Last night I went to play the Ladies tournament at Treasure Island. Signed up 20 minutes before starting time and then went to watch the flair bartenders at Kahunaville doing their thing. Must have been a newbie I was watching, his bottles went all over the place and he was apologizing a couple of times. Pretty sure next time I get there, he'll be taking orders. Poor thing.
So, at 2min before 7 I wandered over to the poker room. I was sure I've signed up for a ladies tournament, and silly me, I expected a bunch of women standing/sitting around, but there was only one girl looking as if she was waiting for something to happen. Just as I was going to give up and ask, they announced that there were only 5 entries for the tournament and play is about to start.
YAY!! I immediately texted Richard and told him I'm at the final table with only 5 players left. That must have made me look real good (I was hoping).
So, it was me, an older woman (good player), a young scared-looking girl with a backup dancer (or coach, or maybe just a supporting boyfriend), a round woman with an even rounder husband watching over her (he scared me a little, he looked like an ex-bouncer), and another girl who left her husband home and brought tons of luck, cause in the first 30 minutes she got Aces FOUR times.
One of those times she decided to 'trap' us, and limped in from the button. I have 9-4o in the BB,and the flop was Q-4-2. Checked all around (duh, do you WANT me to catch up?), and of course the turn brought another 4. Now I am betting. She didn't look happy but called. River is nothing, I bet, she had a painful look on her face but called anyway. At least she admitted it was her own fault for not raising preflop.
Play was looong, very passive, and I managed to accumulate a lot of chips by taking pots when everyone else missed. The poor scared girl managed to hit a couple of flops, but went back into hiding when she hit the flop, but was outdrawn on the turn or river. She was basically blinded out of the tourney, I almost felt sorry for her.
Older lady got unlucky a couple of times and she went out first, scaredy cat next, then heads-up between me and the Ace-magnet.
Three hands in, I got pocket 10's, she raised, I pushed and she called with A-6c. Now - with my luck,I was ready to double her up, cause I was sure clubs were gonna be all over the board, probably an Ace as well just to rub it in. Board came J-10-10 and I told her I thought she was drawing dead (in a nice way,though). Always nice to end a tourney with quads. (I'm trying to pretend it happens all the time, did it work???)
So I won, not only the prize money, but also a spa gift certificate for the Wet Spa at TI. Now, I still have unused spa certificates (courtesy of my husband) for Red Rock Spa - his comment : 'keep on getting those and soon you're gonna be the prettiest poker player in town'. Now that's a keeper.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Monday, August 27, 2007
This is wrong!!
I remember, as a child, back in South Africa, we always had jam and canned fruits at home, courtesy of grandma. And they all came in 'kenfroet' bottles, AKA canned fruit jars. Now I live in the States, where jam is known as jelly, for one thing, and everything is bigger and better. So, the other day we went to Memphis Barbeque for dinner. Just imagine my surprise and comments when they served my Coke in a CANNED FRUIT bottle!! Not a baby one, a BIG one, the one meant for big Northern Cape yellow peaches. Only they call it a mason jar, but for the live of me, I can't figure out why would they use it as a glass.
Next thing - on Friday night before poker, we decided to grab a sandwich at the delicatessen at Treasure Island. So I ordered a ridiculously expensive salami sandwich - of course in Vegas stuff is either free or over-priced - and almost flipped when I saw it. Just exactly how much salami is needed for a sandwich?? I'll tell you. Twenty-six slices. Not thin-sliced - medium to thick!!!! Are you freaking kidding me? I'm not exaggerating, I've counted them, one by one. TWENTY-SIX.
Between canned fruit bottles filled with Coke and salami sandwiches that could feed a village for a week,I should be able to sue somebody because I'm fat.
Next thing - on Friday night before poker, we decided to grab a sandwich at the delicatessen at Treasure Island. So I ordered a ridiculously expensive salami sandwich - of course in Vegas stuff is either free or over-priced - and almost flipped when I saw it. Just exactly how much salami is needed for a sandwich?? I'll tell you. Twenty-six slices. Not thin-sliced - medium to thick!!!! Are you freaking kidding me? I'm not exaggerating, I've counted them, one by one. TWENTY-SIX.
Between canned fruit bottles filled with Coke and salami sandwiches that could feed a village for a week,I should be able to sue somebody because I'm fat.
Friday, August 24, 2007
Duh poker at it's best
Not much happening poker-wise this past week, or maybe I should rephrase that, not much WINNING going on. This of course is much less excited to write about than winning.
Last weekend I attempted the Sunday NL tourney with my baby-boomer+ friends at the Orleans and I can honestly admit that I have played the worst poker ever. What happened, was, playing so much online baby tournaments ($1 and $2) on Fulltilt, has taught me way too much. Now I know a lot of things, and I applied it all last weekend. Unfortunately all the right things at the wrong time and vice versa and managed to confuse myself to the point where I didn’t know whether I was coming or going.
Apparently I was going, because the friendly Asian with A-rag took all my chips. And I had such high hopes for K10c at that stage. Oh well. At least I managed to outlast 20 players, and only 70 out of the starting 90 were left when I left with my tail between my legs.
Biggest accomplishment this week is my 5th place out of 180 in a $2 Fulltilt tourney, but not without incident. For the most part of the last half of the very long tourney, I was chip leader - which of course resulted in total stage fright when we hit the final table. I didn’t want to lose my chips and I didn’t want to lose my chip lead and everyone and his uncle took advantage of it. They should have just let my distribute my chips without playing, and let me save face.
I have so much to learn when it comes to tournament strategy. At this point the only thing I (think) I have down is maximizing the profit of my winning hands.
Last night I played at Sahara, and thank goodness, there was a glimmer of hope. I made it to about 30 players left out of 10 starting tables, without making any major mistakes, but also without doing anything useful purely out of fear I think.
Tonight I’m going to try again. I’m not giving up. I love this game.
Last weekend I attempted the Sunday NL tourney with my baby-boomer+ friends at the Orleans and I can honestly admit that I have played the worst poker ever. What happened, was, playing so much online baby tournaments ($1 and $2) on Fulltilt, has taught me way too much. Now I know a lot of things, and I applied it all last weekend. Unfortunately all the right things at the wrong time and vice versa and managed to confuse myself to the point where I didn’t know whether I was coming or going.
Apparently I was going, because the friendly Asian with A-rag took all my chips. And I had such high hopes for K10c at that stage. Oh well. At least I managed to outlast 20 players, and only 70 out of the starting 90 were left when I left with my tail between my legs.
Biggest accomplishment this week is my 5th place out of 180 in a $2 Fulltilt tourney, but not without incident. For the most part of the last half of the very long tourney, I was chip leader - which of course resulted in total stage fright when we hit the final table. I didn’t want to lose my chips and I didn’t want to lose my chip lead and everyone and his uncle took advantage of it. They should have just let my distribute my chips without playing, and let me save face.
I have so much to learn when it comes to tournament strategy. At this point the only thing I (think) I have down is maximizing the profit of my winning hands.
Last night I played at Sahara, and thank goodness, there was a glimmer of hope. I made it to about 30 players left out of 10 starting tables, without making any major mistakes, but also without doing anything useful purely out of fear I think.
Tonight I’m going to try again. I’m not giving up. I love this game.
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Happy Birthday to my baby!
Today, 12 years ago, I was 30 pounds lighter and on my way to the hospital to give birth - that doesn't even sound true, but it is - I have the pics and the baby to prove it!
.....and today my baby is 12 years old.
I am so proud of her - not only is she beautiful and smart, she is also loving, caring, funny and everything a parent can ask for. I am so lucky to be her mother and she is my shining star.
Happy birthday Clarese, I love you more than anything!
.....and today my baby is 12 years old.
I am so proud of her - not only is she beautiful and smart, she is also loving, caring, funny and everything a parent can ask for. I am so lucky to be her mother and she is my shining star.
Happy birthday Clarese, I love you more than anything!
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Love is in the air
Ladies Tournament at Caesars – I arrived 90 minutes ahead of time, with my borrowed $80 ($75 entry fee and $5 for drinks) tucked away in my bra - well – not really in my bra, but it just sounds more fun than saying ‘in my otherwise empty poker wallet’.
Richard signed up for the 3/6 game – and very politely pointed out to me that he would like to play for a bit and not get my ass busted out early. Oh, the pressure!! (added for effect)
I met up with two girls from an online women poker community which I recently joined (www.pokerchix.com), from this point forward referred to as the ‘chix’, both great ladies and great poker players too!
Tournament started with only 20 players, and this is where the difference comes in between women only and mixed events. We sat down, and nobody said a word. For a long long time. We stared each other down, mentally compared wrinkles, boob sizes and outfits, all while the only sounds you heard was chips clicking, only words uttered were ‘call’, ‘raise’ and the most scary of all ‘ALL IN’.
I think most of the ladies at my tables were beginner players, they played only their hands and they played it HARD!. If you dare to re-raise the initial better, just to see where you’re at, you better be prepared, there’s no smooth-calling re-raises, and trapping was a term unheard of. Perfect scenario – all you need is a draw to come in, and top pair is going down in flames, because there is not such a thing as folding top pair.
The game became the ultimate in testing one of the most important poker skills – making the right decision at the right time. The only tell you needed to pick up, is what they’re TELLING you – ALL IN! I had to lay down hands I would have loved to take a step further, and carefully picked spots to pick up blindes and antes.
After a woman dealer came over and told us we’re too quiet and need to loosen up and threatened to get us a stripper, the gargoyle women came alive. Never have I thought that the mention of a man taking off his clothes could do that to a table full of women. Suddenly we’re sitting in a living room, having drinks and chatting away.
The poor male dealers didn’t want to make too much noise (because of threats to rip their shirts off if an Ace hits the board), but at the same time had to keep the game going, which was quite a challenge, believe me.
Long story short – took forever to get to the final table, one lady (self-confessed beginner player) had mountains of chips and whenever she sees a face card, she does the old ‘ALL IN’. What worked in her favor was that she didn’t care if she wins or loses; she was just having a great time. With five people left, she did her thing with Q9 offsuit, got two players to call, flop hit her hard, and she took both out in one hand. Which left three of us IN THE MONEY.
We played a couple of hands and somebody suggested that we split the prize money 3-ways, which I couldn’t agree to fast enough, since I was short-stacked! So, we all got $400 and that left us with another problem. The winner also gets a seat to the Caesar Classic Ladies NL event on Oct 21, 2007 (buy-in $300), and since the chipleader lady didn’t want that (she is from out of town and wouldn’t be able to play), and she didn’t want to play anymore after the chop, we (one of the chix and I) decided to draw high card for the seat.
I got the Ace of Spades and save her the trouble of drawing.
This relationship might just work out. Poker decided that it loves me after all.
Until next time.
Richard signed up for the 3/6 game – and very politely pointed out to me that he would like to play for a bit and not get my ass busted out early. Oh, the pressure!! (added for effect)
I met up with two girls from an online women poker community which I recently joined (www.pokerchix.com), from this point forward referred to as the ‘chix’, both great ladies and great poker players too!
Tournament started with only 20 players, and this is where the difference comes in between women only and mixed events. We sat down, and nobody said a word. For a long long time. We stared each other down, mentally compared wrinkles, boob sizes and outfits, all while the only sounds you heard was chips clicking, only words uttered were ‘call’, ‘raise’ and the most scary of all ‘ALL IN’.
I think most of the ladies at my tables were beginner players, they played only their hands and they played it HARD!. If you dare to re-raise the initial better, just to see where you’re at, you better be prepared, there’s no smooth-calling re-raises, and trapping was a term unheard of. Perfect scenario – all you need is a draw to come in, and top pair is going down in flames, because there is not such a thing as folding top pair.
The game became the ultimate in testing one of the most important poker skills – making the right decision at the right time. The only tell you needed to pick up, is what they’re TELLING you – ALL IN! I had to lay down hands I would have loved to take a step further, and carefully picked spots to pick up blindes and antes.
After a woman dealer came over and told us we’re too quiet and need to loosen up and threatened to get us a stripper, the gargoyle women came alive. Never have I thought that the mention of a man taking off his clothes could do that to a table full of women. Suddenly we’re sitting in a living room, having drinks and chatting away.
The poor male dealers didn’t want to make too much noise (because of threats to rip their shirts off if an Ace hits the board), but at the same time had to keep the game going, which was quite a challenge, believe me.
Long story short – took forever to get to the final table, one lady (self-confessed beginner player) had mountains of chips and whenever she sees a face card, she does the old ‘ALL IN’. What worked in her favor was that she didn’t care if she wins or loses; she was just having a great time. With five people left, she did her thing with Q9 offsuit, got two players to call, flop hit her hard, and she took both out in one hand. Which left three of us IN THE MONEY.
We played a couple of hands and somebody suggested that we split the prize money 3-ways, which I couldn’t agree to fast enough, since I was short-stacked! So, we all got $400 and that left us with another problem. The winner also gets a seat to the Caesar Classic Ladies NL event on Oct 21, 2007 (buy-in $300), and since the chipleader lady didn’t want that (she is from out of town and wouldn’t be able to play), and she didn’t want to play anymore after the chop, we (one of the chix and I) decided to draw high card for the seat.
I got the Ace of Spades and save her the trouble of drawing.
This relationship might just work out. Poker decided that it loves me after all.
Until next time.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
The ups and downs of love
Ok, so I’m having this love affair (with poker, doh, if you haven’t read my first post), and every day I realize that it’s very much like the real thing. Just like a lover in real life, this one is playing games – one day he’ll do everything for me, and the next day ignores me and pours out buckets of attention - not only to other pretty ladies, but even grumpy old men. He doesn’t buy them drinks or take them out to dinner – he gives them runner-runner flushes and straights to beat my two pair and sets.
Weekend poker started out pretty good. By putting in hours and hours (not kidding, ask my better half) of online poker, I’m trying to find my niche in poker. So far I’ve realized that I don’t have the killer instinct for NL ring games, but I’m definitely the one waking up the killer instinct, so – stay away from those for now.
I’m pretty decent at Limit Hold’em games, playing on instinct and feelings, no mathematics involved – which results in pretty interesting explanations and discussions when I try to justify some of my plays to Richard.
So, with that information on hand, I decided to play the limit tournament at Orleans on Saturday. In the hour waiting for the tourney to start, I did pretty well at the 4/8 game, it helped that I flopped a set on my first hand, and nobody thought I was serious when I kept on raising and betting.
Tournament started with 61 players and my first thought that it was senior’s day somewhere. Average age = Doyle Brunson. **note to self – play at Orleans on days I feel old. They all seem to know each other too, I’m pretty sure they’re getting bussed in from some old age home somewhere.
Apart from youngish arrogant player to my right (he was the only other person in the room under 60, I think), players were pretty solid and everyone seemed to have a good time too. Almost felt like playing a home game.
I wasn’t getting any cards, missed all draws and was getting pretty short-stacked when we got down to 3 tables. Got lucky once or twice and when the final table started, I was in pretty decent shape and very excited.
First hand at final table I flopped a straight, but couldn’t manage to shake off the nut-flush-draw Asian guy with the sunglasses (honestly, do you really need those at a limit game??), he got his flush and I got 10th place. Not too shabby, although I hate being first in the money, just getting double your entry fee back almost feels like a consolation prize.
Rest of the weekend my lover let me down – same night at Venetian I managed to lose my first buy-in within an hour or so, but managed to stay off tilt, playing disciplined like I should, and I got it all back plus another 20. Sunday was another story. The summary of the day is that my AQ clubs on a top pair, flush draw board, lost to bottom pair who hit his second pair on the river. What can I say, lost all my winnings of the previous day and some.
Tonight I’m going to test my lover’s commitment at the ladies tournament at Caesars. (For which I have to borrow the entry fee from Richard, who did much better over the weekend than I did)
Weekend poker started out pretty good. By putting in hours and hours (not kidding, ask my better half) of online poker, I’m trying to find my niche in poker. So far I’ve realized that I don’t have the killer instinct for NL ring games, but I’m definitely the one waking up the killer instinct, so – stay away from those for now.
I’m pretty decent at Limit Hold’em games, playing on instinct and feelings, no mathematics involved – which results in pretty interesting explanations and discussions when I try to justify some of my plays to Richard.
So, with that information on hand, I decided to play the limit tournament at Orleans on Saturday. In the hour waiting for the tourney to start, I did pretty well at the 4/8 game, it helped that I flopped a set on my first hand, and nobody thought I was serious when I kept on raising and betting.
Tournament started with 61 players and my first thought that it was senior’s day somewhere. Average age = Doyle Brunson. **note to self – play at Orleans on days I feel old. They all seem to know each other too, I’m pretty sure they’re getting bussed in from some old age home somewhere.
Apart from youngish arrogant player to my right (he was the only other person in the room under 60, I think), players were pretty solid and everyone seemed to have a good time too. Almost felt like playing a home game.
I wasn’t getting any cards, missed all draws and was getting pretty short-stacked when we got down to 3 tables. Got lucky once or twice and when the final table started, I was in pretty decent shape and very excited.
First hand at final table I flopped a straight, but couldn’t manage to shake off the nut-flush-draw Asian guy with the sunglasses (honestly, do you really need those at a limit game??), he got his flush and I got 10th place. Not too shabby, although I hate being first in the money, just getting double your entry fee back almost feels like a consolation prize.
Rest of the weekend my lover let me down – same night at Venetian I managed to lose my first buy-in within an hour or so, but managed to stay off tilt, playing disciplined like I should, and I got it all back plus another 20. Sunday was another story. The summary of the day is that my AQ clubs on a top pair, flush draw board, lost to bottom pair who hit his second pair on the river. What can I say, lost all my winnings of the previous day and some.
Tonight I’m going to test my lover’s commitment at the ladies tournament at Caesars. (For which I have to borrow the entry fee from Richard, who did much better over the weekend than I did)
Friday, August 10, 2007
How it all started...
There's only one person to blame for this. A couple of years ago, I was dating this guy, and I started playing poker because of him. Just wanted to see what the fuss was all about and what was this thing that was the reason for not getting to movies on time, rescheduled dates and endless stories that started with "Well, I was in the big blind and.....”
I had only one choice. Like some wise person once said - if you can't beat them, join them. So I joined them …….. but the beating didn’t stop. Only difference now it’s called bad beats and totally acceptable.
And so a new love affair in my life started.
As for the guy I was dating, well, there’s a whole different story which deserves a blog of its own, so I’ll just give you the end result. Since he started this madness, I thought he should pay for it for the rest of his life, so I followed him to Vegas and married him. His story is at www.baldeaglepoker.com.
We’ve been living poker in Vegas for little more than a year now and I’m happy to say that the journey has just begun.
I had only one choice. Like some wise person once said - if you can't beat them, join them. So I joined them …….. but the beating didn’t stop. Only difference now it’s called bad beats and totally acceptable.
And so a new love affair in my life started.
As for the guy I was dating, well, there’s a whole different story which deserves a blog of its own, so I’ll just give you the end result. Since he started this madness, I thought he should pay for it for the rest of his life, so I followed him to Vegas and married him. His story is at www.baldeaglepoker.com.
We’ve been living poker in Vegas for little more than a year now and I’m happy to say that the journey has just begun.
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