The day started off innocently enough.

I waltzed into the poker room at the Gold Strike at around 2:30 PM Wednesday afternoon. I am surprised to find Sidney here, as I had expected he'd be playing the $300 buy-in NL tourney at the Grand at noon. Well, he did play, but he busted out rather quickly, and out-of-the-money for the third day in a row. Ouch.

Anyway, I am supposed to put in 5 hours per day in the Gold Strike's poker room in order to qualify for the $25 room rate (the normal rate is $64). However, there is no way I would actually be able to do that, and not just because I didn't spend a single minute playing there the first couple of days. The problem is that the game selection isn't that great -- mostly $3/$6 hold'em and $3/$6 Omaha Hi/Lo, and some $1/$2 NL and $2/$5 NL. It's just not what I came here for.

My plan is to swipe in and play a little bit, go do what I came to do at the Grand, and then come back later, play a little bit, and swipe out before I go to bed. Sneaky, I know, but I've got to get to 20 hours somehow.

So I swipe in with my player's card, and sit down at a $3/$6 table to make it legit. After about half an hour, I am down $32 and bored out of my mind. I wonder if this is worth it. They open up a new $3/$6 Omaha Hi/Lo game, and I join Sidney in it. Let me just say that penny-stakes Omaha players are miserable to be around and we'll leave it at that. An hour-and-a-half later, we'd had enough; Sidney and I get $12 comps for the Atrium Cafe, eat dinner, and head over to the Grand.


The Grand
We make it over to the Grand at around 7 PM. There is a $10/$20 Omaha Hi/Lo game going, and six people on the list. The $20/$40 limit hold'em game has broken up, but they have eight players on the $10/$20 hold'em list and will open up a new game. The proper course of action is to sit in the hold'em game and get on the Omaha list.

The hold'em game was the tightest game I have ever seen. I stole the blinds a couple of times. And then about 45 minutes into the game, they announced that they were opening up a second Omaha game.

On the very last hand, I was dealt TT (with a diamond) in early position, raised behind a limper, and we saw the flop heads up. The flop came Qd-6d-2c. My opponent checked, I bet, and he called. The turn was the Jd; he checked, and I checked behind him. The river was the 9d; he bet and I called. He had the 4d3d, and so my ten-high flush at the river was good.

I ended up winning $104 in the hold'em game.


Omaha Hi/Lo
Omaha is really what I came down here to play. When we had the $15/$30 game in St. Louis (dropped to $10/$20 over the summer), I believe that may have been the biggest regular limit Omaha Hi/Lo game in the country between Atlantic City and Las Vegas. Despite Tunica being the 3rd largest gaming destination in the country, the biggest regular Omaha Hi/Lo game in Tunica is the $4/$8 at the Horseshoe.

Let me put it this way: I've only been playing Omaha Hi/Lo for about six months, but I am already the best player in St. Louis. Part of the reason is because the best players in the other games probably don't have the patience to play as tightly as I do, and tight play is absolutely necessary to win at Omaha Hi/Lo. And of the best players in this game, they all still play too many hands, and are far too passive. So in addition to being the tightest player in the game, I am also by far the most aggressive.

I just get it.

So by extension, if I am the best player in the biggest game between Atlantic City and Las Vegas, then I like my chances in any game at these stakes, and I am curious what the other players are like.


The Game and The Players
The game is $10/$20 Omaha Hi/Lo with a half kill.

We had a pretty interesting group at the start of the game. A couple of seats to my left is Nick, a dealer on the WSOP Circuit. Nick -- a 23-year-old kid from Tampa -- has an interesting story. Remember the hand from the 2005 WSOP where a guy is involved in a head-up confrontation with Phil Ivey, the guy's hand is shaking uncontrollably, and Phil Ivey finally just says something like "OK, I fold -- just STOP."? Nick was the dealer in that hand. Nick's a funny and likeable kid, but an awful Omaha player, as he plays every other hand.

Darcy, sitting on my left, is a fairly attractive older woman from Atlanta. She is one of a number of people that came in that all play in a regular $15/$30 Hold'em/Omaha game in Atlanta. Darcy apparently makes it out for all of the big tournaments; she played in the middle-limit hold'em and Omaha games at the WSOP this past summer, as well as the games at the WPT/WSOP last winter in Tunica. That's pretty hot. I ask her what she does for a living; she says she's married.

Across the table, Wes is an old drunk from Alabama. Sitting with him is a blonde bombshell; I can't tell if that's his girlfriend or his granddaughter. For the first few hours, Wes played almost every hand to the river, and scooped some monster pots by putting on some ridiculously bad beats. The funny thing is that by the time he left, he had sobered up considerably and it became clear that he actually knew how to play.


Lineup Shift: 7 Hours Later...
It's seven hours later, and about 3 AM. At one point, I was up over $500 in this game. But I've hit a cold streak -- I haven't so much as split a pot in about three hours, and as a result I am only up about $200.

The configuration of the game has changed a bit. Darcy is now on my right. Kevin, a stout red-head with a beard, a white Puma warmup suit, and some gold bling, is a pretty tight player and is now on my left. For some reason, Kevin reminds me of the bare-knuckle boxers in Snatch. And on his left -- in Nick's vacated seat -- is Scott, another guy from Atlanta. He's awful; Darcy says they build their home games around him.

Wes, too, is gone. In his place is an old guy wearing a blue baseball cap with a big "L" on it.

I think "L" stands for "Loser".


The Case Jack
I am dealt the Js-Th-4h-2s in middle position, two off the button. Four players limp, Darcy folds, and it is up to me.

Now let me explain this hand. I think I read somewhere that 94% of winning hands in Omaha contain an Ace. The other 6% are four big cards, and then maybe a speculative multi-way hand like J-T-3-2. I say "speculative" and not "trash" because this kind of hand can scoop, but it requires some very specific things to happen. If an Ace flops, then J-T-3-2 could have the nut low draw, plus maybe a gutshot browdway draw for the scoop. Or the flop could come K-Q-x, where an Ace would make both the nut straight plus the nut low or nut low draw.

J-T-4-2 is a bit worse, though, as it needs specifically A-3 to flop the nut low. But as I said, I haven't so much as split a pot in 3 hours, and I am feeling a bit desperate. And if there was a spot to play this hand, this is it, with four limpers in front of me. Plus Kevin -- a tight player -- looks like he is going to fold, as does Scott on the button, so I will have position on the field.

I limp.

Me: "OK, let's gamble."

Darcy's left ear perks up. Both Kevin and Scott fold. Sidney calls in the small blind. But the big blind -- a kid decked out in Full Tilt gear -- raises. Everybody calls except Sidney.

I fan my hand out to admire my rather motley collection of cards. Darcy leans over, takes a peak and laughs in amusement. Kevin chuckles.

The flop comes 8s-4s-4d, giving me trip fours with a spade draw. Hehe. The big blind bets, and everybody calls. Unless the big blind has the other 4 (with a hand like AA24, or A234), my trips look best here. I raise; everybody calls.

The turn is the 9h, giving me an open-ended straight draw with my trip fours and spade draw. Everybody checks to me; I bet, and only one player folds.

Me: "Put up a Four or something."

Kevin: "Which one?"

Chuckle. Of the eleven people sitting at the table, at least ten of us -- including the dealer -- find that at least somewhat funny.

The river was the Jc, which is just about the best possible card for me. I now have a full house, Fours full of Jacks, which beats any A4 hand that may have been out. There is no low, so I am not splitting this monster pot.

As before, everybody checks to me. I bet, and it gets folded back to Big L in early position. He now raises. It gets folded to me.

Me: "That's ridiculous. You got Jacks?"

I call in disbelief. Big L nods with a smile, and produces the J-J-8-6.

That is ridiculous. He had no low draw, and not even a flush draw. He called me down with Jacks? Everybody else knew I had trip fours except for him. And even he must have known I had it because he check-raised me.

Granted, I could have lost the pot if a spade had fallen, or split it had a low card hit the river. And it's true, a Nine or an Eight could have made someone trips and beaten me as well. But the case Jack? To fill me up and rub it in?

I mean, come on.


Staying the Weekend
There was well over $400 in that pot, and it would have been nice to have won that one. Instead, I ended up winning only $92 in 8.5 hours in that Omaha game.

But the fact is that that was a great game, and there were two of them going. And if this game is going to be here all week, then I should be too. I only booked my hotel room for four nights, but I brought six days of clothes just in case. I know that most of the hotels are already sold out for the weekend; my first task for tomorrow is to find a place to stay.