Making a profit at the World Poker Open

I just returned from five days of poker in Tunica, Mississippi at the World Poker Tour's annual January tournament. I made a great showing in the single table satellites and at the cash tables - but just didn't have the staying power to cash in any of the big tournaments.

My best placing was in the Friday night no-limit event. 448 people registered and when I got knocked out there were only 93 left. That's 57 spots out of the money - but it's still top 20% of the field so I'm not too unhappy. I built up a huge chip stack early on - knocking out one player when my pocket pair of sevens flopped four of a kind - another when my ace-king suited flopped a king and my opponent's straight draw didn't pan out. Getting so deep meant I played six straight hours with nothing to show for it.

I immediately signed up for a $65 single table, winner take all tournament with a $550 prize. When it got down to two of us we agreed to chop for $275 each. I had a fairly big chip lead - but things can change fast in heads up and I didn't want to risk walking away with nothing. Got to bed around 4am.

Saturday - I played a $125 satellite - with top two spots paying. I won $550 and used it to buy into the day's big no-limit event. Nothing ever really got going for me and I only lasted about four hours. I put in some time at the cash tables and took a moderate loss. Decided to try my hand at yet another $125 single table tournament and again won $550. Plus this time, five of the ten players had a "last longer" bet on the side. Since I lasted the longest I earned that $100 side pot. Up til 330am.

Sunday was a fairly slow day, but it was brutal getting up at 7am to take my friend Kate to the airport. Went back to the room and napped, got up for lunch, had a massage and then took another nap. Headed back to the poker area and used my $550 winnings to sign up for Monday's Omaha hi-low. Got into a 3-6 Omaha hi0low cash game to get some practice but played too many hands and lost $149. At this point I'm thinking the ST tournaments are the only thing really paying off for me, so I drop another $125 and win - again. Since I was already signed up for Monday's tourney, I pocketed the cash.

Monday was my live Omaha hi-low tourney debut. I play a lot of pot-limit single table tourneys online but this was live - and it was limit. Ugh. Online you don't have to worry about how you look at four down cards simultaneously without showing your hand to anyone. It took a while to get comfortable and figure out what worked best for me. I also had some trouble getting used to the betting structure, but everyone was happy to point it out to me if I put out the wrong amount. I did much better than I thought I might. 336 players started and we were in level 8 (six hours into it) when I got busted. The level started with 110 players so I can safely say I bested two-thirds of the field.

I grabbed some dinner then settled in to the 1-2 no limit cash game with $200. Third hand or so I lose about $60 of it when my pocket jacks come up against queens. I don't let it get to me though and decided to play tightly but aggressively and it works. Within a couple of hours, I had recouped my losses and quadrupled my buy in.  I cashed out for $873.

Since I turned a modest overall profit for the trip, I get to head back to Tunica Friday for the World Series of Poker event. Four more days of cards - I can hardly wait.

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