Tunica, Mississippi Poker

A friend is a huge Ole Miss fan, so he took a group of us and Friday night we drove from Chicago to Oxford, MS to see the football game and all that goes along with it.  First off, let me admit, I’m not a huge sports fan.  But, this was an amazingly fun experience.  The Rebels know how to tailgate.  We ate amazingly (stopping in Memphis for ribs at the Rendezvous which were incredible and in The Grove before and after the game).  The whole experience was great and the game itself was very fun (Ole Miss beat Auburn).  The guys I went with were hilarious and we had a great time.

On Saturday, after the game and some more time in the Grove we headed up to Tunica.  We called ahead and got on “the list” at the Horseshoe.  “Tunica” isn’t really Tunica.  The casinos are pretty far outside of the actual town of Tunica.  These are the most hilarious riverboat casinos I’ve seen.  They are gigantic structures built in the middle of nowhere that share little in common with a boat except that they are surrounded by water.  Just barely, though, like a small child dug with a plastic shovel all the way around.  It would take a whole lot of work to mobilize these boats…like a miracle and some reversal of the laws of Physics.

Either way, they had poker and that’s all I cared about.  I signed up for the $1/3 no limit game.  That’s no typo, they play $1 and $3.  I’m not sure why, it didn’t really change anything–the game played just the same as every live $1/2 game I’ve played (with one exception, the Mississippi straddle–which I hate).  When we got to the poker room we realized that “the list” wasn’t really much to worry about.  There were several openings throughout the room and people were coming and going all night.  It was no trouble to get in a game.

I sat down and played my standard game.  The table was very limpy and lots of people were playing every pot.  This is not good for my game, so I raised every pot I played and decided I would make sure that’s what people knew me for.  I raised every single pot I played, even if it had been raised before me.  I played a small-ish number of pots (for the online players like me around, I’d estimate I was playing 18/16).  In the first few hands I played up against a LAGgy player with KK and extracted $180 and was up significantly right away.  Within the next two hours the table dried up.  What do you do when you realize you are the worst player at the table?  You should leave, but what if you are only going to be in Tunica one night?  I don’t know.  I stayed and ended up slowly getting stuck $160.  I hadn’t played too badly, but had run into some unfortunate hands and had a couple of ill-timed bluffs called.  I made a few bad mistakes.  I played TPTK hard against the one player I knew was very good at the time (I know better).  I tried to bluff a decent player after I read perfectly that he was strong (I saw him counting my stack).

With $140 left in my stack in the BB I picked up QQ.  The player to my left had played almost no hands.  He was tight, tight, tight.  He was folding the small blind when there were 5 limpers in the pot and he only needed to put $2 for a shot at $15.  At 7.5-1 odds, some of the hands had to be worth a play.  (Again, for the internet player, I’d say he was playing 5/5/inf.)  So Mr. Tight opened for $15 (which was a bit above the standard opening bet).  He got 2 callers before me.  With QQ I foolishly decided to shove in for my remaining $140.  He called, as would any player holding AA and the other callers folded.  His aces held up.

I rebought for $200.  Strangely, I wasn’t tilting much.  In fact, I decided that I was having enough fun that losing another $200 wouldn’t be too bad.  I started talking to the other players.  After a little talking I realized that the lay of the table was:

Seat 1-3: Professional Poker Players

Seat 4: Off duty dealer from the neighbor casino

Seat 5: Fishy Amateur (me)

Seat 6: Super tight player (who wouldn’t offer any details about himself)

Seat 7: Regular, very competent amateur

Seat 8-9: Professional Poker Players

Seat 10: Off duty dealer from the Harrah’s

I found it a bit surprising that there were so many “professionals” playing $1/3 NL.  Apparently you can eek out a decent Mississippi living playing $1/3.  I tend to think that dealers are pretty competent players also.  The other amateurs at the table were trouble also.  The one, Mr. Tight, was so tight I wasn’t going to get much from him.  The other was, as I said, very competent and pretty tight.  “If you don’t know who the sucker at the table is…”

For the next hour or so, I played pretty decent aggressive poker.  I got some good luck too.  I battled my way back so that I had $520 in front of me (so net, I was +$20).  This was mostly due to me coming up against seat 10.  I had raised the last 4 pots.  Strangely, I had been dealt KQo in the last 2 and had it again.  In this case I had KQ again and I raised to $12.  I got 3 callers (which wasn’t unusual).  The flop came Q-high rainbow.  I made a standard continuation bet of $45 into the $60ish pot.  Seat 10 called.  The turn brought another queen and opened up a potential flush draw that I wasn’t too worried about.  Seat 10 had played pretty aggressive all night and had seen me do the same.  I was a bit afraid I was bumping up against a flopped set turned full house, but I decided that I was going to go out in style.  I bet out $90 into the $145 pot and he flat called.  The river brought a blank and now I was only losing to AQ or a full house.  I decided to shove my last $60-ish into the pot and see what happened.  Seat 10 called and flipped over QT and lost with a worse kicker.  That put me at about $520.

I can’t say I was happy to have that much on the table, but it was nicely intimidating for the professionals who now had to worry that every bet I made had that much behind it.

Fortunately as I was debating what to do about this tough table, it broke up.  I moved to a much easier table with $520 in front of me.  I played a few pots and moved up and down $30-40 a few times.  My friends noted that they were ready to leave.  I asked for 20 more minutes.  I decide to play to the next BB.  With 2 hands left to go and almost exactly $500 in my stack I raise to $12 with JhTh.  I get 2 callers.  The flop comes 2h3h8c.  I make a continuation bet of $25 into the $40-ish pot.  The wild player on the other side of the table raises me to $65.  The other player folds and I call.  The turn comes Td.  I check.  The other player bets $85 with $108 behind.  I talk to him a little.  It appears that if I shove, he’s going to call though I do consider it.  Instead I call and cross my fingers for a ten or heart.  I miss, the river is a blank.  I check and he shoves his last $108 in the pot.  I knew it was a terrible idea, but I called.  He showed 23o, he had flopped 2 pair.  I had lost over $300 with a pair of tens.  What an idiot!

Now I’m UTG.  I have 46o.  I’m steaming so I raise to $8.  I get 2 callers and then the player in the CO (a tight but scared looking amateur) raises to $16.  The button and SB fold, the BB (a competent calling station) calls.  I call and so does one other player.  The flop comes 58K two tone.  BB checks, I check, middle player checks and CO bets out $25.  BB thinks a little then calls.  I call and middle player folds.  The pot is now $135-ish.  The turn comes 2 and I’ve picked up a double gutshot.  BB checks, I check and the CO bets $40.  BB thinks longer again and calls, I call (remember, I’m still tilting a lot).  The pot is now $220-ish.  The river is kind and fills my straight.  BB checks.  I decide to go ahead and bet out to make it look like I’m bluffing the missed the flush draw, $75.  CO calls as does the BB.  I flip my hand and I got the nice little gasp from the table.  CO mucks and the BB shows 77 (for the river set).

Not sure the math is exact, but I end up with $533 which I rack up immediately.  I’m up $33 for the night.  My stupid play is both my downfall and my strength.  My table image in Mississippi is still mud.  Oh well.