Tunica

I went to Tunica, MS in September of 2005 to play some poker. Upon my arrival, I quickly donked off $140 in a rebuy tournament at the Gold Strike. As we were waiting to check in, we took the short walk over to the Horseshoe. There were not any games that really interested us, so we opted to sit at the $1-$5 stud table until our room was ready. I liked how there was a 25 cent ante in this game as it made raising on 3rd street a bit more worthwhile. The first hand I was dealt was (J-Q)-K. I raised to $3 and got called by one player with a 4 showing. I pick up a 10 on 4th street and my opponent picked up another rag card. I bet another $3 and got called again. At this point, I put my opponent on a low straight draw of some kind or maybe one small pair. I wasn't planning on folding this hand as I was open ended to a straight and had several overcards. I picked up a Q on 5th street and paired my K on 6th while my opponent continued to not pair up. I was betting the $5 maximum the whole way and end up getting called down with my opponent holding pocket aces for one pair. I left the table a $40 winner after picking up a few more pots.

That evening, I got in a $1/$2 no limit game. I played pretty tight as there was no maximum buy in on this game and most players were deep stacked. I won a big pot when my K-K got called by Q-Q. As we played late into the evening, I was taking advantage of the drunken state of some players at the table and making them pay for their mistakes (I don't recommend drinking and playing poker unless you want to lose your money). As the game got short handed, I managed to pick up a pocket pair 3 hands in a row and flopped a set each time. I made the same play on each board--a check raise. My opponents were clearly frustrated with this move and I finally got paid off on the third one. I think I ended the night a $250 winner which was my largest win at the time.

The next day, I grinded out an 11 hour session of Omaha 8/b. The game was $4/$8 with a half kill ($6/$12). I quickly turned my $100 buy in into over $300 after scooping a couple of pots early. That $300 slowly dwindled down as the day went on as I saw flops and missed or had big draws that didn't get there--that is the nature of limit poker--especially omaha 8/b. One had that was of particular note involved my big blind. It was an unraised pot, so I was glad to see a free flop with K-9-4-7--a horrible hand for omaha 8/b. I didn't mind the flop too much as it came K-K-x. Now on boards like this in omaha, I am always fearful of a flopped full house. I made a bet and got 3 callers. While I wasn't too happy about all of the action behind me, I was pretty sure I wasn't beat as I would probably gotten raised with the bottom boat. The turn brought another K. Yes, I was now holding the nuts--4 kings. I checked, hoping that an opponent made kings full and would bet. After a bet and a call, I put in the raise and got one caller. I let out with a bet on the river and got paid off. I wish I could say that I ended that session a winner, but I was actually a $30 loser after some costly short handed play. I probably should have quit earlier in my session. This was the longest session I had ever played and I probably made a few small mistakes late in evening.

While I was ready for some more omaha action the next morning, the game wasn't going, so I hopped in a $3/$6 limit game for a bit before we made the return trip. I managed to double my stack in about an hour from $60 to $120 by picking up kings twice and getting lots of action. All in all, it was a good trip and I made enough to cover my travel expenses and most of our food was comped by the Gold Strike.