Different place, same poker

[All images are high resolution, so click to enlarge if you wish.]

I play mostly at the Gold Strike or Harrah's, and occasionally at the Horseshoe. I used to play at Sam's Town, but haven't lately. I'm not sure why, but it is probably because it is eight to 10 miles farther. The casinos at Tunica MS are spread out in clusters and Sam's is in the group that is farthest south (and I come from the north).

I saw a post by Jusdealem in which she was talking about playing at Sam's (the post is here), and that reminded me that I hadn't been there for a while, so Saturday night I decided to go there.

They were forming a new $1/3 NL hold 'em table, so I sat in the $3/6 limit game while I was waiting. A guy who was also waiting came and sat down. He put a rack of white chips and the table, the stuffed four or five hundred dollar bills beneath his chips. Now, this is ridiculous. It's limit, so you can't possible need that much money. This told me that he was either a complete noobie, or he's advertising that he came there to "gambool." When we moved to the NL game, I quickly found out which.

The guy liked to raise and he was fearless. He wasn't a complete maniac, but on a scale of 1 to 10, he was like an 8. From UTG, he raised to $18. I looked down to see ♥Q ♦Q. Just because he's a maniac doesn't mean he can't have a hand, so I just called. I have position, and might be able to win a big pot. Playing against guys like this, you don't want to run them out of the hand -- I'm just sayin'. The button also called and we saw a flop of: ♦A ♠10 ♣9. Maniac bet $40. What would you do? I didn't want to lose all my chips on a hand like this and I was also worried about the guy behind me. Aces are what players like to call big raises with, and so I folded. The turn was ♦8 and maniac picked up one of his hundred dollar bills and threw Mr. Benjamin on the table. The button called. The river was the ♣7 and maniac moved all in. Button called, and was not to happy when maniac turned over ♣J ♦J for runner-runner straight.

See what I mean about fearless? Out of position and with an ace on the board, he kept firing.

The biggest pot of the night involved the maniac and a young kid. The flop was 7-5-3 and maniac made a good-sized bet. The kid called. The turn was a 10 and maniac bet $100 and the kid made the call. The river was an ace, so the board read: A-10-7-5-3 and the maniac moved all in. The kid called. Now the maniac was reluctant to turn over his cards, so the kid showed ♦7 ♦4. He had a pair of 7s and a missed gutshot straight draw. The maniac mucked, and the kid was pushed a $450 pot! One word, W-O-W!

I got a little of the maniacs money. There were some limpers to me in the Big Blind and I peeked at my cards to see ♦K ♣2, so I checked my option. The flop was rather nice for me ♣K ♥8 ♠2, giving me two pair. I bet $12 and the maniac called while everyone else folded. The turn was ♠K, giving me the boat. I checked now. I wanted this to look like weakness to maniac and I figured he would bet for me. He didn't disappoint as he fired $30. I raised to $60 and he called!. The river was a ♠9, a card that was unlikely to help him unless he was flushing. What now? Check again and hope he bets? I just went ahead and bet $60 (a value bet if there ever was one), and he called! I announced "Full house, big blind special," and he mucked. Suh-weet.

I had one other good hand. It was folded to a short stack in the cutoff seat who limped. The SB completed and I looked at my hold cards to see ♠6 ♣4, so checked. The flop was great for me: ♣Q ♦6 ♥4 for a flopped two pair. What would you do? I just went ahead and bet out. If he has something, he'll play with me, and if not, so what. To my surprise, he moved all in. What do you think he has? I know what I thought he had, so I called. Sure enough, he had aces and my two pair held to felt him. Limping with aces, then moving all in? When will they learn? Yeah, buddy, that works in your home game, doesn't it?

I did lose $90 on a hand where a guy had a set of 6s that I couldn't figure out in time. I had ♥K ♥Q and the flop was ♠K ♥10 ♥6. I bet out and the set of 6s called as did another guy (who as it turned out was also on a flush draw). Sure, top pair queen kicker isn't the nuts or anything, but I had the redraw to the second-nut flush. You can't get them all right, I guess.

Anyway, I had a good time at Sam's and won a little mobneys. Looked around for Jusdealem, but she was Not-there-em.

Here are some more photos I took:




They have Corky's BBQ at Sam's and I remembered that lightning36 likes it, so I went over on the east side to get the above shot. If you don't see it, click to enlarge the image.