Poker Games Journal

December 2007

December 31
I always get spoiled on Christmas and this year was no different. I got a lot of nice gifts from my family, but the one that stands out the most is 2 passes to Cedar Point amusement park and a $400 airfare voucher. I haven't decided what friend or family member I am going to take with me, but I am really looking forward to the trip.

My whole family goes to my Mom's house on Christmas and we have a gift exchange. I was really excited to give my cousin her gift because I spent a couple months preparing it. Months ago, I bought about 40 "sick and twisted" cards and postcards and I have been sending her about 5 a week. I didn't sign them or write anything. I only wrote her name and address on the card and then dropped them in the mail box. The cards were hilarious. One had a cartoon character holding some toilet paper and it said "I only wipe when it starts to itch" Another had a cartoon character with scratches on its head and it said "Don't put a cat on your head, it hurts real bad". My cousin is as twisted as I am and I knew she would get a kick out of them. She has been going crazy trying to figure out who sent them and always had a suspicion that it was me. I did things to throw her off my trail, like give five of them to a friend and had her mail them from her house for a week so it would have a different postmark. I also made sure that postcards got sent from my house on the days I was in NY. On Christmas day, I gave her present (some perfume and make-up she wanted) and on top of the tissue paper inside the box was another postcard that said "I keep goldfish in the bag until they die and then I buy another one" and on top of that there was a piece of paper that read "Always trust your gut." She got a kick out of the whole thing and is actually disappointed that the whole thing is going to stop. She said she looked forward to going to the mailbox to see if she got a card.

After our gift exchange, we played games which is always a treat. Fortunately, my family didn't want to play poker this year. Playing poker for no money and with a group of people who have no clue what they are doing is no fun for me. Instead we played Pictionary and Imaginiff. We all ended up hanging out until about 2am.

I have been playing a little Omaha this week and have even squeezed in a couple tournaments and sit n gos. I played two sit n go's (a $121 and a $225) and won both of them. One of my friends suggested that if I play NL, I should only play the sit n go's so I don't get bored. His idea made a lot of sense because about an hour into a lot of the NL events, I make bad decisions because I either want to get a whole bunch of chips or I just want to get out of the tournament. Even though what he said made sense and I agree with him for the most part, I have still played in a couple of NL tournaments this week. I have been trying to only play when I am in it for the long haul and I have played well in the tournaments I have chosen. I just need to consistently make better choices when playing.

I don't have huge plans for tonight, but I will be doing exactly what a want - going to dinner with a couple friends. Every year when I write in my journal on this day, I say the same thing "New Years Eve is not a big deal to me." and this year is no different. I won't be making all sorts of resolutions for tomorrow. I won't be thinking "Out with the old and in with the new." I will only be thinking, "I hope my friends, family, and of course myself have a HEALTHY and happy 2008."

December 21
I haven't been playing very much this week because I have been trying to get some shopping done. I played in a few tournaments on Sunday and ended up profiting a whole $120 when all was said and done.

I started the day out by playing in the $650 qualifier for the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. I was happy that PokerStars added another week of qualifiers because I didn't have very much time to try and win my seat. I played alright in the event, but I didn't get very far in the tournament.

After that PCA qualifier, I tried an Aussie Millions qualifier and didn't win my seat in that either. I made it a lot farther than I did in the PCA and I actually had a chance to cash (for my money back), but was still quite a ways away from actually winning the thing.

Since I bombed out of both NL events, I had to resort to what I know best, Omaha Hi/Low. I finished third in the tournament so I ended up winning for the day. I was a little disappointed that I could only get third though. There were two really critical hands at the final table that would have changed things around. On one hand, my opponent was getting out of line (which he did often) and ended up catching runner runner flush against my set of aces. The second to the last hand was brutal too because I flopped the nut low wrap draw and straight draw and no low card came. I had to fold on the river because I only had A6 high. I had a pitiful $236 left which made it really hard for me to comeback from.

Last night I went to the World Poker Tour (WPT) Holiday party with one of my friends. I had a good time and talked with a few people including Steve Lipscomb, but called it an early night after staying for a couple hours.

I still have some shopping to do and one more party to attend, so I still won't be playing much over the next couple of days. I might try and squeeze the Omaha or HORSE tournament in on Sunday though.

December 14
I had a great time in New York even though it wasn't the trip I expected. I booked the trip because I wanted to experience Christmas in New York, but it's almost impossible to get the warm holiday feeling in the overly crowded city.

During my stay, I went to a Cirque Du Soleil show called Wintuk which was absolutely amazing and was probably my favorite part of the whole trip. The show was about a boy's search for snow and at the end of the production, paper snowflakes fell from above. It wasn't just a sprinkle of paper snow, it was a blizzard of snow and it was impossible not to get caught up in it. When we left the show, it started to snow outside. Some of the other things we did included taking a rickshaw ride through Central Park, going on a Helicopter ride so we could see the city, did a little shopping, and went to the Radio City Music Hall's Christmas Spectacular. One of the highlights of the trip was when I got to meet Ice-T. I have always been a huge fan. He is the one guy besides Matt Damon that I would actually get star struck over and I did get like that. When I went up to take my picture with him, I could only mutter: "Hi".

When I returned I was happy to see that PokerStars added one more week to qualify for the Caribbean Poker Adventure. I haven't had a chance to play over the last couple of nights, but I plan on playing in the $650 event on Sunday. Hopefully I will win my seat and be on my way to Atlantis in a few weeks.

December 6
I am not sure if I will be updating my journal from New York so I figured I should write at least a little something before I go.

The Omaha tournament did not go very well the other night. For the most part I played well, but on one hand I didn't like my actions on the turn. Steve often gives me a hard time when I bet a mediocre hand and get called by my opponent and then check the turn. He says "oh, she is so scared because she got called." In this case, checking the turn probably cost me half the pot and that could have made all the difference in the event.

I thought about playing in the Omaha ring games after the tournament, but decided against it because there was a long board. I came home so I could take care of a few more things before I go to NY, but I ended up getting sidetracked. About six months ago, I bought the Wii and have enjoyed it when my friends and/or family come over. Recently I bought Dance Dance Revolution and I am hooked. If you don't see me playing online poker, it is probably because I am in my living room by myself just dancing it up. I even wake up and dance before I eat breakfast. As a matter of fact, typing about it right now makes me want to play some more. I am a sick individual.

December 5
Just a short entry because I wanted to mention the passing of Chip Reese. I hardly knew Chip, but I had the pleasure of playing with him this year at the WSOP and he was probably one of the nicest poker players I have ever played with. I am deeply saddened by his untimely death and my thoughts are with his family.

December 4
I didn't end up going to the Bike yesterday to play in the NL tournament. Just as I thought, I had too many things to take care of and just didn't want to push everything to the last minute so I could play in a No Limit tournament. I will be going tonight to the Omaha Hi/Low event and I am looking forward to it. Since I haven't played a tournament in awhile, I am pumped up to play.

I have still been playing in the Omaha games online and have been doing well. I have two hand histories that kind of sum up why I am still able to beat these games on a consistent basis:

-Earlier this week, I got an email from a guy who asked "Say you are playing 15-30 O8B and someone makes it 30 to go preflop. I saw someone three bet preflop with A35Q. What is the purpose of this? Isolation? I just don't get it otherwise".

My response to him was, "My opponent was one of the weaker players at the table. I was pretty sure I had a better hand than him. On the hand that you are referring to, I did in fact have a better hand than him. If I remember correctly, he had AJ37 and I scooped him."

"There are many different reasons to three bet preflop. You could raise to isolate with a hand that doesn't play well against multiple opponents. You could raise because there is a player or two that posted and you are trying to earn a share of the equity of the pot or you could raise because you are pretty certain that even though your hand might be considered weak by some people, it will most certainly be the best hand against your opponent. I can guarantee that if you watch me play for long enough, you will see me three bet or raise with worse hands than that, but almost certainly I will have a valid reason behind my actions"

So yesterday I was playing and I scooped a pretty big hand against two players, so I checked the hand history to see what their hands were. The hand went down as follows: Two players limped for $10, I raised with A35T suited in clubs. The big blind called and so did the two limpers. The flop was AJ9 with two clubs giving me the flush draw and a pair of aces. I bet, the first limper called, the second limper folded, and the big blind raised. I reraised hoping to get out the next player just in case I could make my backdoor low draw if I missed the flush, but I got called in both spots. The turn was a six of clubs giving me the nut flush. The big blind led out, the original limper called, I raised and they both called. The river was a five of clubs which killed my crappy low and I thought I was going to only get half. They both checked to me, I bet and they both called. I scooped!

My opponents had: JJK6 offsuit and QQQ3 clubs.

So, why do I three bet with A35Q? Because I would be crazy not to!

December 2
I can't believe that Christmas is already around the corner. The year has gone by so fast especially since I am feeling and looking more like my real self. Of course, I will never be the same after dealing with cancer for over a year, but in some ways I grew more than I would have under normal circumstances. I enjoy life more and I enjoy the people around me more.

Because I am enjoying things more, I am spending a little less time on the computer or in the casinos (of course there is no way to keep me away for any long period of time). Over the past two weeks, I went to Santa Cruz (mentioned in my last entry), went to the Mary J Blige concert (she rocked the house!), celebrated my Mom's birthday bash, and in a few days I will be heading off to New York to spend a little holiday time in the Big Apple. I have always wanted to go there during the month of December and I decided to just do it this year. I will be going to the Radio City Music Hall's Christmas Spectacular and a Cirque du Soleil show called Wintuk.

I will be squeezing a little poker in before I leave for New York because I am going to play in the Omaha event at the Bike on Tuesday. I am hoping to play a NL tournament tomorrow too, but it depends on whether I get things in order or not. I have so much to do before I leave so I probably won't be able to squeeze tomorrow's tournament in.

I forgot to mention one of my biggest suckouts from last week. I was driving home from Santa Cruz and I was on a two lane highway with two slow cars in front of me and an overly irritated guy behind me that kept trying to pass three cars. I knew that the road was going to turn into four lanes and I would be able to pass the guys in a mile, but obviously the guy didn't. He ended up passing all of us right before it split and he had to go over the double yellow lines to do so. As soon as the highway opened up, I took off (my car is so awesome) and I was behind the irritated man and we were driving about 90 when he slowed down a bit. I noticed a cop car going in the opposite direction that was turning around. He came up behind me and I was cussing to Steve, "Shit, shit, he is going to pull me over and I don't have my license plate on yet. I can't believe I am going to get another ticket" (I already have one in this car from driving to the WSOP). I see him start to go around me and I tell Steve, "I think he is going around me. He might be getting the other guy." Sure enough, he pulls around me and stops the other dude. I told Steve, "Do you realize I just won a few hundred dollars?" and he pointed out, "You made more than that because your insurance won't go up." A couple days later, I got pulled over again for driving in the airport without a license plate and for having tinted windows. The police officer said that at the airport, they don't like to see cars without license plates especially if you can't see in their windows. I told him that I just got the new plates, but haven't put them on yet and he lectured me about making sure I put one on the front and back and that my front windows had an illegal tint. I said I would take care of it and he let me go. :) I guess I should go buy a lotto ticket.