CCass
01-11-2005, 01:52 PM
Arrived at Tunica about 5:30PM on Thursday, and decided to swing by the Grand to see what was up with the tournaments being held there. I was leery about playing in them based on the comments made by several people here, but I thought I should at least look into them. I was interested in the tournaments scheduled for Friday and Saturday, but I had been given conflicting information on whether the tournaments were re-buys or not. The poker room was crowded but not crazy, and they were holding the tourney sign-ups in the ballroom(?) next door. It was pretty wild in the ballroom. One long table with flyers for each event and satellite, but the table was unorganized with flyers strewn all over the place, and in no particular order. After much digging, I find a flyer for the Fri. and Sat. tournaments. Both are re-buy events (boo!!!). After reading the flyer carefully, I realize that the Fri. tourney is a $100+$20 for 5,000 chips, with unlimited $100 re-buys for 2,000 chips(if below 2000 in chips) for the first 2 hours. Even with my limited math skills (I didn't make David's top 10 list), I didn't think 2,000 chips for $100 was a good deal, so I decide that if I play, I will play with the original 5,000. Tournament also had a $100 for 3,000 chip add-on at the first break, not a good deal either, but I thought I might add-on depending on my position.
We (a friend was with me) decide to head over to the Goldstrike, as I had been told (by people at the Horseshoe) that sign-ups for Friday's $500+$50 WPO event would start at 7PM. What a cluster-fvck. The line for sign-ups had at least 500 people in it, but we get in line anyway. After a few minutes in line, two people from the G-Strike make their way down the line and inform us that the tourney's 1,100 seats are sold out, but they are taking alternates (they ended up taking 389 alternates). Based upon the starting chip count and blind structure, I didn't think being an alternate was a very wise choice. The main ballroom (where the WPO events are played) also had 20 or 30 extra tables set up for high dollar PL/NL games and satellites. My friend and I decide to enter a 1 table satellite for a $500 event, and if we win play in the Limit event on Sat. I finish 3rd in the sat., as the winner knocked out both #2 and me on the same hand (he had the worst hand pre-flop). The waiting list for lower limit poker in the G-Strike's normal poker room was pretty long, so we put our names on the list and decide to get something to eat. We go to the steakhouse at the Horseshoe, and about the time we order, Ohkanada (Ken P.) calls letting me know that he has arrived. I fill him in on the tourney situations, and he decides to join us for dinner. After dinner, all 3 of us enter a Sat., and Ken plays well but gets knocked out 3rd. We enter 1 more, where I finish 3rd again (notice a recurring theme?).
About 1AM, Ken and I get into a 1-2 NL game at the G-Strike. It was a good table to be at, several loose/maniacs. Ken built a very good table image (and deservedly so, he plays goot), and I was doing ok myself. Two hands of note: Hand #1-I raise pre-flop with AKo (normal raise was $10-$15) and get 2 callers, including the guy on my right who had been spewing chips the entire time I was at the table. I catch an A on the flop, bet out ($15 or so), and guy to my right calls. Turn is a blank, I bet again ($50), and player to my right pushes all in with about $100 total. Before I can call, the dealer takes my $50 stack, and matches it with $50 from the all-in pot, leaving about $43 for me to call. When the dealer touches his chips, this guy goes nuts. He starts yelling at the dealer to not touch his chips, that she is cheating him, that he had over $200 (in fact, I had put him to the felt about 5 hands earlier, and he had re-bought with $100, and hadn't won any big pots in between). Finally, the dealer and another player calm him down, explain to him what she was doing, and he agrees that he has $43 left for me to call. I call, he flips over AQ, I flip over AK, the river doesn't help him, and away he goes. Hand #2 - player 2 to my right limps in (he had been gambling it up, but it was obvious he was a good player), I raise to $15 with QQ, 1 caller, and the original limper re-raises to $135 (the biggest bet I had seen since sitting down). After thinking for a minute, I decide that he is making a move and re-raise all-in. This is where the fun starts. I had 2 one hundred dollar bills under my stack (we had been told that any Benjamins on the table were in play), and about $150 in chips. As I am moving my chips into the middle, the dealer says that the Benjamins aren't in play because they are folded. The villain in the pot says he doesn't care if they are folded, and he wants them to play (uh oh). I tell the dealer that I considered them in play. Floor comes over explains some arcane rule about folded money not being in play, and the villain matches my remaining $15 and flips over KK. I get no help and profit from the unusual rule at the casino. Finish about $90 down.
About 6:30AM (Friday), Ken and I decide to go over to the Grand and try to sign up for the $100+20 (sign-ups were supposed to begin at 9AM). We stop by Fitzgerald's, try to wake up my buddy, eat the buffet, and get to the Grand about 7:30. The line was already long, and they said they only had 140 more seats available. We register about 9:30, and there were about 20 seats remaining when we signed up. Go back to Fitzgerald's to catch some shut eye. The tourney started at 4, so we get back to the Grand about 3:30. The table I draw is fairly tight, with a lot of pre-flop raises taking the blinds. We see very few river cards. I catch nothing for most of the first 1.5 hours, and am down to 3,500 in chips when the following hands happen. I am on the button, and it is folded to me. Blinds are 100-200 at this point and I make it 600 to go with Jd2d (if you are gonna steal, make it good...lol). Small blind looks at me and says "you picked the wrong time to steal"; and re-raises to 1,000 total. BB folds and I call hoping for a lot of diamonds. Flop is T93, with 1 diamond. He checks, I bet $500, he calls. Turn is a non diamond 8. He bets 500, and I instantly push my remaining 2,000 in. He says that he has KK, but can't call because I made the straight and shows 1 K and folds. I breathe again, and play on. A few hands later, I am UTG +2, and catch KQo. I raise to 600, SB calls, everyone else folds. Flop is all rags (maybe 9 high), he checks, I bet 750, he calls. Turn is a K. He bets out 1,000 and I push (probably my dumbest play of the entire trip). He calls with AKo, I don't catch a Q on the river and I am done. I check on Ken, he has about 3,500 in chips with about 20 minutes remaining until the 1st break. He states that he won't re-buy, and I go check out the live play which at this point is a madhouse. Hang around until the 1st break, go check on Ken again, and he ahs about 20K stacked up in front of him. Looks like the last 20 minutes of the level were good to him!!! My friend and I head over to the 'Shoe/G-Strike, and Ken says he will catch up with us if/when he busts out. The 'Shoe/G-Strike was even crazier than the day before. 100 plus names on waiting lists, and absolute madhouse. Ken calls about 8:30 (2nd break) and says that he is still in with 109 left. I am busy playing BJ because I can't play poker, and promptly drop about $150. I finally get into a $10-$20 game at the shoe about 10:30. Limit isn't my strong suit, but I have seen tighter $.5/$1 games on Stars. Guys raising and re-raising the whole way, only to show A high at the river. I go to meet other 2+2er's at 11:30, and after a little confusion, find Matt Flynn, MicroBob, Coltrain (sp), Cyril, and Jim Kuhn. I have a good time talking to these guys. We agree to meet for dinner on Sat. night, and I go back to my $10-$20. Ken calls about 11:30, he finally busted out 11th (top 20 paid), and he comes over to the 'Shoe for a little while. Waits are still long, so he calls it a night and says he will call me in the morning. Two quick hands from the $10-$20 at the 'Shoe. I push a pre-flop raiser out on the flop with AQo, and he mucks face up with AQs (I had a flush draw, he didn't). I had a pretty good image at this table. I staddled once when I thought the table was beginning to tighten up, and made a set on the turn. I turn in about 4AM.
Ken calls on Sat. morning, he is going to the Grand early(10AM) to get our names on the lists. My friend and I show up at about 1PM, and Ken's name gets called for $10-$20 soon after. He lets me take the seat, and he gets called for the $1/$2 NL a few minutes later. About 1 hour later, I get called for the $1/$2 NL, and get up with a nice $150 profit. Sit down at the same table with Ken. There was 1 player (Bert, an older fella) at the table that called practically every bet to the river. He practically fed the game by himself. At about 6:30PM, Ken's name gets called for $4/$8, and my friend sits down to play. Ken's name had been on the $4/$8 list for over 6 hours!!! Ken and I leave about 8:15 to meet up with the other 2+2ers for dinner. Matt Flynn and Coltrain show up, and we have a very nice dinner where we solved most of the world's problems. We even talked a little poker. During our dinner, JBrown shows up. He is still in the $500 WPO Limit event, but is on break (he eventually finished around 15th). Ken and I decide that the lists are way to long at the 'Shoe and the G-Strike, and go back over to the Grand. I play $10-$20 until about 3AM, and head back to Fitzgerald's for a little sleep before driving home on Sunday morning.
For the trip, I lost $663, of which most was playing BJ and Hold-em Bonus (similar to Sklansky's Hold-em Challenge?) while waiting for a poker table to open up. Learned a lot from the trip watching Ken P. play, and listening to Matt Flynn talk about the game. I really enjoyed meeting everyone, especially Ken who I got to spend quite a bit of time with.
On a final note, here is a quick rundown of the "famous" people I saw. Fischman was there, with his buddy Gank. Gary Jones was there, as was a guy who was at the table when Fossilman knocked Matasow out of the WSOP-ME (can't remember his name, but he is a young kid, skinny and tall. Matt said he was a good player). Also head Matt Dean's name being called for a seat, and oddly enough, while I was playing at the 'Shoe on Friday night, at 1 point they called Ray Zee for $10/$20. I assume that a 2+2er with a sense of humor was using that name, as the real RZ would have been playing much higher limits I assume.
CCass
We (a friend was with me) decide to head over to the Goldstrike, as I had been told (by people at the Horseshoe) that sign-ups for Friday's $500+$50 WPO event would start at 7PM. What a cluster-fvck. The line for sign-ups had at least 500 people in it, but we get in line anyway. After a few minutes in line, two people from the G-Strike make their way down the line and inform us that the tourney's 1,100 seats are sold out, but they are taking alternates (they ended up taking 389 alternates). Based upon the starting chip count and blind structure, I didn't think being an alternate was a very wise choice. The main ballroom (where the WPO events are played) also had 20 or 30 extra tables set up for high dollar PL/NL games and satellites. My friend and I decide to enter a 1 table satellite for a $500 event, and if we win play in the Limit event on Sat. I finish 3rd in the sat., as the winner knocked out both #2 and me on the same hand (he had the worst hand pre-flop). The waiting list for lower limit poker in the G-Strike's normal poker room was pretty long, so we put our names on the list and decide to get something to eat. We go to the steakhouse at the Horseshoe, and about the time we order, Ohkanada (Ken P.) calls letting me know that he has arrived. I fill him in on the tourney situations, and he decides to join us for dinner. After dinner, all 3 of us enter a Sat., and Ken plays well but gets knocked out 3rd. We enter 1 more, where I finish 3rd again (notice a recurring theme?).
About 1AM, Ken and I get into a 1-2 NL game at the G-Strike. It was a good table to be at, several loose/maniacs. Ken built a very good table image (and deservedly so, he plays goot), and I was doing ok myself. Two hands of note: Hand #1-I raise pre-flop with AKo (normal raise was $10-$15) and get 2 callers, including the guy on my right who had been spewing chips the entire time I was at the table. I catch an A on the flop, bet out ($15 or so), and guy to my right calls. Turn is a blank, I bet again ($50), and player to my right pushes all in with about $100 total. Before I can call, the dealer takes my $50 stack, and matches it with $50 from the all-in pot, leaving about $43 for me to call. When the dealer touches his chips, this guy goes nuts. He starts yelling at the dealer to not touch his chips, that she is cheating him, that he had over $200 (in fact, I had put him to the felt about 5 hands earlier, and he had re-bought with $100, and hadn't won any big pots in between). Finally, the dealer and another player calm him down, explain to him what she was doing, and he agrees that he has $43 left for me to call. I call, he flips over AQ, I flip over AK, the river doesn't help him, and away he goes. Hand #2 - player 2 to my right limps in (he had been gambling it up, but it was obvious he was a good player), I raise to $15 with QQ, 1 caller, and the original limper re-raises to $135 (the biggest bet I had seen since sitting down). After thinking for a minute, I decide that he is making a move and re-raise all-in. This is where the fun starts. I had 2 one hundred dollar bills under my stack (we had been told that any Benjamins on the table were in play), and about $150 in chips. As I am moving my chips into the middle, the dealer says that the Benjamins aren't in play because they are folded. The villain in the pot says he doesn't care if they are folded, and he wants them to play (uh oh). I tell the dealer that I considered them in play. Floor comes over explains some arcane rule about folded money not being in play, and the villain matches my remaining $15 and flips over KK. I get no help and profit from the unusual rule at the casino. Finish about $90 down.
About 6:30AM (Friday), Ken and I decide to go over to the Grand and try to sign up for the $100+20 (sign-ups were supposed to begin at 9AM). We stop by Fitzgerald's, try to wake up my buddy, eat the buffet, and get to the Grand about 7:30. The line was already long, and they said they only had 140 more seats available. We register about 9:30, and there were about 20 seats remaining when we signed up. Go back to Fitzgerald's to catch some shut eye. The tourney started at 4, so we get back to the Grand about 3:30. The table I draw is fairly tight, with a lot of pre-flop raises taking the blinds. We see very few river cards. I catch nothing for most of the first 1.5 hours, and am down to 3,500 in chips when the following hands happen. I am on the button, and it is folded to me. Blinds are 100-200 at this point and I make it 600 to go with Jd2d (if you are gonna steal, make it good...lol). Small blind looks at me and says "you picked the wrong time to steal"; and re-raises to 1,000 total. BB folds and I call hoping for a lot of diamonds. Flop is T93, with 1 diamond. He checks, I bet $500, he calls. Turn is a non diamond 8. He bets 500, and I instantly push my remaining 2,000 in. He says that he has KK, but can't call because I made the straight and shows 1 K and folds. I breathe again, and play on. A few hands later, I am UTG +2, and catch KQo. I raise to 600, SB calls, everyone else folds. Flop is all rags (maybe 9 high), he checks, I bet 750, he calls. Turn is a K. He bets out 1,000 and I push (probably my dumbest play of the entire trip). He calls with AKo, I don't catch a Q on the river and I am done. I check on Ken, he has about 3,500 in chips with about 20 minutes remaining until the 1st break. He states that he won't re-buy, and I go check out the live play which at this point is a madhouse. Hang around until the 1st break, go check on Ken again, and he ahs about 20K stacked up in front of him. Looks like the last 20 minutes of the level were good to him!!! My friend and I head over to the 'Shoe/G-Strike, and Ken says he will catch up with us if/when he busts out. The 'Shoe/G-Strike was even crazier than the day before. 100 plus names on waiting lists, and absolute madhouse. Ken calls about 8:30 (2nd break) and says that he is still in with 109 left. I am busy playing BJ because I can't play poker, and promptly drop about $150. I finally get into a $10-$20 game at the shoe about 10:30. Limit isn't my strong suit, but I have seen tighter $.5/$1 games on Stars. Guys raising and re-raising the whole way, only to show A high at the river. I go to meet other 2+2er's at 11:30, and after a little confusion, find Matt Flynn, MicroBob, Coltrain (sp), Cyril, and Jim Kuhn. I have a good time talking to these guys. We agree to meet for dinner on Sat. night, and I go back to my $10-$20. Ken calls about 11:30, he finally busted out 11th (top 20 paid), and he comes over to the 'Shoe for a little while. Waits are still long, so he calls it a night and says he will call me in the morning. Two quick hands from the $10-$20 at the 'Shoe. I push a pre-flop raiser out on the flop with AQo, and he mucks face up with AQs (I had a flush draw, he didn't). I had a pretty good image at this table. I staddled once when I thought the table was beginning to tighten up, and made a set on the turn. I turn in about 4AM.
Ken calls on Sat. morning, he is going to the Grand early(10AM) to get our names on the lists. My friend and I show up at about 1PM, and Ken's name gets called for $10-$20 soon after. He lets me take the seat, and he gets called for the $1/$2 NL a few minutes later. About 1 hour later, I get called for the $1/$2 NL, and get up with a nice $150 profit. Sit down at the same table with Ken. There was 1 player (Bert, an older fella) at the table that called practically every bet to the river. He practically fed the game by himself. At about 6:30PM, Ken's name gets called for $4/$8, and my friend sits down to play. Ken's name had been on the $4/$8 list for over 6 hours!!! Ken and I leave about 8:15 to meet up with the other 2+2ers for dinner. Matt Flynn and Coltrain show up, and we have a very nice dinner where we solved most of the world's problems. We even talked a little poker. During our dinner, JBrown shows up. He is still in the $500 WPO Limit event, but is on break (he eventually finished around 15th). Ken and I decide that the lists are way to long at the 'Shoe and the G-Strike, and go back over to the Grand. I play $10-$20 until about 3AM, and head back to Fitzgerald's for a little sleep before driving home on Sunday morning.
For the trip, I lost $663, of which most was playing BJ and Hold-em Bonus (similar to Sklansky's Hold-em Challenge?) while waiting for a poker table to open up. Learned a lot from the trip watching Ken P. play, and listening to Matt Flynn talk about the game. I really enjoyed meeting everyone, especially Ken who I got to spend quite a bit of time with.
On a final note, here is a quick rundown of the "famous" people I saw. Fischman was there, with his buddy Gank. Gary Jones was there, as was a guy who was at the table when Fossilman knocked Matasow out of the WSOP-ME (can't remember his name, but he is a young kid, skinny and tall. Matt said he was a good player). Also head Matt Dean's name being called for a seat, and oddly enough, while I was playing at the 'Shoe on Friday night, at 1 point they called Ray Zee for $10/$20. I assume that a 2+2er with a sense of humor was using that name, as the real RZ would have been playing much higher limits I assume.
CCass