Nostalgia

Can hardly wait til December.  :D

(photo by the ever talented Tim Whims)

WSOP Fantasy 2010

I have a decent track record in WSOP Fantasy pools.  This year, I'm in one with @scsuhockey10 and @teamgetbig. 

I think we have an interesting group of teams.  We're using WSOP POTY points to determine winner and not weighting any events.  I tried to pick people who I think will play a large number of events as well as having a good shot at cashing in the events in which they play (duh).  Didn't get all my desired picks, and I forgot about Vanessa Selbst after thinking I should pick her, but overall I'm happy with my team. Annette is somewhat of a question mark, since this is the first WSOP she is eligible to play in, but she is one of my favorite players and massively talented.  Hopefully she will make some deep runs.

Andy:

• Ivey


• Timoshenko


• Greenstein


• T. Chan


• Bonomo


• Glantz


• Grospellier


• Shorr


• S. Gross


• Jaka

Bob:

• Lauria


• Harder


• Baldwin


• Clements


• Marchese


• S. Stein


• Leah


• Busquet


• Van Alstyne


• Mackey

Katie:

• Mercier


• Hellmuth


• Lisandro


• Obrestad


• Bloch


• Juanda


• Monnette


• Hawrilenko


• Ferguson


• Parker

Ladies and Gentlemen, Introducing the Plobcycle

"@ckbwop I think I just figured out what a #plobcycllle is. Blog post coming. #muhahahaha" - me, earlier this evening on Twitter.

My stack shortly before the game broke after the plobcycle helped me to recover from $150/$300.

Flashback to WPBT in December.  We had arrived on Thursday.  We partied like rockstars.  Sunday came and went.  A bunch of us ended up, post-football, at the IP Geisha bar for our last hurrah before everyone went home.  CK and I were standing around, drinking our drinks, when she looks at me and asks if we should see if the Sunday night IP mixed game is running.  I look across the pit.  The poker room is only like 500 feet from us.  We wander over with Dawn.  Somehow, before you know it, there is NOT a mixed game, but a 1/2 NLHE game, featuring the drunken likes of me, CK, Dawn, F-train, Penner, and assorted others.  There was also a whole Rich/Not Rich controversy and as it turns out I actually knew Not Rich, but I digress.  Much hilarity ensued at this game, and if you were not there, you totally missed out.

At one point, some blogger donkey made a wheel.  In 1/2 NLHE.  I immediately flashed back to four years ago at the Trop.  There was a crazy Asian woman who would say "biiiiiiiiiiicyclllllllle!" in a super annoying voice every time she made a wheel.  I'm certain I said both "biiiiiiiiiicycllllllllllle!" and told the story to the other bloggers.  For some reason this seemed very funny at the time.  I'm guessing because we were all pretty drunk.

Though WPBT ended shortly thereafter, periodically, CK and I would tweet "#biiiiicyclllllle" to each other, primarily when one of us tweeted about playing O8.  I started abusing the hashtag, and one day when I was playing PLO, someone tweeted #biiiiicycllllllle in an attempt to wish me good PLO luck.  A discussion of how a bicycle was clearly a terrible PLO hand ensued.  CK tweeted "#plobcyclllllle!" (which, in my mind, is pronounced Plob-cycle, not PLO bicycle).  And thus another hashtag meme was born.  However, none of us could quite figure out what a plobcycle WAS.  Broadway?  No...who wants to flop a straight in Omaha?  We never pinned it down.

Tonight I discovered what a plobcycle was.  If this is NOT a plobcycle, I don't know what is.

The Borgata Poker Room.  Table 19.  1/2 PLO, full ring, lots of donkeys.  Shortly before midnight on a Tuesday.

Your hero is in the 1 seat.  Two to her left is a super lagtard PLO player.  He will always bet your hand for you.  Sadly, your hero has been running badly and is down to $150/$300.  Her game plan for getting even?  Repot the lagtard the next time she has a quality hand.

Oh, look at this!  Hero has looked down to see AdTdAcQc.  She is UTG.  Purrrrrrrfect.  Hero innocently throws two chips in the pot. Two seat also limps.  Three seat pots as expected.  $12.  What's this?  Several calls of the $12?  Even better.  I make it $60 to go.  Somewhat shockingly, 2, 3, 4, 8, and 10 seat all flat the $60.  I pray to hit the flop hard because I'm jamming my remaining $90 no matter what it is.  Flop: A25.  Rainbow.  I jam, praying no one has 34, for a #biiiiicyclllllle.  2 seat folds.  3 seat folds.  4 seat...pots?  NOOOOOOOOOOOO!  I happen to know the 4 seat and he is not potting here to do me a solid and offer me protection.  He is potting because he has 34.  He flopped a motherfucking #biiiiicycllllllllle.

Everyone folds.  He does not table his hand, but I know I need the board to pair.  The whole table is well aware I have flopped top set, though I have not tabled my hand either.  My opponent knows he needs to dodge the board pairing.  I'm thinking "ONE TIME!!!!!" when the turn comes off a Kd.  "PAIR THE BOARD, DEALER, COME ON!!!!"  The river looks to be a safe Js.  

The 4 seat sighs relief and tables 2345, right as I say, "I have broadway."  The entire table is shocked.  "You don't have top set?," the 6 seat asks, clearly confused.  I table AAQT double-suited.  The four seat curses under his breath.  "Nice hand, Katie."  I get pushed a very large pot.  Good return on investment for $150.

My first thought is: "And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a plobcycle." 

Why is Katie always talking about Latin dancing when she gets unlucky?

RT @ehonda500mob #Rumbas what do that mean @OnAFoldDraw @caitycaity

Anyone who owns an iPhone knows that its autocorrect feature sometimes takes a little while to get used to your own peculiarities.  For a very long time, whenever I wanted to type "for", I would end up with "fir" prompting numerous embarrassing texts in which I sound like an uneducated hick, as well as myriad pine tree jokes from @onafolddraw.  And then there was the time at the series last year when I sent a bunch of angry tweets where "go fuck yourself" got changed to "go duck yourself."  Not QUITE the same effect.  Fortunately, my phone has now adapted and realizes that when I type fuck, I generally didn't intend to say duck. 

Rumbas is one such addition to my lexicon that I have decided to keep.  I can't tell the hilarity of how rumbas started in 140 characters, so here is the official story:

Sometime back in 2009, I was at Harrah's AC Poker room.  @realdawnsummers and I were tweeting back and forth about my session which had just come to an abrupt end when my QQ < 92o after I check-raise 5 bet from UTG pre flop.  Yes, it was one of THOSE days.  Actually, that day had a happy ending, as I got a pep talk from Brian ("If there was any player in this room that I would back, it would be you! You KNOW you can do this!") and ended up with profit, after getting stuck quite a lot.  But I digress.

I was in the midst of some "OMFG can you believe 92 just cracked my QQ? How is 924r not a safe flop there???" tweet to Dawn when I decided I needed to add a bunch of hilarious hashtags.  (In case you don't know, Dawn is the queen of #SuperLongHashTagMemesThatAlwaysCrackMeUp).  Of course, the first hashtag I added was #runbad...or at least what I thought was #runbad.  I was tilty and taking a walk to get my head together and hit send without proofreading. 

Shortly thereafter, I noticed my iPhone had autocorrected #runbad to #rumbas.  In case you don't know, a rumba is a Latin dance.  In between fits of laughter, I tweeted back Dawn to say "#rumbas, WTF is that? OBV I meant #runbad. LOL"

Apparently Dawn thought #rumbas was as funny as me, so now we both frequently use #rumbas instead of #runbad.  I have to say, it makes me giggle a little bit every time, and therefore not be on #rumbas tilt.  In addition to the dance, rumbas is also the Spanish word for parties, which is of course what one tends to throw when on tilt after some #runbad.  Perhaps my smart phone is actually smarter than me...

Two Random Thoughts About Poker

Both thoughts occurred to me when I was driving to get dinner.  Not sure why.

1) I have played 2/5/10 PLO on more than one occasion.  The stakes do not particularly scare me.  And yet for some reason 5/10 NLHE really scares me a lot.  2/5/10 is a much bigger game than 5/10 NLHE, so why the incongruity?  I think know I have more confidence in my PLO game.  Need to think about this more and think of how I can improve my NLHE game and my confidence.  I am NOT SCARED when I sit at a PLO table.  Depending on the table makeup, sometimes I am a little nervous at NLHE.

2) I feel decidedly anti-feminist for saying so, but I've been thinking a lot about women in poker recently, and most of it is not good.  I'm too tired to write a coherent essay on this topic right now (a la CK), but I do have some additional thoughts on this that I'd like to share.  Let's just say that most of my thoughts on this topic make me feel like a bad person, and certainly a bad woman. 

WBCOOP

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! The WBCOOP is a free online Poker tournament open to all Bloggers, so register on WBCOOP to play.

Registration code: 526523

2009 - A Year in Terrible Quality iPhotos

This is my first mobile photo of 2009.  It's Princess, @onetimeforpop's Rottweiler.  And I'd recognize that rug anywhere - that's the SHOP.  No other place that I know of where people can play poker with an adorable dog putting her head in your lap. (1/2009)

Though I don't get to see my Dad all that often, he does consult in DC from time to time.  I am the frequent beneficiary of some yummy, expensive dinners when he is in town. This was taken at a very yummy steakhouse at the new National Harbor complex, next to the scenic Anacostia River (/sarcasm). (1/2009)

In for $200, sitting on $603 at the apt (Feb 2009)

Someone might be a little tilty...look at that chip pile! (Feb 2009)

Check out those racks of pink....too bad they were worth a fraction of their value at this game...  I don't remember the rotation, but this was a night of stupid poker at the apt.  (March 2009)

Now, these pinks OTOH are face value.  I crushed the pink o8 game at ATLARGE at the Taj in AC this year.  Repeatedly. (March 2009)

Most of the month of March, I lived at the Showboat in AC (no really...I was there every day in March except for 8).  I got to know the bartender at the videopoker bar right next to the poker room pretty well.  My sis frequently stopped by to have some drinks after work. (March 2009)

One of my cousins got married in Tucson.  A few days after the wedding, my sister, her boyfriend, and I went on a trail ride in the desert.  We rode horses, but I felt obliged to take a picture of the donkey. (Apr 2009)

In May, one of our favorite bartenders at the Turtle concocted a special drink, just for me, @onafolddraw, and @bmorebilly.  @onafolddraw named it the "girly man" b/c it is bright pink.  It is however, delicious.  Vodka, Redbull, pineapple juice, grenadine.  

At the Rio in Vegas for the WSOP.  @onafolddraw and I got this super pimped out suite.  Note that it has a globe.  We decided that the new standard for suite pimpage is "Globe? Yes/No" (June 2009)

At the end of July, I made a spontaneous pilgrimage to the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame.  I drove there straight from NJ, stayed overnight, drove home the next day. (July 2009)

This bit of hilariousness was in my motel room in Cleveland. (July 2009)

Anne finally took me to go to the Baltimore Aquarium, which I had never gone to before...after living in this area for 13 years. (July 2009)

In July and August I went on a 3 week-long boat trip with my parents from Alaska, through British Columbia, and then around Washington state.  It couldn't have come at a better time and was very relaxing. (August 2009)

Went to a labor day party with my sister and her boyfriend.  Our contribution to the party were a million different flavors of jello shots. (August 2009)

Some time in September (a month where I spent all but 12 days at the Borgata for the Borgata Poker Open), I played my first pink o8 game at the Borgata. (Sept 2009)

And, I also played my first session of PLO at the Borgata.  In for $200, cashed out over $1k this session. (September 2009)

In the middle of the Borgata Poker Open, I detoured to Foxwoods for FARGO 2009.  I had a blast and made a lot of new friends.  SOOOOOO glad I went.  (Sept 2009)

September also saw me detour to Philly after a trip to AC to spend time w @uaegreg and his new law school friends.  At one point during this night, Greg and I both looked at each other and said..."we're 30 year olds, and we're at a house party." (September 2009)

In October I detoured to Philly again for a poker game @uaegreg set up with his law school buds and an open bar night.  I spent a lot of time on the road in 2009. (October 2009)

October also saw more pink crushage at the Borgata. (October 2009)

@alcanthang got this pimped out suite (alas no globe) at the Taj and I snapped this pic of the Borgata and Harrahs. (November 2009)

Thanksgiving (and my 31st bday) dinner. (November 2009)

December saw me travel to Vegas for the WPBT.  Shots of Soco at the Geisha Bar with the bloggers FTW. (December 2009)

And upon my return home, I was greated with a freak snowstorm, dropping 24" of snow in my front yard, and snowing me in (literally) thwarting my lunch plans with @spidurman and my last trip of 2009 to the Borgata. (December 2009)

Closed off 2009 with another few weeks on my parents' boat.  Mom and I ended up getting stuck in Vancouver for the last week of 2009, and this shelf (and gchats with a select few) helped cure massive boredom. (December 2009)

My Retirement Plan

At WPBT I shared my retirement plan with @realdawnsummers and generously told her that she could be a co-author.  You see, I have this idea that if I get a book of terrible-but-OK-sounding poker advice published, then not only will I have royalties, but people will play worse.  It's the perfect storm of money-making, right?  ;)

So at WPBT Dawn and I were constantly saying things like "Oh, that's chapter 5..." whenever someone at our table said something idiotic (full chapter list forthcoming).

This morning I awake to see this on Twitter:

realdawnsummers

@caitycaity "No, no, you gotta play for them gutshots, you gotta. If you fold, they hit." -Genius to my left: Chapter 13

Perhaps this can be a two-part chapter, or maybe we can have a whole section on gutshots and how to play them because we have to include a discussion of the "gutflush."

The "gutflush" is something made famous by MD Poker's own Rockin' Moroccan, Ali.  The very first time I played with Ali, I flopped top set on a board with a gutshot draw.  We get all money in, his gutshot gets there...  This was several years ago, before I got divorced, and when I still used to berate bad play at the table.  So Ali's gutshot got there and I start asking him WTF.

He looks me dead in the eye and says very seriously: "Well Katie, I had a gutflush."

"WTF is a gutflush, Ali? THERE WAS NOT A FLUSH DRAW ON BOARD."

"No, no...a gutflush is when you have a gutshot draw and you feel it is going to get there...in your gut."

This stunned me into silence.  Not an easy feat.

These days, Ali and I joke about the gutflush, and honestly, when he is betting big in PLO, I usually give him credit.  But the gutflush definitely has to be in The Book.

A Belated Christmas Gift

It's been a long time since I've been at a table where someone was just trying to gift wrap their chips for me $200 at a time.

Last night, depressed about my lack of NYE options, I went to the Edgewater casino in Vancouver for some poker.  Their poker room is separate from their main casino (which, frankly, is not very nice), and their seating system is very bizarre.  Call-ins get first priority.  (They also have NO ALCOHOL in poker room!)  However, after about 30 minutes of waiting, I got a seat at a new table.  Max buy was $200, which I actually generally like as I have found it encourages action. (Side note: I have found that my biggest hits at 1/2 have come at places with <$300 max, MGM in Vegas, Foxwoods back in the day, Florida...it just turns people into shove monkeys and that is a good thing.)

The first orbit at this table, my mind was blown.  I have not seen such terrible poker playing in MONTHS...maybe not even all year.  Several people at the table were ATC shove monkeys, and the other ones were WAY too tight.  There was only one guy at the table I knew I had to be wary of.  In AC, or even in Vegas, there are certainly people who play badly, but it's not usually the whole table making moves like calling with Q-high no draw for their stack (Yes, I did see that at this table).

I ended up in the ten seat, and the guy in the one seat was bullying the tighter players.  More power to him, but he should have known better than to bully when some of the shove monkeys were in the hand.  Twice in the first two orbits he made a giant bet on the river and then mucked without even showing after he was called.  The one time he had the nuts, he bet much smaller on the river.

After about 30 minutes at the table, I got dealt QTcc on the button.  There had been a standard pf raise by the one seat bully to $10, which was called in NINE spots (also standard at this gift of a table).  I decided I might as well jump in with odds like those. 

Flop came Q62, rainbow (one club).  Bully guy bet out $15 into $90 and everyone folded except one of the rocks immediately to my right and me.  We both flatted.  Turn brought the 5c.  Hmmmmmm...  Bully bet out $25.  Tight guy flatted. I raised to isolate...I wanted rocky guy to fold.  Bully just called my raise, and tight guy did the speech muck.  YES!

River came 3h.  One seat immediately bet out $100, which was the vast majority of my remaining stack.  I thought for a minute.  Did he have a four?  Possible but not likely.  He had been seriously under-betting when he was strong.  Every time I had seen him make a big bet on river, it was a bluff.  He had either a busted draw or some small pair.  Plus, I had basically folded every hand I got for the first 30 minutes, so I figured I was a prime target for push around the nit.  

After my 30-second analysis, I called.  He turned over 76o.  Wooohoooooo!  I was sitting on a little over $400 at that point.  In the next orbit, I managed to snap him off again, with a similarly average hand, and that time when I raised on the river he just instamucked. 

Shortly thereafter, he went bust and did not rebuy again.  I was sitting on $600, and looked around the table.  Suddenly we were 6 handed, with me and a bunch of old nits all sitting on $100 or less.  I had only been playing for an hour, and decided to get up.

While happy with my profit, I found something not very satisfying in taking that money.  It really was like shooting fish in a barrel.  Too easy.  :p

Dunno if I'm headed back there tonight.  Still two days left in Vancouver. 

Sets are a good hand, right?

The last time I was set over setted in either direction was in May at Harrahs. I had a higher set over the guy to my immediate left. An orbit later, I had middle set to Travis' top set and lost the biggest pot I'd ever lost until a few weeks ago. I could've folded that hand. I almost did.

I haven't seen either side of set over set since then until my birthday last week. I had a set of aces and a set of jacks run down by open ended draws. The coup de grace was having a set of 8s vs a set of 9s on a 9-high flop shortly thereafter. I left with my tail between my legs.

Today has been terrible for me and sets. Flopped a set of kings earlier and doubled. Then I lost some of that profit when I flopped a set of 7s and got flushed. Shortly thereafter, I flopped a set of 9s on a flushy straighty board and bailed when they both got there on the turn and the betting got really heavy. Turns out I was against a flush and another guy who hit the straight. Got away from that one for $30.

Now I'm at the Borgata. Flopped the nut flush against the second nut flush and doubled, only to ship all the profit when I was on the losing side of set over set again on an A96 flop (6s vs 9s).

Sometimes poker is so brutal.

Degenerate Dating Drama

Wanted.  Someone who gets (or at least can put up with) the life of a poker grinder, but doesn't have a gambling problem.  

In the past week two separate people have asked me when I'm going to start dating, and it's devolved into a conversation about my life and relationships.

Post-divorce and post....whatever-the-hell-that-was, I've done a lot of thinking about this.  It's some thinking I probably should have done two years ago...or more like ten years ago.  I've realized a few pitfalls I've fallen into in the past and I'm determined not to fall in again.  It's been good. 

Most people are really shocked to discover I'm actually a shy person around people I don't know that well.  I suffer from really bad social anxiety in new situations. 

Needless to say, I've never been one to date a ton.  I got married when I was 22 (divorced at 29).  A friend has been trying to get me to do the online dating thing, but I don't know how ready I am to jump into something like that.  Scary.

On top of this, a new problem has recently arisen.  The life of the single, female, degenerate.  Most guys I meet are poker players.  Hell, most people I meet these days are poker players.  I'm not *trying* to date a poker player...(comes with its own issues).  But...I don't know that I have other venues for meeting people.  I'm pretty busy between poker (i.e. work) and school.  I'm on a crazy schedule where I sleep most of the daylight hours away.  Meeting people while playing poker is like...hanging out with coworkers.  :p

Alternatively, most non-poker playing guys I know think it's AWESOME when they first meet me that I play poker to help with the bills.  They want to hear all about the WSOP events I've played in.  This fascination usually lasts only until they figure out that the life of a poker player is not like the bling blang blaow video, or whatever their idea is of professional poker playing.  Seriously, I think they all think it's me just hanging out rolling in money and having fun.  Like I'm Phil Ivey or something.  Anyone who's done low/mid stakes grinding knows that's not it AT ALL.

So after about a week or so, the FASCINATION with my lifestyle wears off and they get really fed up wondering why I'm always in AC (it's like going to the office, definitely not a 24 hour party), why I am never free on weekends (best time to make money), why I'm always asleep during the day...  They get jealous of what they THINK my lifestyle is.  Not to mention the complete and total difference in the way we view money (Yes, it's OK to get $300 in with 21 outs, but that doesn't mean I want to spend an extra $.50 on gas! It's DIFFERENT.)  I don't know if I'm ever going to be able to find someone who understands this lifestyle that isn't a poker player, let alone someone who can put up with it.  And poker isn't something I'm giving up anytime soon, though I would love to start dating again. 

It's lonely out here for a girl poker player.  

So yeah... Wanted.  Someone who gets the life of a poker grinder, but doesn't have a gambling problem.  Someone who gets that I will be in AC working a lot of the time.  Someone who understands why I go on tilt from time to time.  Someone who gets the difference
between getting it all in with an OESFD and lighting money
on fire on material shit.  On the other hand, someone who wants to watch movies, cuddle on the couch, and rock out to music with me, too. I promise I can talk about things other than poker (I'm actually quite well-rounded)...but it's always gonna be a big part of my life.

I just saw this hand go down

At pink O8.  AAA6 calls all kinds of bets on flop and turn.  O...M...G.

A Downswinging Degenerate's Guide to AC

It's funny how some of us bitch and moan about spending an extra $2 on coffee but will gladly shove $$$ in on a draw or bluff.  I discovered a great new "deal" in AC this past trip, so I figured I would compile a bunch of the deals I know about to share with my lucky readers.  To quote: Dawn Summers, " How are you not paying me for this!" ;)

1) McCormick and Schmick's right next to the Harrah's poker room has a 10pm-12am happy hour.  I love M+S, but I don't usually eat gourmet meals in AC.  I think I can count the number of times I have on one hand...  As far as I know, they just started doing this, but they have some great CHEAP food deals if you are a degenerate and do not eat dinner until 10pm anyways.  How's about a $4 giant, fresh-made hamburger?  This has to be one of the best deals in AC.

2) Free breakfast at Harrah's poker room.  The first time I was in the poker room at 5am and saw them wheel in a tray filled with danishes and bagels with cream cheese I thought I must be crazy.  What kind of casino gives away free stuff?  Sure enough, it's a free breakfast for their players.  It goes fast, but....free!!!

3) Red Door Spa at Harrah's.  I love Red Door Spas.  I discovered a hairdresser that I really like at the one at Harrah's (Sam).  They also have one of the nicest spa areas of any fancy spa I've ever been to (including Canyon Ranch at the Venetian).  Why is a spa listed under saving money at a casino?  Cause you can use your comps there 1:1.  You heard it here first.  I've been doing it for about a year.

4) Obv...free rooms at Harrah's midweek are the nuts.  People at the Borgata were so excited about $79 midweek poker rates...well, who needs that when you can get free rooms at Harrah's in their brand new Waterfront Tower, complete with flat screen tv, GIANT shower, and really comfy beds.  Get a player's card and start getting offers.  Seriously... I am platinum (soon to be Diamond) now, but I got offers when I was Gold too.

5) Breakfast at the deli!  This is not so much a deal as something new I discovered... The Harrah's deli now does breakfast!  Eggs, bacon, sausage, etc.  It's not on their menu board but it is on the order yourself machines.

No, Harrah's did not pay me to write this post.  I wish they had, but no...I'm just a fan.  Considering they own the majority of casino properties in AC, getting a player's card is a no brainer.  Do it.

Catching up on poker

I've been tracking my play with the iPhone app "poker journal" since March. (Yes, there's an app for that). I first read about it on 2+2, and it's been one of the most valuable pieces of info I've found on that forum. Last year I tried tracking my play through a google docs spreadsheet which quickly became garbage in/ garbage out because who wants to log all the particular details of a really rough session when you first get home? Having tracking on my phone allows me to set everything up when I first sit at the table and keeps me honest. I recently acquired enough data to dump it into excel and do some analysis. What did I find? I'm a far more profitable Omaha player (both limit and pot limit) than NLHE. I'm a winning NLHE player, to be sure, but I make much more consistent money (and more money per average session) at Omaha. Too bad it's frequently hard to find good live Omaha games. The good news is with one exception at the beginning of my tracking, I've been in the black all year. Too bad all of that money has gone to bills.

Next up: recap of past 24 hrs in AC. If you follow me on Twitter, you can skip this section. ;) Sat down at pink O8 at the Borgata. It was a very juicy table. Nonetheless, I quickly found myself down $100 due to flopping second nuts full house and having my low counterfeited on the river. In a three way pot, I gets Nunavut. However, I clawed my way back and netted +150 that session, putting me at +100 for the day after I dropped $50 really quickly at NLHE.

Most of the fish busted from the pink game after that, so I left to go check in at Harrahs. I wish I could just move in to one of their waterfront tower rooms. Went downstairs to play some NLHE...I was SUPER card dead for 2-3 hrs. Then had "one player to a hand" violated when I had quads against top full which cost me $150. Still, I perservered. I pulled off a great all-in river bluff around hour 3 against the guy who told me two hours earlier that girls never bluff. Did not show it because I just don't think showing the bluff is a +ev move for my style of play. Around hour 4.5, I FINALLY doubled up with AA>JJ on 8 high flop. Soon after I was outta there to get some sleep.

Also of note: borgata changed their cards to some fugly Gemacos last week. The shade of red is very dark (cause of the infamous "I have a flush...oh wait I don't" incident at the Tropicana in 2006, the cards are stiff, and the face cards are ridiculously ugly. But they supposedly work better in the autoshufflers.

Harrahs also changed their cards last week but they are the "nicer" Gemacos. Very flexible and no ugly face cards. However, they are no longer superindex. (and then the peasants rejoiced!) I hate superindex cards for Holdem.

Woke up feeling good. Gonna take a long shower, get some food, and hit the tables again hoping for some more winning sessions.

Recovering from Life Tilt

I allowed myself to get frustrated and tilty at some personal stuff on Monday night.  I told myself after I got it together and left the table that I was on poker time-out til next Monday, to prevent myself from doing anything stupid, like angry poker.  Angry poker is bad news.  Angry poker makes my bank account cry. 

So, I haven't played in a week.  It's been hard...especially since I've been in NJ for the past few days visiting with my sister.  And it was a holiday weekend and I know lots of fish were in AC.  But I know it's the right thing to do.  There is absolutely no point in playing on tilt.  I'm feeling refreshed and ready to get back to my game.

The weekend in NJ with John and Sarah has been great.  We've gone shopping in the cute little town that she and John work in.  We went to an Agatha Christie play.  We've bummed around drinking beer and watching football.  It's been very nice. 

I have a room that I booked ages ago at Harrah's Monday-Wednesday.  I'm very much looking forward to my return to poker.  Please, poker gods, let me run at least averagely.  :)

FARGO 2009 recap

You never forget your first.  I love Foxwoods.  It's home to a lot of poker firsts for me.  It's where I played my first live tournament, my first live cash game, my first live HORSE game... It's where I learned to play (way before I met the MD degenerates).  It's where I first turned $100 into $1000.  It's the first room where I knew floor people and room management by name.  It's where I first fell in love with poker.  All of this, combined with the fact that I'm only ever there alone makes it feel like my little (big?) corner of the poker universe.  I walk from the Rainmaker garage straight to the poker room (back way, down the escalators, and through the stud and limit section) and I smile every time.  I'm home.

There's a lot of things about the place that people love to hate, and it's true...there are some things that suck.  Last call (at a casino!!!) at 1:30am.  Dealers don't keep their own tips (they pool with the entire poker and pit).  It's frequently crowded cause it's such a big room.  Their comps used to really suck.  They have those ridiculous buttons.  But a lot of the bad about Foxwoods has changed over the past two years (buyins, rake, etc.) and there is a lot of good (cappuccinos! LOL). 

Original plan was to show up on Saturday for the NL and play the Sunday HORSE because I was backed to play the O8 tourney on Friday at the Borgata Poker Open.  However, I ran into some room issues and had a hold on my credit card which prevented me from booking a room anywhere for Thursday.  Gave backers back their money.  :(  Frustrated, I figured I might as well head up to Foxwoods early since their dinner was on Thursday night.  On top of that, for all the times I've been to Foxwoods, I've never once stayed in their hotel(s) because my parents live 15 minutes away.  FREE room and board with people who will cook for you trumps all.

So I headed up to the dinner at Custy's thinking that this was a good time for me to get over some of my long standing social phobia.  I was going to show up to the dinner by myself dammit.  It would be fine.

I was expecting it to be like the smoker's dinner at ATLARGE.  I showed up, met Tracy (FARGO organizer, who I'd emailed a few times), and walked into a restaurant with no bar to sit at, filled with people and their families.  After some attempted conversation with a guy, his wife, and their son (who I think thought I was nuts), and 10 minutes of sitting alone thinking showing up to FARGO all by myself was a really BAD idea, I turned around and found some people I knew from ATLARGE.  Goldie, Chic, Bob Lauria, and Todd (spidurman) were playing Chinese poker...for the glory.  Chic (as usual) had attracted quite a crowd as people watched him set his hands.  Breathing a sigh of relief, I walked over and attached myself to Chic et al, informing them that I had come to FARGO on my own.  Great guys that they are, they took me into the fold and we had a great dinner where I met some new people, and was riddled with Omaha8 puzzles by Bob Lauria (what are the three boards that you will have the nuts on if your hand is 9992?).

After dinner most people stayed to play the heads up match, but I hadn't registered for it, so I just went to my parents' house. 

Friday I spent mostly with my mom.  We went to see Bodies: Revealed.  I showed her around the giantness that is Foxwoods.  After dinner at home, I went and played some cash (8/16 HORSE, 1/2 PLO). 

Saturday, I got up bright and early to get to the NLHE tourney.  As I was registering at the cage, one of the floor people I know came over and told the cashier to give me the lucky seat because I was his landlady and he needed a break on rent.  Sadly, it wasn't the lucky seat, but I didn't do badly considering I had really awful hands (best was TT which I had to fold pf) and the structure and starting chips were kinda bad.  I'm too lazy to look back at twitter to see exactly when I busted, but it was when we were down to three tables.  They paid 11 (save for the bubble) and I think I busted out somewhere around 18th.  Ho hum.  I did have a great time though, and made some new friends based on my seat assignment (Steve and Chris, hi!). 

After making it pretty deep, I stayed around to play cash.  I was at 4/8 HORSE for a long time, made a bunch of money, went to 1/2 PLO, made a bunch more money, ate free comped dinner and beer, and then headed back to the poker room.

First thing I see coming through the limit side is Chris sitting at a very short 4/8 HORSE table.  I sit down, we start splashing around, and in no time Tracy and some others had joined us again.  We got a full table going and a full must-move (which eventually became HOREO!!! LOL).  Chris and Tracy and I played drunken poker (a lot of fun!!!!) until about 2am when we all decided it was time to sleep.

Up again early Sunday for the 11am HORSE tournament.  I feel that I played really well.  Again, the structure was not the best, but I played a really solid game and busted out in 11th after an awful 3 hands in a row at razz.  I got it in on my final hand with (24)67 against (J9)46.  J946 somehow went runners perfect A, 3, 2 to make a smooth 6 (I could NOT believe it!!!) and busted me out on the bubble.  Boo-hoo.  If I won that hand I would have moneyed cause antes and blinds were so high at that point we were dropping like flies.  *sigh*

I did not get to say goodbye to many people because they left when they busted out of the tournament and I made it to the final 2 tables, which was sad, but hopefully I'll see people again at ATLARGE.  I really had a great time at FARGO and was only by myself for the first few minutes of dinner.  Everyone was very welcoming! 

Queen high???

Had a very bizarre thing happen the other day.  Well, hand-wise, anyways.  I have seen some truly bizarre things when it comes to the people I am playing with.

So, I was at Foxwoods this weekend for FARGO.  A great time was had and I'll post a recap soon.  Sunday, post-HORSE tourney, I was playing at a 1/2 NL table.  I had a whole paragraph typed out here about recent (past 6 months or so) adjustments to my style of NL play, but then realized why do I want to share all of this with the world?  ;)  Suffice it to say that I've been experimenting recently with exploiting my usual tight image with some LAG-gy moves here and there. 

So I was at a 1/2 NLHE table with some aggressive players, I had a tight image, and I decided to get a little aggro when I was dealt AKs in the cutoff.  I raised to $12pf, and got heads up with the table fish (on the button).  Now, this guy was a station, but he also knew how to fold if the price was right, so the flop came out J46, rainbow.  He bet out $25, and I immediately check raised all in for about $150 on top.  The guy sitting next to me, obviously thinking I had a monster, whispered, "get 'em, girl." 

Station thinks forever and says: "$150 more?  I guess I have to call."  At this point I think he has a J, but hey, I have two overs, so what the hell.  Hopefully he doesn't have AJ. Turn: 6 River: Q.  I say, well, if you have a pair, you are good.  The table is clearly shocked at this revelation, but not as shocked as me when this guy table QcTc.  That's right.  He called my $150 check-raise all in on a J-high rainbow board with Queen high, no draw.  Then he says he thinks Queen high was good the whole way.  He's not joking or trying to tilt me.  I can tell he is sincere.

And all I can say about that is THANK GOD there are still people like you who sit at poker tables, sir.  Please, continue to call my checkraises with Qhigh!!!  LOL

Trying to explain a technical passion to others

How do you do it? Is it even possible?  The things that make our passion exciting to us are hard to translate to people who haven't felt the things we feel.  Among poker players, for example, it is hard to explain the soul-sucking defeat of having two outs or the absolute elation of playing a hand such that you get your opponent to put in their stack with only two outs.  The non-technical translation ("That's a really good thing!") or even the somewhat technical translation ("Mathwise, I am a 90+% favorite.") really doesn't cut it.  It's just one of those things that's hard to explain to others who haven't been in the trenches.

Travis recently tried to explain such a situation on his blog, and to be honest, even as someone who would like to think that she gets the game, I found his post rather boring to read (apologies, Trav).  I think that has something to do with the passion.  It's hard to translate that to people who don't love the game. 

I manage to still have some people in my life that don't "get" poker.  Even if they inquire about my play, I have learned to KISS (keep it simple, stupid) cause otherwise they get a glazed over look on their faces.  Similar, I imagine, to how I felt the first time I tried to read Sklansky's "Theory of Poker."

I wish there was a way to translate the passion to people.  If someone figures it out, let me know. 

Lou Krieger on HORSE

There are a lot of dualities in poker.  Some people at live poker are really annoying, yet these are often the people you want to sit with because they play badly.  Being a professional player may seem like a great life, and there are a lot of freedoms, but it also comes with a lot of stresses that a "normal" job does not have.

I have long lamented the lack of books, strategy advice, etc about HORSE games and tournaments as their own entity.  Of course there are several things to be read on each game individually, but there are few things that discuss the overall strategy of mixed games and tournaments.  The meta game, if you will.  Most of what I know on that front I have gleaned from personal experience and discussion with other players who know what they are doing on the mixed front.

On the other hand, this lack of ready information is exactly what makes HORSE games so juicy.  While NLHE is probably the game that I understand the best, just because I have played far and away more hands of that compared to anything else, my relative skill level relative to my opponents is certainly much higher in HORSE.

Nonetheless, I am really happy to see that Lou Krieger is doing a new weekly HORSE column for PokerNews.  The first part is available here.  Second is here.  I'm definitely looking forward to future columns.

Personally, I know I need improvement on the HORSE tournament front (in the middle of rereading FT's Tournament book in prep for the series).  My HORSE cash game is pretty solid.

Deuce on the Rivah

One of the local dealers' favorite hand is 7-2 and he is rather notorious for dealing a deuce on the river.  You better believe I thought about him in this hand I just played.

PokerStars Game #27650335833:
Tournament #158090463, $30+$3 HORSE (7 Card Stud Hi/Lo Limit) - Level V
(75/150) - 2009/04/30 1:44:39 ET

Table '158090463 5' 8-max

Seat 1: Jim76262 (4793 in chips)

Seat 2: Sooners (4559 in chips)

Seat 3: RBPlayer71 (1895 in chips)

Seat 4: CarlyRose (1763 in chips)

Seat 5: c2d2 (1190 in chips)

Seat 6: gman3613 (3770 in chips)

Seat 7: LOUIEBOY73 (548 in chips)

Seat 8: Igotguts (5482 in chips)

Sooners: posts the ante 15

RBPlayer71: posts the ante 15

CarlyRose: posts the ante 15

c2d2: posts the ante 15

gman3613: posts the ante 15

LOUIEBOY73: posts the ante 15

Igotguts: posts the ante 15

Jim76262: posts the ante 15

3rd STREET


Dealt to Jim76262


Dealt to Sooners

Dealt to RBPlayer71

Dealt to CarlyRose

Dealt to c2d2

Dealt to gman3613

Dealt to LOUIEBOY73

Dealt to Igotguts

LOUIEBOY73: bets 75

Igotguts: folds

Jim76262: calls 75

Sooners: folds

RBPlayer71: folds

CarlyRose: folds

c2d2: raises 75 to 150

gman3613: calls 150

LOUIEBOY73: raises 75 to 225

Jim76262: folds

c2d2: raises 75 to 300

Betting is capped

gman3613: calls 150

LOUIEBOY73: calls 75

4th STREET

Dealt to c2d2

Dealt to gman3613

Dealt to LOUIEBOY73

LOUIEBOY73: bets 75

c2d2: raises 75 to 150

gman3613: calls 150

LOUIEBOY73: raises 75 to 225

c2d2: raises 75 to 300

Betting is capped

gman3613: calls 150

LOUIEBOY73: calls 8 and is all-in

5th STREET

Dealt to c2d2

Dealt to gman3613

Dealt to LOUIEBOY73

c2d2: bets 150

gman3613: calls 150

6th STREET

Dealt to c2d2

Dealt to gman3613

Dealt to LOUIEBOY73

c2d2: bets 150

gman3613: calls 150


RIVER:


Dealt to c2d2

c2d2: bets 150

gman3613: calls 150


SHOW DOWN :

c2d2: shows
(HI: three of a kind, Aces)

gman3613: mucks
hand

c2d2 collected 1034 from side pot

LOUIEBOY73: shows
(HI: four of a kind, Deuces)

LOUIEBOY73 collected 1794 from main pot

No low hand qualified


SUMMARY:

Total pot 2828 Main pot 1794. Side pot 1034. | Rake 0

Seat 1: Jim76262 folded on the 3rd Street

Seat 2: Sooners folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)

Seat 3: RBPlayer71 folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)

Seat 4: CarlyRose folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)

Seat 5: c2d2 shows
and won (1034) with HI: three of a kind, Aces

Seat 6: gman3613 mucks



Seat 7: LOUIEBOY73 shows
and won (1794) with HI: four of a kind, Deuces

Seat 8: Igotguts folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)