Back in the saddle

Above: The Gold Strike Casino is open for business and welcomes players back.

I drove to the Tunica casinos this afternoon to try and get some photos. Harrahs was closed and there were security people who wouldn't let me go past the main entrance (just before I got to the levee), but they said they were going to try and reopen Friday.

I then went to the Gold Strike and was surprised to see it was open. Poker? What's that?

The parking lot was only about half full, so I wasn't sure what to expect. The poker room was open, however, and there were two $1/2 NL tables going, sweet. I usually buy in for $200, but decided to only get $120 in chips and settle in.

One guy was aggressive. If the pot was limped to him, he would raise to $12 or $16 with A-6 offsuit and hands like this. He was getting lucky and had about $100 in chips and $600 in hundred dollar bills (Benjamins play the same as chips, but twenties and fifties don't).

A guy who was tired of the aggressive guy asked: "Are you going to be here all week?"

"Yes, why?" was the reply.

"No particular reason," said the first guy, but he was obviously saying if you keep playing like that, I'm going to enjoy getting your chips.

The aggressive guy caught his drift and asked, "Do you need a loan?" The second guy had only about $100 in front of him, so he was getting a dig into him, as well. My, the testosterone was flying.

This hand had me shaking my head. An old guy on the button raised to $12 and the big blind, a youngish guy with headphones, called. The flop was J-5-2. Headphones checked and the old guy bet $18. Headphones check-raised him to $45 which was called. The turn was another 2, so the board read: J-5-2-2. Headphones bet $67 and the old guy who had about $150 left moved all in and headphones called. The river was a nothing card and headphones showed 5-5 for the full house. The old man showed Q-Q. I wish everytime I hit a set, I could stack off the other player.

I had forgotten how much fun poker can be. Because I don't really play online much anymore (just small stakes stuff), it was a treat. I worked my stack up to $300 and cashed out. The only big pair I had was K-K and I had to lay that down on the flop. I never had a set. I never did anything fancy, just A-B-C poker.

Image by MOJO and taken with my P&S.