Travel With Me … Bay Area, Mississippi, and Reno - Part V

by Daniel Negreanu | Published: Jan 17, 2003

On our first stop of this leg of our journey, we'll drop in on the Shooting Star tournament in the Bay Area, and meet superstar tournament director Matt Savage and superstar tournament player Phil Hellmuth … oh, and Diego Cordovez (inside joke).

Last year was my first trip to the Bay Area, and after playing in the Shooting Star event, it certainly won't be my last. If you are unfamiliar with the event, it is a $1,000 buy-in no-limit hold'em tournament with a 150-player max. If you plan on playing in it, don't procrastinate, as the tournament sells out well in advance.

At each of the 15 tables, a poker celebrity is seated who has a bounty on his/her head. If you knock out the celeb, you win $1,000, but more importantly, you get to have your picture taken with the celebrity you just busted while holding up your new T-shirt that reads: "I Just Busted Mike Sexton." They all don't say "Mike Sexton" on them, but the one I have does, as I was fortunate enough to bust him at my starting table. If I ever make a final table with Mike, you can guess what I'll be wearing!

I almost won another T-shirt, as I had Men "The Master" all in with the best hand with two tables to go. Men won that pot and stayed alive in the tournament, but more importantly, he avoided the inevitable needling he was sure to get from me for years to come!

I made it to the final table of that event, but was eliminated rather quickly. I was extremely impressed with the level of play of the locals. A player I'd never seen before, Bernard Ko, won the event. Bernard played fantastic poker from three tables on down, so seeing him win was no surprise to me. In fact, he outplayed me on three key hands with about 12 players to go. Honorable mention should go to longtime tournament veteran Dick Corpuz, as I was also very impressed with his skills. There were actually more than a few new faces I played with who really impressed me. I couldn't figure out how these players were able to develop their no-limit skills so rapidly without playing in any of the big-time tournaments.

Ah, then it all became clear to me. You see, in Northern California, they play a spread-limit game, $30 to $200 anytime. A game like this plays similar to pot-limit hold'em. Playing in these games on a regular basis has helped many of the locals hone their no-limit skills in the tournaments.

It's time now to catch a flight, to Reno, Nevada.

I've had only one opportunity to visit Reno, as well, but was impressed with the city as a whole. It has lots of activities, and a nice atmosphere. The locals had surprising tournament savvy. It shouldn't be all that surprising, really, as they do have the Pot of Gold, the World Poker Challenge, the Peppermill tournaments, and several other smaller buy-in tournaments to practice in.

With many of the West Coast crowd traveling to Reno, the tournaments take on an L.A. feel. I missed the World Poker Challenge in 2002, but since it will take place this year in March, I'll definitely be returning, as I'm sure lots of tournament players will.

The room rates are more than affordable, and the side action goes around-the-clock. The tournament staffs are very competent, and things run smoothly.

Inasmuch as many of the locals are low-limit players, that adds a lot of extra equity to the tournaments. For any tournament to be successful, a solid base of locals is essential, and Reno has that solid base.

Our next stop is Tunica, Mississippi.

Leave it to Jack Binion to convince poker players to travel to the middle of nowhere for a poker tournament. The Horseshoe and Gold Strike have done everything they can to make poker players feel comfortable in Tunica. The World Poker Open has taken over the January time slot on the tournament trail, and it appears it's there to stay.

The game of choice in Mississippi is pot-limit Omaha. One thing the locals can't be accused of is having no gamble in them. Pot-limit Omaha isn't for the faint of heart; the game takes a lot of courage to play. That's something of which the players in Mississippi have an abundance.

To promote even more action (as if they needed to), they invented something called the Mississippi straddle. A Mississippi straddle can be made from any position, and it buys last action before the flop. If, for example (in a game with $10-$25 blinds), the button puts a live $50 on it, the next player to act would be the small blind, followed by the big blind, and so on. If it gets back to the button with no raise, the button has the option of raising.

If the button straddles, the player next to the button has the option of re-straddling by putting in $100, earning him last action. That forces the dealer to act on his $50 bet first, then the small blind, the big blind, and so on. There is no limit on the number of straddles, so in a little $10-$25 pot-limit game, you could see as much as $500 in the pot before any cards are dealt!

Then, there is Mississippi stud. This, too, is played pot-limit. Everyone gets three cards, as you normally would in stud, and you can bet up to the amount in the pot at any time. Once the betting is complete, the dealer gives each remaining player two upcards. There's more betting, and then the rest of the hand plays out normally. Oh, there's one twist I forgot to mention: The game is played high-low!

Triple draw is the game that appears to be sweeping the nation, at least in the high-limit sections. Triple draw was also invented in Mississippi, which just goes to show you what kind of creative imaginations these Southerners have.

What about hold'em? Well, let's just say that if you want to survive in the South, you better learn a new game!

On our next trip, we are going to be leaving the United States and flying across the ocean to Europe. When we return home, we'll take a seven-day cruise for the PartyPoker Million, and then on our last trip, we'll wind down in my new favorite travel spot, San Jose, Costa Rica.