Author Archive
Helllloooo Ladies!
Two years ago at the WSOP ladies event, I lost a huge pot to Mimi Rogers. We got all in preflop. She had pocket tens, and I had the King and Queen of hearts. Don’t ask me what I was thinking. I clearly wasn’t, but my hyper aggressiveness and luck got me all the way to the final table.
I’ve played a lot of cards since then, and this year I’m actually going to be playing on the Queen of Hearts team with her and a great group of celebs and women professionals at this year’s WSOP Ladies event! Our team has pledged to donate a portion of our winnings to the Nevada Cancer institute, a nonprofit organization committed to reducing the burden of cancer through innovative and collaborative research, education and patient care.
I (almost) hate floppin’ the nuts in Omaha
I got into a huge hand with my old professor, Jim McManus, at our home game a few weeks ago where I should have laid down the nuts on the flop. The notion of laying down the best band sounds crazy to hold’em players, but it’s something that you have to be willing to consider in Omaha.
At our home game, we play alternating rounds of $5/$5 no limit hold ‘em and pot-limit Omaha. In a big family pot that had been raised preflop, the board came down 9h 7s 6s. It had checked around to me on the button, which made me feel pretty safe. I bet the pot with my 8 10 straight, hoping to take it down right there, but then Jim reraised the pot.
Drama with a smart/dirty player
At the casino this past weekend, this guy named Lucas randomly told me, “I keep my nails really short because when they’re longer I get tempted to mark cards.” I’ve learned from teaching kids that guilty people usually admit to things that are a little less worse than what they actually did. If a little girl told me that she took three pieces of candy that were off limits, she probably took five. Since this guy was looking for an opportunity to tell a perfect stranger that that he had such a strong desire to mark cards that he had to take physical action to stop himself, I knew he wasn’t afraid to play dirty. Then, a little later, he proudly told the table that he had once won an $800 pot by saying he had two pair at showdown when he didn’t. Saying this made the other guy prematurely muck his hand, and thus forfeit the pot.
Ship it!
Because things in Omaha go so wrong so often, it feels all the sweeter when they happen to go right. Check out this hand I won on stars recently.
I raised my button, then made a defensive min-reraise on the flop, hoping to see the last two cards cheap. On the turn, I a questionable call (drawing to the non-nut flush is usually a no-no, but because of the way he was trying to bet me out of the pot, I thought a flush would be good). I did made the jack high flush on the river, but had to give my call a lot of thought since he shoved for such a big amount. This player had been slow playing his big hands all session, and I just had a feeling (because of that, the timing of his bet, and the way the hand had played out) that I was good. Indeed it was. I made $160 on that one hand, and am still dancing around my living room.
you know you’ve been at the casino way too long when…
This is a view of the sunrise at 6 a.m. along Lakeshore drive in Chicago. I shot this on the way home from a 14 hour session. Sunrises over the lake make for gorgeous commutes, but they’re also a sign that I’ve been at the boats waaaaaaaay too long. 
Big Time Suck Outs
I’ve been getting sucked out on pretty badly in my home game, so in an effort to console and convince myself that things aren’t always going against me, I’d like to share two suck out stories. Both occurred in a live $2/$5 no limit hold’em games at a casino outside of Chicago.
Hand 1
A Story About Working on Easter
Last night at a casino outside of Chicago, I was talking to this mild mannered playground salesman that I know pretty well. He is a regular in the $2/$5 no limit game. I knew this gentleman was Catholic, so I wasn’t surprised when asked me how my Easter was. “It was great,” I told him, “I went the the park, made a nice meal for myself, and then went to the casino to play some cards.”
Then he asked me where my husband was that day, and I told him that he was working. My husband is an attorney. He was starting a month long trial on Monday, so he had a lot to get done on Easter.
Keeping Variance down in PLO
During the pot limit Omaha discussion on this week’s Two Plus Two pokercast Mike said something like, “Most people think of Omaha as that game where pros win or lose millions.” Omaha can have huge swings, but just like any poker game there are ways to keep your variance down.
Below are some tips that will help avoid large swings in low stakes online Omaha games. Using these ideas might not be the most profitable way to play, but at different times we have different goals. Just like playing the stock market, sometimes we need a high risk/growth strategy, but other times we need a safer approach. If you’re just learning the game, or if your bankroll has taken a hit and you want to grind it back up, well then some of these ideas might be right for you.
Restealing on the flop in PLO
In small multi-way pots that are checked around on the flop, steal attempts from last position are incredibly prevalent in low stakes PLO games. It’s almost like an unspoken agreement–as long as everyone gets to steal every once in a while, no one really pushes back. Some players make the move way too often, and it seems foolish to not repop them.If you know a person is stealing light, you can check raise from early position even lighter–even in multiway pots. When used prudently, this move rarely gets any resistance. It’s a nice little trick to add to the arsenal, especially when you’ve got a player at your table who is stealing more than his or her fair share of the tinnie-winnie pots or if the board looks scary (and like one that you’d be more likely to check raise).
Amarillo
I was in my hometown of Amarillo, Texas for the past two weeks. I thought I was going to be too busy to play any cards, but my flight back to Chicago was cancelled because of a snowstorm in Dallas (believe it or not). Instead of flying back that night, I played 2/5 mixed no-limit hold’em and pot-limit Omaha hi/lo with some very nice Texas gentlemen.
