I made the final table of the Borgata December Mini-Series yesterday.  This two day event $500+60 was a “one re-entry” tournament. This structure allowed for a person busting out in the first four levels to one more chance.  A re-entry structure differs from a re-buy event in that when busting, you leave your table and return to the cashier to buy in again.  This means you will get a new seating assignment, a new stack of chips, and pay the house another entry fee for a do- over.  In this case the re-entry fee was a fair $60.

One of the difficulties with traveling alone, especially for me as a married lady is the loneliness.  And this loneliness is never strong than when I run deep into a tournament. I keep my guy friends at arm’s length for several reasons: non-involved over lookers may interpret my actions incorrectly, the guy friends themselves may draw wrong conclusions, and to protect myself from unwanted advances.  Earlier in my poker travels, I tried to be one of the “guys”, but it only caused heartache and misunderstanding.  It is just to hard to separate the male-female thing when you are just hanging out in hotels and casinos—add any alcohol and the drama steps up! When a guy friend would ask me to dinner, I often missed the clues, and did not understand they were actually asking me out.  I made a lot of mistakes and hurt some feelings, so now I pretty much stay back as a loner by eating alone, no side trips, and no trips to the various bars!

This works pretty well until I find myself making a deep run and busting with an icky hand only to find myself really alone.  There really isn’t anyone there for me at that point except the only One who really matters: God.  But do I turn to Him in my hour of need?  No, I go seek solace in a beer (or three) only to feel even worse when I get back to my room.  I spend the next hours crying my eyes out, feeling so sorry for myself.  What a dumb ass I can be!  If only I had reached out to Him in my time of need, I would now feel rested and refreshed instead of bloated with a headache.  But God is good, He promises me that “weeping may stay for the night, but joy comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5).  And I did wake up with joy in my heart this morning.  I am so very blessed and that 5th place finished didn’t hurt one bit!

Feb 4, 2010 2:30 am

I am sitting at a 1/2 game.  It is 2 am at The Borgata. The annoying end of the table is comprised of:

• Internet Hoodie Kid – fancy play syndrome  which has been working and providing nice profits.
• Wheelchair Guy – horrible and likes to complain
• Mr Annoying – knows it all and will not shut up
  
• Good Ole Boy – Early ejection from second chance drunk fest.  Watch us play and jumped in when a player busted
• Grinder – works for the money but average  best

Now, I must admit I enjoy chatting it up at the table.  But tonight this guy (Mr. Annoying) was even too much for me! So you know he was definitely over the top. I changed seats and found myself between two buddies.  These two friends were good players, whom were taking  a deal of great enjoyment out of irritating the annoying end.

There seems to be a lot of what  I like to call “Measuring” at this table.

Looks like the makings of a wonderful night at the tables.

My adventures at the Borgata continue. I got snowed in on Saturday when a blizzard hit the Jersey shore. A state of emergency was declare, so I wasn’t going home this weekend.

It was an amazing site from the 30^th floor of the hotel. Visibility was sharply reduced and I could not even see the hotels next door for several hours. The snow was pouring down verticlally in the wind but yet was still accumulating. The hotel had four snow plows circling their entrance for hours and the road still was snow covered. My flight for Saturday evening was cancelled due to airport closures. My stay has been extended to Monday morning.

Thank you, Thomas, for helping me extend my hotel stay. Borgata is my happy place to be snowed in!

I stayed up playing last night and dropped into bed around 3 pm and then woke up at 10 pm. I made it to the poker room around one in the morning. I played $2/5 nlh for a couple of hours, making a nice profit for the session. I had two amazing hands. The first happened on my second hand at the table. I picked up pocket queens in middle position. Several people had already limped so I bumped up the pot with a sizeable bet and there were two players calling! The flop came out ace high with a very beautiful queen! This hand is the reason we play the game. These profitable amazing hands really get my heart pumping. Scoop it!

My adventures at the Borgata continue. I got snowed in on Saturday when a blizzard hit the Jersey shore. A state of emergency was declare, so I wasn’t going home this weekend.

It was an amazing site from the 30^th floor of the hotel. Visibility was sharply reduced and I could not even see the hotels next door for several hours. The snow was pouring down vertically in the wind but yet was still accumulating. The hotel had four snow plows circling their entrance for hours and the road still was snow covered. My flight for Saturday evening was canceled due to airport closures. My stay has been extended to Monday morning.

Thank you, Thomas, for helping me extend my hotel stay. Borgata is my happy place to be snowed in!

I stayed up playing last night and dropped into bed around 3 pm and then woke up at 10 pm. I made it to the poker room around one in the morning. I played $2/5 nlh for a couple of hours, making a nice profit for the session. I had two amazing hands. The first happened on my second hand at the table. I picked up pocket queens in middle position. Several people had already limped so I bumped up the pot with a sizable bet and there were two players calling! The flop came out ace high with a very beautiful queen! This hand is the reason we play the game. These profitable amazing hands really get my heart pumping. Scoop it!

As I play poker I am affected by many internal and external distractions. Being fully aware of those distractions, can help a player to minimize mistakes. Some of the internal distractions include such things as being tired, hungry, or in pain. External distractions are not generally under your control; therefore you should have a plan to deal with them as best you can before they occur.

I woke up this morning several times. I woke the first time around 6 am because I was cold. I got up and adjusted the thermostat and added a blanket to my bed. I woke up again at 9:30 am when the doctor’s office called to confirm an upcoming appointment. Wow, the room was still cold. What’s going on with the heat? I add a sweater and crawl back under the covers for my last half hour of sleep. At 10 am, I get up and head to the Jacuzzi for morning therapy. The hot tub is NOT hot. How strange! No therapy for me this morning, I guess. I return to my room to shower, thinking this should tie me over for a bit, and find there is no hot water. Not a drop! Irritation begins to rise.

Now for those who know me, know that I can be rather grumpy in the morning, so I was finding it a challenge to stay relaxed. I made some coffee and this helped to warm my mood while I finish dressing. My hair was not cooperating and before I knew it, I was out of time to prepare. I skipped reviewing my tournament checklist and slapped on some makeup instead. Huge Mistake!

I make it to the Event Center exactly on time. The floor is asking players to open their bags of chips. The cocktail servers swarm the room providing Red Bull and water quickly while taking orders for other drinks. I down my first Red Bull of the day as I observe my table mates. Luck was not on my side with my table draw. I am at a very tough table with seasoned players. Here’s the lineup of players:

Seat 1: Andrew “Tiltyjoker” Lee, 56,700

Seat 2: John Spagnuolo, 68,300

Seat 3: Matthew Waxman, 53,000

Seat 4: John Renzi, 126,000

Seat 5: Josh “Brikdog24” Brikis, 88,725

Seat 6: Jena Delk, 145,750

Seat 7: Robert Midgette, 40,375

Seat 8: Nicoles Fotios, 25,050

Seat 9: Tom Dobrilovic, 59,425

Seat 10: Edwin Hill, 45,400

Now when I got up this morning, I told myself, to play good. I knew today would be tough for me since I was unable to get my usual morning therapy. I was already fighting nerve pain, so I took a pillow to sit on while I played while I waited for my medication to kick in. There was no place to park my scooter close to my table, so I walked to my seat, carrying my poker goody bag. I travel anything but light. This bag is full of food, medical equipment, and nearly everything a body could want for 12+ hours. Halfway to my seat, I realized this bag was too heavy for me to be toting around. Did I ask for help? No, of course not.

The first round is pretty quiet for me and I am able to maintain my stack without much effort.

Somewhere in the second level for the day, I got caught up in those distractions I mentioned. Unfortunately, I fail to recognize that I was falling into trouble before it was too late. Here’s what had been going on. I was starting to get hungry and thought twice about ordering a glass of milk. But I didn’t do that. It was becoming very warm in the room. I had already removed my jacket but still was feeling the heat. Perspiration was dripping down my neck and back. And I was really in some bad pain. I had plenty of chips to be able to take a break to lie down, eat, and cool off. I look at the clock. There is still 30 minutes in the level. I tell myself I will sneak back to my room on break to rest, cool off, and grab some additional medical equipment.

Then the first miss step takes place. I am dealt AK off suit and raise the pot. The flop is king high and one player continues in the hand with me to the turn. When we get to show down, I see that this guy called my raise with a 4-6 suited. This gets under my skin a bit, like why he would call ME with that garbage. I do my best to talk myself out of this tilt. There are several tongue lashings among the players. Tempers have flared several time and angry words have been pass around the table. Everyone seems a bit on edge. It must be the heat getting to all of us.

A few hands later I am dealt pocket aces under the gun. Happy bells go off in my head. Finally a great starting hand. I can’t seem to remember how much the blinds are at this point, but rather than asking, I make it 3,200. Josh immediately says “oh, are we 4x’ing already?” It folds around the table until it gets to John (the guy who called my last hand with garbage) who flat calls my bet from the small blind. Alarm bells go off in my head to be careful. The flop comes nine high with two diamonds. John checks to me and I bet 6,000. John reraise and I look at him and say “really” to which John shrugs. I react and do not take time to evaluate the situation. I am thinking to myself that I need to take a stand and stop this guy from drawing to a flush. I skipped the step where I should think through the hand and put him on a range of hands. I say all in and John instacalls with his set of 8’s.

I am out of the tournament. I blew it. I played it terribly. I let the distractions get me off my game.

Tonight I will be playing the Championship Qualifier Event in which one in ten players will earn their entry into the Championship Event.  This event starts at 7 pm.  Wish me luck!

As I woke up feeling less than perfect, so I have rented a scooter for the weekend.  This will really help me conserve my strength for the game. Gosh, this place is huge!!

I arrived this morning in Atlantic City to participate in the Borgata Winter Open series of tournaments. This 16-day tournament series started on the 20th of January with a field of 1,563 runners for the first event, which was a $300+50 NLH Deepstack event.  The series will culminate with a $3,300+200 Championship event that will span five days.  The Championship event has a $2 million guarantee and will start on January 31, 2010.  Last years event drew over a thousand players and had a prize pool in excess of $3 million.

I will be playing in my first event of the series in the morning.  Event #17 is the two day $300+50 NLH tournament.  This tournament features a 10K starting stack and 45 minute blinds.  The blinds start at 25/50.
To view the event schedule or for more information visit www.theborgata.com.

I played the Championship Qualifier this evening and out lasted half the field. My table had many capable players with all player types represented. I felt good about my play but I was never able to get something going.

I busted with a king ten when I had about eight big blinds. I played less than ten hands in the whole tournament. Well, sometimes a bad card day just happens!

I am now playing 2/5 NLH. My goal is is win my entry fee for tomorrows $700 Championship Qualifier where one in five will win their main event entry. This tournament starts at 1 pm.

I am at the Borgata to play their $1,500+150 deep stack tournament. This 3 day event features the best structure in the eastern United States. Blinds for day 1 are 50 min.  Day 2 is 60 with the final day featuring 75 min levels. 

Borgata’s guarantee of a minimum prize pool of $500k brought out 607 runners.  Nearly doubling their guaranteed prize pool. First place will bring a commanding $252K!!!

I had a good table draw with a nice mix of players.  We had them all: donkey, rock, flush chaser, over defenders, under defenders, chauvinist, weak, tough, bad and good players.  There was lots of action preflop with a high percentage of hands going all the way to the river.  These guys were relentless.  I was feeling very good about my steadily growing chip stack.  I was above average as we entered the sixth level (200/400 with 50 antes). 

I had not played many hands all tournament long.  My hand selection was tight.  I was only playing top 10% of hands.  The tournament cannot be won on day one, so I was taking it easy, not risking much. 

Then comes THE hand that ended my tournament.  I was dealt pocket jacks. Since there were a couple of limpers, I raised to 5x the big blind.  I got one caller and the two of us went to the flop.  The flop came with one over card, a queen.  For some reason I failed to base my continued actions in this hand upon the type of player my villain was…by the time we got to the river I pushed the remainder of my stack into the middle.  The villain tanks and asks how much…it is almost ten thousand more…villain tanks for a while and finally shrugs his shoulders and says, “What the heck” and calls.  Level one players cannot be moved of a pair.  My fault plain and simple.  I needed to remember who I was playing. 

I spent last week asking a good many people if they would be playing the Borgata’s Main Event. I told anyone who would listen the vital statics of this tournament:

·         $3,500 total price

·         75 minute levels

·         Blinds start 25/25?????

·         30K starting stack

·         WPT televised event

·         Great structure

·         Two day ones

·         $2 million guaranteed

 

If they are still listening when I get to the end of my list, I remind them that the $3,500 is the lowest entry fee for a WPT main event. At this low price there will be more first time main event players pulling together the money to play.  I think the Borgata and WPT may owe me for all the free advertising.

 

I am on the plane to Atlantic City now. I will be playing ACT 1 and ACT 2 in hopes of winning my way into this awesome tournament. I am playing day 2b-Sunday. I am looking forward to seeing many of my fellow teammates at PPI. If you see me in the halls, please say Hello!  Follow my action via Twitter.

 

Come join the fun!!!

 

The Borgata Open is being held Sept 19-26 in the Exhibit Hall at the Borgata. Registration requires a My Borgata card, cash, and valid ID.  Registration open 24 hours.

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