How I will celebrate my first poker anniversary

OK folks, here's how I plan to celebrate one year of playing poker:

I told you that I will be in the US for a business trip so my first thought was: "Las Vegas". Unfortunately the business event is in Orlando and I would have to do Vegas on a cramped schedule.
While planning how this could be solved another place came to my mind: Tunica! For those who don't know Tunica - it's a small place south of Memphis with 3 clusters of 2-3 casinos each and nothing else around. A real wasteland (no Starbucks, no TacoBell, no short distance phone line etc.). Nice place for a celebration, right? ;-)) Well, I know Tunica from my BJ days and it's pure gambling with great conditions (regarding to BJ). Tunica and Biloxi had been the gambling centers of the south. After Kathrina there's only Tunica left.
But the thing that makes Tunica worth a poker trip at that particular time is that they will host not only one but two major tournament series at the same time. The "World Poker Tour" (WPT) will be at the Gold Strike while the "World Series of Poker Circuit" (WSOPC) will be held at the Grand. The main event will happen between 19th-26th of January (WPT first, followed by WSOPC). I won't be able to be there during the whole main event due to my business obligations and I don't want to pay a $10.000 entry fee - but it should be interesting anyway. It should be fun to see some of the poker heros (I know that Daniel Negreanu and Phil Helmuth will be there, just to name two). In addition there will be a great number of cash games of all possible levels from $4-8 up to $4000-8000.




But as it should be a celebration I decided I will play at least one of the "smaller events". I decided for the $500-No-Limit Shootout which will take place on Monday 16th. Basically a Shoot-Out has to be played like a "Winner-takes-it-all Single-table-tournament". You have to win your table to advance to the next round (or the final table - depending on the number of participants). Runner-up get's nothing. But with usually 10% of the field getting into the money you just have to win your first table to sneak into the money. Sounds easy? Well, we will see ;-))
Addtionally I will try to play some satellites to see if I can win a seat in one of the following $1.500 or $2.000 NL tournaments.

Am I nuts to do this? I don't think so. It's by far the biggest tournament for me and it's the upper level that my bankroll allows me to play but this is not just a tournament. It's a WSOPC event! If I get a great hand I will play it aggressively (and if I get AA on the first hand I will stand the risk to leave after a few minutes) but beside that I will try to stay as long as possible in the tournament enjoy it and learn from the others. If I'm out I will play satellites and/or cash games. Five days of fun at the center of the poker world ... that's what I call a great celebration!

If it works I will try to update my blog during the tournament via cellphone (at least every two hours during the breaks). We will start with 1500 chips and 50 minutes levels. 10 minute breaks after two levels.

I hope that a lot of supporters will follow my action and read my blog during my poker trip from Jan 15th to Jan 20th. And for those who are really brave and like to own a piece of Shadow: You may buy shares of my action (min. $100) - just email me at shadow@bj21.com for exact conditions.