Biloxi Blues

My neighbors and I headed down to the Beau Rivage in Biloxi last Friday morning. Thanks to Mike "Andretti" H at the wheel, we got there in record time. We checked in, grabbed an early dinner and then decided to do a little blackjack action. Jeez, what a rocky start to the trip that was. We all lost our shirts right off the bat. If we had 17,18, or 19 the dealer had 20, otherwise the dealer had 21 and we were on 20. Boooooo! That was enough of that crap for me so they introduced me to Pai Gow. Weeeeee, that was much better. This was a game that didn't just suck the bills out of your wallet. Great drinking game since there are so many dealer pushes.

On Saturday, we spent the morning playing more Pai Gow and then grabbed some lunch. It didn't take long before I bombed out of a satellite SNG to the bigger tournaments, so I hit the 1/2 NL tables. Mike H and Chris made it to heads up in the satellite and chopped the $550 prize. The Beau has over a dozen tables in their main room and had a few more set up upstairs in one of the ballrooms. Mike "Main Event" G and I pretty much had our way our table and it was nice to have a "winning" day.

We saw Clonie Gowan and Kristy Gazes in the tournaments and cash game. They were doing the WPT Boot Camp in the other ballroom and came over when they were finished. We passed Kristy as we headed down the escalator and a Latino guy behind us shook his head and said "she ain't got no bootie." He thought we were checking her out and didn't realize we were just commenting on her because she's a poker player. That would have been quote of the weekend if I had not busted one on Mike H at the Pai Gow table. For some reason he likes to tell strangers that he is related to whoever he is standing near. This time, he was telling the lady next to us that he was my son. I responded "I'm not his Daddy, I'm just doing his Mom." This got a good laugh out of the table and even the dealer was in on the BURNNNNNNNN!

Sunday's results were not very good at all. I failed in another satellite attempt (Mike G chopped) and killed myself at the 1/2 table in the afternoon. Actually, the cash game could have been great to me if I wasn't such a huge bet, bluffing dumbass. I stacked myself in the first few hands when I pick up the bitches in late position and call the raise from the guy under the gun. The flop comes K high, he bets big and a reraise all-in. From the comment he made before the flop, I thought he had Jacks. Nope, AK for the gentleman and I reach in my pocket for another buy-in. I was able to run this back up to even a few hand later and told myself it was time to get up, settle down and come back later. Oh noooooooo, I can't do that. I've just been dealt AK in first position. I'll just limp and hope to get reraised. No reraise...Damn. The flop comes K high with a straight draw. What should I do? Of course, check it and let him catch. But I'm not done yet, let's check raise the river for half a buyin with a 4 card straight showing. Then we see him table a Mook (10,8) for the straight to my top pair top kicker. That's OK, shake it off because I get A,K 2 hands later and this time, I'm going in with both guns blazing. That's fine and dandy unless the guy to your left has pocket Queens and takes me to the woodshed as I fire at every street. Sometimes I think I am 2 different players at the table and I never know who is going to show up.

Surflexus came down on Saturday and backed me in the 6PM Sunday night tournament. This was a huge boost to my confidence that he was willing to do this for me and not feel like he was just throwing away money (I hope!). Those of you that have met him know what a great guy he is, but I can tell you from hanging with him for the past couple of years, you won't find a better guy that is willing to help you with your game or be a great friend. My treat at Neuvo Laredo is in order next week. I made it to near the end of level 6 when my 66 in the small blind was bested by 77 in the big blind. Hey, at least I got knocked out by a WSOP circuit winner. One of our crew, Chris, made it deep in both the Saturday night (14/110ish) and Sunday night (12/105ish) games, but only the final 9 paid.

I finished off the trip with another attempt at the 1/2 game late Sunday night. Oh, what could have been. This time I was too aggressive again and I ran people out of pots when I was ahead and tried another river bluff that didn't work. At least this time I finished even, so it was just more practice. The biggest lesson I learned for the week was slow down in my cash game and get more aggressive in my tourney play. I finished down for the trip, but it was worth it for the great time I had over the long weekend. Thanks to all of the fellas for showing me a great time. If we can snag the same deal some other time, I'd be willing to go again.