Shirley's Poker Journal

October 2007

October 23
It has been a busy week, but I haven't been playing tons of poker. I played in the WSOP Circuit Omaha Event last week in Vegas and was eliminated quickly. The field was very small and was filled with Omaha specialists. It certainly wasn't the best field I have seen.

After I bombed out of that tournament, I played in an evening tournament at the Venetian with two of my friends Catherine and Ronnie. They paid 9 players and I finished 16th. I feel like my No Limit tournament game is getting better. I plan on playing in a few more NL events over the next month including a couple satellites for the PCA (PokerStars Caribbean Adventure).

Other than those two tournaments, I spent the rest of my time just hanging out. A couple of us went to the Tropicana and saw Bodies...the Exhibition and also the Titanic Exhibit. On Sunday afternoon, we went to the Ronn Lucas show at the Luxor. He is a ventriloquist and I wasn't too excited to see him to be honest. We got free tickets, so I figured I might as well go. I was very surprised at how entertaining he was and was glad I went. I would definitely recommend paying the $40 to go watch him. I might even go for a second time next time I am out there.

October 16
I played in the Blogger tournament on PokerStars on Sunday and made it very far (about 20th out of 1300). Unfortunately, I didn't win the Bahamas trip. Instead I won a very nice ipod.

Overall I think I played great and there is only one hand that I have kind of questioned. I raised in early position with AT of diamonds and it got folded around to the guy in the big blind. He pushed for the remainder of his chips and he had me slightly covered. The guy had been playing pretty solid and he could have had a pocket pair, but he could have had me dominated as well. In order for me to make the call, I had to evaluate him as the type of player who could have made that move with ace rag and I didn't think it was possible. The best case scenario was that I was in a race situation, so I dumped my hand. Since I had already taken a hit earlier (AQ vs TT when the guy flopped a set), I wasn't in great shape any longer. I had been chip leader for quite some time and now I was struggling to stay at the average chip level. Awhile later, I lost a critical hand when I called an all in move with AJ (he had 76 and out-flopped me). Losing that hand put me at the bottom of the chip counts and I never recovered. I was extremely disappointed that I didn't win my seat to the Bahamas. I will try a few satellites in the near future.

October 10
The Omaha Hi/Low tournament at the Bicycle Casino Oktoberfest series obviously went well for me since I won the thing.

I happened to be seated at a great table because I had experience playing with most of the players. There were two players who got involved in a lot of hands. One of the players only played premium starting hands so it was easy to get away from hands if he was being aggressive. Another player played good starting hands, but was extremely passive, so I usually got value from him when I made something and he hardly ever got value when he did

I had a decent stack size for most of the tournament and at times, I had a bunch. When we got down to two tables, my stack was fluctuating more than the other players because I had some chips to work with. I lost a couple hands before we made the final table, but I still had average chips.

One of the first hands of the final table, I got myself into a bit of a mess when I only flopped a pair and sensed weakness from my opponent. I ended up calling his all-in bet on the turn and he showed a pair of eights which beat my pair of fives. I had a lot of outs (straight draw, overcards draw and a five draw) and was getting the right price on the call, but I didn't win the hand and I was left shortstacked.

One of the key hands of my tournament was when I had AA46 and I took the hand against two opponents in a raised pot and scooped when the board ended up being 3336K. That hand put me back in action and I never looked back after that.

Overall, I think I played a better game and I didn't play as passive in certain situations. I tried a little harder to pick up the orphan pots and I think that helped. I ended up winning some money, a sweatshirt, and a trophy mug, but more importantly I gained some of my confidence back.

October 9
No bubble for me. I won the $500 buy-in Omaha tourney at the Bicycle Casino about an hour ago. I will write a little more about it after I get a good nights rest.

October 8
I entered the SHOE event over at the Bike today and didn't even come close to the money. I did enjoy myself though, so I guess that counts for something.

The beginning of the tournament went well and I accumulated some chips during the first few rounds mostly during the Omaha portion. I also got some chips when I made a low flush in Eight or Better.

Things got interesting later when we got a new player at our table. The guy loved playing hands and was involved in 80% of them. That would normally be a great thing, but after every one of them, he announced what he had, what he was drawing to, how the other player hit a better card, etc. The guy never shut up. The girl next to me, Kelli, whispered "why don't I have more juice in my ipod?" and we both chuckled.

Unfortunately after she was eliminated, jabber jaw knocked me out. He ended up making a straight seven during Eight or Better and he beat my two pair eight low. The worst part about it was that he didn't even realize what he had. He announced, "I have a seven low" and I said, "I have two pair." He pushed his cards forward and said "Oh, I have a straight."

PokerStars is having their annual blogger tournament this weekend and first prize is a trip to their PCA tournament. They have a lot of other prizes too, but I have my sites set on the seat. I haven't been on one of them and I am going this year regardless if I satellite in or not.

October 3
Poker has been a little frustrating over the past couple weeks. I didn't do well in any of the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) events and the few other tournaments I have been playing over the past couple weeks I have nearly bubbled.

Last week the Bicycle Casino started their Big Poker Oktober tournaments and I decided to play in four of the events starting with the E.O. event. I played for hours and ended up finishing 3 out of the money which is always disappointing. I am even more disappointed in the way I played my final hands in the Stud 8 or better. I am still learning the game and I definitely found what my weakness is - playing short stacked.

A few days after the E.O. event, I played in the Omaha Sunday tournament on PokerStars and once again I finished 3 out of the money. The next night, I played in the Omaha Hi-Low $300 buy-in event at the Bike. There were over 100 entries and they paid 18 spots. I was eliminated in 20th place.

After those three "close but no cigar" tournaments, I realized I have to rethink my game plan and figure out what I am doing wrong. I could blame it on the cards (I do tend to run crappy at critical moments), but I am thinking that if I change up my earlier game, I might be able to accumulate more chips and that might help in the end game.

Even though my tournament game has really sucked, I am doing well in the live action. I have played approximately 15 sessions since the beginning of the World Series and have only had 2 losing sessions (and one was only for $30). Now that my hair is not looking so butch, I will be going to the casinos more often.