Games Journal

June 2008

June 29
The Eight or Better tournament wasn't too spectacular and neither was the HORSE. I didn't make it to day two in either of them. Check out my 2008 World Series of Poker report page for details on those and the other events.

I am sitting here, bored, in my room at the Luxor contemplating whether I am going to play the NL Holdem event tomorrow morning. My schedule is so jacked up from playing the late events and from being in Vegas. I have been sleeping until noon every day, so trying to wake up with a functioning brain before noon is an issue. If I can pull it off tomorrow, I will head to the Rio (or RIOOOOOOOOOOO as Kristy Gazes would say). I will keep you posted.

June 24
I decided to skip the PL Omaha 08 Hi/Low event and will be leaving for Vegas tomorrow instead. My next event will be the Stud 08 or Better on Thursday night and then the HORSE event on Sunday night. I finally got around to writing about the Omaha championship event I played in. I am sure that it won't be as depressing as my last entry since I had some time to calm down.

June 21
Poker is such a mentally exhausting game. Trying to pay attention and dealing with your opponents is hard, but the torture I put myself through is even more difficult. My relationship with the game is one of the most complicated relationships I have had. I feel the highest of highs and the lowest of lows when playing and when I was eliminated from the 10k Omaha tournament it was the worst I have ever felt.

As soon as I was eliminated, I called Steve to tell him that I was out. We had adjoining rooms, so when I walked into my room I could see he was standing there with his bag ready and shoes on anxious to get out of town. He hates it there and this will probably be the last time he makes the trip with me. I packed my bags and we headed down to the car. I was still feeling kind of numb and when I got in my car it all kind of hit me.

We had plenty of time to talk on the way home and I told him that poker might not be the game for me. I am so hard on myself and anybody who knows me would agree. A lot of the times when I leave a tournament, I think about the few costly errors I made rather than be proud of the great moves I made. He said that analyzing the mistakes helps me in being a better poker player, but he also said that it was important to remember the good points too. I was in one of those moments where I was ready to give up the game because I felt so bad and so empty. Steve pointed out that I have been through it before and tomorrow I will feel like playing again and he was right. By the time we got home, I was feeling a little better (just a little) and by the next night I was playing at the Bike.

I had a good time playing the NL cash game at the Bike and actually felt really comfortable playing. I just recently started playing NL ring games again and find that I make more errors than I used to. The main thing is that I don't have the confidence I once had, but last night it was there. There were two hands where I was actually proud of myself because I didn't pansy out. One hand I had pocket queens on a king high flop and still managed to get a value bet on every street. Steve makes fun of me when I tell him stories and say "he called me on the flop, so I didn't think my hand was good." He will say, "He calllllllllllled me, so I was so scared because I play like a girllllllll." On another hand, I had top pair on the flop with two spades out there. An ace of spades hit the turn which gave me two pair and the guy led out. I didn't back down and realized he was making a move. I pushed and he ended up folding. He was talking with the guy next to him after the hand and they were both confident I had the flush, so if I didn't have the best hand I was at least convincing.

I am not sure when I will be heading back out to Vegas. I was originally planning on my next event being the Stud 08 or Better on Thursday night, but I am ready to go back and might play in the PL Omaha 08 event on Tuesday. My depression about being eliminated from the last event didn't last long and I am ready to do it again.

June 17
I am home from Vegas at the moment, but am planning on heading out tomorrow evening for the 10k Omaha Hi/Low event on Thursday. I am more excited about this event than any other because we will be getting so many starting chips. There is going to be plenty of play during the tournament and the small errors that I see a lot of players make should catch up to them.

Overall I had a great time during my last trip to the World Series and was also happy with the way I played even though I bombed out of the HORSE and Razz (see report).

I have played more live action poker over the past couple weeks than I have in a long time and it feels really good. The Omaha games in Vegas have been juicy. I am hoping to play more the next time around. Recently, I have even ventured into the No Limit games, but haven't had much success. Last night I played some NL at the Bike and made a costly mistake when I didn't get away from bottom two pair in a limped, multi-way pot. I lost a few other big hands besides that when I lost with second nut flush to the nut flush and lost with a flush when a guy made a full house on the river. Both of those hands were costly, but I liked the way I played them. The two pair hand is still eating at me though.

June 11
I added a separate report on coming in 19th in the $2000 Omaha High Low event at the World Series of Poker today.

Also take a look at my definition section which includes terms like wild card, post, fill up, and tournament.

June 6
I am out of the Omaha/Stud Hi Low 8 or Better tournament and did not feel like I even had a shot. I couldn't win hands and I couldn't beat the worst player at my table. How can you expect to win when you run like that? To read more about the event and the $1500 Omaha, check out my 2008 World Series of Poker report page.

After I got knocked out, I went to Caesars to watch my friend Halli who had made it into the money. She is down to 20 players and goes back in today to play Day 2. Hopefully watching her and being around a winner is going to rub off on me for my next event. I had thought about playing the $5000 shootout today, but decided against it. The next event should be the $2000 Omaha Hi/Low tournament on Sunday.

I read an interesting story on Terrance Chan's journal. Click here to read his report.

June 2
I arrived in Las Vegas last night and am staying in this great condo resort. My host at the Luxor took care of one of my trips, but not this one. Since I am planning on staying two weeks straight this time around I decided to rent a condo instead of staying in a hotel. I am sharing a two bedroom condo with my friend Tricia. We have our own kitchen which makes it nice because I can eat some home cooked food rather than eating out for two weeks straight.

We specifically came into town one night early, so we can spend a night out on the town. We did exactly that and had such a good time. We met our other friend Halli at the Bellagio and had a few drinks and laughed for hours. This morning when I woke up, I concluded that I made a great decision getting here early because it took me about 3 hours to get over my headache.

Tomorrow night is the first event for me. It is the $1,500 buy in Omaha Hi/Low event and I am excited about playing.

June 1
I'm leaving for Las Vegas later today. I'll be playing in several events at the 2008 World Series of Poker over the next couple weeks before coming home for awhile and then heading back for more.

I should be able to update my Journal normally, but hopefully the tournaments will keep me plenty busy so we'll see.