Trip Report: Pompano Beach's Isle Casino & Racing
So today I had the opportunity to head about 20 minutes south of where my family lives in South Florida and play at the Isle Casino in Pompano Beach.
This place was recommended to me by a regular player at Woodbine, even over the Hardrock & Palm Beach Kennel Club.
First glance, it wasn't overwhelming from the outside, but I did appreciate the free and speedy valet parking. Once inside, however, I was really impressed. The casino is fairly nice and the poker room is massive (by my standards), with about 40-50 (maybe 60 tables).
With 2-2 and 2-4 limit, as well as 1-2, 2-5 and 5-10 NL and a 4/8 Omaha half kill game going on during weekdays, they spread plenty of action.
I elected to play my usual 1-2 game and was able to walk right onto a table. See, when they reach 10 players on the list, they open a new table, immediately. There is almost NEVER a wait to play 1-2 or 2-5 NL there. Loved that.
Started at a table with one huge stack about the opposite side, 3 senior citizen nits, a player who played EVERYTHING before the flop to my left, a TAG to my right and then an absolute cannon about 4 seat to my right (he'd lose about $1400 playing 1-2 I was told by the rest of the table).
At this table, I only played about 3 or 4 meaningful hands, with my jacks holding up 3 times against the cannon in about 2 hours. Those hands netted me about 80-100 in total (tough to get value on a low board and tough to bet into an overcard or two, especially with a guy who plays any face card with a rag or better, can't stand jacks).
Problem here was that the cannon got my QT with a QJ when I was in the BB and a Q came on the flop and then again on the turn. That cost me about 70 total.
So after a not-so-profitable 2.5 hours, my table broke and I was moved over to another table, where my fortune took a turn for the better.
After taking small pots for about 30 or 40, I had T6o in the BB with the button and SB coming along. The flop came 833, with a check from the SB. So I bet 5 into 6 to try and steal the tiny pot with a nasty board. Button folds, SB calls. Hm, interesting. Turn comes a 6. Now I'm thinking, alright I can fire another bullet at this after the SB checks again. I fire 9 and he calls again. River comes another 6. This pretty much had me on cloud nine as my steal attempt turned into a meh hand into a boat. This time the SB bets 15, which I promptly raise to 35. He insta-shoves (dude only had 60 left by the river) and naturally I call. Dude turns over K3 and I can't believe the beat I've just laid on this poor guy LOL. Runner-runner and it had to be the same card, annnnd I got there.
With this pot I'm about 100-125 in the black. Then 3 hands later and literally 25 minutes before I have to leave, I pick up AJo UTG and just flat. About 4 more limpers come in before the button raises to 10. Now, this guy is the big stack from the last table who loved squeezing when there were 4-5 limpers, so I decide AJo is a hand that may actually be ahead of a lot of his raising range. I call. 3 of the other 4 limpers call and now I'm not so sure about AJo lol. Pot now sits at 55. Flop comes J84 (rainbow). It's checked around to the button and he only bets 18. With top pair and decent odds, I call, while the others get out of the way. Turn comes the A and the button bets 35 into 91, I flat again. River is a brick and we both check. He turns over Kings annnnnd I've hit a 3 outer to lay a beat on someone else. Gotta love when people slowplay against you and you end up cracking em.
Surprisingly, neither player looked fazed at all. They dealt with it pretty well (I think the guy with KK knew he messed up betting so little).
All in all it was a very successful day that netted me a few hundred $$$.
Not many notable hands, since I only got a mini 4 hour session in, but feel free to comment on the hands above.
If anyone is ever down in South Florida, I definitely recommend this casino. I probably won't get to the Palm Beach Kennel Club (though it has upwards of 60 tables as well) or the Hardrock (plenty of tables, but right now they're wrapping up their big summer tourney series, including the $5,300 $10 million guaranteed tourney that all the pros are down here playing), but I hope to get there and post a TR for those two fairly soon.
So that's it. My first TR is officially done. Feel free to comment or ask questions about their poker room!
This place was recommended to me by a regular player at Woodbine, even over the Hardrock & Palm Beach Kennel Club.
First glance, it wasn't overwhelming from the outside, but I did appreciate the free and speedy valet parking. Once inside, however, I was really impressed. The casino is fairly nice and the poker room is massive (by my standards), with about 40-50 (maybe 60 tables).
With 2-2 and 2-4 limit, as well as 1-2, 2-5 and 5-10 NL and a 4/8 Omaha half kill game going on during weekdays, they spread plenty of action.
I elected to play my usual 1-2 game and was able to walk right onto a table. See, when they reach 10 players on the list, they open a new table, immediately. There is almost NEVER a wait to play 1-2 or 2-5 NL there. Loved that.
Started at a table with one huge stack about the opposite side, 3 senior citizen nits, a player who played EVERYTHING before the flop to my left, a TAG to my right and then an absolute cannon about 4 seat to my right (he'd lose about $1400 playing 1-2 I was told by the rest of the table).
At this table, I only played about 3 or 4 meaningful hands, with my jacks holding up 3 times against the cannon in about 2 hours. Those hands netted me about 80-100 in total (tough to get value on a low board and tough to bet into an overcard or two, especially with a guy who plays any face card with a rag or better, can't stand jacks).
Problem here was that the cannon got my QT with a QJ when I was in the BB and a Q came on the flop and then again on the turn. That cost me about 70 total.
So after a not-so-profitable 2.5 hours, my table broke and I was moved over to another table, where my fortune took a turn for the better.
After taking small pots for about 30 or 40, I had T6o in the BB with the button and SB coming along. The flop came 833, with a check from the SB. So I bet 5 into 6 to try and steal the tiny pot with a nasty board. Button folds, SB calls. Hm, interesting. Turn comes a 6. Now I'm thinking, alright I can fire another bullet at this after the SB checks again. I fire 9 and he calls again. River comes another 6. This pretty much had me on cloud nine as my steal attempt turned into a meh hand into a boat. This time the SB bets 15, which I promptly raise to 35. He insta-shoves (dude only had 60 left by the river) and naturally I call. Dude turns over K3 and I can't believe the beat I've just laid on this poor guy LOL. Runner-runner and it had to be the same card, annnnd I got there.
With this pot I'm about 100-125 in the black. Then 3 hands later and literally 25 minutes before I have to leave, I pick up AJo UTG and just flat. About 4 more limpers come in before the button raises to 10. Now, this guy is the big stack from the last table who loved squeezing when there were 4-5 limpers, so I decide AJo is a hand that may actually be ahead of a lot of his raising range. I call. 3 of the other 4 limpers call and now I'm not so sure about AJo lol. Pot now sits at 55. Flop comes J84 (rainbow). It's checked around to the button and he only bets 18. With top pair and decent odds, I call, while the others get out of the way. Turn comes the A and the button bets 35 into 91, I flat again. River is a brick and we both check. He turns over Kings annnnnd I've hit a 3 outer to lay a beat on someone else. Gotta love when people slowplay against you and you end up cracking em.
Surprisingly, neither player looked fazed at all. They dealt with it pretty well (I think the guy with KK knew he messed up betting so little).
All in all it was a very successful day that netted me a few hundred $$$.
Not many notable hands, since I only got a mini 4 hour session in, but feel free to comment on the hands above.
If anyone is ever down in South Florida, I definitely recommend this casino. I probably won't get to the Palm Beach Kennel Club (though it has upwards of 60 tables as well) or the Hardrock (plenty of tables, but right now they're wrapping up their big summer tourney series, including the $5,300 $10 million guaranteed tourney that all the pros are down here playing), but I hope to get there and post a TR for those two fairly soon.
So that's it. My first TR is officially done. Feel free to comment or ask questions about their poker room!
Comments
Are you planning on checkraising river here?
No, I was planning on just checking it down. Wasn't 100% sold I had him. He could've had a set or AQ, and because he was raising so much on the button with a wide range, KT could very well have been in his range. I just knew my hand would win a fair amount of the time, so I would've called a bet on the river, just wasn't enamored with the idea of a raise and then the possibility of him shoving and making me really think that he had something big.
Yeah it was a really good time.
I still want to try Palm Beach as well. Some of the regulars at Pompano were saying the $$ is pretty soft there. And I'm right in between the two anyway...
Hahaha, it's a fair distance from Miami
Missing something here. Didn't you have top 2?
It sounds like the river "brick" may have been a queen.
[ ] bricks
Shoot, yeah I mis-described that board. There was definitely a Q on board, which had me a bit worried seeing as AQ would have been perfectly acceptable (or even KT knowing his raising range from the button and willingness to c-bet on pretty much any board).
I think I may have actually messed up the flop. I'm absolutely sure that the river didn't scare me, but the combo of the first four had me wondering. And I know my A came on the turn, so I think the Q came on the flop with the J.
Their BBJ is not cumulative! So if you win, it's an even $5000. They do have $500 high hands every half hour though, but they take $2 every pot for the high hands/BBJ. Then again, max rake is only $5+$2 for $7 so it's still not that bad.
So in the end, I think I like the high hands idea more than the BBJ which requires TWO high hands at once. Palm Beach does a cumulative BBJ with no high hands about 45 minutes north. My question for yall: which would you prefer? As I said, I like the high hands, even though it costs $2 a pot (still, $7 max isn't terrible), because the chances of hitting one are much higher.
We had planned a day trip to Orlando to spend some of my GTA approved hourly winrate from the trip, but discovered it was a three hour drive each way. So instead we just enjoyed our own private pool at the house we rented from my GTA approved hourly winrate from Woodbine over the last couple months. This is the place we rented and its a pretty good deal if you have a family and need more than one bedroom.
We Rent Paradise | Secret Garden
Yeah Disney and the cruise docks in Port Canaveral are a fair drive. To be fair though, if you take the hit and pay to use the Ronald Reagan Expressway, the speed limit is 70 (roughly 110 km/h) and is almost NEVER monitored, meaning you see most people going 85-90 mph lol. But it's not a day trip kinda thing from the Miami/Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood/Palm Beach area...
As for your desire to incorporate family, I feel like Commerce/Disneyland is the best combo for you
Atlantis is great but a lot more than $2,800 for a week. The weather during the PCA can be really cold in January. I hardly ever pay for flights with all the great credit card offers these days. California is also great and I was there a couple years ago. San Diego was great for kids with Legoland, SD Zoo and Sea World and couple hours from LA.
Don't you ever feel like saying, "fuck it" once in a while, and just raising blind for the sake of having a little fun?? life's too short to always being worrying about rake. You definitely need a trip to Vegas with yours truly
What are you going to show me in the PokerJah Tour of Las Vegas?
fun
How to fold top top vs Moneymaker playing like a spewtard.