, one caller and then another caller who was all-in. I could have easily afforded a call with KT, but I didn’t want to ruin Robert’s chance of staying alive. A King wound up hitting and the guy who played K7 for some reason won the pot.

With 4 guys left and me leading in chips and the blinds 300 and 600, the button made a 2.5x raise. I looked down at A9s and pushed all-in. He asked immediately if I wanted a call and I said confidently that I did which really confused him. Had I hesitated he would have called, I think. But since he was on the bubble, he laid down AT after much consideration. It was either a brilliant or foolhardy raise, but since he was risking his tournament life and I wasn’t, it was a good percentage move. Now, of course, I would have been called by AK and maybe even AQ here, but it’s possible he would have laid down any pair of 7s or lower.

He and I would eventually be heads up and he offered me a chop, but since I had him more than 2-1, I figured that it was in my best interest to keep playing. I said that I may change my mind in a few hands. He said that he only offers once. He eventually closed the gap to 6500 he and 8500 me.

With the blinds at 500 and 1000, he made it 2500 to go and I woke up with TT. I pushed and he called with A2s. My pair held up and I won outright. Looking back, he was priced in with almost any two cards as he was getting nearly 2-1 odds, but A2 is not a hand I would like to call all-in with. He’s an underdog to any other ace or a pair of 3s or better. Even if I have two cards in the middle, he’s only a 60-40 favorite at best. I think that I would have pushed all-in for the added fold equity with A2 or cold called to make a play on the flop. Anyway, I won $450 minus $120 buy-in minus $20 tip for a net of $310. Overall, I won $195 for the night. For some reason I had the count at $100 less than that at the time. It must have been the Knob Creek talking.

A good player can win at a decent rate there, because a majority of players are either so loose that they push with the kinds of hands that only get called when they are beat, or they are so tight that they have trouble betting anything but the nuts. I also noticed that far fewer of my all-ins were called versus online play. Looking back, I think that many of these guys, especially at the $100 +$25 level are unfamiliar with concepts such as the M and gave me too much credit, especially after my tight opening play.

The downside to Hard Rock is that the house cut makes it really tough to make money. Tony ran into a string of bad beats and lost all four of his tourneys for a horrendous night. Robert had a happy ending at his last $200 +$25 tourney. Although he was knocked all the way down to 200 when his QQ was beat by AK, he battled back for 2nd place and $600. I seem to remember we celebrated with a shot of vodka, soda and some berry flavored mixer.

Mazda sports car is given away at 9:30pm and $1,000 is handed out once an hour on Wednesdays. All you need is a Player's Card. But drinks aren't free and it's one of the last casinos where people are still smoking like a film noir movie.

I’ll certainly go back if for no other reason than to try a multi-table tourney on one of the selected nights. Jeff Malacane chopped his first multi-table tourney over there for a score of more than 2 grand. He finished 3rd a few weeks after that. The danger is that the weak players will really tempt me, but the house will really scalp me.