I arrived home earlier today from Tunica where the World Poker Open events are being held.

I know a lot of us chippers like to play poker at the Casinos and I wanted to tell you how my trip was at the World Poker Open. This has to rank right up there with one of my best weekends ever!

I'm sorry this is a really long post but I want to share in detail what happened for the poker players on the board.

It was truly an unforgettable experience and maybe some of the poker players on the board might appreciate it...

I went down with two of my poker buddies with whom I play in a regular Texas Hold-em game here in Kansas City. One of these guys' Dad is retired and travels all over the country playing poker. He also has been a poker dealer for several years. He has been hired as one of the dealers to deal in some of the events at the WPO each day. So I flew down with his son and another guy to get into some of the action and to play in the satellites for entry into the actual WPO events.

I played in a satellite (10 person) tournament with the hopes of winning an entry into one of the events outright. One of these events was Event #19 which was a Limit Hold-em event. The winner of the satellite gets a $300 buy-in that can be used in the WPO event plus $50 in cash. The satellite tournament got down to me and one other player. After some heads-up play, we both agreed to halt the game and split-up the money after our stacks got to be about even. I gave him $150 cash for the $300 buy-in chip and we split-up the $50 after tipping the dealer $20 for dealing the game.

I used this chip to buy my way into Event #19 which was a Limit Hold-em tournament that was held yesterday. I've played in real poker tournaments before so those are nothing new to me but I've never played in a tournament with any World Class players before. Needless to say, I was pretty jazzed about it! After about 20 minutes of pre-tournament coaching by Joe's Dad, I jumped onto my assigned table. Joe's Dad came over and said "Oh my God, you've got two bracelets winners at your table!" One player was John Bonetti and the other player's name escapes me right now (I'm working on only 1 hour sleep - LOL). My game plan was to play extra extra tight until after the re-buy period had expired and hopefully don't do anything stupid. I was able to accumulate some chips by only playing extremely high starting hands (QQ and KK that held and AQ suited that I got a nut flush on). I had previously planned on going into my pocket for one re-buy if I felt good about my playing conditions or a single "chip add-on". After the re-buy period there was a in the break in play during which time players could then purchase one or two more $500 chips and "add-on" to their chips count. Since I was able to accumulate chips, I never had to do a "re-buy" and used my budgeted cash for a single chip add-on.

Joe's Dad said that once the re-buy period is over, that the real game gets on since player's now can't save himself buy doing a re-buy if he busts out. So, once the re-buy period was over, I then loosened-up my starting hand requirements and got more involved. On one lucky occasion I was in the Big Blind and was dealt KJ suited. John Bonetti raised and all other players folded to me which I did call to see the flop. Flop came King and two other cards lower than an King which I now don't remember exactly what they were. I checked my top pair and he bet. I called. Next card was a rag, I checked and he bet, I called. River card was Jack (which gave me two-pair, Kings and Jacks). I checked it, he bet and I raised putting him all-in. He called my raise and I flipped over my KJ. He stood up and tapped the table and said "good hand". This may sound corny but it was a really an unbelievable experience and one that I will never forget. That just about doubled my chip count.

I continued to play tight and got involved in one hand where I again had flopped top pair of Kings. One King came on the flop and one card was an hole-card. We bet and called the flop and turn. On the river, an ACE fell. Not having an Ace, I bet into it as a bluff. My play on that Ace was very stupid as I didn't have one and that could have proved costly. He called and I got very lucky as we both had had KQ in the hole and split the heads-up pot. Joe's Dad came over to me at the next break and chastised me over that play which could have killed my chip count. That did however help me get back focused.

I've rambled on enough but I did very well in the tournament. I lasted almost 6 hours and made it to the final six tables. After I busted out, the big screen board showed 45 active players. The tournament started with 220 players and 319 re-buys/chip add-ons. I actually was about average in chip count on my table when I busted out but once again had a severe lapse in judgment. On my bust-out hand, I had AK and raised the blinds from mid-position. The big blind called. Top card on the flop was 7. He checked, I bet and he raised. Instead of laying down my hand or re-raising, I was an idiot and called and continued to call on the turn and river which depleted my stack. I have no idea what I was thinking but he ended up with a pair of sevens and after almost six hours of stressful playing, I made one mistake and was bounced out of the tournament.

Oh well, as a said before, this was an awesome experience and I can't wait for us to schedule another similar trip!