Tunica Trip Report

Well I am back from Tunica and boy do I miss that place already. Well not actually the town, because there is not a damn thing to do there. I do miss the fun that I had in the casinos though. Here is a somewhat long recap.

Thursday 16th - We get to the Grand and we check in. Unfortunately we find out that there are three "buildings" to the Grand Hotel and Casino. Two of them are across the street of the casino and we are in one of them. So much for sneaking out in the middle of the night to play!!! We throw our bags in the room and sign up for the 1pm tourney at the Grand. The tourney was run ok, nothing great though. The entry fee was $80 and people started off playing literally anything. I could not gain any momentum and I was out pretty early. My buddy Greig won the tourney and $920. We then played some blackjack, craps, and three card poker and I sucked at all of them. At the end of the day I find myself stuck $250.

Friday 17th - We head for breakfast and then we go to Sam's Town for another tourney. This one costs $50. There are 63 people playing in this tourney and the "random" drawing of seats put myself and all three of my friends at the same table. We decide before the tourney that since we are all at the same table, we will split the winnings that the team earns. The member of the team with the least experience is my friend Bob. I gave him my copy of Harrington on Holdem to read on the 6 hour drive. Harrington did not prepare him for his first hand. He gets dealt 1010 and raises. Two people call and the flop comes out 10xx with two spades. One person checks, one bets 250 and Bob raises to 500 and both call. Keep in mind we start with 2500 in chips. The next card is another spade and Bob goes all in. One person folds and the other person thinks about it and then calls. She has A6 with the A being a spade. Of course a 4th spade comes on the river and Bob is out. So much for Harrington. I finish in the middle of the pack in 26th and my friend Greig finishes 3rd and my other buddy Jeremy finishes in 5th. The team splits $472. After that I decide to play more blackjack (dumbass game) and lose my profits plus another $100. Fortunately then we come to the Gold Strike where I find my first 1/2 NL game and win $200 back putting me at -$150 for the first two days.

We checked out all the poker rooms while we were there and Gold Strike was the best. They had the biggest variety of games and the room is non smoking with table service available for food. They have flat screen TVs all over the place, and automatic shufflers at every table. The only complaint is that the chairs could be a little more comfortable. The staff is very friendly, they treated us extremely well and we are hardly high rollers. I ended up playing there until 5:30AM and there was still 3 1/2 NL games going and 2 2/5 NL games not to mention all the limit games and Omaha games going. They even ended up having a table for Chinese Poker. If you have enough people who want to play they will deal anything apparently.

Saturday 18th - So after 4 hours of sleep and the breakfast buffet at the Gold Strike three of us head back up to the poker room to play 1/2 again. The other guy (Bob) goes to play craps. There is a little wait but the let us just hang out in the room until we can get started. After about 15-20 minutes they sit all three of us down at a table. We did not move from that table for 15 hours. When we wanted lunch they brought us menus from 3 of the restaurants and just told us to order and it would be brought when it was ready. The cost? Nothing. Dinner was the same routine. Care for a some cheesecake? No problem we will go get it for you. They also had coffee, popcorn, and goldfish in the room. Plus cocktail waitresses would constantly go through for other refreshments. The only thing that cost you money besides a tip was if you wanted a Red Bull. That cost $2. Why? I have no clue. Alcohol is free, but Red Bull costs you money. I guess they want you to be asleep. So how did I play you ask???? Well I bought in for $200 and started off pretty hot and got it to $400. Then I lost a big hand to a calling station when he called my $75 turn bet with a flush draw against my set (sound familiar?). He hits the flush draw and I start my slide. I slide back to $75 but I was not worried because my reads were solid and I could always rebuy. Then I started to get some cards and the rebuying was not a factor for the rest of the night. I ran that little $75 to $1200 which put me up $850 for the weekend!!!!!!

I have a ton of stories about the weekend that I will share over time. I will be going back, and when I do I will be staying at the Gold Strike. There really is not a need to go anywhere else. If you decide to go and you plan on playing poker make sure you book your room through the poker room. If you play for five hours you will get the room for $30 during the week and $39 on the weekends. You cannot beat that deal. So I am putting some of my profits in my bankroll and this is how the number looks right now....

Jan 1 bankroll - $5252
Feb 20 bankroll - $7114
Profit - $1862
Mar 1 goal - $10000 (man this date is coming fast)

Good luck to everyone out there!!!!!