Tunica Trip Report
01-15-2008
, 09:44 PM
When I was in Memphis visiting family over the Christmas Holiday break, I saw that the World Poker Open (a WPT event) was about to happen in Tunica, MS. I looked at a schedule for the prelims and thought it would be fun and convenient to play some of the $500+50 events that were happening on the weekends. Well, the first weekend was also the first weekend back from my visit and just too much to cram in to my schedule, but I started thinking the second weekend looked really good. There was a $550 event on Friday at noon (my normal day off) and another on Saturday. I started to plan on a Thursday drive over and stay until Sunday. If I busted out early enough, I’d play the 2nd chance I saw advertised.
My wife seemed all for my little plan until about Tuesday when that seemed to change. I started getting asked about how much the trip was going to “cost us”. She supports me doing whatever makes me happy, but she doesn’t understand poker. I began to think I couldn’t go and play correctly if I was going to be accountable to someone who doesn’t understand and accept the variance of MTTs – even though I felt like I have a huge edge. She started telling me to ‘go’ again on Wed, but I really wasn’t convinced.
Thursday comes and there are really bad storms heading this way. I can’t leave on Thursday, now. I get home and check the forums to see what people are saying about where they are staying, etc. Then I get confused even more. It looks like the WSOP Circuit event structure is getting props and that is where LearnedfromTV just FT’d an event. I thought he was playing the WPO stuff. Now I don’t even know what I’d play even if I go. I still hadn’t made up my mind whether to even attempt the trip when I went to bed, but I set the alarm to be early enough to pack and leave in time to get to Tunica by noon.
I got up, packed, and left at 6:30 – no hotel room, no idea what I would play – but I decided I’d be mad at myself if I didn’t go try. No guts, no glory – right? Along the way, I got a $200 speeding ticket – so I decided I’d play the $300+40 circuit event, just to balance my budget some
I called my brother and asked him to find and book me a hotel room with late arrival, which he did. I rolled into the parking lot of the Grand Casino Tunica at 11:15, walked in and got in line for the noon event. After signing up, I woofed down a hotdog (I was STARVING) and went to my table – tourney starts in 3 minutes.
WSOP Circuit Tunica #11
That tourney ended up with 1000 people in it. Starting stacks were 10K and blinds 25/50. That structure ended up being about as sweet as any I’ve ever seen. 50 minute levels and a 15 min break every 3 levels. When dinner break came, they gave us a $20 voucher to eat. At that point, I had an average stack and felt like I read the other player’s souls all day. There were some huge mistakes being made by the other players and I was feeling very confident, chipping up small-ball but not really getting any cards. At dinner, I ate very light and was ready to go when it started back up.
I soon moved to a new table and the first hand I was dealt was QcTc in late position and I call a MP standard raise (about 30 bbs deep). The sb calls as does the bb – 4 to the flop. Flop comes J93r with one club and the sb (who looks like Kevin Federline or Vanilla Ice circa 1985) pushed for like about 12 bbs and the other guys folded. I called and runner-runner’d my flush. Not long after that, a guy with a huge stack sits down, covering everyone at the table by about 2x. He doesn’t look like much, but I’m careful not to underestimate him based on his looks alone. I don’t know anything about him, but he limps about every other hand for the first 8 hands. When he’s on the sb, I limp 33 from mp, he completes, bb checks…flop A33 (w00t). That’s a pretty nice flop, but I really doubt I’m getting paid here. It checks around and the turn comes another A. Checks around again. River J – no flush. The sb minbets, bb folds, and I think “well, he’s going to either fold to any bet OR he’s going to call almost any bet”, so I bet a little more than twice what’s in the pot – about half my stack. He says “I guess I have to pay you off” and calls with J6o. Hmmmm…not only did I just get some chips, I’m reinvigorated at where I stand vs. this field. I just keep chipping away as the night goes on. I noticed that bet sizing was all off most of the day and they would fold to tiny bets and call huge ones – based only on whether they wanted to fold or call, not how much was bet.
Last Break of Day 1
At the last break of the day, we had 74 people left and 72 are going to get paid (someone asked why only 7.2% get paid and the answer was something about the Mississippi Gaming Commission limiting payouts to < 75). I had an average stack and felt the table was really tightening up for the bubble. There was lots of talk about ‘making the money’ and people started folding their bb to small raises (something that had NOT been happening much earlier). I talked to my wife on the phone at the break and told her I would be busting out or running the score up for the next few hands – I had BIG plans for the bubble. First hand back, I open and BB calls and then bets at A high flop and shows ATo. Next hand the tournament director stands up and announces we’re going to start “round-for-round”. HUH? I know hand-for-hand. I like hand-for-hand. “What is round-for-round” I asked. Well, as it turns out, round-for-round is that every table plays one round and then stops - we played a full round and busted 5 people in that time. Those 5 people all chopped the 4 pay spots they covered. In other words, there was effectively NO bubble and I lost ½ my stack during that round. I managed to keep my stack up until the last round of the night. I lost a coinflip, paid blinds as they went up, etc. and ended up short toward the end of the night (15 minutes to go). I really didn’t want to start day 2 short, since that would mean I miss the other tourney just to shortstack ninja tomorrow. I shipped it the sb with 46K at 12K/6K/1K and bb asked me if I wanted a call. I had 6c5c and I really thought I wanted a call. I’m not sure that’s the right way to think – but I’d been up for 22 hours and had never really contemplated the value of a very short stack ITM on one tourney vs the lost value of tomorrow’s tourney. I bust out 15 minutes before the EOD in 39th place for $829.
I find my hotel and check in…bedtime 3:30 am. Up again at 7 with sun in my eyes and people banging around. I am tired, but I don’t usually sleep much – so up-n-at’em. Breakfast was the Chicken Club Toaster and Tater Tots at Sonic, washed down with a 12 oz red bull….mmmmmm.
WPO/WPT Event
I sign up for the WPO $500 event (the Circuit event is $700 that day) that starts at noon. I decided this mostly because 1st place also has a seat to the ME. I can’t win the WPT ME if I don’t play, right? Structure is total yuck. 40 min levels, $2500 starting chips and 25/25, 25/50, 50/100 first three rounds. The table I was at was full of morons, so that’s good, imo. Every open seemed to be $250 (10x bb) and would get up to 5 callers. We lost a guy on hand 1, AQo vs 88 allin on Q high, no 8 flop. I’m feeling the tiredness, but I’m excited about the moron factor of the competition. At 25/25, I opened from MP to $125 (half the normal open) with TT and only bb (young poker-serious-looking guy) calls. Flop comes 9 high, with a straight and flush draw. He checks - I bet 200 and he calls. Turn is a blank and he checks to me. My intention is to bet/fold $350. As I toss my bet, I’m looking at him and he reacts to my bet VERY weird – then shoves allin. I’m about to say “fold” when I look down at the pot where I see MY $1000 chip in the pot. It’s $100 more for me to call (I did), because I misclicked and somehow shipped $1350, by mistake, into his set of 4’s. I had $800 and the button on the first hand of the $50/100 level when the hijack limps. I push my 8bbs over his limp and he announces “I hope you have big slick” then calls with 33 (for 1/3 his stack). I actually had 6d7d and picked up the OESD/FD before whiffing. It’s now 1:31 pm and I’m near Sugar Ditch, MS with nothing to do
Back to the Grand
I went back to the Grand, thinking I’d play the 2 pm ‘Super Mega Satellite to the ME”. I asked how many people were in it 10 minutes before it was supposed to ‘go’ and they told me “we almost have a full table”. When I asked, I found out they did NOT guarantee a seat, so this was just a WTA STT.
I signed up for the 6 pm second chance $200+25 tourney and started hanging out. I wanted to play some cash games, but I couldn’t get my brain engaged and didn’t want to play big and get pwned. I contemplated going for a nap – but naps are for babies, right?
I sit down at the 1/3 table and kill some time and earn $100.
At 6 pm, I’m exhausted and I haven’t eaten since breakfast, but I’m on about cup # 8 of coffee and I came to play pokah! I drink another 16 oz cup of coffee every 90 minutes for the rest of the night. The second chance is the same structure as the $340, only it’s 30 minutes levels and 3K starting chips. There ends up being something like 180 runners – 18 places pay and first place is about $10,850 after taxes. By the time we get to 4 handed, it was 2 a.m. and I had ½ the chips in play and the other 3 have evenish stacks. When we went on the next break and I asked the dealer how much longer he thought this would take. He said “Oh, one more will bust out and then there will be a deal”. I shouldn’t have said it like I did, but I’m old (this was 2 hours into my 41st birthday) and I was tired. I blurted out “Not if I’m not the next one out there won’t be”. I had no intention of dealing with them in any way (unless they wanted to do something like stealthmunk’s million dealing). He didn’t seem to like that answer and told me that he’d seen this hundreds of times and that every time, except maybe 3, the guy that won’t deal busts next. I was worried that he might put a curse on me or start dealing off the bottom or something. The word ‘deal’ never even came up. The ‘other guy’ got both the other stacks and I chipped up very little from 4 to 2 handed. Once HU, we were about even, though I think he actually covered me by a few chips. We played it out until 4:15 am and I won (I pwned him good HU). Yay me, Happy Birthday!!! I cashed out and fell into bed about 4:45 am.
I was so tired on the way home, I got on the wrong road and drove for 3 hours before I realized it – oops…1.5 hours extra on drive home
The Final Tally:
-$340 buyin
+$829 cash for 39/1000
-$550 buyin (whiff)
+$100 1/3 NLHE ring game
-$225 buyin
+$10,500 (after taxes and tip) cash for 1/180
Trip = + $10,314.
Mrs. Confused1 is happy
I really want to go back this weekend try to play the $7500 Circuit ME or the $10K WPO/WPT event. If I go, I’ll go early and try to sat into one of them or get some other form of variance help.
If any of you already has a plan to play either of them or advice on how to minimize the downside, holler at me.
My wife seemed all for my little plan until about Tuesday when that seemed to change. I started getting asked about how much the trip was going to “cost us”. She supports me doing whatever makes me happy, but she doesn’t understand poker. I began to think I couldn’t go and play correctly if I was going to be accountable to someone who doesn’t understand and accept the variance of MTTs – even though I felt like I have a huge edge. She started telling me to ‘go’ again on Wed, but I really wasn’t convinced.
Thursday comes and there are really bad storms heading this way. I can’t leave on Thursday, now. I get home and check the forums to see what people are saying about where they are staying, etc. Then I get confused even more. It looks like the WSOP Circuit event structure is getting props and that is where LearnedfromTV just FT’d an event. I thought he was playing the WPO stuff. Now I don’t even know what I’d play even if I go. I still hadn’t made up my mind whether to even attempt the trip when I went to bed, but I set the alarm to be early enough to pack and leave in time to get to Tunica by noon.
I got up, packed, and left at 6:30 – no hotel room, no idea what I would play – but I decided I’d be mad at myself if I didn’t go try. No guts, no glory – right? Along the way, I got a $200 speeding ticket – so I decided I’d play the $300+40 circuit event, just to balance my budget some
I called my brother and asked him to find and book me a hotel room with late arrival, which he did. I rolled into the parking lot of the Grand Casino Tunica at 11:15, walked in and got in line for the noon event. After signing up, I woofed down a hotdog (I was STARVING) and went to my table – tourney starts in 3 minutes. WSOP Circuit Tunica #11
That tourney ended up with 1000 people in it. Starting stacks were 10K and blinds 25/50. That structure ended up being about as sweet as any I’ve ever seen. 50 minute levels and a 15 min break every 3 levels. When dinner break came, they gave us a $20 voucher to eat. At that point, I had an average stack and felt like I read the other player’s souls all day. There were some huge mistakes being made by the other players and I was feeling very confident, chipping up small-ball but not really getting any cards. At dinner, I ate very light and was ready to go when it started back up.
I soon moved to a new table and the first hand I was dealt was QcTc in late position and I call a MP standard raise (about 30 bbs deep). The sb calls as does the bb – 4 to the flop. Flop comes J93r with one club and the sb (who looks like Kevin Federline or Vanilla Ice circa 1985) pushed for like about 12 bbs and the other guys folded. I called and runner-runner’d my flush. Not long after that, a guy with a huge stack sits down, covering everyone at the table by about 2x. He doesn’t look like much, but I’m careful not to underestimate him based on his looks alone. I don’t know anything about him, but he limps about every other hand for the first 8 hands. When he’s on the sb, I limp 33 from mp, he completes, bb checks…flop A33 (w00t). That’s a pretty nice flop, but I really doubt I’m getting paid here. It checks around and the turn comes another A. Checks around again. River J – no flush. The sb minbets, bb folds, and I think “well, he’s going to either fold to any bet OR he’s going to call almost any bet”, so I bet a little more than twice what’s in the pot – about half my stack. He says “I guess I have to pay you off” and calls with J6o. Hmmmm…not only did I just get some chips, I’m reinvigorated at where I stand vs. this field. I just keep chipping away as the night goes on. I noticed that bet sizing was all off most of the day and they would fold to tiny bets and call huge ones – based only on whether they wanted to fold or call, not how much was bet.
Last Break of Day 1
At the last break of the day, we had 74 people left and 72 are going to get paid (someone asked why only 7.2% get paid and the answer was something about the Mississippi Gaming Commission limiting payouts to < 75). I had an average stack and felt the table was really tightening up for the bubble. There was lots of talk about ‘making the money’ and people started folding their bb to small raises (something that had NOT been happening much earlier). I talked to my wife on the phone at the break and told her I would be busting out or running the score up for the next few hands – I had BIG plans for the bubble. First hand back, I open and BB calls and then bets at A high flop and shows ATo. Next hand the tournament director stands up and announces we’re going to start “round-for-round”. HUH? I know hand-for-hand. I like hand-for-hand. “What is round-for-round” I asked. Well, as it turns out, round-for-round is that every table plays one round and then stops - we played a full round and busted 5 people in that time. Those 5 people all chopped the 4 pay spots they covered. In other words, there was effectively NO bubble and I lost ½ my stack during that round. I managed to keep my stack up until the last round of the night. I lost a coinflip, paid blinds as they went up, etc. and ended up short toward the end of the night (15 minutes to go). I really didn’t want to start day 2 short, since that would mean I miss the other tourney just to shortstack ninja tomorrow. I shipped it the sb with 46K at 12K/6K/1K and bb asked me if I wanted a call. I had 6c5c and I really thought I wanted a call. I’m not sure that’s the right way to think – but I’d been up for 22 hours and had never really contemplated the value of a very short stack ITM on one tourney vs the lost value of tomorrow’s tourney. I bust out 15 minutes before the EOD in 39th place for $829.
I find my hotel and check in…bedtime 3:30 am. Up again at 7 with sun in my eyes and people banging around. I am tired, but I don’t usually sleep much – so up-n-at’em. Breakfast was the Chicken Club Toaster and Tater Tots at Sonic, washed down with a 12 oz red bull….mmmmmm.
WPO/WPT Event
I sign up for the WPO $500 event (the Circuit event is $700 that day) that starts at noon. I decided this mostly because 1st place also has a seat to the ME. I can’t win the WPT ME if I don’t play, right? Structure is total yuck. 40 min levels, $2500 starting chips and 25/25, 25/50, 50/100 first three rounds. The table I was at was full of morons, so that’s good, imo. Every open seemed to be $250 (10x bb) and would get up to 5 callers. We lost a guy on hand 1, AQo vs 88 allin on Q high, no 8 flop. I’m feeling the tiredness, but I’m excited about the moron factor of the competition. At 25/25, I opened from MP to $125 (half the normal open) with TT and only bb (young poker-serious-looking guy) calls. Flop comes 9 high, with a straight and flush draw. He checks - I bet 200 and he calls. Turn is a blank and he checks to me. My intention is to bet/fold $350. As I toss my bet, I’m looking at him and he reacts to my bet VERY weird – then shoves allin. I’m about to say “fold” when I look down at the pot where I see MY $1000 chip in the pot. It’s $100 more for me to call (I did), because I misclicked and somehow shipped $1350, by mistake, into his set of 4’s. I had $800 and the button on the first hand of the $50/100 level when the hijack limps. I push my 8bbs over his limp and he announces “I hope you have big slick” then calls with 33 (for 1/3 his stack). I actually had 6d7d and picked up the OESD/FD before whiffing. It’s now 1:31 pm and I’m near Sugar Ditch, MS with nothing to do
Back to the Grand
I went back to the Grand, thinking I’d play the 2 pm ‘Super Mega Satellite to the ME”. I asked how many people were in it 10 minutes before it was supposed to ‘go’ and they told me “we almost have a full table”. When I asked, I found out they did NOT guarantee a seat, so this was just a WTA STT.
I signed up for the 6 pm second chance $200+25 tourney and started hanging out. I wanted to play some cash games, but I couldn’t get my brain engaged and didn’t want to play big and get pwned. I contemplated going for a nap – but naps are for babies, right?
I sit down at the 1/3 table and kill some time and earn $100.At 6 pm, I’m exhausted and I haven’t eaten since breakfast, but I’m on about cup # 8 of coffee and I came to play pokah! I drink another 16 oz cup of coffee every 90 minutes for the rest of the night. The second chance is the same structure as the $340, only it’s 30 minutes levels and 3K starting chips. There ends up being something like 180 runners – 18 places pay and first place is about $10,850 after taxes. By the time we get to 4 handed, it was 2 a.m. and I had ½ the chips in play and the other 3 have evenish stacks. When we went on the next break and I asked the dealer how much longer he thought this would take. He said “Oh, one more will bust out and then there will be a deal”. I shouldn’t have said it like I did, but I’m old (this was 2 hours into my 41st birthday) and I was tired. I blurted out “Not if I’m not the next one out there won’t be”. I had no intention of dealing with them in any way (unless they wanted to do something like stealthmunk’s million dealing). He didn’t seem to like that answer and told me that he’d seen this hundreds of times and that every time, except maybe 3, the guy that won’t deal busts next. I was worried that he might put a curse on me or start dealing off the bottom or something. The word ‘deal’ never even came up. The ‘other guy’ got both the other stacks and I chipped up very little from 4 to 2 handed. Once HU, we were about even, though I think he actually covered me by a few chips. We played it out until 4:15 am and I won (I pwned him good HU). Yay me, Happy Birthday!!! I cashed out and fell into bed about 4:45 am.
I was so tired on the way home, I got on the wrong road and drove for 3 hours before I realized it – oops…1.5 hours extra on drive home
The Final Tally:
-$340 buyin
+$829 cash for 39/1000
-$550 buyin (whiff)
+$100 1/3 NLHE ring game
-$225 buyin
+$10,500 (after taxes and tip) cash for 1/180
Trip = + $10,314.
Mrs. Confused1 is happy
I really want to go back this weekend try to play the $7500 Circuit ME or the $10K WPO/WPT event. If I go, I’ll go early and try to sat into one of them or get some other form of variance help.
If any of you already has a plan to play either of them or advice on how to minimize the downside, holler at me.
01-16-2008
, 12:36 PM
01-16-2008
, 12:43 PM
Congrats. Ship 1 for the old guys. 
