Trip Report..... Florida Poker.....LONG

[RollaJ]

Please do not stop reading as this is my first trip report and by far the longest post I ever put up and I hope I didnt waste an hour for nothing.....

I was down in FL this past weekend to visit my mother who just bought a place down there (retired jewish woman..... where else would she go???) So upon arriving we had some time to kill till my sisters flight arrived for the 1st Annual Chanuka at Moms.
So we started looking for the Hard Rock Casino...... seems we went the wrong way, but we found.........
COCONUT CREEK SEMINOLE CASINO
Happily they had a poker room!. The place was sorta grungy, kind of like a downtown joint in vegas, ,not really dirty....but old looking.
Mom has never played live poker, and I have tried to get her to try it for years..... instead of those damn video poker machines in AC. This however seemed like the perfect setting! Cheap poker (FL limits games to $2 max bet on any street, so the 2 game choices were 1-2 or 2-2 [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] ) and mostly older players. I thought it was really funny how the average age at the 1-2 game was about 50, and the average age at the 2-2 was about 35 ...... like it makes such a difference.
Well we went on the list which was rather short as we got there around 1pm. I got called to a 2-2 seat and took that while Mom waited..... she was nervous, but had finally agreed to play as I offered to stake her [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]. My 2-2 game was jumping [img]/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img] and I bought in for a rack (of white) and immediately had one of the biggest stacks....lol. It was a funny game....... I had KK vs. a guys AA we capped preflop, and on the flop, he 3 bet the turn, I called a bet on the river. all that and I only lost $24..... finally losing with KK to pocket aces doesnt hurt. I then flopped trip kings with KQs and lost to a guy who spiked a jack on the turn for a boat..... after a few more hands I was called to the 1-2 game and moved down so I could await a table change to moms table. I was stuck like $30.
Yada yada yada....... I get Q-9s in the BB and call a LP raise ($1 to me) with 9 way action. Flop a 2nd nut flush draw. I bet out....yada yada capped 6 ways on the flop. Turn gives me a gut shot i bet out 3 callers , pf raiser raises I call and one of the callers now pops it.....hmmmm he must have Q-T for the turned straight...... 2 of us call. River is a spade i check, guy on left bets, pf raiser calls I c/r and both call...... I win a monster of a pot...... $65 [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]
On one hand I bet the turn after the flop checked around and all 3 people folded...... I told the dealer to just keep the pot....$4 LOL
I got moved to moms table. Before she started I had told her to play:
pocket pairs
suited connectors 6-7 and higher
any 2 cards jack or higher

..... I walk over and look at her hand ....... Q -3 off suit in middle position......LOL.

Sure enough, I had started her with $40 and she was down to about $7 so I gave her another $60. We played for a while and there was only one NOT clueless player at the table. We played to played together for about 5 hours. It was a lot of fun to play cards with mom [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img] . Net net she lost $170 I won $100 so we had a nice day out and it only cost me $70. I of course informed her that once we broke $100 that had become her Chanuka present. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Note that at the Seminole Casino they raked 10% up to $5 PLUS $1 jackpot drop on the flop....... that was CRAZY!

that was thursday......Fast Forward to Monday night and we went on THE ST.TROPEZ CRUISE out of port everglades.

Due to being a weekday it seems the place was near empty. I think maybe 200 people at best were on the cruise, not counting the 150 or so who seemed to be working on the cruise.
It took about 45 minutes to get out to int'l waters so that we could play. There was a $200 1 table tourney and I played the only other game 10-20 HE. of the 10-11 people at the table, one was the poker room manager, one was a dealer, one was an ex dealer who knew everyone. the poker room manager was reallly tight, and I folded everytime he played a hand which came out to about once every 45 minutes or so. The dealer was the most solid player aside from me of course .... and the ex dealer whined a lot and played on tilt for most of the night dropping about 800 I think. The rest were not horrible, but they were very predictable and most were rather loose. There were also 2 women who must play a lot at the 1-2 games because they were like ATMs. calling everything down till the river as long as they had a pair or a gutshot.
I started my night by bluffing off $200 in the first 3 hands, and it was very worthwile as the night progressed. I then lost with the Nutflush to a boat, but I lost the minimum as the guy was easily readable.
I was down 300 as i then started to make a comeback. Some good playing, 2 good stone cold bluffs, and some good flops and I finished the night up $475. Not bad for 3 hours of play time on the cruise.
Of course mom dropped $100 at those damn video poker machines [img]/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img]

As for the boat it was also rather old and kind of grungy, it even smelled old. Also the ceilings were way too low. I am 6'4" and one of the ceilings was 6'5", only problem was I was wearing shoes, and they had sprinklers and smoke alarms and cameras sticking out of the ceiling 1-2". If I were blind Id have easily died.
The drink service was the highlight of the trip, I think they may charge for alchahol, but I dont drink while I play. They did however serve BIG glasses of soda, And nice sized coffees in glass mugs, as well as espresso and double espressos..... which no room in AC has.
All in all for aesthetics Id stay away, but if you just want a good game over 2-2 limit, the place aint half bad!

[steamboatin]

Very good first trip report.

[The Q]

Fun read, enjoyed it. [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

[RollaJ]

Thanks for the nice words......

Just a note...... I forgot the most important part here at 2+2. On the boat the rake was also 10% up to $5 AND a $1 drop. However aside from the bad beat, they also paid the high hand of the night. On our cruise it was $60 as there was only one live game, but they said Friday the high hand got $600. Also the $5 rake isnt half as bad at 10-20 as it is at 1-2....lol.

Also, if you hit the boat, park in the garage (4 minute walk) as opposed to valet. you save $6+tips, and you dont have to wait for the valet after the cruise