A Little Trip to Tunica

Here's a recent guest post on the FTP Blogger from the rail on setting goals in poker.

Amy, John Harper and I enjoyed some R&R last week at Tybee Island, a small outpost about 15 minutes east of Savannah. We had talked about a trip to Savannah for years and finally made it over. JH got his first walk into the surf with mommy and cried when she took him out. I suspect he will be a beach fiend like his mother.

That trip reminded me that I never wrote about my rare journey out of the house and into the land of live casino poker. Whereas I once traveled to places like Tunica, Biloxi, Reno and Vegas for weeks at a time I hadn't been to a casino since I got back from Vegas last summer. My friend Brian helped cure that problem as we decided to take a trip to Gold Strike last month.

It was basically just an overnight trip, but I managed to play two events -- a $230 O8 and $230 NLHE -- and a few cash games. As is usually the case in Omaha Hi Lo, I just hung around and then lost the big hand when the stakes got high. In the NLHE tournament I ran my kings into queens about two thirds of the way through the field. The guy who spike the queen on me made the same play four times (!) where he limped in early position and then pushed all-in over the top of a raise behind him. How often does he think he was going to fool us? Of course when I saw him limp I licked my lips and just hoped he didn't have aces that time. Guess he might as well have had aces as it turned out.

I played a $10-$20 O8 cash game with a half kill and it was quite juicy. I made more than $800 in it, including winning a pot greater than $500 with queens and tens on a Q-4-T-8-4 board. Yep, it got four bet preflop and no one had aces in their hand (much less a four). I believe I had A-K-Q-T. Myself and this old guy who played every hand won most of the chips on the table. When he cashed out the game quickly broke up.

The next day that old man made one of the funniest and stupifying mistakes I have ever seen. Brian and I sat down to play a NLHE satellite and the old guy joined up. He put most of his chips into the pot with garbage and lost to a guy who had aces up. He kept examining the board and asked, "Don't I have a low?" I later saw him playing the Stud 8 event so I see he is quite the split pot player.

One other interesting note: I played another satellite with a pregnant woman (and off-duty dealer) who said she was due in May. I overheard her tell another dealer that she hoped she would be able to deal the WSOP this summer!?!?!! So she plans to give birth and then, what, leave the baby with her family? take it to Vegas?

Some people just aren't cut out to be parents.

No BBT?

First, it appears that the possibility of BBT6 is on shaky ground. Al said he's not sure if he should host another once since so many people don't actually use the WSOP packages won to play in WSOP events.

I can understand the frustration of organizing such a major event with a specific purpose and the winners not fulfilling the purpose of the prizes. On the other hand, unless we're talking about the main event it doesn't matter if a player enter a WSOP bracelet event and wears FTP gear--since it's not on TV the site gets little free advertising. I've used prizes won to play WSOP events. I've also used prizes won just to use as a Vegas bankroll to play smaller tournaments. So perhaps you can blame me for being part of the problem.

Obviously, when the BBT is going on it's about all the bloggers who participate talk about on their blogs so FTP gets plenty of marketing via the buzz there. The question would be how much is that really worth to them? Is it worth as much as the prizes given away?

If BBT6 does not happen I'll miss the camaraderie of the events and the fun in discussing the results on the blog. These are always fun tournaments in which to participate. I realize the blogger events go on all year, but with nothing at stake I can't justify taking the time to play them.

Shoot Al some love. Promise to use any money won to go to Vegas and play a WSOP tournament. Let's see if we can make BBT6 happen.