Day One in Tunica....not goood, not good....

Well, I've had better days...and I've had worse days. Couldn't sleep worth a damn after getting in at 4am. But I made it over to Goldstrike 15 mins early...only to find a line running down the hallway. Dang. Oh well, I guess its good that they have a good turnout at least, right!!?? Better a long line than NO line! Ended up being a total of 262.

I started out hot. Got AK about 7 times. Once, I flatted in the SB with it on a 6 way limped pot. Flopped top pair and got a guy to stuff his whole stack in with a flush draw, that somehow missed. About a 12k pot there. On another I flopped a flush with a straight flush draw...got about 3500 in there trying to push them out, 400 on the flop and 1100 on the turn, that called by both...but a non-straight flush completing river club doomed my hand.

On another hand...I could have crushed my eventual nemesis if I had just called his heavy pre-flop raise UTG with what turned out to be 33 when I had AhQd...he did get one other caller in the SB. Flopped all hearts, turned a Q. Rivered a heart. Ugh...that one stung.

Had a pretty friendly table, though I am really sticking to my guns of doing as little chatting as possible with everyone. Though I have to admit, I had a lot of guys coming up wanting to talk, since I hadn't seen a lot of them in quite awhile. Some I remembered, some, not really. Always feel bad when a guy wants to recite a hand that we played against each other a year or so ago and I have no recollection of him or obviously the hand.

I grew my 10k stack to 45k by level 6 and was really starting to like my chances to at least cash and hopefully get deep. And then players started hovering around our table and seeing my stack and I could hear the buzz. However, everytime I get a healthy stack early, disaster always seems to be looming. But I tried very hard to dispell that trend.

And then right on cue...here comes Roz Jordan, who historically kills me. She knows it, I know it...its just one of those things, like the sun rising in the West and taxes making you want to kill yourself. She smiled as she sat down...and I went into my typical 'top three hands only' stance while she was present. So on the 5th hand, in the BB with the blinds 300/600...this guy raises to 3000! I look down at 99. Good bye! Fold! Nice try Roz. Now don't get me wrong...I love Roz...she's very cool! Hell, she IS on my Facebook! And she's a fantastic dealer. Just one of those things. Well, I played as tight as a guy can play while she was there for 30 minutes....and when she pushed out and I was only -2200 on her visit (blinds and antes) I felt pretty good about my chances!!!

But then...in Level 7...here it came. First ding I took was when I raised with Ad10d...and a guy who had one move and one move only....ALL IN...and had been jamming constantly...moves in on me. I had 45k in my stack. Had just raised 3500. With his all in there was 10k in the pot and it was 5k to call. Two to one odds, and a likely possibly that I was live and possibly even ahead. I made the call. He had AK. Damn. But the flop came 7d-8c-9d. Wow! Can't get much better than that. But would I hit a flush or a straight or a ten? Hell no. Strike one!

A while later a guy would move all in for 13,000 when the blinds were 1000/2000, and sitting on 28,000 and holding 99 I called. He had J9. The dealer flops him a JACK...but also puts three hearts out there, with me holding a heart. The turn brought a straight draw for us both....the river brought absolutely nothing. Wonderful.

I blind down. Shove all in with AQ and AK and then raise with KK and get no action on none of them but do get back to 20k. Then blind down some more....and fold hands like A5 suited, KJ suited and 77 to all in shovers. Then finally a guy shoves for 8500 and I have KQ...and decide to try and make something happen and call. He has A10. Flop comes J-10-7. Wow, again...open ended, with two live cards. Again...I miss them all. Damn.

Now I'm super short. End up getting all in with 5-6. Flop 7-5-6. Two guys in a side pot check the flop. Then they check the turn....which was a 2. Then the river brings another 7. Guy bets huge. Fuck! I just got killed I think. Yep. He has A-7. Awesome. Out. In level 8. 45th. Paying 27. But with this structure...it wasnt a 8 or 10-hour non-cash grind like most of them this summer. It was still only 6pm when I got zapped. But still it hurt, given my nice start.

While I was running good Frank Kassela showed up and hung out near my table for awhile making small talk. Not sure how many of the other players know who he is or what he accomplished this summer. I'm sure by November they will ALL know who he is! Not that it matters much to me, I know who he is, right?

While he was there I kept getting great hands and winning nice pots. Wish he could have stayed the whole time. He just got into town and came to play the $2500 Pot Limit Omaha tourney...which was delayed while they were waiting on another friend, Chad Brown to arrive. Chad finally showed up around 3pm and they got things going. They only ended up getting 11 players I think...half of which were buddies of mine, Frank, Chad, Tim Burt, Gabe Costner...it only paid 3 and it ended up being Frank, Chad and some young kid from Georgia, who after playing heads up with Frank for almost 5 hours, would finally win.

Frank was all bummed out, and I kind of had to laugh at him. Hell he just won 1.2 million this summer and he was all bent out of shape about a $13,000 for 1st and $8000 for 2nd tournament. But thats cool...I've always maintained that Frank doesnt play this game so much for the money as for the win...he's competitive, like I am...and just really likes to win. I respect that. He quickly got over the loss as we went over to Waffle House at 3am and met some dealers over there. It was pretty fun actually. The dealers all like to tease me about my current 'situation' that exists, and honestly, I'm perfectly fine with it. I try to be a good sport. And the food, as always at Waffle House...was awesome!

While Frank was playing heads up I was playing Sit n Go's all night. I played a total of 5. The first two went badly....finishing 8th and 9th. The 3rd one I finished 4th. The 4th one I finished 5th. But the last one, I finally booked a win...and it included a $200 last longer...so it was a nice way to end the day. And I even booked a little $105 profit in one hour of cash game earlier in the night. So the day wasn't a complete disaster by any means. And I'm not gonna lie, while my wife and I both agree that I should limit my drinking while up here, and I know they are ALL watching me to guage my behaviour, I did take the chance to enjoy a few Coors Lights and had a pretty fun evening playing with a lot of great guys, including my buddy Bobby Smith, who works the floor sometimes and deals other times and who I have known for 7 years now. He played in a couple of my SNG's and we had some good laughs. You know, one thing about SNG's...its always a completely different mindset than tourneys...and are usually so much fun. We had a good bunch of people last night and despite not winning as much as I would have liked to win...it was a whole lot of fun.

Today there is a $240 tourney at noon and then a $1k at 2pm. Frank is intending to play them both. Hilarious. I 'offfered' him a chance to put me in the 1k, since its not in my backers' and I budget right now. He wanted to see how many played first. I've put the over/under at 91 players. We'll see how that goes. For now I will just go play at noon, try to chip up...and see what happens at 2pm. I like the 15k starting stack and the longer blind levels in the 1k. Not sure if the blind structure is any different.

You have your usual crowd up here. The farmers, the numerous camouflague wearing guys. A mullet here and there. And they still like to chase their draws for any price. It's obviously frustrating. But I am keeping everything bottled up very well. I was very nice upon getting knocked out of the tourney, and even went by the table to see how they were doing later. I'm trying really hard to show everyone I've 'softened' up a little. I mean...I really feel like I have...it's not just being phony. But at the end of the day, it would still be awfully nice to book a decent win. It would be especially nice to do it up here. Preferably sooner than later!

They have a very good group of dealers for this event. And the poker room is great as always. The hotel has plenty of rooms. And they are giving out buffet comps if you make the dinner break. Red Bulls are free. The valet parkers were all very polite and timely. And my refridgerator in my room is COOOOOLD...the Gatorade at 5am was awesome! Okay....

Back at home...my wife's good friend had a baby last week. That Squirrel is amazing, she has been taking her over meals and stuff. And last night the girl spent the night at our house. Now...I have two dogs. Mollie, the younger one who is just half crazy, but so sweet and loveable. And Jasper, my older lab...who has started to get VERY attached to Cheryl and kind of hurts my feelings now when I'm home because its obvious my absence has caused him to grow a little more loyal to her. :( Well, when I'm gone he sleeps on the bed in MY spot. So last night, Cheryl was real curious to see how Mollie would react to this baby. A couple years ago when we were pregnant we were a little concerned how that would go with her. Well, fortunately we had her eagle-claws clipped before I left. So Cheryl texts me that Mollie is acting very freaked out by the baby...coming up...sniffing it...then running away! I bet it was hilarious. Then later she texts me that Jasper is acting all jealous...grunting and moaning and acting like a baby himself. I wish I was there to see that. My dogs crack me up. There ARE our kids!

Thats your Day 1 wrap up. Time to get back after it!!!!

Monkey