Poker Journal

February 2006

February 28
I did not do well in the Bay 101 WPT event today. I know that women aren't supposed to have balls, but I have always had them when I played poker. I totally lost them today. I made laydown after laydown and never really took a stand.

On one hand, a player raised to $450 from the cutoff, I made it $1,200 from the button with pocket nines and the blinds folded. The original raiser moved all-in and I thought for a moment. I still had $4,000 if I folded and I didn't think he would move all-in with pocket sevens or lower, so I folded. On another hand, I raised to $450 with AK and was called in one spot. The flop was KT9 with two diamonds. I bet $900, he raised to $1,800 and I called. I didn't care for the coordinated board, but I wanted to see what he did on the turn. I thought I might be able to pick up some read from him. The turn was a six. I checked, he asked me how much I had left and then he moved in. He started looking to the side as if he was not interested and I mucked. I was almost positive that I was beat. He showed me K6 (he made two pair on the turn). When I had a shortstack my last hand was AK versus aces, sending me home. I don't know what came over me today. After today I am convinced that an aggressive style of play is the only kind of play for me.

When I got home I checked my email and there was one regarding the Suck-out on Leukemia tournament from a woman named Suzan. Her email was well written and it gave me an even greater appreciation of the game. Here is a large excerpt...

"When on-line gaming came to the forefront, many of us "old-timers" felt that it would never catch on. After all, a big part of poker is the camaraderie, the laughs, the gossip, the getting together with friend and foe in the smoky poker room to wage the personal battles within ourselves and wars with each other. Times have really changed but, maybe not as much as folks think. The group you played with is a group of strangers who have never met each other. It is a crazy diverse group of male, female, young, old, rich, broke, educated, uneducated, urban, rural, professional and unemployed individuals brought together by one thing, the love of the game. It is a group that probably would have never formed in a 3D universe... it is a forum website, and it is the modern poker room. Like the poker-rooms I learned to play in, the group has become a family that will fight, disagree, throw temper tantrums, exchange views and pull tightly together when one of our own is threatened. I am very happy you became part of our family last night! When people are in life and death struggles, sometimes the knowledge that others CARE is better than all the medicine in the hospital."

February 27
Yesterday, I played in three online tournaments. I started the day out by playing the $530 No Limit Holdem event on PokerStars. I only seemed to get enough chips to keep me afloat for awhile and ended up busting out about 15 out of the money.

In the second tournament, I finished 2nd out of 152. This might sound a little strange, but the tournament actually cost me money. The tournament was called Suckout on Leukemia and it was a fund raiser held at Full Tilt Poker. The money collected is helping a woman named Jill who was diagnosed with AML Leukemia and needs a bone marrow transplant. When I made the final table, I told the people (most were friends of Jill and her fiancé Rich) that I would double what I won. I won $260 for my second place finish, so I gave them $520. I enjoyed playing in the tournament and glad that I was able to help a little.

The last tournament I played was the Omaha Hi/Low event and I finished out of the money again. This time around, I thought I was going to finally do something because early in the tourney I could do no wrong. Of course as soon as that thought crossed my mind, I could do no right. It seemed I couldn't win a pot in the later stages and ended up finishing in the 40s.

I am heading out to Bay 101 for the Shooting Star tournament and am really excited about this trip. I will try and keep my journal updated during the trip, but you know how that goes. :)

February 23
I have been spending a lot of time this week playing $30-60 Omaha8 online. The games have been great and I have come to the conclusion that in any casino or any online cardroom, the majority of the players will never get Omaha High Low.

At the end of last year, I talked with one of my friends, Mike Woo about my plans on leaving the Bike. He is a professional poker player and has spent most of his poker time playing the high limit mixed games. He recently started focusing on No Limit and wanted to spend more time focusing on tournaments as well. He ended up finishing in third place in the $10,000 WPT event at the Commerce. I am very happy for him for beating 689 players. The two of us are heading out to San Jose for the WPT Bay 101 event and maybe this time around it will be my turn.

February 19
After playing so many tournaments over the past week, I took yesterday off. After my nice relaxing day, I decided it was time for me to get back to work. While going through my emails, I came across one that I wanted to share. This person (Robert) wanted to tell me that he enjoyed my pet peeves article and proceeded to tell me what his biggest pet peeve was. The email said;

"But for me, the worst pet peeve is when somebody says, "Good laydown." First of all, he can't possibly know whether it was a good laydown or not except in the rare situation in which he has the stone-cold nuts -- and I'm sure that's not the case most of the times I hear the dreaded phrase. I might have laid down a better hand--I'm sure I have sometimes.

Second, it's just so damn condescending. It seems to me that it's intended to send the message, "I'm the top dog here, and it's good that you're recognizing the pecking order." But that's not the case at all. It's simply that I decided I probably didn't have the best hand and didn't want to throw any more money at it. It's an unemotional calculation, not some deep recognition that the other player is my superior. It says not one thing about whether I'll lay down the hand next time he and I are in a confrontation.

I guess I hate it because it's an insult disguised as a compliment. It's phony."

Another person sent me an email asking me to write an article giving advice to players new to the casino. I realized that a lot of people probably act like idiots at the table because they don't know any better. I think I will be writing this article sooner than later.

February 18
I played in the $10,000 WPT event at the Commerce Casino yesterday, but I didn't even make it through day one. I was sitting at a table with solid aggressive players and there wasn't a lot of chip movement. At the dinner break, I had a little more than I started with, but lost it all on the first hand back. I got all of my chips in the pot with pocket kings against Melissa Hayden's pocket aces.

There was another No Limit event that I played in earlier this week and there were three incredible hands that took place. The first hand worth mentioning was when I flopped quad sixes and managed to get my opponent to give me all of his chips. My opponent happened to be the super-aggressive kamikaze kid, Hon Le. I know a few things about him just from his appearance on the WPT at the Legends of Poker. He went to battle with my good friend Mark Seif, so I remember it better than any other episode. So anyway, I held pocket sixes and the flop was 966 with two hearts. Hon checked, I checked, and the person in last position bet. Hon and I called. The turn was a queen of hearts. Hon bet out and I put him on a flush. I looked at my cards pretending to look to see if I had a heart in my hand and I just flat called him. The button folded his hand. The river was a blank card and Hon led out again. I thought for a moment and then decided to move all-in. I was pretty sure that I would be able to get all of his chips if my read was correct and he had a flush. He called my bet and instantly turned over KT of hearts. He left shaking his head.

Our table broke about a half hour later and I went to the next one with a lot of chips. Unfortunately there was one guy on the table who had me covered. On one hand, a short stack took some of my chips when he hit a one-outer on the river. Our chips got in preflop with me holding AT and him holding pocket nines. I flopped the ace and turned the nut spade draw. He held two red nines and the nine of spades was not going to help him because it gave me the flush. The river was the nine of clubs. A few hands later, I took pocket aces against the chip leader's pocket jacks and he hit a jack on the river. Of course I was disappointed that I got knocked out of the tournament, but there is no way I could have got my chips in better than that. Maybe the cards will even out in the next tourney.

February 13
This game sure does bring some interesting characters out of the woodwork. While playing the No Limit Shootout yesterday, I had a good time observing the diversity of the players. It was especially amusing because it looked like some of them stole their table demeanors from other players that we see on television. There was a Chris Ferguson wannabe who paused and interlocked his hands every time he faced a decision. There was a Gus Hansen wannabe who got involved in a lot of pots and even tilted his head to the side like Gus does. There was also one player at my table who looked and acted exactly like Hung La. Oh wait... it really WAS Hung La and he was the person who took me out of the tournament.

I had about $2,900 in chips with the blinds at $50-100. All of the players folded to me in the small blind and I limped in with 97 of spades. Hung La raised an additional $300 more and I decided to make the call. I didn't want him to think that I was going to be intimidated by him. I was looking to hit a big flop and willing to lay the hand down if I missed. The flop was 863 with the 86 being spades. I flopped the open end straight flush draw. I checked, he bet $500 and I moved in for an additional $1950. He thought about it for one minute and then called (after the call he would be left with a bit over $1,000). I was shocked when he turned over 84 offsuit. How did he know that his pair of eights four kicker were good at that moment? Did he know his hand was good or was he just calling because of pot odds? I thought my reputation at the table dictated a fold in that spot, but his experience told him better. The turn was a 7 giving me a pair and more outs, but the river was another 8 giving Hung trips. He ended up finishing 10th in the tournament.

I think I am going to play today's $500 NL event, but it depends on if I get my errands finished in time.

February 11
I played in the $2,500 No Limit Holdem event yesterday, but it was totally uneventful. There were about 280 entrants and I finished in about 100th place. I started the tournament with a bang when I doubled up with KQ of hearts. The blinds were only $25-50 at that point and I raised from the cutoff to $150. The big blind reraised to $400 and I called the additional $250. KQ is a hand that I sometimes have difficulty with and this time I reminded myself that I was getting priced in to make the call, but I wasn't looking to go broke with only one pair. The flop was KQ7 and the guy bet $800 into me. I raised to $1900 and he moved all-in. It took me a moment to make the call. I had to re-evaluate things. I didn't think he would reraise from the big blind with pocket sevens, so the only hands that would beat me at that point were KK and QQ which would mean that he had to have the case two cards. He was more likely to have AK or AA in that spot. He did have AA and didn't improve his hand.

I seemed to just bleed off my chips after that hand. I couldn't make a hand and I couldn't even manage to pick up the blinds. After the dinner break, I played two hands (TT and KQ) and was out of the tourney.

Tonight I played in the tag team Valentine event at the Bike and we ended up making a deal for second place. The blinds were out of control at that time, so we finally caved in to a chip count deal. There was one thing about tonight that really grabbed my attention. The tournament was 1/2 Holdem and 1/2 Stud. Kyle asked me to choose which one I wanted to play and I told him Holdem would be better for me. When I first started playing poker, most of the women players were most comfortable with Stud (it was also played at the World Series of Poker Ladies event). Times are definitely changing! When I sat down I was shocked to find that every other player on my table was a woman. About 80% of the women chose to play Holdem rather than Stud.

I am playing the shootout tomorrow and hopefully I can finally finish in the money at Commerce.

February 10
It has been a little over a month since I left my job at the Bike and I thought that today would be a good time to play catch up with some of my friends over there. I saw Bart, David, Eveliene, and Isaac (my Live at the Bike family) and talked with them about my time away from the show. They invited me to guest commentate next week and I am really considering it. I am planning on playing in tournaments almost every day for the next week and a half, but on Wednesday I am free. It just so happens that Live at the Bike is having their usual Whale Night game and Antonio Esfandiari and Phil Laak are scheduled to play.

Tonight is the $2,500 No Limit tournament at Commerce and it is the first of the six I am playing in over the next week. I am going to play the small Valentines event at the Bike on Saturday. I have played in this event for the past two years with Kyle Minnis and both times we placed in it. I made a commitment to him last year that I would be his partner again. Sunday is the NL Shootout at Commerce and Thursday is the main event. I am planning on playing two more events in between those, but I guess it all depends on how I feel. I don't want to get burnt out from playing too many days in a row (although I don't think that is going to be a problem.)

February 2
I played in three events this week at the L.A. Poker Classic. The first and third event were $1,000 buy-in No Limit Holdem tournaments. I thought I played well in both of them (especially the first one), but I never made the money.

During the first tourney, I was more focused than I have been in a long time. There were a couple times where I made really good decisions based on some of the observations I made. There was a hand that I would have won if I had played, but the results aren't as important to me as what the correct move in this particular situation was. There was a player who limped in first position and he only had about 9 times the amount of the big blind. The player had only been playing solid hands and had lost a lot of his chips a few hands prior. I know the player is an experienced player and I was confident that he wasn't steaming. To me, his limp meant that he wanted action and I mucked AJ. The flop came ace high and it ended up going to a showdown with the limper revealing pocket kings. Although my pair of aces would of won, I was happy that I read the situation correctly.

I ended up getting knocked out of the tournament with two red aces. The blinds were $100-200 w/$25 ante. I made my standard raise to $700 in first position and was called in two spots. The flop was AQ4 all spades. I bet $2,100 and was called by the player to my left. The turn was a red three. There were several possible hands my opponent could have, but I couldn't see me getting away from my hand. He could have a pair of aces with a high spade. He could have had top two pair or he could have had flopped a flush. If he managed to flop a flush, at least had outs. Check-calling was not an option. If I was going to call if he bet, then I might as well do the betting. I bet the last of my chips (about $3,100) and he called and showed JT of spades.

The Omaha tournament wasn't special for me. I never had chips and only made it past the first break. I think I had the same $2,500 I started with when I came back from break and then I lost all five hands I played after that. I was happy that three of my friends made it to the final table. Steve finished in fifth, Brett Jungblut (gank) finished in fourth place and Luis Velador took home first prize. Luis used to work with me at the Bicycle Casino as a prop player and he is so nice. It looks like he is going to run away with the best all-around player award for this series. He has two first place finishes and one fifth place finish so far, plus another in the points (and money). It's nice to see that good guys sometimes finish first.

Speaking of good guys... I played with Young Phan for the first time and he really impressed me. I knew he was a talented player, but I never knew he was such a class act. He was pleasant and charming and the best thing about him was he talked with one player after another player criticized his play. Young said, "You paid your $1,000, you play anyway you want."

Today's No Limit event didn't last long for me. It is very similar to the Omaha tournament story. I only had about $1,500 out of the $2,500 we started with after the first half hour of play and I kept the same amount over the next hour and a half. Two hands that I played during that hour and a half hour were pocket tens and pocket nines. I flopped a set with the pocket tens and made quads on the turn. Unfortunately, I couldn't get many chips from my opponent even though I tried to trap him. He bet a small amount on the flop and I called. He bet a small amount on the turn too (there were now three diamonds on board) and I called again. The river was another diamond and as soon as he checked, I knew I wasn't getting any money from him. I bet a small amount and he folded. Bart and I talk about trapping on Live at the Bike occasionally and how sometimes it isn't the best strategy. You give a free (or cheap) card and the card doesn't beat you, but it kills your action. In this case, I was hoping that a diamond was going to help my opponent. I lost with the pocket nines after a flop of 8 high. I raised my opponents $400 bet and he came back over the top of me all-in. I figured that was enough information for me. I finally got all my chips in with AJ versus AK.

I am probably going to play in two events over the next four days. I will definitely play in the Shootout on Sunday and I will have to see what other event works into my hectic schedule.