Poker Articles

Poker on the Road - Nice Girls Play Poker? Part Five
By Kaelaine Minton

This is the true story of how I became a 'poker junkie'. If you have missed the first two parts of this series, you can get catch up here:
Part Ace Part Deuce Part Trey Part Four

By January of 2004 I had officially caught the poker bug. I wanted to play more frequently than my proximity to the casinos allowed, so I started scouting out some local games. My new PokerSchoolOnline (PSO) friends who lived in the Atlanta area were able to hook me up with some games, and I found others through a web site that listed home poker games by state, and even other countries. Of course, once I started meeting people at these games I learned of even more games. For a state without casinos, there sure was a lot of poker going on in Georgia!

Some bars were having free-roll Texas Hold'em tournaments and awarding prizes (t-shirts or beer-logo merchandise) or "bar cash" for the final three. The quality of play in these tournaments was usually atrocious, but, hey, it was poker! I managed to win one of them, and final table a few others.

There were also some charity poker tournaments being held. I played in one with 180 players, in which I finished in sixth place, winning another T-shirt, some VIP passes, and some airline upgrade coupons - there were no cash prizes.

My next trip to the casinos was for the Mid-America Poker Classic in July of 2004. PSO had designated the $200+$25 No Limit Hold'em tournament as the "PSO Live Tour Invitational". This meant that the last PSO member alive in the tournament would qualify to play in a year-end championship, which was a free-roll with $50,000 in sponsorships in the prize pool. I arrived early enough to warm up with some PSO member-only tournaments. Out of three, $65 events, I made two final tables and got my buy-ins back on each, thanks to some deals made among the final table players. Although I cashed in these events, they were small, members-only tournaments, and I was still itching to reach the money in an open event.

I was going to play the PSO Invitational tournament, even if I had to pay the $225 out of my pocket, but decided to try some single table satellites. They were running a $45 satellite that would pay one winner a $300 tournament entry chip, and $50 cash. This would cover my tournament entry fee, so I decided to give it a try. The down-side was that we only got 200 chips to start.

Half of my stack disappeared early on, when I called a raise with A-Q and had to fold when I missed the flop (I have developed a severe dislike for "Big Chick"). After that, I puckered up and played tight while the rest of the table fought it out. After about an hour, I was heads-up with a solid player and we were almost even in chips. A few minutes later, I had all the chips, and the win! Now I had my buy-in for the tournament!

This event was hosted by the Horseshoe Casino, but it was so large that they had to split the field and use some tables in the GoldStrike Casino next door. My starting seat assignment happened to be in the GoldStrike, which is my favorite casino in Tunica. The final player count was 652, and only 27 would get paid. It was going to be a long day.

After a couple of hours, our table was moved over to the Horseshoe to join the rest of the field. I was playing very tight and watched as players busted out around me. When we were down to 8 or 9 tables, with fewer than 90 players remaining, a hand came up that was key to my tournament survival - and probably the worst-played hand of my poker life.

The blinds were 300-600 and I was under-the-gun with AK off-suit. I made it 2,000 to go. A late position player raised to 4,000. I asked what he had left and the bet was about two-thirds of his stack - why didn't he just move in? I had him covered, but only by 500 in chips, so I was basically playing this hand for my whole stack. After about a minute in the tank, a short-stack called the clock on me. In hindsight, this should have been a fairly easy decision. If I felt he held AA or KK, I should have folded. If I felt he didn't hold one of those two hands, I should have moved in, putting him to the decision for all of his chips. So of course I did neither, opting for the worst possible play... I just called.

The flop was J J 2 - hard to imagine a worse flop for my hand of A-K. I was out of position and had to act first, so again I made the worst possible move and checked. He moved in instantly and again I went into the tank. What was I expecting? He was pot-committed before the flop. Problem was, I only had 2,500 left and there was 8,900 in the pot, so I felt pot committed also. I made the call, leaving myself with only 500 in chips. I was hoping I had six outs to make a hand, but when he rolled over his pocket Kings, I realized I was cleanly trapped - sucked in like a dust-bunny into a Hoover. My inexperience had left me with only three outs. I would be all-in for the big blind on the next hand. I couldn't even get up and leave the table to hide my shame, since I still had chips. The turn card was a non-Ace blur...then the dealer burned and turned the river card...the most beautiful card in the deck...the Ace of Spades!

I apologized for the suck-out and shook my opponent's hand as he left the table. An adrenaline-induced fog settled in my brain. The cards and players moved past me in a blur. Six tables remain...five tables remain...then my table was broken and we were down to four tables - 36 players were still in the hunt and 27 would get paid.

At 6:15pm, we were sent on dinner break. My appetite was non-existent, but luckily my PSO buddies were sweating me from the rail and encouraged me to go eat. Over dinner I learned that aside from being the last woman remaining in the tournament, I was also the last PSO member still alive, which meant I had already earned the qualification to play in the PSO Live Tour finale! I was thrilled with this, but I still wanted to make the money.

Play resumed after dinner and I was resolved to muck anything but Aces or Kings. Luckily (?) my resolve was not tested, as I never saw any pairs or other decent hands. 35 players remained...34...33...32...31...30...29...

The under-the-gun player, who had plenty of chips to coast into the money, moved all-in with Jacks, only to run into pocket Kings held by the big blind, who had him out-chipped. Just like that he was gone in 29th place, kicking himself all the way to the rail.

28 players remained and we were playing hand-for-hand. Still no decent hands to test my resolve; I was getting blinded out, but there were a couple of stacks shorter than mine. I almost lost it here. I did NOT want to bubble out of this tournament!

Finally the bubble burst and we were in the money. The pace picked up and players were busting quickly. 26...25...24... I was still card-dead and looking for anything to get my chips in with. 23...22...21... Two hands before the big blind would take me out, I picked up pocket 8s and moved my chips in - it was barely more than a call. Unfortunately, I ran into pocket Kings and it was all over. I had made it to 20th place, but 19th through 27th all got paid the same amount: $1,493.

I had finally reached my goal of making the money in an open event! Now I had to set my sights on the PSO Live Tour Finale, which would be held at the 2005 PSO Convention in January of 2005.

...to be continued...

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