The long awaited TUNICA REPORT

Sorry for the lateness of the report.  Been a real chore catching up at work since I got back.  Had a wonderful trip to tunica.  Wound up losing $100 for the weekend.  Not bad Not bad at all.  Lets get to the highlights.

 

7 of us left out thursday evening around 8pm.  From our area it takes around 8 hours to arrive in Tunica.  Trip was uneventful other than driving thru a major rainstorm between Nashville and Memphis.  We arrived at the Gold Strike around 3:30am central time.  At the check in desk they informed us that we could check in at 4am, which I thought was really generous.  To kill the time I took the 4 people in our party and got each their player cards from the gold strike (MGM) and the Horseshoe next door (Harrah’s).  Also I gave em the tour and showed them where the poker rooms and restaurants were.   Came back to the check in desk, got the room keys and snoozed for a few hours. 

Friday Morning:  Got up around 8am and ate breakfast.  3 of us headed to the Blackjack tables at the gold strike.  Lots of fun and cutting up going on.  I really have no idea how to play blackjack optimally.   I know to split Aces and 8’s but after that…im pretty well lost.  I never bet more than 5 bucks, got blackjack a total of 5 times.  Not bad.  Dealers were good at humoring us andgoing along with the jokes.  After an hour of play, we all got a food comp and Im up $25. 

Friday Afternoon:  After checking the poker room at the gold strike, we headed over to the Horseshoe to play some seven card stud.  Had trouble catching hands in this one.  Lost $20 in this session…would have been more if not for one hand where I started with rolled up 9’s that filled up on the river.  A well hidden Full House that won a big pot.  Time for dinner.  

The courtyard buttet at the gold strike has an incredible seafood buffet on friday night.  Its even better when it’s comped.  I got my dad’s, his buddy, and my buffet comped …grand total would have been 78 bucks.  Awesome

After dinner it was back to he Horseshoe.  I had big plans to redeem myself in the $1-$5 stud game.  Best laid plans…blah blah blah…didn’t happen.  Again couldn’t catch anything.  When I had a great starting hand on 3rd street I would be beat by the river.  Extremely hard to make anyone fold in this game.  Played 5 hours till 2am.  Check the bankroll and Im down another $25 for the session…$50 total for 2 sessions of 7card…add in my $25 win for blackjack and Im down $25 for the trip so far.  Time to get some sleep. 

Saturday Morning. Get up around 9am.  Open the windows and notice that my room is on the  mississippi river side of the gold strike on the 29th floor.  WHAT A VIEW!  Ate breakfast andwalked around deciding the battle plan for the day.  I watched my buddy Kendall play blackjack for an hour or two, then he, Joe, and I went up the poker room at the gold strike to check out the action.  I asked if there was a table for omaha hi/low…nope but should be soon…why not play 3/6 limit hold’em until it gets ready….no problem. 

Game: Texas hold’em $3/$6 limit

4 of us…myself, kendall, joe and doug sat down at the 3/6 table for hold em.  9 players.  We could have stayed home andtaken each others bankrolls…but we’re having a good time so what the hell.  Early on caught a flush to win a decent pot.  Lost 2 good pots with 2nd best hand to doug and joe…..set me back pretty good but would rather lose to them.  Then in the big blind I was dealt Qh 10h……5 players to the flop….flop = Qc Qd 10d…..WOW…floopedthe full house…small blind checks…I check….everyone else checks…DAMN!  On to the turn.  Turn = Qs…..DOUBLE WOW! small blind checks…I check…UTGbets out…2 players fold…small blind calls…so do I.  Im figuring the early position bet out as a bluff andthe small blindhas a pocket pair.   Here comes the river.  River = As…Now the small blind bets out…I raise…the UTGfolds…small blind calls…sure enough..he turns over POCKET ACES!….I turn over my Q…….not a big pot but decent.  The omaha hi/low table is opening up..and Im moving!

Game: Omaha hi/low $3/$6 with a full kill

I love omaha hi/low.  Probably my favorite poker game.  Sorry but hold’em bores the hell out of me.  Plus Im really not that good at it.  Not that im better at Omaha…but the game does intrigue me.  The limits are $3/$6 with a full kill.  I asked for an explanation of the word KILL.  It’s when one player scoops the pot, he is forced to put $6 in for a kill pot.  The blinds still put up 1/3…but the game limits move from $3/$6 to $6/$12.  So instead of it being $3 dollars to call pre/flop, it’s $6.   I sat at the table for 7 straight hours…here are some of the highlights.

Starting hand:  Ac 2c Kd Qd

Flop = 3s 6h 7h.  Well I’ve flopped the nut low hand but Im not raising.  Kendall andI are at a table with some omaha hi/low regulars it’s easy to see.   5 players…I call and so does Kendall. 

Turn = 10h.  Low hand still good…Kendall raises…I call…1 other player calls.  Looks like 3 to the river

River = Jd.  We’re in a kill pot so the big blind bets out $12.  Kendall immediately raises to $24.  I call andthe blindcalls.  Kendall hit his straight flush with 8h/9h…andI get the nut low.  The blind had hit his straight on the river.  Kendall and i split about $150 pot

The rest of the time I was up and down.  I never got down more than $20, but I could never get more than $40 ahead either. 

Starting hand : Ad Kd 10s Jc

In the big blind.  No raises or I probably would have folded.  Flop = 10d Jd3c…WHOA.  I’ve got a flush/straight flush/straight draw withmiddle pair already.  I call the small blind…low and behold 2 raises come out.  I call em all…nice pot brewing.   Turn = 6d…well I’ve hit the nut flush.  I still have my straight andstraight flush draws working.  Again..the small blind bets out andI wind up calling 2 raises.  River = 4s…I’ve got the nut flush.  Not pairs on the board, only thing out there is a straight draw…which i pray that someone hits.  There is a low hand.  Small blind bets and I raise…I get 2 of the 4 other players to fold but get 1 raise.  I call and the other player calls.  I show my flush and the other 2 players turn over A/2.   I get the high and they split the low.  Both argue for 15 minutes over raising with the low hand. 

Starting hand = Ac 2s 8c Ks

In the small blind.  Not a great starting hand but I do have an ace andI am double suited.  8 players in for a nice pot.  Flop = 3h 6d 8c.  I’ve flopped the nut low with top pair.  Everyone calls.  Turn = Qs.  2 raisers this time and I ride along.  River = Jd.  Again…raise raise raise…i go along wondering what in the hell everyone has.  On the last raise there is 4 folders…leaving 4 of us at the showdown.  Turn em up…I have A/2 but so do 2 others!!! ugggg!! The other guy turns over his cards and has a pair of Jacks!!!!!….he wins the high side and we 3 dumbasses have to quarter the low side.  I wind up lost 10 bucks by splitting the low side. 

I get up disgusted.  After checking the bankroll…Im down a total of $170.  Not bad…but certainly not good

6pm rolls around and Im supposed to meat everyone over at the Horseshoe for dinner.  So it’s my last hand

Saturday Night:

Walked over to the horseshoe to eat dinner.  Had my dinner comped from the seven card stud play the night before.  The buffet at the Horseshoe is really good.  Lots of choices.  Italian, chinese, country, barbecue…and a huge desert bar. 

After dinner we head up and watch the UT – Alabama game.  Alabama smokes em to my delight but I can’t say much because my UK wildcats got absolutely killed earlier by florida. 

After the game we head back downstairs.  All the tables are full.  The World Poker Open is going on in the convention rooms down the hall so we walk down and check em out.  One player in our group, Mike, played in 3 satellites friday, won one and entered in one of the 500 tourneys but was put out early.   We decide to walk over to the Horseshoe and see if we can get back in the seven card stud game, no luck there either.  I decide to walk back to the Gold strike and try my hand at the craps table. 

I’ve played craps before, but it’s a game, at least in my view, that you have to play all the time. I forget all the odds and payoffs.  The only system I know is the 3 pt molly.  Which is bet on the pass line, put odds, bet on the come, and put odds…keep 3 numbers working.  And thats all I did.  I bought in for 100 bucks.  Rolled a couple of times.  Played for 2 hours….looked down and to my amazement I was up $20.  “color me up”  I yelled quickly and got the heck out. 

Walked around for a little while and found my group back at the blackjack tables.  Apparently this trip has turned some poker players into blackjack players.  I flop down when an open seats comes up andbuy in for $100.  We have a great time for around 3 hours.  I hit about 5 blackjacks.  Then I almost nodded off.  i look down and it’s 4:30 am…YIKES!!! I color up and find Im up around $55 bucks.  I head off to my room and do a bankroll check and Im down exactly $100.  I’ll take that any day of the week. 

Get up early sunday and resist the urge to gamble some more.  Check out and we get on the road.  It was a wonderful trip.  Everyone at the gold strike were wonderful.  Im telling ya it gets better everytime I go.  This trip was great because there was a boatload of friends that went along.  4 of them had never been and they had a great time.  Heck even my dad had a great time.  Definitely a trip to remember.  We didn’t win a lot but we didn’t lose a lot either.  At least none that anyone is telling.  Poker players never lie…do they?

until next time

Pokerstop.com report from the EPT in london

European Poker Tour London Won by Dramatic Comeback

The 2008 European Poker Tour London Main Event ended in dramatic fashion as American Michael Martin staged one of the greatest comebacks in recent history to win the GBP 1 million first-place prize.

The EPT London tournament featured yet another record-setting field.  556 players each chipped in GBP 5,200 to generate a prize pool of GBP 3,349,200. Only 56 of those players would make it into the money. Among those who got paid in London included such famous names as Vanessa Rousso (39th), Erik Friberg (35th), Scotty Nguyen (32nd), Beth Shak (31st), Sorel Mizzi (27th), “November Niner” Peter Eastgate (18th), Max Pescatori (15th) and David Benyamine (12th).

EPT London Final Table

On the last day, the final table setup was as follows:

Seat 1 — Eric Liu (USA) — 1,308,000
Seat 2 — Johannes Strassmann (Germany) –434,000
Seat 3 — Philippe D’Auteuil (Candaa) — 476,000
Seat 4 — Antony Lellouche (France) — 1,022,000
Seat 5 — Michael Tureniec (Sweden) — 1,331,000
Seat 6 — Alan Smurfit (Ireland) — 396,000
Seat 7 — Marcin Horecki (Poland) — 309,000
Seat 8 — Michael Martin (USA) — 718,000

After Johannes Strassman dismissed Antony Lellouche in 8th, Strassman himself exited in 7th. Michael Martin would then take care of Alan Smurfit, after the 66-year-old Irishman ran into Martin’s jacks. Canadian Philippe Dauteuil would finish in 5th, after running 8-8 into the kings of Team PokerStars Pro Marcin Horecki.

During four-handed play, Martin found himself down to just 95,000 in chips, with 80,000 committed to his big blind, looking up to Eric Liu, who had more chips than his three opponents combined. Martin picked up 8-8 and tripled up to 250K, followed immediately by wins with pocket nines and aces in back-to-back hands. The flurry of action left Martin with chip lead and Liu done in 4th. After Horecki was bounced in 3rd place by Swedish PokerStars qualifier Michael Tureniec of Sweden, the table was set for one-on-one play.

The heads-up battle would sway severely in Martin’s favor, after he called Tureniec’s bluff on a jack-high board with second pair. Later, Martin’s pocket fours would improve to a set on the turn, eliminating the Swede and his K-9. Martin took home GBP 1 million (~ $1.75 million USD) for the win, while the online qualifier was able to collect GBP 525,314 (~ $925,000 USD) for finishing as runner-up.