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One of the bi-products of my poker playing has been my wife taking up poker.  About a year ago, I talked her into playing in a free “bar league”.  She did well and built a reputation of being a very solid-tight player.  During one of the bar-league final tournaments, she took third place for $150 (or something like that).  Not bad for free.

Over the last year, she has played in a few casino tournaments.  She had the same problem that I had - always making a deep run, but coming up short.  Either she was card cold and was blinded out, or she lost to some pretty bad beats.  She was frustrated, and threatened to give the game up on several occasions.

Last December, we went to Atlantic City where she played in a WSOP Circuit Ladies-Only event.  There were 350 or so players in this particular tournament.  Donna made a decent run and finished in the 70s somewhere - about 30 short of the money. After this ladies tournament, she said that she much preferred to play against women.

She played in a few other tournaments here and there.  During our visit to Vegas for the WSOP, she made the final table on 2 occasions, but came up short of cashing.  I started to look for women’s poker tournaments when I came across the High Heels Poker Tour. They were hosting a tournament at Turning Stone Casino in August 2008.  I told her about it, and she was interested. So, we made our plans and off we went.

The tournament started on Saturday August 23rd at High Noon.  There were 58 players.  Each player started with T10,000 and the levels were 30 min long.  I expected the tournament to last about 6-7 hours.  Was I ever wrong!

At the mid-point of the tournament, Donna was the chip leader.  She came out for dinner break all nervous.  She told me that she had never been in this position before (being chip leader).  I just laughed in good spirit and tried to calm her down.

After dinner she had a string of cold cards, and even a bad beat or two - but she hung in there.  She wanted to make the money so bad.  I told her that she had an intermediate goal first - and that was to make the final table.  She surely would not cash if she did not make the final table.  So they continued to play, and around 10:30pm the final table was set.  Unfortunately for Donna, she was now the short stack.

At one break, I told her that her skill got her this far, and now her fate was up to the card gods.  In any tournament, skill will get anybody deep, but then you need a run of cards to win.

Rather quickly, 3 people busted out, leaving 7 - the top 6 paid.  Donna picked up A8s, went all in, and was called by AJo.  She got lucky when she spiked an 8 on the flop and doubled up - leaving the lady with AJ severly crippled.  Before too long, the bubble burst and she was in the money.  Play remained tight as each spot enjoyed a sizable increase in pay.

While the table was 6 handed, Donna picked up 44 UTG and shoved all-in.  In a 6-handed table, 44 figures to be the best hand because only larger pocket pairs beat it preflop.  Since pocket pairs are 17:1, statistically, it should be the best hand.  The card gods were not with her.  She got a call from the chip leader, and from the short stack.  Donna was all-in with a T2000 side pot.  The chip leader turned over 99 and the short stack turned over KK.  What an unlucky time for that to happen!  Nobody tripped up and after 11 hours of straight play, Donna was out in 6th place for a $675 cash - her first ever.

Because she cashed, she now has HER own Cardplayer.com page:

http://www.cardplayer.com/players/results/Donna-Larocque/88245

Donna is very excited now and CANNOT WAIT to play in more ladies events!  Good job honey!

Sometimes when you play poker, everything seems stacked against you. On the flip side, when things are going right, do they ever go right. When I started playing poker, I would get excited when I took down a $50 pot. Soon, I only got excited if I won a $100 pot. I still remember when I won a $329 pot in a 50 cent/$1 NL game at Partypoker. I just had to call my wife to tell her that I just won more in one pot than I could make in a day of working.

As I worked up the limits, the pots obviously grew larger and larger. My threshold for pain rose as the limits increased. Today, I do not bat an eye if the pot is under $500, and I certainly do not get excited unless the pot is over $1000. I played at the Venetian in Las Vegas in March 2007 and lost a $1900 pot to a terrible beat.

When my wife asked how I felt, my reaction was, “I got my money in as a 95% favorite. There was nothing else that I could do.” She could not understand how I could not be phased by losing a mortgage payment on one hand. “They are just chips”, I tried to explain. Still, the thought of losing even $100, makes her stomach churn. (She does give me credit for keeping a separate poker bankroll so I do not ACTUALLY lose the mortgage payment.)

Through my progression, my mind has numbed to the devastating beats that invariably happen in poker. You have to. It is part of the game that happens to everybody. If you do not think that the pros suck out every now and then, you need to watch this video:

Likewise, when I win a large pot, my mind is usually numb as well. In Doyle Brunson’s Super System book, he says that you have to think of the pot in terms of chips. If you assign them a dollar value, then you are probably playing in a game that is too large for your bankroll. This advice is so true. On the largest pot that I ever won (which was $1986), I had a numb mind. I viewed the pile of chips and contemplated the “work” I had to do to get them all stacked. Of course I was excited, but the excitement was gone when the next hand was in the air. I had more chips to win.