2unica - Part 2: Poker is easy

The next day we woke up and had breakfast at the cafe in Sam's Town. I absolutely murdered a ham, egg, and cheese bagel sandwich that came with tater tots. Stomachs full, we signed up for the 11am tournament. There were about 35 runners with 2K guaranteed in the prize pool.

The first hour I manage to win a fair number of pots and double my chip stack in the first hour. At the first break, Johnny is still hanging in while the Shoeshiner went busto. Just before we move down to 2 tables, I managed to take out a player when my AJ outflops his AK. Players keep dropping pretty quickly during the 2nd hour. I manage to chip up when my J6 beat a short stacks 44 on a j65j4 board. We get down to the final 10 and the very first hand I call and all in from a short stack with A6 hearts vs 44. The flop comes KQJ of hearts and I take out another player and am 2nd in chips. 3 more players go busto and we began to discuss a chop. Everyone is pretty agreeable. Me and another big stack take 400 and the other 4 got 300.

Afterwards, I sit down at a 3/6 table to grind out the 5 hours for the room rate. The session is eerily similar to the previous days' as I go up early and manage to piddle most of it away and then some in the next several hours. We took a break in there and hit the buffet before going back to more 3/6. After getting my hours I head down to hit up the let it ride table again.

I go down early in my 2nd session but get hot and am up close to 200 bucks before I decide to hit the pai gow table. I didn't last long at pai gow, as it was boring as hell and the table was empty except for me. I wander around the casino for a bit before catching up with Johnny and heading up to bed.

All in all, it was by far my best gambling trip as I ended up about 1500 bucks or so. I was left with a pretty positive impression of Sam's Town in Tunica. The locals seemed very friendly as well, which in my experience contrasts with Vegas or Atlantic City locals.

Lucky Lucky

I took the Amtrak from Atlanta to Birmingham to meet a few friends on our way to Tunica, MS. The train ride was relaxing, but I think 4 hours at that pace is just about right. Anymore time on the train would have been a drag.

We took off for Tunica Saturday morning and arrived at Sam's Town about 1pm. After check-in we all took seats at a 3-6 hold'em game with seven other players, most of them were over 60. I started out hot and doubled my buy-in after a few hours, but managed to give all that back and more before quitting after 5 hours or so. We had an unspectacular dinner at one of the restuarants and I went to play some Let It Ride, while Johnny and The Shoeshiner watched. After a bit The Shoeshiner joined me. I lost most of my 100 buyin and went to the ATM to reload. I came back and bought in again. The dealer, whose nametag said 'Stocks', kept giving me shit about not playing the bonus bet. I told him it was a bad bet in the long run, and that it wouldn't be there if the house didn't make money on it. I got some dirty looks as everyone else at the table was playing the bonus bet.

Not long after explaining why I don't play the bonus bet, I decided to put my first one out there. That very hand I was dealt 2-4 of hearts which paid me 40-1 on my 5 dollar bonus. I get plenty of shit from the people at the table. The next hand, I shit you not, I get rolled up 10s. Trips paid 30-1 on the bonus, and the first card he flipped up was the case 10 paying me 50-1 on all five of my bets. Those 2 hands made me +1K for my session and I was in happy town. I took off for the bathroom a few minutes later and when I get back I learn that the guy immediately to my left was dealt rolled Qs. I'm pretty sure someone would have killed me if I was there for that hand. The Shoeshiner and I play for a good bit before Johnny meets us and we hit bed.