T3chlady Plays at the WSOP 2010

Take it away Lady!

“Hi my fellow NPP’ers, Here’s the scoop from my WSOP trip.
I arrived in LV on Wed evening with my girlfriend Hapi (pronounced happy) and picked up my rent a car from Fox rentals. I didn’t know they were off-site and we had to take two shuttle buses to get to the car. Next time I’ll pick an on-site car rental place (more on Fox fun and games on this later).

Thursday we got up early with the time change and decided to enter the 1:00 Deep Stack at the Rio for $200 just to get our feet wet.

My table was a group of polite, experienced, ruthless card sharks --- game on!! One woman was giving me headaches from the beginning. Every time I had a hand she would come over the top with a whopping bet and I would fold with top pair top kicker or a mid-pair or a draw to a flush. But then --- I flopped a boat! Ah ha! I was going to get her and get her good. Board was 77Q, I held QQ. I raised. She called. I raised again. She called. I pushed.

She showed QUAD 7’s!! Game done. 2 hrs. 250th out of 300. [Ed. Note: That is what you get for taking Faldo’s seat in an event] And that was my introduction to the WSOP 2010.

I went back to the room and spent the afternoon programming until the evening deep stack at Harrah’s. That game I played a whole lot better but wasn’t getting much in the good card department and ended up pushing with AK against a very polite lady from Ohio who had AA. Game done. 3 hrs. 12th out of 60.

I went back to the room and hit the sack so that I could get some sleep for the Ladies event on Friday. Hapi showed up after midnight. She just missed the bubble on the 1:00 Deep Stack. [Ed. Note: Why is Hapi not an NPP’er?]

On Friday we made our way to the Rio at 10:00. The Poker Kitchen there is wonderful. Fresh salads, sandwiches, pizza, great beverages, snacks. We had a light lunch and headed in to the tournament. We got a rousing speech from a lady named Linda [Ed. Note: Her name is Linda Johnson and she is known as the “1st Lady of Poker].

I think who had come in 5th in her first WSOP tournament about 20 years before and had never turned back. [Ed. Note: Linda Johnson has seven tournament wins to her credit and one WSOP bracelet]. She was really great and looked like anybody’s aunt. She made it to around 20th I think.

My table was an eclectic group of young to mature ladies from all over the world. Costa Rica, Germany, France (not the eventual winner), California (they’re a country aren’t they?). The game was very very tight and I was getting NOTHING, NOTHING, NOTHING. Since you only have 3000 chips to start you have to make a move at some time even though the blinds are 60 minutes and start at 25 25. With 82o, J4o, T2, etc. coming on a regular basis, I had to wait for position to do anything.

I did catch a straight for one pot, but never have I been so card dead for so long. I was playing well and managed to hang in there a lot longer than my cards would have indicated. I caught a pot here and there by the skin of my teeth. It was strange to see so many players drop out so fast in the first couple of hours. And on another note, since the WSOP cannot bar anyone from the event, there were 20-30 fellows who had entered.

Every time one of them was eliminated, the entire room roared and wagged fingers at the sulking male exiting the room. One of the guys in the tournament was dressed in drag. What a hoot! Vanessa Rousseau (please check spelling) was in a table a couple over and while I was able to say hello to her early on, I don’t know where she finished. I made it until almost the dinner break and went out on two pair against trip 5’s. I was about 350 out of 1050. Had a blast.

I played cash for the evening. Hapi was out about 5 minutes before me and went up to the room. She wasn’t thinking and locked the door inside the room and I couldn’t get in. I finally had to bang on the door to awaken her because the hotel told me there was nothing they could do if someone locked it from the inside. I was really pooped. Slept long.

Saturday we decided to go to the Golden Nugget for the Ladies “Poker Queen” bracelet event. $240, 300 entries, 12000 chips. This was the event that I bubbled the year before. It’s a really good one and most of the “also rans” from the WSOP Ladies event go there for a second chance. Not my best day at the park. I was off and made some bad moves and ended up pushing with 2 pair against trips. I chalk it up to fatigue. My game was just not on. I played cash and won a couple hundred. Hapi made it to the dinner break.

We were a bit discouraged but decided to give the 1:00 deep stack one more shot the next (and last) day. So we trotted down to the Rio on Sunday and entered.

Of all the games I played, this one was the most difficult but the one that I am pretty happy about. I played a mid-range game and mostly won the pots that I was in. One hand that I lost I had JJ with 33T on board and BB had a 3.

One had that I won, I had A8c and hit my straight with 3 other players in the pot. That one was nice. Blinds are 30 min. I took a bad hit with QQ against 2 pair and was set back to my original 10K starting chips and was feeling down in the dumps. Then we had a short break. Hapi told me to fight back. She had a giant stack.

So, long story short I made it back to 30K in chips and we were down to about 100 people, 350 started. I headed to a new table and watched a couple of hands. The fellow next to me to the right was bluffing all over the place and in one case had 8To, pushed and the BB called. They BOTH had 8To and chopped! Good grief.

Finally, I caught a hand JJ. I had 32K in chips. Blinds were 400/800. Bluffer was UTG and I was to his left. He raised to 2400. I came over the top with 8000. Everyone folded to bluffer. He called. Flop was 887. He checked. I thought for a minute and checked. (Looking back I should have pushed but that’s water under the bridge). Turn was a K. He pushed. I thought again. He was down to 20K and had me stacked ever so slightly so this was my tournament life. I called. He had a King and I was out.

Tip for the day. Most of the time in these big tournaments, people don’t bluff.

Second tip for the day. Play to cash.

So – with only the evening left, I went to the Rio hotel poker room and decided to play the hotel tournament. 15 min blinds, 4K chips, just for fun.

While I waited for the tournament to start I had some dinner and played a penny slot. Much to my amazement I hit a jackpot for $300! (on 30 cents). I had spent less than $20.

Feeling good and putting that cash in my purse I headed for the poker room to start the tournament. I was playing with no fear and had a blast. This was like an on line turbo with blinds practically doubling each level. And fun it was! I ended up 2nd and won $700. Hurray!

After that win, we decided to return the car to Fox rental early and take the shuttle to the airport the next morning.

We spent an hour going around construction and Las Vegas Blvd closings and finally found the car return area --- BUT THEY WERE CLOSED!! Good grief.

Never again FOX car rental, never again. We headed back to Harrah’s, got to the room at 2:00 AM and got up at 5:00 to come back home.

And here I am. Smiling and hoping for another shot next year. Nothing is more fun than poker. I’m hooked.” – T3chlady

Thanks T3 for the report and representing NPP at the WSOP. By the way, how did the autographed photos of Faldo sell? Like hotcakes at the Ladies event, right? - Faldo