Trip to Louisiana, Part 1

I decided to spend my 4th of July holiday Cajun style in Louisiana. Primo and I rented a car for the trip to Lake Charles. For those who don't know, they have three big casinos in the immediate area. Isle of Capri and LaAuberge du lac are in Lake Charles and then you can drive about 30 minutes to Kinder, LA to get to Coushatta Casino and Hotel. As far as poker rooms, Isle and Coushatta have big rooms and there is nothing at LaAuberge which is a shame because it is a great casino.

Primo and I left Thursday afternoon and made it to Lake Charles in relatively good time considering we hit Houston in rush hour traffic. Around 8 PM, we cruised into town and went straight to our motel to check in. Since it was late in the evening, we decided to stay in Lake Charles and hit up LaAuberge du Lac. This casino has been open for a few years now and I had never been there. Since Hurricane Rita, I had only been to Lake Charles once and didn't make it to LaAuberge. At the time, Harrah's Lake Charles was the only place I went because of their poker room. Sadly, it didn't survive Hurricane Rita and didn't reopen afterwards as Harrah's decided against it. We decided to keep it light, so we just played some craps and blackjack that night as well as drink a little bit. We both did very well and managed to leave the casino with more money than we came with that evening. Anytime you leave a casino with money is a win-win situation. We called it a night about midnight and went back to our motel.

The next morning we decided to head out to Coushatta to get some poker playing. It is about a thirty minute drive from Lake Charles to Kinder. I am very familiar with the Coushatta Poker Room as I have done well there in the past. I was anxious to get there and get a seat at one of the cash tables. It being a holiday, I knew the tables would fill out fast. When we got there, they have a few tables going. Primo and I bought our chips and sat down at the 2-5 NL cash table. For being early afternoon, the action was at a fast and furious pace. After a short time, I managed to double my original buy in. I was on the button with Q-4 of clubs and it was a family pot. I decided to speculate and called on the button as there was about $30 in the pot before the flop. To my delight, I flopped a king high flush with my little Q-4 of clubs. I played the hand as tricky as I could and got paid off very well for it. It is a nice feeling to have over $700 in front of you in a short time. From that point on, I was in control and dictated the action at the table.

We spent the rest of the day at Coushatta and decided to play in their Friday $20 re-buy tourney. I should have just stayed at the cash tables because I didn't fair too well in the tourney. It wasn't because of bad play or anything...I just couldn't any cards to make a move and gather chips. I busted out shortly after the re-buy period was over...disappointing to say the least, but I was still up big from earlier session. We left Coushatta around midnight after spending a marathon 10 hour day there. Primo and I both left with more money than we came with earlier in the day. I did my winning at the poker table and he hit a few slot jackpots which put us both up big after only our first full day.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of our my Louisiana trip and I'll finish up with the rest of the story...

Another Seat

The Main Event 2008 is upon us...

Yours truly managed to win another seat to play in the biggest tourney on the planet. However, I decided that I would take the cash instead of trying to roll the dice against 8,000+ other rounders this weekend.

I played in the Full Tilt 150 seat tourney a few weeks back and made it into the top 150. That got me a $12K prize pack to the Main Event. They gave me the option of taking the money and playing in the tourney. The catch was that I would have to do all the leg work myself. I'd have to get my flight, reserve my room and buy myself in the tourney. Now, I come from the old school before sneaky laws were back doored on the last night. When I won my first seat, all that work was handle for me and I just had to show up. The other option was to not play and take the prize money in tournament dollars. I could later convert that into hard cash at a cost of 5% (thanks to Full Tilt last software upgrade).

Let's think about this for a minute. The first time I won a seat back in 2006, I never saw that money. It was just passed on right through to Harrah's and all I got was a receipt. This time around they are giving me the option to take the cash. If I choose to play in the Main Event, I am making the decision on my own to risk $10,000. Like I said, last time I never saw the money and the decision was made for me. This time around I really had to take some time to think about what was the best option for me at this time and place.

Needless to say, it was a no brainer to take the cash and pocket $12K. That to date is my biggest cash ever in my poker career. Good luck to all those playing this weekend from the Texas Poker Club. Next year maybe I can win two seats, that way I can play and pocket the cash from the other one.