End of Day One in Tunica

The clock in my room was wrong, so while I woke up “on time” I showed up 30 minutes late. On the second hand dealt, I lost more than half my chips: Nick Schulman made it 300, another player called, both from late position, and I called from the sb with Ah 10h. The flop came 10s 6h 5c. I checked, Nick bet 800, and this player I’d never seen before made it 3000- I called. The turn was the Jh giving me the nut flush draw. I check called 3000. The river was a blank, I checked, and this time my opponent bet 6000. I had zero information on this player. I was getting a decent price on the call, 6000 to win 19,800. I called, and my opponent turned over JJ. Funny thing is that if I would have had this hand come up three levels later, I would have just mucked my hand pre-flop! This guy ended up being the rock of Gibraltar, but based on his appearance I never would have guessed that. My table pretty much sucked to start off. Phil Ivey two to my left, Alan Kessler, Rob Mizrachi, and Nick Schulman. Ivy apparently arrived that morning and he didn’t look like the Phil Ivey of norm. He was playing a little sloppy early on and was down in chips. We tangled a few times: A player raised to 1000 from UTG and I called on the button with 8s 9s. Ivey also called from the BB. Flop 6d 7h 8h. Ivey bet out 2000, and the raiser folded. Noticing that Ivey only had about 10,000 left, I moved all in. He called with the Jh 4h. Turn J…river 4. Later, it was my turn to double through Phil. A weakish player limped for 300, I limped behind him for 300, and Phil raised it to 2000 from the small blind. The limper folded, and I called with Qd 10d. The flop came Kc 10h 8h. Ivey bet out 3000, and I honestly felt like pre-flop he had air and was just going to bet any flop. I moved all in for 10,000 more. Ivey thought about it for a while, and finally called me with A-J. 8 on the turn… 4 on the river. A couple good stories from play today: Nick told me that he called for a wake up call for the tournament. At about 10:30am a security guard knocks on his door and yells, “Wake up!” LOL, that is too funny! Rob hears this story and tells a doozey of his own: He was at the Borgata in his room at the Borgata with his girlfriend. Service knocks on the door and asks if they want the room cleaned. Rob yells out, “No service.” The guy asks again and Rob yells, “No service today. No service.” All of a sudden the door opens up and the guy walks in. Rob is like, “What are you doing here?” He and his girlfriend were both in bed, and the guy replies, “I need to use your phone to call down and let them know you don’t want service.” Apparently it was that guy’s first week, and after that, it may have been his last! Most of the day everyone, including me was focusing on the football. I made a little bet myself with Mizrachi. The line was up to 4 points but I convinced Rob to let me bet Indy and I’d lay -1.25. He agreed and laid $4000 to win $5000. Man, what an exciting finish to that game! Good thing I didn’t lay the 4, woohoo! Now, I’m in the poison court. They call it the food court here but I just don’t think that’s an appropriate title. This is not food, it’s absolutely disgustingly unhealthy. I am freakin’ starving, but I’m not about to eat any of this stuff. I brought a little food with me, but it’s not going to be enough. I am going to go on a food hunt after I finish this blog. It is so difficult to find anything edible here- it should be illegal to serve this kind of food! Yuk! I’ve been coming to Tunica for years and don’t think I’ve ever come here and NOT complained about the food situation. Sadly, nothing is ever done to offer healthy choices here during the tournament. It’s really painful and makes me a little angry to be totally honest. How did I play today? Hmm… sometimes EXCELLENT and other times “just ok.” I made three intricate bluffs early on and they worked exceptionally well. One of them will be written about in an upcoming Card Player column. Ouch, that was my stomach grumbling… I need to go on a food hunt. (btw, I ended day one with 42,925.)
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