Biloxi 2009

As I drove my rental car from the Gulfport Airport along coastal Route 90 to the annual Biloxi Regional Bridge Tournament, I just couldn’t resist making a quick stop at one of the many pristine sandy beaches to walk down to the turquoise-blue water and gaze out at the picturesque little offshore islands with palm trees. It was simply beautiful. And many more people have learned about the beautifully scenic Mississippi Gulf Coast since gambling was legalized in Mississippi in 1992 (on “boats” on the Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico).

Each night, after the evening sessions of bridge, a thousand bridge players swarmed out of the Biloxi Convention Center and headed for the local casinos. My choice was the poker room at Beau Rivage (a sibling casino of the Mirage in Las Vegas), where they have one of the best $10-$20 (with a half-kill) Omaha eight-or-better games on this planet. While there, I heard about their 6 p.m. $130 buy-in no-limit hold’em tournaments on weeknights, which feature deep stacks (10,000 in starting chips) and a slow progression of the blinds. Since that sounded very good for my style of play, I arranged to take a night off from bridge.

There were almost 100 players at the 10 starting tables. As sometimes happens, I had no playable cards at all during the first hour, so I patiently folded almost all of my hands. But with deep stacks, this was no problem — as I still had more than 9,000 in chips.

At one point, I picked up A-Q and was about to make a big move when a seemingly tight player in front of me went all in for more than 15,000. Although I was very anxious to play a hand, I unhappily folded because I judged it to be a coin toss, or worse if he had aces, kings, queens, or A-K. I certainly wanted better odds before I risked being eliminated.

Finally, in first position with 100-200 blinds, I picked up the K♥ Q♥. I raised it to 600 to go. Only a rather loose player on the button called. The flop came K-8-3 rainbow. I checked, and the button bet 1,500. I went all in for 8,000+. He pondered for a few moments, then called and turned over K-10. I doubled up, and was now back in contention.

For about another half-hour, I had no good starting hands. Then I picked up my old nemesis hand, pocket jacks. The blinds were 200-400 and a player to my right raised to 1,500 before the flop. I had about 15,000 in chips; he had a lot more. How do you play pocket jacks in this type of raised situation? The player who raised had not played many hands, and there were three players (two blinds) yet to act after me.

I considered making a large reraise, but I felt that he would call whatever I raised. So, I just limped in with a call. In heads-up action, 10-9-8 flopped. He bet another 1,500. What would you do now?

If he had raised with two high cards, I probably had the best hand, so I certainly did not intend to fold. If he had a big pocket pair or had flopped a set (unlikely), I still could win by making a straight. All in all, I liked my chances, so I tried a “minipush” bet, and pushed 8,500 into the pot, raising 7,000 and leaving myself with about 5,000.

I understand that the psychological thinking here is that whenever someone bets most of his stack — that is, two-thirds of a big stack or more — he is usually pot-committed. So, an opponent might think, “Why is he not pushing his whole stack? Because he wants to make it easier to call!” So, think of a minipush as a “bargain basement” stack push. Thus, in most cases, the minipush is an exception to the old rule — the more you bet, the more likely they are to fold.
My opponent thought for a while, then folded.

I coasted during most of the next hour and a half and avoided all of the big action, although I did manage to steal a few blinds and “unwanted” pots. As we moved to the final table (and into the money), I had the second-smallest stack, about 50,000. Then, I finally picked up my first premium hand, pocket kings in my small blind. Unfortunately, everyone folded around to me.

The big blind was a very aggressive player with a lot of chips, so I merely limped in. Without hesitation, he said, “All in.” Of course, I called, and he turned over Q-9. So, I doubled up to more than 100,000. He made a rather humorous comment about falling into “one of his favorite traps.”

With six players remaining, there was a big crunch hand in which two lower full houses were eliminated. I won one more big pot with an ace and the higher kicker. Then, with three players remaining, a three-way split was proposed, which I was happy to accept, having the lowest amount of chips. So, without any particularly great number of cards or amount of luck, I was able to score a decent win. In these deep-stack, slow-progression tournaments, you have a lot of time to pick and choose your spots; hence, there is a substantially greater amount of skill involved to win.

I understand that Beau Rivage and the Gold Strike in Tunica have a full schedule of big poker tournaments planned. I am thinking about attending the Gold Strike’s_ World Poker Open_, July 24-Aug.10, and Beau Rivage’s Gulf Coast Poker Championship, Sept. 3-14. See you there.

Formerly a career lawyer with the U.S. Department of Justice, Mike Cappelletti has written numerous books on poker and bridge, and is considered to be one of the leading authorities on Omaha. Mike has also represented the U.S. in international bridge competition, and he and his wife were featured in a four-page Couples Section in People magazine. His books include Cappelletti on Omaha, Poker at the Millennium (with Mike Caro), and Omaha High Low Poker.