I flew back out yesterday, landing at 1, at the Rio by 2:30. Only to discover that they weren't running satellites because the seniors' event sold more than they were expecting, and in fact sold out, so they didn't have any tables. Ok, I'll play a cash game until dinner.

I play 10-25 for a while. The game had an interesting rule: the optional Mississippi straddle. Here's how it works: you straddle on the button (for 50). Now the small blind acts first preflop, then the big blind, and around the table, so you get last action preflop (and every other street). Wow is that a hosing for the blinds.

So the question is, what are the strategy adjustments when the straddle is on, and is it worth taking?

Well, there are two effects on the quality of hands to enter a pot. For any given position, say UTG, you now have more information -- the blinds have acted and probably folded. So that's a big incentive to play more hands there, perhaps slightly more than if you were 3utg and the first two people had folded, since there's now dead money in the pot and the most likely candidate to call a raise, the bb, is out. However, there's a countervailing issue which is that if you get called by the button, which is likely, you are going to be out of position post flop, which is a big deal. After some thought and observation, I decide that I'd loosen up my opening standards by one position (instead of two), and raise more than usual preflop to discourage the bb from playing random stuff in position.

Is it a good idea to take it? Well, you're making the pot bigger when you have position. And you're completely hosing the blinds, and that equity has to go somewhere, and I think you get a bigger share of it than anyone else, so that somewhat offsets the $50 you're putting in blind. I think it's worth it, though putting in blinds is always questionable. I did put it on myself.

Two hands. 1: I straddle on the button. Fishy guy opens for 150 from the field, I defend with 66. Flop comes AT6 rainbow, ding. He bets 175, I raise to 525, he reraises 1000 more. He has 1300 back and must be totally pot stuck, so I just stick it all in... and he folds! Bah.

2: Straddle is on, and I'm in early position but after the blinds. One of them limps for 50, I find AKs and raise to 250. There's one cold caller, and the button reraises to 1000. He has 2200 back, and after the limper folds, I shove. The cold caller folds, and the button thinks for a while and folds as well.

So the straddle definitely seems to encourage action.

I pick up shortly after 6 with a $1000 profit and look for dinner companions. JP has just joined the HORSE mega satellite (which turned out to be somewhat less than mega, only getting one table), Sable busted out of the 8-game or whatever she was playing in time to go play the Razz tournament, the rest of the team is all playing that. So do I want to wait until 9 to eat with people, or go off on my own?

I decide to wait and sit into a $25/point chinese game, half high with surrender and honors, half low no surrender. This is bigger than I've played before, but the table talk makes it clear one guy has no idea what he's doing, and I figure that's good enough. I promptly lose my first n hands and am down almost a grand.

But I slog along, and get a straight flush in back which pays $100 from everyone. That was sort of pleasant. Here's how honors work: if you get a qualifying hand, then you win points from people depending on how you do for the rest of the hand. So if you get a straight flush in back, you win 4 points if you lose your other hands, 6 if you win one, and 8 if you win both. Quads in back pay 3-5-7, full in the middle pays 2-4-6, trips in front pay 1-3-5.

It's a bad rule since it just increases the variance (no skill in finding quads), and actually removes some skill from the game since there are settings you can't consider. For instance, the other time I had a qualifying hand I played boat/boat/rags. In a regular game I'd play boat/trips/pair, but I can't even consider that setting because of the honors. This time, though, I was on the upside of the honors variance, so I guess it worked out.

After a while the fish leaves, and I play another couple of hands, then JP come over on break and tells me the game is awful. Ok, I get up. By the time his break is over the best player had left and was replaced by an unknown, which JP thinks means fish, so I sit back down. I'd rank the players as Solid Guy > me > guy with clue who makes mistakes >>> new tyro. I think that's probably good.

I start winning and win some more. I was up a few hundred during my brief haitus, and up 1300 when JP busted and the dinner break for the 5 o'clock tournament rolled around and I picked up. Whee.

JP and I wander around to find people in the Razz tournament and fail, but we do get hold of Sabyl on the phone. She declines dinner, and JP and I try the Noodles place at the gold coast, recommended by Fich. fich is on crack. It was not nearly as good as Ping Pang Pong, the other chinese place there. Perhaps we chose our food poorly, but it just seemed less good.

Then we head back to the satellite room, and both get into a $275 limit omaha 8 satellite. I hose out in 5th place, but JP scrapes and claws his way into the top two and chops it.

I decided not to play any events today. The noon event is the $10k pot limit holdem, which might be good but my real stacks pot limit experience is minimal. The 5:00 event is limit O8, which I can play reasonably but not at a super high level. Anyway tomorrow is the half limit half no limit holdem event which I really want to play, so I don't want to play the 5:00 event today regardless.

So satellites and cash games today for me.