Dec 27th - $200+$40 NL Hold'Em - Seminole Hard Rock Casino (Tampa)

Despite the biggest cash games being only $2/$4 in size (I inadvertantly quoted $1/$2 as being the biggest games in my last posting) the place was packed this Tuesday. Americans seem to love holidays just as much as we do and where better a place to spend them than in the only casino for miles around.

The Hard Rock Casino in Tampa is really just a glorified slot machine emporium with poker added in as a side line. No Blackjack or Roulette or 'Las Vegas' type table games of any description exist, which is probably just as well for the likes of me.

The slotties are all 'rigged' in that the minimum amount you can bet is generally around a $ a spin. Even the 5c machines have a minimum bets of 18 units (90c) which no doubt helps the profit margin tremendously in here!

Anyway...back to the poker. Tournament type games are not subject to the $2/$4 mentality and as such they run constant $100+$20 / $200+$25 / $500+$35 'one table' tournaments. The 'pro poker tables' - these mechanised poker tables - are restricted, for some reason, to the $40 tournaments but even these pay only $300 in prize money so the rake here is massive!

Having said all that the place is packed. They have around 100 tables in the poker room and every one seemed to be packed full of eager beavers wanting to play no fold'em hold'em which the $2/$4 is.

They only allow 10 tables to be used for the tournament (maybe 12) as the cash games prove to be so lucrative but these get filled up quickly so I'd bought my ticket in nice and early.

Earlier this afternoon I'd played in two $100+$20 one table jiggies but got nowhere in either. Firstly my QQ got squished by player with 55 and a 5 on the flop and the 2nd one where my raise of 500 holding A-Q wasn't enough to deter the local fish holding K-7. A flop of K-Q-10 meant he went all-in and I called. No help!!

And so to the reason of this post...the $240 tourney but my tournament lasted 15 minutes.

Holding Js-9s I flat called, in LP, and three of us saw a flop of 8h-10d-Ad. It was checked around to me and I bet 200, out of my 2500 starting stack. The player to my immediate left raised it up to 600, the other player dropped, and I called.

The 9c fell on the turn. My initial 16 outs had decreased, slightly, to 13. I checked. The raiser put in a bet of 1000. I felt obliged to call. A brick 3h fell on the river and even though I had a pair of 9's it wasn't enough to beat A-K as we both checked the river card!

Down to 700 I get the 4s-5s and called a 300 bet with 4 callers. The flop looked nice enough (7s-10s-7c) so once it was checked around to me I went all-in. All folded execp the one guy who called with Js-Jc. The turn brought my wanted 9s but another 7 on the river gave my opponent a full house and that was that!

I fly back to Ireland on Saturday then back to work on Tuesday back in Lisburn. God I hate January!!