10/23/99 saturday
yesterday, i met nolan dalla and his wife, marietta, at the new orleans international airport. we then drove to biloxi, to our room at the grand casino biloxi hotel. it didn't take us very long to find the poker room.
hoo boy!! have i got *another* room for you!! the grand has 21 tables of stud and flop games. there are always the usual 1-5 stud games, and often a 2-10 spread limit stud (.50 ante; low card brings it in for at least 2). they generally spread 20/40 stud, but there was a 30/60 game going friday night. hold em is offered at 1-4-8-8 and 4/8, and they usually get a 10/20 or a 15/30, too. omaha/8 goes every day at 4/8 with a half-kill. they'll spread other games, too, depending on what the players want.
i was very impressed by this room. some of the regular features are: cash does not play. chip runners are busy all the time. new players in flop games below 10/20 do not have to post. seats next to the dealers are not no-smoking. the room is located on the top floor of the casino, and is walled in by glass. it's conveniently located adjacent to the buffet. you get one meal comp per shift, for about four hours of play. an awful lot of players here are heavy smokers, but the smoke was not *too* much of a problem. the rake is 10% to a max of 4. they offer bad beat jackpots. i didn't see any "playing over", but i've only been here two days. off-duty dealers play their own money in live games here. they use the "forward moving button" rule when a player leaves. in kill pots, the action always starts to the left of the big blind. they have omaha/8 and hold 'em tourneys $5 + 5 buy-in, $15 re-buys at any time; $25 final add-on at the break.
the dealers are pretty good! there is no rulebook available for players, but the room's rulebook is based on an amalgam of several rulebooks, including the las vegas hilton. :) i happened to be involved in several incidents which required a ruling from the floor, which were all made quickly and (in this feline's opinion) correctly.
the swing shift manager is cincere' mason, a long, cool, dark-haired woman in a beige dress, who exudes a sultry southern charm and runs one very efficient room. there were several very good points to the room, and i'll mention them here because they warrant it. there is a black oval drawn in the middle of each table. chips over the line stay in the pot, and chips outside the line aren't a bet. i *love* this feature, and i haven't seen it in a cardroom in many years. next: the room utilizes a "third man walking" rule, the first cardroom i've played in this trip which uses this technique. best of all, i was particularly impressed by the way the room handles seating control procedures. the folks at the front desk know who is in the room, and where they are, and what games they want to play. they'll get a head count before they announce that they're spreading a new game, and they'll be ready with replacement players for those to join the new game.
did i say that the dealers are pretty good? i played one pot in omaha/8 where there were *four* side pots, each one of considerable size, and dealer mike van peltz was right on the money throughout the hand (hehehehehe....i got all the low from all five!). :) you *know* that i was paying attention.
nolan and i made contact with a couple rgp'ers, too! keith fichtmeier stopped by the room to chat, but he didn't play. he's got a number of projects going on outside the poker room, and doesn't play much at all any more, and we were very happy that he came by to say hello! both nolan and i got to play with "minus200", whose real name is rick. he traveled all the way from mobile, alabama, to regale us with his humor, and it was my pleasure to buy him a chivas regal scotch during our game. :) i also met several lurkers, who will remain anonymous....until they decide to come forward publicly.
obligatory poker story: heheehehe....when i next meet each of you, i'll have to give each of you one dollar. lissen to this..... it's a kill pot at 4/8 omaha/8. the killer is to the left of the big blind, and does not raise his own kill. two callers to me, in late position. i raise with ac 10c kh 10h. button (to my immediate left) calls, as does big blind, killer, and one limper. flop is 10 7 3 rainbow. checked to me and i bet. button raises. big blind (worst player at the table) calls, as does the killer. other player leaves. i re-raise and button caps it. four players. turn is an offsuit 8. ugh. i hate it. it's checked to me and i bet. button raises, again. big blind calls. killer leaves. river is another eight. big blind checks; i bet my tens full; button just calls. the big blind now raises! i make it three bets; button makes a crying call and big blind caps it! two callers. big blind shows down 10 8 8 6 rainbow, for quad eights! he had garbage to call two raises before the flop, and a mere pair of tens with a gutshot to call two bets on the flop!! "nice hand, mister. well played!" oh yeah. the button had the only low..... 5 2 x x.
second obligatory poker story: another kill pot story. i'm in the little blind with ac 2c 3h 6d. fourteen or fifteen players limp in for the kill, so i raise it. lots of callers. flop is 9c 7c 9s. i bet it; three callers, and button raises. five players see the turn. it's 8c. i bet my flush (and unbreakable low draw). next player (an off-duty dealer who has been running over the table for two hours) raises; two callers, and the button re-raises. the dealer eventually caps it, and we've still got five. the river is a wonderful card for me. it's a low one - a red three, i think. i bet. off-duty dealer raises; two callers; button makes it three bets, and i cap it. everybody calls. i spread my ace-deuce of clubs, with the facetious comment: "is a flush good?" guy on the button snorts, and shows two red nines for quads. the other two players muck (one made eights full on the turn; the other guy had his ace-three counterfeited on the end); the off-duty dealer stands up, crows, and triumphantly spreads his straight- flush! we split a *monster* pot!! :)
i'm writing this on sunday morning. nolan and marietta went to a comedy club last night, and had a ball!! he didn't play any poker last night, and he got up early this morning to get his allotted time at the tables! oops! nolan is pounding on the door! it's time to go downstairs and play some poker! maybe i'll play in the omaha tourney!
10/24/99 sunday
the omaha/8 tourney starts promptly at one second after noon. we have three full tables. there is a guarantee of $1000, but with all the re-buys, i doubt if the house ever has to pony up. everyone starts with T500, and the blinds start at 5 and 10, and go up every 15 minutes. it's a "fast action" tourney. i buy-in for $5 + 5 and play. there are already two or three re-buys in the first level! in the second level, i hold ah ad 6s 9s. i raise. several callers. flop is ks jc 7s. i bet, and there's lot of action. i suspect that i'm i trouble. turn pairs the seven, and i bet my aces up. on the end, i learn that i'm in third place to sevens full of jacks and jacks full of sevens! "rebuy!" they're going to pay four places.
by the time we get to the final rebuy ($25 add-on for T2000) at the break, i'm the chip leader with T3400. i decide not to do the add-on. there's a prize pool of about $1300 or $1400. i get to the final table (8 players). i have an average stack; one player is on the bubble; two players have small stacks; big stack is to my left. one woman (one of the small stacks) wants to do a $50 save around the table. i'm the only one who says no. you see, there was this guy at the table (the guy on the bubble) whom i know from atlantic city. about four months ago, i was playing 5/10 omaha/8 with this guy. on the river, i faced all four of my cards, and announced: second nut low. he waits until the others muck, and spreads, announcing a seven-high straight. i look at all my cards, and realize that i, too, have a seven- high straight. i say so. this guy looks at me, curses, and bitches that i slow-rolled him. i'd already had enough of this guy's behavior, so i stacked and racked. later that day, a nearby floorman *and* the dealer at the table told me (remember, i'm well-liked at the tropicana) that one of this guy's buddies told him after i left the table that i had faced all my cards and didn't slow roll. i've played with this guy several times since, and i'm still waiting for the apology....
so, when i see this guy was on the bubble....i ain't a-gonna agree to give him any money..... };)
we're down to six-handed. i now have a small stack, but i'm in 4th place. i am under the gun with a a j j rainbow. i don't know how to play this hand in this spot, so i throw it away. as it happened, an all-in player had a king; flopped a king, and made three of 'em on the turn.
i get past the blinds, but i'm still a small stack, and the remaining six (including the guy from the tropicana) agree to a $50 save for all. hey! i'm only in for my original $10 plus one $15 rebuy! i've already made money! we're still at six players. i'm the short stack. here's the last hand: guy from jersey is all-in on the big blind. i raise all-in with a pair of aces and another low card. little blind calls all-in. flop is two high cards and one little card....turn is a high card...and the river is an ace, making me trips. two aces were enough, and i knock out two players to get down to four players.
we're all about equal stacks, and we agree to a four-way chop. :)
we all get paid a total of $319 each, and i convince the others (it didn't take much) to contribute $30 each to the dealers.
i couldn't wait to get back to the room to write this one up! :)
a few closing notes: i thought that the tourney was very well-run! the dealers dealt the tourney tables as part of their regular string, and, as i've said earlier, dealers in this room are pretty good. i'd like to make a special note of shift supervisor bruce diamond, who did a terrific job as tournament director.
10/25/99 monday
jeez....where does the time go? i think that i'm having too much fun on this trip...
the day begins with a few hours at the 1-4-8-8 hold 'em table at the biloxi grand, sitting next to nolan. he makes a straight flush, and is awarded a gold spinner! :) also at our table is david, a prop player. david plays an awful lot of hands, and plays nearly every hand in middle and late position. he wound up a winner for the session, and i don't know how he did it. david told us that he's paid $ 4.25 per hour to play. jeez. that ain't a helluva lot of money....
soon after nolan and i both take a couple of horrendous beats, to wipe out virtually all of our day's profit (i won seven bucks; he won a whole dollar), nolan, marietta and i take a cruise on the "grand advantage ii," a 64-foot cabin cruiser that leaves from a dock adjacent to the casino. it's a beautiful boat, that spreads canapes and hor's douvres, and has an open bar (nolan notes that two of rgp's most favored expressions are "open bar" and "seat open"). we cruise out into the gulf for 45 minutes, and then turn around to come back. on our outgoing voyage, we are accompanied by four or five dolphins, who run with the boat about 10 yards off the port beam for about 20 minutes! our return is highlighted by a spectacular view of an ocean sunset, directly aft! thanks, god! :D
we learn that the three of us are the only people on the boat who have paid the $15 admission fee. everybody else was comped to the tour due to their heavy losses in the pit!! lol!!!
let's check out the poker room at the president, about five miles west of the grand.
[ tiger returns from the treasure bay ]back to the grand biloxi, where i play 1-4-8-8 hold 'em; win a rack-and-a- half of white; stack 'n' rack; bye, bye! :) nolan plays for a few hours and did pretty well, too.
stay tuned!! i think that there's something special coming up soon! };)
tiger
10/27/99 wednesday
night before last, we had dessert at mary mahoney's - an old french house across route 90 (the main drag) from the beau rivage. the house and surrounding structures were built in 1737, and it's now a restaurant, lounge, irish pub and 24-hour cafe! the central courtyard is built around "the patriarch", a (magnolia?) tree that is supposed to be more than 2000 years old!! the main house is now the restaurant; the slave quarters is now the lounge; the carriage house is now the pub; and the cafe has got to be where the servants lived. we enter the cafe and are greeted by jean, a granny with real granny glasses. we have beignets (ben-yay) with cafe au lait (laced with chicory) and hot chocolate (laced with real chocolate syrup!). mmmmmmm! jean tells us of daily unadvertised specials: hot cakes and choice of breakfast meat for $1.37 and sausage biscuits for $.99!! but you gotta get there before ten ayem! the cafe has about a dozen outdoor tables under the trees, and i sure could picture myself doing the sunday crossword puzzle, feet up on another chair, sipping a cafe au lait and munching beignets.... (note: a beignet is a square of dough, deep-fried and dusted with powdered sugar. mmmmmmm)
yesterday, nolan played in the hold 'em tourney. he met robert from mobile, who has already posted his impressions of the two of us! :) robert is a chronological peer of mine, a six-footer, brown hair and beard with a touch of gray, with a rich deep voice. he's the race caller at the local dog track in mobile, and i can just hear him say, "here comes casey!" (they've re-named the rabbit in honor of a local politician). robert actually lived in new york city for a year in the mid 70s. he's played poker in lots of places in this country, and says that the biloxi grand is the best poker room in mississippi. i can't disagree. robert likes to talk, drink and play poker. he does all three very well. i like this guy. :)
the tourney ended when they got down to the final table. robert and another player had tiny stacks, and were happy to get any part of the chop. but nolan and the remaining seven other players whacked it up equally, and they each walked away with about $340. wtg!
tony collins is the poker room manager of the biloxi grand. he's also the general manager of all the grand casino poker rooms in mississippi! he's a real good guy who knows a lot about poker (and running a poker room), and tony is very much looking forward to next month's "marge" event.
[ tiger recounts his visit to gulfport ]
[ tiger returns from the gulfport grand ]
back to the biloxi grand, where keith and i play some 1-4-8-8 hold 'em. keith makes a royal flush, and wins a jacket! wtg keith!! also at our table is "helen", who just happens to be the aunt of johnny chan! keith makes some money, and takes off. i make some money. nolan comes into the room, and it's time to have a drink or two.
i cash out, and we head downstairs to the mississippi long bar, on the lowest level of the casino. there are video poker screens in front of each bar stool, but the bartender has become a friend of ours in the last several days, and doesn't bother to charge us for the heineken darks we put away. besides, we doubt that anyone is tipping him as much as we are....nolan and i talk for two hours about just about everything, and manage to resolve most of the problems in the world. and now it's time for craps with "darkside dalla!!! :)
he makes about $170 betting the don't and i make about $25 betting the do, and we definitely have more than $195 worth of laughs!! :)
back to the poker room, where there is the most amazing 1-4-8-8 hold 'em game ever spread. there's at least a 7-way cap pre-flop every hand. most players don't bother to look at their cards until after it's been capped on the river. "tran" from atlantic city is the ringleader! railbirds are three deep at this game, and i can't get onto the table until 6 am, after all but one of the maniacs are gone.... :(
at the suggestion of rgp'er paul mcmullin, i'm going to add a note about how the biloxi grand runs one aspect of their tournaments. during the course of a tourney, seats become open, and tables must be consolidated and broken down. in atlantic city, when a player must be taken off one table and moved to another (to equalize the number of players at each table), one player is high-carded and moved. this move is without regard to where the blinds were at the original table, and without regard to where the blinds are at the destination table. however, at the biloxi grand, the tourney director care- fully notes where the button is at both tables, and does his best to make a player move with the least effect on button location (if a seat is open two seats to the right of the button on the destination table, the player two seats to the right of the button on the source table is moved). thanks, paul!
a few closing notes about the biloxi grand poker room: i loved this place. the people who run the room are terrific. the people who work in this place are terrific. and the people who play in this place are terrific.
i saw about 25-30 dealers. all but one or two of them rate at least "very good." the chip runners were always right there. rulings from the floor were immediate and correct. i never had to beg or grovel for a meal comp - and there always was someone staffing the comp desk. and i've already told you how well they run their seating control.
the poker room was decorated for halloween - the only place in the entire hotel/casino complex that was decorated. that's just one more element which shows what a friendly place it is.
you folks going to "marge" are going to *love* this room!
tomorrow, we have to leave this wonderful town. :( but we're going to another wonderful town just down the road! :) stay tuned!
tiger
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Kenneth R. Churilla