1/29/08posted by Poker Star @ 9:08 AM

I just got back from Tunica, Miss. for the WPT annual World Poker Open. I have been going every January for the past 4 years. Usually I play in the smaller $500 tourneys and cash games, but this would be the first time playing in the $10,000 main event. I've won 2 - $200 tournaments in the past for 7K each down there. I saw many of the usual tournament big wigs. Erik Lindgren, Barry Greenstein, Daniel Negreanu, Pkil Ivey, T.J. Cloutier, David Williams to name a few.

I get to my table on day 1. I was in seat 2, "the grinder" Mizrachi was in 5, Kathy Liebert was in 9, and Brandon Lee was in 10. I sat back playing few hands for a while to get a feel for the table. One hand I got pocket jacks and raised from middle position. Grinder called from the button. Flop came 2- 3- 5 with 2 diamonds. I bet out and grinder called. The turn brought a 10 of diamonds. I checked and grinder bet 1500. I had to see if my overpair was still good or not, so I raised to 5500. Grinder thought and thought for about 2 minutes before trashing his hand. He said it was the biggest lay-down he's made in 2 years, that he had a wheel straight. Of course I obliged him by saying I had a flush. It was a pretty aggresive table with grinder and Brannon Lee raising a lot of pots preflop. One interesting hand that came up happened when a new guy got moved to our table in the big blind. Everbody folded around to the small blind, who called. The flop came 5-K-5. They both checked. Another 5 came on the turn. The small blind checked and the big went all-in-12,000 into a 600 pot. Small calls immediately. The big shows the last 5 and the small blind mucks just shaking his head. I can't believe he called!! I guess he said he had A-K and didn't think the other guy had a 5. An expensive way to find out! Then the hand of the day came up. Grinder raised 3 times the blind- 600 from 1st position. That wasn't anything unusual. I am on the button with 2 red aces. I make it 2,000. The small blind pushes all-in for 17,000. Then grinder goes all-in. Wow, what am I going to do!! Ha. I go all in for 19,500 also. Grinder has 2 kings, but the other guy has the other aces. Our aces hold and we split the pot. That knocks grinder to about 10,000 and takes me to 31,000.

I get moved to another table with Gavin Smith on my left. Everyone is just limping into pots at this table. Big difference from the last one. It lets me see a bunch of cheap flops but I can't flop any decent hand for about an hour. Then I get in a blind vs. blind with Gavin. The flop is 2- 4- 6 and I have 2,4. I bet and Gavin calls. An 8 on the turn. I bet again and Gavin minimum raises me. I'm just slightly worried he played a 3-5 or 5-7. But I call. A high blank card on the river and I check. Gavin throws in a 4,000 bet. I call thinking I might still be ahead. But he flips up 6-8 for a better 2 pair. A little later I limp into a pot on the button with J-K. The small blind and big blind are both also in the hand.The flop comes 8-10-J. I make a bet and the big blind goes all-in.He only had 4,200 so I call. He shows J-5 and my king kicker beats him. I play a few more hands at this table but don't win any. I'm back down to about 21,000.

That table is broken up and I'm off to another table. I don't recognize anyone at this table. I play for a while, then pick up big slick suited in diamonds. I raise in early position. One person calls, then the button goes all-in 7,000. I call. He also has A-K, but I flop 2 diamonds and have a chance to bust him. No more diamonds come so we just chop. Damn. I get involved with one more blind vs. blind hand. I flop top pair and he bets into me. I call.(should have raised). He ended up having the same pair but hit his other little card to make two pair. Now it's getting towards the end of the day. I haven't done very good at this table and am down to 16,000 when the day ends.

Day 2-- I get to the table after a good night's sleep and eager to collect more chips. I'm in seat 2, David "the dragon" Pham is in 7 and Freddy Deeb is in 9. I'm short stacked but not desperate. I've got 16,000 but the average is about twice that. Freddy only has 14,000. Two others have around 10,000. The worse thing is both guys to my left have over 50,000, so I doubt I will be stealing any of their blinds. Blinds are now 300-600 with a 75 ante. So I'm losing 1650 in chips on every round of the button, 10% of my stack. The first ten hands I get nothing playable but Freddie increases his stack by winning a pot. In the next 30 to 35 hands I have to fold them all. I got A-J once but it was raised and reraised so I folded. I also get pocket 7's and pocket 4's that I let go because it had been raised. My other hands have sucked. It's been frustrating so far and I'm down to 10,600. Then I get K spades- 10 spades on the button. Not a great hand but a lot better than what I had been seeing. Pham raises in first position to 2,000. That doesn't mean much. I just call on the button. The small blind on my left raises to 7,000. The big blind calls and Pham folds. Back to me. I'm thinking, "do I fold and give up my 2,000 or not". But I had seen the raiser twice try to bluff people out of pots that didn't work. So then I ran the math. 750 in antes. 2,000 from Pham. 2,000 from me. 7,000 from the small blind and 7,000 from the big blind. Almost 19,000 total, and only 5,000 for me to call. Pretty juicy, but I need to win this hand. So I go ahead and go all-in for the 5,000 plus 1600 more, knowing they will both call. That makes the pot about 29,500. Flop comes 10-J-6 with one spade. The small blind goes all-in to force out the other guy. He shows pocket queens. I need another ten or a King now. The turn brings a 4 of spades. Now I can win with any King, any Ten, or any spade on the river. But alas, a red seven comes on the river and I'm done. I took a gamble there because I hadn't played a hand and my chips were dwindling. It's easy to say now maybe I should have waited a little longer, but if I win that pot I more than double up and am back in it.
As I'm writing this I see online that Freddie Deeb went on to make the final table, so he made a nice come-back from a short stack. Well, I had fun but it was my worst outcome in Tunica overall. I had always made money somewhere in Tunica before, but not this time. I'm going to keep playing poker alot over the next couple of weeks and months. Hopefully something good will happen at my next event in L.A. Til next time.
Scott-(thebombbaby)

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