You just never know. It never ends the way it starts out - one moment it’s going well, then suddenly it slows down and it’s a little uphill, and before you know, down you go again! Just as you get used to it and enjoy it, it throws you for a loop, suddenly you’re upside down and twirling and you don’t know if you’re coming or going. That’s the rollercoaster called poker. The funny thing is, when you’re done with the ride, you head right back to the end of the line to experience the thrill again.
Last Friday I played the Headhunters tournament at Treasure Island, first mistake. That type of tournament doesn’t fit my playing style at all, which I proved a couple of months ago, when I ended up 2nd in that tournament, WITHOUT A SINGLE BOUNTY!! Evidently I’m better at staying alive than at dealing the killing blows. Friday was no different, everything went as expected, I didn’t knock anyone out, and I stayed alive. Well, for a bit. I got knocked out with AJ on a A-x-x board, when the guy with pocket 5’s hit runner-runner straight against me. Oh well.
So I tried the 10pm tournament. For some reason I played the worst poker ever and it was probably just justice when I – again, went all-in with AQ on an Ace high board, board goes runner-runner and put 4 hearts on the board, guy with K5o is holding the only heart and I’m out.
Saturday morning I tried again. The Lips tournament at Orleans, and it started out well. Really well when I got my JJ all-in against pocket 7’s. This, btw, was probably one of the worst calls I’ve seen all weekend! The girl raised about 8x the big blind from EP, which made me think she doesn’t like her hand THAT much. I got JJ in the BB, decided to call and push if the flop looks safe. Flop came 9-4-4, I pushed, she thought for quite a while, called and flipped over 77. Now I wondered – why? She can’t beat a 9 or a 4, any pair 8 or higher beats her – and did she really think I was doing it with only two high cards? And even so, the she might still lose three quarters of her stack if I hit – it was early in the tournament, I don’t think it was really worth it.
Anyway, once again the board came runner-runner spades, she’s holding the only spade and I’m out. And then she said she’s sorry – sorry for what? Sucking out? Really?? How else did you expect to win that hand??
Oh well, I was on full tilt then (the emotional state, not the site), and decided to get over it using the comforts of a Sephora shopping trip and a stuffed baked potato from The Café in Treasure Island. It worked. I felt much better and decided to go play the 2pm at TI, since Richard is still playing at Bellagio and we wanted to stay on the strip to play the Caesars tournament that night.
OK, this went much better, no suck outs (I got those out of the way), no interesting hands either and I made it to 3rd place, cashing $360.
Allrighty, I’m happy, now I could go play at Caesars, not feeling like a loser anymore. Big turnout at Caesars, 104 people to start with, WOW!
The poker gods were trying to apologize and gave me great cards early in the tournament. This is how my 2 Aces hands went down. Got a pair of Aces, raised, only one caller. Flop came all spades, I DON’T have one. Put a bet three quarters of the pot out there, he sighed, showed his 7s8s and said ‘I don’t want to call with a small flush’. I don’t know what he was hoping for when he called? Just a straight? Anyway, I got lucky and I scooped the pot before he changed his mind.
Couple of hands later, I got Aces again. Two limpers, I raised, BB called, one limper folded, and same guy re-raised me? WTF, now I’m confused. OK, so the blinds are 25/50, I raised to 150, he re-raised to 400. I don’t know what the BB was gonna do, and I want to go heads up with this guy, so I threw out another 1000. BOTH OF THEM CALLED! Flop came all low-cards, non-scary, and I pushed – if someone hit his set, I’m going to pay him off. Both folded – re-raise guy said he had AJ. Needless to say, he was out a couple of hands later.
The rush continued, I hit big hands and before long I had a decent-to-huge stack. I played really well, I think – and I made the final table with average stack. When we were down to 12 players, I decided that I made it that far; I HAD to make the money. Payout was 9 places, if I remember correctly. Anyway, I took out two guys and suddenly we were 4 left and I was second in chips. Once again, I got AA, KK, QQ and some great flops and before long, we were 3 left, one guy extremely short stack and the two of us about equal. We decided to do a chop by chip count, he had a whopping 7000 chips more than I had (less than one BB at that point), and he got around $100 more than I – my cash was $3151, which more than made up for the bad run earlier the weekend!!
And -- back to the end of the line for another ride……. my Venetian Deep Stack tourney on Wednesday, which I will write about in my next post.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
WipHof - Part Four (The game)
The Game
So, at 2pm, after the luncheon, 55 people sat down for the tournament. A handful of us have won our way in on satellites, but the majority has paid the entry fee of $500 – which made this the biggest buy-in tournament I’ve ever entered. So, I was pretty excited. There were a couple of well-known players, of course the 4 inductees, and then people like Chip and Karina Jett, JJ Lieu and some others that were known to many, but not to me.
Can’t remember much of early in the tournament, I remember I tried really hard not to do something stupid, and whaddayaknow, I managed to stay out of trouble.
When we got down to three tables, I was moved and was sitting at the table with Marsha Waggoner, Karina Jett and some of the ‘unknown-to-me’ well-known people. Example – I chatted with the Asian lady to my right, she was very nice and we had a great conversation about the difference between what is called ‘lemonade’ here and what ‘lemonade’ is in some other countries (for clarification – in countries like South Africa and Australia, Sprite is called lemonade). We discussed that and some other stuff and when she got knocked out and was about to leave, I asked her what her name was. After all, I liked her and that’s the polite thing to do – if I run into her again, I want to at least remember what her name is. She looked at me kinda funny, and said: ‘JJ’ . ‘JJ??”, I asked, thought I heard wrong. Probably due to the fact that the only JJ I know, is a guy and I wanted to make sure I got it right. She looked confused and politely confirmed. Only after the fact (like two days after) I realized that it was JJ Lieu and that she was more than well-known in the poker world. Sorry JJ!!
One big hand at that table – I got QQ in MP, with only one limper, I raised, everyone else folded, limper called. Flop came AQx, he bet, so I figured he had an Ace, I called. Turn is another blank, he bet, I pushed, and he called. I was amazed when he turned over Ace-rag, but at least he doubled me up and he was out.
At that table Marsha got knocked out when she got all her chips in with KK against QQ - a Q on the turn and no help on the river.
Then – before you know it, we were down to two tables. Now I was excited. Unlike my normal routine, I was NOT short-stacked at this point and had a decent amount of chips. I picked up a couple of pots and made it to the final table with a fair amount of chips.
At the final table were me and TWO other pokerchix gals – as well as Barbara Enright, Chip Jett, and a couple of others.
Memorable hands at this table – just a couple of hands after final table started, I raised on the button with Kc8c. Chip Jet, in the SB, smooth-called the raise – for about half his stack. I realized that he probably planned to push at some point before the river, there’s no way he’ll call half his stack and then fold. It scared me a little, sure looks like he was holding a big hand, or he certainly wanted me to think that. Flop came – two clubs and a J, so I have a flush draw. And that was where I wasn’t sure what to do. Do I bet - he’s probably going to push all in regardless of the bet, so do I bet big and let him make the decision? Or do I bet small for in case he’ll let me see a turn card for cheap? I decided to check – I have no clue why, this is where my own inexperience became evident to me. Of course he pushed, and now *I* had to make the decision. I decided to make the call, he had QJ (I think?), he had second pair on the board, if I remember correctly - no flush came but I caught a K on the river and knocked him out.
A while later - QQ again, I raised, two callers. Flop came Q high, I checked – everyone checked behind. The turn is a 3, so I bet, one person fold, but the woman to the right, who played her strong hands VERY aggressive, raised me – and quite a bit too. I looked at the board again, couldn’t figure out what she could have had, thought maybe she had AQ and was waiting for me to bet so she could raise. I remember her getting very attached to her hands and didn’t think she was going to fold, and I was sure I had the best hand at that point, so I pushed. She instantly called and turned over pocket 3’s for a lower set. Phew, what a relief. And now I had LOADS of chips.
I decided to lay low and see if I can outwait the short stacks before getting too creative and before long, we were down to 4 players. Alan Schulman, Barbara Enright, some guy called Lance (from Canada) and me.
Alan was slowly getting down to short-stack, and she probably smelled my fear - so about 99% of the time – whether I limped or raised from the SB, she pushed from the BB. I never had a hand I felt comfortable calling with – but I also decided that I want her to get used to me folding to her raises, maybe she’ll become reckless and I can trap her with a monster hand. Which worked out well, just a couple of hands later. I picked up KK, made my obligatory raise, and she pushed. I called, she turned over A5o, and I stood there frozen while the dealer put the flop out. I didn’t want to move, I did NOT want an Ace to hit! And it DIDN’T! She was out in 4th place.
One hand that I played totally wrong – with 4 of us left, I raised with AQ and Barbara called. Flop came Q-Q-10, I checked, she checked. Turn was something insignificant, I bet and she raised. Now there is where I made the mistake. When I replayed the hand in my hand hundreds of times after the tournament, I should have called. Instead, I decided that she is trying to get me off my hand and I wanted her to know that I’m not going to be pushed around and that I have a strong hand. Duh. Why would I want her to know that? I could have played it so many different, more sufficient ways, but I pushed, she pondered for a while and folded.
Couple of hands later, Alan asked me what I had that hand, I told her, and Barbara told me she had QJ and folded when I pushed.
Now the guy from Canada wanted to double up or get up, so he’ll either raise HUGE or push all-in when he decided to play a hand. I picked up 77 and called one of his raises. Flop came down 8-8-3, he bet, I figured it’s just a continuation bet and that he probably had only two high cards, so I pushed. He called with pocket 10’s and I’m down to short stack. Doubled up once when I hit a straight, then pushed with AJ, he called with AQ and knocked me out. I got paid $3675 for my effort, which I was extremely pleased with, seeing that it’s my biggest payout in a poker tournament so far!
What a great experience it was! It made me – once again – realize how inexperience I am and how much I have to learn. Watching Barbara play, was great – she just proved that there is no substitute for experience and I admire her tremendously.
After 11 hours of play I went home and 1am in the morning, so darn tired, but so excited about the day, I couldn’t fall asleep and probably re-played every hand thousands of times in my head before my body finally gave up and went to sleep.
What a day!
So, at 2pm, after the luncheon, 55 people sat down for the tournament. A handful of us have won our way in on satellites, but the majority has paid the entry fee of $500 – which made this the biggest buy-in tournament I’ve ever entered. So, I was pretty excited. There were a couple of well-known players, of course the 4 inductees, and then people like Chip and Karina Jett, JJ Lieu and some others that were known to many, but not to me.
Can’t remember much of early in the tournament, I remember I tried really hard not to do something stupid, and whaddayaknow, I managed to stay out of trouble.
When we got down to three tables, I was moved and was sitting at the table with Marsha Waggoner, Karina Jett and some of the ‘unknown-to-me’ well-known people. Example – I chatted with the Asian lady to my right, she was very nice and we had a great conversation about the difference between what is called ‘lemonade’ here and what ‘lemonade’ is in some other countries (for clarification – in countries like South Africa and Australia, Sprite is called lemonade). We discussed that and some other stuff and when she got knocked out and was about to leave, I asked her what her name was. After all, I liked her and that’s the polite thing to do – if I run into her again, I want to at least remember what her name is. She looked at me kinda funny, and said: ‘JJ’ . ‘JJ??”, I asked, thought I heard wrong. Probably due to the fact that the only JJ I know, is a guy and I wanted to make sure I got it right. She looked confused and politely confirmed. Only after the fact (like two days after) I realized that it was JJ Lieu and that she was more than well-known in the poker world. Sorry JJ!!
One big hand at that table – I got QQ in MP, with only one limper, I raised, everyone else folded, limper called. Flop came AQx, he bet, so I figured he had an Ace, I called. Turn is another blank, he bet, I pushed, and he called. I was amazed when he turned over Ace-rag, but at least he doubled me up and he was out.
At that table Marsha got knocked out when she got all her chips in with KK against QQ - a Q on the turn and no help on the river.
Then – before you know it, we were down to two tables. Now I was excited. Unlike my normal routine, I was NOT short-stacked at this point and had a decent amount of chips. I picked up a couple of pots and made it to the final table with a fair amount of chips.
At the final table were me and TWO other pokerchix gals – as well as Barbara Enright, Chip Jett, and a couple of others.
Memorable hands at this table – just a couple of hands after final table started, I raised on the button with Kc8c. Chip Jet, in the SB, smooth-called the raise – for about half his stack. I realized that he probably planned to push at some point before the river, there’s no way he’ll call half his stack and then fold. It scared me a little, sure looks like he was holding a big hand, or he certainly wanted me to think that. Flop came – two clubs and a J, so I have a flush draw. And that was where I wasn’t sure what to do. Do I bet - he’s probably going to push all in regardless of the bet, so do I bet big and let him make the decision? Or do I bet small for in case he’ll let me see a turn card for cheap? I decided to check – I have no clue why, this is where my own inexperience became evident to me. Of course he pushed, and now *I* had to make the decision. I decided to make the call, he had QJ (I think?), he had second pair on the board, if I remember correctly - no flush came but I caught a K on the river and knocked him out.
A while later - QQ again, I raised, two callers. Flop came Q high, I checked – everyone checked behind. The turn is a 3, so I bet, one person fold, but the woman to the right, who played her strong hands VERY aggressive, raised me – and quite a bit too. I looked at the board again, couldn’t figure out what she could have had, thought maybe she had AQ and was waiting for me to bet so she could raise. I remember her getting very attached to her hands and didn’t think she was going to fold, and I was sure I had the best hand at that point, so I pushed. She instantly called and turned over pocket 3’s for a lower set. Phew, what a relief. And now I had LOADS of chips.
I decided to lay low and see if I can outwait the short stacks before getting too creative and before long, we were down to 4 players. Alan Schulman, Barbara Enright, some guy called Lance (from Canada) and me.
Alan was slowly getting down to short-stack, and she probably smelled my fear - so about 99% of the time – whether I limped or raised from the SB, she pushed from the BB. I never had a hand I felt comfortable calling with – but I also decided that I want her to get used to me folding to her raises, maybe she’ll become reckless and I can trap her with a monster hand. Which worked out well, just a couple of hands later. I picked up KK, made my obligatory raise, and she pushed. I called, she turned over A5o, and I stood there frozen while the dealer put the flop out. I didn’t want to move, I did NOT want an Ace to hit! And it DIDN’T! She was out in 4th place.
One hand that I played totally wrong – with 4 of us left, I raised with AQ and Barbara called. Flop came Q-Q-10, I checked, she checked. Turn was something insignificant, I bet and she raised. Now there is where I made the mistake. When I replayed the hand in my hand hundreds of times after the tournament, I should have called. Instead, I decided that she is trying to get me off my hand and I wanted her to know that I’m not going to be pushed around and that I have a strong hand. Duh. Why would I want her to know that? I could have played it so many different, more sufficient ways, but I pushed, she pondered for a while and folded.
Couple of hands later, Alan asked me what I had that hand, I told her, and Barbara told me she had QJ and folded when I pushed.
Now the guy from Canada wanted to double up or get up, so he’ll either raise HUGE or push all-in when he decided to play a hand. I picked up 77 and called one of his raises. Flop came down 8-8-3, he bet, I figured it’s just a continuation bet and that he probably had only two high cards, so I pushed. He called with pocket 10’s and I’m down to short stack. Doubled up once when I hit a straight, then pushed with AJ, he called with AQ and knocked me out. I got paid $3675 for my effort, which I was extremely pleased with, seeing that it’s my biggest payout in a poker tournament so far!
What a great experience it was! It made me – once again – realize how inexperience I am and how much I have to learn. Watching Barbara play, was great – she just proved that there is no substitute for experience and I admire her tremendously.
After 11 hours of play I went home and 1am in the morning, so darn tired, but so excited about the day, I couldn’t fall asleep and probably re-played every hand thousands of times in my head before my body finally gave up and went to sleep.
What a day!
Friday, February 15, 2008
WipHoF- Part Three (The satellites)
The satellites
OK, so the buy-in for the tournament after the ceremony was $500 + $60, and there’s no way I’m willing to pay that for a tournament (yet!). So, for people like me, there were a super-satellite as well as some single table satellites on Friday, the 1st. I’ve decided to give myself two changes ($75 x 2) to try and win a seat, and that’s it.
One little problem though - the super-satellite started at 5pm and Richard – who was out of town for the week – would be arriving at the airport at 7:30pm and expected his loving wife to pick him up. Oh, the choices one have to make – husband or poker??? He decided that it's safer not to put me to the test and offered to take a cab if I’m not done in time.
At the satellite I met a lovely older woman, her name is Kat and she loves animal print outfits. And by outfit, I meant every single thing she was wearing. Her watch, her earrings, her shoes, her purse, her little cushion to sit on, everything fit in with the leopard theme she had going on. I loved that! (She made me homesick; I missed the South African Bushveld every time I looked at her).
Poker-wise nothing spectacular happened, I stayed out of trouble, but didn’t get any big hands, and by the time we were down to two tables, I was pretty short-stack. After they combined the tables, I found myself at a table where one gentleman was just walking over the table. He had a huge chip stack and apparently an ego to go with it. Also, everyone seemed to be majorly impressed with him and his – not so funny – jokes and I wondered what the heck was going on. The flops were hitting him hard and he won huge pots with K9, K10, etc against better hands – there just didn’t seem a way he could lose.
At some point my irritation was showing and I muttered something about his silly jokes under my breath, and the guy next to me said “Do you KNOW who that is?” Uuuuhhh, no? He looked at me in disbelief “It’s Kenna James!!” Now thanks to the likes of Phill Hellmuth and Umberto Shark guy, I am not a fan of ‘famous’ poker players and their antics, the name rang a bell, but I had no idea who he was (he turned out to be married to Marsha Waggoner, one of the four inductees).
“Ok”, I said to the guy next to me “but he’s still not funny?”. He shook his head and to my disbelief uttered the following when Kenna won the next pot “Kenna, you’re the MAN!! I’m just the man sitting NEXT to the man”. Oh how painful it was to see a grown man act like a 10 year old at a Hannah Montanah concert!
Couple hands later I pushed my short stack to the middle with KhJh, hoping to pick up antes and blinds, but unfortunately the Kenna-groupie next to me woke up with Aces and knocked me out.
Now it was just after 7pm and almost time for me to get to the airport, but I SO wanted to try a single table satellite. I decided to hold Richard to his cab-promise and signed up for the next satellite. Luckily my dear husband understands the power of poker and he didn’t mind, he took a $20 cab-ride home and I could play in peace.
The satellite started and what do you know, Kat is at my table again! The game started well for me when I flopped a set and picked up some chips right at the start. I played semi-aggressive because it was evident that people didn’t want to part with their chips, so before long I had decent chip stack. I just stayed away from calling all-ins with mediocre hands, and before long, I found myself heads-up with Tonya – one of the pokerchix. I had a massive chip lead, probably close to 10-1, and offered her the cash ($90) so she can play the next satellite and I’ll take the seat. She accepted, I gave her $100 and I got my seat!
I called Richard and told him it was well worth the $20 cab ride!!
OK, so the buy-in for the tournament after the ceremony was $500 + $60, and there’s no way I’m willing to pay that for a tournament (yet!). So, for people like me, there were a super-satellite as well as some single table satellites on Friday, the 1st. I’ve decided to give myself two changes ($75 x 2) to try and win a seat, and that’s it.
One little problem though - the super-satellite started at 5pm and Richard – who was out of town for the week – would be arriving at the airport at 7:30pm and expected his loving wife to pick him up. Oh, the choices one have to make – husband or poker??? He decided that it's safer not to put me to the test and offered to take a cab if I’m not done in time.
At the satellite I met a lovely older woman, her name is Kat and she loves animal print outfits. And by outfit, I meant every single thing she was wearing. Her watch, her earrings, her shoes, her purse, her little cushion to sit on, everything fit in with the leopard theme she had going on. I loved that! (She made me homesick; I missed the South African Bushveld every time I looked at her).
Poker-wise nothing spectacular happened, I stayed out of trouble, but didn’t get any big hands, and by the time we were down to two tables, I was pretty short-stack. After they combined the tables, I found myself at a table where one gentleman was just walking over the table. He had a huge chip stack and apparently an ego to go with it. Also, everyone seemed to be majorly impressed with him and his – not so funny – jokes and I wondered what the heck was going on. The flops were hitting him hard and he won huge pots with K9, K10, etc against better hands – there just didn’t seem a way he could lose.
At some point my irritation was showing and I muttered something about his silly jokes under my breath, and the guy next to me said “Do you KNOW who that is?” Uuuuhhh, no? He looked at me in disbelief “It’s Kenna James!!” Now thanks to the likes of Phill Hellmuth and Umberto Shark guy, I am not a fan of ‘famous’ poker players and their antics, the name rang a bell, but I had no idea who he was (he turned out to be married to Marsha Waggoner, one of the four inductees).
“Ok”, I said to the guy next to me “but he’s still not funny?”. He shook his head and to my disbelief uttered the following when Kenna won the next pot “Kenna, you’re the MAN!! I’m just the man sitting NEXT to the man”. Oh how painful it was to see a grown man act like a 10 year old at a Hannah Montanah concert!
Couple hands later I pushed my short stack to the middle with KhJh, hoping to pick up antes and blinds, but unfortunately the Kenna-groupie next to me woke up with Aces and knocked me out.
Now it was just after 7pm and almost time for me to get to the airport, but I SO wanted to try a single table satellite. I decided to hold Richard to his cab-promise and signed up for the next satellite. Luckily my dear husband understands the power of poker and he didn’t mind, he took a $20 cab-ride home and I could play in peace.
The satellite started and what do you know, Kat is at my table again! The game started well for me when I flopped a set and picked up some chips right at the start. I played semi-aggressive because it was evident that people didn’t want to part with their chips, so before long I had decent chip stack. I just stayed away from calling all-ins with mediocre hands, and before long, I found myself heads-up with Tonya – one of the pokerchix. I had a massive chip lead, probably close to 10-1, and offered her the cash ($90) so she can play the next satellite and I’ll take the seat. She accepted, I gave her $100 and I got my seat!
I called Richard and told him it was well worth the $20 cab ride!!
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
WiPHoF - Part Two (The WiPHoF women)
The WiPHoF women:
The four women inducted into the WiPHoF, were Barbara Enright, Linda Johnson, Marsha Waggoner and Suzie Isaacs. It was one thing just knowing ABOUT them, and quite another to hear them speak. I guess that’s one drawback of being in the spotlight, people know and judge them by standards set and stories told by people who don’t always really know them. What I knew about them – before the induction – was - Linda is a sweetheart, Suzie is a terror, Marsha is a lady and Barbara, well, all I know, Barbara has been playing poker forever, so all I had, was that she had to be old. I was looking forward to their speeches to see if they live up to expectations.
Barbara was first to speak. She kind of confused me, I sat there with a tilted head and a confused look on my face, I didn’t really get what she was saying and where she was going with her speech. At some point I wondered if she hit the bar before her speech, one thing was certain, I gave her credit for not wasting time on practicing her speech. She cracked a joke about Jose Baseball player and his love for WOE’s, which the audience seemed to love. Personally I think it’s better to ignore Jose and his featuring the Women’s Events, and not add fuel to the fire by giving him more attention than what he deserves and more important, not giving him the attention he most definitely craves.
So, by the end of her speech – adding the combination of her delivery, her interesting hair-color combination as well as wearing her sunglasses throughout the ceremony, I thought she was a little weird.
Next was Suzie. I was ready to continue not to like her – given all the horror stories I’ve read and heard, and my main concern was how I am going to get through her 10 minutes of talking. However, she took me (and probably most other people too) by surprise by starting out admitting what a brat she used to be and how she has decided to change her attitude. She seemed humbled and genuinely and sincerely honored by her induction, and I liked that. I changed my mind. I like Suzie now.
Linda was next and no surprises there. She’s a great woman, down-to-earth and the audience loved her. I didn’t expect anything less.
Last but not least, Marsha. She was soft-spoken and seemed not to be used to speaking in public, but she delivered her well-prepared speech with class and style. I like her.
See more here Click here for Cardplayer’s coverage of the WiPHoF
The four women inducted into the WiPHoF, were Barbara Enright, Linda Johnson, Marsha Waggoner and Suzie Isaacs. It was one thing just knowing ABOUT them, and quite another to hear them speak. I guess that’s one drawback of being in the spotlight, people know and judge them by standards set and stories told by people who don’t always really know them. What I knew about them – before the induction – was - Linda is a sweetheart, Suzie is a terror, Marsha is a lady and Barbara, well, all I know, Barbara has been playing poker forever, so all I had, was that she had to be old. I was looking forward to their speeches to see if they live up to expectations.
Barbara was first to speak. She kind of confused me, I sat there with a tilted head and a confused look on my face, I didn’t really get what she was saying and where she was going with her speech. At some point I wondered if she hit the bar before her speech, one thing was certain, I gave her credit for not wasting time on practicing her speech. She cracked a joke about Jose Baseball player and his love for WOE’s, which the audience seemed to love. Personally I think it’s better to ignore Jose and his featuring the Women’s Events, and not add fuel to the fire by giving him more attention than what he deserves and more important, not giving him the attention he most definitely craves.
So, by the end of her speech – adding the combination of her delivery, her interesting hair-color combination as well as wearing her sunglasses throughout the ceremony, I thought she was a little weird.
Next was Suzie. I was ready to continue not to like her – given all the horror stories I’ve read and heard, and my main concern was how I am going to get through her 10 minutes of talking. However, she took me (and probably most other people too) by surprise by starting out admitting what a brat she used to be and how she has decided to change her attitude. She seemed humbled and genuinely and sincerely honored by her induction, and I liked that. I changed my mind. I like Suzie now.
Linda was next and no surprises there. She’s a great woman, down-to-earth and the audience loved her. I didn’t expect anything less.
Last but not least, Marsha. She was soft-spoken and seemed not to be used to speaking in public, but she delivered her well-prepared speech with class and style. I like her.
See more here Click here for Cardplayer’s coverage of the WiPHoF
Monday, February 11, 2008
WiPHoF weekend – Part One (The ceremony)
The Ceremony
Even though I am not one for ceremonies and luncheons and all that, I've decided to attend the First Annual Women In Poker Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Luncheon on February 2, 2008 – I wanted to be part of history in the making.
Even though poker is an equal playing field for men and women, there are a lot of women who do not want to be part of Women Only Events for numerous reasons. And for the most part, I do agree with their sentiments, and having WOE’s might establish the idea that we’re not good enough to play with the men, and that we need special treatment.
But I think that the history of poker and more importantly, the history of WOMEN in poker, entitle us to be treated special, at least for now. It’s not as simple as many may think, in the poker world, until recently, women were treated as second class citizens, not only the players but all women in the industry. They were abused, not only mentally, but sometimes also physically. Women players were denied access to games, grumpy old men refused to play in games with female dealers and many many similar stories came to light during the presentations at the luncheon. Looking at the poker world today, as many have said – “We’ve come a long way, baby”. We have every reason in the world to celebrate that, and more importantly to honor and celebrate the women who paved the way for us to be where we are now. We also have an obligation to continue supporting the growth of women in poker, and one very important way to do that, is the continuation of Women Only Events.
I had the greatest feeling at the poker table the other day. Of the 10 seats, 5 were occupied by women, and – as you should expect from us – a lot of yakking was going on. The two guys to my left were visibly annoyed and the one whispered to his buddy “Is it going to be like this all the time?”
I smiled and thought “oh boy – you have no idea what you’re in for”. The face of poker has changed. For years the only woman at the poker table had to listen to all the male talk, we had to listen to football discussions, comments on the cocktail waitresses’ boobs, and all kinds of testosterone-driven drivel - all while being called ‘sweetie’ or ‘honey’. And look at us now…. “We’ve come a long way, baby!!”
… to be continued…
Even though I am not one for ceremonies and luncheons and all that, I've decided to attend the First Annual Women In Poker Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Luncheon on February 2, 2008 – I wanted to be part of history in the making.
Even though poker is an equal playing field for men and women, there are a lot of women who do not want to be part of Women Only Events for numerous reasons. And for the most part, I do agree with their sentiments, and having WOE’s might establish the idea that we’re not good enough to play with the men, and that we need special treatment.
But I think that the history of poker and more importantly, the history of WOMEN in poker, entitle us to be treated special, at least for now. It’s not as simple as many may think, in the poker world, until recently, women were treated as second class citizens, not only the players but all women in the industry. They were abused, not only mentally, but sometimes also physically. Women players were denied access to games, grumpy old men refused to play in games with female dealers and many many similar stories came to light during the presentations at the luncheon. Looking at the poker world today, as many have said – “We’ve come a long way, baby”. We have every reason in the world to celebrate that, and more importantly to honor and celebrate the women who paved the way for us to be where we are now. We also have an obligation to continue supporting the growth of women in poker, and one very important way to do that, is the continuation of Women Only Events.
I had the greatest feeling at the poker table the other day. Of the 10 seats, 5 were occupied by women, and – as you should expect from us – a lot of yakking was going on. The two guys to my left were visibly annoyed and the one whispered to his buddy “Is it going to be like this all the time?”
I smiled and thought “oh boy – you have no idea what you’re in for”. The face of poker has changed. For years the only woman at the poker table had to listen to all the male talk, we had to listen to football discussions, comments on the cocktail waitresses’ boobs, and all kinds of testosterone-driven drivel - all while being called ‘sweetie’ or ‘honey’. And look at us now…. “We’ve come a long way, baby!!”
… to be continued…
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