This weekend was an eventful one in my slice of the world of poker....
Last Thursday, I went to work at the bar. The night started off normally, at 4PM, with bullshit to deal with right off the bat. There were customers lined up waiting for me to open up, cases of beer left behind the bar, kegs of Guinness I had roll out of my way, and no one around to help. I served an old man and his wife before I even opened my till and I was off! Serving drinks while I tried in vain to finish my opening tasks. The old man turned out to be very talkative in that annoying sort of way where he asks a thousand questions and doesn't take hints or social cues. He was a nice guy, though, in spite of that quirk (read: personality flaw). Turns out he served in the Vietnam war and owns several farms in Texas. All of his sons are engineers, like himself. I served him Stella, refilling his glass each time he emptied it, and whenever a new customer would sit near him, he'd turn his focus away from me and on to them. Thankfully, it was a busy night. He sat there from 4PM until I closed the bar at 1:30AM. After the third or forth beer, he didn't really seem to be getting drunker, though I served him at least 10 or 15. He was a man of imposing stature and quite an entertaining person to talk to once I had a beer or two myself. When I mentioned that I would have to close soon, he tipped me with 2 hundred dollar bills! The best tip I've ever received! He said it was because I was such a nice girl. I think it was because he wanted me to marry one of his sons. At some point, as it usually comes up for me in conversation, I mentioned my love affair with poker. At this, he pulled out his wad of cash and asked how much he could stake me. I'm sure I laughed sheepishly or something but he handed me over $300. I took it. Moments later, he pulled out another $200. Of course, I took that too. My Dad really only taught me 3 lessons in life. 1) Wipe from the front, then the back. 2) Don't smoke crack. and 3) Always take the money. So I did. I gave the old guy my business card and asked him to contact me in a few months when he got back to the states (he was on his way to Europe for a few months) with the intention that I'd give him back what he staked me or at the very least, let him know how much I appreciated the gesture.
Fast forward to the next day. The WSOP satellite. The buy-in was $140 and there were 9 players at my table, including myself. We started the game around 8:30. I outlasted 7 of the players, playing my A-game and getting a few good cards here and there. When we got heads up, the guy who had knocked out a few people early in the game had about 3/4 of the chips in play, which left me with 25%. From experience playing in tournaments online I knew that I could still win but it would take a couple good spots to double up. This was only the third time I played heads-up live. I felt really bad for the dealer every time I folded pre-flop for his having to deal sooooo many hands. Unfortunately, I think it affected my play negatively. Never mind the blinds, I was in a hurry to give the dealer a break! I played pretty well for about 15 minutes but I took my first opportunity to double up when I held Q7 hearts and the flop came 6 8 2, with 2 hearts. Chip-leader checked to me, I bet, he raised and I went all in to chase my draw. He had Q8, top pair. He was pretty sickened to see my flush draw after he called me. I wonder if he thought I was bluffing? Either way, the turn and river bricked and I was out. Maybe I would have picked a better spot if I hadn't felt so bad for the dealer. (We didn't take a single break and finished around midnight.)
Lessons learned: Don't feel bad for the dealer; it's like feeling bad for taking someone else's chips. Duh, that's the POINT. Dealers deal. Poker players acquire chips. And, again, I can't stress this enough (to myself and the world at large) take your time and think before you commit your stack.
I felt really good about my play throughout the satellite and was on top of the world on Saturday morning. $700 richer! Playing great poker! I decided to celebrate with a few margaritas on the afternoon of Cinco De Mayo and then head up to Times Square at night to play 1-3 at another club I know about. The margaritas hit me a lot harder than I thought they would so I tried drinking a Red Bull to balance out the buzz. I never drink Red Bull and it turned out to be a big mistake because it didn't really help me play the game any better, it just made me more anxious and impulsive. I shouldn't have taken $500 to the cash game, but I was feeling so confident about my play and besides, it wasn't my money anyway. I bought in for $300, was card-dead in the worst way for the first hour, playing super tight and not getting anywhere. When I finally decided to make a move, the player I was playing with had the card I was representing and called me when I pushed all-in. Whoops. At this point I was high on Red Bull and feeling less intoxicated so I bought in for another $200. I switched seats with someone and started getting really great cards! I doubled up to about $400 and was on fire with Red Bull coursing through my veins. The hand that got me was remarkably similar to another one I went out on a few weeks back. Boat over Boat. The situation: 4 people in the hand, all limped. I was big blind with Ace 4 and checked. The flop came 10 4 4. I'm a little hazy on how it played out at first, but I believe it was checked to someone in late position who bet and was called by the small blind and then called by me. Or maybe I raised? The turn came something like an 8. Small blind bet, I raised, late position guy was out. Small-blind called. I should have figured out by now that he might have me beat considering that he was the tightest player at the table but since the pot was un-raised pre-flop pocket 10s never even occurred to me. I thought maybe he had a 4 too, with a worse kicker. The river came an A, giving me a full-house. Small blind went all in, I insta-called, and he showed his pocket 10s. For a second, I thought I won because I had the Aces. Then reality snapped in. Just like that, I'm out $500. Since then, I've been mulling over in my head what I could have done differently and the only answer I can come up with is not to have had that Red Bull. I didn't take the time to consider all the information before shoving my chips in on impulse. I had about $300 in chips behind. Then again, he could have had exactly the same hand as me and it would have felt just as bad to find out I folded the best hand. I read somewhere that Daniel Negreanu says that these situations are just hands you're going to lose a lot of money on and that's poker. Maybe he says that. Maybe not. Either way, I'm going to let myself think that's true and move on to the next game. I probably won't be playing for a few weeks as I have a busy month and don't want to take the risk of going on tilt by losing another game too soon. My bankroll is down to about $200-300 again and if I can't work my way back up with that, I'm gonna be broke for a while. I'm heading to AC at the end of the month and plan to play in some SNGs (Sit and Go's - 1 table tournaments) at the Borgata! From playing them online a lot, SNGs seem to be my specialty. Until then.
