The Mississippi State Ladies Poker Championship

The Mississippi State Ladies Poker Championship.

I just returned from Tunica. Mississippi, where I was one of the hosts for the Mississippi State Ladies Poker Championship. The series of three tournaments took place at the Horseshoe Casino. I always enjoy ladies events, but when you add in Southern hospitality, the weekend was AWESOME!

Jan Fisher, Lupe Soto, Angela Soto and I took a direct flight to Memphis from Las Vegas and were greeted at the airport by limo driver Alfred, who drove us to the Horseshoe Casino in about 45 minutes. Check-in was easy and my room was very nice. After a visit to the poker room, I called it an early night and got some rest.

Friday, we met up with some of the Oklahoma Hold’em Hotties who had traveled just to play in the ladies event and 12 of us went off property to the Blue and White Diner. I love this place and put it on my itinerary for at least one visit when I am in Tunica. The buffet featured lots of Southern specialties: fried catfish, fried chicken, fried green tomatoes, okra, yams, corn on the cob, lima beans…yum! That evening, the Horseshoe hosted a meet and greet and served up some wonderful food. It definitely wasn’t a good day to count calories. Cardroom manager Lisa Crompton was on hand to welcome all her guests. In fact, Lisa seemed to be in the cardroom 24/7 throughout the weekend to make sure everyone had a good time and to ensure that all poker activities were run properly. Does she ever get a day off? Lisa, thank for working so hard and for being such a great hostess.

After the meet and greet, the preliminary no-limit hold’em event started. Yours truly busted out early and played some live poker. The Horseshoe has a VERY good, action-filled $20-$40 hold’em game that held my interest. Saturday morning, Jan Fisher and I presented a poker seminar, followed by the state championship event. Good news, bad news…I busted out early again but at least I got to play live poker and enjoy a delicious dinner at the steakhouse. Sunday’s event was a bounty tournament; I made a minimum cash in it. Playing enough hours of live poker earned me a comp to the scrumptious Horseshoe buffet Sunday night. I went to bed early that evening dreading the 5am wakeup call for my trip to the airport.

The weekend was fabulous! I can’t wait to return to the Horseshoe. Kudos to Lisa Crompton, tournament staff Nathan Brock, Jake Bush, and Troy Graham and poker supervisor Sheila Moore for showing us such a good time!

Linda Johnson"
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