HAPPY NEW YEARS!

Good evening all! Jon and I are attending a party tonight at my sister's house- it should be a lot of fun. They are having video games, poker, beer pong and lots of other cool stuff goin on. I am looking forward to this New Year so much. My first full year as a full time poker player. I have planned and organized my life to get to this point in the last two years and I have never felt more comfortable with the way things are than how they are right now.

Recap of poker from yesterday- I came in 23/957 in UB 200k guaranteed and I busted early out of Fulltilt 750k guar. I was all set for another UB final table, but alas, it did not work out. I have been running really bad in cash lately, it sucks. Of the last five sessions, I have deficited in three of them. It is very unfortunate. Since Nov 2007, I was going 4 out of 5 profitable sessions, but that will change. I am just gettting coolered unbelievably.

Lastly, I just want to wish everyone a super Happy New Year, and a wonderful year to come, I hope all of your dreams come true!!!!!


Lots of Love,

Connie Rinaldi aka Garnet and her sidekick, Ace.

Happy Holidays with a Huge Cash..and great railing by Hazy_Cat on UB

Dear Santa:

Thank you for making this a wonderful year. I was able to quit my job, do my own part time legal business, experience a successful three months of poker in that short time, and end the year with a great big cash in the UB 200k tonight, December 23rd. I am happy with my life and I wish for the status quo- which is financial comfort, a loving relationship, and a very happy and healthy family. These are the things which are necessary in life. And I feel like I have accomplished that. I was never happy with the status quo, but now I am.

Within that, I do not mean that I want to be stagnant. I still would like to grow into a better person, a better poker player, a better daughter and sister, and a better best friend for my boyfriend, Jonathan. And I will do that. My New Years Resolution in life is to be more patient. Do not get short with my mother; take 10-15 sec before each decision in poker; be more calm and don't get heated at dumb people, bc in the end, they can't help their dumbness, its how they were born/raised. I want to be more healthy, work out more and eat the right foods. I want to be a better saver, put money away for a rainy day. And I will. I will read this blog entry every week and remind myself of all that I want to accomplish.

In the last five months, I have stepped up my poker game, and specifically my tournament game, several notches. I will be one of the best; I will win the Ladies Only WSOP event; I will cash several times next year and I will have a lot of fun doing it.

I will be 30 in less than 2 weeks. And I am looking forward to it. I am looking forward to being 30 and not having to work a real job because I am living my dream. Playing poker almost full time; being with my best friend all the time and thoroughly enjoying life and each day as it comes. I am no longer going to be stressed out by the deadlines that come with being a full time attorney; I will just be me. A professional poker player. A part time attorney. And hopefully, a good friend, girlfriend, daughter and sister. That's all I care about for 2008.

I know this is a long post. In the next ones, I will list my goals and aspirations for the new year.

Lastly a great big shout out to HAZY CAT, CRFRIDER0250, HUGEHEATFAN, SONOFA_NH and COOLER KING, and OSTRICHMAN (esp ostrichman, my little baby), 49AQUA, LA GATTA, __KRYPTIC__, ELKHUNTER, TRICKIVICKI and everyone else who watched and supported me tonight, the railbirding was awesome- THANKS, UR THE BEST!!!!!!

Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!!!!

Good money and peace,
Garnet and her sidekick, Ace. (whose pic I need to post soon).

Two Weeks in A Row...

So, as I stated in my previous post, I finished third in the Borgata Weekly $340 on Saturdays, last week. Below is the hand anthology (the notes I kept) from that tourney. I played this week also and chopped the tournament. I really feel that I played optimally and I got lucky at the right times (like after immediately getting unlucky). I am excited to cash in more tourneys and have more victories under my belt.

So here are the hand histories from the November 17th Borgata Tourney:

Key:
R = Raise
UTG= Under the Gun, 1st pos after BB
BB= Big Blind
SB = Small Blind
HJ = Hi Jack
CO = Cutoff
RR = Reraise
CR = Check Raise
OS = off suit
B= Button

$340 buy in, 135 people to start, 10k in Chips.
Round 1 Blinds, 25-50
3rd hand of tourney QJ os in the SB. late pos R to 250, I defend and BB calls. 3 way action. Flop is K 6 10. I chk, bb chk, Rer cont bets 600. I call, BB calls. Turn is 9s. I lead out for 800, bb makes it 2400, R folds, I RR to 5500. BB pushes. I figure we have same hand or he has set, I call obv, he has K4 os, drawing dead gift for me, up to 22k after this hand.

Round 2 50-100
A few orbits later, I have 22 in the bb. A weird guy limped in late pos, I complete, we take the pot 4 way. Flop is A 7 9, checks around. Turn is K, checks to weak guy, he bets min, I call. One other caller. River is 9. I check, it checks around. Weird guy has JJ. ?? And he was never folding if Ibet, or anyone else bet on any street. My instinct was to raise the turn, but I wouldve lost the hand. Once I check the flop, he believes his JJ is the nuts.

Round 3 100-200/and Round 4 100-200 25ante
Weird guy raises in the CO. I call on the B with Jd6d. I have been playing raise or fold, very little calling. But I felt like this would be a good oppty to take a pot away from a weak player. Flop comes out K 8 3 rainbow. He bets min, I fold disgusted and he shows K5 os, nice hand min raiser.

Ks10s 2nd pos, I like raising in this position. I R to 600, tight tight chic pushes for 1750 more. I want to call bc I am big stack but I know that I am way dominated and if I am lucky its 60 40, but most likely I have three outs, either way. I folded, questionable fold here considering my stack size.

Ac6c limp, with possible limp/RR plan, but there was a R and a RR after,, so I fold preflp.

J10 hh in bb. B limps, SB completes, three way. SB is tight player and does not get tricky, very straightforward. 335 flop with 2 spades. SB checks, I bet 350 thinking this is a good oppty to win sm pot. B folds and SB acts a bit and raises to 1200, I fold saying I had flush draw and he shows me 36 os. NH.

A4 os on button. Now I have categorized each player at my table as LF (limp fold to raise) or LCR (limp call raise). 3 limpers in front of me, all are LF. I raise to 900, they all fold,I win pot.

55 HJ, R and all fold. I win pot.

Big hand for me. 3c4c. One limper, I limp in middle pos. The button, a knowledgeable player, capable of thinking on more levels than most in this tourney raises the button to 725. He always raises UTG and B so he can have any range of hands. Limper folds. I have big stack and decided to out play this guy after the flop if the situation permits. I check dark. Flop comes out J 8 5, one club. He checks behind, which gives me a lot of information. I know that he has nothing and he is worried I hit the flop. The only hand he can have on that board with his check, based on his style is a set. But I doubt that he had a pair on the B that connected wtih the flop- that would be lucky. Turn is 6 cl giving me a gut shot and a fl draw. I lead out for 800 into 1600 pot. He raises to 2k without thinking. I know he is raising on a move. I insta call. River is complete rag. I lead out for 3400 knowing he can't call, and he insta mucks. That was an earned pot. Up to 31k after this hand.

K8suited bb, fold to an all in.

KJ os sb , fold to a raise by tight player.

Round 5 200-400 50 ante
KQ 3rd pos, raise, all fold, win pot. Played no other hands this round.

Round 6 300-600, 75 ante
Q2 os on B. 2 limpers, I raise to 2400, all fold, nice pot.
A5 hh, limp in middle pos with one other limper. Flop comes all hearts. Checks around. I bet turn, all fold. I show for credit.


Will finish post tomorrow.

Happy Turkey Day!

Good afternoon all. Much has transpired since my last blog report. Ostrich and I both had a big stack in the Full Tilt Event #1- he made a play that cost him a lot of chips- but it was the correct play. Unfortunately, his opponent put all his chips in on a flush draw and hit. Ridiculous. I lost with JJ to a flopped set and there was no way for me to get away from it with the stack I had compared to my opponent (Buckohfive). So, unfortunately we did not cash, but I believe I played extremely well.

Since then, I have bubbled the UB 2pm twice, won the 8pm 20k guar, 12th in the 8pm, four cashes on Full Tilt without going deep into the money ( I need to work on that), and several bubbles. Last night was horrendous. I had so many ridiculous calls of my all ins and reraises and while I was way ahead, the three and two outers hit like no tomorrow. But that will happen. I really feel good about my game. I feel that it is getting better and better every day. I also feel like my decisions are more thought out, deeper and more psychological. I feel that I am developing into the player I want to become. It may take me a little while to get there, I have always been a slow learner, but when I learn, I learn good. =)

In live action, I played three tourneys in Atlantic City, the $340 on Saturday, the $midnight madness (just for fun), and the $120 on Monday. I cashed 3rd in the Saturday for 5k, bubbled the midnight and donked out of Monday with Kj against bottom two.

The $340 on Saturday was the BEST absolute BEST tournament I have ever played with one exception. I did not readjust myself for 3 handed play against two players who were extremely extremely aggressive. And because I was playing super aggro the whole tourney, I did not change gears, which is def the most difficult part of my game and the one that needs much improvement. On the upside, my ability to self-criticize, review my mistakes and improve is huge compared to players who just keep playing & repeating the same mistakes.

However, if I can get myself into my A game zone for every tournament, I will go much deeper more often. One important aspect of Saturday's tournament was that I took notes on every single hand I played, and at the final table, every hand regardless if I played or not. I got this idea from Thomas Fuller's blog (http://gnightmoon2006.blogspot.com/)- I check his blog every so often to read his hand history anthologies, and they are very useful. I also found that when you record your hhs, it forces you to think harder, and play better, because now your hands are memorialized. Maybe this is just psychological for me, but it works nonetheless.

I will post hand history from the Borgata $340 later this week.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving all!!!!!!

Good money and peace,

Lucky C and her sidekick, Ace.

Organic Condoms, Pornorganicgrafic....and Ostrich's 12k Cash

While in the kitchen, a thought flew into my head- are there such a thing as Organic Condoms? Where this thought came from is unimportant, but one worthy of a mention in the blog. As a result, I googled it and low and behold, they exist! Check them out here. http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1198802

Anyway, Ostrich cashed for 12k, second place in the 55k guaranteed on full tilt last night! So awesome. As always I am very proud of him.

I cannot stress enuf how exhilirating and refreshing it is to work for myself. I feel so in control of my life and my destiny. I love being self-employed, be it as an attorney, a poker player, or otherwise.

Ok, lastly, let me apologize for the x-rated nature of the first paragraph- apparently when ostrich so a sneak peak of my blog title, he classified it as "porno-graphic". I think, more correctly, it should be considered "pornorganicgraphic" (pr: porn-or-gan-ik-graf-ik).

Enough of my silliness. Ostrich and I both satellited into the FTOPS #1- wish us much luck!

Will report results soon!

Good money and peace,

Lucky C and her sidekick, Ace.

Success right around the corner...

Jon and I have decided to concentrate online for the majority of the rest of the year. Although I made a decision back in Sept not to play online until Jan 08, it is in both our best interests to focus online. That is where my original poker success started, Jon has proven to be an extremely talented and profitable online player.....so its where we continue to build. So around Nov 1, we started with online again. I had $200 on Fulltilt, $175 on stars and a friend owed me $35 on ub.

On Fulltilt, I made a run at $50 sngs and ran my account up to $650. Then Jon played a few multi tables, had a few smallish cashes, and we were up to over $800. And then I lost five $50 sngs in a row, so frustrating. I stopped for the day. The next day, I cashed in 2 out of 5, recovering a bit. And finally, on Sun, I went o for 5 again, cutting my account down to 450, but Jon played a $75 sat for the Sun 750k guar, and won, and then I played a $24 one for shits and giggles, and I won my entry as well. We both went deep. I busted 265 for a $400 profit, and Jon finished around 40ish, for a $1700 profit. Accounts back up!

Yesterday, Jon and I both had another very frustrating day in sngs- both of us lost a bunch, but Jon won his entry to the $300 super sat tonight for FTOPS, which is awesome, and I am goinng to try and rebuild this morning.

I busted on stars- had ran it up to just under $400, and then lost a bunch of sngs and played 3-rebuys which were devastating. Oh well, $175 is not enough to work with anyway. I just got lucky on Tilt to build up that much.

On Ultimatebet, I took $30 from my dad and $25 from my friend, and played two $25 multi tables. I won last night's for $1560, which is so awesome. I annhililated when I had a ton of chips- super aggro. I am trying very hard to change my mind set and become more aggressive and think deeper about hands....difficult when multitabling, but it is very important.

As for everything else, Jon and I are still selling the apartment. I cannot wait to move!

More later,

Good money and peace,

Lucky C and her sidekick, Ace.

Registered for Poker Stars Blogger Tourney

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 6408749

Oktober 2007- A New Beginning

So a lot has happened in the last three weeks. I will list them for you:

1. Jon satellited into the 10k event at Borgata, but had his KK cracked on day 2. Outlasted more than 1/2 the field, which is pretty good for his first 10k event;

2. Dragon chopped a $500 event at Borgata for a cash of close to $48,000. Go Dragon, you are so on tournament fire!!!!!

3. I haven't cashed since my second chance tourney;

4. I am concentrating a lot on cash games and my reads are getting better and better, yeaaa;

5. Taj in Atlantic City sucks for the following reasons: a. no organization in the poker room, for tournaments, at least; b. you are likely to get food poisoning from any number of food establishments there, c. the poker room sucks, d. it is dirty, e. most of the poker employees have a huge attitude problem. f. there is no such thing as a dealer 'controlling' the game, and more often than not, a dealer speaking understandable english, and g. best of all. apparently, it is possible to owe THEM comp dollars LOL (Jon has negative 2 comp dolllars with that disgusting zoo of a casino);

6. I am full time poker player/per diem attorney. No more 8-5pm, no more schedule locking me into hours of complete boredom and dullness, just 1000% freedom and the ability to make my own money in my own time;

7. Apartment not sold yet, but we did have a few interested buyers in the last month, so hopefully something will happen by the end of the year;

8. I AM capable of going on tilt against one player usually, that I am gunning for, and I need to work on that aspect of my game tremendously;

9. I want to start an electronic poker diary- not like my blog, but a separate poker diary in microsoft word, and i can put links to interesting passages on here;

10. There have been a ton of interesting hands lately- full house, calling w bottom pair to bluff on river, quads twice in 48 hours, playing blind at the Club's cash game (and earning), and making some monster laydowns. I will detail all of these later on.

That's all for now. Good money and peace,

Lucky C, and her sidekick, Ace.

6.

Second Chance Domination

I really feel that I have been playing good poker as of late. I chopped the Second Chance Tourney last Sat night at the Borgata Open for a $6029 cash. Very exciting. I made a few great calls early on to build my stack and then flopped monster v. monster (my full house against obv trips), and my monster won.

Best call of the tourney: I had 4 6 diam in the cutoff. I just called b.c i saw the bb was prepared to raise and I did not want to get reraised off the hand. So I limped, small blind completed, and bb predictably raised to 600, blinds are 1-200. I called. Pot is about 1400 at this point. Flop comes out 6 8 9 with two spades. He bets 600. I put him on over cards, maybe a flush draw,so i call. Turn is a 7 cl. He checks, I check behind. River is the 4cl. He now ushes all in for 4600. POt is about 3000. That bet, after the check on the turn, made absolutely no sense to me. The river also put three clubs out there and two spades. But I could not see him hitting runnerr runner club and if he did, I think he value bets to get paid. Same rationale if he had a 10 or a five. The only thing he could have is top pair (which I beat) but then he doesn't check the turn. After analyzing the situation, I had about 7800 chips. I decided that he was completely empty and I called. He had nothing. He didn't even flip over his hand. He just said you got me, and mucked. Insane. That is the sickest call I have ever made in my life I think. It felt so so so good. People always trying to bluff me.

I played Ladies Event the next day and busted myself out after 2 hours. I was so tired. Lesson learned: when you triple your stack early and get tired, TAKE A NAP IN THE CAR FOR AN HOUR AND GET REFRESHED. Not worth it to bust out and then feel bad that you played less than stellar poker bc of tiredness.

On another important note, I found out that the client I do work for at my day job will no longer be a client. So therefore, I am going to build up my per diem legal practice, knuckle down and concentrate on poker and start accumulating some serious money.

I am so excited for the future.

Good money and peace,

Lucky C and her side kick, Ace.

Temporary Apartment in Brigantine- Emphasize TEMPORARY

Hey all. It is Wed afternoon. Many things are going on. Apartment still for sale. I am starting to do more work from a home office. We secured a 2 month rental in Brigantine, a beautiful beach town right outside Atlantic City, with our winter rental starting in November. First things first. Brigantine rental- our landlord is a whacko. The apartment sucks. Everything is broken, dirty, crooked, etc. I spent all day Sun cleaning and organinizing and decorating. Hopefully we can tolerate it for 7 more weeks.

Tourney results. I won the midnight madness at TAJ on Sat night. Weeeee! I am so excited about that. Nice to turn 100$ into $5400 profit. I also finished 8/70 in Trop tourney for hardly any profit. Still nice result though. Weee!

Anyone for french toast? Our landlady peered thru the sliding glass door and saw us sleeping on Sun morning at 7 am in the living room. This did not stop her from knocking loudly, opening the sliding door, peering in, stared at us sleeping to ask us if we wanted french toast. What a weirdo.

In any case, I am so excited about poker. I have two ladies' events coming up and several other tournaments that I am looking forward to.

Hand review. I played two sessions of 2/5 NL at Borgata this weekend. In one session, I deficited $600 and in the second session, I earned $1155. In my losing session, listen to this crazy table and the insane hand that won this pot. I have 99 utg. Table is pretty loose, so I decide to raise. I make it $30. 7 callers. BB says, I don't know what to do. So he opts to push for 180$. So I put him on overs, or middle pair. I guess mathematically I should call, but it was a tough session, and I did not think I needed to get involved in this spot. So I fold, two other players fold. Short stack with less than 100$ behind CALLS, which is fine (he had like 34 suited or something), and tight, weird fishing hat old man CALLS with J9 os. Flop is AA567. BB donk idiot has j8 off suit, all in short stack with 24 or whatever he had mucks and tight old man turns up j9, to win an $900 pot. Hello, welcome to idiot poker.

Beating Players with a Drunken Chicken~~~

***Warning: Long Post***

This Haitian guy from the Club whose name I will not disclose has got to be one of the most entertaining players with whom I have ever played. He is so funny. Last night I joined the 2/5 game immediately after I busted in the nightly freeze out (in which I took one merciless beat after another), and I sat next to my Haitian friend. He is the type of player who always says, I play for fun, I don't care about the money. He is in every hand until the river if he hits any part of the flop, has a gut shot, etc. He will call you, regardless of your bet, pot odds, etc. To him, he just wants to be in and have fun. In any case, he had top two against a really bad player, and he said to him, "if you beat me man, I will beat you with a drunk chicken!" I almost fell out of my chair laughing because you have to imagine this easy going, haitain-accented black guy, so laid back and fun, saying this across the poker table. It was pure entertainment. So great.

About my Session Last Night.

Flopping the nuts. It has been a long time since I flopped the nuts. Maybe like a month. In any case, in the bb, I had 7-9 os and checked my option in a five way pot. Flop came out 6 8 10 rainbow. I like to lead out small on this board to make it look like I hit a piece of the flop, but I am weak and induce a raise. So I lead out for 10$, utg calls and a tight guido-mafia type makes it $30. I take a few seconds and review the hands he can have. I have seen him raise with top pair, q, k and ace kicker all night. So, if he has A10, K10, q10, he has very few outs against me. If he has two pair, he still only has four outs or running board-pair. I also want utg to call. It is such a harmless board. So I just smooth call. UTG mucks. So now we are heads up. My plan is to check raise the turn. I check. Now guido bets $125, which is 1,5x the pot. Now, I am sure he has a set and I want to get all the money in the pot. Note: tight guidos do not bet $125 with one pair. So, I push for $375 (and he has $225 total inc. the $125). He insta calls and shows top set. Naturally, the board pairs on the river and guido wins big pot. I was not upset, I played the hand super super well and extracted the most value ever out of it. No one put me on the nuts that hand. It is one of those hands that just is what it is on the river.

Making trips the next hand- The next hand I called a $20 pre-flp raise with $120 behind. four way pot. I have 5-6 os, but if i get any piece of flop, I am check raising all in to try and double up. Flop is beautiful 5 5 j. I was going to lead out, but if I check raise, almost any bet is committed to my all in. So I decide to play it that way. It checks around to orig. raiser who bets out $45. I push all in and he insta calls with what I believe is KJ. turn is Ad putting three diam out there and river is os 3. I scoop and am back up to $310.

One hour later- I raise a few more times and continuation bet and build my stack up to $450. At this point, I am in the game for $600. I have 5-8 os on the button. Limps around, I call. Flop comes out A 7 6 rainbow, so I am open ended. It checks to me and I check to take a free card. Turn is 9c, giving me second nut straight, and two clubs out there. Guido leads out for 30$, loose-aggro player makes it $60. I have an interesting decision. Two things crossed my mind that made me JUST call the $60. 1. I saw the kid to my left start looking at his chips and counting em, so I think he might reraise, and he's SO tight, that if he reraises,I know he has nuts. Second, if I just call, and loose- aggro has flush draw, I can avoid being raised all in and hoping to still have best hand on river, esp the bad run that was last night. So I just smooth call $60. Predictably, super tight pushes for total of $285. Now this is even more interesting. If loose-aggro folds, I insta fold, face- up. It is as if 8-10 is written on this kid's face. And if we are chopping, I can't call for chop, it only cost me $60. But, loose-aggro CALLS the kid's all in. So now, I have about $210 on top of the $285. So if I push and win the side pot (loose-aggro knows he's potted into calling another 200$), then I only lose about $60 on the hand. So I re-push, he calls. Kid has 8 - 10 (yeaaa, good read), loose aggro has A7 which is two pair and river is blank so I end up with $420 to finish hand. I started the hand with about $490, so I lost $70, which is not bad considering. I think my play there was impeccable considering the situation that arose. Poker is so complicated sometimes, it makes my head hurt to review these decisions =)

My California Trip

I never did report on my Cali trip. Briefly, California is beautiful and I really like Commerce Casino. Bike leaves a lot to be desired, but not bad. The hotel we stayed at was amazing-Embassy Suites, 10 min from Bike, and 10 min from Commerce. Unfortunately I was sick the whole weekend. I had a very bad sore throat and chest congestion, which affected my play. I built my 3000 chip starting stack to 5000 before donking off 2/3 of my chips with JJ v. KK, on a low board. I had no doubt she had a monster, ignored my read, and pushed anyway. GG me. Then I had KK, got no action and the last hand, I had AK suited, raised to 800, leaving myself 900 behind and this stupid, bad woman player in the sb pushes all in with 88 for 9000. Meanwhile the bb has about 7000 chips and there was one other caller off my 900. If she wants to isolate, all she has to do is raise 2000 and if bb picks up monster, she can muck. Whatever. So I lost when board come out QJx, and I had gut shot and flush draw, but nothing hit. Oh well, what can you do. I played 5-10 nl at Commerce for two days and made about 650$, so I re-couped more than 1/2 of my tourney buy in. I was a bit disappointed with the Bike tourney. I would not have traveled 3000 miles for a $1000 buy with only 122 chickies in it. They told me, when I called last month, they were expecting 300 chickies. Oh well.

In any case, we have our winter rental in Ventnor and temp, two month rental in Brigantine, so I am excited to be down in AC a lot in the next three weeks. I really must concentrate on building my bankroll. It is so volatile when you only have a few thousand. So much easier to work with when you have 10k or more.

In any case, more later.

Good money and peace,

Lucky C and her sidekick, Ace.

A Pretty Big Jackpot at Foxwoods

Earlier this month, I was at Foxwoods for a few days with Jon, my grandmother and my parents. Jon and I both played the Saturday tourney. I went deep, and ended up bubbling with 20 places paying. In any case, my grandmother went broke pretty quickly on the slot machines the first day. About an hour before we had to meet my parents for dinner, my grandmother came down to the poker room to find me. She ended up sitting behind me for the hour before dinner, watching me play the 2/5. It was very cute. As a side note, my grandmother, "Nonna", is a cute little old grandmother with a strong italian accent. She watches poker on TV all the time, and while she does not really understand the basics, she knows ace is the best card, and what a full house is, etc.

In any case, the following hand came up that she observed. As a preface, my table was super aggro. There was a raise/re-raise almost every hand. It was playing more like a tourney table than a cash table. At this point, I was around even, as I had been up and down in a few pots. In the bb, I find pkt 10s. There is a raise to 25 and five callers in front of me. The original raiser was a pretty tight player, so I decided to play my hand like a small pair and just call for a set. I really did not want to be committed preflp. Since I had under $400, I did not think a reraise pre was called for. The flop came down 10 J Q, rainbow. Third to act bets out 35, original raiser folds, second person calls, big guy in the 8 seat calls, now the super tight guy on my right, announces raise and makes it $100 to go. I am in a tough spot, because although I am sure that no one has AK (99% of this table re-raises pre with AK- the virtual nuts, even without a flop, he he). The hands I am worried about are 89 and K9, and further, Qj, which, while I am ahead, has outs to fill up. In my head, I have decided I am committed to this hand. I have about $375 in front of me. If I just smooth call the $100. My reasoning is this. I have a chance to get more money in the pot, if there is additional raising in front of me, and then I win a bigger pot if I fill up. I smooth call. The big guy says "holy shit", which, if I didnt have a set and there wasn't so much action, I would have laughed out loud.

Now the original bettor, who led out for 35$, a good player (but not as good as i thought), asks tighty next to me how much he has left, and he responds "about 700". Original bettor says. "ok, I raise $700 on top". He had about $1k in front of him. Now the big guy, between original bettor and tighty, mucks, and says, that is the tightest fold I ever made, but I think I am dead because of the girl. LOL. Tighty now tanks. For a good two min and eventually mucks QJ. I call all in. TEN on the turn. Weeeee! Q on river, so tighty wouldve filled and I win a $1,300 pot instead of $700 pot. Turns out big guy mucked 8-9, which is what original bettor had. I dont think he can play 8-9 there, as third nut straight. Not a good play.

The punchline is, I turn to smile at my grandmother, and she excitedly remarks "Connie, what a big jackpot you got!"

More later about my trip to California and trips in the near future.

Good luck and peace,

Lucky C, and her sidekick Ace.

Ode to Ostrichman

I have to say, I am super impressed with Jonathan aka Ostrichman's play as of late. I have always been a huge fan of his skills/strategy/reading ability, etc, however, I played three cash sessions with him in Atlantic City over the last few days and all i can say is...wow.

His skill is unsurpassed, as far as I can see, in the 2/5 game. He essentially wins 90% of the pots he is involved in. His game has improved tremendously since I have known him, and in the last six months, he has has honed his skills incredibly. Even if I did not know Jonathan and his natural inclination for this game, I would stay the hell away from him at the table! He is definitely one of those players that I choose, when I sit at a table, with whom not to get involved...

In addition to his great cash game successes, Jon has made it to Round 2 of UB Heads Up Championship! Yeeeaaaa! I am so proud of him. No matter how far he goes, I am glad that he at least got past Round 1.

We spent the last few days in AC and did well. Jon and I both profitted in cash. I got super sucked out once in the tourney and then it was over when I lost AGAIN with set over set. How many times I ask, how many? Jon went deep and made it to the final three tables, but busted because of the kamikaze type poker that must be played in that kind of tourney.

We saw some apartments, but nothing phenomenal. Hopefully, we find something better in the next few weeks.

Oh, and lastly, I satellited into the FTOPS Event #1, so I will be playing that tonight.

Thats it for now, I am off to go wedding dress shopping with my sister!

More later!

Good money and peace,

Lucky C and her sidekick Ace.

Viva Las Vegas...literally.

I want to move to Vegas. It is awesome. And while, during my last two days, I experienced the worst beats ever, it is further evidence of how bad the play is and why it would be so good for me to play full time in Las Vegas. It was so great, I love Vegas!

In any case, I came in 14/250 chickies in the $330 LIPS event I played in. I was so close to the final table and I could not get anything going. On the upside, I booked my trip for California today, so I am excited about that! Weee!

Jon and Dragon both final tabled the $300 buy in at The Orleans, Jon's first big live cash and Dragon's 4th final table in 4 months- go Dragon. I am so proud of both of them for how well they played!

I am scheduled to play the Aruba satellite on August 5th and Ladies Only in Cali on August 18th and Borgata on September 9th- that's what is on the horizon! I need to start seiously building a bankroll so that I can sustain these tourney buy ins- or just cash huge!

Anyhow, that's it for now. Sorry for the short post, if i write anymore, it will be a detailed horror of suck out after suck out. But the silver lining is that it is good for my poker career for me to experience the swings, the variance, and ultimately the bad run that everyone seems to experience. In a way I am almost glad to get it over now, before my big tourneys. Hopefully, it ends before then!

More later.
Good money and peace,
Lucky C and her sidekick, Ace.

A Rebuilding Feat- and Trips Galore!

My goal is to rebuild my tourney dollars that I essentially squandered- my sister told me that her engagement party (originally) was the week of Aruba trip, so I went on Tournament Dollar Tilt. The engagement party is now second week of October (due to a fatal scheduling error by the venue). Hence, I have rebuilt to 800 in hopes of using them as a means to Aruba =) I was down to 2 TDs. The 800 cost me about 90$ total, which is pretty good. Ideally, I will build to 2000 TDs, use 530TDs for the Aruba super on August 5th and the rest, I will continue to rebuild and perhaps purchase Aruba trip for next year.

There is a ton going on the next few months. We are leaving for Vegas first thing Sunday morning as we have some tournaments & we would like to play and just experience the cash haven that is Las Vegas no limig games again. Hopefully, we will have a successful trip.

In August, I would love to travel to Cali for the Ladies Only $1000 event the weekend of August 18th. It depends how Vegas and my online stats are before I do that. I am striving to be very disciplined in what I play and ensuring that I properly build a bankroll.

Additionally, I would love to get to Aruba Poker Classic this year. That is on the agenda. I have also been discussing the possibility of going to Costa Rica for the WPS with Mucker from UB- that would be really cool, I always wanted to go to Costa Rica. The World Poker Showdown is a joke too, the tournaments are very easy. After that, who knows?

If I could A. Sell my apartment and/or B. Have a Big Cash, I would feel so much more settled about the direction of my life. I hate waiting for things to happen, I like to be the one to make 'em happen.

Oh, lastly, also on the list of things to do is WIN THE LADIES ONLY BORGATA EVENT! I am so winning that tourney! I cannot wait!

More later,

Good money and peace,

Lucky C and her sidekick, Ace.

DISCIPLINE, DISCIPLINE

I am proud of myself for sticking to my plan and not going to the club. I do not think I am going back until I return from Las Vegas. My suck out streak is only a partial reason for minimizing my Club experience. The main reason is that I use those tourneys, not necessarily to make money (because the tourneys have very little value compared to buy ins), but more so for practice. At this juncture, I would like to focus on building my online accounts. While I have been saying this for the past few months, it is difficult to do without a big cash. So I have been focused on the $100 mtts in the last few weeks and cash games. I took a beating in cash this weekend and rebuilt nicely yesterday, which I am happy about.

I also want to deposit on absolute poker, bodog, fulltilt and pokerstars. As you all know I keep very little in my poker stars account and full tilt. I need to build more than just on UB. I am not going to get anywhere just playing on one site.

I am super excited about the trip to Vegas, it will be amazing. I cannot wait!

And four more days until my part time schedule starts...woo hoo.

More later.

Good money and peace,

Lucky C and Ace.

No More Club for July- As I am Official Bubble Girl...

So I have played 5 tourneys at the Club in the last three weeks, which is not a ton compared to the regulars, but not a small amount either. I am stil number 8 on the leaderboard with only one cash. In the last four of five tourneys, I lost with 10s, JJs, and kk to qj, and kj to qj in a sickening fashion. I do complain about bad beats...it just really sucks to work hard to stay above 10x the bb with a tourney that has lightening rounds of 15 min, just to lose three hours later, right before the money to either a three- outer or when you go in as an 80% favorite.

I complete accept that poker is about probability and math and there are times when people suck out. I have been the sucker outer on many occasions. But, considering the level and quality of play at the club, it is torturous to get out at final table in 4 out of 5. But I do make the final table in 5 out of 5 appearances at the club. So I guess that will be my proliferal silver lining =)

In the last four days, I am 2 for 4 in the 2pm. Yesterday, I lost with top two v. a set and I put him on a set. So I check called turn and river and lost 1/2 my stack as opposed to my whole stack. I definitely should have folded but it was such a harmless board, and players in that tourney are so bad that it was hard for me to put him specifically on a set, so many hands I beat with my AK/top two. I was not really upset about that; in fact, I was proud I minimized my loss. Essentially, any other player would have been all in. Today, I lost set over set, which is unfortunate for me. I played really well the whole tourney. Nothing I can do.

In any case, I am excited about my future in poker, even with all the things I complain about, I cannot complain about the opportunity I am giving myself to play full time. I think IT is going to be wonderful!

More later,

Good money and peace,

Lucky C and her sidekick, Ace.

Ambisexuals at the Poker Table...& a Big Cash for Dragon

When you play poker, it is an invariable truth that the individuals you encounter at a poker table are typically unique, coming from a wide variety of different walks of life. As such, I like to make up stories about the people I play with, almost as if they were characters in a book. In doing so, once in a while, I am caused to create new words not found in Miriam-Webster. Specifically, several times, over the past few months, one character in particular has re-appeared in various forms at both my cash and tournament tables. This character is Ambisexual Andi. It is virtually impossible to tell if this person is male or female. They are clearly one or the other, or trying to pass for both, which they accomplish nicely, leaving their inquirer very puzzled & confused.

So I have named this character Ambisexual def: a person who can be either sex, or both but is clearly not one or the other. This word does not mean bi-sexual, hermaphrodite, or any other mult-level sex-related word. Ambisexual applies only to the surface, outward appearance of the individual being described. And usually, I can decipher their sex by reading the name on their player card, and then, am left to wonder, "well is that possibly his/her husband's card?". In any case, I thought that was an interesting tid bit I would share with you, as poker can become boring and monotnous at times- this is one way to entertain yourself.

Down to business. I have not cashed at the club since the July 2nd, but I have only been there two times since, and both I went to the final table as either chipleader, or top 3 in chips. QJ was the hand that murdered my chip stack at both final tables, but I digress. I am due for some suck outs and beats, considering how well my track record has been in the last two months. I also returned to playing the 100$ mtts on line. If you notice from my blog, in the month of May, I cashed in very few 100$ tourneys, so I took pretty much a six week hiatus from 100$ to refocus and re-energize myself. It worked. I came in 8/90 in the 100$ yesterday for a $300 profit, and I placed 100/1700 in $10 stars rebuy, for only a $70 profit, but still feels good top 6%. I am excited to work part time and concentrate on my per diem services business and poker. It is going to be great, I can feel it.

Note- I have abandoned my Aruba plan because I have a family obligation the week of Aruba trip that I found out about yesterday, and as annoyed as I am, I have no choice. So I will collect tourney dollars for Aruba 2008!

Lastly, But FIRST! CONGRATULATIONS DRAGON (who reminded me that I haven't blogged in almost a week) who won the July 5, 2007 CEO Poker Tour Venetian Event. Please click here for more details: http://www.ceopokertour.com/venetianjuly5.html.

GOOO DRAGON, so excited that you won- but then again I knew great things in poker were bound to happen this summer! Between him and Jon/Ostrichman, I am having a hard time keeping track of all of their successes =)

That's it for now my loyal and devoted readers (all 3 of you, haha). More later.

Good money and peace,

Lucky C and her sidekick, Ace.

SHOES on the Ceiling, Chandliers on the Floor

At Showboat, there really are SHOES on the ceiling. It is very interesting. It reminds me of the crazy room from Alice in Wonderland where everything is deceptive and upside/down, backwards. In any case, I like the Shoes on the Ceiling look, very retro. There were no chandliers on the floor, but I did anticipate seeing a light fixture imbedded in the ground, upon observing the shoes nailed to the Ceiling, where a chandlier should have been. Very cool.

On the Fourth of July, I played the $340 at Borgata, with 400 entrants. I got out when there were about 150 left. I played perfectly, but as all tournaments go, it came down to just one hand. Prior to this hand, I had a great image, my reads were dead on, and because of this, I was able to steal a bunch of pots on the river. Two things I learned from this tourney. It is better to limp with JJ in first pos than raise and have to fold to a reraise, or at least call the reraise from the big blind to give yourself the chance to win a big pot. It was literally the fifth hand of the tourney. Blinds were 25/50, we started with 10k in chips, I was up to 11k, but I did not want to invest a lot with JJ especially with the bb reraising to 1300, after I had made it 250 with 5 callers. I put him on AK or AA/KK. He had AK and paid 88 off to the river, I wouldve made top full house on the turn. So sick. Seriously sick sick. But, I think I made the right decision pre-flop specific to my strategy of trying to chip up early by winning small pots and then getting more aggressive later on....

After I got moved to my new table, I flopped top set of qq and got paid off by a loose/aggressive player that I played with in the cash game the night before. I was up to 21k. Then the following hand occurred. Blinds are 300/600 with 50 ante. Before I tell you this hand, let me tell you, that I am angry for making a good read and playing this hand like a complete amateur. I was a victim of my own weakness: Not taking Time to think thru the hand on each street. I am so mad at myself.

I have A8cc in the bb. Sm blind raises to 2400. I insta call without thinking. I just know and can feel that this guy is so on a move. Just from what I have been witnessing, I know he has shit. However, my read is not 100% to re raise so i just call. I think this is a fine play. Flop comes out A 2 Q, rainbow. He checks. I instantly check, thinking that I will bet/raise the turn. The turn pairs the Q. Now he could have a Q. And then he bet 5k. Which is a ridiculous, I am trying to steal bet, not an "I have Q" bet, especially from this amatuer retard. I insta call, forgetting my plan to raise. I just acted way too quickly. River is a 2. So board is A Q 2 Q 2. He bets 5k. I can't fold now. I have to call. He has 4 2 off suit and scoops. I was so heated after that hand. What a mitake I made!!!! So ridiculous. What was I thinking? I wasn't. I must count to 10 before I take every action from now on. I must follow my rule. It is so insane. I shouldve won a 10k pot there and instead I made two mistakes and it cost me. I now went from 34x the blind to 12x the blind and then blinds went up, so I was officially short stacked and alas, my KJ ran into AQ and I can't hit to win. Oh well. I did play really well the entire rest of tourney like perfect perfect. Probably one of my best live showings ever. The learning curve continues.

In online Garnet poker news, I am focusing on winning 8500 tournament dollars by Sept 1st. This started on Monday. I am up to 755. I am excited to meet my goal and then, Aruba, here we come!!!!!!

That's it for now. There will not be much poker the rest of the week, so it will be awhile before I blogg again- I have a date with Jon tonight, dinner with family tomorrow and going to Philly for the weekend.

That's all for now, more later!

Good money and peace,

Lucky C and her sidekick, Ace.

A New Month at the Club.

Hey all! Happy almost 4th of July! I haven't written in a few days, sorry. This weekend, Jon and I were in Atlantic City. I placed 10 out of 106 for a small profit in Showboat tourney, 21 of 65 in another Showboat tourney, and I bubbled Borgata's Saturday tourney $340. However I made about $100 in cash and $150 in Blackjack. I hardly ever play BJ because that is a leak and I do not want my poker career to have any leaks. So between BJ, cash session and 1/3 cashes, I practically broke even for the weekend.

I came back late Sunday, and yesterday, I went to the Lodge for the Monthly Freeroll. My 4 out of 6 cashes last month earned me 2nd place on the leaderboard. The freeroll was not difficult but not easy. I was lucky enough to pick up a few hands and have players push on their draws where they did not hit. I ended up chopping 1st with another player for $500 a piece. Then I played the nightly $150 and we chopped five way for $650 each. First was $1600 but it did not make sense to keep playing with the blinds so high, 5k-10k and only 280k chips in play so it really was the right thing to do to chop. About the Lodge. There is such a cast of characters at this club that I feel they deserve some of this blog entry. So below, I have listed the characters (names have been changed to protect the individuals' identity) and a little bio about each of them (also slightly altered for protection purposes):

ILLEGAL KEN: The stories I have heard out of this man's mouth justify his name. He is funny, boisterous and pure entertainment. He is a brawly man, with graying hair, an easy going personality, but at the same time, super hyper. He definitely lives in the gray area of life. Most of his stories have included marijuana, or other equally lawfully prohibited substances, altering vehicle mileage/stripping cars, and most recently, rounding up some ten year olds and take odds on who would win: ten year olds v. 1 20 something year old. Pretty funny. All in jest, I am sure.

GRANDPA JO: This elderly gentleman, and a true gentleman at that, is one of my favorites. He is warm and friendly, and sweet and kind. He reminds me so much of my grandfather- he has similar features and the same generous nature that my grandfather did. One of the better players at the club, always at the Final Table and plays well. He has a trademark about him, but if I say, you will all guess who this is (if you have ever been to this Club).

FRANKIE SPHAGHETTI: Cool guy, nice, outgoing and loud. Seems to love life and make the most of it. Famous for his Italian cooking, especially for club members. Also famous for huge wins on scratch off lotto tickets =) (I think I just blew his cover).

G.I. Ron: An older man that I imagine served in a war somewhere, sometime. Has a strong personality and is one of the more aggressive players at the Club. He is at the club every night and is always at the top of the leaderboard. He has a funny laugh and a big smile.

L.L. Cool "White" J: This player signifies most of the young players at the club. Slightly ghetto, trying to hard to be cool, showing off a bit too much, but under the surface, they are good, smart players, and are just some guys trying to make some extra money. Usually this player is slightly more difficult to play against.

In later entries, I will add more character, but these are the stars in the cast of characters. They make poker interesting, to say the least.

Off the A.C. tonight, cannot wait to lay out tomorrow and relax!

Good money and peace,

Lucky C and Ace.

CASH #3 AT THE LODGE THIS WEEK

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!! Ace, my new sidekick, and I came in 3rd at the Lodge last night for a $500 cash. I had a huge chip stack and played great poker to get there....and then the blinds were so astronomical that it became impossible for skill to be a factor. As the big stack, I had 4.5x the blind. I doubled up each person at least 3x. So unfair. But in any case, I played well and I got compliments on my play, which is always really nice and feels good. The best part is that I am second on the leaderboard, which of course, means I am in the free roll on Monday night, woo hoo. I am excited about that also.

More news. I am a part time employee as of August 1, 2007! So I can concentrate on poker, and per diem legal work, etc and make just enough at my job to cover my bills & expenses, while I sort out the direction my life is headed. I am super excited. it is going to be phenomenal. We are also going to Vegas the last week in July to hang with Dragon and play some poker poker, so thta will be fun also! I am trying to also schedule a trip for us in August to Cali, we will see if that flies or not.

My new poker goal: win the aruba trip! I want to so so so badly!!! We must go to Aruba this year. It will be great~

Anyhow, this weekend will be packed with AC and poker, I will update on Monday

Good money and peace~
Lucky C and her sidekick, Ace.

WSOP Domination. It begins.

CONGRATULATIONS DRAGON. Second tournament he played in Vegas, chop it up baby!!! =) I am so happy for him- $1k buy in, 7:00 pm second chance or something like that, at the WSOP at the Rio- Dragon chops for 14$k! So exciting. Similarly, and not so similarly, depending on how u look at it, last night at the Lodge, I cashed for close to $400 when I finished 4/33 w/ two bounties. Alas, my short victory was eclipsed by Dragon's 35x-my-cash- win, but I digress. hehe. In all seriousness, it is so awesome that he is making things happen in Vegas. Also similarly, he mentioned to me how great it is to start the trip out on a positive note, especially with a fairly large cash, and I agree with him. The same thing happened for Jonathan and I when we were in Vegas and it set a great tone for the entire trip!

We will be visiting Dragon the last week in July, I cannot wait, it will be amazing, as Vegas always is. I am afraid this time, I won't come back. hehe. I hope my parents aren't reading this. =)

P.S.- I have adopted a beanie baby mascot. Her name is Ace and she is a little fuzzy pink monkey and she is so cute. She lives in the side pocket of my little bag I carry with me. Last night was her first tourney with me, and look how well we did.

P.P.S. I am not crazy, just eccentric (eccentric always being the word that I believe rich crazy people call themselves to justify their craziness but I am not rich, so eccentric retains its true meaning when I use it.)

Good money and peace,

Lucky C and Ace.

Lucky at the Lodge

Hey everyone! Today is Tuesday, and it is sunny and bright and hot outside. I wish I were playing full time right now. I am at a super cross-roads. In the next few weeks, I will be working part time and traveling more for poker. My apartment is not sold yet, but I have faith that it will happen soon. Also, two colleagues of mine are considering going into their own practice and I may work with them on that. I have to see how things go for now and then we will figure it out.

I played the $150 freeze out at the Lodge last night. I was completely card dead the whole night and then, I got hit with the deck at the end. It was really nice. I floated to first place. That has not happened in a really long time. It was excellent.

I am looking forward to poker this summer and for the rest of my life. It is really what I love to do.

The stress and everyday bs that I deal with is ridiculous- and while I am a relatively positive person, it is difficult to always maintain a happy front. At least if I am going to have a lot of issues, I should at least love my job, or from whatever my source of income is derived.

Anyway, that's all for now. I hope you have a great day and good luck at the tables.

Good money and peace,
Lucky C.

Dishes in the Oven...& A Renewed Vow toward Poker

I called Jon and told him the real estate people were bringing potential buyers to see the apartment in one hour. Usually, we receive 24 hrs notice. I anticipated that Jon may not be happy with having to make the apartment look presentable in 45 min, so I told him to put the dishes in the sink, in the oven. And I would take care of it when I got home. He just laughed, and said, babes it's only a few dishes, I think I can have the apt nice in an hour, no worries.

That being said, hopefully....hopefully, we get a buyer soon. With my job the way it is and the apartment on the market and my overwhelming desire to play poker full time, the anticipation is driving me crazy.

MY RENEWED VOW

I will play better, I will play harder, I will play smarter and I will play stronger. I commit myself to what I love, and that is playing poker. I want to be the best, better than the best. I know I have the skills and 8 years of experience. I just need to put in more hours to accustom myself to longer hours at the table. Usually my sessions are less than 3 hours. That will not cut it for full time play. I know that I can win tournaments and be profitable, and one day be rich from this sport. I have it in me. I have final tabled many tournaments. I am viewed as a tough player, I know this because other players have told me. I am excited to get going on my journey. I want to exercise and eat healthy and get myself fit for poker full time. I wish my new career was starting right now.

More later.

Good money and peace,

Lucky C.

Another night at the Club....good play or not?

So I busted last night with 10s v. JJs. But I thought the play I made was fabulous and should have taken down a huge pot. I had 10h 10s utg. I raised to 2000, blinds were 400-800. In a regular tourney, I just call, but the players at the club are so weak that I am comfortable with a raise here. The small blind, who is an O.K. player, reraises to 5000. I was goin to muck- I swear I put him on JJ. I had 16k in my stack. I decided to call and if ace, king or good flop came i could raise all in. So I call. Flop comes down 9 3 6 all hearts. I have the 10h. He bets 3500, which is obviously a scaredy bet into an 11000 chip pot. It was either muck or push all in. I decided to push because if he doesnt have the Jh, he has to fold. Even if he has the Jh, he has to think he is behind. So I pushed. He thought about if forever and ultimately called. I am still O.K. with my play. I think it was the right play. I am happy with how I played. So I busted like 17th out of 40 that played, which is not bad. The tournaments at the club are such a crapshoot anyway. I played perfectly the whole time.

Yesterday, after discussing my work situation with my boss/friend, she gave me the option to work part- time this summer. I think I may do that. It wouldl be great to only work 3 days. I would love to do that. It is a huge difference in salary, but if I can make it up with poker, it would be ok. I am leaning towards it right now. It is also a great seguay into playing full time, so we will see.

I am excited about this summer.

More later.

Good money and peace,

Lucky C.

AC Weekend...A 10 is the nuts!

I haven't been posting much lately. I have had a rough time online for the last month and a half. Granted, I have not played much since the end of May, but I feel like I have not final tabled an online tournament, other than satellites in forever. I am also more enamored with playing live than online. I need to get back on the poker horse and not be discouraged. I am also antsy because it is taking forever and a day to sell the apartment. I really just want to move on with my life and I can't do that as I am strapped with a mortgage and high maintenance payments.

As for this AC Weekend, I traveled to Borgata on Sun to play the Ladies Only event. I finished 48/180. I am actually shocked I lasted as long as I did. I have never been on the felt more times in one tournament or sucked out more, ever. I pushed all in at least 18x in the course of 4 hours. That is A LOT. Especially for me. I am usually masterful at accumulating chips in chic tourney without putting a lot at risk. Plus, I was check raised twice and I did not know how to deal with that in chickie tourney =)

I played well though, so I cannot be upset. I did everything I could to cash. After the chickie tournament, I went to Trop to meet Jon. There was a juicy 2/5 game, but I had to wait for a seat. While I was waiting, I played 1/2 NL. 1/2 was fun. I picked up two big hands early and chipped up an extra $70. Then, I bluffed two pots and showed the second one, which felt good. I then moved to the 2/5 game.

This 2/5 game was wild. The game was full after I joined. 3 people had between 1500-2000 in front of them, 3 or 4 had over 800 and under 1500, and the rest had around 700. I was the shorties with my 500. I noticed immediately that the game was very aggressive. So aggressive, in fact, that I was having a hard time getting into a pot pre. Then, a few players left for dinner, so we were playinig 7 handed. I picked up A 10 os in second pos. Normally I insta muck, but, I saw this as a good opportunity to take control of the action. Plus, I had been pretty quiet for the last 1/2 hour, so my opponents should give me credit for a big hand. I raise to 25 and get two callers, the button (who is a chauvanistic pig/idiot- he bluffed off about 600 while i was there) and the small blind, who counted out a re-raise preflop and then decided to 'just call'. At this point, I put the small blind on 88 or 99. Any higher pair, he definitely would have re-raised. So the pot is $75 and we take the flop 3-way. Flop comes out Kd 10s 4s. Small blind checks, I check and button checks. I was thinking that perhaps I should continuation bet, but I did not. I wanted to see what the actio would be on the turn. I was also worried about getting check raised because the button is an idiot and I wante to ensure he did not have top pair. Once it checked around, I felt for sure I had the best hand.

The turn was an offsuit 7. The small blind led out for $35. My option is to call or raise. Because the small blind had such a deep stack, I decided to call and see what action was taken on the river, although I do believe in retrospect, this would have been a good spot to raise, representing a huge hand, like a set of KK. The button called also. Now the pot is nearing $200. The river is the Qc. Not a great card, but I think I still have the best hand. The only possible hands that beat me or Q 10 or AJ, which would have been a gut shot when the turn bet was made. Small blind checks, I check, intending to call a bet by the button for a few reasons: 1. he bluffs too much, 2. he is a chauvanistic pig, and 3. there is a 85% chance I have the best hand. I did not bet because he was definitely capable of pushing on a bluff. I also saw him check the river when he hit second pair to the board previously, so I cannot imagine he would bet a q in that spot.

So after I check to him, he bets $130. I thought about for perhaps 10 seconds, separated the 130$ from my stack (about 30% of my money) and decided that I had to call. I called, turned up my hand and he insta mucked and I scooped a nice pot. Of course, chauvanistic pig was like, how do you make that call? That's such a bad call. The rest of the table applauded my play and ability to read the situation and make a good call. It felt so good, and provided me more evidence of my abilities to be a profitable player.

I am going to execute a new plan for online; I need to revamp my plan as it has been an expensive 8 weeks considering that I have not final table d one tournament on UB or Stars. Though, I have been goin quite far in the rebuys.

More later,

Good money and peace,

Lucky C.

Chambas, Stutes and Hooks...in Las Vegas

I know, the title of this blog is confusing. Chamba is a new word Jon and I made up as a code word for women that look and act like men. It is really funny, actually. We also witnessed so many prostitutes and hookers that they are now categorized as "stutes & hooks" for short. LOL. Vegas, in a nutshell, was amazingly awesome. It was so good. We had a miserable time with the flights, both there and back, but our time in Vegas made the plane headaches worth it.

Summary of Events: Saturday, I spent at Binion's. I played the Ladies Only super satellite and won the package, which included my entry to the Ladies Only WSOP on Sunday and entry to a LIPS event on July 22, 2007, that I probably cannot make, so I will try and sell the seat.

After that, at 4pm on Sat, I played the $100 Ladies Only Binion's Poker Classic Event. I chopped first three ways at 3 a.m. I thought the tourney was pretty easy, but I did have a few rough patches. Sunday, the WSOp Ladies Event was a DISASTER. It was hot and uncomfortable in the 'tent' that we played in. Further, I switched tables 4x in less than 2 hours. How can I possibly accumulate chips with so many table moves? The pattern was, get my money in with the best, get sucked out, time to switch tables, lol. I did chip up to 4k right away and then lost two pretty big hands, QQ to Aq. and AQ to AK, and then I was out. Monday and Wednesday, I played a 340 and a 550 Venetian Deep Stack events. I went pretty far on Monday, but did not make the money. Wednesday, I believe was my quickest tourney exit ever, 35 min after it started. I lost with JJ twice, AK twice, and 99. It was insane. Twice, my opponents hit sets on me, and twice, I lost to the river. So I spiraled downward from 10k (up to 11k) and then to 2800, when my top pair lost to a set for my tourney exit.

Cash games in Vegas are so extremely juicy. So, so easy. I only played 5 sessions, and was completely card dead in three of them. I had two profitable sessions, one break even and two minor deficiting sessions. But overall, I think the cash games in Vegas are much more profitable than AC. Jon did really well in cash, but he always does well.

We didnt see any shows, but that was expected. We were only at the Rio one day. I really feel like the WSOP is overrated considering the terrible structure and lack of organization. Plus, they treated the Ladies Event like a second class tourney. The tournament director was very chauvanistic. However, I am already looking forward to next year's events.

We ate at some fabulous restaurants in Vegas. We had sushi at Shibuya, French tapas at a fancy french place in MGM Grand, great breakfast at Grand Lux Cafe, american bistro food at David Burke's, which was awesome, and more sushi at Tao. It was so yummy. As for the weather, it was cooking in Vegas, like 100 degrees or more every day....

I had fights with both Harrah's and JetBlue. We were resigned to staying at Harrah's for our trip, because it was the only one of five hotels for which I had comps that was not booked. Neverr again. It was disgusting. It was fake, and gross and old. Bad service, rude personnel, room not made, twice. It was just bad. I will never stay there again. Jetblue, I may just publish the link to the extremely heated letter I will be composing shortly to them.

Future poker plans. Jon and I are so psyched to both play full time. It will be amazing. I cannot wait. The apartment, hopefully, will sell in the next month so we can make plans to move for October 1.

Immediate future. Ladies Only Event at Borgata on June 17, 2007. Cannot wait. What's really great is pros will be in Vegas so this tourney should be really juicy. Tonight, I think we are going to the Club and I will play a tourney there. Jon and I are both goin down to AC on Sunday, but we will be goin down separately.

Lastly, Dragon left for his trek to Vegas today. So good luck Dragon, hopefully we see you at some WSOP final tables!!!!

More later.

Good money and peace,

Lucky C.

Celebrate Good Times

Last night, we went to Morton's Steakhouse to celebrate Jon's win. It was scrumptious. Jon and Dragon got steak, naturally, and I had blackened salmon, yum yum. Afterwards, we went back to the apartment and played the 8 p.m. I finished 164/250 gg me. LOL. I lost a few big hands, trips to a flush, etc., and then was down to 20x the blind. I raised all in with top pair and open ended, but I believe it was a bad play. I suspected that dry_benefit, a relatively tight, solid player, who raised preflp, had AA. He almost folded actually, but he did call, and it was only 1/4 of his chips. The right call, I think. The retard who pushed had an underpair, I had top pair and open ended and AA held. I then played Aruba and lost two big hands there, and ended up getting all my money in with KQ v. 99 and of course KQ flopped a full house- what a tortured evening. The saving grace to these debacle tournaments is that I won two sats for Sun yesterday, so I was esentially free rolling on tournament dollars that cost me $50.

Tomorrow, we leave for Vegas. I am super excited, probably too excited. Is there such a thing as too excited? I don't think so. (Me rambling on my blog, sorry).

The plan is as follows. Its going to be a LADIES ONLY EXTRAVAGANZA. Ladies Only sat at Binions 12pm on Sat, Ladies Only Tournament 4 pm at Binions also, and later that evening, register for Ladies Only at Rio. Sun, wake up early, breakfast and head over to Rio. Jon will most likely play some deep stack extravaganza tournaments over at Venetian. If I bust on Sun, I will play the one on Monday over there.

I had a good conversation with my father about poker and I think he struggles with the concept of his "lawyer" daughter concentrating on poker, but at the same time, he sees my results (and Jon's as well) and he instinctively senses that poker is profitable for us as well. He actually said, well if you move to Jersey, you will be close to A.C. and you can play live tournaments often and make some real money. I was shocked.

My wish this week is to make the money in the Ladies Only event...we will see what happens.

More later,

Good money and peace,

Lucky C.

First out in Leaderboard Freeroll, but a New Month Begins

Last night, Jon and I went to the Club. I haven't been there in two weeks I believe. In any case, I went primarily to play the free roll and then the rebuy tourney afterwards, but alas, my KK could not survive against ak and 88. AK spiked an ace and out I went. Then I played the $50 rebuy (ended up only buyin in once for a double and adding on, so it cost me $150). The rebuy is hilarious, but what is even funnier is that people play like its still the rebuy AFTER the rebuy period has ended. So therefore, we end up witnessing the new phenomenon 'hold em without a flop' (see post below). I ended up playing pretty tight, chose my spots to raise and chopped the tournament for an $890 win. It also put me at the top of the leaderboard for June, weeeee!

I am so exhausted today. I have been going to bed at 2 in the morning every night. I am so tired, I can barely keep my eyes open. Meanwhile we are leaving for Vegas on Fri and I need sleep. I guess I will sleep at my desk if all else fails.

Ok, I just busted out of 9k guaranteed when my AA could not possibly beat AK, all in with no pair and a gut shot. That's all for now, more latta!

Good money and peace,

Lucky C.

OSTRICHMAN rocks 200k on UB!!!!!

First let me say CONGRATULATIONS OSTRICHMAN! Whooo hoooo! Ostrichman, aka Jon, my boyfriend, took down the 200k guaranteed last night. A combination of him playing great poker and luck at the final table got him heads up against a pretty weak player. The weak player had monster hands against him heads up and Ostrichman ended up chopping evenly, but taking the title! Please go to www.pocketfives.com or www.cardplayer.com to read all about it (online results June 3, 2007). So, with Jon pocketing close to 36,000$$$ yesterday and my monster $400 cash session on Sat at Foxwoods, it was a pretty good weekend, to say the very least =)

On another note, this gives me a whole, renewed confidence in playing full time. While it happeend to Jon and not me, I feel like I won too. It was amazing! I cannot wait to leave my job and do my own thing! Freedom reigns!

Cannot wait till Vegas! Tonight is the freeroll at the club for the top 10 finalists of May and I am #5 so I hope I am able to report some earniings from the freeroll.

More later,

Good money and peace,

Lucky C.

Hold Em Without a Flop

A few days ago, I was speaking with my friend Dragon regarding tournament play, both online and live. We have been experiencing the same phenomenon that should be coined "Hold Em Without a Flop." This is the situation where, regardless of how much the raise is pre flop, and regardless of how much is in the pot and how many people are in the hand and REGARDLESS OF WHAT THE FLOP ACTUALLY IS, the either caller of a big raise or actual raiser feels he or she is committed to the hand.

Usually the show down hands are AK , AJ or a small pair with overcards on the board. It is actually quite shocking. It is like 2-card hold em. In their heads, at least. How is the a good, profitable play? The answer is simply, that it is not. It cannot be profitable in the long run. It simply can't. It is unbelievable the number of time I have re-raised all in or pushed in on a good flop for my hand, and I have been called by Ace hi. It is astounding, very very astounding. If you call me with Ace hi, you must be a great player with a perfect read, or a complete moron, and I have found that the latter is what has been calling my alllins.

In other poker news, I have been running terrible online. I have not cashed in a sng in days, have deficited in cash with incredibly bad suck outs and havent final tabled a mtt in a week. It is severely diminishing my online bankroll, which I will have to focus on building up on Sunday. I am positive though, that things will turn around, ,and once I have my next big cash online, instead of making a withdrawal, I am goin to spread that out on other sites so I can build up.

I won my entry for Sunday's tournament (only tourney I won all week) so I am excited for that.

I am also playing Ladies Only at Foxwoods tomorrow so that should be a lot of fun.

That's all for now, more later.

Good money and peace,

Lucky C.

Borgata Summer Open...

...WAS just announced! How excited am I? Ladies Only event on June 17- which is Father's Day, and we plan to celebrate the day before. We already planned to take my dad to breakfast that Saturday, because he wants a kitten (so cute) so we are goin to the animal shelter after breakfast. Then, we will do something with Jon's father that evening, and then head down to AC.

As for yesterday's poker, Jon went to the club and had, from what I understand, a pretty volatile session, but ended up earning a little over $200. I played the 8pm on UB- my flush got dominated by a full house when the board paired on the turn. I was pretty sure he had a set on the flop, or the nut fl draw, but I could not fold because after my flop bet, I had 6x the blind left. I played a few sngs and did not get anything going. I am excited though for poker the rest of the week, it will be great.

Heading to Foxwoods this weekend for Ladies Only again, that should be exciting...weeee!

Good money and peace,

Lucky C.

Ladies Only Domination....and things that Make you go hmmmm

So, Friday Jon and I decided last minute to take a little trip to foxwoods since it was a long weekend. We got there Fri night.

THINGS THAT make u go HMMM:
I was doing really well in my 2-5 NL game, which was a donkfest if I ever saw one....this one hand will explain it all: Angry irish man, who is getting raised every time, I guess, decides he is going to put a stop to all the raising and open raises utg for 200$....this is a 2-5 game, so 40x the blind.. folds to guy on button who says to guy utg, do u really have AA? At this, I almost laughed out loud...of course Irish says no...and I am sure he doesn't. he def has 66 or 77 and wanted to win $7. So KK (the button) decides he is going to CALL the 200$, leaving himself 215$ behind. Now it is up to the drunk red head- who announces she likes to gamble (with what i was sure A x). Flop comes out AQ2, red head open pushes for $500, giving herself no opportunity to make a profit on the top two that she flopped. Lmao. How funny is that? So of course, irish and KK fold and she proudly reveals AQ. Very interesting...then i realized that my bag was missing the same time that I had a big decision to make on the river...which I did call with nut straight that i flopped and saw the flush that my opponent had- runner runner, bc he had gut shot of course...and then flush draw and then..t.a da, my bag was missing. I almost started crying. I filled out security papers, had them check cameras, and then realized that I left it under my first table which broke, and I was talkin to dealer so I completely forgot to grab it. At least it was recovered. But I was so rattled, we grabbed some take out, I downed two spicy bloody marys (my signature drink) and booked back to the hotel. I felt much better in the morning.

The next day, Jon played 2-5 NL, earned a few hundred and the $500 buy in tourney and got his top set cracked by a complete moron who had 6 9 and hit perfect perfect for a straight. No concept of poker, that guy. I played the chic event and came in 2 out of 53. The chic I was against Heads Up, it was her first time playing, so that's how lucky she got. But I still earned $750 for second, so I was happy, only $80 buy in.

Saturday night, we got home, I fooled around in some rebuys and then passed out. Sunday, we had a very nice bbq/birthday party for my Uncle at my parents house, out in the country (like an hour away). We got home around 8ish, I played a little, won a few sngs on Fulltilt.

Today, Jon and I had a great day. I had a terrible sng morning, losing 5 out of 5 that I played. I went out to lunch with my girly friends- it was really nice and came back and played 2 p.,. and an aruba sat to super. I came in 12th out 116 in 2pm and then, I won the aruba entry. I also won an entry for the Sun 2 p.m. I also got back on my cash game horse, and while I only earned a few dollars, it felt good to earn in online cash again.

Two things- check out foxwoods article on Bluffmagazine.com. It is hysterical. and second, I am playin ladies only again next sat, so hopefully it is awesome!

Good money and peace,
Lucky C.

GOOD MONEY

So, after contemplating the phrase 'good luck' and pondering the fact that the very essence of the life that Jon and I seek to live will be inevitably peppered with this phrase, I decided that it is no longer acceptable to utilize it amongst ourselves. If going to work is pre-empted by beinig wished luck, then I choose to be wished something else. So I created a new phrase that Jon and I have adopted to replace 'Good Luck'. And that is, "GOOD MONEY." I think it makes sense and definitely has a more resounding firmness to it, as opposed to the wishy washiness that encompasses 'good luck.'

Onto poker news. Ultimatebet has been kicking my azz lately. My account has been diminished and now I am resolved to play sit n gos to build back up. On another front, I am kicking azz in Full Tilt sngs. I have built up over 600$ from my initial $80 investment just in $50 sngs, which are the easiest ever on there, but take forever. Poker Stars, I am trying to get something going on that site as well. Also resolved to building up with sngs.

Jon has been doing extremely well on line. He cashed in 4 out of the last 5 $100 mtt and bubbbled in the 5th...he is building with cash, overall, doing very well.

I am so happy it is Friday, the day before a long weekend. I really hope my office closes early today, that would be great.

More later.

Good Money and peace,

Lucky C.

Moving up in the Money

I love "moving up in the money" when I am in the money in a tournament. It is so much fun and it really puts you in the ultimate zone. Every play is either a bigger pay day or your way out of the tourney.

Yesterday, I played the 9k guaranteed on UB and I placed 14/103 for an $80 profit, blah. At least I cashed. Last night, we went to the club and I placed first out of 23 players for a $750 profit. Not much, but it feels good to come in first. Especially when my 44 held up against pkt KK. =)

I want to play the 9k guaranteed today as well, but I am not sure if I will. I have to really concentrate on building my account before I invest in more 100$ events. Maybe Jon will buy a piece of me =).

I also placed 1st and second in two $50 sngs on Full tilt. Even though I only have a little over 300$ in my FT account, it started with 80$, so it has been nicely increasing over the last week.

On the apartment front, no offers and no one else has come to see it. Sigh. I have a feeling it will take a while to sell.

On the car front, a few inquiries on it, so we will see. It is a very reasonable price for my car, I think. Below Kelly Blue Book value and in great condition. We just started advertising it on a new site so hopefully that will help us sell it more quickly.

Other than that, not much else. Work is slow and boring and dull and so not what I want to do with my life. I cannot wait to start my poker career. You know my plan- sell apartment and move to AC. Alternate plan- cash huge ($6figure) in a tournament, sublet apartment, and move to A.C. We will see what happens.

Back to work, more later.

Good luck and peace,

Lucky C.

Eaten Up in Cash, but still the Eternal Optomist

I seriously got eaten alive in cash yesterday on UB. I had jj v. 89, top pair for 89 and lost when a second nine hit the river. I lost 10s to 44s. It was bad all around. I played the 8p.m. and bubbled 36/240 with 30 paying....another bubble. I am bubble queen again. I did cash second on a FT $50 sng, and first and second in two ps sngs.

I do hope to look back on my blog one day, when I play bigger, live events and reminisce on when I was resigned to playing low limit stakes online and 100$ mtt. This is my dream. I vow to become a better player, an undefeatable player....that's all I want, seriously. And I will make it happen, I am 1000% determined.

I will focus on this...as for my six month goal, it is progressing on FT, stalled on Stars and has taken a severe downturn on UB.

More Later,

Good luck and peace,

Lucky C.

Tough Weekend

Good morning all, it is Monday, beautiful and sunny out. Weekend update in poker: It was a very tough weekend for me. I bubbled three tournaments- the 2 p.m. on UB yesterday, the 8 p.m. on Saturday night, I busted out of both an Aruba and WSOP super satellite against AK when I had big pp, etc. I spent a decent amount on Stars in $10 r, but I still love these tourneys. I have been doing well in $50 sngs, which is what I am utilizing to build up on Stars and Full Tilt. I am about 2 out of 3 in comin in first or second. It is a tough road, trying to build my accounts, but I will not distress. My ultimatebet account has taken a hit lately, I have deficited in tourneys and made up some in cash. I need to work on re-building that.

Conversely, Jon is doing very well in tournaments. He won several entries to bigger events over the weekend, plus he is 3/3 in 109 in terms of cashes, with one final table appearance. I anticipate more great poker results for him!

Ok, more later.

Good luck and peace,

Lucky C.

Choiceless Decisions and the Wonders of Freedom

Calling an all-in for $27 more after you raised to $45 in a cash game with JJ, and you are pretty sure your opponent has AA. Calling a min raise when you are in the big blind with 2-4 off suit because 8 people have called (ifyou re-raise, the original raiser will no doubt call because she is THAT player), coming into work at 8 a.m. (at least while you still have a mortgage), leaving your kitty in the morning even though she is beyond cute and begging you not to leave. All of the above are actions that, of course, like anything we have a choice (in a perfect world), but for all practical purposes, your decisions are already made for you because of the underlying circumstances.

Freedom is underrated. It is the greatest thing that exists. The very foundation of our country is rooted in our forefathers' desire for freedom. Entrepeneurs and business owners are lured into their career paths partially by the freedom associated with it. To be disentangled from a supervisor, a boss, a cranky, obnoxious, unappreciative owner, that cringes everytime he hands you your pay check, because in his head, all you are is a necessary evil in order to provide his free status, would be a dream.

Every fiber of my being desires freedom. I have gone down the root of solo business owner/proprietor on more than one occasion. When I was younger, I started my own baby-sitting business. My friend and I would share clients, based upon our schedule. In law school, my first and second year, I took an ad out in the Law Journal offering per diem paralegal services and did work at home at night for extra money.

Towards the end of law school, in the summers, I advertised a business called "Miracle Mixers," a company founded by me after I worked briefly on the weekends for a company called At Your Service. They hired out servers and bartenders for at home parties, etc. and charged the client 35$ an hour and paid the employees 10$. So I cut out the middle man, hired five of my friends, and took an ad out in the Hampton Star, and a few other papers, made business cards, and started my business. For three summers, I was rolling in the money. And then I graduated law school, friends moved away and I started a real job, without time for this business, so I retired it. My second year as an attorney, I sent a mailing to 200 doctors advertising my services for insuarance appeals (I had some experience with it) and made several thousands of dollars doing that. And then I had one nightmare client, that made me run screaming from doing this (she threatened all kinds of retaliatory action because her appeal was not successful- and she was completely nuts). However, I may take this up again because it was great extra money.

Yesterday, my friend Deborah and I were speaking and I told her, there are no good, 24 hour bagel stores anywhere for a 20 mile radius with the exception of one. If we open a great bagel store, we would make a killing, so she and I started hypotehetically planning that business.

I am also working on the formation of a website for legal services that will be up and running in the next three months. Hopefully, we will generate great business from that.

My entire life, I have done nothing but illustrate my desire to be in my own business, go out on my own, do my own thing. This is all I want in life. And I will do it. It is just a matter of time.

Quick poker update- I cleaned up in sit n gos. 1st on stars in $50 (considering I had $55 in my account) and 2nd on full tilt (only had $80 before my 2nd place finish). I foolishly played the $30 r on UB (cost me $123) and $10r on stars ($61). But that's ok. I was literally falling asleep 1 hour after I started playing and just donked out of them. Work is really affecting my poker results =)

Anyway, thank goodness it is FRIDAY!!!!

Good luck and peace,

Lucky C.

Working Woes...looking for greener grass.

Today was such a yucky day at work. First off, at 8:25 a.m., I got yelled at by my boss for something that was entirely his fault. I do not mean a simple, indirect mistake. It was literally his failure to meet with me on 3 separate occasions, all meetings I scheduled with him so that he could provide me with input for reports that I am doing for a client.

How can I finish a report for the client when he has the info that is the missing link? The information includes construction costs, soft costs, hard costs, fees, contingincies, blah blah for a real estate development; things that I have know way of ascertaining without his calculations. It has been like that since day 1 that I started. And god forbid I try to speak up, he thinks I am simply being argumentative. So, I kept my mouth shut and then I actually cried after that. I felt bad for the entire day. Then, to be a complete a-hole, he calls me up later in the day, and says, oh, why don't you have those reports ready for monday morning? I replied, I just finished putting it all together, I was going to messenger them to the City this afternoon. He insists that the new deadline is Monday. I could've screamed I was so frustrated.

My job latetly, has become a joke in my mind. They say "the grass is always greener" but I think that in certain situations, it is really greener. I am simply not made to be an employee. I have a free spirit, and entrepenuerial mind. I am constantly thinking up new concepts, ideas, business ventures, and anything that is potentially profitable. Sitting behind a desk 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. has become a finite situation. The finite-ness of it will be determined by the sale of my apartment.

Enough about work, only 1.6 hours left before the working day is over. Then, Jon and I will meet my friend Brigid later for dinner, with her boyfriend for drinks at this nice, outdoors place in Rockville Centre. Later, I will play the 10$ rebuy on Stars and the 30$ r on UB. I am very excited for that. I may come in late tomorrow, depending upon how late I am up tonight. Yesterday, I played the $150 tourney at the Club, they had a huge turnout, 40 people. I made a few great plays and then lost a big hand, 99 v. AA. So then, I was short stacked and pushed in with A8 suited, and got called by A10 diam, for 70% of his chips...what can I do? And then, the two worst players at the table were like, why would she push with A8 and in my head im like, duh retards, i have 4.5 x the bb, of course I push, but A10 cannot call me. They just don't know, very ignorant. Nice people, ignorant players. I then came home and earned approximately $350.00 in cash on line. It was very nice.

Will have more to report tomorrow...

Good luck and peace,

Lucky C.