From Vegas to AQ in AC June 16, 2009
Posted by Jennifer in : poker,travel , trackback
At the Ladies World Series of Poker this year in Las Vegas, I had almost no interesting hands. I won a race AKs vs. a shortstack with ATo, which got me through about four hours with approximately the same stack as I started with. About five hours in, with 17x the BB I pushed from the SB with 33 and lost a race to AJo in the BB. My two-time "in the money streak" broken, but I had few regrets about the way I played.
On an unrelated note, I was impressed by the size and number of breast implants in the tournament. Somebody called it the cleavage vs. the grandmothers– It’s not typical that I feel like I have one of the smallest bras at the table!
This year, I’m playing in the Main Event on July 4th weekend, which is exciting but scary cause it’s a way deeper tournament than anything I’ve ever played. I was too busy with the chess tournament at the South Point to get much poker practice in June in Vegas, so yesterday I went to Atlantic City for the Ladies Event at the Borgata Summer Open. 174 players entered including one lady-man, with a blonde wig and muscles larger than any dude in the casino. According to the floorman, there’s nothing they can do to stop a man from entering. On break, he told me he played for the "great action", which made me suspicious. I support anyone who identifies as a women to play in a Ladies’ Event, but I don’t want to see an entire fraternity showing up for the "action."
The structure was nice- we started with 10,000 chips and 25/50 blinds with 35 minute levels.
I had two annoying AQ situations on the first level that I’d like to share:
#1- Second to Act limps, I raise to 200 in MP with AQo, the Small Blind calls, original limper folds. Flop is Q54 with two hearts and a diamond, but I have the ace of hearts. SB checks, I bet 300, she reraises me to 1000. Already I’m unhappy, but I make the call. The turn is a 7 of spades and she overbets the pot to 3000. After a long think, I folded. My logic was that since I had the Ace of Hearts, that cuts out a lot of draws that I can beat, and it felt more likely to me that she had one of the hands that busted me, like 44 or 55 than a hand that I busted, like KQ. Later she told me she had Kings.
#2- Folded to me in the cutoff. I raise to 200 with AQo. Button and SB call. Flop KQ4 rainbow. SB checks, I decide to take a stab and bet out 400. Both opponents call! Turn is a 5. Checked around. River is an Ace, no flush possibilities on board. SB checks. I bet 1000, which I’m not sure about- what hands can I beat that she’ll call me with? Maybe AT or KJ? Anyway, when I bet 1000 the Button thinks for a while and re-raises me to 2000. SB folds and I call. The button has Jc Tc for a straight, so I lost a bunch of chips on this hand.
Later I rebounded by showing down a straight, winning one race and then stealing blinds. Then, I busted about 20 players before the money with TT vs. AK.
Let me know if you have any tips on prepping for the Main Event except for winning races.
Comments
be cool
Rest up and eat healthily. Love reading your posts here and what you write in Chess Life. It boggles my mind how you keep track of so many things at once. Though I wouldn’t want you to comment on it, and it’s not related, I can only speculate as to what it feels like to be Chess Life’s on-line editor with all that’s going on related to the USCF board elections. Anyway, I hope you can relax, enjoy, and continue being your brilliant self.
tough hands but i agree with your play.
1. good fold
2. good chance she has the straight, but you’ve got to call the 1k.
good luck at the main event!
-j
YOU had the smallest pair of breasts at the table!?¿
Must have triggered a real identity crisis…
Only encountered two ladies myself who admitted to silicon implants there… each was what you might call pleasant and a bit wacky.
Regards,
J.
James, are you also JP from the previous post? You were in Las Vegas last week?
Chuck: Thanks for the kind words and you are right that I don’t intend to comment on USCF politics on this blog, although that would probably get me a lot of new readers!
Haha it’s fun to hear all the lingo and abbreviations tournament poker players use. I think I managed to guess what everything meant, at least there weren’t any German, Italian, or French words…
I’m trying to install a poker deck wordpress plugin but having trouble getting it working! Seeing the actual card may make it easier for newbies to follow the hands. Although Jonathan, I’m sure you’re busy enough with chess, writing and Wojo!
Dare I suggest it?
Use a king or queen as your card protector. They’re phallic, and may cause some of your male (they’re almost all going to be male) opponents to have thoughts about you that may cause them to not want to get in your bad graces.
In other words, use your assets. Just don’t rely on them, you still have to play poker.
memorize the shove-call ICMs (Nash) for 10 big blinds
Good luck Jenn!