The Gulf Coast Riviera

In North America, contract bridge is administered by the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL), which has its national headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee. There are three national championship tournaments each year, each lasting 10 days, that rotate among 20 regions. Every week, there is one or more regional-level bridge tournament (usually lasting from Monday night through Sunday) somewhere in North America.

In the last two weeks of January every year, two regional bridge tournaments are held, the first one in San Destin, Florida (on the panhandle coast), and the next one in Biloxi, Mississippi (on the Gulf Coast). Perhaps because of the weather and natural beauty of these two sites, these "back-to-back" regional tournaments (about an hour's drive apart) are very well-attended and are favorite stops on the pro bridge circuit.

In the San Destin resort area, the very impressive and picturesque Bayside Village is situated on a large bay off the Gulf of Mexico. It features at least a dozen restaurants and perhaps two dozen small shops - sort of a modern version of Williamsburg, Virginia. The Bayside Inn has elegant rooms and a full complement of amenities. And you can see alligators in the wild if you know where to look for them. It's a nice place for a vacation. My kids (ages 13 and 11) love it there and keep asking to go back.

After having a reasonably successful tournament in San Destin, we drove west on Interstate 10 to Biloxi for the big regional bridge tournament at the Grand Casino. I always look forward to going to the poker room there, which seems to get better and better as years go by (under the capable direction of Tony Collins, who is a vice president of Grand Casinos).

The Grand Casino's $15-$30 Omaha high-low game may well be one of the best casino poker games (at that level) on this planet. About six players on average were seeing the flop, and there was a $50,000-plus jackpot and free "5 C's" - carrots, chili dogs, cappuccino, coffee, and Cokes.

An educational "inhibitory raise" hand variation occurred in a $15-$30 hold'em game while I was waiting for an Omaha seat. After having folded numerous hands, in order to adjust my image, I limped along with three others from late position with the 7 6. However, a good player in the small blind punished us all with a raise before the flop - which five of us called.

The flop came Q 7u 4u. The small blind (the preflop raiser) led with $15. There were two folds and two calls around to me. I also wanted to call, but decided to raise from last position. They all looked at me suspiciously - but called.

The turn card was the unimpressive 2, which was promptly checked around to me (as I had hoped). I could have tried betting to narrow the field, but with four other players, it was too likely that I would end up getting called and beat on the river. So, I simply accepted the free card.

The river card was the 9u. The player in the small blind who had raised preflop and then bet after the flop had looked annoyed when I checked after the turn card. Now, he looked at the board unhappily because of the third diamond.

Again, the three of them checked around to me. My first impulse was to check, but I had already put the small blind on a pair of queens, and it was not clear what the other two had. So, I tried the "hump" bet, since the small blind would be acting before the two other players behind him.

It worked. He looked again at the third diamond and threw his queens away. He probably thought I had raised on the flop with a four-flush (a typical move from last position) to get a free card if a diamond didn't come on the turn, and decided not to pay me off when a diamond came on the river.

It gets even better! The next player folded (he said later that he had an A-4 suited), but the last player decided to keep me honest by calling with his pocket fives! Thus, I not only won an extra $30, I got to show my cards and "advertise" my loose play.

On my way to the airport, I drove my rental car along the picturesque 20-mile stretch of coastline between Biloxi and Gulfport, Mississippi (Route 90). The pristine sandy beaches, the azure blue water of the Gulf of Mexico, and the numerous little offshore islands with palm trees were beautiful - better than the French Riviera.