The Crazy Woman On My Left

The December Tournament of Champions was rolling along quite nicely when I ran into the person I refer to as "the crazy woman on my left". OMG. Nuts, I'm telling you. She was limping into any pot if she had any face card. It didn't matter what her other card was. She was so lucky it was sickening. She won with K-5 offsuit twice in a row. I knew she was getting lucky. I knew she had me out-chipped. Nonetheless, I decided to play a pot with her. Oops.

I had A-K suited (diamonds) with blinds of 50-100. I raised to 250 UNDER THE GUN and the crazy woman called. I was not happy that she called, but oh well. There were a total of six players in the pot before the flop. Apparently, no one believes me when I raise under the gun.

The flop was K-3-8 with 2 diamonds. Excellent flop for me with top pair (top kicker) and 4 to the nut flush. The pot had approximately 1500 in it so I bet 1200 right away deciding not to slow play. The crazy woman called and everyone else folded, which was nice, but I still had crazy woman to contend with.

The turn brought the 4 of clubs. No harm no foul - at least that's what I thought. I decided to check and see what crazy woman would do. She pushes out a HUGE stack of chips that put me all-in. Good grief. Even though I said out loud, "You probably called my pre-flop raise with K-3 offsuit," I decided I was pot committed and went all-in. OMG. I almost called her hand perfectly. She had K-4 offsuit and had hit 2 pair on the turn. I was just amazed. However, I could still hit another K or ace or any diamond and it was still possible for me to get a bigger 2 pair. No such luck. Another stupid 4 hit the river and she knocked me out of the TOC with a full house.

God save me from mad dogs, Englishmen and crazy women on my left. I had to vent.

Trouble With Traps

My downfall in two recent tournaments was not being able to see a trap. Both times, the players limped into a multi-way pot with pocket aces and trapped me good when I flopped top pair with top kicker. I think these traps were difficult for me to see because I personally would not limp with aces in that situation and I do not understand how other players can do so. In both of these instances, it worked out for them, but in the long run, why would you want to pit your aces against more than one or two opponents?

I guess I should be happy that they play that way because eventually it will come back to bite them in the you-know-what. I cannot say that I have never limped with aces, but the situation has to be perfect. Just the other night I had them on the button and it was just me and the two blinds, so that wasn't so bad. Even then there was a flop of 10-10-4 and it scared me that one of the blinds might have a 10, which luckily they didn't and I did win the pot, but it wasn't very big. Oh, well. As Stu Unger used to say, with aces it's always better to win a small pot than lose a big one.

Wasting a Vacation Day

I played (if you want to call it that) in the senior's tournament at the Fall Poker Round-Up in Pendleton on Tuesday. I used a vacation day for this and truly wish I hadn't wasted my time. I played a grand total of four hands. I won with A-K (did not see a flop after my raise) and won with pocket 3s (flopped a set; I bet on the turn and everyone folded).

I had KK in the big blind with SIX pre-flop limpers so I raised to 300 with blinds being 25-50. I thought this was a pretty good raise and I was right because I got everybody out except one guy who reraised to 1125. I just shoved it all in. The guy had the only hand I didn't want to see (AA) and was just waiting around for me to do exactly what I did. It wouldn't have made any difference if the raise was before or after the flop because with a queen high flop, all the money was getting in anyway. Naturally, I lost and was down to 950 in chips. This was only because I won the two previously mentioned hands.

My last fiasco (and totally my fault) was calling in the small blind with Q8 offsuit (nobody raised). The flop was 2-2-3. Nobody bet. The turn was an 8 so I had two pair with a queen kicker. I went all in again. The same guy that had limped/trapped me with AA now called me with 10-10, which he also didn't bother to raise with before the flop. If he had raised I never would have called with Q8. I was gone. I didn't even have any luck with my $20 slot machine investment. Phooey!!

The only good thing about my vacation time was that I took a total of two days off and got back on the horse to take 4th place in the Wednesday morning tournament at the Moose for a small win. It made me feel better though!

Good and Bad

I played in the Tournament of Champions on Sunday at the Cable Bridge. I was going along smoothly with 6100 in chips after the first break and blinds of 200-400. My first mistake was to raise to 1400 in early/middle position with AJ offsuit, which I could have easily folded or limped in with. A guy on the button went all in for a total of 3400. I thought he might be making a "button raise" because he was pretty active on the button. My second mistake was calling him. He had pocket kings and they held up. Just like that, I was down to 2700 in chips and after the blinds I only had 2100.

My next (and fatal) mistake was not having enough patience to wait for a better hand that A3 offsuit to go all-in with about 2 hands later. I got called by - you guessed it - pocket kings. They held up again and I was toast. I was so irritated with myself that I went home and ate a big bowl of ice cream with tons of chocolate sauce to make myself feel better.

However, it is hard to keep me down for very long and I decided to pick myself up, dust myself off and get back on the horse right away. I went back and played the little $15 tournament at 7:00 and I won it! I must pat myself on the back for this because it was seriously tough to win this tournament. At one point, with the blinds at 3,000-6,000 I was all-in with KQ hearts and it held up. There were still 6 players left at that point and I had no chips to speak of. When there were 3 players left I had only 21,000 chips and the other 2 guys had the other 83,000 chips. Yours truly took them down - yippee!!

I feel much better now - and I get to play in another Tournament of Champions in December! :)

Thoughts on Local Limit Poker

It appears that the days of the 3-6 or 4-8 game have gone the way of the dodo in the Tri-Cities. The Crazy Moose and Cable Bridge both have Wildhorse Casino Fall Poker Round-Up promotions going that require playing in 2-8, 2-20 or 2-40 spread limit games.

In the beginning I felt that this was a terrible thing. There are many poker players (including myself) who mainly play for fun and do not have a large bank roll. I know of at least one player that I used to see at the Crazy Moose all the time who just doesn't play there any more and the cheapest game he can find now is the 2-8 spread limit game at the Cable Bridge (if they ever get one going at that low limit) or the 2-10 spread limit game at Jokers in Richland. I feel for him.

On the other hand, I personally feel that playing in a 2-20 or 2-40 game makes me a better player. I become more patient. I make better hand selections. I am definitely loath to chase crap. I just barely qualified for the Crazy Moose promotion because I simply do not play cash games any more unless I win enough in tournaments to justify it. While qualifying and playing only 2-20 spread limit, I made a profit of over $200 during those 30 hours. So for me it will truly be a free roll. Wish me luck!

Maybe after these promotions the 3-6 or 4-8 games will return. I hope so simply because I miss seeing a lot of people that used to play those limits.

Rockets and Weirdness

Sunday morning at the Crazy Moose I was playing in the $60 tournament and was having continuous bad luck. I was pretty short stacked with about 2400 left and the blinds at 300-600. Scott (seat 6) raised to 1800 from middle position. I was in seat 8. Our seat numbers are important in my story of the 2nd tournament (below). Anyway, I looked down to find the black aces. Ta da! Yippee!! I reraised all-in, everyone else folded, and Scott called. He was pretty short stacked too and only had me covered by about 500 chips. He had A-10 diamonds. Ta da! Yippee!! He got runner-runner straight cards and knocked me out. Boo hoo. Cry. Sob. Damned A-10 diamonds.

That same night at the Cable Bridge I was playing the little $15 tournment. On the very first hand Bob (seat 6) raised the 25-25 blinds to 100. Me (yes, seat 8) found black aces. I was still upset about the morning fiasco and could have almost folded them, but being a prudent player (ha) I raised to 500. Everyone folded, Bob only called. The flop was 8-A-3 with 2 diamonds. Bob immediately pushed all-in and I immediately called. He had - you get one guess - the A-10 diamonds. Gak!! Even though I had flopped a set of aces I was not happy at all because he was four flushed and I just knew he would hit it. I tried mightily to suppress my apprehension and got very lucky. He hit nothing and I doubled up on the very first hand!! Ta da! Yippee!!

This double-up and some other lucky hands (and good play if I do say so myself) got me to the final table and I will get to play in another tournament of champions. I just can't get over all the similarities of these two hands . . . it's like being in the Twilight Zone. Then I read the post by my buddy Dr. Phil about his fun with A-10 and I'm beginning to think that this will be the hand of the month or something. Too strange.

FRUSTRATION!!

I am really getting tired of it. The last three tournaments I played in I got knocked out holding pocket kings, pocket queens and pocket aces, respectively. Good grief. Naturally I had the best hand all three times.

I just do not understand it. As an example of how all these hands were played, I will describe last night. I had just won a hand with pocket kings (miracle of miracles) and was immediately dealt pocket aces right afterward. I was still short on chips and decided I was going all in with it.

A young guy I had never played with before raised to 150 UNDER THE GUN. I figured he must have a pretty darned good hand to raise in that position. Nonetheless, I was unafraid. I reraised to 600. Everyone folded and he insta-called. The flop was 9-10-10. I knew he could have a ten in his hand (especially after he checked) but I just couldn't believe it. I made the mistake of putting the way I would have played on him. I would have folded everything with a ten except pocket 10s to a 450 reraise. I pushed. He called. He had (believe it or not) the Q-10 of diamonds.

How oh how do I win against idiots like this? Under the gun with a Q-10 . . . insta-calling with a Q-10 and beating my aces with it. Yuck!!! This is sick.

If Only . . .

The Tournament of Champions was held at the Cable Bridge last Sunday. I was defending champ. I almost made it to another final table and possible championship, going out 12th.

If only . . . I had made that call with A-K. I had about 21,000 in chips with 16 players left at 2 tables. One guy went all-in for 7,500 and the guy right next to him insta-called for 2,500. I looked down at A-K offsuit. I went into the tank. I immediately put the 2,500 chip guy on a pretty good-sized pocket pair. I thought the first guy might actually have the same hand as me or maybe A-Q because he had actually gone all-in earlier with an A-10 which is pretty weak. I finally decided that one of these guys might knock the other out and why should I get involved for one-third of my chips? The dealer saw what I threw away and I think he almost had heart failure.

I was backwards on the hands. The first guy had pocket jacks and the second guy only had K-9 of clubs. At that point however, I still believed it was a good laydown. Naturally, there was an ace on the flop and another one on the turn and I would have absolutely crushed both players and had another 10,000 plus the blinds and chips from the previous limpers. No one could believe I folded A-K until the dealer confirmed it. I just don't know. Even in hindsight I still think I was right to do so.

If only . . . I hadn't fallen in love with my pocket sevens. I raised before the flop. One guy called me. The flop was 10-5-9 rainbow and it didn't really scare me too much until the guy went all-in. I had him covered, but I definitely didn't think about this one long enough and I did call him. If he had an overpair to the board I was in big trouble and he did - pocket jacks. The turn was an 8, so then I was hoping he would hit his jack for a set or a 6 would come and give me a straight, but it was not to be. I really got crippled on this hand with only 12 players left and it was just plain stupid.

If only . . . I had waited. After the break with the blinds 500-1000 I only had 6,000 left. I was at the point where I had to go all-in or fold - nothing else. In the small blind I had K-5 diamonds and called. The flop had 4 diamonds and gave me a gutshot straight if I hit a jack. I pushed it all in the middle. The guy that had taken most of my chips when I had 7s earlier already had the low end of the straight. Even though it was one-third of his chips he called me anyway and his hand held up and I was out. I did not even need to put money in the pot with K-5 at that point because I had many more hands to look at before the blinds came my way again.

If only . . . I weren't my own worst enemy. I guess I'll just have to take the tournament next month. :)

Slow Playing and Fast Playing - Both to the Death!

My lack of luck and/or skill over the last couple of weeks finally got me pretty annoyed at the Cable Bridge tournament last night.

My first mistake (but not last) was limping in with a pair of threes on the button. Then on a board of 3-4-5 I got really stupid and decided to slow play them (with possible straight on board), just calling the player to my immediate left. He bet again on the turn (200) which was an 8. I raised to 600. He just called. I threw 1,000 out on the river and he called me with pocket 8s for a bigger set. OUCH! Thank God I didn't go all in on the river.

I only had about 900 left after the slow play fiasco and just waited patiently for a good hand that I could fast play. I looked down on the button (of all places) and had 2 black queens and went all-in. Got called by Val with A-K. He flopped 2 pair and rivered a full house. It was home for me. The only good thing about either of my opponents beating me was that they probably would have done so in any case. The first guy wasn't going anywhere if I pushed harder on the flop because he had an overpair to the board. I do not think Val would have gone anywhere either even if I had more chips before the flop.

I guess it's OK when you can make mistakes and analyze them too! Ha! I just hope my luck or skill gets a teeny bit better before my defense of the Tournament of Champions on Sunday.

Not Much Happening Lately

I haven't had much luck making the money lately, although I am still at the final table quite a bit and you can't win if you don't make the final table, so at least I am getting the chance.

Last Thursday at the Cable Bridge, my chips just mysteriously disappeared - :) I had over 6,000 and then I was down to about 2,000 and out early. I do believe I got over-zealous and played way too many pots that I did not need to get involved in. Phooey.

The only cash I had last weekend was 4th place at the Cable Bridge on Sunday night and my profit was only $15. They usually only pay 3 spots and the final few players decided that they should all get paid, and the payouts were larger than normal, so it all worked out. I guess money is money, right? The thing I liked most about the final table was that there were SIX women at it and only four guys. Nice to see so many women playing poker.

A Couple of Good Wins (And Fun Too)

I split first place with "old" Joe in the Saturday morning 8:00 tournament at the Crazy Moose last weekend. I played a basic solid game for the entire tournament except for one time when I got really stupid (and extremely lucky) trying to steal Triple Gutter's big blind. I was on the button so I figured it was worth a try. The blinds were 300-600 so I made it 1500 to go. My mistake was that Gary was all-in for 200 in the small blind and I did not realize it. This is what I get for not paying attention. Then Niles went all-in for 1800. I was pot committed. I called. Yes, I had 7-2 offsuit. Oh, my God. Anyway, the dealer flopped me a seven and it held up and I knocked out two players with my favorite garbage hand. Life is good.

I also took a solid fourth place in the Saturday afternoon tournament at the Cable Bridge. I believe I would have finished higher except the chip leader (Dante) was totally on fire and catching everything. He made a normal raise before the flop. I re-raised with pocket nines and he put me all in. I insta-called because I just knew I had him beat and I was right - he had pocket fours. However, as he was totally on fire he spiked a four right in the door and that was it for me. Oh, well. I love going all-in with the best hand. It's all you can really do.

Rookie Mistakes

Sometimes I do not know where my brain has gone. A couple of examples -

(1) In the deep stack tournament last Tuesday at The Island I was one of the last 18 players and had just chipped up nicely with pocket rockets when I got stuck with K-3 clubs in the big blind. There was a king on the flop and I bet out. A guy who had me covered re-raised me and I made the donkey play of going all-in. Where was my brain? I do not know. Needless to say he had a bigger king (K-9) and I was gone. This was complete and total stupidity.

(2) In the Sunday $60 tournament at the Crazy Moose I went all-in (with plenty of chips left and it was a move I did not need to make) with pocket threes after a fairly tight player raised in front of me. He had pocket queens. Needless to say, the result was the same as #1 above. Complete and total stupidity.

It is a wonder that I win anything at all. Still, I did take a split of first place and a solid 4th place over the weekend. See other post.

I am playing the deep stack again tonight at The Island. I shall NOT make any rookie mistakes and I will take no prisoners!!

I Should Have Used The Stop 'n Go!!

The hands I had were ridiculous - I was short stacked and got QQ-JJ-JJ back-to-back-to back. I was gone from the tournament after the third pair and it is certainly because I played them badly. I was thinking about it after the fact and if I had simply called before the flop, I could have pushed after the flop and I simply know that I would still have been in the tournament.

Blinds were 200-400 and I only had 3400 left. Dante raised in middle position. I went all-in with my queens. The big chip stack called me and Dante put the rest of his chips in. I had Dante covered. He had A-9. Big stack had K-9 suited. The flop was 8-3-9. I don't remember the turn, but the river was an ace, so Dante hit two pair. I lost 1000 chips but was still in with 2400.

Very next hand . . . somebody raised and I went all-in again with my 2400 chips with J-J. I do not remember anything about this hand except that the flop was all under 10 and nobody beat me, so I was back up to about 4000.

Very next hand . . . Dante raised again. I pushed all-in again with J-J. This time he had A-K and hit his ace on the river . . . crap! Again, the flop was all small cards.

So, (thank you Phil) the moral of the story is maybe to see a whole lot more flops and push all-in afterward. I would not have won the first hand in any case, because Dante would have beaten me, but I still had chips and I'm positive I would have won the last two with the old stop 'n go. Something to think about.

A Taste of My Own Medicine

Last night was very annoying. I was playing in the $15 tournament at the Cable Bridge and was down to only 2,000 chips after the first break and the blinds were 200-400. I was so low in chips because on a previous hand my two pair of Ks and Js got beat by two bigger pair of Ks and Qs. Phooey! Anyway, I figured I was in all-in mode at this point.

I started the round on the button and did not find a suitable hand until my small blind. The guy in the cut-off spot made it 1,200 to go. I looked down to see pocket 9s. Was the guy in the cut-off spot making a move or did he have a hand? He did not look very comfortable. I went all-in for 800 more. Even though it was only 800 more to him, the additional 800 would have been about one-third of his remaining stack, so I really thought he might be able to fold.

He said, "Oh, you caught me. I have my favorite hand and was just making a move, but (here's my least favorite saying of all time) I have to call." He rolls over 5-2 spades, which I was very happy to see until he got a flush on the river. Ouch! Bye bye me. I just walked away. What can I say when I will raise with 7-2? However, I can honestly say that if someone has come over the top for all their chips (pre-flop) and it is not more than one or two chips, I have folded 7-2 every time. I do not believe I have ever called an all-in with it except twice after the flop when I had two pair.

I guess this is another one of those things where you wonder how people can do it. Sick.

The Poker Player's Prayer to the Poker Gods

I found this on a t-shirt which I might order someday:

Our Game Which Art From Texas
Hold 'Em Be Thy Name

Thy Cards May Come, Thy Blinds Be Done
At Home Games As It Is In The Casinos

Give Us This Day Our Daily Outs
And Forgive Us Our Suck Outs
As We Forgive Those
Who Suck Out Against Us

And Lead Us Not Into Bad Calls
But Deliver Us From Bad Beats

For Thine Are The Chips
And The Cards And The Tables
For Ever And Ever

ALL IN

Never Go Broke With Ace Queen

Bad decision = unnecessary knockout. I made it to the final table again in the deep stack tournament at The Island. I was also the first one knocked out. Boo.

I had pocket cards of A-Q offsuit. Blinds were 3000-6000. I raised in early position to 18,000. The chip leader went all-in and had everyone at the table covered. When it was my turn again, I hardly hesitated before going all-in myself. The main reason I did so was because I had seen him bullying the table most of the night and going all-in with very marginal hands, such as Q-J offsuit and K-10, rightly using his chip stack, but still risking a lot. With my usual luck, he actually had a good hand this time (A-K) and it held up and I was out.

The other reason I called was because after my raise I only had 9.5 times the big blind left. Still, I should have folded A-Q in this spot and I think my plethora of readers will agree with me.

Oh, those darned decisions . . . . !

I Am The Champion!

I am a happy happy girl! I took down the Tournament of Champions yesterday at the Cable Bridge all by my little old self!! I do not play a lot of expensive tournaments, so I do not obviously make a living playing poker, but this was my biggest payout to date - $1220!! (My second biggest was a deepstack at the Crazy Moose for $900.) Not bad for a $30 buy-in.

I am even happier because I honestly feel that my decision-making process during this tournament was at a rare level. Early in the tournament, Gary raised to 3 times the big blind and another guy reraised to 1,000 right behind him. When I got to the button and found my pocket 10s, I stopped for a good 30 seconds to think about it instead of just pushing all-in. For various reasons (mainly the players involved) I ended up going all-in with the 10s. Gary folded and the other guy took a while to call (which made me feel better) and ended up calling with pocket 8s and I doubled up. There were several other instances during the tournament when I took longer than usual to think about things and eventually made the right play. I believe that I am getting much better with my decision-making based on position, players involved, hand selection, chip stack, etc., than I have been in the past.

At the final table, I was almost the shortest stack. I battled valiantly if I do say so myself and still only had about 24,000 chips when there were three players left. Gary (not the same Gary from above) had about 40,000 and Bob (there were about 6 Bobs in this tournament and I don't know his last name) had us both covered with an outrageous chip stack of 101,000!!

My lucky hand against Gary was A-4 offsuit. I had 20,000 left and just pushed all-in with it. He was down to about 30,000 at that point and called with A-Q. I spiked a four on the flop and it held up. Gary was crippled and went out shortly thereafter. When Bob and I went head's up, Bob had at least a three to one chip lead on me. Our important hand came after I had clawed my way to almost even. I held 9-6 offsuit and Bob had 6-2 offsuit. The flop came 4-5-6 and Bob pushed all-in with top pair and a straight draw. I thought about it and then called with top pair. He never got his straight and I was now chip leader!!

After a couple more small hands, I was dealt A-5 suited (clubs) and put Bob all-in. He called with K-J suited (spades) and my hand held up. I was the champion!! I was so totally excited and happy you wouldn't believe it. I never once imagined that I could overcome Bob's huge chip advantage, but I did it. I really believe in myself now. I received many nice congratulations and I am in 7th heaven for at least this week!! :)

Patting Myself on the Back

This is just a super little note basically to myself so that I do not forget this in the future. I have played (after tonight) 34 tournaments in the month of July. I am 44% in making it to the final table in those tournaments. When I make the final table, I make a profit 31% of the time. If this keeps up I might have to move to Lost Wages or something - ha! I will be playing a lot this weekend too just to keep cool because I live in an ancient apartment with an ancient air conditioner that does not keep up if it is over 90 degrees so I am spending a lot of time in poker rooms! It is supposed to be 106 tomorrow. Good god!

Another Deep Stack Victory (Sort Of)

After last Tuesday's deep stack victory at The Island, I played pretty crappy for a couple of low buy-in tournaments. I did last a long time in the deep stack at Joker's on the 25th, but made a bonehead play trying to get more chips and went out right before the money in 5th place. Stupid, stupid, stupid . . . .

I made up for it on Sunday, however, taking 2nd in the Cable Bridge deep stack tournament. There were only 2 tables, probably because it was "boat race weekend", but I still made a net profit of $600 so I was totally thrilled with that. I am off to try to make it two in a row at The Island tonight. Wish me luck!! :)

By the way, this will be my 31st tournament this month and there are still 3 days left after today. Good grief!! I am only making the money about 30% of the time, but the payouts are making it worth it.

Beating The Deep Stack Tournament

I am a happy girl! After only 5 tries (and making my money back last week) I split first place in the Tuesday night deep stack tournament at The Islands. I made a NET profit of $600 so I will be playing a long time on that kind of money - yippee!


I think I made a couple of guys mad while playing although I was quite nice and friendly to both of them at the time. I just don't think either one of them appreciated the way I played.


The first guy ran into my pocket aces on the button (I love aces on the button). Anyway, there were 2 limpers and Guy #1 raised to 300 (blinds were 100-200) in middle position. There was one caller and then I saw my aces on the button. Yippee! I reraised to 1,000 even. The 2 limpers folded and guy #1 stared at me for like 2 entire minutes and finally reraised me to 3,200. The one caller folded and the instant the action was back to me I simply said, "All in" and put my stack in the middle. It was early in the tournament and we started with 20,000 chips and I probably still had most of them, but I was not about to fool around and let him hit a set on me or something, so I just pushed. He looked super annoyed and folded almost immediately. He folded pocket jacks face up. I planned on folding face up also, but my cards flipped over in mid-air and landed face down.


Now, he was more annoyed. He wanted to see what I had. About three people at the table said (all at the same time), "She had aces". I never showed my hand, but they knew what I had. I did not confirm it. He was so annoyed. He kept saying he should have just called and seen a flop. A friend of his said, "What happens when you call and see a flop and the flop is 10 high? You lose all your chips." Guy #1 was miserable for about an hour, but he eventually got over it.


Guy #2 was drinking most of the night. At the first table he was to my right and I reraised him quite often (with what I thought was the best hand, not just because he was drinking) and I could tell he was getting annoyed with me, but he kept folding, so maybe he finally got the hint that he couldn't push me around, I don't know. Later at the final table, he kept getting slower and slower with his decision-making, which I am sure had something to do with the amount of alcohol he had consumed. He never got nasty or anything - just really super slow. I could tell that he was annoying others as well and not just me.

There was a hand I was not involved in that was making everyone crazy because he just would not make up his mind. I turned around and asked a guy that I knew who was watching whether or not I could call time if I wasn't in the hand. He said yes and I immediately turned around and said, "Dealer - time". Guy #2 just about came out of his chair and said, "What did I do? You are not even in the hand." I said (nicely I thought), "Sorry, but blinds keep going up and you are simply taking too much time with every decision." He said, "Wait until I get in a hand with you" and mucked his cards. I did not respond. He was involved in the next hand again and had time called on him again and after about 10 minutes he just went all-in and got busted. I firmly believe in not drinking alcohol when in a tournament. This probably would not have happened to the guy if he had not been drinking. He seemed like a nice fellow, but he was just so slow!!

Anyway, I ended up playing head's up with a nice young man named Nick and we traded chips back and forth for about 30 minutes and when it got to be 1:00 and we were pretty even, we decided to split it. I was tired but it was well worth it. Can't wait till next week!

Why Do People Do These Things?

Last Sunday at the Moose, I was making a terrific comeback from being all-in very early on because I lost too many chips with Ace-King (twice) and pocket nines. Anyway, I was back up to about 6,000 after the first break, which isn't too bad. My first hand after the break was pocket tens. I raised and was called by two players. The flop was A-Q-3 rainbow and when another player bet out, I just folded without even thinking about it. I was down to about 5,000 again.

The very next hand I had pocket tens again. Crazy. Two people limped in and "old" Joe on my immediate right raised to 1,500. The blinds were only 100-200 so this was just an insane raise. In hindsight (isn't it wonderful) I should have just pushed all-in and MAYBE he would have folded his stupid hand, but who knows. I decided to simply call and see the flop.

The flop was 9-9-3 rainbow. This flop did not scare me. Joe went insane again and bet 4,000 into this flop. Why did he do that? Do get me to fold my hand, of course because he only had about 1,500 left after that. I did not put Joe on A-9 or pocket 3s and I really didn't put him on pocket nines. Why would he bet so much with pocket nines (or pocket threes)? I decided to go all-in and I was right to do so. I like Joe but he is a complete and total idiot for calling my all-in, even if he only had 1,500 left. He had absolutely NOTHING except two over-cards. He had made the big raise and the stupid huge bet with Q-J diamonds. Insanity.

Naturally, he caught a jack on the RIVER and knocked me out of the tournament. I was simply furious. I said nothing and was very polite and left and then screamed in my car after I turned the radio up really loud. I just do not understand some people.

Pendleton Limit Tournament

I swear that l will soon be known as the "bubble" girl or the "almost bubble" girl. This limit tournament was held on Friday, July 17 at the summer poker round-up at Wildhorse Casino in Pendleton. There were 192 entries. They paid the final two tables - 18 places. Yours truly went out in 20th. Ouch!

However, there were many positives about this trip and finishing two out of the money is the only negative I can think of. Postives are: (1) I beat 90% of the field; (2) it was only my 2nd limit tournament ever and I made a great effort (and a great comeback after about 6 hours of play when severely short stacked); (3) I beat "triple gutter" - ha! (although he made a good showing himself, going out about 45th I think; (4) I had "Oklahoma Johnny Hale" as a table mate for most of the tournament and he was great fun to play with; (5) I enjoyed a very good Mexican dinner for free; and (6) I made a PROFIT of $250 on the slot machines playing only $20 to begin with so my entire trip netted me about $65 after tournament entry and gasoline. Not too bad. I had a great time and I'm looking forward to November!

Fifteen Tournaments in 13 Days

OK, I'm officially insane as you can tell by the title of this post. Yes, it is absolutely true. Some of those 13 days had two or three tournaments. The good part is that I have cashed in about 40% of them, which is what allows me to keep playing so darned many of the stupid things.

I have finally decided that I am my own worst enemy . . . it took me a while to figure that out didn't it? Anyway, I am going to try really hard not to blame anyone but myself for not cashing in a tournament from now on. I did take second place at the Moose on Sunday and played head's up with Frank (no longer "Woodstock") for about 20-30 minutes. That was fun. I will be playing in the 15th tournament tonight. I might play the deep stack tomorrow at The Island. Then there is the $30 with $500 added tournament on Thursday. I'm off to Pendleton for the limit tournament on Friday and MAYBE another no-limit tourney on Saturday. We will see how Friday goes.

I am bound and determined to make a final table in Pendleton . . . wish me lots of luck!!

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

The Good: Mostly, I am playing well and doing OK. I took 2nd place at the free ladies-only tournament at The Island last Thursday; 4th place at the 10:00 a.m. Crazy Moose tournment last Saturday; went out on the bubble (bummer) at Jokers on the same day; took 3rd place at the Cable Bridge on Sunday; and 2nd place (als0 at the Cable) on Monday.

The Bad #1: The Tournament of Champions (Cable Bridge) sucked. I got no traction and only outlasted 2 tables. I must have seen J-2 offsuit thirteen times in the first hour. GAK!!

The Ugly: My reading ability seems to have suddenly gone south and I made a TERRIBLE call during the Tuesday night deep stack tournament at the Island. There were about 4 limpers, so I raised to $250 in the small blind with A-K of spades. Blinds were 50-100. Everyone called, which didn't really surprise me because it was early. The flop was A-3-3 with 2 hearts. Everyone check to me and I bet $800 with top pair top kicker. Two folds - two calls.

The turn brought a 10 of diamonds. The two remaining guys checked to me again. I bet $3,000. One guy folded after a long thought process and the other guy called after another long thought process. (I found out later it was an Oscar-worthy performance.) The river brought the queen of diamonds and my remaining opponent IMMEDIATELY went all-in.

This stopped me dead in my tracks with shock and surprise. It was my turn for the long thought process. My first instinct told me that he was bluffing because he had moved all-in so fast. My next thought was that he had been on the nut heart draw with the king-jack of hearts and the queen of diamonds had given him a straight, but then I thought, "Would he really call $3,000 on this draw?" He might. Never once did I put him on a three. Even though I had won a few earlier pots and I would not go broke, I was only into this pot a little over $4,000 and I should NEVER have called under any circumstances unless I had the nuts. NEVER. I did call and he had quad threes. OUCH!!!!! I only had about $2,200 left after that fiasco.

I made a terrific comeback and lasted well over another hour after the dinner break, but eventually got knocked out by the same guy. This time he limped with pocket aces for God's sake. I had A-K with the ace of clubs. The flop was K-J-3 and I pushed all-in after it was checked to me. Pocket aces actually thought for a little while because he kept talking about how he thought I had K-J and had flopped 2 pair, but it was only $5,300 more to him and he had a monster chip stack and he called. I was amazed to see the rockets mainly because 99% of the time people do not limp with them. Anyway, I had hope with another club on the turn, but I got knocked out. It was a very disappointing performance on my part. At least I got the $65 dinner - :)

Being Unlucky is NOT Fun!

I had my great roll, so I suppose I'm due for a few crappy beats, but I still do not like it one little bit.

Sunday night I had about 3200 chips with the blinds at 100-200 and the break coming up in about 5 minutes. The blinds would then be 200-400, so I would only have about 8 times the big blind. I had taken a few smaller pots and had been playing well and folding a lot. I was on the button when I saw the pocket kings - one heart and one diamond. Yippee! There was already $1100 in the pot (300 blinds and 4 limpers @ 200 each). I did not want any of them who might have an ace to call me so I made a raise to 1000, which was almost one-third of my chips.

The small blind (and massive chip leader) did the scary double-raise thing, making it 2000 to go. Everyone folded back to me. I simply went all-in. It was the right move. My woman's intuition told me I had the best hand and I was right. He groaned quite loudly when he saw my kings and he turned over pocket queens - one spade and one club. However, his tune changed when he hit running spades and knocked me out with a flush on the river. Ouch! He said, "I was hoping you had A-K". I quite honestly told him that I would never put my tournament on the line with that piece of limburger. He was appropriately chastised. :) Anyway . . . so it goes.

Last night I was absolutely card dead for one entire hour and had only entered 2 pots, once with K-J and once with K-10, which were the best cards I had seen. I had to eject both hands immediately after crummy flops. I finally had my chance when there were again 4 or 5 limpers and I looked down to see A-8 in the small blind. I had only 1200 left and it went in the middle. Everyone folded except A-5 suited in hearts and, yes, you guessed it - running hearts and I was flushed again. Good grief.

My only consolation is that I was patient and played well and went all-in with the best hand both times. There's not much else I can do except get lucky "one time"!!

I Must Be Doing Something Right

I took 2nd last night at the Cable Bridge, which was good for $200 (only a $15 tournament, so not a bad profit). I only had $2700 coming back from the first break with blinds of 200-400. I got up to over 12,000 very quickly. I even knocked out 2 players while holding 2-2. Good grief. Then I made a bonehead move when I check-raised a guy with a paired board and I was holding the nut flush. He had a full house. OUCH!

After that fiasco I tightened up considerably and was almost out until I picked up the rockets in the big blind. I said, "Oh, darn" and called two all-ins and my hand held up - yeah!! I could have split with the eventual winner and picked up an extra $50, but I really like head's up practice and that's just the way it goes. As usual, I went in with the best hand (A-10 of spades) and got beat (8-7 offsuit). Oh well! :)

I Am Semi-Famous :)

I wrote an email to poker professional Susie Isaacs after reading her book "Queens Can Beat Kings". She actually wrote me back and now my email is on her blog. You should check it out. Her blog address is www.susieisaacs.blogspot.com. What a thrill! Right under it is a fun post she wrote about splitting prize money. Kids these days.

I was on such a roll, but I got sort of stupid on Tuesday. I decided to play one of those dumb free rolls they have at the Crazy Moose because you can qualify for a super satellite to play each and every tournament at the Fall Poker Roundup in Pendleton. Before the tournament, I did very well in the 3-6 game, earning $140 profit between 5:30 and 8:00. The tournament was the fiasco I thought it would be and I was out fairly early when my pocket 7s got beat by a set of 5s on the river. Ouch. None of this was too awful, but then instead of going home (as I knew I should have) I went over to the Cable Bridge to try the $2-$40 spread game for the first time at that establishment.

I played well but never really had a profit of more than $40 and I think I was a little under my initial $200 buy-in. I was just about ready to go home and decided to limp in with pocket twos. The flop was 9-3-2 with two hearts. Sweet. I was playing with Sam (young tattooed kid, very nice) and Frank (used to be "Woodstock" until the hair cut). I was first to act and I actually bet $7. Sam raised to $17. Frank re-raised to $37. Red flags should have gone up, but they didn't. I just knew I had the best hand. I put Sam on a flush draw and Frank on an over-pair. In hindsight this was wishful thinking on my part. All I did was call the re-raise.

The turn brought a blank. I checked. Sam checked. Frank bet $40. I raised to $80. Sam folded. Frank re-raised and by that time I only had $3 left and it all went in. He had a set of threes . . . cry . . . sob . . . moan . . . good-bye. I had fun though and I guess I really should have known he had a hand like this, but it surprises me that he was so aggressive with it after I re-raised him on the flop because I could easily have had a set of 9s. Oh, well. Better luck next time.

And The Hits Just Keep on Coming!

As you know, I was so tired on Sunday night that I should have stayed home. However, Monday turned out to be another good day. I played the little $15 Cable Bridge Tournament and yours truly now has a seat at the Tournament of Champions on July 5. That is the 4th of July weekend so I'm hoping for a semi-small turnout so I can crush them!! Ha! I chipped up very early in this one and was never in any real danger. It was kind of boring actually. Did I say that out loud! :)

Best Poker Weekend Ever - Part Five

I was SO tired on Sunday morning, but because I was already up thanks to my worthless yet loveable kitty cat, I went on down to the Crazy Moose for the 10:00 a.m. tournament anyway. I ended up splitting first 3 ways and took $390.

My favorite and luckiest hand was when "Triple Gutter" called my all-in with A-10 off. I had pocket nines. This was near the end of the tournament when only 6 of us were left. A ten hit on the flop . . . sob . . . cry . . . moan. A nine hit on the turn . . . jump up and down . . . do the wave! Yippee! He wasn't out, but he was crippled and he was gone on the very next hand. It was pretty easy from there.

Did I go home and take a nap? Hell, no. I had to do laundry (but not fold it) and go grocery shopping and make dinner, etc. My really wonderful poker weekend ended on the same note as it began - with a loss in the Cable Bridge 7:00 tournament. In hindsight, however, I never should have played this tournament because I was simply exhausted and I was not thinking very clearly and I played very badly as a result. I was home and sound asleep before 9:30.

Before ending, I must give a lot of credit to poker professional Susie Isaacs. I took many a day off in the past few weeks and some of that time was spent reading her book, "Queens Can Beat Kings". I learned the five "P"s of poker and really worked on them and I honestly think I play a better game now. Unless you read her book, these weapons (the 5 Ps) shall remain my little secret - ha!

All-in-all, I have to say that this weekend was my best ever. I sure wish life was perfect and would allow this type of poker weekend a little bit more often.

Best Poker Weekend Ever - Part Four

After I took $200 out of the free roll tournament, I decided to do something I hardly ever do any more - play in the cash game - because it was FREE. I played 3-6 for about 20 minutes and then discovered that the 2-40 spread limit game had become a 2-20 spread limit game, which I like better. I proceeded to play from about 9:30 p.m. until almost 3:00 a.m. Yawn! I was seated directly behind a very drunk guy and a guy who was annoyed by the very drunk guy who kept re-raising him, so I was pretty much able to play like a rock, which (go figure) allowed me a small $50 profit on the evening. On top of that, however, I got quad twos for $237 on the monte carlo board. Whee!!

As indicated, I went home very early in the morning and pretty much decided not to play the 10:00 a.m. Sunday tournament at the Moose because I like to have plenty of rest before playing. However, my stupid cat decided to pick that night to bug me and be mad at me for leaving her alone all day and she raced around my small apartment all night banging into the blinds and playing with her toys and I might have gotten 3-4 hours of sleep - maybe.

So, because I was sort of awake anyway, off to the Moose I went . . . TO BE CONTINUED . . .

Best Poker Weekend Ever - Part Three

I made it back to the Crazy Moose with only about 10 minutes to spare before the 40-person final of the $1,000 free roll. As expected, there were a lot of the regular players that I consider to be good players in the final, so I knew I would have my work cut out for me. I do not really remember anything too exciting about this tournament, other than the fact that I was very happy to make it to the final table with a very healthy chip stack.

We took a break right before the final table and when we returned, it was suggested that we all take $100 and call it good. I think there were two of us who declined. I was one of them. I gave this little short speech about how I knew it was free, but I still wanted to give it my best shot and if I got knocked out before the money, that was my choice. For some reason, I just didn't feel that $100 was enough for outlasting 55 people in the qualifier and another 30 in the final so I stuck to my guns. I think a couple of people were annoyed by this, but oh well. I was not the only player who felt this way, but I was definitely in the minority.

We played for about another 30-45 minutes after the break and were down to five players with pretty even chip stacks when the suggestion was made to take $200 each. We all agreed to that, mainly because the blinds were soon to be 10,000 and 20,000 and it was just getting to the point where you had to go all-in and take your chances, no matter what your chip stack was. So, we took a 5-way split. Not bad money for a freebie! TO BE CONTINUED . . .

Best Poker Weekend Ever - Part Two

I left the Crazy Moose and drove to Richland to play in the 12:30 p.m. deep stack tournament at Joker's. This was definitely the best that I have ever played in this tournament to date and I was absolutely crushing people left and right in the beginning. At the end of 2 hours I had almost 80,000 in chips. That was the good news. At the end of 3 hours, I had hardly any chips. I do not believe that the loss of chips was due to any terrible play on my part however, just bad luck. I also had amazing good luck later as you will see!

I made a terrific comeback in this tournament. With the blinds at 3000 and 6000, I was down to my last 8000 in chips, 6000 of which were in the blind already. I went all-in after looking at only one of my cards, which turned out to be my favorite card, the ace of spades. As in the earlier tournament at the Moose, I had about six callers, so there was about 45,000 in chips in the main pot. At the end, I turned over my ace of spades and was amazed and delighted to find the ace of diamonds right next to it! Wow! I was even more amazed and delighted to win the pot! Yessir, it's hard to keep this old girl down.

Shortly thereafter, we were down to 4 players and one of them went all in for just about all of my chips. Again, I looked down and saw pocket aces. Unbelieveable. Naturally, I called. My face dropped and the other player jumped out of his chair when a king hit the turn. My face got supremely excited and he walked away when an ace hit the river. I had such luck in this tournament - you wouldn't believe it. I had pocket aces twice and they held up both times when I desperately and absolutely needed them too. I had pocket kings SIX times and never lost with them. I was a total luck box in this tournament.

Not to pat myself on the back too much or anything, but I also think I played really well. Proof of this is the fact that I played head's up for nearly one full hour before ending up in second place. We battled so long because there was a tournament of champions seat on the line. I'm sure either one of us would have been happy to make a deal if that were not the case. The other guy (Terry somebody-or-other) simply got tired of trying to "felt" me I think because he called my final all-in with the 2-3 of diamonds and said, "It will probably take junk like this to win" and it held up when he caught a pair of twos and my ace-queen died on the vine.

I won $420 for second place. Even after deducting my buy-in and a $35 tip, I made $59 per hour. Not too shabby. The tournament lasted from 12:30 until almost 6:00, which was a new record for longest deep stack tournament at Joker's by over 30 minutes. Very cool. I decided that even though I was pretty worn out by this tournament, I would still go back to the Moose and play the 40-person final free roll. I barely had time to grab a bite at McDonald's and hit the road back to Pasco. TO BE CONTINUED . . .

Best Poker Weekend Ever - Part One

I guess taking a break is good. The first part of my best poker weekend ever did not encourage me to believe that anything had changed. I played the $25 Crazy Moose Saturday morning tournament, even though I said I would not play 10-minute blind round tournaments anymore. Bad girl. I did OK for a while, but ended up having to go all-in with pocket queens, which is not a problem, but Dusty called with A-K and spiked a king, so I was done.

As I was just about to leave, someone (I think it was Roland) asked me if I was going to play the free roll and I said I didn't really care for them. He said it was "customer appreciation day" and that there was a special free roll with prizes of $500 for first, $300 for second and $200 for third. There was a 10:00 flight and a 3:00 flight. The top 20 from each flight would come back to play a 40-person final at 7:00. I decided to try it. What the heck. I went grocery shopping and came back by 10:00.

Thus began my wonderful poker weekend, although I did not know it at the time because my tournament did not start out very well. I simply caught no cards at all and was down to only 600 fairly quickly. Yikes. Under the gun I stared at pocket rockets. 99% of the time I would raise with these little beauties, but I was desperate and so I limped in. I got SIX callers. Help!

Someone raised in late position and that put me all-in. I called and we still had five players to the flop. Unbelievably, my aces held up and I was off and running. I ended the flight as one of the top 20 with 7,000 in chips, which was about average. We carried our chips to the final table and the blinds would start at 100-200, so I felt very comfortable.

Now, my only problem was, what to do with time to kill from 11:50 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. Off to Joker's I went for the 12:30 $60 deep stack. TO BE CONTINUED . . .

Free Ladies Tournament

I played the free ladies only tournament at the Islands Casino last night for the second week in a row. I went out fairly early last week because I screwed up big time. Last week on the very first hand I limped in with A-3 clubs. That was my first mistake. I shouldn't have played a weak ace to begin with, suited or not. Then there were 2 clubs on the flop, giving me 4 to the flush, so I called the original bettor's $200 bet. That was OK. I got stupid on the turn when I ended up with 4 to the flush AND an open-ended straight draw, which if you know me, I knew I would never hit, but I decided to raise anyway, so I blew off another $600 chips. Then I got supremely stupid when the original bettor checked the river to me and I could have checked, but I hit none of my draws so I bet another $600 trying to get her off top pair. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Anyway, I went out shortly thereafter because I never saw any decent cards after that and ended up going all in with another A-3 that wasn't suited and got beat by a pair on the river. Ouch!

Last night was much better. I played very well and didn't make any stupid calls or raises. I even won with my pocket kings. Imagine that! No aces to be seen anywhere - a miracle! Even though I played well, I was down to 1200 chips with the blinds at 300-600 and a 100 ante, so I pushed all-in with 10-6 clubs. I got called by A-K. I hit 2 pair and I was right back in it. It ended up with three of us having pretty equal stacks and just passing our chips around for 15 minutes, so we decided to split three ways. It was only $83 each because there were only 25 players to start, so they only paid $125-75-50, but hey, it didn't cost anything, so that was fine with me. The other ladies were great fun and pretty poker savvy, so it was a good time. I'll have to do it again.

I Should Listen to my Woman's Intuition

I was thinking about a hand I was involved in during last Saturday's tournament at Joker's. I had K-10 offsuit and there were no raises before the flop. The blinds were 100-200. The flop was 7-2-10 with 2 hearts. I was first to act and had top pair with 2nd kicker. I bet 400 to see where I was at and I found out in a hurry exactly where I was at.

The next player (don't know his name) raised to 1200. Gary raised to 2400. Good grief! My little invisible poker demon whispered in my ear that someone had two pair and someone else had a set. My woman's intuition told me to call. I thought about this for a good 60 seconds and folded my hand, even though my intuition was screaming at me to call. AT THE TIME it was the correct fold because, as I found out later, player #1 had flopped a set of sevens and Gary had my favorite garbage hand in the blind (7-2) and had flopped two pair.

Anyway, player #1 called Gary's reraise. The turn was another 10. I sat placidly fuming, but at the same time I knew that if someone had a set of sevens they now had a full house. The turn was a king. Inside I almost jumped through the roof. Outside I sat fuming again. I absolutely could not believe this amazing runner-runner that would have won me a HUGE pot. It was very difficult for me to remember my favorite saying - if you're not folding winners, you're not playing right - because I was just really upset with myself for not listening to my intuition. Yikes!

Pro player and author Susie Isaacs says that woman's intuition is definitely worth listening too and I am beginning to believe her. This is NOT the first time by a long shot that this has happened to me. Oh well.

Taking A Short Break

This is just to let my plethora of readers know that I am taking a short break from poker to regroup as it were. I think two or three weeks should do it, so I should be back in the swing of things on June 15-20 or so. I am not bored with poker, but I really feel like I do need a break from it or I might begin to get REALLY annoyed with it. It's a long story and I will not bore you with it. I just want to let you know that I probably won't be writing anything for a little while. I wish you luck at the tables!!

Aces Make Me Crazy!!

What to do - what to do!! How does one play aces correctly? I will never begin to know the answer to that one. In Sunday morning's tournament at the Crazy Moose, I was enjoying a very nice chip lead of almost 11,000 (we start with 5,000) not even one hour into the tournament. I looked down and saw those pesky aces. Blinds were only 50-100 at this point. Mike raised to 300. I raised to 1,000 and got called by Diane and Mike. The flop was K-9-3 with the king and nine being diamonds. Normally, I would play pretty soft here trying to get some extra chips, but I did not like the 2 diamonds on the flop, especially when I had 2 callers and one of them could easily have A-Q of diamonds or some such thing. (Obviously, I did not have the ace of diamonds.)

Mike checked and yours truly got stupid and went all-in. Normally, this would not be a problem because most normal players and maybe even most abnormal players would fold because I had them covered, but, golly gee, would you fold a set of kings??? I think not. That's what Diane had. I knew it instantly too because she called so fast that I didn't even have time to think to myself, "Please be ace-king!!". Drat! Mike folded and I was stuck.

Luckily, I still had about 3,900 left after this fiasco, but on the other hand, I was never able to gain any traction after that and went out about halfway through the tournament. Phooey!!

I have been thinking about this particular case for awhile and I really don't think it would have ended up any other way, unless I slow played and another diamond came or another straight card and then I could have folded my aces without too much damage. (Yes, I am a player who can fold aces when necessary.) In hindsight, I guess I should have just made a bet and waited to see what Diane and Mike did.

How do you play aces? I just don't know. Most of the time, I think it's OK to push hard before the flop, which I did because I reraised the original raiser. Sometimes, such as when there is only one player left in an unraised pot, I think it's OK to limp and trap. I think there are about as many ways to play aces as there are players and that's just too many darned ways if you ask me - ha! Live and learn. That's what I love about poker more than anything else - thinking of new strategies.

An Experience at the Tournament of Champions

I've been thinking about a hand that was played at May's TOC at the Cable Bridge between myself and another woman. We had just started the tournament, so the blinds were still 25-50. I had J-7 suited in spades on the button and no one raised, so I just called. The small blind called and the big blind (the only other woman in the hand) checked. The flop was 4-6-10 with 2 spades. Small blind checked, big blind bet 100, 2 players folded and I called with 4 spades and one over-card.

The turn was a blank, I think it was a deuce, but don't remember. Small blind checked again and big blind bet 200. I called again. The river was the jack of diamonds, so I made top pair. She bet 300 this time. I felt very comfortable calling with top pair. Small blind folded. She turns over the 8-5 of spades and says, "I missed everything." I turned over my cards and took the pot. Almost immediately, she started getting nasty.

First, she says, "Geez, why couldn't I hit my straight or my flush?" I replied, "Your flush draw was no good. I had a higher flush draw." She replied, "Well, I had a straight draw and you didn't." So, I said, "Yes, you did, but it was an inside straight draw." Then she says, "Well, I guess I will just have to bet huge amounts to get you to quit drawing to crap." This annoyed me quite a bit, but also made me laugh a little because who had the crap here after all? I smiled and said sweetly, "You do what you have to do." She said (and not very kindly), "I WILL!!"

After that, it was a classic case of tilt on wheels. I could not believe it. She just fell apart before our very eyes. She played almost every hand just trying to make something happen and she was gone before the end of the second blind round. Good grief. I'm still shaking my head over this one. I have played with this woman on several occasions and I quite frankly don't understand her attitude, although I have seen her get slightly emotional before, but nothing like this. It makes me want to try even harder to never go on tilt. It's an amazing thing to watch.

I got knocked out of the tournament about 30 minutes later (with the best had as per usual) and she was playing Texas Shoot Out. I sat down next to her and said hi and made a couple of nice comments about her wins, but she virtually ignored me. I just went home. Sometimes, there's just no point in trying to be nice - you know??

Sort of a win

I played the Cable Bridge tournament Wednesday at 7:00 and had what I refer to as "sort of" a win - ha! I paid $33 to play and ended up with a total of $40. The other players decided to pay fifth play $30 and I knocked out 2 players for two $5 bounties.

I just know that I would have won the darned thing, but I got beat badly on two separate hands by A-8, which is my actual favorite hand, whether people believe it or not. They all seem to think it's 7-2. Can't figure out why. :) Anyhow, with about $12,000 in chips I raised to $3,000 with pocket queens and a guy went all-in for $4,000, so it was a "no brainer" to call him, right? Right! He had A-8 offsuit and caught an ace on the turn. Bummer. I still had $8,000 but the blinds were $500 and $1,000, so I wasn't too thrilled about it. After about six more hands, there were two minutes left before the blinds were going to go up again, so I pushed all-in with A-7 suited in hearts and got called by A-8 suited in clubs. He flopped A-8-3. Ouch!

I do believe I shall relegate A-8 to the bottom of the heap for awhile. 7-2 is looking better all the time!!

Home Game Tournament Fun

I've been sick for a couple of days (nothing serious) so will need to catch up with my posts in sections - ha!

Saturday was just way too much fun. I was invited to participate in a local home game tournament for the first time. This was held in the host's garage and was more "high tech" than I expected it to be. They had a computerized system with a timing clock just like in the casinos. Goodness. There were four tables of 8 players, lots of drink and snacks and a great prize pool. The cost was $65 for 10,000 chips with 30-minute blinds and 40-minute blinds at the final table. There was even a bracelet for the winner!! The host was the winner of the last tournament, but she went out about halfway through and joined the live game.

There were six people there that I had played with before, but the others were totally unknown to me, so I was happy to make it as far as I did. Everyone was very friendly and made everyone else feel right at home. There were designated player/dealers and everyone got to shuffle the previous deck when they were on the button, so there was always a deck in play without waiting. It was very well organized. Everyone at the final table got paid, with first place being $700+ and the coveted bracelet.

I played for many hours before going out on the bubble - gak! I did receive a prize, however, a nice little "anti-stress therapy" gag gift. It is a tin plate that you can bang your head against until you are unconscious or you forget the reason for your stress - ha! I really enjoyed this experience and hope to participate in many more.

Slowing Down a Little

Well, the old win rate is down to 36% right now, but it's interesting to note that the four tournaments I have cashed in since April 13 have all been FIRST PLACE cashes. I split first place with "Old Joe" at the Crazy Moose this past Saturday, so I consider that to be a first place cash, even though Joe actually had 2 more chips that I did. It was fun because he was down to one red chip and came back in about 3 hands to become the chip leader. A chip and a chair!! Also, it was two in a row for me on Saturdays at the Moose. Whahoo!!

Last night I played the $15 tournament at the Cable Bridge. There were 25 alternates and the pay-out probably would have been pretty good, but I never stayed around long enough to find out.

I started out very well, limping in with pocket eights on the button, catching a set and then a full house on the turn. The lady next to me went all-in with trip sevens and I busted her and had a nice chip stack. I won another hand with pocket eights after raising pre-flop and getting no callers.

Then I pushed with pocket tens and flopped an open-ended straight draw and became extremely stupid. First, I RARELY hit open-ended straight draws. Second, there were 2 other people in the pot. I bet with my open-ender. The first player went all-in for about 700 more and the next player went all-in, which would also put me all-in. I should have just folded, but I got greedy and I just knew that my stupid draw had to come in sooner or later. WRONG!! The second player had flopped a set of nines and actually got quads on the turn. OUCH!! End of night.

On a brighter note, even though I am determined not to play much live for a while, I got bored Saturday night and went back to the Crazy Moose. I'm glad I did because I hit quad threes for $499!! About one hour later a guy on the second table hit quad queens, also for $499. My timing was back to being atrocious, because I hit quad queens on my table TWO hands later!! Good grief. It was a good day, though, and I certainly can't complain!!

43% Win Rate Last Seven Tournaments

I'm continuing to be pretty lucky (skillful??). I won the $15 tournament at the Cable Bridge on April 13. I split first in the $30 tournament at the Cable Bridge on April 16 and I won the $40 tournament at the Crazy Moose on April 18. So, out of my last seven tournaments, I have won (or split first) three times for a total net profit of $689, which includes the $215 I blew in the limit hold 'em tournament in Pendleton.

The Pendleton tournament was fun, but I only lasted about 2 hours. I had some good chips early and then went card dead. They had some poker celebrities there and I had one named Bonnie Something-or-other at my table. I did not recognize her. She knocked me out so I got to "spin the wheel" for a prize. I chose a poker book entitled "Queens Can Beat Kings" by Suzie Isaacs who happened to be at the tournament and who was kind enough to autograph the book for me. I also got to meet Marsha Waggoner. All-in-all it was great fun.

Speaking of queens beating kings, I held queens on both Monday and Thursday last week and beat kings both times when I was all-in. I flopped a set and turned a full house each time. It was nuts. They were not kind to me last night, however. I had 17,000 in chips at the final table and was probably second in the chip stack department. One guy went all-in for only 3,000 and another guy raised to 9,000 all-in. I looked down to find two black queens, so I called both of them. Guy #1 flopped a flush and Guy #2 hit a king on the turn. Phooey. One more spade would have been nice!! Oh, well. I ended up out of the money.

I'm taking tonight off and will try again tomorrow. I haven't played the cash game for almost 2 weeks. I'm not really missing it right now.

Winning Ain't So Bad Either!

Last Monday (April 6) I placed 2nd in the $15 tournament at the Cable Bridge. Last night I won it. Yeah! I will tell you that I was what the poker community refers to as a "luck box". I was hitting cards on the river like crazy. For the first time in at least a month I actually hit an open-ended straight draw. I had K-10 with 8-9-J on the flop. The queen hit on the turn and I had the nuts!! Two people with tens called me and I ended up with a monster pot on that hand that took me all the way to the final table. It was an all-female head's up battle, but I finally put the other girl (Elsa?) all-in with my pocket sevens. (Everyone knows how I love sevens.) She was very short-stacked at that point and called with Q-5. She hit her five but that was all.

After this tournament, however, I am seriously beginning to wonder if I have any skill at all or if I'm just the luckiest woman on the planet. Who knows? It's fun anyway. Turning $15 into over $300 is always a good thing. Just like professional poker player Freddy Deeb, I shall start telling my family that I am an "investor". Ha!

Second Place Is Not So Bad!

I played one of those "cheapie" tournaments yesterday at the Cable Bridge - $15. I thought I was going to be gone early, as I was down to 375 under the gun and the blinds were 100-200. I looked at my cards to find 2-2 and pushed all-in. I got two callers. Flop was 6-8-6. They both checked. Turn was a 3. They both checked again. I was feeling pretty good about it. The river was a deuce! Full house for me! Yippee! They both checked again. One had K-J and the other had A-J and neither one of them had hit a darned thing and pocket twos were a monster without the boat on the end. That made me feel better.

A couple of hands later (small blind) I pushed all-in again with pocket threes and got no callers. Three hands after that I pushed all-in with a suited A-J and won the pot. Then I was off to the races as it were.

I must say that I had one "used-to-be-blonde" moment at the next to last table. I had 9-10 diamonds and for some strange reason decided to raise. Another player re-raised enough to put me all-in. I went crazy and called. I figured I had "ace busters" and for no apparent reason I fell in love with my hand. He had A-K diamonds. I prepared to leave. He hit nothing and I hit a nine on the turn to win the hand. I was SO lucky and he did have A-K - see comment on that sucky hand below. Another very lucky hand was when I pushed all-in with pocket fives only to be called by Larry with pocket nines and hit a five on the flop. He was not happy. I WAS!

I ended up taking second place for a profit (after buy-in and $10 tip) of $160. This is not bad for a $15 tournament. They paid $300-$200-$100 and we took $15 off first and second to pay 4th and 5th because the final table took over one hour (good players) and everyone agreed that it was fair. I didn't get home until 10:20 p.m. I could have split with the winner (Larry of pocket nines fame), but we agreed that neither one of us gets much practice with short-handed play or even head's up play because there's a lot of splitting going on, so we just played it out.

The last hand was his A-2 against my A-K.

A-K SUCKS!! I had fun anyway. I might even play the $11 one tonight!

The Worst Hand Loses - Go Figure!

I played the $11 cheapie tournament at the Cable Bridge last night and I'm here to tell you that the cost of the tournament means nothing to me. I still want to win! I still get frustrated when I see garbage for 30 minutes. I still get impatient when I have only 900 chips and the blinds are 100-200. Call me silly.

I looked down to see A-K suited in the big blind and went all-in with my last 900. I won that hand when nobody called and got an additional 300. The very next hand in the small blind I saw A-7 suited in diamonds and because there were four limpers in front of me, I went all-in again with my last 1200. I do not think this was a bad play. One guy folded and two guys called me, putting 3600 plus the 300 blinds in the pot.

When the flop came A-7-2 rainbow and I had flopped top two pair, I was very excited. I just knew I was going to double-up and be right in the fight. I guess I got cocky. One guy went all-in for his last 700 and the other guy called because he had plenty of chips and the pot odds were great.

Guy #1 had A-K, so he had top pair with top kicker. Guy #2 had pocket jacks and was in simply for the aforementioned pot odds. The turn was a blank and the river was a king. Sob. Moan. Groan. Two bigger pair than me. I'm gone. As indicated earlier, I didn't care if it was only an $11 buy-in. I was still thinking about the stupid hand this morning. Good grief.

I just wish that either one of these bozos had bothered to raise their very good hands instead of limping in. At this point, I can't say whether or not I would still have called, but with ace-little and one more round of the table to see other hands, I would like to think I would have folded. Who knows. Call me bummed.

Cheap Tournaments Part 2

My friend Dr. Phil brought up some good points about cheap tournaments, including the fact that quantity isn't as important as quality, and the fact that more players are apt to gamble in cheap tournaments.

I thought about his input for quite a while and came to the conclusion that he is right and he is wrong. I think one of the most important things about playing poker is learning to "read" all types of players. This includes the ones that don't know what they're doing, the ones that will gamble with anything because "it only cost $15", and the good players.

With no offense to Dr. Phil, I firmly believe that if we stick to only "quality" tournaments or higher buy-ins, we are missing a lot of important learning experiences. At the same time, I still believe he has some very valid points and his input will just make me all that more careful if I do play in "cheap" tournaments. Thanks, Phil!

Cheap Tournaments

I have discovered two super cheap tournaments at the Cable Bridge. One is on Mondays at 7:00 for $15 and the other is on Tuesdays at 7:00 for only $11. What a deal! Both tournaments start with 2,000 chips. Monday has 15-minute blinds and Tuesday has 10-minute blinds, which I absolutely HATE, so I probably won't participate in that one too often, but both tournaments have a $600 guarantee.

Last Monday's first place prize was $312, 2nd place was $200+ and 3rd was $112, which is almost 10 times the buy-in. This is not bad for a $15 tournament. If you take 3rd, deduct the buy-in and 10% tip, you can still make almost six times the buy-in - a fairly good investment. I went out before the final table, but I just got unlucky with the best hand.

I still like $15 tournaments better than free tournaments because even a little bit of an investment makes me play better - ha! I also like the fact that there are always one or two people at my table who have no clue what they are doing and sometimes I can get LOTS of chips from them. This happened to me three times last week. Anyway, I am on a super-cheap poker budget this year, as I want to save money for the Worlds Series of Poker and/or a poker cruise to Alaska next year, so these cheap tournaments might be the way to go! Any profit can be saved for my Las Vegas and/or Alaskan excursions. Wish me luck!!

Getting Back on Track

I played in 4 tournaments this past weekend and although I only cashed in one of them, I feel pretty good about my play.

Friday night at the Cable Bridge I made it to the final table only to be knocked out two before the money, holding AQ in the big blind. A guy raised on the button and I think it was perfectly fine to go all-in with AQ in my position with the shortest stack at the table. He could have been trying to steal the blinds. Unfortunately, he had KK. Oh, well. I suppose I could have laid it down, but I don't think anyone else would have played it any differently.

Saturday morning at the Crazy Moose, I went out on the bubble. Boo hoo. Again, however, I felt good about my play and really can't think of any big (or small) mistakes that I made. Sunday morning ($25 tournament) was a different story, however. I played mostly OK, but got unlucky and the blinds go up so fast (every 10 minutes) that it's just impossible if you don't catch some cards now and then. I raised once with AK suited under the gun and got SIX callers because everyone is trying to catch a big hand and get chips early because of the stupid 10-minute rounds. I think I'll quit playing those.

I stayed to play the 10:00 at the Moose on Sunday and ended up making a tiny profit, coming in fifth for $100. I had A-10 in the big blind and my situation was very similar to Friday night, having no chips and not seeing any cards. Unfortunately the monster chip leader had QQ and they held up.

I did have a fun hand earlier in the tournament. A player (don't know his name) raised to $400 under the gun when the blinds were only 25-50. I was in the big blind and already invested for 50. Two other players called before it got to me. I looked down and had pocket fives. Now, this isn't the best hand in the world and I'd already folded pocket twos and fours earlier in the tournament to large raises. However it was only 350 more for me to maybe win almost 1600 (with my 350 in there), so I said to myself, "What the heck. It's early and if I don't hit the five I can fold and still have tons of chips." I called.

The flop was 5-5-8. WOW! I was my usual stone-faced self and prayed that the original raiser would do something crazy, which he did. He went all-in (over 3,500 chips) and I really couldn't blame him with that board. Now I let out a sigh and picked up my cards and fiddled with them, hoping the other two players would think I was folding and maybe one of them would call too, but they obviously had nothing and it was up to me. I almost felt sorry for the guy, but his chips (and a few other nice hands) helped me make it to the final table, so I really didn't feel too bad. I flopped quads on another guy a couple of weeks ago and had the same result. Gotta love it! For only 350, I got over 5,000 in chips!

All-in-all it was fun weekend, even if not profitable at all. I was actually down about $65 with all the buy-ins and only one small win, but that's OK. I felt really good about the way I played all weekend. I just have to keep it up. I'm going to try a couple of small tournaments at the Cable this week. We'll see how it goes!

Back To Normal

Well, it couldn't last forever, could it? Last Friday, I played the $40 tournament at the Cable Bridge. I started out quite well, improving my starting stack of 3000 chips to well over 7000 chips in the first two rounds. Then I got stupid. I began the evening with very good cards and very good flops, not to mention a few good calls, but then my cards started getting ugly and I pushed too hard with very marginal hands. I knew it while I was doing it, which makes it doubly bad.

During the third round, I pushed too hard in early position with a weak ace (A8 off) and a lady went all-in with AQ, so I got beat on that one. The only thing in my defense was that she barely had any chips left, so it wasn't entirely terrible of me to call, but I also could have easily gotten away from it and didn't. Shortly thereafter, I made a bad call that must have been really bad because I've completely forgotten what it was. Trauma!! Anyway, pretty soon, I was down to my last 2000 chips and went all in with QJ suited. I flopped a straight and got healthy again and got stupid again on the very next hand.

I was in the small blind with Q6 off and five people in the pot. It was only 200 for me to call to win 2000, so I guess it wasn't a totally terrible call, but then I flopped the top pair (6) with Q kicker and that was the end of me. I went all-in and got called in two spots. One guy had A6, so my kicker killed me. The other lady, who was brand new to tournaments and had no clue what she was doing, simply called with an ace (A7) and hit her 7 on the river, which irritated A6 to no end. Anyway, that was the end of my Friday.

Saturday, I played the $40 tournament at the Crazy Moose. Very shortly into the tournament, I called a raise with pocket tens. The flop was Q-8-3 rainbow. Unless the original raiser specifically had AQ, QQ, 88 or 33, I didn't think I was in bad shape. He bet about one-half the pot and I called. The turn brought another queen. This is where I completely screwed up. I thought he couldn't possibly have a queen when there were two of them on the board. Wrong. He bet 700 and I called. The river was a blank. He bet 700 again. Again I called. At least I didn't do something really stupid. He had quad queens!! Good grief. I still had about half my chips, so it could have been much worse.

I soon won a small pot with A-10 and felt better. About three hands later, I raised in early position with AQ off. I got SIX callers. No one EVER believes me when I raise in early position. The flop was 9-10-J rainbow, so I flopped an open-ended straight draw and also thought I might be able to win with a queen or an ace. I decided to go for broke and went all-in. This play only got rid of three of my original callers, however and I never did hit anything. Phooey. An A-J beat me and I was gone.

Oh, well. Back to the drawing board.

This Can't Possibly Last

Wow. I don't have any clue what I'm doing right, or maybe it's all just sheer luck, but I have now cashed in five of my last six tournaments. That's an 83 percent winning percentage. Crazy! Four of the five have been 3-way splits of first place. The last one was a fifth place finish at the Cable Bridge and was only an actual net profit of $20, but it still counts. I was probably happier with this one than some of the others because I never play at the Cable and am not familiar with how everyone plays. It was terribly loud in there (Friday night) and I almost made one huge mistake because I couldn't hear and I thought a player was all-in when he wasn't and I turned my cards face up. As it was, all I got was a warning and I checked the flop and lost no more money, but I did lose a few unnecessary chips on that one. I would not have called an all-in with the cards I was holding with his chip stack because I would have been the one all-in. Oh, well. It worked out. At the Moose, I'm pretty sure my hand would have been called dead and I wouldn't have seen a flop at all. Ultimately, it is up to the player to know what is going on and I admit that it was totally my fault. Being aware of every action at all times is so important in poker. I wish more players realized that.

Naturally, after my winning ways, I was feeling frisky and wanted to play live, but first I went to do my laundry and left one-half of my money at home while I was at it so I wouldn't spend it. Good thing, too. My luck at live is simply atrocious lately and I really think I just need to stick to a $50 limit - for a while anyway.

Pet peeve: players who are annoying and dealers who do nothing about it. Case in point: last weekend I was playing in the 4-8 game and one of the players ALWAYS flung his chips onto the table so that most of the time one or two of them rolled away and/or splashed the pot. On the one hand, it turned out to be a little bit of a tell as to how hard he threw the chips when he did this, but on the other hand it was very annoying most of the time and it was commented on by other players on at least three occasions and the dealer(s) said nothing. Luckily, he went broke early. He was getting on my last poker nerve!

Lynne Loves Poker Even More After Last Weekend

Wow. I wish I was this lucky (or good?) all the time. For two weeks in a row, I split the Saturday tournament three ways and made a net profit (after buy-in and tip) of $260. I split it with Dan and Max. I did not have beer for breakfast this time - ha! I played a little 3-6 kill later in the day, but didn't do too much as I had the "big" Sunday tournament and wanted my head clear for that one.

Clear head - right? Not so much. I got talked into beer for breakfast again, but it was OK. I am defintely NOT going to make a habit of it, even though my $50 entry paid off big time. There were a total of 30 players. After nearly felting myself at $100-$200 blinds, I made a very nice comeback and never had less than $20,000 in chips after that. I was up to $36,000 at one point, but ended the tournament at about $22,000. When it was 2:10 p.m. there were 5 players left and before he looked at his cards, "Jimmer" indicated that he had a plan. He suggested that we split the $4,800 prize pool - $900 for each player and $300 for the dealers. There were two players (Jimmer and Norm) who wanted to play in the Cable Bridge tournament, so they were motivated to agree because they were already late! I had no problem with it, as I simply do not play in expensive tournaments. Thus, my biggest win so far was 2nd place last Labor Day of $600. We all quickly agreed to the split, so my new record is now $900! Not a bad profit for a $50 buy-in, eh? The 5 winners were me, Norm, Jimmer, Doctor Dave and Frank (formerly "Woodstock" - he cut his hair!!).

So, in two tournaments I made a profit of over $1,000. Maybe I should quit playing 3-6 and 4-8 altogether?? No, but I'm definitely going to cut way back on it.

Call Me Butter - I'm On A Roll

I forgot! I played a little live on Monday also, as I had no work. The Moose has progressive high hands all day on Mondays. They begin at $150 and $50 is added each hour until someone gets AAAQQ or better and it holds up for the remainder of the hour. The high hand was at $250 when I came in. Within 20 minutes I had 4444K and it held up! I then moved to the 4-8 table and about 30 minutes later had AAAAQ and it also held up for another $150. This was definitely my weekend! I hope this good luck continues through the $220 tournament on Sunday!

Beer for Breakfast

This is something I never ever do. I went to the Moose last Saturday for the 8:00 a.m. tournament. I like to go early and eat breakfast. When I walked in, T.J. and Bryan (two poker dealers) were sitting at a table drinking red beer. They said, "7 Dewey - Come have a beer for breakfast!" I declined at first, but they quickly talked me into it. I do like red beer, although I rarely drink anymore.

I enjoyed one and one-half glasses of red beer before the tournament and had breakfast with it (French toast), so I wasn't too terribly buzzed, but I was feeling OK! I proceeded to drink about two more red beers during the tournament because T.J. and Bryan were still buying and they kept refilling my glass - those bad boys! Anyway, I don't know if it was the beer relaxing me or what, but I did very well in the tournment. T.J., Hector (another dealer) and I ended up splitting 1st-2nd-3rd place money. There was no deal to give 4th place their money back because one of us (I forget who right now) took out two players at once, so it ended up just being us three! We each got $310 for a $40 buy-in. Sweet!

Then, (with one more beer) I went on to play the $25 tournament for an entry into the $220 Sunday tournament on February 22. I won that too! Yippee! The tournament will cost me $50 actually because I played last week also, but $50 is much better than $220, right? Right! Also, I feel really good about my head's up play. It was against Niles. When we got head's up, he had at least a 3 to 1 chip advantage on me. I chipped away at it until he had about 20,000 and I had about 14,000. He moved all-in with A-8 offsuit. I looked down to find A-Q clubs so I called and my hand held up. I then had a good chip lead on him. About 3 hands later I simply called with AA and he flopped an open-end straight draw and moved all-in. My aces held up and I won a seat! J.T. and Holly were outside smoking and told me later that Niles came storming out of the building in a huff, went to his car and burned rubber leaving the parking lot. Ho! The best hand held up - what did he expect?

Anyway, by that time, T.J. and Bryan had gone home, so no more free beer for me. I like to think I would have played the same way and/or had the same luck with or without the beer. I played a little live and also hit quad 10s for $184. It was a very good day.

I am the WORST player in the world!

Well, I really got stupid on Sunday at the Moose. I had just flopped quad queens to take a player out and was feeling really good right before I got super stupid. I raised with AJ offsuit and Gary (to my immediate left) raised another $1,000. I had a pretty good stack at that time, so I went ahead and called, even though (in hindsight) it was a BAD mistake. I could easily have folded and kept going with my good feelings and good chip stack. However, the $1,000 raise wasn't that much in relation to my original bet and I didn't feel he had a huge hand, probably AK or AQ. My second mistake was insisting that he still had AK or AQ even after the flop.

The flop was J-5-6, so I flopped top pair with top kicker and quite honestly I felt pretty good about it. However, I went ahead and checked it to see what Gary would do. He immediately pushed all-in. I mean, it was fast! That was another reason that I didn't put him on an over-pair. The quickness of his all-in led me to believe that he was planning to do it no matter what came on the flop. As my one witness (Hi Phil) will attest, I waited quite a while before calling. Gary had aces and I was screwed and down to only 1100 in chips. Ouch. I sure wish I'd had a pair of fives or sixes. Wouldn't that have been fun? Oh, yes.

Then my last stupid mistake was pushing all-in with AJ hearts after a raise. I could have folded that one too. AJ was not my hand on Sunday. I had another round of the table to look at and may have found a much better hand, but I think I let the big loss get to me even though I tried really hard not to let it bother me. Sometimes it's just impossible. I think maybe if I ever see another jack, I'll just fold it, no matter what the other card is. Ha!

Taking a break

I have simply got to quit playing live poker for awhile and concentrate on tournaments. I find myself having way too much fun (which is not a bad thing) and staying too long, getting tired and spending too much money (this is a bad thing). So, I am going to play ONLY tournaments until at least the end of March and see what happens. This should save me tons of money and give me some very good practice for Las Vegas this summer. Hopefully. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. If I don't play live, I will easily be able to save enough for some fun in LV or maybe a poker cruise to Alaska in August. That sounds like way too much fun, although it would be more exciting to have someone else that I knew go with me. I'll have to work on that. I'm going to keep records on my tournament play and see if I make any money. I never keep records which is another bad thing, but I'm one of those people who try and then get lazy. I'm going to try super hard this time. Wish me luck!

I'm Not Off to a Good Start

Boy, did I get stupid in Sunday's 10:00 tournament. I didn't play any hands at all for 20 minutes. Then, in the big blind I find A-Q off suit. The blinds are at 25-50 and three people limped in, so I made it 200 to go. Naturally, they all called me. This is probably because they all thought I had 7-2 or something. Oh, well. The flop was Q-6-3 rainbow. I felt pretty comfortable about my hand. As I was first to act, I went ahead and bet 300. One guy called me and the other two folded. The turn was a 2. I still wasn't concerned and bet out 600. The remaining player raised to 1500. Now, I didn't immediately get stupid. I thought about it for awhile, but I honestly couldn't put him on a straight. I just couldn't do it. He called 200 cold before the flop. How could he possibly have a 4-5? I thought at worst he had the same hand I did. He was in the middle of the table and not in the blinds, so why would he play something like 6-3, Q-6 or Q-3 or 4-5 with a 200 raise? I was totally convinced I had the best hand or at worst a tie. So then I got stupid and went all-in. He called immediately with his 4-5 of hearts and that was the end of my tournament. I couldn't believe it. I was actually stunned. It was the only hand that I had played and boy, did I play it badly. I feel better getting it off my chest, but I still feel extremely stupid. I tried to put him on a hand, but I just didn't see him calling 200 before the flop with a 4-5. Wow.

Another Resolution

After having blown a terribly stupid amount of money playing low limit on New Year's eve, I have decided to change my playing habits a bit. I am not going to play at all until January 10 at the earliest because I blew most of my budget for this pay period. I will only play the $40 tournament on that date and if I don't make money, I will not play again until January 17. I am only going to play tournaments and 10-20 for awhile. I will not play 10-20 until I build up at least a $400-500 buy-in from tournament wins only. I am really going to concentrate on bettering my tournament skills and not playing really super low limits for a couple of months. This is what I refer to as poker "tough love". I need to get my head straight and quit blowing so much money on low limit crap. Wish me luck!