Now playing High Stakes No Limit Hold'em

Early Saturday morning I called Tina Tellone, a close friend of mine, to see about her joining me in Daytona Beach Kennel Club for a day of poker action.  Tina arrived 45 minutes late and on her 4^th hand found herself on the button with pocket kings.  Five women limped in to the hand with her and the blinds to go, she announced, “this is NOT a button raise I just happen to be sitting where it is located.”  With a raise of $600 everyone called including the blinds.  The flop came with an Ace, as if there would be any doubt.  The small blind let out with $600 and everyone folded to Tina you could see the steam shooting out of her ears and she called the bet.  Later I asked why and she said, “I had to see what Ace was so valuable on a 50/100 blind level with a pre-flop raise of $600“.  They checked it down from the flop and the woman turned over Ace/Eight off-suit.

After the hand I hear from the table where she was, “just so you know my chips have GPS tracking in them and I will be getting them back”.  Sure enough Tina did just that. The very next level got them all back and then some!  She did it by limping in with pocket 8’s and spiking a set on the flop! The poker gods were smiling as she boated against the woman’s nut flush at the river.  Tina doubled up through the very woman who cracked her Kings.

Way to go, Tina!

She was definitely on her game correctly calling hole cards hand after hand, she was unstoppable.  Accurately assessing the final table Tina offered the woman expected to make it to heads up a chop.  No thanks! Final table action lasted 45 minutes and it was Tina vs. the reluctant chopper. This woman wasn’t willing to concede the trophy or title even though Tina had the chip advantage.  Tina laughingly said, “That’s fine, I’ll win it outright” and it only took 14 hands.

I am reminded of a similar reluctant chopper story from my background.  It was the 2008 WSOP Ladies circuit event at Harrah’s New Orleans.  First place was $16,700 with $9,185 for second.  After clearing most of the final table I ended heads up.  I offered my opponent very generous even money deal with me retaining the title and the gold WSOP Circuit pendant necklace. She declined even though I had 85% of the chips. I won the tournament two hands later.

Tina was on Cloud 9 with her win and decided pickup some extra funds from the cash game.  I think she was more excited about winning the trophy than the cash.  Trophies are tangible reminders allowing  us bragging rights and reminiscent feelings of triumph.  Congratulations, Tina!  Love you!

There has been much debate about Ladies only events in poker. I understand there can be strong feelings for both sides of the debate. You hear many of the same arguments over and over.

Here’s one you may not have considered:

Ladies only events bring women into the casino. These gals enjoy playing poker. Before and after each event you see a substantial increase of women playing cash. Give them what they are looking for—a good time at the table. They will open their wallets for you. So quit complaining the ladies events are sexist, and enjoy the benefit$. Don’t spoil the fun by crashing the events.

Ladies events are positive EV for poker in general.  They bring BEGINNERS (aka fish) to the game.  These are the players you want to join you at the tables.  For some ladies, the ladies event is the only way they will venture into the casino to play poker, because it feels safe to them.  I am begging you guys to leave them alone.

Internet young guns, stop sulking in your hoodie and smile at that gal sitting next to you. She is probably intimidated and could use a friend. Help her to feel comfortable.  Let her know how things work in the game, if she seems unsure. Always acknowledge someone who speaks to you.  You spend way too many hours in your cocoon anyway. 

Men who have wives, who don’t understand all the hours at the tables, should bring their lady along for a weekend of spa, shopping, and poker. Have her bring along a couple of friends. She will be so busy have fun that there will be no time to nag you. Hopefully she will find the experience so much fun that she will pick up the game. Once she is playing regularly her daily nagging allowance will be sharply decreased. There is one drawback; she may become a better player than you!!

Tournament Directors: Please add a male only event to occur at the same time as the Ladies Events.

I’m out! I opened with AKo in middle position+2. Got the call from the  Button and BB. Flop came A-Q-8. BB checked and I moved it all-in. The button got out of the way and the BB tabled pocket 8′s to make me extremely sick!
I have to send out a big THANK YOU to everyone for all the well wishes and support through the entire run. I am still gonna play a little longer before I come home, so I hope to be able to send some good news to everyone in the end.

just woke up not too long ago and wanted to let everyone know that I really appreciate your support! It has been wonderful to see everyone’s messages! Anytime I’m in the big ones like the World Series, or the World Poker Tour, it seems to drain me and the emotional pick-up is well needed.

Now, it’s time to prepare for day 3.More from day 2 is still to come. I just need to get the notes out and do a little transcribing so everyone will actually be able to understand my gibberish.

Also, I really wanna thank Julio with Cardplayer for taking such a great pic of me!

Jena is chasing me in my dreams

In the past two years I was in Las Vegas for seven weeks to cover the whole WSOP for IntelliPoker.com and PokerStarsBlog.de. I had to write reports about the performances of the Germans and the Team PokerStars Pro players. So every day I had to take pictures of the players with my camera. If you take pictures of the players every day, you will recognize them after a while. I knew that Jena was playing the year before – how could I forget her smile – but I didn’t get to know her in person . During the WSOP 2008 we had some nice but small chats.  

This year I’ll be in Vegas for only two weeks (if I don’t qualify for the main event). So it isn’t surprising at all that I catch up every piece from Vegas and the WSOP that I could get. I follow the news, blogs, Facebook and Twitter. I saw Jena’s status reports at Facebook and I was happy to see, that she is also playing in a lot of events this year and not only the Ladies Event like some other female players do. So far so good.

 A few days ago I had a very strange dream, I dreamed that I was already in Vegas and drove in a car through the streets, searching for something I don’t remember. After  a while I saw a highway sign, and I couldn’t believe what I saw – it was a sign of the “Jena Delk Highway”. I caught myself thinking, “Wow, is she so famous that they named a highway after her?”. Then I woke up. It was so funny that I told it Jena at MSN Messenger, and I could imagine her laughing . I guess my dream has something to do with her status message at Facebook, but who knows, maybe it is a sign of something special – I wouldn’t be surprised, if they name a highway after the first woman who wins the main event. So go for it Jena, and don’t forget to sell me a share . And if it isn’t going to happen, there is still a job for the first female president of the United States of America. If so forget the share, I would only need a Greencard in that case . I’m really looking forward to see you in Vegas, meanwhile good luck at the tables.