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Chess Scoop July 17, 2009

Posted by Jennifer in : Uncategorized , 4 comments

My first Main Event and a chesspoker round-up July 11, 2009

Posted by Jennifer in : chess,poker , 8 comments

So I am back from the Main Event of the World Series of Poker, my first live deep-stacked event. It was an incredible experience to play in the ME, as you really get the feeling that just playing in the event is a dream come true for so much of the field. Well this was true for me too, so I was nervous every time I put chips into the pot. My nerves were in direct proportion to the chips in the pot, and not at all with what I actually had-my heart stopped whether I had the nuts, a marginal hand, or absolutely nothing. I made it through the first day with about as many chips as I started with and then big DRAMA about fifteen minutes into day two.

I had scoped out the table composition and googled all my opponents. I knew that the short-stacked guy on my left was an aggressive pro who would try to make a lot of moves for the blinds and antes. The biggest stack at the table, with 60K (pretty much everyone else had between 25 and 32K), was Annie Duke’s husband, Joseph Reitman. Reitman is an actor and has also been playing a lot of poker since marrying Annie. I didn’t really know what being Annie’s Duke husband would mean about his play, but I was guessing tight-aggressive.

In our first hand of the level about ten minutes in, Joseph raised in early position to 3x the BB, 1500. I called on the button with tens. Flop is Q 2 3 rainbow. He checks. Baffling! I was ready to raise on a continuation bet and then give up to resistance but this check is confusing. I bet about 3K, which some of my poker friends said was awful (they like checking behind to keep pot small.) Others say it’s fine, or even good. Turn is a 7 or a 5. He bets 5K! I reluctantly call, thinking that there’s a decent chance he’ll give up on the river, which brings a 5 or a 7. He fires out again 12K. I fold. Kind of annoying hand to lose almost a third of my stack on. My gut told me there was a 50% chance my tens were good, but my brain told me the chances had to be much lower. Unless he’s a total savage or a mind-reader.

The very next hand I get KJs on the cutoff. Middle position limps. I raise to 2K, partly because I know the guy on my left will shove with a huge range if I also limp. I don’t want to waste 500 chips in that way. Flop is 89Q with two spades. Original limper makes it 3500. I think for a minute and shove my remaining 20K. He instacalls and turns over 99. I don’t catch. Bye to me! I had a gutshot and a flush draw, but because if the board pairs he fills up, I was just under 35% to win the hand. It was still the correct play. Against his range of hands, I have fold equity against many and then great equity against a lot of others. I’m even a slight favorite against hands like JJ or AQ. The only time I’m way way behind is against something like AT of spades.

How dorky, on a scale from one to ten, is it to use a pawn as a card protector? 11, one chesspoker player informed me.

I had a lot of fun hanging out with and sharing hands with other chesspoker players. Unfortunately, most of the chesspoker delegation is out. SuperGM Alexander Grischuk had a great first day but near the end of day two, I heard he busted set under set. FM Ylon Schwartz, last year’s chesspoker hero, lost KK to AK. My friends Ben Johnson (2200, no longer active in chess) and Donny Ariel (2400, threatens to activate in chess at any moment) both bemoaned bluffs gone wrong. One unnamed chesspoker player was shut out of the tournament due to the soldout Day four fiasco. Enrique Rios (2100, no longer active) decided to take a break from big WSOP-season cash games for his first ME. He had a good first day but lost most of his chips with QQ vs. AJ and then the rest all in with 77 vs. 88. IM+2 Gm norms Drasko Boskovic was also ko-ed, on a maniacal hand I can’t remember.

Feel free to leave a comment if you can think of other chesspoker players I don’t know about. Going into day three, Michael Casella (still active 2300) and Randy Bruekner (no longer active, 2000) are still in. How can I forget Dan Harrington? He’s also still in at the end of day two, with 182K in chips. Keep the dream alive!

Hulachess Cover and Excerpt July 4, 2009

Posted by Jennifer in : art,chess,feminism,hooping , add a comment

Hulachess was just featured on the cover of Chess Life Magazine! Check out an excerpt from the full video, where I played the first ever hulachess match against my childhood friend, professional dancer Gabrielle Revlock. The variations we played were based on a game I analyzed for Marcel Duchamp: The Art of Chess.