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.