cero_z
02-01-2004, 01:31 PM
I just spent 9 days in Tunica, and I played 74 hours of poker while there. For those of you who don't know, Tunica is a fantastic place for poker players: great action in a variety of well-run games, free food, and excellent rooms for about $25 a night. I had a blast.
I am a middle-limit Hold'em, Stud, and Omaha player, but I also play some pot-limit, and have been recently seized by the urge to become a good tournament player (how original). I only travel for poker 2-3 times per year at the most, as the action back home is terrific. However, the "big-score" opportunities that tournaments present are not available at home, so I came to Tunica intending to focus my efforts there.
I arrived on Tuesday the 20th, and sat down in a 20-40 HE game at about noon ( 20-40 goes around the clock at the Horseshoe). The game was good; very passive for 20-40, which I found typical of the morning games filled with regulars. I played for 3 hours, won about 500, and went over to the Grand Hotel, which was hosting a series of smaller buy-in events. I entered what was essentially a $450 NL HE event (very few people pass on the "optional" add-on which gives you 2.5 times the original buy for the same price). I played poorly at a semi-tough table, and got bounced about 100th out of 200 entrants. I was personally surprised to see that by my estimation, everyone at the table played reasonably or very well.
I had some uneventful losing sessions (-500, -300, -300) on Wednesday playing Omaha 8 and HE at the Gold Strike, where the WPO was being held. The games were just fair, with most being tight and somewhat passive. So, I walked over to the Shoe, where I found a decent 20-40 HE game and ran good, winning about $1200. So far, so good.
The next day I played 12 hours in a phenomenal 15-30 HE at the Grand, and won just over a dime. The Grand had a hard time keeping a 15-30 game together (most games were 4-8 or 10-20 there), but when they ran, they were great games.
That session ended interestingly for me: I finished it by playing Jerry "Shoot'em Up" Vaughn heads up for about 2 hours. Jerry, a well-known (but not to me) local pro there, had been steadily losing in our soft short-handed (3-5 player) game for a few hours, due (IMO) to poor cards and a little too much bluffing vs. weak calling stations. Anyway, my assessment of him at that point was of an aggressive player who was halfway decent. I was wrong. As the last of the weak players at the table finally busted out to Jerry, he asked me if I would play heads up for a while. I was licking my chops, as I'd been about to ask him the same thing. So, we played, and he proceeded to beat my brains in to the tune of about 600 (2/3 of win it'd taken me 10 hours to amass) in the first half hour. Certainly, he was getting the better cards, but every move he made was right: he called my bluffs with very weak hands, maximized his wins, and stayed out of the way when I had a monster. To me, he was virtually unreadable, mixing up his betting motions beautifully: splashing, cutting, sliding, etc. "WTF is going on here?", I wondered. Luckily for me, I figured it out.
I had gotten sloppy after a long session, and my betting motion was revealing everything. Imagine my horror upon discovering that I was performing a slight variation on the "strong when weak, weak when strong" tell! So, I reversed it. I managed to steal several good-sized pots in a row, and then I showed him a big hand when he wasn't expecting it. I saw the look of surprise as it registered on his face, and he got slightly agitated. I had pulled back to about 200 down, and he asked me if I wanted to play 20-40. It was 5:45am, and I said that I'd play until 6:30 (I was still adjusting to the new sleep schedule, and was pretty tired at that point). I expected Jerry to adjust after that one big hand, but he didn't until after the next one. It went down as follows: I raised from the SBB with 9h6h (the love hand), and Jerry called. the flop came 9c 9d 7c, and Jerry led into me. I raised, and he called. The turn card was the 4d, putting 2 flush draws on board. Jerry bet right into me, and I raised again, using the slight flourish that had been giving my weak hands away. I was trying to represent a hand like 66, 88, or 2 overcards with a flush draw. Jerry said, "Shoot it up," in his southern drawl, which is exactly what he said each of the perhaps 500 times he'd raised that day. I 4-bet it, and he called. The river was the 3s, and Jerry bet again! Now, up until this point, I'd felt that Jerry's most likely hand was something like AdTd, or an overpair that he'd smooth-called with pre-flop, and was reading me for weakness. He was not above bluffing on the end with those two overcards, if he was afraid that I would check a hand like AcQc behind him. But, his bet seemed to have more strength than a bluff to me, and I started to worry a little. I now felt his likely hands were a pocket pair or possibly a 9, though obviously the case nine was less likely. I decided to go with the pocket pair read, and raised. He thought for a long time in obvious distress, and finally called. I showed him my hand, and he conceded, showing me the 9s2s! My kicker (a 6) played, and I dragged a monster pot. I guess I was folding too much, if he was playing a hand that weak against my pre-flop raise. Anyway, that pot put me up for the first time against him, and when the dust settled at 6:30, I'd won just under $200 (for a total of 1100), and left feeling like I'd dodged a bullet and learned something in the process. I have a lot of respect for Jerry after that match; I doubt I'll accept his next invitation to play heads up.
The next day, I awoke feeling fresh at 3:30pm, and hurried to the Grand to play in the $500 NL HE event at 4. I played a little better than in the previous tourney, building my starting stack of 7000 up to 12000 when I bluffed a weak-tight player off of what was surely a medium pair or AK (I held AQs, and the board was J 9 6 6, and I moved my last 5000 into the pot on the turn after calling her pre-flop re-raise and then betting the flop). Then, with the blinds at 200 and 400, 4 players limped in front of me, and I limped with 88 on the button. Both blinds called, and we looked at a flop of Kd 8d 7d. Checked to the 2nd limper, who is noticeably flustered. This is a middle-aged gentleman, who has made several terrible plays thus far, and looks to have little poker experience. His face is beat read, and he seems to be deciding how much to bet. After about 20 seconds, he bets 2000 into the nearly 3000 pot. Everyone folds to me, and I move in. Monkey Poker. He's so excited, he slams his Ad 6d down on the felt before any of the 3 players between us have acted! In his mind, he's Chan after trapping Seidel; in my mind (and now yours), I'm an idiot who inexplicably ignored the fact that this guy obviously had a big hand, and put all my chips in with the worst of it. The board doesn't pair, and I exit in about 60th place out of 300.
This performance shook me a little, and changed my plans. I had intended to buy in to the $1000 NL HE event at the WPO the following day, but after 2 tournaments where I didn't even give myself a shot to make the money, I felt it was a bad gamble. I realize that the hand I described isn't exactly terrible, but trust me when I tell you that I put major chips in several times in both tourneys with the worst of it. So, I slept through the beginning of the $1000 event, and decided to focus on ring games for the rest of the trip.
The next evening, I went back to my favorite game, 20-40 HE at the Shoe. Seated to my right was a bearded Robin Williams doppelganger who was simultaneously killing the game and expounding to nobody in particular on a wide range of topics, from inexplicably sturdy ancient Roman concrete to the recent death of Capt. Kangaroo. Only peripherally aware of these "conversations", I did take notice when he mentioned that he was a 2+2 poster. It turns out I was playing with the great and venerable elysium! This was a pleasure for me, as his posts often make me curious about the mind behind them. Anyway, we talked a little, and played for a few hours, until I left. I had gotten terribly stuck in the game, and managed to dig out to less than 500 down, so I decided to call it a moral victory and find a better game. Elysium had many, many chips when I left the table.
I am a middle-limit Hold'em, Stud, and Omaha player, but I also play some pot-limit, and have been recently seized by the urge to become a good tournament player (how original). I only travel for poker 2-3 times per year at the most, as the action back home is terrific. However, the "big-score" opportunities that tournaments present are not available at home, so I came to Tunica intending to focus my efforts there.
I arrived on Tuesday the 20th, and sat down in a 20-40 HE game at about noon ( 20-40 goes around the clock at the Horseshoe). The game was good; very passive for 20-40, which I found typical of the morning games filled with regulars. I played for 3 hours, won about 500, and went over to the Grand Hotel, which was hosting a series of smaller buy-in events. I entered what was essentially a $450 NL HE event (very few people pass on the "optional" add-on which gives you 2.5 times the original buy for the same price). I played poorly at a semi-tough table, and got bounced about 100th out of 200 entrants. I was personally surprised to see that by my estimation, everyone at the table played reasonably or very well.
I had some uneventful losing sessions (-500, -300, -300) on Wednesday playing Omaha 8 and HE at the Gold Strike, where the WPO was being held. The games were just fair, with most being tight and somewhat passive. So, I walked over to the Shoe, where I found a decent 20-40 HE game and ran good, winning about $1200. So far, so good.
The next day I played 12 hours in a phenomenal 15-30 HE at the Grand, and won just over a dime. The Grand had a hard time keeping a 15-30 game together (most games were 4-8 or 10-20 there), but when they ran, they were great games.
That session ended interestingly for me: I finished it by playing Jerry "Shoot'em Up" Vaughn heads up for about 2 hours. Jerry, a well-known (but not to me) local pro there, had been steadily losing in our soft short-handed (3-5 player) game for a few hours, due (IMO) to poor cards and a little too much bluffing vs. weak calling stations. Anyway, my assessment of him at that point was of an aggressive player who was halfway decent. I was wrong. As the last of the weak players at the table finally busted out to Jerry, he asked me if I would play heads up for a while. I was licking my chops, as I'd been about to ask him the same thing. So, we played, and he proceeded to beat my brains in to the tune of about 600 (2/3 of win it'd taken me 10 hours to amass) in the first half hour. Certainly, he was getting the better cards, but every move he made was right: he called my bluffs with very weak hands, maximized his wins, and stayed out of the way when I had a monster. To me, he was virtually unreadable, mixing up his betting motions beautifully: splashing, cutting, sliding, etc. "WTF is going on here?", I wondered. Luckily for me, I figured it out.
I had gotten sloppy after a long session, and my betting motion was revealing everything. Imagine my horror upon discovering that I was performing a slight variation on the "strong when weak, weak when strong" tell! So, I reversed it. I managed to steal several good-sized pots in a row, and then I showed him a big hand when he wasn't expecting it. I saw the look of surprise as it registered on his face, and he got slightly agitated. I had pulled back to about 200 down, and he asked me if I wanted to play 20-40. It was 5:45am, and I said that I'd play until 6:30 (I was still adjusting to the new sleep schedule, and was pretty tired at that point). I expected Jerry to adjust after that one big hand, but he didn't until after the next one. It went down as follows: I raised from the SBB with 9h6h (the love hand), and Jerry called. the flop came 9c 9d 7c, and Jerry led into me. I raised, and he called. The turn card was the 4d, putting 2 flush draws on board. Jerry bet right into me, and I raised again, using the slight flourish that had been giving my weak hands away. I was trying to represent a hand like 66, 88, or 2 overcards with a flush draw. Jerry said, "Shoot it up," in his southern drawl, which is exactly what he said each of the perhaps 500 times he'd raised that day. I 4-bet it, and he called. The river was the 3s, and Jerry bet again! Now, up until this point, I'd felt that Jerry's most likely hand was something like AdTd, or an overpair that he'd smooth-called with pre-flop, and was reading me for weakness. He was not above bluffing on the end with those two overcards, if he was afraid that I would check a hand like AcQc behind him. But, his bet seemed to have more strength than a bluff to me, and I started to worry a little. I now felt his likely hands were a pocket pair or possibly a 9, though obviously the case nine was less likely. I decided to go with the pocket pair read, and raised. He thought for a long time in obvious distress, and finally called. I showed him my hand, and he conceded, showing me the 9s2s! My kicker (a 6) played, and I dragged a monster pot. I guess I was folding too much, if he was playing a hand that weak against my pre-flop raise. Anyway, that pot put me up for the first time against him, and when the dust settled at 6:30, I'd won just under $200 (for a total of 1100), and left feeling like I'd dodged a bullet and learned something in the process. I have a lot of respect for Jerry after that match; I doubt I'll accept his next invitation to play heads up.
The next day, I awoke feeling fresh at 3:30pm, and hurried to the Grand to play in the $500 NL HE event at 4. I played a little better than in the previous tourney, building my starting stack of 7000 up to 12000 when I bluffed a weak-tight player off of what was surely a medium pair or AK (I held AQs, and the board was J 9 6 6, and I moved my last 5000 into the pot on the turn after calling her pre-flop re-raise and then betting the flop). Then, with the blinds at 200 and 400, 4 players limped in front of me, and I limped with 88 on the button. Both blinds called, and we looked at a flop of Kd 8d 7d. Checked to the 2nd limper, who is noticeably flustered. This is a middle-aged gentleman, who has made several terrible plays thus far, and looks to have little poker experience. His face is beat read, and he seems to be deciding how much to bet. After about 20 seconds, he bets 2000 into the nearly 3000 pot. Everyone folds to me, and I move in. Monkey Poker. He's so excited, he slams his Ad 6d down on the felt before any of the 3 players between us have acted! In his mind, he's Chan after trapping Seidel; in my mind (and now yours), I'm an idiot who inexplicably ignored the fact that this guy obviously had a big hand, and put all my chips in with the worst of it. The board doesn't pair, and I exit in about 60th place out of 300.
This performance shook me a little, and changed my plans. I had intended to buy in to the $1000 NL HE event at the WPO the following day, but after 2 tournaments where I didn't even give myself a shot to make the money, I felt it was a bad gamble. I realize that the hand I described isn't exactly terrible, but trust me when I tell you that I put major chips in several times in both tourneys with the worst of it. So, I slept through the beginning of the $1000 event, and decided to focus on ring games for the rest of the trip.
The next evening, I went back to my favorite game, 20-40 HE at the Shoe. Seated to my right was a bearded Robin Williams doppelganger who was simultaneously killing the game and expounding to nobody in particular on a wide range of topics, from inexplicably sturdy ancient Roman concrete to the recent death of Capt. Kangaroo. Only peripherally aware of these "conversations", I did take notice when he mentioned that he was a 2+2 poster. It turns out I was playing with the great and venerable elysium! This was a pleasure for me, as his posts often make me curious about the mind behind them. Anyway, we talked a little, and played for a few hours, until I left. I had gotten terribly stuck in the game, and managed to dig out to less than 500 down, so I decided to call it a moral victory and find a better game. Elysium had many, many chips when I left the table.