After 40 hours of almost non-stop poker at the Commerce, I was fortunate to have a poker playing friend, Hillary, drive me down to San Diego for the next leg of my trip. We had a fun day stopping along the way for shopping and eating. It was good to get out into the fresh air again. Once I walked into the Commerce I didn’t step out the front door for three days, and it you can get a bit myopic. It certainly was nice to walk out the front door with more money than I walked in with, even after paying my bill. We arrived at Ocean’s Eleven just in time to catch a shuttle bus out to Ivey Ranch – a ranch for disabled children that was the beneficiary of the weekend Ladies tournament being hosted by O-11. We spent about three hours pulling weeds, digging holes, planting trees and painting fences in the hot sun. I was fervently hoping the Poker Gods were watching and would bless my good deeds with good cards over the weekend.
Later that evening after checking into the condo and having a meet and greet I finally got to sit down and play some cash games. I played the $1 $2 tables, which have a more standard 100X BB buy in. It was after 10pm by the time I sat down and only got to play for a couple of hours, from what I can recall I left $80 up. You really need several hours at a table usually if you want a chance to make a solid profit.
The next morning was the first tournament, a ladies only $180 buy-in. We had about 170 starters, including 6 or 7 men. The following day we also had 6 or 7 guys enter the California State Ladies Championship. Why any man would want to win that title, or endure the wrath of 200 pissed off women is way beyond me. Those that claim discrimination are full of crapola. Discrimination laws were created to protect the oppressed. The last time I looked average white guys were NOT being oppressed in casinos. I have found that most older guys tend to do it because they truly like being surrounded by women, even angry ones, and believe themselves to be helping in some way (they usually pledge to donate any winnings to a cause such as Ivey Ranch, or in a case I heard about there, a pregnant woman who was playing in the tournament). The others do it (especially the younger guys), because they think the field will be weak. This year the Ladies fields I played against both days were WAY better than last year. Really, really tough players. None of the men made it anywhere near the final tables, and each and every one received a standing, yelling, jeering ovation to accompany their walk of shame to the rail. I made it to about 48 the first day. I had an unremarkable tournament. Made some good bluffs along the way, but never had anything break my way.
Started playing cash around 4pm at the $1 $2 tables. After a few hours, and a single re-buy, I chipped up to $800 and decided to try my hand at the $5 $5 table. The difference between the $1$2 and the $5$5 was HUGE. The $1$2 tables are filled with mostly younger players (21-35), and women. At those tables I was really in control, reading the players, being the bully, pushing hands correctly, pulling off some great bluffs, being the chip leader and playing a loose and very aggressive style. Switch to the $5$5 and these guys were mostly a bit older (30-60) had racks of chips in front of them (avg stack $1000 – $2000) and knew how to use them. The average pots were huge – $500 – $1200 at least once or twice an orbit. They were very good players, and in all likelihood knew they were better than me. So why did the little fishy stay? Those of you who have been reading my posts for a while know that 1) I am stubborn and 2) I like to challenge my self and learn, even if it is the hard way. Since I had chipped up to that $800 I figured if I lost it all it would really only clip my roll $300 (I know Mike Caro would beg to differ on that). I also felt that I could, at the very least, hold my own there. I knew the kind of hand I was looking for to win a big pot at that kind of table, and felt I could get paid off if it ever came. I did participate in the table. I won a few pots including a nice $500 pot. But to participate in a table like that is very expensive. The difference in average bet size there was about 5x – 10x what it is at the $1$2 tables. The pots just grow exponentially. There was a LOT of money moving around at this table. One of the best players at the table was directly on my left. As usual I like to chat with my table mates, and make temporary buddies. As the night wore on the very good player started to “work” with me. By the end of the night he was showing me his hold cards on some huge hands as they progressed (so I could learn from him I guess, or just to show off). I would laughingly berate myself from time to time for “playing like a girl” or like a “sissy”. After one hand he whispered to me that I was playing like a girl again (which I was). I can’t tell you how great it is to be the only friendly little blonde at the table. I have received more free on-the-job training with nothing more than a nice attitude and a smile. Not only is it beneficial, it is a whole lotta fun. Alas, the right kind of hand I was hoping for (a straight, trips, a flush, even top two on the right board) never materialized, but my ride home did, and I cashed out for about $600… more than I started with at the beginning of the night, but a loss at that table. Still I was disappointed that I didn’t get to win one ginormous pot at that table. Looking back now it is interesting how completely different my style of play was at that table compared to the others. It was like I was a completely different person. At the lower buy-in I am a loose aggressive steam roller, really comfortable risking my $200 buy-in, but I am not at all comfortable risking the $500 and play much tighter, and less aggressive. Almost all the guys at the $5 table were loose aggressive steamrollers. I guess I should consider myself lucky I didn’t end up as pavement there.
Saturday was the Ladies Championship. Started with around 210 players. I went out around 45th again. I played pretty well. There is just one hand I really regretted afterwards. We were down to 5 tables, the blinds and antes were huge. I had a medium stack, but the levels were getting so big that it was definitely “go” time. I was in middle position with KJ suited. There were 2 limpers already including the huge and very aggressive stack at the table. My first mistake was that I should have gone all in right there. But I limped, the SB completed the BB checked. So the starting pot was very big. I can’t remember all the details (I gotta write this stuff down at the time) but the flop was 10 J 3 or something like that giving me top pair. Don’t remember if it was here or on the turn, but the BB goes all in and I know that she is on a huge draw (I saw her later and she had a straight flush draw). I knew that she probably owned half the deck, but my pair of Jacks was currently ahead. The thing is it would have taken most of my stack to call her all in. If I lost I would have been decimated, but if I won I would have had a huge stack. Given the amount of money in the pot, and the place we were at in the tournament, I really think I should have called. I think this was one of those race situations towards the end of the tournament where you are just going to have to coin flip for a chance to win. I need to get over my distaste for races in tournaments, accept that they are a necessary evil, and that the only good news is that we can wait and choose the one that will give us maximum equity if we win it. This was one of those cases, which is why I should have taken it. Instead I folded (sissy) lost a race a few orbits later and was out anyway.
After a brief break I jumped onto a newly formed $1$2 table. It is always nice when everyone starts out even at a cash table. After six days of serious poker playing I needed a beer too. Now drinking on an empty stomach when you weigh 125 pounds is never a good idea LOL. I get silly pretty quick that way. But the good news is that after six days of serious poker playing I was seriously in the zone. So while I appeared to be a bit loopy my poker brain was firing away at top speed. I had the young guys at this table tied up in knots, and re-buying while they scratched their heads. About two hours later the party in the tent outside was starting so I left the table with a full rack ($500) or so. I told the guys that if they were still here when I came back I would join them again.
The casino hosts a fabulous party all weekend for us Ladies. They set up a huge tent in the parking lot, feed us breakfast and great buffet dinners. There is a Talent Show among other entertainment. A group of ladies who call themselves the Oklahoma Hotties are an absolute hoot. There are 30 or more of them, and they show up in matching bedazzled jackets and hats. Average age is over 60 and they are having a grand time. Many of them are kickass players also. Last year they sang a song from the 30’s about a cat who gets left out in the rain (it was a wet pussy) that got very raunchy and was absolutely laugh till you cry hilarious. I arrived in the tent just in time to see this years song. In groove with the Beach Boys theme they sang Good Vibrations. You haven’t lived till you have seen a troupe of ole poker gals in blinking feather boas prancing around stage with, ummm, certain devices which have good vibrations. Maybe that was what set me off for the evening…. so a few glasses of wine later the Beach Boys cover band starts. They had a hula hoop contest which is of course right up my alley. In an effort to keep the joviality humming along, I took my hula hoop and did that trick where you flick it a certain way and it goes away from you then changes direction and comes zooming back to you. The dance floor was emptying out, and encouraged by the reaction to my first trick, I suddenly had a brilliant idea. Wouldn’t it would be funny if I did that trick, but then jumped head first through the hoop, much like a Toy Poodle? In my over zealous first attempt I added too much English to the flick and the Hula Hoop caroomed into the crowd assaulting an old woman. Undaunted, I retrieved the wayward prop and noticing that most of the packed tent was now focusing on my antics I redoubled my fuzzy focus on the now completely empty stage for my next attempt. The Hula Hoop whizzed fiercely away, then dutifully whizzed back and as it approached I coiled, and sprang forward, diving head first through it, twisting around at the key moment so I landed on my bum with arms raised in a flourishing “ta-da” finish. The crowd goes wild (well sort of). I then spent the next hour or so dancing my bruised bum off. I love to dance, or maybe I just really needed some aerobic exercise after sitting for six days at a poker table. When I was done the band thanked me, as there were very few people left at that point, and I headed back into the casino. I must have been quite a sight, sweating and flushed, my hair frizzed up and sticking out in every direction. A woman I didn’t even know looked at me and said “Honey you look like you’ve been rode hard and put away wet.”
It was in this state that I arrived back at the table I had left two hours ago, and there were my main victims just waiting for me. They were very happy to see me. I must admit I was a bit high, I’d had a few, but had danced most of it off. I was just feeling all around good. I announced I was thirsty and the boys were very helpful in getting the cocktail waitress as quickly as possible to our table. I could see their eager anticipation written all over their faces, thoughts of revenge dancing through their heads that would put sugar plum fairies to shame. They thought I was quite drunk, and were happy about it. Who was I too disillusion young dreams? So I put on quite an act that night (well admittedly it was half an act as I was half looped and thoroughly hula-hooped). That table went from a tight grind to a happy loose action party in no time. I bought back in for the max $200, and grabbed a plastic chip rack as soon as I chipped up to $500. The beauty of using that chip rack is that you can grab what looks to be like a totally random number of chips and toss out a bet that looks sloppy and uncalculated. But of course they are not. These guys just never caught on that I was pricing them off draws, leveraging their stacks, and using SPR’s to push or trap them. There was one guy who kept shaking his head when I would win yet another big pot from him. Then he would win a small pot from me. My favorite line of the night - “When you win a pot it has $14 dollars in it, when I win it has $140.” And he still couldn’t stop himself from trying. I had a really good time at that table. There was a young guy on my left for a while who was actually keeping track of every hand at the table in a notebook. It was like he was doing a manual PokerTracker stat compilation. Boy, there’s some dedication. I stayed away from him and he stayed away from me. Clever lad. When my room mates dragged me off around 2am I happily cashed out my two racks of chips and I am sure I left some of those guys still wondering how that drunk lady kept on winning.
I spent most of Sunday in the condo, packing and nursing a bruised knee. If any of you ever see me with a glass of wine in one hand and a Hula Hoop in the other please put a restraining hand on my arm and remind me that I am getting too old to participate in such undignified pursuits. Back at the casino, waiting for our shuttle to take us to the airport, I think I tried another unsuccessful run at the $5$5 table, where I walked away with an $80 loss or something, it’s a but fuzzy now. Bidding adieu to friends, I was pleasantly surprised to find our shuttle was actually the Ocean’s Eleven owners limo. This baby is long and black and totally tricked out. There are lights in the ceiling and all along the 4 foot long bar that change colors…. I could get used to being driven around like that.
The flight to Vegas was uneventful… and brings us to the next and final chapter of the trip………
