This is her world

And I get to share it with her.  Last weekend the PQ played in a women's poker tourney which was part of the High Heels Poker Tour.  They are a group that tries to get more women into poker and they conduct periodic tourneys around her.  The PQ did pretty well but got Robbed when they got down to 2 tables when her KK was beaten after getting all in against A-10 when an A hit the river.  She was not happy about that but unfortunately, that is what happens too often when you play those two losers.  Earlier in the tourney she had made a big double up with the same 2 cards when she busted out another gal.  Anyway we were looking at the HHPT website and there was a picture of her in the tourney.  I tried to reproduce it but the site wouldn't let me but you can see it here under the Derby Lane pictures.  She is just sitting there (without her crown) looking at the at the flop with a "We are not amused" look on her face.  Trust me I have seen that look from her on many occasions.  I even deserve the look sometimes.

But not today.  I just completed feeding the family plus my oldest niece who spent the night with one of my patented Sunday morning food fests.  Gave the new stove/oven a nice workout when I made bacon, home fried potatoes, omelets with cheese, sauteed mushrooms and onions, and baked up some biscuits.  Add in some coffee and pineapple/orange juice and you got yourself a nice start to the day.   The sun is shining, it's warm outside and all is right in the world.

Last night we hit Derby Lane again for the 8pm tourney.  Actually I hit the room in the afternoon while the PQ went and ran some errands and spent some girl time with our summer resident back from college also known as our only daughter.  I wanted to get in some quality time at the Omaha tables.  I should have spent the day sleeping.   Early on I made some nice chips when I scooped a pot after making a full house on the river.  It was ahead with 2 pair at that point and the river made it official.  It was about the last time anything I made held up.  I spent the next 4 hours looking at crap hands and dumping them or having good hands, seeing bad flops and dumping, or on a rare occasion, getting a good hand and seeing a nice flop only to have the turn and river crush me.  It got awful.  One hand I had A256 with the A2 of spades.  Flop comes out 34K with two spades.  I have the open ended straight draw, the nut flush draw, and the nut low draw.  Turn and river are 9-10 without a spade.  I bet the whole way and all I do is lose.  After the flop I have 8 outs for the nut flush and 9 others for the nut straight.  Another 4 give me the non nut straight (a 5 or 6) that may not hold up but at least makes my low.  Also 3 more 8s that make my low as well.  So if we're scoring at home there are 24 cards, to make anywhere from part to all of the winning hand and in 2 shots I got nothing. 

This is the way Omaha hi/lo goes sometimes but for more than 4 hours it continued this way.  I never got any more winning hands outside of a couple of small split pots and even when I hit hands, the turn or river killed me.  I flopped a grand total of one set when I had a pair in my hand and managed to lose that to a runner runner straight.  Now I felt good after my hour long massage earlier in the day but this taxed me sorely.  Especially watching these moronic players who were trying to donate their funds but instead were taking the worst cards imaginable and making hands with them.  Some days it sucks to play Omaha. 

When the PQ arrived and signed up for the 8 pm tourney I gave her some cash to sign me up too.  I was done with losing my ass in ring games and figured a tourney was a place I could lose my ass and it would cost me only a fixed amount.   That probably saved me some money right there.

The tourney started out slow and I began observing my fellow seatmates, especially the 2 on my left.  I was in seat one.  In seat 2 was a gal in Rays gear.  She was fairly aggressive and I saw her tangle with one guy and stay in with an A7.  The other guy had A5 and she won a nice pot.  I bluffed at a pot early on with 42 and she called my post flop bet.  Then when an ace hit the turn she reraised me and I let it go.  She would float hands hoping for an ace and really didn't give her opponents credit for an ace.  Usually she was right and she made some nice chips but I got her pretty good a little later when I had A-10 and an ace flopped.  She called every street with a weaker ace and gave me a couple of thousand chips. 

The guy to the left of her was very aggressive and would make big moves when he felt he was ahead.  He won a few mid sized pots early on then lost most of his gains when he pushed at someone who flopped 2 pair.  I was in the small blind and he was first to act.  He raised to 350 when blinds were 25/50 which I thought was a pretty big raise.  I put him on AK, AQ, AJ or a mid pair from 7s to Js or Qs.   One guy calls and I look down at my hand to see KK.   I figure with the way my day has gone so far, its time to get Robbed again.  I raise to 1350.  Rays gal next to me calls.  Not surprising there but then the original raiser goes over the top all in.  He has almost as many chips as I do at this time.  The first caller folds and it comes back to me.  Sometimes this is an easy call but early in a tourney when I still have my whole stack I really don't want to risk it all with anything less than AA.  Then again opportunities to double up early with a monster hand like KK don't come around all that often.  So I thought for a bit about my opponent and his betting and how he had just taken a beat and may be apt to push a less than stellar hand in.  So I call for almost my entire stack.  Luckily Rays girl folds and we're heads up.  I'm sure this guy hoped I had something like AK but he was very sad to see KK when he flipped over JJ.  He did not improve and I doubled up to 22 K.  

Rays gal then went on a tear and I had a little bad luck when my AQ could not beat a shorty's 10-10.  At the first break I'm down to about 16k and she is well over 20.  The PQ is on the table next to mine and she catches a guy making a move when she flops a set of kings.  Next thing you know it's buh -bye for him and she is up to 24K. 

A new guy moves into the seat to the left of the Rays gal and man is he aggressive.  He tangles Rays gal and she takes a chunk off him with a semi weak ace but he ends up getting her back a bit later.  He is raising in all kinds of positions with just about anything but he gets AQ and she pushes at him with A6  Unfortunately I am card dead and can't make him pay.  I know he is raising up on crap but I am getting 9-4 and J-6 a lot.  I had to bide my time.  I lost another chunk when an A9 beat my AJ when a 9 hit.  I was sitting on 5300 with blinds at 400-800 when I looked down at K9 in the small blind.  Everyone folded to me and I was sure if I just called, Mr Hyper Aggression would raise me all in.  I knew I had a better than average hand so I figured to call him.  As expected he raised to 8K and I snapped called him.  I flipped over K9 to his Q6.  I caught a 9 and he never improved doubling me up to over 12K.  Our table broke soon after and both he and I were moved to the next table over.  I look to my left and lo and behold, there is the PQ directly on my left.   And directly on my right where I prefer him to be is Mr Hyper Aggression. 

The PQ is sitting over 30K, Mr HA is sitting over 100K and I'm at 12.  Average stack is 23K so I need to get to work but with mostly new people to deal with, I kinda have to feel my way.  So I keep it tight.  I do manage a couple of preflop steals to keep my chips up but I don't have much to talk about yet.  Then I tangle with Mr HA again.  First the PQ takes a big chunk out of Mr HA when she takes him on in a multi way pot.  She raises preflop and a shorty to her left pushes in for a bit more.  Mr HA calls and so does the PQ.  Flop is 652 and HA pushes in.  She snap calls him and flips over 99.  He has AK and the shorty had AJ.  Neither improves and the PQ near triples up which was good as she had been losing chips up to then.  She is up to near 40K after that.  The next hand I look down at 99.  I was down to just under 13k with blinds at 500-1000 so I can't fool around.  A couple of limpers and it comes to me in the big blind when I push all in.  It goes around to a mid stack a few seats to my left who goes into the think tank.  The way she is thinking I am pretty sure I'm ahead but I don't know if I want a call or not.  I figure not but she surprises me by eventually calling.  She flips over 66 and is unhappy to see 99, especially after the wife had it the previous hand.  She doesn't get better and its score one for the good guys as I am now over 30K.  Not out of danger but a lot better. 

Mr HA on the other hand is going the wrong way.  He feels it's his duty to take out the shorties except he is usually behind when he calls.  A couple of times he calls on races and loses but a couple of others he is well behind and doesn't get his card.  He is down from 100 to 45K when I raise to 5400 under the gun.  It folds to him and he pushes all in.  I can't sit around on JJ and call him.  He surprisingly flips over A5 suited and doesn't improve.  From 100K he is now down to 15K.  Yes he didn't have much luck on some calls but he really didn't need to play table captain and try to knock out everyone.  Hell 100K was over 20% of the chips in play.  He could have sat around waiting for big hands and just used a little controlled aggression to keep his stack even but instead pissed it away.  Not that I minded as the PQ and I were big beneficiaries. 

A little later I picked up 99 again and when he pushed in for his last 15K I took him out though I cannot remember what he had.  I had a run of good cards and good results and got myself up to 68K.  Unfortunately I found it hard to keep that as well. 

I called a shorty's all in with AJ but he had JJ and I didn't improve.  I tried a couple of steals and got called and raised out.  With blinds and antes increasing and my hands decreasing I had a hard time keeping chips up.  The PQ didn't and she kept between 35 and 50K as I kept losing.  One hand really cost me when I was in the big blind and 4 of us saw a flop of K55.  Yes.  Everyone checks the flop and the turn is a 9 putting 2 spades and 2 clubs on the board.  I make a near pot sized bet and get 2 callers.  River is an ugly 3 of spades.  I check and the last to act bets 8K.  I thought about folding but called and he flipped over 2 little spades to beat my trips.  Damn I should have just bet the flop and taken down a decent little pot rather than trying to get a big pot going.  That cost me.   Finally we get down to 1 table but I am the short stack while the PQ is in okay shape at 45K.  I manage to keep the same seat I had but she is moved 2 seats to my right. 

Nothing happens for a bit but with blinds and antes, no one can wait around too long.  Early on one lady pushes in with AK but runs into KK and does not Rob him. And we're down to 9.  The PQ whacks one guy and I manage to chip up a bit when I bluff out 2 guys with 78 suited.  Can I help it if they give me credit for a real hand?  We get down to 7 people and it really becomes a grind.  I'm down to about 18K when I pick up AK in the small blind.  I push all in to take down the blinds and antes.  That doesn't sound like much but with 2500/5000 blinds and 500 antes that's over 10k.  I get AK the very next hand and push again.  No one calls and I'm now over 40K.  Next hand 3 of us see a flop of 10-8-6 of hearts.  I'm sitting on 99 with the 9 of hearts.  I should have pushed in for 37K right there as I was on the button but only bet a little less than the pot.  Of course one guy calls and another heart hits.  If it was the 7 of hearts I would have been thrilled but it was the 3.  He pushes in and I think really hard before finally folding.  I showed my heart 9 and he showed the Q so it was a good fold but I shouldn't have given him the chance.  He had a good sized stack but I doubt he calls an all in there for near half his stack.   Or maybe I push all in preflop and take another 10k there but figured I'm gonna get called if I push a 3rd time and 99 is really vulnerable if more than one person calls me. Bad play on my part I think now.

This woman to my left is really getting low and eventually pushes all in to a 3 way pot.  Her AJ doesn't beat another guy's AQ and she is gone and we're down to 6.  I'm back to being the shorty but determined not to just hang around.  I manage to keep my stack but everyone seems content to wait me out.  I push in with A6 in the small blind but the big blind calls me with AK.  I'm out until a 6 hits the flop and I make a key double up.  Eventually 2 guys tangle and one walks away with the chips while the other walks away with the bubble (and my thanks).  Everyone chipped in $20 so the bubble boy got his money back but I'm the happy camper who made it to the money.  The PQ is looking good in 3rd place and though she is nowhere close to the chip leader she has plenty to keep going with.  With blinds at 3k/6k I can't wait around.  In the big blind the UTG raises and the big stack calls.  I look at J9suited which isn't terrible and maybe I can get lucky triple up here so I call for all my stack.  Unfortunately one guy had JJ and I'm gone in 5th for $300

After I'm gone the table keeps playing the the PQ starts abusing these guys.  She suggested a chop but one guy didn't want too so she goes to work on them.  As tight as she has usually played, they give her credit for hands she doesn't always have and she starts chipping up nicely.  One guy with AA folded to her turn bet all in when the board ran out Q9Q7 telling her he was sure she had a Q.  She not only had it, she had the 9 too for a flopped full house.  Later I told her checking the turn was the perfect strategy there as she may have gotten him to push her all in either there or on the river.  The dealer showed the river card.  It was the last Q!.   Anyway one other guy gets knocked out in 4th place and she continues to abuse both of the other guys some more until they finally decide to split it up.  Her take was nearly $1000 so a profitable day was had by us both.  I made her buy me food on the way home too. 

In other news the watch whore struck again.  I was looking at some stuff online and saw this watch on sale.  I liked the looks of the billiard ball numbers at 12, 3, 6, & 9 so I bought it.  I haven't been disappointed since I got it and when I went to Derby Lane yesterday I had forgotten to put a watch on.  For me to be without a watch is like a stripper to be without a tattoo.  I just feel lost without one and since I don't wear any jewelry except a wedding ring so I guess a watch is my only way to accessorize.  And when I see a watch I like that looks a little different, I look for a good price on it.  If I find it in my price range, I buy it.   Anyway I asked the PQ to bring a watch with her when she came out to play poker and she brought this one.  After improving my results so much, I think I will have to wear it everytime I play.

Well that's enough for today I think.  I just kept going on and on and on.  Some chick in Massachusetts probably will stop reading about 8 paragraphs ago cuz this got too long but too bad for her.  If you made it this far, congratulations, I feel for you.  I hope everyone is having a great weekend.  Stay lucky folks, hope your A6 can suck out on AK too.