Katie Über Alles

Degenerate Dating Drama

Wanted.  Someone who gets (or at least can put up with) the life of a poker grinder, but doesn't have a gambling problem.  

In the past week two separate people have asked me when I'm going to start dating, and it's devolved into a conversation about my life and relationships.

Post-divorce and post....whatever-the-hell-that-was, I've done a lot of thinking about this.  It's some thinking I probably should have done two years ago...or more like ten years ago.  I've realized a few pitfalls I've fallen into in the past and I'm determined not to fall in again.  It's been good. 

Most people are really shocked to discover I'm actually a shy person around people I don't know that well.  I suffer from really bad social anxiety in new situations. 

Needless to say, I've never been one to date a ton.  I got married when I was 22 (divorced at 29).  A friend has been trying to get me to do the online dating thing, but I don't know how ready I am to jump into something like that.  Scary.

On top of this, a new problem has recently arisen.  The life of the single, female, degenerate.  Most guys I meet are poker players.  Hell, most people I meet these days are poker players.  I'm not *trying* to date a poker player...(comes with its own issues).  But...I don't know that I have other venues for meeting people.  I'm pretty busy between poker (i.e. work) and school.  I'm on a crazy schedule where I sleep most of the daylight hours away.  Meeting people while playing poker is like...hanging out with coworkers.  :p

Alternatively, most non-poker playing guys I know think it's AWESOME when they first meet me that I play poker to help with the bills.  They want to hear all about the WSOP events I've played in.  This fascination usually lasts only until they figure out that the life of a poker player is not like the bling blang blaow video, or whatever their idea is of professional poker playing.  Seriously, I think they all think it's me just hanging out rolling in money and having fun.  Like I'm Phil Ivey or something.  Anyone who's done low/mid stakes grinding knows that's not it AT ALL.

So after about a week or so, the FASCINATION with my lifestyle wears off and they get really fed up wondering why I'm always in AC (it's like going to the office, definitely not a 24 hour party), why I am never free on weekends (best time to make money), why I'm always asleep during the day...  They get jealous of what they THINK my lifestyle is.  Not to mention the complete and total difference in the way we view money (Yes, it's OK to get $300 in with 21 outs, but that doesn't mean I want to spend an extra $.50 on gas! It's DIFFERENT.)  I don't know if I'm ever going to be able to find someone who understands this lifestyle that isn't a poker player, let alone someone who can put up with it.  And poker isn't something I'm giving up anytime soon, though I would love to start dating again. 

It's lonely out here for a girl poker player.  

So yeah... Wanted.  Someone who gets the life of a poker grinder, but doesn't have a gambling problem.  Someone who gets that I will be in AC working a lot of the time.  Someone who understands why I go on tilt from time to time.  Someone who gets the difference between getting it all in with an OESFD and lighting money on fire on material shit.  On the other hand, someone who wants to watch movies, cuddle on the couch, and rock out to music with me, too. I promise I can talk about things other than poker (I'm actually quite well-rounded)...but it's always gonna be a big part of my life.

I just saw this hand go down

At pink O8.  AAA6 calls all kinds of bets on flop and turn.  O...M...G.

A Downswinging Degenerate's Guide to AC

It's funny how some of us bitch and moan about spending an extra $2 on coffee but will gladly shove $$$ in on a draw or bluff.  I discovered a great new "deal" in AC this past trip, so I figured I would compile a bunch of the deals I know about to share with my lucky readers.  To quote: Dawn Summers, " How are you not paying me for this!" ;)

1) McCormick and Schmick's right next to the Harrah's poker room has a 10pm-12am happy hour.  I love M+S, but I don't usually eat gourmet meals in AC.  I think I can count the number of times I have on one hand...  As far as I know, they just started doing this, but they have some great CHEAP food deals if you are a degenerate and do not eat dinner until 10pm anyways.  How's about a $4 giant, fresh-made hamburger?  This has to be one of the best deals in AC.

2) Free breakfast at Harrah's poker room.  The first time I was in the poker room at 5am and saw them wheel in a tray filled with danishes and bagels with cream cheese I thought I must be crazy.  What kind of casino gives away free stuff?  Sure enough, it's a free breakfast for their players.  It goes fast, but....free!!!

3) Red Door Spa at Harrah's.  I love Red Door Spas.  I discovered a hairdresser that I really like at the one at Harrah's (Sam).  They also have one of the nicest spa areas of any fancy spa I've ever been to (including Canyon Ranch at the Venetian).  Why is a spa listed under saving money at a casino?  Cause you can use your comps there 1:1.  You heard it here first.  I've been doing it for about a year.

4) Obv...free rooms at Harrah's midweek are the nuts.  People at the Borgata were so excited about $79 midweek poker rates...well, who needs that when you can get free rooms at Harrah's in their brand new Waterfront Tower, complete with flat screen tv, GIANT shower, and really comfy beds.  Get a player's card and start getting offers.  Seriously... I am platinum (soon to be Diamond) now, but I got offers when I was Gold too.

5) Breakfast at the deli!  This is not so much a deal as something new I discovered... The Harrah's deli now does breakfast!  Eggs, bacon, sausage, etc.  It's not on their menu board but it is on the order yourself machines.

No, Harrah's did not pay me to write this post.  I wish they had, but no...I'm just a fan.  Considering they own the majority of casino properties in AC, getting a player's card is a no brainer.  Do it.

Catching up on poker

I've been tracking my play with the iPhone app "poker journal" since March. (Yes, there's an app for that). I first read about it on 2+2, and it's been one of the most valuable pieces of info I've found on that forum. Last year I tried tracking my play through a google docs spreadsheet which quickly became garbage in/ garbage out because who wants to log all the particular details of a really rough session when you first get home? Having tracking on my phone allows me to set everything up when I first sit at the table and keeps me honest. I recently acquired enough data to dump it into excel and do some analysis. What did I find? I'm a far more profitable Omaha player (both limit and pot limit) than NLHE. I'm a winning NLHE player, to be sure, but I make much more consistent money (and more money per average session) at Omaha. Too bad it's frequently hard to find good live Omaha games. The good news is with one exception at the beginning of my tracking, I've been in the black all year. Too bad all of that money has gone to bills.

Next up: recap of past 24 hrs in AC. If you follow me on Twitter, you can skip this section. ;) Sat down at pink O8 at the Borgata. It was a very juicy table. Nonetheless, I quickly found myself down $100 due to flopping second nuts full house and having my low counterfeited on the river. In a three way pot, I gets Nunavut. However, I clawed my way back and netted +150 that session, putting me at +100 for the day after I dropped $50 really quickly at NLHE.

Most of the fish busted from the pink game after that, so I left to go check in at Harrahs. I wish I could just move in to one of their waterfront tower rooms. Went downstairs to play some NLHE...I was SUPER card dead for 2-3 hrs. Then had "one player to a hand" violated when I had quads against top full which cost me $150. Still, I perservered. I pulled off a great all-in river bluff around hour 3 against the guy who told me two hours earlier that girls never bluff. Did not show it because I just don't think showing the bluff is a +ev move for my style of play. Around hour 4.5, I FINALLY doubled up with AA>JJ on 8 high flop. Soon after I was outta there to get some sleep.

Also of note: borgata changed their cards to some fugly Gemacos last week. The shade of red is very dark (cause of the infamous "I have a flush...oh wait I don't" incident at the Tropicana in 2006, the cards are stiff, and the face cards are ridiculously ugly. But they supposedly work better in the autoshufflers.

Harrahs also changed their cards last week but they are the "nicer" Gemacos. Very flexible and no ugly face cards. However, they are no longer superindex. (and then the peasants rejoiced!) I hate superindex cards for Holdem.

Woke up feeling good. Gonna take a long shower, get some food, and hit the tables again hoping for some more winning sessions.

Recovering from Life Tilt

I allowed myself to get frustrated and tilty at some personal stuff on Monday night.  I told myself after I got it together and left the table that I was on poker time-out til next Monday, to prevent myself from doing anything stupid, like angry poker.  Angry poker is bad news.  Angry poker makes my bank account cry. 

So, I haven't played in a week.  It's been hard...especially since I've been in NJ for the past few days visiting with my sister.  And it was a holiday weekend and I know lots of fish were in AC.  But I know it's the right thing to do.  There is absolutely no point in playing on tilt.  I'm feeling refreshed and ready to get back to my game.

The weekend in NJ with John and Sarah has been great.  We've gone shopping in the cute little town that she and John work in.  We went to an Agatha Christie play.  We've bummed around drinking beer and watching football.  It's been very nice. 

I have a room that I booked ages ago at Harrah's Monday-Wednesday.  I'm very much looking forward to my return to poker.  Please, poker gods, let me run at least averagely.  :)

FARGO 2009 recap

You never forget your first.  I love Foxwoods.  It's home to a lot of poker firsts for me.  It's where I played my first live tournament, my first live cash game, my first live HORSE game... It's where I learned to play (way before I met the MD degenerates).  It's where I first turned $100 into $1000.  It's the first room where I knew floor people and room management by name.  It's where I first fell in love with poker.  All of this, combined with the fact that I'm only ever there alone makes it feel like my little (big?) corner of the poker universe.  I walk from the Rainmaker garage straight to the poker room (back way, down the escalators, and through the stud and limit section) and I smile every time.  I'm home.

There's a lot of things about the place that people love to hate, and it's true...there are some things that suck.  Last call (at a casino!!!) at 1:30am.  Dealers don't keep their own tips (they pool with the entire poker and pit).  It's frequently crowded cause it's such a big room.  Their comps used to really suck.  They have those ridiculous buttons.  But a lot of the bad about Foxwoods has changed over the past two years (buyins, rake, etc.) and there is a lot of good (cappuccinos! LOL). 

Original plan was to show up on Saturday for the NL and play the Sunday HORSE because I was backed to play the O8 tourney on Friday at the Borgata Poker Open.  However, I ran into some room issues and had a hold on my credit card which prevented me from booking a room anywhere for Thursday.  Gave backers back their money.  :(  Frustrated, I figured I might as well head up to Foxwoods early since their dinner was on Thursday night.  On top of that, for all the times I've been to Foxwoods, I've never once stayed in their hotel(s) because my parents live 15 minutes away.  FREE room and board with people who will cook for you trumps all.

So I headed up to the dinner at Custy's thinking that this was a good time for me to get over some of my long standing social phobia.  I was going to show up to the dinner by myself dammit.  It would be fine.

I was expecting it to be like the smoker's dinner at ATLARGE.  I showed up, met Tracy (FARGO organizer, who I'd emailed a few times), and walked into a restaurant with no bar to sit at, filled with people and their families.  After some attempted conversation with a guy, his wife, and their son (who I think thought I was nuts), and 10 minutes of sitting alone thinking showing up to FARGO all by myself was a really BAD idea, I turned around and found some people I knew from ATLARGE.  Goldie, Chic, Bob Lauria, and Todd (spidurman) were playing Chinese poker...for the glory.  Chic (as usual) had attracted quite a crowd as people watched him set his hands.  Breathing a sigh of relief, I walked over and attached myself to Chic et al, informing them that I had come to FARGO on my own.  Great guys that they are, they took me into the fold and we had a great dinner where I met some new people, and was riddled with Omaha8 puzzles by Bob Lauria (what are the three boards that you will have the nuts on if your hand is 9992?).

After dinner most people stayed to play the heads up match, but I hadn't registered for it, so I just went to my parents' house. 

Friday I spent mostly with my mom.  We went to see Bodies: Revealed.  I showed her around the giantness that is Foxwoods.  After dinner at home, I went and played some cash (8/16 HORSE, 1/2 PLO). 

Saturday, I got up bright and early to get to the NLHE tourney.  As I was registering at the cage, one of the floor people I know came over and told the cashier to give me the lucky seat because I was his landlady and he needed a break on rent.  Sadly, it wasn't the lucky seat, but I didn't do badly considering I had really awful hands (best was TT which I had to fold pf) and the structure and starting chips were kinda bad.  I'm too lazy to look back at twitter to see exactly when I busted, but it was when we were down to three tables.  They paid 11 (save for the bubble) and I think I busted out somewhere around 18th.  Ho hum.  I did have a great time though, and made some new friends based on my seat assignment (Steve and Chris, hi!). 

After making it pretty deep, I stayed around to play cash.  I was at 4/8 HORSE for a long time, made a bunch of money, went to 1/2 PLO, made a bunch more money, ate free comped dinner and beer, and then headed back to the poker room.

First thing I see coming through the limit side is Chris sitting at a very short 4/8 HORSE table.  I sit down, we start splashing around, and in no time Tracy and some others had joined us again.  We got a full table going and a full must-move (which eventually became HOREO!!! LOL).  Chris and Tracy and I played drunken poker (a lot of fun!!!!) until about 2am when we all decided it was time to sleep.

Up again early Sunday for the 11am HORSE tournament.  I feel that I played really well.  Again, the structure was not the best, but I played a really solid game and busted out in 11th after an awful 3 hands in a row at razz.  I got it in on my final hand with (24)67 against (J9)46.  J946 somehow went runners perfect A, 3, 2 to make a smooth 6 (I could NOT believe it!!!) and busted me out on the bubble.  Boo-hoo.  If I won that hand I would have moneyed cause antes and blinds were so high at that point we were dropping like flies.  *sigh*

I did not get to say goodbye to many people because they left when they busted out of the tournament and I made it to the final 2 tables, which was sad, but hopefully I'll see people again at ATLARGE.  I really had a great time at FARGO and was only by myself for the first few minutes of dinner.  Everyone was very welcoming! 

Queen high???

Had a very bizarre thing happen the other day.  Well, hand-wise, anyways.  I have seen some truly bizarre things when it comes to the people I am playing with.

So, I was at Foxwoods this weekend for FARGO.  A great time was had and I'll post a recap soon.  Sunday, post-HORSE tourney, I was playing at a 1/2 NL table.  I had a whole paragraph typed out here about recent (past 6 months or so) adjustments to my style of NL play, but then realized why do I want to share all of this with the world?  ;)  Suffice it to say that I've been experimenting recently with exploiting my usual tight image with some LAG-gy moves here and there. 

So I was at a 1/2 NLHE table with some aggressive players, I had a tight image, and I decided to get a little aggro when I was dealt AKs in the cutoff.  I raised to $12pf, and got heads up with the table fish (on the button).  Now, this guy was a station, but he also knew how to fold if the price was right, so the flop came out J46, rainbow.  He bet out $25, and I immediately check raised all in for about $150 on top.  The guy sitting next to me, obviously thinking I had a monster, whispered, "get 'em, girl." 

Station thinks forever and says: "$150 more?  I guess I have to call."  At this point I think he has a J, but hey, I have two overs, so what the hell.  Hopefully he doesn't have AJ. Turn: 6 River: Q.  I say, well, if you have a pair, you are good.  The table is clearly shocked at this revelation, but not as shocked as me when this guy table QcTc.  That's right.  He called my $150 check-raise all in on a J-high rainbow board with Queen high, no draw.  Then he says he thinks Queen high was good the whole way.  He's not joking or trying to tilt me.  I can tell he is sincere.

And all I can say about that is THANK GOD there are still people like you who sit at poker tables, sir.  Please, continue to call my checkraises with Qhigh!!!  LOL

Trying to explain a technical passion to others

How do you do it? Is it even possible?  The things that make our passion exciting to us are hard to translate to people who haven't felt the things we feel.  Among poker players, for example, it is hard to explain the soul-sucking defeat of having two outs or the absolute elation of playing a hand such that you get your opponent to put in their stack with only two outs.  The non-technical translation ("That's a really good thing!") or even the somewhat technical translation ("Mathwise, I am a 90+% favorite.") really doesn't cut it.  It's just one of those things that's hard to explain to others who haven't been in the trenches.

Travis recently tried to explain such a situation on his blog, and to be honest, even as someone who would like to think that she gets the game, I found his post rather boring to read (apologies, Trav).  I think that has something to do with the passion.  It's hard to translate that to people who don't love the game. 

I manage to still have some people in my life that don't "get" poker.  Even if they inquire about my play, I have learned to KISS (keep it simple, stupid) cause otherwise they get a glazed over look on their faces.  Similar, I imagine, to how I felt the first time I tried to read Sklansky's "Theory of Poker."

I wish there was a way to translate the passion to people.  If someone figures it out, let me know. 

Lou Krieger on HORSE

There are a lot of dualities in poker.  Some people at live poker are really annoying, yet these are often the people you want to sit with because they play badly.  Being a professional player may seem like a great life, and there are a lot of freedoms, but it also comes with a lot of stresses that a "normal" job does not have.

I have long lamented the lack of books, strategy advice, etc about HORSE games and tournaments as their own entity.  Of course there are several things to be read on each game individually, but there are few things that discuss the overall strategy of mixed games and tournaments.  The meta game, if you will.  Most of what I know on that front I have gleaned from personal experience and discussion with other players who know what they are doing on the mixed front.

On the other hand, this lack of ready information is exactly what makes HORSE games so juicy.  While NLHE is probably the game that I understand the best, just because I have played far and away more hands of that compared to anything else, my relative skill level relative to my opponents is certainly much higher in HORSE.

Nonetheless, I am really happy to see that Lou Krieger is doing a new weekly HORSE column for PokerNews.  The first part is available here.  Second is here.  I'm definitely looking forward to future columns.

Personally, I know I need improvement on the HORSE tournament front (in the middle of rereading FT's Tournament book in prep for the series).  My HORSE cash game is pretty solid.

Deuce on the Rivah

One of the local dealers' favorite hand is 7-2 and he is rather notorious for dealing a deuce on the river.  You better believe I thought about him in this hand I just played.

PokerStars Game #27650335833: Tournament #158090463, $30+$3 HORSE (7 Card Stud Hi/Lo Limit) - Level V (75/150) - 2009/04/30 1:44:39 ET
Table '158090463 5' 8-max
Seat 1: Jim76262 (4793 in chips)
Seat 2: Sooners (4559 in chips)
Seat 3: RBPlayer71 (1895 in chips)
Seat 4: CarlyRose (1763 in chips)
Seat 5: c2d2 (1190 in chips)
Seat 6: gman3613 (3770 in chips)
Seat 7: LOUIEBOY73 (548 in chips)
Seat 8: Igotguts (5482 in chips)
Sooners: posts the ante 15
RBPlayer71: posts the ante 15
CarlyRose: posts the ante 15
c2d2: posts the ante 15
gman3613: posts the ante 15
LOUIEBOY73: posts the ante 15
Igotguts: posts the ante 15
Jim76262: posts the ante 15
3rd STREET

Dealt to Jim76262

Dealt to Sooners
Dealt to RBPlayer71
Dealt to CarlyRose
Dealt to c2d2
Dealt to gman3613
Dealt to LOUIEBOY73
Dealt to Igotguts
LOUIEBOY73: bets 75
Igotguts: folds
Jim76262: calls 75
Sooners: folds
RBPlayer71: folds
CarlyRose: folds
c2d2: raises 75 to 150
gman3613: calls 150
LOUIEBOY73: raises 75 to 225
Jim76262: folds
c2d2: raises 75 to 300
Betting is capped
gman3613: calls 150
LOUIEBOY73: calls 75
4th STREET
Dealt to c2d2
Dealt to gman3613
Dealt to LOUIEBOY73
LOUIEBOY73: bets 75
c2d2: raises 75 to 150
gman3613: calls 150
LOUIEBOY73: raises 75 to 225
c2d2: raises 75 to 300
Betting is capped
gman3613: calls 150
LOUIEBOY73: calls 8 and is all-in
5th STREET
Dealt to c2d2
Dealt to gman3613
Dealt to LOUIEBOY73
c2d2: bets 150
gman3613: calls 150
6th STREET
Dealt to c2d2
Dealt to gman3613
Dealt to LOUIEBOY73
c2d2: bets 150
gman3613: calls 150

RIVER:

Dealt to c2d2
c2d2: bets 150
gman3613: calls 150

SHOW DOWN :
c2d2: shows
(HI: three of a kind, Aces)
gman3613: mucks
hand
c2d2 collected 1034 from side pot
LOUIEBOY73: shows
(HI: four of a kind, Deuces)
LOUIEBOY73 collected 1794 from main pot
No low hand qualified

SUMMARY:
Total pot 2828 Main pot 1794. Side pot 1034. | Rake 0
Seat 1: Jim76262 folded on the 3rd Street
Seat 2: Sooners folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 3: RBPlayer71 folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 4: CarlyRose folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 5: c2d2 shows
and won (1034) with HI: three of a kind, Aces
Seat 6: gman3613 mucks


Seat 7: LOUIEBOY73 shows
and won (1794) with HI: four of a kind, Deuces
Seat 8: Igotguts folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)