Ladies Tournaments: Terrible Yet Tempting

Saturday I woke up early to drive down to Harrah's Rincon for the WSOP Circuit Ladies Event.. $125 buy in. I was running late, as usual, however, this time my apartment was inside out because my carpet was cleaned the evening before.. I was anxious because I wasn't feeling too well and knew there was a 2.5 hour drive a head..

Ladies tournaments are not my favorite.. I feel like I'm going to do really well.. and I have cashed in a good number of these events. The thing is.. the play is not great early on and a lot of opportunities open up to get unlucky. Also, women are chatty.. and I don't tend to get a long with a lot of other women and I'm certainly not all that chatty at the poker table. I like to play against men because I feel like I can manipulate and read them better. Well.. I'm feeling good about my skills these days so I'm pretty excited to play..

We arrive down in Rincon with an extra hour. I wasn't actually late.. So I register and relax with my turkey sandwich before going in.. Once seated I observe a relaxed and passive table. The usual ladies chat at the table with the dealer.. There are 170 total players in the tournament and it seems the majority of my table is either from San Diego or even more local to the casino.. which seems to be in the middle of no where to me.

Early on I'm taking small pots.. then just when I realize I need a bathroom break I look down and see 1 A... next card around.. AA.. I stay and bet out 400 in early position.  I am reraised to 1000 right away by one of the only semi-aggressive players at the table. It folds around to me and decide to put her all in for her last 3K. She says "what the hell?" and calls. The cards are on their backs to reveal that I'm dominating her pocket 10s. The flop brings all low cards and she taps the table in an early "good hand".  The turn shows what my negative head was warning me about.. a 10. The river nothing. She beats me. I'm left with about 2500 of the original starting stack of 6K. I know I'm done. I've fought a short stack before but this will be trouble. These women are unpredictably terrible. If only I used the restroom and never peaked at my 1st hole card......

I survive a few blind steals with my short stack.. and then I look down at pocket 8s.  I'm all in 1 off the button.. it folds to the big blind. A former short stack who had just doubled up when she joined out table. She looks down and thinks for a bit.. and says "favorite hand". That's bad news.. they always call and they suck out with the worst hand every time. She calls off half her stack.. and shows A-9 suited.  Figures. One of the worst A-x starting hands.. but it's suited!! And I'm feelin lucky with my favorite hand! Can't you just hear it?? The flop comes out all blanks.. and she taps the table. She's rooting for me. Then the 9 hits the turn and she says "You're still good".. um. thanks but that gives you a higher pair.. remember.. favorite hand? River is a blank and I'm out. 2 hours 45 mins.

I walk out defeated and repeating over and over to myself... "I hate ladies tournaments... hate them"

"Do you want to go to the beach?"

"Yes"

Off to La Jolla for the rest of the day... 

Vegas Week... A Poker Business Trip

Wednesday afternoon we hopped in the Jeep and headed out to Vegas for a few days. This was strictly a trip for poker tournaments. I allowed for a $300 bankroll.. $150 each day.  We arrived just after 6pm and rushed to check in and head to the 1st tournament. I planned to play in a 8pm $120 tournament at Binions. I liked the structure.. 10K starting chips and 30min levels. I literally ran to the tournament because I was late and didn't want to have to wait to start as an alternate. Luckily, I made it. However, this was not the tournament tonight. It was only a $55 buy in and that usually means less chips and less time per level. Ok, fine. I'm here. I'm in. Well, the structure was horrible.  3K starting chips and 15min levels. This is like one of those horrible turbo online tournaments. Not good. I'm out in an hour.

I break a rule and have 2 cocktails.. then grab some dinner at Golden Nugget. I decide not to drink at dinner because I plan to buy in to the $75 tournament at Binions.  6K starting chips and 20 min levels. Did I mention I left my iphone at the table in the 1st tournament, freaked out, ran back... thankfully the poker room manager had it. Ugh.. my panic. Not good.  Anyway, I head back over for the 2nd tournament. Lots of drunk players. Lots of annoying people.. oh, those are the same. I mean.. people who just don't know what they are doing really.. so you can't play your game against them. It doesn't do any good to try and over play players that don't know what you are trying to tell them with your play.. you'll get the opposite reaction you want most of the time.. This has been very frustrating to me playing at low levels because of my small bankroll. I believe my skill is beyond my bankroll.. Well.. I'm freaked out by one player who won't stop talking about my hair.. and shares his fascination with my gentlemen friend, who is watching the game. Again, I'm out in an hour. I'll spare the bad beat stories.. they're not worth it against players like this.

I decide on day 2 of this trip I will play at Caesars in their Thursday 12pm tournament. Usually I am here on the weekends and the buy ins are doubled.. but since it's mid week I'd like to take advantage of that and play here. I also have some college basketball bets to make, which I will do at Caesars. The buy in is $125 +10 add on (at registration).  I'm in for the $135 starting with 7500 in chips and 30 min levels. The players are much better and I am playing very well. This is great.  In a hand against a good player from Florida I am reinforced a lesson about betting amounts. I knew my opponent had me beat but I felt they were not confident in their hand and when the flush card came out I could have gotten them off their hand. I bet small-ish in hopes it was read as a "call me bet" because I made my flush. He mulled it over for awhile feeling he was beat but then did the math and realized I was giving him 3:1 to call. He couldn't resist those odds and ended up beating me with his kicker. There were 74 players in this tournament and I was moving my chip stack up in a confident and comfortable way. We were down to 32 people when I made a poorly timed play and was instantly called because my opponent just made his straight on that card. What a shame. I was so upset with myself. I was out. All that work and I was out. 3 1/2hrs of play... for nothing.. a great prize pool gone.

I headed to the main casino floor, grabbed some lunch, met my gentlemen friend for a drink and watched some of the basketball games. I shook off my loss and over analyzed my play to death.. I decided with the left over Planet Hollywood chips I had from my last visit I'd play in their 7pm tournament. It's kind of freerolling since these chips were not included in the original bankroll. Now, I know the players are bad and the tables are extremely poorly positioned in the casino.. but I play anyway. Freeroll, why not? I start off playing recklessly and self destructive. My ego can't take 4 for 4 losses for this trip I need to get my act together. I play well and make some great calls. I end up at the final table as the chip leader. We get down to 5.. and the top 4 pay. I've become the short stack due to the blinds and not taking out the small stacks. I try to offer up a chop 5 ways so no one is out on the bubble.. as in.. me.  This would pay out about 340 each. The guy who I doubled up and went on a short run to become the new chip leader says no way. We play on. I'm the big blind the very next hand and see QQ. The small blind puts me all in and doubles me up. Perfect.. play on. Next the bubble goes out.. and we have 4. We play on and I gain more chips and the karma comes back for the former chip leader as he is eliminated in 4th for $180. I offer a chop again because the blinds have turned this into roulette. We all agree for an even chop and walk with $550 each.

Fantastic. I'm so excited.  I end up leaving Vegas with an extra $285 in poker money. Looks like I will be freerolling in the WSOP Circuit Ladies event in Harrahs Rincon on Saturday.. that takes some of the pressure off... and it's only $125 buy in.

We leave Friday morning early and I'm tired.. late nights and early mornings don't agree with me.. I have lots of LA traffic in my future, I'm getting sick and I have to rush home and prepare my apartment and take my cats out for a yearly carpet cleaning..... The cats and I are not happy.

Unemployed Need Plinko Money!

I feel like I have been incredibly busy for an unemployed lady.  I'm seriously exhausted and a bit under the weather.. which is not a good thing for an unemployed person without health insurance. I'm really trying to take care of myself so that I don't have to end up dropping cash on a doctor's visit and prescription.

It's been a crazy week.  On Tuesday, the 24th, my fellow unemployed gentlemen friend and I headed to a taping of The Price Is Right with two other lucky yellow shirts. The night before we were designing and printing shirts.. Why not?  That's what I used to do for a living. I went with "Unemployed Need Plinko Money".  They came out great. We arrived at the line at 5:45am. I am a huge fan of the show and this would be the 3rd time I've attended. Last time, was very successful. My best friend was one of the 1st 4 contestants and won a hot tub and a painting. I feel like I know the secret to get called... After almost missing the cut to be included in the audience, despite our early arrival.. we received our price tag name tags and numbers. I prepped our group with the knowledge of showing off super excitement and representing a character in order to get called when it came to interview time. It also helps if all of us share the excitement because we'll make for good TV as we cheer on our fellow yellow shirt while they are on stage. We did great in the interviews. I felt like 2 of the 4 of us had a great shot at getting called... and I was right. The 1st contestant called was a member of our group. It was so exciting watching each item come up in hopes this will be the one that will bring her on stage with the right bid... She makes it up winning a mini gas powered plane.. and is faced with the Range Game and a beautiful shiny red Jeep. I'm thrown off.  This Jeep was 21K a few days ago on the show and today that's the highest amount on the game... and we all know the game usually stops at the higher end of the 1st 3rd. Our confusion threw off our contestant.. she wasn't sure where to stop it and missed by about 200. The wheel wasn't friendly either. She was the 1st to spin and went over. Oh, well.. we had a great great time. It's an amazingly fun experience.

After the show we were completely exhausted and drained. Our original plan was to head to Vegas that night.  Once we finally arrived back at my apartment.. and realized my Jeep was not towed (thankfully!!).. we pretty much crashed.

Wednesday, however, we woke up... I played a little on Poker Stars.. and then we headed off to Vegas....

Another Day at the Office

Friday morning I woke up with the master plan to play in the 12pm $40 tournament at the Bike. I'm a little rushed in a way I'm not comfortable with.. I'm sharing my morning with someone as we have breakfast and get ready and both run out the door to our respective places that will hopefully lead our unemployed selves to some form of an income.

In perfect LA fashion, I am faced with break lights and my Jeep is brought to a crawl on the 5. This is not good.  I know there is late registration into the 1st level and that's great.. I have a window of at least 20 minutes.  Well, I am not even on the 710 yet and it's 12:10.  I'm yelling at other cars and not dealing well at all.  My adrenaline is flowing and my heart rate is up.  How am I going to run in and register and then pull up a seat at the tables like this?

As soon as I am seating cards and being dealt to me. There are 171 players in the tournament today.  I fold and get myself situated and take a few deep breathes and try to focus.. I made it.. now don't blow it. After all, you don't want to have gone through all that and driven here to just pay them $40... right? As soon as I am seated I scan the table and realize I am the only female and they are all staring at me. Slightly uncomfortable.  The first few pots I am in I play really well and unpredictably. My opponents don't know what to make of me or how to play against me.  They approach every pot with caution instead of aggression.  I like this a lot. Before I can build up my stack to a real comfortable level our table is broken and I am moved to table 2 seat 3.  My new table is talkative and aggressive. I know two of the players from other sessions. Things are not going well here.  My cards are terrible and I can't seem to gain any control with all the heavy raising.

I am dealt QQ and raise. I am called by one of the aggressors.  The flop comes A-K-3 rainbow.  I check and with some confusion my opponent checks back.  He expected me to bet the A. I technically would have raised pre-flop with an A.  The turn brings a blank and I throw out a semi-weak bet. He calls.  I check the river and he checks back. He shows a K and I muck my QQ. Lesson learned... I completely played the QQ wrong. I needed to bet that flop to feel out whether or not my opponent had the A and to represent the A at the same time.

I never really recovered as the blinds increased and I was out soon after. I left the Bike defeated and mad at myself. I am a very competitive person and, even more so, super competitive with myself. It's not so much about losing to the other players.. but the mistakes I allowed myself to make....

A Few Thoughts on Decision Making

I like to search out books on topics that apply to poker without being a poker book.  I really liked Joe Navarro's book Read Em And Reap,  so I purchased What Everybody Is Saying to see what this ex-FBI agent had to say about reading people in general.  My thinking is, the more I could apply these skills in real life this would put me even more in tune with reading people at the poker table... I have What Everybody Is Saying, but have yet to read it.  With all my new found time, I plan to read through a stack of books on my coffee table.  My next thought was a book on why people make decisions.  After reviewing a few psychology books on this subject, I went with How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer.  My other choice was Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely.. which I may end up buying if I feel like this topic is something I need to delve more into after reading the one I bought.

I was thinking a lot about what shapes my decisions.. not just in poker but in life too.. maybe it's my childhood, my experiences, my emotional mood of the moment.. whatever it is sometimes I find myself not in control of my decisions because something is guiding me in a way that may be self destructive.  Recently, I have found myself facing decisions of the past that have led me to where I am now.. and after evaluating just what has shaped who I am today I can understand patterns of my decisions and ways to break them or control them.  What makes you decide to skip a workout today?  Procrastinate that project another day?  Splurge on those shoes?  Call that person you met yesterday?  Fold a hand you liked to a player?  In this self evaluation I hope to present a clear, focused and controlled version of myself to the poker table to make decisions that are well thought out and not tainted by my history or mood.

Beyond understanding why I make decisions, I also need to understand my opponents- or just everyday people I face in life- and why they make specific decisions.  I'm hoping to get more information from reading non-poker books that help me get to know what exactly goes on inside people's heads....

How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer

review coming soon..

Cheers.

A Doctor, A Sea Captain and Santa

Not only do I love the feel of the felt, the cards and the chips... but I prefer live play instead of online because I love to read my opponents.  There are seriously some interesting characters that come out to the casino.. especially on a Tuesday afternoon in beautiful Bell Gardens, CA.. to the Bicycle Casino.

I rushed to get to the Bike at noon for an el-cheap-o $40 NLHE tourney.  This wasn't too bad. Starting chips 4000, 20 minute blind levels.. and 168 people came out to play.  I was the only female at my table.. and it started off pretty well. There's was one guy who over bet ever raise and was annoying.. so I'd stay out of his way if I wasn't looking to play a big pot.. guy to my left went out early while getting a massage... and was replaced by a young player.. a talkative one.  I found his voice very annoying and tried to avoid eye contact or acknowledgment because I didn't want to talk to him.  However, he began chatting it up with the player on my right.. so I was the meat in their convo sandwich and the voices were getting to me....

I then played a pot with another player where I flopped the nut flush draw and bet out 300 into a 450 pot.  I am reraised for 900 more.  I figured he flopped a nice looking top pair, maybe with a flush draw to go with it or 2 pair.. I reluctantly folded and decided I didn't want to draw at that price and it was early.. well a few hands later I'm in the big blind and flop 2 pair.. 9-6 against the same player. However, it's a draw heavy board.. I bet out.. and get called.  The turn means an 8 would make a straight. I check and he checks.  The river is a useless 2.  I bet out 3/4 the pot and get called.. He says, "Chop? I have an 8." Nope.. just 2 pair for me.. grossly overplayed that hand because in the back of my mind I wanted to win against this guy- badly because I followed that nut flush draw.  I was now frustrated and angry at myself for throwing away so many chips.. 2/3 of my stack on a stupid big blind hand with that board.  I had a nice steady tight aggressive play going and was building up a healthy stack.. oh, woe is me, right? Well, without any clear thinking I decided to seriously throw my last 1/3 of chips away on A-J.. and essentially A high.. the very next hand.  I'm out.  And that annoying guy to my right is still chatting away and it was killing me... Totally lost control of my head and play.

I took a short break and then went to play cash.  The characters were out today. I decided I didn't want to talk to anyone so I put one head phone in.. and I never do that. This was the first time I decided to play with background music.. A gentlemen across the table was not the best player, to say the least... but I was new to the table so I was just getting acquainted with my table mates.  I look down at A-8 off and limp in from the SB.  The flop brings K-8-8.  I check. Someone bets and narrows the field to 3 callers.  The turn opens the door for a diamond flush draw.. I check again and the gentlemen bets about half the pot.  The other player calls and so do I.  (Maybe a good spot for a reraise?)  The river brings another diamond.  I bet half the pot. The gentlemen goes all in which isn't too much more.. definitely worth a call to see at least how he played his hand.. but I'm really thinking he had the diamond flush.  So I ask, "Did you really just hit that flush?" He responds, "I have 2 hearts."  That was enough to call because I looking at this not-so-good-player I decide he would not come out and lie like that.. he was not flipping over 2 diamonds after saying that.  I call and he shows K-Q off.  1 heart.. and no diamonds.  I take the pot.  Shortly after he leaves the table "to make a phone call"... locking his seat.  We all hope he returns because he was giving away money.. Upon his return he collects his keys and says he seat is open and that he has to go to the hospital- for surgery- he's a doctor.. he walks up to me and gives me a hand written note and says, "don't worry it's about poker".. I'm probably blushing a bit and the table is now cracking jokes like crazy.. The note said he was looking for me to give him poker lessons, he'd pay me.. and left this number.  I did not share the note with the table although they kept asking.  Someone says, "he could be a serial killer" and the tables laughs.. I say, "sure, it's real funny until I turn up dead in the Bike parking lot".. I don't see myself calling this guy to give him any lessons.. Sorry, dude.

Well, fear not, the Sea Captain is sitting to my left and he is cracking me up.  We are in a hand together with a flop of A-A-5.  I check and he bets. I call. Turn is a 6.. This gives me the boat since I hold A-6.  He bets out of turn and I just call.  River is a 10.  I bet out and he calls.. but he was going for chips before I bet.. again.  I figure he has an A and is real excited.. I was right but he also shows a 10.  Damn.  I caught up on the turn but he had a 6% chance to hit his boat on the river and he did.. oh, well... betting could have been worse but we were friendly and kept it that way.

Santa walks by the table and then eventually finds his way to seat 5.  He's loud but friendly. Our table is fun and light hearted.. there's still joking about the Doctor and leaving to write me a note.  Santa is drawn to me and is commenting on my facial features slightly making me uncomfortable.. luckily there's the Sea Captain and the young Massage Therapist right next to me who both empathize with my discomfort.  Santa says, "Don't I look like Santa?" I said, "Yes, I thought so, but I wasn't going to say it." He then says, "Do you want to sit on Santa's lap?" I respond with a, "Ugh, really? really? No.... come on"  Players leave and Santa moves directly to my left.  New players join and the vibe of the table completely changes.. I need to keep checking the traffic on my phone because I have to meet ex-coworker friends near home and I'm afraid to get caught in LA traffic and miss my window to stop home.  Santa starts getting louder too about the obnoxious players and people are just playing sloppy and gambling.. It's time to go.

After 4 hours of cash I left up with what seems like "only" $80 (and I won back my $40 from the tourney in addition too).  However, with 4 hours of cash play that was $20/hr.  So I'm not complaining... I'll take it.

I met the ex-coworkers and it was nice to see them.. I consider them friends..  However, it definitely played on my mood to hear the work chat, new changes, how they divided up my work and how it was all handled.  I don't know.  I'm not bitter and angry about being laid off but it still hurts to know I made that list in their minds.  Oh, well... today I'm not feeling like driving to the casino and I don't think my head is into it.. I'm just going to play some on Poker Stars and see where that gets me... after a nice work out though.. that should clear my head.

Cheers.

A Release

I’ve returned from a Vegas weekend. We decided to extend the weekend by 1 day. It was nice not having anywhere else to be. This was definitely a trip for celebrating and releasing. I found myself start to get a bit frustrated when I thought about losing my job. It never got to the point.. why me? I don’t question my abilities. I knew why my number came up and it didn’t have anything to do with my work.

I couldn’t help myself. I’m in Vegas, it’s the last birthday of my 20s and I was 2 days into unemployment. What can I do? I needed a cocktail.. and keep ‘em comin’. I used to like to have a drink or two when I sat down at a table.. I was new to live play and I need to calm the nerves. As I became more confident in my game, I felt like I took too many chances and became too chatty when I drank at the tables.. this soon became a leak in my game that I needed to fix. So that was the end of that.. which means no poker on Friday.. but celebrate we will.

Saturday was a day to play.. so I entered an $80 tournament at Planet Hollywood. Players were not good and unpredictable. I tried to be patient but the play was just so bad and luck just loves those bad players… so I was out in 2 hours. I moved to cash. Players were better-ish than the tournament.. I had my favorites for taking pots off of.. I made back my money from the tournament and an extra $50… but I decided to have a few cocktails.. I was just in the mood to drink and my table had a few fun guys.. soon I became very chatty.. I was holding back playing hands though (because I couldn’t shut up and pay attention to the play).. so I knew it was time to take my winnings and split before I started to gamble. Another rule for playing I have is, If I’m in need of blowing off some steam then I should leave the table.. and that’s exactly what I did..

Waking up on Sunday I realized how badly it’s going to hit me to wake up on Monday morning and not go into work.. It was beautiful out.. so why not stay another night? We went to the pool for a bit and walked over to the Luxor and decided I’d play in their 4pm $55 tournament with my winnings from Saturday. I know the starting chips are bad, the play is bad, and the overall structure is just terrible.. but whatever, I want to play and I’m freerolling. Now.. when I say the play is bad.. I mean this is seriously like playing against a few monkey’s you just taught Tiddlywinks and then sat them at a poker table. Due to the fact that they have a horrible poker “area roped off on the casino floor” they could only allow 20 players and 5 alternates. Well, I played my game and ended up chopping for 1st for $450. That totally worked for me.. I could definitely use that money towards April’s rent. That was the extent of my poker on the trip. I tried to play smart and sober and if that meant I only sat on those 2 occasions.. then fine. I’m not about to play if my head isn’t into it.

After returning back to LA.. I needed to get serious about getting my unemployment claim in to the system. I discovered this article in the LA Times from February 22nd. The article says, “You can apply on the phone, but those lines are so tied up these days that it would be easier to get through to a radio contest.” Now, I’m one of the “small percentage of laid off workers” who can’t apply online. I have to call because I worked in FL 18 months ago. I had no choice but to get my claim in online because it was the only way I could get myself set up in the system so they will at least call me to review my info. It’s definitely tough getting myself set up and I’m doing everything I can right now to work on freelance, sell handmade jewelry on Etsy, and play poker to get me through to the next month. So afraid my buffer will run out…

Hope everyone’s March is treating them well so far. It rained today but I still made it out for a nice walk and enjoyed the dark clouds hanging over the beautiful San Fernando Valley.

Cheers.

Unemployed and Play Poker

This is seeming a little strange.. I am approaching my 29th birthday and I find myself unemployed… again. It seems like a dream.. like it’s just a long weekend. I had planned a Vegas trip for this weekend so it just seems like an extra day off was tacked on.. Well, yesterday while I was eating my salad at my computer.. in my dark corner of an office.. I was approached and asked to come to a meeting. I knew it. I sort of knew it was coming with all the lay offs and my lack of seniority at this company. The moment they say the words though, it is real. Another victim of our terrible economy.

Without a severance.. I start to panic. I am shaking and nervous.. How am I going to do this? There’s always unemployment but they are so backed up I haven’t been able to get my claim in yet. That’s scary. I have a bit of a buffer to get me through for awhile and support from my family. I’m not too worried.. yet.

Today I enjoyed a nice day outside.. it’s beautiful in LA. Sunny and 70. Can’t argue with that. I’m inspired to be creative again and work on my own projects, which is great.. I always have potential freelance.. because honestly, a full time job is not something I’m looking to rush into. I’d like to find alternate ways to support myself. Which leads me to poker.

i am playing poker again. I recently came back to the game after taking 2 months off to regroup and study after a bad end of 2008. Things have been going well so far.. so now I’m about to take another stab at poker as a way to support myself.. and my cats. We’ll see how this goes. I’m keeping track and managing my money very carefully. This worked out well for me at this time last year. I didn’t even want this job (I was just laid off from) when it was offered to me last April. I wanted to continue freelancing and playing poker. Maybe it’s the mindset of supporting myself with poker that makes me play smarter and more focused. Well we’ll see how it goes. I plan to blog my journey here often.. (I mean what else have I got to do, right? ha!). I am also on twitter and posting regularly.

Please follow me on twitter if you find that a crazy unemployed cat lady playing poker for a living something that’s interesting to read.
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Cheers..