Poker Blog

December 2006

December 24
I played in the 2001 Reunion 25k freeroll tournament on PokerStars last night and finished in third place out of 291 entries.

I built some chips up early on and then won a huge pot with AA against KK. My opponent had a lot of chips too and after winning that hand, I was first in chips. I won one other big pot when I raised and got one caller that had position on me. I flopped a set of tens on a board of QJT. I was certain that he had a piece of the flop, but thought he probably would have reraised preflop with AK. I checked to him, he bet, and I moved in. He called and showed AK for the nut straight. The turn and river were both threes and I secured my position.

When we got to two tables, I was the chip leader at my table and was having my way with my opponents. All of a sudden, I got moved and I was at the table with the big boys. There were seven players on my table and we were 1st-7th in chips. Two tables and all the big stacks at one table and all the short stacks at another. Wasn't exactly an ideal situation and to make it worse, they were really getting in there and mixing it up. Fortunately it didn't last long and we finally made it to one table.

The first few people on the final table got knocked out quickly and then five of us battled for a long time before the fifth place player was eliminated. The fourth place finisher didn't stick around for too long after that and then we had another long battle. On one hand, I took 77 against AQ and lost a huge portion of my chips. I struggled and struggled and fought my way back up to second in chips. Finally I was eliminated when I flopped top pair against my opponents overpair. After losing that hand, I lost the remaining chips in the big blind (I didn't even have enough to cover it).

I was pleasantly surprised to see that Chris Moneymaker came to the final table to root us in. It's been a long time since I have seen or played with him, so it was nice to be able to chat briefly. The five years I have played on PokerStars have been pleasurable and I look forward to many more.

December 23
I have been so busy preparing for the holidays that I haven't played much this week. I happened to play a little Omaha here and there, but that's as much as time allowed.

I plan on playing in the 2001 Reunion tournament on PokerStars later on today. The event is for players who have been with Stars from the beginning and it's a 25k freeroll. They are also offering money for their milestone hands again, so I might try and squeeze in some small limit Holdem hands and see if I can hit one of them. Other than that, I wont be playing until after Christmas. I don't even think that I will be playing in the Sunday Omaha tourney.

Have a Merry Christmas!

December 11
I obviously didn't win the Aston Martin or I would have updated my journal yesterday. The tournament was totally uneventful and I was eliminated fairly early.

Last night I played the weekly Omaha tournament. I was in my usual situation with not having many chips throughout the tournament. When the levels were high enough for me to only pick one hand to go with, I would make a move, win the pot and then it would start all over again. I hung around for awhile doing that and ended up getting knocked out in about 40th place (they paid 18).

I did not play in the last chance PokerStars Caribbean Adventure tournament yesterday. I had been really set on going to that tournament, but I talked to Steve a few days ago and he knocked some sense into me. There is really no need to go rush off and play a tournament when I am not ready for it. I didn't realize how long it would take for me to get back to my old self again. I have been working out five days a week for two months now and my strength is finally getting to where it used to be. Even though my strength is almost up to par, my body is not. Not only that, but I still look like hell. If anybody that knew what I had gone through this year saw me, they would think I look great all things considered. For the people who didn't know what I went through, they would think "what the hell happened to her?" and I don't want to deal with that. New target date January 25th. The Commerce's L.A. Poker Classic starts then.

December 9
I played in the $22 w/ rebuy NL tournament on PokerStars last night. Even though I didn't get close (107th out of 477), I was disappointed when I was eliminated because I really thought I had a chance.

During the rebuy period, I tripled up on one of the first hands when I took pocket fives against AK and Ax (x=rag). By the end of the rebuy period, I was in the top ten in chips. Right after the break, I won another really nice pot with pocket fives again. The blinds were $75-150 and I made a standard raise from middle to late position. The small blind reraised me a small amount and I called. The small blind had raised me a couple times and I folded previously. The flop was 232. He bet out and I moved in (it was only going to cost me 1/3 of my stack). He called and turned over pocket kings. The turn was the five giving me a set and I won a nice pot.

After sucking out and eliminating the guy with the pocket kings, I got my own fair share of being on the other side of them. I lost a pretty big pot with AT against J6 when the guy tried to make a move for my blind. I also lost with AJ against my opponents AJ when he made a flush. Those two hands combined with a hand where I took KK against AA was basically where I lost the tournament.

I love rebuy tournaments especially online. I love the fact that I can gamble it up in the early stages to try and accumulate chips. I also like the fact that there are so many chips in play that a lot of the time one hand won't cost you the tournament.

I will be playing in the Aston Martin Freeroll today and I will update on the tournament tomorrow. Hopefully I will be reporting that I have a new car.

December 3
It was a long day of poker and I ended up only breaking even. I started the day by winning a little, but then spent my profits playing a couple of the $200 Sunday tournaments.

I woke up before any of the tournaments I planned on playing in started, so I jumped on a $5-10 Razz game. Right at the beginning of my session, I played a hand with a guy who obviously hadn't had his cup of morning coffee yet. On fifth street, he four bet with AAJ showing against my 337. I don't think he realized that at best sixth street could make him a jack low. The one thing about Razz that I like is that sometimes the hands are so clear and the players will still give you their chips when they are coming from way behind. A short time later, a player named Lauren joined the game and said that she was wondering if she would make it into my "blog". We were making idle chatter when the "haven't had any coffee yet because I am still sleeping" made a comment about how the ladies were all sucking out on him. The whole thing was pretty amusing and Lauren had some quick comebacks for the guy.

I played a little more live action including some Omaha on PokerStars and then signed up for a 10k fpp PokerStars Caribbean Adventure tournament. There were about 250 entries and they were giving three seats away. I think I played my best NL tournament game of the year, but it still left me short of the seat. I was eliminated after getting my money in with the best of it, so that made feel a little better about losing.

I signed up for the $215 HORSE tournament and was doing really well for awhile. There was one Stud hand where I tried to steal from the guy with the bring-in and I ended up winning a nice pot when I backed into a flush. After winning that hand, I was fourth in chips and stayed there for another hour until I lost an Eight or Better hand. The first thing I learned about Stud Hi/Low tournament play was to play for low in the beginning of the tournaments and play for high towards the end (when you are low stacked). I went against what I knew and played KK in a situation that I shouldn't have. The hand cost me half of my chips and I didn't last too much longer.

Ten minutes later, I played the $215 Omaha event. After two hours of play, I had 2,516 in chips and we started with 2,500. I was eliminated just a short time after. As soon as I finished the tournament, Steve called and said "you suck". He was watching me for a bit and saw that a couple of my hands got butchered including the last one where I flopped top two pair and the turn card paired the bottom card which gave my opponent trips.

I might try and play a couple of the satellites for the Caribbean Adventure this week. I plan on going regardless if I win my seat or not, but it would be nice to win a seat instead of forking over the full buy-in.

December 2
I played in a $44 Razz tournament on PokerStars last night. It was typical of a Razz tourney and had a small field. There were 56 entries and I finished in first place!

As soon as the tournament started I was wishing that I hadn't signed up. I had so many things to do around the house, that I wasn't really "into playing". I ended up grabbing my laptop and logged off my desktop and started playing while I was cleaning. I did that for a bit and then finally sat down and started to get more serious.

I didn't have many chips throughout the tournament. When I made it to the final table, I was in seventh or eighth place, but I kept chipping away at my opponents. Before I knew it, I was at five and then three handed. The other two final players were a bit crazy and I thought if I just waited for decent hands, they would give me some chips. That is exactly what happened and I was ecstatic that I pulled off the win. I was a bit surprised by how many people were watching me. My aunt immediately called to say congrats. My mom chatted in the chat box and I had a couple friends rooting me in too. That's a lot of positive energy working for me.