Biloxi Trip Over and I'm Home

I'm back home. I cut the trip a little short and returned early yesterday. I played the 500+50 on Sunday and a 175+25 Sunday evening. Saturday evening after getting checked in to the hotel I played some 1/2 nl for about 4 hours and won 400 bucks. I won 100 playing blackjack and 100 playing video poker so I was up 600 bucks the first night. Peyton and Eli Manning were there at the casino celebrating Eli's upcoming wedding with a little bachelor party. (that's what i heard from several people there at least)
I sat at a table next to Clonie Gowen's table. I think she was playing 25/50 no limit or something like that. She and Kristy Gazes were there helping put on a WPT boot camp. I saw Clonie quite a bit while I was there. She seemed very personable and was hanging out with everyone having a great time.

The 500+50 on Sunday had a lot less players than I expected it to. There were only 92 or 93 entrants and the top 9 made the money. ( Saturday's 500+50 had about 250 or so ) I played fairly tight in the early going watching some crazy hands take place. I finally picked up a pair of nines about 40 minutes in and called a small raise of about 150 with the blinds still at 25/50 from a very aggressive player to see a 4-way flop. The flop was 3 8 J only putting one over on the board. He bet it out like usual for 300 and the other two got out of the way so it was heads up if I call. I made the call and a 10 hit the board giving me an open ended straight draw along with my nines. He bet out for another 300 and again I call. The river is a queen giving me the low side of the straight. He slows down and checks. I bet 1,000 and he calls and shows AA. This puts me up a couple thousand early on.
I stayed tight for another hour or so and don't see anything playable. At the first break I'm sitting around 5k, about an average stack.
I get several hands to see a flop with and I keep missing with pairs and connectors. The play is very aggressive post-flop and I have to throw away a lot of missed flops.
I get down to about 3k and pick up AQ. A desperate short stack across the table pushes with about 1,400. I reraise all in to isolate and everyone else folds. He flips up AK and it holds to double him up and now I'm the desperate one.
I pick up AQ 3 times in a row. I shove all 3 times and only get called once and they hold up. I'm back up to about 4k and we're about 3 and half hours in. The average is 8k and we are down to about 40 players. I get AQ once again and I'm in late position. It folds around to me and I raise it up big. The big blind calls. The flop is Q J rag and he bets out. I shove all in and he calls me. He flips over A 10 and a king hits the river to give him a straight and I'm out in about 38th.

The second tourney was at 6 pm. Several of the guys I play with in Atlanta were in it. Brian (BrianMc), Mike G (main event Mike), Mike H, and Chris D. We started with 3k in chips and the blind levels were a little faster at 30 minutes. I catch hand after hand early on but can't get anyone to stay with me. I chip up to about 4,500 without going to a showdown. Then the deck goes cold and I blind down for about an hour. I finally pick up 55 and raise it up. The big blind reraises enough to put me almost all in and I think he believes I will fold. I almost do but finally make the call and he shows 10 10. This is my worst played hand of the whole trip I think. It cripples me and I'm out an orbit later.

Monday morning I was over at the Hard Rock Casino and was standing near the restroom at the top of the escalators waiting on a friend when I saw a man with a walker getting on the escalator down below. As his walker began it's climb he flipped over backwards and was coming up the escalator practically upside down. I looked around and realized nobody else was doing anything so I ran over to the top of the escalator and met him there as he reached the top. There was one older gentleman that had gone back down a few steps but wasn't strong enough to lift him. He had managed to get him to an almost sitting position so I reached down and grabbed him and stood him up. He was a little shaken up but said he was OK. I stayed with him for a minute until some people he was there with arrived.

It's good to be home.

Best of luck at the tables this week everyone!!!