Had a nice vacation. Got to see some friends, got in some R&R, and managed to play about 20 hrs of $2-2 and $2-5NL.
Summary:
* Day 1: 4-5 hours, up $506
* Day 2: 4-5 hours, up $183
* Day 3: 9 hours, up $512
Observations:
* FL players are just terrible. In the 3 sessions I was there, it was mainly regulars, but I only met 1 guy that seemed to really know what he was doing.
* Even the Asian players were terrible. There seemed to be fewer Asians playing, but the few I encountered were awful. No aggression whatsoever, which was a huge surprise.
* There are more old people per table. It's Florida, so I guess that should be expected, but I was surprised to see how many were playing NL. One lady was probably pushing 90. I stacked her twice. She could actually play poker though! Most of the other retirees were pretty typical. They just wanted to sit and throw in their $2 on every hand.
* The "sharks" were really just donks with money.
* They spread 2-2, 2-5, and 5-10 NL games, but for each game, the max buy-in is $100!!! WTF? The higher limit players would sit there with racks of chips on the table next to them until the shove-fest slowed down after the first couple hours.
* No one seemed to cash positive. I saw a couple people, including myself, but somehow most seemed to donk it off.
OK, so Day 1, I played great and was totally in tune. I didn't lose many hands at showdown and earned a ton of respect. Hit some hands, made some timely bluffs, yada, yada, yada.
I mixed up my play pretty well, and overheard 2 guys at the other end of the table say "he raised with a flush draw!"...the other said "you aren't supposed to do that". Pure heaven. I was playing way out of everyone's comfort level, being used to $300 $1-2 buy-ins. I took full advantage.
Day 2, I started out OK and was up $350 for quite a while, and was still playing well. They were running high-hand specials throughout the day, and during the $1000 hour, I folded J6 offsuit to a small raise while I was in the BB, and would have flopped trips and rivered quads, with my J kicker playing as well. Bummer. A's full ended up being the winner, which was at our table, so I got $25 out of that.
So a while later some drunk guy sits down next to me and immediately starts giving money away with some terrible play. Except for the hands I played against him. I gave him over $100 over a few hands where he called big bets with bottom pair only to trip up on the river. I stayed a while to get it back, but he gave it away to everyone else and then left, so I cashed out up only $183.
Day 3...UGH...Started the day great again. I think I was up a couple hundred after a few hours, and was about to leave, but the friend I was visiting had a side job go long, so I stuck around. A few people sat down that were obviously friends, and 1 couple were husband/wife. The husband cannot miss, and I suddenly can't hit a hand to save my life. Got a couple big hands cracked, then tilted out and spewed chips for a few hours. This couple would call ANY raise I made, then check down after I folded. The husband checked down a nut full house to her, and I called the floor over to complain, but they didn't say much. After getting $700 deep and giving back all the profit from the past 2 days, I decided to take off, but my friend still had a couple hours until he was free...so...what's one more buy-in, right? I decide to jump to a $2-5 table, seeing some nice stacks over there. I told the couple I was done playing bingo with them, and sat down with a single hundo a few seats away. 2nd hand, I double up with KK. I made it $20 preflop, got a couple callers, and shoved on the q-10 high flop. AK called $80 with a gutshot and bricked. Chipped my way up to $485 in just over an hour. Hit top-top with AK, flushed on another hand, etc.
So I get QQ in late position, and after a bunch of limpers, I make it $25 to go, and get 2 or 3 callers. Flop is J-7-3 or 4...something close...with 2 diamonds. They all check to me, so I toss out a hundo stack. About a pot-sized bet. Old Asian lady calls, and the big stack at the table also calls...last player folds. Turn is the 10 of hearts, and they check to me. I push in my last $359. Old Asian lady insta-calls for less (I think $250-ish), and the big stack, whom I found out only has me covered by $1, goes in the tank. While he's considering, the guy next to me wants to see my hand, and all I tell him is that I have an overpair, and can't be any good after grandma Nguyen called me so fast. I figure she's gotta have a set, 2-pair, something that beats me. So, the big stack finally calls. River pairs the low card on the board, is NOT a diamond, and the old lady tables A-10 of diamonds for a pr of 10's and busted flush draw, and the other guy, now with a $1 stack and asking for a chip runner, actually shows his K9 of diamonds, and they ship me a MONSTER pot.
I played a couple more hands and racked up. I got a few jeers and complaints about the hit-and-run, but politely told them I had been there for about 9 hours and had to leave. I wasn't there to make friends.
http://www.jaxpokerroom.com/
Nice room. Lots of tables, plenty of space, very attentive staff, and the high-hand jackpots make for a lot of fun. They do not allow chopping when down to the blinds, probably because all those old folks would just sit and fold all day. TVs everywhere running sports, dog/horse racing, etc. The games stay pretty full and there were probably 12-15 tables running. I never waited more than 10 min for a seat. They are only open from noon to midnight. The BB jackpot was up to $143k.
My only complaint would have to be the food. Best thing I had over the 3 sessions was a couple of hot dogs. The BLT, tuna sandwich, and fried rice were pretty bad. Even the coffee was awful. I couldn't find a decent cup of joe anywhere I went down south.
So, I spent about $650 on my trip and made about $1200 in poker, which is sweet. More than I can say about any of my Vegas trips.
Hung out with my buddy in Charleston for a night, and my other buddy in JAX for the rest of the week. Had a monster fish fry at his bro's house. Fresh-caught fish, shrimp, oysters, homemade cole slaw, etc. Great stuff. Fell off the diet all week, but didn't go nuts either. I actually can't eat as much as I used to now.
JAX is cool, but not sure I'd want to live there. I'd have to head further south if I was gonna kick it in FL. Miami is pretty cool. Still great to see some friends I hadn't seen in a while.
...oh, and I won $40 at Dave's the other night, despite being up well over $200 after a Grayday spew-fest. We combined tables and it changed everything. TK sat down and immediately took over a hundo from me with the nut flush against my K-high flush. Downhill from there. But I banked a win anyway.
