Bring on the ladies!

Last night was a long one as I played from noon to about midnight cashing 25th in Borgata's Ladies Event that brought in 269 women ( well make that 267 1/2) for a fun day of poker. Now the term "fun" can be viewed in many ways. Let's just say I was prepared for comedy, as I've learned from playing in these events since 2005 that while some might call it poker, I prefer to call it entertainment.

Last January I stated quite firmly after playing Borgata's Winter Open, that I would rather put my hand in a blender than play another ladies event. I was damn serious too! Only that wouldn't happen as one of the 4 events this WSOP I played in was a ladies, so why not do it again? Although I must say the poker played yesterday at Borgata was far better than what I saw at the 1k buyin this the World Series of Poker. You'd think women (or husbands) putting up $1,000 would at least read a book or the damn rules before they sat down to play. Oh no, there were plenty of chicks that just said, "What the hell it's poker. Can't be that hard." I almost wanted to scream after playing with the one lady that had the most chips at my table who broke almost every rule you could by doing the following:

1. Acting out of turn almost every hand either mucking cards or betting.
2. Betting then taking back her chips when someone raised her (she even called the floor!)
3. Answering her cell and having a conversation while she was betting the flop
4. Asking for a seat change when the first woman busted from our table

I'll stop here as it still tilts me still that she had a mountain of chips doing ALL of this. Argh!

After having such a fun time this summer the Borgata event couldn't be that bad. Hell I might even enjoy it this time, I thought to myself, and enjoy I did! I took it easy the two days prior as I felt my heart was still aching a bit and this time I listened to that voice inside. No tournaments, not yet.

Thursday I finally slept in! It's been almost impossible to not wake up early from the jet lag I got on my trip to Europe and moving before I came to Borgata. I'll be posting video and fun photos from that trip in the next few days. Good times. Since I slept in I missed the main tournament for that day and didn't know what to do with myself. Looking at the schedule I noticed the Borgata puts on a "survivor" tournament on some of the days during the open. In these tournaments the top 10% all get the same payout. For the $200 buy in, every 10 people will get $2,000. They also offer a $300 and $500 on the weekends paying out 3k and 5k. Hell yeah!

The tournament was a fun one so I decided to have a beer (or 3) and enjoy myself. For the most part the play was good only I had the one thing I dread the most at a poker table. A guy who won't stop farting. Uggghhhh! It was so gross! I had to put my nose against my wrist and try to breathe in my perfume after each bomb he dropped. Man, there is nothing worse because you can't go anywhere! You have to play. Fortunately he busted and the whole table cheered. Sadly for me I busted with around 30 to go with 18 paying. Son of a... I had Ak vs AQ all in preflop and he hit two queens cutting me down to 8 bbs. Two hands later I had pocket nines vs AQ again all in pre and what do you know? Damn queen. Grrrrr. All was quickly forgotten as Ray Stefanelli (who will now be known as "my peeps" not my boss lol) and Brian were down at the Gypsy Bar watching football and told me to join. Yay! Pineapple tequila shots always do the trick. Ray and I even got involved in a Tic Tac Toe match. Apparently I'm not as good as I once thought. Whatever.
(World Series of Tic Tac Toe photo and coined phrase: Allen Rash)

The following day was September 11th. I spent the day hiding and healing as that was the day I found out about Matthew and such a horrible day for thousands of people who lost someone the year after in the 9-11 attacks. Collective grieving at a profound number for families and friends who will always remember that day and all the pain that goes with losing someone you love. I worked out in the gym for 2 1/2 hours doing 80 minutes on the bike, other cardio and machines in the Pump Room at Borgata followed by sitting and crying in the steam room for 20 minutes. All of this helped and I was able to finally feel at peace once I returned to my room exhausted physically and emotionally.

Yesterday morning I woke up early and felt like a brand new woman. Buying in early for the ladies two days before (so I couldn't back out) I was able to spend my morning not rushing to beat the line to register. This gave me time to meditate for a bit and then get in a little dance workout in my room. Silly as it is, it works for me, but thank goodness they don't have cameras in these rooms!

Walking into the event center I felt myself dragging my feet. Why am I doing this to myself?? Kill me now! Those were just a few things that were floating around in my head. I sat down and enjoyed my table. Everyone was a tell box. :) Only playing against the girls are a bit harder as they WILL call you down so bluffing them isn't as easy as you'd think. I decided to play the basic ABC poker and pick my spots to steal when I had a dead read. But let's get to the funny part. I've seen cattiness at the tables plenty, but a cat fight? A few minutes before we were going on break I heard women screaming and yelling around a table in the middle of the room. Everyone stood around and it was hard to see what was going on. Taking a closer look I see Tom Bates ( Borgata's floor supervisor) in the middle of a huge screaming match. He was doing his best to calm the women down, but they were having none of that. I even tried to take a photo of him in the middle of three women pointing at him and someone walked right in front of my camera. Damn it would have been a great pic too! Only the women weren't screaming at eachother they were attacking a man playing in the ladies event who had a huge chip stack. He sat there with a shit eating grin, but you could tell he was terrified. Hell I'd put my money on some of these chicks against him in a death match. They wanted to rip his face off!! It was quite the sight to see as that was about all that was talked about for the rest of the tournament.
http://www.borgatapoker.blogspot.com/2009/09/dude-looks-like-lady-event-7.htmllike-lady-event-7.html

Before my first table broke a very drunk woman sat to my left. She was very loud at let everyone know she wasn't very good at poker, but this tournament kept her from getting killed downstairs in blackjack. Up the volume went on my iPod, but she kept forgetting I couldn't hear her and would keep asking me random questions. One hand that keeps me laughing even now might just be the funniest thing I've seen at a poker table in a while. I'm in the small blind with 8 5 off and it gets folded around to me. I put in a raise and she instantly calls. Ok, she's got a hand. Flop came 10 5 6 rainbow and I couldn't resist putting in a bet. She quickly moves all in. Shit. I know I'm beat, but want get a read for later hands. Taking my earbuds out I smile and ask, " Are you bluffing me?" She smiles and loudly says, "Of course not!" Only at the same time she does this she takes her hands together and then opens her arms out in the air knocking her beer right off onto the lady next to her and all over the table. "I fold." She ends up showing A 10 off and I told I knew she had it. It took 5 minutes to clear up all the beer that spilled on the table and to get new chips for the angry asian woman who now smelled of Budweiser. Pure comedy.
(photo by Gorilla)

The rest of the tournament was pretty standard. Having 50k in chips at the dinner break when average was 30k I felt pretty confident in my game. Only being moved 4 times made things a bit more difficult building reads and getting respect. I started to get short once I went card dead before the money bubble, where I usually start to really grow my stack. All the shorties were pushing before me and I couldn't make any moves. Such a crappy feeling folding away and seeing a deuce every hand. Once we made it into the money (27 people) I found myself pretty short and we redrew for new tables. Two hands in I pick up pocket nines in the cutoff and it gets folded around to me. I push and the big blind had aces. *sigh* No trophy for me. Freaking sucks to min cash. I took 25th and to be honest I was very disappointed. Cashing out a woman (who was involved in the yelling match earlier) that took 24th saw I wasn't too happy and said there are 242 women that didn't get anything. I guess, was all I could reply. Maybe I should be pleased with clearing that many mine fields yesterday. I'm sorry folks, but all I want to do right now is win and nothing else will make me happy. I can feel a big win coming too and that's what's killing me. Let's hope it's the $3500 WPT main event for the Borgata Poker Open. Keep your fingers crossed!