Bad Start

I drove my brand-new Nissan 350Z all the way down to Tunica for the World Poker Open. Jason Viriyayuthakorn and I decided to go for a little drive from the casino down to town to pick up some lunch. Just as I punched the gas pedal to show Jason what the car could do, the road ended. There was no sign, no warning, nothing. The road just ended. So, the next thing I knew, we were on a golf course going 80 miles an hour. This car isn't really suited for off-road work, needless to say.

The thing about tournament poker is that you need to scuffle along, hoping to survive between big scores. A typical day of tournament play involves coming away with nothing except your dignity - and sometimes you don't even have that. It is very important to be able to mentally handle a long string of losing days.

I was in the midst of one of those strings when I wrote this column. One week after arriving at the Jack Binion World Poker Open in Tunica, Mississippi, I was in the middle of a not so remarkable losing streak. My poker bankroll, which I declared to be $50,000 at the beginning of 2003, was already down about 20 percent. That wasn't very surprising. I'd entered five tournament events at $540 each, and hadn't sniffed the money. I was playing OK, but just wasn't able to make it happen. So, that was $2,700 gone right there.

I'd also invested $3,200 in five supersatellites. I got very close to a seat in one of those supers, but I also got $1,400 into one of them and didn't make the break. That is not good supersatellite play. I was absolutely certain that I'd break through at any time, but until I did, the supers were putting a major dent in my bankroll. And, of course, the prize for super success is not cash, but a $10,000 tournament seat. I will count a super win as a $10,000 win when it comes, but it is important to remember that nominal money cannot be spent or used as bankroll money.

And that led to my first bankroll-induced change of course: to allot myself only one bullet per super during the rebuy period. That's a change from my usual buy-all-the-bullets-I-need-to-survive strategy. Then, I'd evaluate where I stood at the break and make an add-on decision, instead of adhering to my usual buy-the-maximum rule.

Then, there was my live play. The action in Mississippi is incredibly fast and furious. They like to play big-bet poker in Tunica. The game of choice is pot-limit Omaha. They like to put on the Mississippi straddle, which is a live raise from any position, including the button. The action starts to the immediate left of the straddle. When the button uses this technique, it not only builds the pot, it gives that player the right to act last on all streets. This is a pretty powerful tool. They even allow the Mississippi straddle in pot-limit hold'em. This encourages lots of action, as you might imagine.

I was down about $2,300 in eight hours of live play, mainly $10-$25 pot-limit Omaha and pot-limit hold'em. I was actually very happy with my live play, and was confident that I'd be looking at an overall win in Tunica before the month was out. But, so far, so bad.

Performance Update Through Mid-January

Five Tournaments: $2,700

Supersatellites: $3,200

Live Play (8 hrs.): $2,300

Bankroll on Jan. 1, 2003: $50,000

Bankroll on Jan. 16, 2003: $41,800