WPO Tunica: Trip report (long)

24. January 2005 | Category: 50outs

Starting from Stuttgart I came to Frankfurt an hour early as I catched a better train connection. Katja was already waiting form me in the hotel lobby of the Sheraton at the airport. Bad news: no room free! I was a little surprised as they have over a 1,000 rooms there and nothing very special was happening in Germany as far as I knewed. Anyway, Katja did worked out a solution with the frontdesk, all they could get free was a „tower suite“, regular price about 1,000eur a night. She managed to get this rate downsized to about 500eur, still much money. So, we got a room finally. It was promised that „everything is included, including nice food in the business lobby”. Maybe that was not an exactly scam but it was a disaster, anyway. We ended up eating in the (expensive) restaurant. I was very tired so we went to bed where I slept within minutes. Katja told me the next morning that she nearly got no sleep at all, she couldn’t get “her head shut off”.

The next morning everything went fine, we catched our flight to Detroit without any problem and come there after 10 hours. We had seats at the emergency exists so we had a lot of space for our legs and were more or less the first out of the plane, which turned to be bad for us as we got a heavy and detailed inquiry from a highly-motivated immigration officer. We still came first to customs which picked us out for baggage search. Very well, as we had only specified „less than 10,000$“ each while holding more to speed up just this immigration process. Luckily we were able to correct that and after some nice poker talk with the customs officer and a money count we were released, unfortunately very late for our connection flight. We hurried thru Detroit airport and had even a little argument as I were a little hungry (weightbet!) and Katja was in urgent need for some fresh air and one of her little cigars (however that fits together). We made it to the connection flight to Memphis, which in turn got an hour late. When we arrived in Memphis our Limo pickup was waiting, but our luckage not! Despite the delay they could not bring it in time to the conection flight. If not half of our bankroll where hidden in one of my training shoes in that bag we would have been totally cool but so we were a little concerned. We were promised hotel delivery from northwest airlines so we jumped into the limo and were brought to Tunica Horseshoe Casino.

Arriving there we checked out the location which turned out to be a 3 mile walk until we figured it all out. The WPO event is actually in the GoldStrike Casino not in the Horseshoe. I read in a trip report on rpg that the GoldStrike has rooms nice like the Mirage but I must say that the room we got in the Horseshoe is very nice. It is a deluxe room with a kingsize bed for only 38$ a night, we were very happy when we saw that room, we were expecting rooms like the horseshoe in downtown Las Vegas…

Katja wanted to wait until our bag arrived so we sticked around. I said that I can only be somewhat longer awake when I can get some cards so I tried to get a seat in a cash game but no avail. After an hour I confirmed Katja that I can not hold myself awake any longer so we bought into the event for the next day and went to bed. Unfortunately, I forgot to switch my mobile phone off and how murphys law says, it got to be ringing several times that night. The frontdesk calling at 3am in the morning to tell us that the bag finally arrived did not help to make the sleep any better…

After a long night we felt good anyway. I went to the spa and made a 5 mile run before taking a small breakfast. We spend the remaining time until noon with something private and then talking about the game and our strategy for the day’s event, 1000+60$ NoLimit Holdem.

Day 2

The event started good for me, in the second hand I got pocket nines, made the standard raise in middle position but got reraised. I called, the flop came nine high, I checked, he played strongly and I thought about the danger of an overpair that he could hit when I only call, so I check-raised him all-in. After only a short thought he folded and I was up almost a thousand. Little did I know that I have seen my second-highest pair for the day…

When you play an event like this with over 750 players, in which 5% you like to end? Naturally, the last 5% making the money but despite this? The first 5% in which the players drop out very early? Or the second-last 5% where the players fight for about 10 hours and get out – nothing? Well, Katja and I tested both realms. Katja went out after about 30 minutes, naturally for her holding the best hand. She had AA in the SB, all folded, she raised, the BB called, flop came T high, Katja betted strong (700) and the BB went all-in, she called. BB was holding KT so AA was way good, but he made one of his 5 outs for a third ten on the river. Katja then went to the cash game cashier to get listed for the 10-25 pot-limit holdem game. My story is way longer but very uneventful as I got no cards. In nearly 10 hours I got AK twice, TT once and QQ once, that was it, all the rest just trash mixed with some small pairs. I played perfect poker (from my point of view) the whole time, got never lucky or unlucky (ok, I was all-in with 77 against AKo one time and won, you could consider this getting lucky) and managed to get to the last 8 tables (from about 77) when all went wrong and I busted out. Holding exactly average chips I raised in middle position holding AQs, only the BB called my raise. Flop came KQ7 rainbow and the BB checked. I thought about him holding a K but came to the (wrong) conclusion that he must hold some suited ace so I went all-in. They guy called me, showing K7o. I felt out of my chair, got no help on turn or river and was out. Very frustrating. I managed to stay away from the cash game in the mood I was in and went to bed, leaving Katja in the PLHE game. Later the night she came and reported a small win which I barly recognized but it made me sleep better anyway.

Next morning same thing, after 12 hours of deep sleep a 5 mile run on the treadmill, a stop at the breakfast buffet and now – off to event #10, 1000+60$ limit holdem!

Katja decided not to play as she don’t like limit. She joined the cash game 5-10 PLHE at noon when I entered the tournament. More on that later. I started good and did spend the first 4 hours above average, holding two or even three times the average chip count. When the bigger blinds came and I got a rush of the worst card possible for about 1,5 hours my chip advantage vanished. I spend another 3 hours nursing my small stack, getting some hope when AA held up at 400-800 but got cracked AQs by QTo shortly after so when we were down to 5 tables (with 3 tables in the money) I had nearly nothing left. I went all-in with A6s, only the BB called with K7, my new most feared hand. Flop came with a 6, but don’t you worry, a K rivered to get my out after nearly 8 hours of play.

I went to Katja, she changed in the meantime to 10-25 PLHE and was holding herself there. A seat was open and I sat down, knowing that might not be the best idea right after you bust out of a tournament, but I felt good and not so demoralized as the day before (I assume NL is way more force intensive than limit). After about 5 minutes this hand came down: a fish player, that just won the hand before with 63o opended the pot and made it 100 to go. Katja raised it to 400. I held KJs but decided to let it go to step out of Katja’s way and give nobody pot odds to call that raise. One player was thinking and calling about stack sizes and finally called. The original raiser reraised all-in, about 1,100 more. The pot contained already about 1,300$ and Katja got him covered so she called. Surprise, surprise the third player called also having about one thousand. Everybody except Katja all-in, the two other players opened their hand like they were in a tournament. AA (upps) for the original raiser, 88 for the fish in last position. Katja showed nothing so far. Flop came down QJ7, turn was a T and river a blank. I was sure Katja made either a set or a strait and so it was as the showed down AKs to win a nice 4,000$ pot. The next half our hour happened nothing special, I worked my stack up to 1,600 when this hand came up: I held T4s of hearts in the BB, it was raised to 75$, one caller and it was on me. I gave loose action and called the bet. Flop came JT7 with two hearts. The initial raiser betted out 150$, the player between us folded and it was on me. I’am surly going to call here but what about a raise? Now things get a little ironic as I misread something here: his stack size. He had some notes and some regular chips and I counted this to about only 400 more. There was one odd looking chip that I thought I had seen before, a quarter from another casino. So I thought reraising him all-in would be my best move as there was slight chance that he would let the hand go holding AQ or even AK for example. I announced that I was going to put him all-in and putted about 500 out there. He shoved and it was counted and I got confused when I was told to put 500 more into that pot. That chip was a 500$ chip! Oh well, another lesson learned. I called, got lucky and fetched my heart for the flush, he throwed AA face up into the muck and left. Uppppps.

About ten minutes later Katja made one of her famous laydowns. She was opening the pot for 125$, two callers, flop came 67J rainbow, she betted the pot about 400$ and got raised by somebody Colin holding about the same stack as she (around 5k) for 1,000$ more. One player folded, she thought about it for a while, opened her hand, AA, and mucked. The other player (Colin) went white (I was reminded of a scene in rounders where TeddyKGB was holding the nuts but made nothing because of a tell). He left 5 minutes later and we also called it a day then. We won more than our buy-in for the next day, the 1500+70$ NLHE and were quite happy.

We got sleep and everything, went to the gym were I ran 5 miles again, got a massage each and went of to breakfast and our next event.

Day 3,4+5

From there on everything is in a blur. The tournament turned out to be a quick exit for me, I got KK cracked by 88 after about only 30 minutes. I went to the cash game counter and after a short while I got a seat in the 100-200 limit holdem game which looked pretty good to me. Katja played and played in the tournament and got very far – in fact the got busted with a medium stack in 36th spot, out of 350 starters, holding AQs in the BB and all the money went in before the flop against 33. No improvement for her so she got nothing out after 10 hours of play (27 paid). I came back to AQ later here.

I was playing all the time in the 100-200 game and was all the time about even. Right after Katja busted out I got a horrible rush of good cards that got all cracked and I lost 5,000$ in like 20 minutes. Katja joined me and watched the game but there was no recovery this night, we quited the (wild) game at 2am in the morning, both a little frustrated.

The next morning (day 4, Monday) I woke up pretty early, went over to the tournament area and after a good breakfast I rejoined the 100-200 game, planning to play only one hour to make my buy-in for the daily event, the 1,000$ PLO. This worked out exactly as I had planned and I bought in to the event at 11:59am. Katja got there in the meantime but she did not like to play this tournament. It was a rebuy tournament and somebody informed me that each rebuy is going to cost 100$. Oh well, that was way wrong as each rebuy was 1,000$. I learned that the hard way when I needed to make one: holding a pretty strong starting hand with 4 face cards double suited I flopped the nut strait and betted the pot. One caller. Turn is blank, I bet the pot, one caller. I was all-in after this bet. Hands were opened, he had AA for a set. Very bad call I think as the straight was out-of-question. Don’t worry, the river paired the board and I needed the rebuy. When I learned it is a 1,000$ I hesitated to not take it. The new chips did not make it for long as this time I flopped a set, betted strong and got busted by a rivered straight… ohhhhh well. That was enough PLO tournament, I stood up after 60 minutes.

I rejoined the 100-200 game, Katja was still waiting for a pot-limit holdem game. I got a good rush of nice cards and was ahead about 5,000$ after 2 hours. From there on nothing went ok in the game as I got everything cracked for the next 7 hours, making me loose this 5k and another 7k. The game was so crazy that partypoker 30-60 games are solid games in comparision. There was a guy which insisted to put like 5 bets (raising!) in before the flop with hands like 83, 74 and so on. I remember two big pots: I was holding AK, 9 players calling/raising 5 bets before flop, the flop makes two players drop out (me one of them) as it came 367 with two hearts and the betting got capped again. Turn is a K everybody betting and raising (capped again) and the river is a offsuit 9. 58o wins the gigantic pot (he was the one who capped the preflop betting). Ok… Shorly after –already serious behind- I find 66 in the hole and desperate call all the betting preflop (capped). Flop comes 236 rainbow, betting and raising, capped again, turn brings us the A, capped again (by me) and river is a 5, I just call the re-raise already feeling defeated and I was not even surprised to loose against 47o.

Wow. It looks like I am not ready for these California style action games.

Katja played pot-limit holdem and was scaring everybody off like usual. In one situation the made a texas-style guy lay down the best hand with rubbish, even one of the dealers came across later and congratulated here for her gorgeous play.

We made something back later the night when we played PLO 5-10-25 (missisippi live straddle) and the best hand held up a few times. We went to sleep about 2am.

Next day we slept long and I got no sport for the second day in a row which is bad for my weightbet but I am loosing weight as my diet is running well here. I went over a little ahead of Katja and tried a satellite but got out early.

At noon our daily event, the 1,000$ pot-limit holdem, started. Katja got out after only 45 minutes, flopping the nut flush but someone flopped a set and setted her all-in, naturally buying a pair on the turn. My story is way longer, I played nearly 10 hours I got busted in spot 28th with 18 paid, guess against who?? Sure enough, David Mehrmand. I had AQs in the SB, it was folded to me, I raised, he re-raised, I called all-in. JJ for him, no improvement for me. Worst case scenario.

Katja was playing in a NLHE cash game the afternoon after loosing some buyins in a PLO game. The game looked pretty dead to me but she wasn’t in a mood to discuss that with me. I went to the room to get over that beat (I don’t even know what’s more frustrating: busting out or busting out against HIM) where Katja re-joined me just now. The actual mood here is not to good as we are not getting anywhere in the tournaments (far from 4 final tables…) and are loosing in the cash games the last 48 hours. Let’s see how this will turn out. Trouble ahead.

Day 6

We avoided all personal trouble and relaxed a little at a blackjack table where we won about 2,000$. That I played well and lasted long in most events was not unnoticed and Willi Than took 10% of my action for the 1500$ limit holdem event. After a great morning with another 5 mile run and a nice breakfast I entered the tournament (Katja preferred not to play like always with limit events) and after about 2 hours I started to get some cards! For the first time in the whole trip I was catching cards – AA, KK QQ, all kinds of pairs and A with face cards. While I got unbelievable snapp-off’s also I bad beated some guys also like when I was holding A9s, flop comes three spades with A9 and I call the flop and the turn after initial betting. River comes an ace and I raised him – he flopped the nut flush with KJs of spades and got rivered by me with 4outer. Wow. Annother remarkable hand was when I held JJ and raised, got raised, popped it back and the flop came all rags 9 high. I had position on the guy and after his bet I raised him, he called. Turn is a K, he check-raised me and I nearly folded but the guy was good enough to make a play at me so I called. The river brought me another J and I raised his bet which he desperately called with AKo. So I had a lot of chips when the field was down to about 80 players of the starting 176. This was the first time I had some chips in the middle stages.

My rush ended soon enough and missed some big draws and got big pairs beaten twice so when it came down to 45 players I had just over the average chips. On my new table I won a hand but lost another big one when AQ and AK meet on a A high flop. I let my hand go after the 4th raise on the flop and my opponent showed AKo.

I still had about average when the following happened. Our table was about to break (36 left, 18 paid) and the floorman had already assigned the new seats when Ivo Donev insisted that the deck was already shuffeled and the hand should be dealt. The floorman agreed and we got another hand. I had the SB and found QQ when UTG raised seeing that everybody was already on the move. I reraised and the BB went out of the way, the initial raiser calling. Flop came 567o and I betted. He called. Upps. I re-thought the hand but came to the inclusion that I will put on the pressure until an ace or king comes. Turn was offsuit T and he still called my bet. On the river an innocent 3 came off and he had not even a full bet there so I putted him all-in. He called and showed A4o for the rivered straight. This pot left me severe injured and I came to the new table with less than half the average. To make a hour long story short here I raised with A7s but had to let it go after a reraise and finally went all-in holding 55 against another german player Eduard “Eddi” Schaf (two time Omaha WSOP bracelet holder) when he called me with QTo and flopped a T my tournament was over in place 26th, 18 paid. Again a 9 hour long experience without any money.

Katja played satellites in the meantime, the first she lost QQ in the first hand, the second she won and in a third she came far but no money. Later we played some blackjack again, lost what we made the day before and finally went to the steak-house where we had a nice talk with Amir Vahedi and Kathy Liebert. Afterwards we made something back at blackjack when I finally got a seat in a 10-25 PLO game where I lost big. I played only 3 hands but all got the wrong way for me. In the first I hold double suited aces (AA96) and raised pre-flop with 6 callers. The flop came T72 with two of my suits. The player in the big blind bets the pot and it was folded to me. I feared the set of tens but still decided to reraise as I had two aces, 9 suits and 4 eights for 15 outs and he still had to call there. I reraised him big time and he called. Flop and turn brought rags and my first big pot was lost. I should have runned it twice but that never came to discussion as the dealer was to quick to deal out the trun and river. Next hand I hold the KQ44 on the BB and there was no raise preflop. Flop comes QQK! I flopped the full house! Wow. Some bets and raises and it was heads up. Turn brought the 4 so I had a set of fours also (Q and 4 as my superouts for quads). It went check-check. On a rag river I check-raised my opponent all-in for over 2,000$. I was shocked when he called and showed KK. I felt like the biggest fish on earth. Shortly after I flopped the nut flush, betted strong, got a caller, turn is rag, I bet the pot and he called again. I had position on him but that did not help me when the river paired the board and the guy immediately betted out all what I had. I folded. He proudly showed me his hand and he had no more than the high pair and rivered just a second pair. Oh well. That was enough and I left the table and we went to bed for the night.

Day 7

The next day find me again using the treadmill and preparing mentally for the days 2,000$ NLHE event which both Katja and I played. There was a long waiting line for the first time as they got around 350 players, very nice turnout. Beside all the mental preparation my tournament was over after 3 hands when I lost with JJ on a 89T board against very wired played aces. I was ok with as I played it right and I am very comfortable with busting out early. Katja played for 7 hours, got unlucky by being moved 7 or 8 times within 45 minutes and always directly into the blinds. Earlier she won a big pot against devilfish with AA against his QQ which left him wounded and his tournament was over soon after. Anyway, when there were only about 60 players left she was less-than-average stacked when she found 99 in middle position and reraised all-in. She got a cold-caller and everybody else went out of the way. She was happy to see him calling with A6 offsuit!!! This story would be longer would not one of these aces came directly on the flop, outch. Well, this call of about 7,000 chips while he himself was only holding about 9,000 must one of the worst in history, what does he thought? That his kicker might be good? Oh well. Katja was depressed for some minutes.

On the bright side of things our friend Casey Castle arrived and we were very happy to see us again.

We finished the night by going into the local steakhouse and then “relaxing for 5 minutes” which found us sleeping on the bed fully dressed with shoes and caps and everything until 4am in the morning when we dropped our clothes and slept 6 hours more. Katja got a little flue like seemingly everybody here (air condition?) and was sleeping 15 hours this way. I had enough after about 12 hours and went to the gym where I took a nice 7 mile run and talked with Ivo Donev about poker in general. John “Miami” Cerruto was also with us, lifting some weights there.

Day 8

It was “river holdem” time again, the days event is limit holdem 2,000$ buyin. I had formely decided that this would be my last event in Tunica. I was very well and mentally strong and felt good about my game. After a slow start I builded some chips and when we got down to 40 players out of 176 I had about double the average chips and felt very well about my chances to reach a money spot (18 paid). I had played over 6 hours already and players were dropping out slowly now. Then the following 4 hands happened to me which send me to the rail:

1. I hold 66 and call a raise in late position, willing to give it up if I hit nothing on the flop (3 players see the flop). Flop comes 567, I made a set! Was there a straight out already? I doubted. A very solid player opened with what I believed to be an overpair or top pair with good kicker. I raised. They guy behind me called, the original raiser re-popping which even confirmed me more that he is not holding a straight. I made it 4 bets and the dumb behind still calls, the raiser also. Very nice pot already. Turn is 2 and it went check-bet-call-call. River is the 8 and it went check-bet-raise-call-call, a very *big* pot. First position showed AA, I showed my set and the dumb behind me showed Q9o for the rivered gutshout straight. Outch.

2. About 10 hands later I got the JT of clubs and raised. The dumb called everybody folded. Flop came 984 with two clubs, I had a straight flush draw and betted. Turn is a offsuit K, I bet got called and river brings a offsuit ace and I bet again willing to give it up for a raise. He called, I showed my hand saying “I missed all and everything, J high” and was shocked when he showed Q5 offsuit (both red!) for Q high! Double-outch.

3. I had a very aggressive asian player to my right who had picked up some hands lately and I was very selective about playing with him. When he was on the button he raised after everybody folded, I reraised with 88 and the BB went out of the way, the asian called. Flop came 636, he checked, I bet, he called. Turn is 2, he check-raises me! I thought he is going to make a play at me and called him down only to find him holding T6o! Ohhh.

4. My last hand. After about 45 minutes playing tight as hell and picking up nothing I found KK in the SB and it was the last hand before the break (8 hours playtime over) so everybody was fast to fold except the asian who raised his button. I reraised and he called. Flop is 458, he checks, I bet, he raises and I KNOW he is making a move so I reraised him. He called after slight hesitation and the turn is a 6. Now he checks, I bet, he raises and I call all-in. He opens 97o for a gutshot on the turn and I am drawing dead. Dead and out of the tournament in spot 28!

I was sad to say at least. It took me 30 minutes to recover from this streak and I went to dinner with Katja. There we decided to play some satellites for tomorrows event, the 3,000$ NLHE. We agreed that we are going to play it only if we made enough in these satellites with her first up if we make only enough for one. So we each played two 340$ satellites where she made nothing and I won both but made a nearly 50/50 deal in both. Result were 3000 in buy-in chips and 150 in notes, right enough to cover fees and a massage. So tomorrow I will be the railbird.

Day 9

I am writing these lines here about 30 minutes after noon, Katja went over an hour ago, ready-to-kill. I will not play anymore so I stayed in the room, tomorrow we will leave (except Katja will make it to the final table in which case only I will leave). Time for some first conclusions.

My game: I feel *very* confident about my game although I found some leaks and some strategy flaws. While I truly believe that I got unlucky in the very late stages of all these tournaments where I went that far I came there in the position to be a target for being unlucky. Had I’ve been holding more chips I would have rather not been in these situations or have mostly survived them. So I have to overwork my middle-stages strategy. My cash game is fine but I have to avoid these high-limit limit holdem games as long as out bankroll is much bigger, the swings are awfull. My pot limit game is very good.

Katja’s game: very sharp and ready to break through. I had several conversations with different players about her play all are attesting her a very strong and aggressive style which everybody has to fear. I seems to me that some finer points needs to be improved but I did not saw or heard about one single hand that she misplayed. Some decisions are subjected to discussions but where discussed they where all at minimum “ok”.

Tournament chances: they are there and wait for us!

Bankroll: way to short.

Poker lifestyle: I could live it 100% while Katja needs as 50/50 style. 50% poker and tournaments and 50% home, sports, fresh air and regular timescales. I hope that we can get to 50/50 within the next year (I will fill some of my 50% home with online action anyway).

Tunica: you are in the middle of nowhere here, much more than in Vegas. Here are these 3 casino resorts and that’s it. There are not even cabs outside! When we come next year we will stay at the GoldStrike which looks nicer than the Horseshoe. Seeing all the stuff and guest here you could really a rassist: a human rassist. The amount of “trash people”, both black and white, is to awfull high here that you just can’t believe it. I have never meet “trailer park” people before but I think they are what we found here.

David Mehrmand: he throwed me out of one tournament on a coin flip situation and is exactly that awfull guy like I had him in memory. His acting is way more than “exotic” it is plain bad behaviour. Anyway, he got to two final tables finishing 3rd and 4th and was in the money 2 or even 3 times so he is definitely playing good and getting lucky also. My hat of for that.

Weightbet: very well. My belt is already two holes more narrow and more important I don’t feel that fat any more. Although still way to heavy I am on a good way here. My running capacity has much increased thanks to careful heart rate based training. I just updated my training diary and this week alone I had was running over 20 miles.

Update from Katja: the 3,000$+100 event is full running, 378 players, all the superstars are there (although Phil Ivey and Doyle prefer to play there ultra-high-stakes cash game) but except Daniel Negranau everybody seems to be in Tunica. On one table I saw Devilfish in seat 1, John Juanda in seat 2 and Phil Hellmuth in seat 3… a nice table that is. Katja is doing pretty well so far holding about 13,000 in chips so far with 260 players left (3000 starting chips). She took revenge and throwed out the guy holding 33 against her AQs in an earlier tournament (she flopped a set of tens against his KK). She got moved to a table where two players are holding even more chips than she so it is no safe sailing there. She is terrible ill now and can hardly speak. She joked that saying “all-in” should be enough for the day.

I returned to my room and watched “Rocky IV”. When it was over I steped over again to see how she’s doing. She looked terrible ill and a little unconcentrated but had her chips. I wandererd around and watched here and talked there a little. When I did stand behind her for a few minutes she played two hands very badly and I talked to her about that. It helped as she played the very next hand agressive (her usual style and not weak-passive) and busted a player.

As I watched the final table of the 2,000 limit event (where I should have been!) I saw that “the asian guy” made good use of my money and reached not only the final table but the last two players. I witnessed a hand where he raised and re-reraised the chipleader preflop with K7s and went all in on a rag flop. The chiplader showed KK but “the asian guy” turned a rivered a flush. Outch, I felt for the other guy and remembered about the two hands the day before that were in fact costing me the tournament. I sat next to Men “The Master” and asked him if this guys is one of his peers. He told me, yes, that guy is his student, Minh Nyguen. Oh wow. That guy must have more tournament wins under his belt as I have registered in so far and does he not holding one or two WSOP-bracelets? I must re-think what I saw and check it out under more different viewpoints. I have a feeling I can learn something here.

Anyway, back to Katja. I had a arranged reservation in the local (and good) steakhouse made for 6:30 so when the time was up I went to her and told I will get there for about an hour and I want her to stay in good (chip position) shape for the next 60 minutes until I return to take the break with her and try what I can to advice her. So I went down and got a seat directly opposite to the doors. After 30 minutes Devilfish and his girlfriend/wife came in and sat right next to me. We exchanged only a few words then as I was not in a talking mood. I told him about Katja still in the tournament and that I am hoping that she will not come in while we are there. He smiled. After about an hour I saw Katja stepping into the restaurant and a quick look at my watch convinced me that the break was still 25 minutes away so she was out which I could also see on her face. It was tougher for me to see her busting out than doing it it myself. When she told about her hand and that she bluffed away all her chips against a big hand that helped not to really. She told me that she was bothered my the player to her right who always attacked and stole her blinds and when she found the biggest hand for over an hour she re-raised him all-in with KTs when he again attacked her blind. Wrong moment as he held KK and won the hand. After a few moments Devilfish and his wife stepped over to our table, offered us some wine and started to tell great and funny stories (he is just great in that) and after a few minutes we were laughing our asses of. Finally he showed me a little porn video with a very special final twist (don’t even ask!) on his mobile phone and that broke the ice for the evening. When they left we had already recovered from the bad modd and went upstairs again for a last round in the poker area and some bye-bye’s.

We went to bed then and departed the next morning. After a long but excellent travel Katja arrived in Hamburg and I was back at my desk in Stuttgart. Like Tunica had never happened. It is already in a daze.

***************

I got information from Frank that the PLHE game has against my expectations not dried out yet, it is running at full pace every day. We got to get there as soon as I am back in Hamburg and Katja recovered.