I just got back recently from a week of playing non stop in Vegas.  I have been playing a little cash, but mostly tourneys at Caesar’s capped off by a big one at The Venetian.

Caesar’s turned into a mad house of people from the Rio loving the chip stacks and buy-ins vs. WSOP.  Caesar’s was the best buy in town.  So much so, that for the first time The Venetian changed their chip count…Yeah!!!

I played what seemed non-stop for almost a week.  I did take Sunday off to visit my grandparents who live in Henderson.  I was playing the nooners and a few 7 pm tourneys when I busted out at Caesar’s.  As the week progressed the more and more people showed up.  For example the first $225 buy-in had a little over 500 people.  The second $225 buy-in had over 800 people.  I chose not to play in that one and just played a little cash.  I had a couple of great showings, but none in the money.

I decided to finish up the week with a $550 nooner at The Venetian.  I was planning only starting with $10,000 in chips, but oh to my surprise they changed it up and I started with $15,000.  I was ready to eat my table up.  I started off alright.  Got down to about $6,000.  Some guy bluffed a lot of money off me earlier, but what cha gonna do.  Well, the same guy called my all in…I had Q 9 of clubs…2 clubs with a king came off on the flop…I went all in…he called with K J.  I think his jack was a club.  Anyways, I hit the turn for my flush.  Double up!!  The same guy busted out about 20 minutes later.  I explained the the guy to my right..thank goodness he doubled me up before he busted out!!

The last hand is the one that makes you say…Well, that’s poker folks!!  I was in the small blind with 300, 600 blinds and $50 ante.  One person limps, I call, and BB checks.  I have 3 5 off.  Now comes 2 9 6 rainbow.  The limper bets $1200.  I call and so does the BB.   4 comes on the turn giving me the nut straight.  I bet $6000, approximately what was in the pot.  BB calls and the limper folds.  Now I have BB on a set or two pair.  A harmless 8 comes off, but now you have 3 hearts on the board.  I moved all in and BB calls with A 9 of hearts.  The old man was on a flush draw.  The 6, 4, and the 8 were hearts.  I couldn’t believe it because this guy never really played a hand.  He was a shover pre flop or on the flop.  Now I felt I shoved with a huge $6000 bet, but obviously that was not enough for him.  I could only guess he thought his 9 was good….lol!!!

After I busted out, I went home and packed and surprised my kids and hubby by coming home early.  I drove from Vegas to Orange County in less than 4 hours and I stopped for gas and drive-thru in Baker.  I never called them saying I was on the way.  I rang the bell because I didn’t have the garage door opener.  All my kids were up and in the foyer hugging and kissing me.  Let me tell you folks that makes poker worth playing.  I miss my family terribly when I am away, but when I am at the poker table I put it out of my mind and play my A game.  So, I feel truly blessed and loved when I come home, even if I didn’t win a tourney.  My hubby and 3 boys are the best. 

Last week of school and we are all off to Vegas with babysitter in tow.  I look forward to playing more at The Venetian now they have changed the chip stack.  I am still trying to freeroll my way in through Poker Stars into the main event at Rio.  Summer of Poker tourneys and Horse Auctions!!!  Yeah!!!

Until then….go all in when you got the nuts and maybe those crazy flush chasers will fold!!

Melissa

PS…Just a quick shout out to my friend Leah…Thanks for the Burger Bar…and I know I still owe you Starbucks!!  LOL!!!

Linda Johnson in a recent Card Player magazine asked women which do they prefer, cash or tournament?  I love both, but I go broke playing cash 1 out of 3 times.  The first week I was in Vegas at The Venetian, I killed on the cash tables twice for about $3000 all together.  I started with $400 each time.  The third time was not a charm.  I already doubled up pretty quickly after busting out of the nightly $335 tourney, so I should have just walked away, but oh no, not my dumb butt.  I thought I had a good rush going.

Oh first I forgot to tell you, the night before I did a beautiful 5 way chop for about $2700 in the noon tourney at the Venetian.  We played for about 8 hours, before we finally threw in the towel.  There was one lady there that came to the final table with $12,000 in chips and finished as our chip leader on the table.  She was the epitimy of chip and a chair folks.  I was massive chip leader when it was down to the final 2 tables.  It slowly got chipped away, but I did a big come back on the final table.  It was really exciting.  Two hands I want to talk about.

1st-I had just taken out a huge chip leader and feeling the rush when I was at the final 2 tables.  I don’t even remember the hand, but I remember the this one.  I was still stacking my chips when the next hand was dealt.  The blinds are $3,000 and $6,000 plus an ante of $500.  I raised to $24,000 with pocket Q’s.  Everyone folds arounds, except one.  He reraises me an additional $32,000.  Now remind you I have everyone outchipped 5 to 1 by now and this guy had a huge stack too.  I was on such a rush from the last hand I blurted out all in.  With no hesitation this guy calls.  Remind you I am still stacking my chips from the last hand.  I quickly turn over my queens to his aces.  BOOM!  I set my queens on the flop.  Everyone at the table was telling the guy it’s never easy.  In total shock that I won I quickly sat down exhausted.  I had so many chips I couldn’t stack them.  The tourney director came over and colored me up.  I said  how many chips do I have and he responded…let’s put it this way.  Everyone else has about 1/10 of what you have.  Cool, I thought and ordered in suite dining.  I was starving.  I tried to stay out of a lot of weak hands after that, but still managed to do 2 small CDU (courtesy double ups).  I just laid low until the final table, so when I got there I was no longer the massive chip leader.  I was about even with 3 people.

2nd-Now at the final table and it’s down to 6 of us.  I get pocket aces.  The blinds are the same, just the ante went up to $1,000.  I didn’t want to scare anybody off their marginal hands, so I only bet out $18,000.  I get one caller in the big blind.  The flop comes, rag, rag, jack.  The guy whose first to act says all in.  Of course I call and his head just dropped.  He had a J 8.  I flipped over my aces.  The man to my right said nice way to reel him in.  He said if I bet any more than that I would have lost him.  I took a minute to decide $18 or $24 k and opted to trap and it worked.  After I took his huge stack, then the rest of us worked out the chop.  The short stack gave 4 of us each an additional $100 from his winnings.  He really appreciated it, the 4 of us could have blinded him out in 2 rounds.

Now, back to cash or tourney?  My cash game is good, but I have a money management problem.  I won $3000 in the first 2 nights and gave $2500 back the 3rd night.  Oh that sucked.  No more atm cards for me in a casino.  Now I just take my entry and a little spending cash for food and drink.  Cash is more for gamblers and tourneys are more for athletes.  I myself want to be an athelete.

I love The Venetian by the way.  Tune in next time when I talk about family, tourneys, and another chop at The Venetian.

May your pocket deuces never loseces.

Melissa

Well, since my first huge win at The Orleans I pushed my luck and hit a daily at Hollywood Park the following Tuesday.  I have done a few tourneys there and cash games, but not much luck.  I played the 11:30 am NLH tourney with rebuys.  I never hit the felt, so I was in a total of $70.  I did the add-on for insurance before the break.  I can honestly say I was pulling off some of the biggest bluffs of my life there.  I played super hyper aggressive.  The man to my right was weak, so weak I made him cry…lol.  The man to my left said to me that he had never seen such an aggressive woman player at Hollywood Park before and loved my performance.  I had a deal with this cowboy that if we made it to the final table that we would chop at the end, but play it out for 10% juice.

I wish this tourney was a bounty.  I must have knocked out at least a dozen or so people.  I was on fire.  When I got to the final two tables, I later found out that the chip leader was the number one ranked player at HP.  He had me outchipped 2.5 to 1.  Within the first 15 minutes, I had about 90% of his stack in two hands.  First hand, I had Q 9 off.  I raised, he reraised, I called.  I think the blinds were 2,000 and 4,000.  I hit my nine on the flop with rag, rag.  I bet out around $12,000.  He reraised me another $16,000.  I called all in.  I looked away and didn’t give him any information.  I think that he had A K, but didn’t hit it.  I think he had me on a set of 9’s.  He went in the tank for a good 5 minutes before he finally in disgust mucked.

The next hand I had pocket Q’s.  I raised it up and he called.  I hit a set on the flop.  I called all in since at this time he only had about $6000 left.  He threw his cards in the muck with disgust again and a 3 flipped up, so I am guessing he didn’t hit his 3’s.  Later he lost his all his chips in the battle of the blinds. 

Now on this table was a very short stack and due to my aggression and him hitting some killer cards, I ended up heads up with him.  It should have never been this man, but I made a 3 huge mistakes.  One, when he went all in, me and another player called him, I should have just checked it down, but I got greedy and wanted a side pot and the other player folded.  Now the other player would have won and the short stack would have been out.  He tripled up instead.  Second huge mistake, he went all in and I had pocket jacks and called and he turned over kings.  He doubled up again.  Now this man is equal to Mike the Mouth but from Russia.  He was going on and on…feeling like a donkey I told him to sit down and shut up…which he did. 

Now for the 3rd and this is a doozey.  I get heads up with this man and he offers me a chop.  He had about $75,000 more in chips then me.  Now in hind site, yes I should have taken the chop, but I didn’t.  This guy had pissed me off and I was still on a high from The Orleans that I thought I could take him down.  I was soo tired.  I should have taken the offer, but I have never chopped before, and with so many people telling me I should take it I freaked out and said no.  So, about 5 hands later instead of taking $1800 home, I only took $1400 home.  Still a nice win, but next time my dumb butt will take a chop.

Now with these 2 great wins within days of each other, my dlh sends me to Vegas to grind it out.  Tune in next time for great tales from The Venetian.

Until then….Always take the chop…it’s all about the equity!!

Melissa

Well after I busted out of the WPT Ladies Championship, I was bumbed.  I didn’t have high expectations, but at least not to got on the second level.  I wish it was deepstack.  1500 chips just didn’t seem enough.  After sulking at the Bellagio for a couple of hours, I left to my Las Vegas home.

I called my dlh and just let it all hang out.  I told him everything that happened.  After about 30 minutes of talking to him, I said I either want to go and play $105 tourney at The Orleans or play the $340 deepstack at The Venetian.  My dlh said just go have fun at The Orleans after such a stressful day.  I personally think that he just didn’t want me to lose another $340 vs. $105…lol

So, I took a couple of Advil and headed off to The Orleans 7 pm nightly tourney.  It’s a great tourney.  $105 gets you $5000 in chips and 30 minute rounds…not bad.  I went in with the attitude…I just want to have fun and unwind from a big day.  That’s going to be my attitude from now on…just have fun.  I grinded out until 2 amagainst 70 other players.  I was so lucky and so on my game.  I busted out about 12 people.  Once I got the final table I busted 2 in one hand  The blinds were 3,000 and 6,000 with a 1,000 ante.  I was in the big blind.  Two short stacks went all in and it came around to me.  I had 6 7 diamonds.  It was about 16,000 for me to call.  Now I outchipped everyone at least 5 to 1.  So, I took the gamble for such a small price.  First lady turned over A 3 unsuited.  The second guy turned over A 9 unsuited.  I hit a 7 on the river and knocked them both out.  Wow, that was sick.  I ran into the second guy about week later and he introduced me to a regular as…”This is the girl I was telling you about that called with 6 7.”  I just had to laugh.  FYI…the first lady..I knocked her hubby out earlier…lol

So, it came down to the final 3 and it’s late.  Before the break we talked about a chop, but one man disagreed.  We went on break and the guy finally agreed.  I looked at our chips stacks and then noticed the ante went up to $5000 and the blinds 5,000/10,000.  I had the other two outchipped 6 to 1.  I said “Naw look at the monitor.  This should be fast.”  I only took about another 30 minutes.  I was in the small blind.  The guy on the button said all in…the other guy called him.  I looked down and saw J 10 diamonds.  I mucked and decided to let the 2 short stacks go at it.  The button turns over K K, the other guy has A 4.  The guy hits aces at the pocket kings was out.  “Only a donkey would make that call!” was the comment left behind…lol

Now this other guy is an all in or fold and I haven’t been calling his all ins because I didn’t know until that last hand what he was capable of calling an all in with..any ace obviously.  It only took about 5 hands heads up with this guy.  I was on the button and raised $40,000 more with A 7 off…he says all in…I thought to myself, well I can afford one CDU (courtesy double up) then I would have to play slower.  He turns over A 10 off.  I hit my my 7 on the flop and his 10 never came.  I WIN!! 

Now folks, why this is so important.  It was my maiden.  I won my first tourney ever in a casino.  Since then I have a few more in the money to brag about….so tune in next time.

May your aces take down a big pot!!!

Melissa

Hello and welcome to my new poker blog.  Here you will find my fortunes and misfortunes as I travel through the world of Professional Poker.  Hopefully you will hear more about my fortunes than my bad beats.  I would like to first thank Lupe Soto of LIPS for putting the call out for women poker bloggers.  I am just getting started on the circuit, so I found this very inviting to write about it at the same time. 

I have been playing poker now for 5 years.  My fabulous hubby said it was time for me to start taking it to a whole new level.  See, I use to be a top Real Estate Agent for a huge company in Orange County.  With the market the way it is, I had to do the only other thing I know how to do to make money and that’s Poker folks.  I am going to give you a quick run down of how it’s been for me the last few weeks.  

On April 8th (Tuesday)-My dlh (darling loving hubby) woke up and decided on a whim to stake me for the WPT Ladies Championship.  Now mind you I have only played in a couple of daily tourneys at local casinos and a few cash games, but my dlh thought I had what it takes.  Excited about the opportunity I quickly tried to figure it all out.  I was signed up to go to a WPT Bootcamp the following weekend.  I thought it would have been more cost effective to do it after the Bootcamp, but dlh said go for it.  So, I did.  I emailed Linda Johnson “The First Lady of Poker” to ask for some advice.  Believe it or not she called me within an hour.  She said “Hello, this is Linda Johnson.”  My surprised response…”No it isn’t!”  And it was…she is the nicest person.  She invited me to her home the following Saturday for a party that she was having for the ladies.  Of course I said that I would be there.

On April 12th (Saturday)-I drove to Las Vegas from Orange County that day.  It’s about 4 to 4.5 hours for me to get to my house in LV.  I got there and got ready for the party.  Now everyone says Linda Johnson has more money than God, but you would have not known it with her modest home.  It was in a guard gated community on a golf course with a front yard view of the strip.  Linda’s home is a museum to Poker.  All of her walls are covered in memoriable with every big name in poker.  I esspecially loved her huge photo with Doyle Brunson.  I stayed for a few hours and met all the ladies.  Clonie Gowen, (who I think I am related to by marriage somehow because Gowen is my maiden name), JJ Liu, Jan Hansen, Kathy and Kelly were our speakers for the evening.  Clonie made a huge impression on me.  We spoke quite a bit and what I got out of it…it’s not about the cards…it’s all about the people.  Her big thing was she didn’t like to hear the words “card dead.”  She says there is no such thing.  It was really a great learning experience and I also met Lupe there.  The support system that these ladies have is out of this world.  I am glad to say I am becoming a part of that circle.

On April 13th (Sunday)-WPT Ladies Championship at the Bellagio…talk about every woman in poker being there…I even heard Jennifer Tilly was there, but didn’t see her.  I looked around my table and figured alright this looks like an interesting bunch…until the bomb dropped on me right before the tourney started.  A lady stood up to hand out some Tiffany braclets to previous winners on the circuit.  They called for Vanessa Selbst, the winner of the LAPT at the Commerce.  I just saw her photo on a few days before, but didn’t recognize her at the table until the braclet was given to her.  Oh crap…I thought…here I thought I was going to play with others more on my level…not a proven champ.  I was so nervous that I had to hide my shaking hands underneath the table.  Needless to say, my pocket Queens got cracked by the pocket Kings early on…so short stacked I shoved twice all in….once with pocket 10’s against A10 and a straight hit the board…so chop….second time I had A3…against Vanessa’s AJ…I got a 3 on the flop, but she hit the Jack on the River…so I was out. 

After sulking and hanging around the Bellagio for a couple more hours I decided to go home.  I lost my favorite hat at the Bellagio…It’s black with diamond skull and cross bones with “Dead Men Tell No Tales” embroided on the side…also it had a diamond “Winner” pin in the middle…I have called Lost and Found at Bellagio 3 times now, but no luck…figured someone thought those diamonds were real…but they are not…lol…Check back here later so I can tell you later how I won my $1590 buy-in back the same night, but at The Orleans nightly tourney…that I won with no chop.

May the Poker Gods shine their luck on you!

Melissa aka Athena8