A LITTLE RENO, BAY 101 AND STRAIGHT FLUSHIN’
Tuesday, March 24, 2009 - Tiffany M
After some fabulous downtime after the holidays and New Year, 2009 is kickin’ my butt and keepin’ me busy. On the agenda for the month of March; Reno, San Jose and Vegas… yikes!
A few weeks ago I found myself stranded in the middle of Reno but I was in good company and it was for a great cause. Lacey Jones, Maria Ho and I along with several other pros attended Jen Harman’s Celebrity Charity tournament for the National Kidney Foundation. They put on a great fundraiser, had an excellent turn-out and the unique team tournament format brought some fun camaraderie to the event. Besides raising over 100k for the National Kidney Foundation the highlight of my trip was getting a straight flush while splashin’ around in a $1/$2 NL game with the girls. At the Grand Sierra they have jackpot hands and even though the pot I won was only around $20 bucks I received a $600 bonus!, Woo Hoo! That was super fun.
From Reno, Maria and I headed to San Jose for the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament. I’d never played cards in the Bay area and due to gaming laws it was a very different experience than what I’m used to in Vegas. Their card room is only allowed two No-Limit tournaments a year which they reserve for the Shooting Star $10k Main Event and the $2k preliminary tournament. That meant that the super satellites were a Spread Limit format which is somewhat like pot limit but at any given point you can only bet 40x the big blind. Maria and I were both eliminated pretty quickly from the first super satellite we played which began at 9:30 in the morning… YIKES. Poker players don’t do mornings! You know how poker goes, the set that I flopped was no good when playing against someone who chases to the river to hit their gut shot… ugg.
The following day I felt really optimistic about the $2k NL event. I was a little under the weather and started coming down with a cold in Reno from the late nights and smokey casino atmosphere but I remembered that when I played the WSOP Main Event I was really sick at the beginning of that tournament as well as when I cashed at the WPT Borgata Poker Open so maybe having a little cold helped me pace myself and be patient.
A few hours into the beginning of the $2k tourney I slowly began losing chips and pots and wasn’t able to capitalize on the ridiculous play and players at my table. I’ve never squeezed 9-2 more in my entire tournament life than I did at that one table. At one point Maria Ho got moved to my table, directly on my right. Of course it’s always fun to have a friend to chat and socialize with but you never want to have to play with one of your best friends.
We were both down to about 2500 when the blinds were 100-200 with a 25 ante. I preach about it all the time but from my past poker tournament experience I’ve learned to keep my optimism even when I’m sitting at ten big blinds. I looked at Maria and optimistically told her that I was going to turn my 2500 into 27,000 within the next two levels… and that’s exactly what I did. Unfortunately Maria wasn’t around to see it since she was eliminated shortly after. I was able to pick up a pot (blinds + antes + a raise), then immediately after I doubled up with aces and just like that I was sitting on 15k. I patiently sat on that stack for awhile and yet again watched it dwindle away when the 9-2 started showing itself every few hands or so. Eventually I made a move in an attempt to pick up chips and walked into someone with a big hand. It’s really tough to be patient while losing pot after pot and watching your chips disappear. To be honest I didn’t need to make the move I did but it’s so tempting to make an aggressive play when you get stars in your eyes over a big pot. There are definitely moments when it’s appropriate and sometimes you have to take a shot and gable to gain chips however in hindsight I wish I had stuck with the patient way I HAD been playing - waiting for good hands and committing chips when I had the best of it or at least shoving when I was ahead. More and more I’m realizing the value in being a solid and patient player however boring it may be, especially with all the poker maniacs out there who are bound to make a donk play and ship you all their chips in the process.
Alright enough poker talk. I’m home in LA and have been taking meetings with some networks who are really serious and excited about doing a reality show, a freaky yet fun thought. This week I’m off to Vegas for the Dream Team poker tournament where Lacey, Maria and I plan on CRUSHING the competition, ha ha. I’ll keep you posted.
Tags: Bay 101, Dream Team, Lacey Jones, Maria Ho, Shooting Star, WPT
