This happened in March of 2010. I was playing in a tourney and my table was mixed with half soft players and half aggressive players. The female player to my left was very new to the game and never raised unless she had a high pocket pair.
The night before this tourney I was watching a re-run of the WSOP where the episode of "The Nuts" talked about pulling off bluffs. While I was playing I was thinking about that and Chris Ferguson saying that the one thing needed to pull off a great bluff is a very bad hand.
While thinking about this I looked down at 7 2 while in the SB, I got over 11 to 1 to call the BB to see the flop and I knew that the chance of the lady to my left raising was basicly zero.
The flop came out K K 9. I checked and it was checked around with 7 players in the hand. The turn was another K and I decided to test the waters and bet out 1,000 into a 1,200 pot. Everyone folded to the player on the button. He tanked for about 2-3 minutes and said out loud that he thought I slow played a high pocket pair preflop. He looked at his hand and I peaked at it, he held 8 9 o/s for a Full House, he then folded and I flipped over my hand!
I was so happy that I actually pulled off a bluff with the worst hand in Poker and not only that but I made a player lay down a Full House! I will never forget it!
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
July 24th
The night of July 24th, 2008 was the night that I decided to quit smoking pot. I had 'issues' with harder drugs in my teenage years and in my 20s.
A few weeks prior to this decision I had witnessed my boyfriend at the time go throgh withdraws from prescribed narcotics, including not sleeping for 5 days, the shakes, a monsterous migraine, and several other withdraw symptoms. He was on various narcotics for pain management after being hit by a drunk driver and almost being paralyzed. He has a 360 degree steal cage in his back and lived in pain every day. To the best of my recollection some of the narcotics he was prescribed were 750 mg Vicodin and Oxycodone with Morphine.
The evening that I decided to quit smoking pot I had ran out of smoke and did not have the money to buy a bag. I would had to of dipped into bill money or my poker bankroll in order to buy one, and both of those were not options for me. I had smoked every day for 18+ years, excluding my pregnancy. After seeing what he went through I knew that quitting smoking marijuana after having quit doing other drugs in my past, well, the whole process would not be that hard.
I had 3 minor relapses including the following Christmas Eve, then March and May of 2010. I wanted to be drug free for several reasons, including to set a good example for my daughter. I also wanted to be drug free before I moved to Las Vegas since Nevada has zero tolerance for drug offenders. Being that I want to get a job dealing Poker in casino and they test your hair for drugs, that was even more incentive to quit.
I feel so much better about myself and my future since I have been drug free and I will never go back to it. I know that many people have battled drug and/or alcohol abuse, it's a hard road to travel in life.
Do you think it is ironic that I arrived in Las Vegas on July 24th, 2010 ~ 2 years to the day that I originally quit drugs? It was not planned that way and I didn't even realize it til I was out here for a few weeks.
To stop smoking marijuana was something that I knew had to be done for myself. It was the start of my road to Vegas to pursue my dream.
A few weeks prior to this decision I had witnessed my boyfriend at the time go throgh withdraws from prescribed narcotics, including not sleeping for 5 days, the shakes, a monsterous migraine, and several other withdraw symptoms. He was on various narcotics for pain management after being hit by a drunk driver and almost being paralyzed. He has a 360 degree steal cage in his back and lived in pain every day. To the best of my recollection some of the narcotics he was prescribed were 750 mg Vicodin and Oxycodone with Morphine.
The evening that I decided to quit smoking pot I had ran out of smoke and did not have the money to buy a bag. I would had to of dipped into bill money or my poker bankroll in order to buy one, and both of those were not options for me. I had smoked every day for 18+ years, excluding my pregnancy. After seeing what he went through I knew that quitting smoking marijuana after having quit doing other drugs in my past, well, the whole process would not be that hard.
I had 3 minor relapses including the following Christmas Eve, then March and May of 2010. I wanted to be drug free for several reasons, including to set a good example for my daughter. I also wanted to be drug free before I moved to Las Vegas since Nevada has zero tolerance for drug offenders. Being that I want to get a job dealing Poker in casino and they test your hair for drugs, that was even more incentive to quit.
I feel so much better about myself and my future since I have been drug free and I will never go back to it. I know that many people have battled drug and/or alcohol abuse, it's a hard road to travel in life.
Do you think it is ironic that I arrived in Las Vegas on July 24th, 2010 ~ 2 years to the day that I originally quit drugs? It was not planned that way and I didn't even realize it til I was out here for a few weeks.
To stop smoking marijuana was something that I knew had to be done for myself. It was the start of my road to Vegas to pursue my dream.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Stupid Things Poker Players Have Said
Being a Professional Poker Dealer and Player, I have heard many funny and stupid things come out of poker player's mouths! Some of the things I have heard are so idiotic that I cannot believe that these people actually play poker ~ But I'll even admit to something stupid that I said!
Here are just a few examples of things I have heard players say, and I will be continuously adding more to it! And NO, I am not making any of these up! If you know of any stupid things people have said while playing poker PLEASE leave it in a comment!
"I had 3 pair, I thought it beat the straight."
"I almost made my King High Royal Flush."
"I had no pair but I had the stone cold nuts... 2 overs, open ended straight draw and a flush draw."
"It was fun til I kept forgetting to fold when I was beat."
"When you're over betting the pot and getting called by nothing when you have the nuts does your hand sneak down into your panties and then go to town while you tell me all about it?"
"If you call me you got a winner."
"I tilted her by folding, I always play better when I'm not in the game."
A mexican guy said, "Mother fucker tried to steal it Holmes... same guy looks up, "Hey, I'm not in the blind right, I had 5 7, you two could've flopped sets with 88 and 99 and I still would've had outs."
"I thought 9 2 was counting on a four card straight."
"I'll play A 9 off suit and the flop could come 7 8 10, you never know."
"A 7 is my favorite hand, it's a monster, I get 2 pair with it all the time! But you can't play my favorite hand against me, you'll lose."
A guy takes half of his stack and says, "These are to play poker with..." then he grabs the other half of his stack and says, "These are to bluff with."
"I raise because I finally got a card."
"I made an aggressive call."
"I would rather play K 10 than pocket Jacks"
"I never play J 4 off suit but it was something that I just did."
"Yea, he called with the pocket 4's thinking they're playing good cards."
"Man, I fucked up, I went all in and didn't know what 2 cards I had."
This girl has J 2 in the hole, the board was A K Q, she turns her cards over and says, "I have a straight!" The best part of this story, she's poker dealer at our 'rival' poker hall, lol!
"I thought the 4 was an Ace."
"I'm preying to the Donkey Gods!" (The guy went all with J 3 o/s when three other people went all in ahead of him, he flopped 2 pair and got a full house on the river).
It was a rainbow Flop and Turn of 6 7 8 9, a guy said, "Didn't you see the Flush possible out there?"
A guy flopped a Full House, his opponent riverd a Straight and said, "Didn't you see the straight possible?"
"How much is that yellow circle worth?"
"I had the nuts and didn't even know it, I thought I was bluffing." <---I said that.
We are playing in a re-buy tournament and a guy says, "Can I re-buy"? - DUH
"I'm playin bad an makin moves."
"I can't believe that of all of those all ins and the guy goes all in with 5 2!" A woman says to him, "Well with all of those all ins the low cards are gonna hit."
"Does the book tell you to go all in with 3 5 off suit with two all ins ahead of you?"
"What, you mad at me for playing 6 2 off suit? I was halfway there in the big blind, it's a good hand, but I'll fold pocket Jacks. 6 2 is two cards to a straight. Pocket Jacks I can't get a flush and there are 3 or 4 over cards that can beat me, QQ, KK, AA, or 22."
"My pocket Kings got snapped off by 10 7."
"You went all in with 6 7 off suit?" "Well dude went all in with 10 7, what's the difference? 6 7 is a better hand."
"I got 20,000 in the Big Blind and the guy went all in with 30,000 so I said, 'Well I'm halfway there, I call' and I snapped him off with 7 2."
"She called my 70,000 all in with there being 4 clubs on the board and she didn't have a club in her hand."
"Any one can play the top ten hands."
"I folded a flush draw to a all in bet but I called an all in with an inside straight draw because I'm just looking at the cards."
"Can I raise"?
"But it was suited."
A guy says, "My pocket Kings get cracked on the River all the time." This girl replied {with a totally serious look on her face}, "Yea, my pocket Kings got cracked by pocket Aces."
"I knew you had high cards so I had to call your All In." (he was holding 7 4 suited).
"I don't normally play 6 4 unless I'm trying to push people off the pot."
A young kid sits down to play 3/6 Limit. He asks, "Do they play kickers here?" Another player had a cock-eyed look on his face, "What do you mean do they play kickers here?" and he said, "If you have KJ and I have K3 will your J play?"...A little later this same kid asked, "Do they play wrap around straights here?" The same guy who answered him earlier replied, "Like A, 2, 3, 4, 5 or A, K, Q, J, 10?" The kid said, "No, like Q, K, A, 2, 3?" He lost $200 in 30 minutes and did not win a hand!
"You have bottom pair with kicker problems" <-- this was said to me by a dealer.
The guy said, "What did you call me with?" and she replied, "I had a pair of clubs."
"Q 6 is the most commonly flopped hand in poker"
A player said this...I won't mention any names (Holly) "K 10 is no longer my favorite hand, now it's K 8, I've been winning so much with K 8 lately." This guy says to her, "So now your favorite hand is a King with a weaker kicker by 2." This same tournament she also expressed that she doesn't like it when people raise up her blinds and that she does not raise with AK any more. A little while later it was her big blind and she raised with AK, go figure.
"What time does the 5:30 tournament start?"
"I don't think ol' dude appreciated it when you cracked off his AK wit ur 8 5 off suit."
"I'll call an all in with ten deuce, that's a monster."
A guy gets knocked out of the tournament and as he is walking out he says, "Now that is how you play pocket jacks."
A tournament table breaks up and a guy says, "Do I take my chips with me?"
A player went all in and his opponent said, "You went all in? Really? Why did you do that?"
"I thought you had the nuts but I still had to call you."
"You can have the flop and I'll take the river."
"I have the nuts, you can put them in your butt."
Here are just a few examples of things I have heard players say, and I will be continuously adding more to it! And NO, I am not making any of these up! If you know of any stupid things people have said while playing poker PLEASE leave it in a comment!
"I had 3 pair, I thought it beat the straight."
"I almost made my King High Royal Flush."
"I had no pair but I had the stone cold nuts... 2 overs, open ended straight draw and a flush draw."
"It was fun til I kept forgetting to fold when I was beat."
"When you're over betting the pot and getting called by nothing when you have the nuts does your hand sneak down into your panties and then go to town while you tell me all about it?"
"If you call me you got a winner."
"I tilted her by folding, I always play better when I'm not in the game."
A mexican guy said, "Mother fucker tried to steal it Holmes... same guy looks up, "Hey, I'm not in the blind right, I had 5 7, you two could've flopped sets with 88 and 99 and I still would've had outs."
"I thought 9 2 was counting on a four card straight."
"I'll play A 9 off suit and the flop could come 7 8 10, you never know."
"A 7 is my favorite hand, it's a monster, I get 2 pair with it all the time! But you can't play my favorite hand against me, you'll lose."
A guy takes half of his stack and says, "These are to play poker with..." then he grabs the other half of his stack and says, "These are to bluff with."
"I raise because I finally got a card."
"I made an aggressive call."
"I would rather play K 10 than pocket Jacks"
"I never play J 4 off suit but it was something that I just did."
"Yea, he called with the pocket 4's thinking they're playing good cards."
"Man, I fucked up, I went all in and didn't know what 2 cards I had."
This girl has J 2 in the hole, the board was A K Q, she turns her cards over and says, "I have a straight!" The best part of this story, she's poker dealer at our 'rival' poker hall, lol!
"I thought the 4 was an Ace."
"I'm preying to the Donkey Gods!" (The guy went all with J 3 o/s when three other people went all in ahead of him, he flopped 2 pair and got a full house on the river).
It was a rainbow Flop and Turn of 6 7 8 9, a guy said, "Didn't you see the Flush possible out there?"
A guy flopped a Full House, his opponent riverd a Straight and said, "Didn't you see the straight possible?"
"How much is that yellow circle worth?"
"I had the nuts and didn't even know it, I thought I was bluffing." <---I said that.
We are playing in a re-buy tournament and a guy says, "Can I re-buy"? - DUH
"I'm playin bad an makin moves."
"I can't believe that of all of those all ins and the guy goes all in with 5 2!" A woman says to him, "Well with all of those all ins the low cards are gonna hit."
"Does the book tell you to go all in with 3 5 off suit with two all ins ahead of you?"
"What, you mad at me for playing 6 2 off suit? I was halfway there in the big blind, it's a good hand, but I'll fold pocket Jacks. 6 2 is two cards to a straight. Pocket Jacks I can't get a flush and there are 3 or 4 over cards that can beat me, QQ, KK, AA, or 22."
"My pocket Kings got snapped off by 10 7."
"You went all in with 6 7 off suit?" "Well dude went all in with 10 7, what's the difference? 6 7 is a better hand."
"I got 20,000 in the Big Blind and the guy went all in with 30,000 so I said, 'Well I'm halfway there, I call' and I snapped him off with 7 2."
"She called my 70,000 all in with there being 4 clubs on the board and she didn't have a club in her hand."
"Any one can play the top ten hands."
"I folded a flush draw to a all in bet but I called an all in with an inside straight draw because I'm just looking at the cards."
"Can I raise"?
"But it was suited."
A guy says, "My pocket Kings get cracked on the River all the time." This girl replied {with a totally serious look on her face}, "Yea, my pocket Kings got cracked by pocket Aces."
"I knew you had high cards so I had to call your All In." (he was holding 7 4 suited).
"I don't normally play 6 4 unless I'm trying to push people off the pot."
A young kid sits down to play 3/6 Limit. He asks, "Do they play kickers here?" Another player had a cock-eyed look on his face, "What do you mean do they play kickers here?" and he said, "If you have KJ and I have K3 will your J play?"...A little later this same kid asked, "Do they play wrap around straights here?" The same guy who answered him earlier replied, "Like A, 2, 3, 4, 5 or A, K, Q, J, 10?" The kid said, "No, like Q, K, A, 2, 3?" He lost $200 in 30 minutes and did not win a hand!
"You have bottom pair with kicker problems" <-- this was said to me by a dealer.
The guy said, "What did you call me with?" and she replied, "I had a pair of clubs."
"Q 6 is the most commonly flopped hand in poker"
A player said this...I won't mention any names (Holly) "K 10 is no longer my favorite hand, now it's K 8, I've been winning so much with K 8 lately." This guy says to her, "So now your favorite hand is a King with a weaker kicker by 2." This same tournament she also expressed that she doesn't like it when people raise up her blinds and that she does not raise with AK any more. A little while later it was her big blind and she raised with AK, go figure.
"What time does the 5:30 tournament start?"
"I don't think ol' dude appreciated it when you cracked off his AK wit ur 8 5 off suit."
"I'll call an all in with ten deuce, that's a monster."
A guy gets knocked out of the tournament and as he is walking out he says, "Now that is how you play pocket jacks."
A tournament table breaks up and a guy says, "Do I take my chips with me?"
A player went all in and his opponent said, "You went all in? Really? Why did you do that?"
"I thought you had the nuts but I still had to call you."
"You can have the flop and I'll take the river."
"I have the nuts, you can put them in your butt."
Friday, December 10, 2010
Just Playing Cards
It was a cold November evening in 2001. I had put my 2 year old daughter to bed and cuddled up with a blanket to warm up and watch tv, there was not anything on so I was channel surfing. I just so happened to stop for a quick second on ESPN to find my pack of cigarrettes when I heard a man say, "I raise 180,000 baby!" I thought to myself, "Holy shit, what the fuck is this!?!" Needless to say it grabbed my attention so I decided to watch. It was a re-run of the 1998 World Series Of Poker and I was absolutly captivated by it!
I stayed glued to the show, watching and listening to what the commentators and players were saying about the hands and how they were played out, I even got out a notepad and took notes! Scotty Nguyen, also known as "The Prince Of Poker", is the player that uttered the words that fascinated me and unknowingly changed my life as I knew it. I remember the final hand, seeing the million dollars sitting on the table, watching Scotty play with his chips and count them out as he made his calls while trapping Kevin McBride. I loved the end of the tournament when there was a Full House on the board and Scotty uttered the now infamous phrase, "You call it gonna be all over baby!"
When the WSOP was over I was sitting there thinking to myself, "Scotty beat 349 other players to win a million dollars by just playing cards, I know that I can do this!" I was so excited and I couldn't wait to learn more about the game! The next day I went to the store and bought Hoyle's "Friday Night Poker" CD-Rom game and taught myself how to play. This game starts you off with 1,000 chips and within 4 months I made it into the game's Poker Hall Of Fame twice by earning 25 million in chips.
That Christmas my mom bought me Howard Lederer's DVD on how to play tournament Poker. The strategy that I learned from him and the basic Poker knowledge that I learned from Phil Hellmuth's "Texas Hold'em" book gave me enough skill to take down the first tournament I played in. The very first time I played live was a $35 buy in event that was held at the Holy Redeamer Festival on May 21, 2002. I won this tourney and brought home $550, the start of my Poker bankroll. I was so excited that I had won the first time I played and I knew that this was something that I wanted to continue to do.
Little did I know that November night that a man I had seen on tv playing a card game would forever change my life, and to him I am truly greatful! Over the past 9 years I have developed a true passion for Poker and have learned that it is much more than "just playing cards."
I stayed glued to the show, watching and listening to what the commentators and players were saying about the hands and how they were played out, I even got out a notepad and took notes! Scotty Nguyen, also known as "The Prince Of Poker", is the player that uttered the words that fascinated me and unknowingly changed my life as I knew it. I remember the final hand, seeing the million dollars sitting on the table, watching Scotty play with his chips and count them out as he made his calls while trapping Kevin McBride. I loved the end of the tournament when there was a Full House on the board and Scotty uttered the now infamous phrase, "You call it gonna be all over baby!"
When the WSOP was over I was sitting there thinking to myself, "Scotty beat 349 other players to win a million dollars by just playing cards, I know that I can do this!" I was so excited and I couldn't wait to learn more about the game! The next day I went to the store and bought Hoyle's "Friday Night Poker" CD-Rom game and taught myself how to play. This game starts you off with 1,000 chips and within 4 months I made it into the game's Poker Hall Of Fame twice by earning 25 million in chips.
That Christmas my mom bought me Howard Lederer's DVD on how to play tournament Poker. The strategy that I learned from him and the basic Poker knowledge that I learned from Phil Hellmuth's "Texas Hold'em" book gave me enough skill to take down the first tournament I played in. The very first time I played live was a $35 buy in event that was held at the Holy Redeamer Festival on May 21, 2002. I won this tourney and brought home $550, the start of my Poker bankroll. I was so excited that I had won the first time I played and I knew that this was something that I wanted to continue to do.
Little did I know that November night that a man I had seen on tv playing a card game would forever change my life, and to him I am truly greatful! Over the past 9 years I have developed a true passion for Poker and have learned that it is much more than "just playing cards."
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
I Played It Like Yahtzee
Every one was winding down after a long day of swimming, BBQing, and visiting with over 100 family members at a reunion in Minford, Ohio in summer of 1989. It was dusk, I was sitting on a picnic table talking to my sister when I looked over and saw my Uncle Chuck shuffling cards at a table with my dad, cousins, and other uncles. I saw all of them putting money on the table and wondered what was going on. I got up and walked over to them, "What are you guys doing?" My dad blew out his cigarrette smoke and said, "This heres a man's game, you best go back to what you were doin." My Uncle Chuck peered over his glasses to my dad and said to him, "Now Kenny, I'm still the eldest in these parts and I'll put your pigeon toed ass over my knee boy, let the child learn to play if she likes," as he winked at me and patted his knee for me to sit down.
As I sat he said to me, "This here game is what we call Poker, 5 Card Draw to be exact. Have you ever played some Poker?" I looked up in to his eyes and said, "No sir". He asked me if I had ever played Yahtzee and I told him that I played it all the time. "This game is like Yahtzee, you got your pairs, 3 and 4 of a kind, Straight, and Full House, but in Poker you also have a Flush and that is all 5 cards have to be the same suit, and a Flush beats a straight but not a full house. You got it?" "Yes sir." He then went on to tell me how they played with money, putting in .05
for an ante and then .10 once they see their cards and .25 after they draw for different cards.
I watched them play for about half an hour when I asked if I could start to play also. My dad gave me a $5 advance on my allowance, all in quarters, dimes, and nickels. I played 5 Card Draw with them for 3 hours and ended up winning $45 and paid my dad the $5 back. At the end of the night my Uncle Chuck said to me, "I think you was a bluffin me child, you knew how to play Poker, you did real good for not playing before." I laughed as I said, "I played it like Yahtzee, I guess I was born to be a good Poker player since I whooped all of you." They all laughed as my Uncle motioned for me to go over to him, "Keep it up Missy, you can make some good money in Poker, not just in quarters and dimes either."
I never played another game of poker until after I saw Scotty Nguyen win his bracelet, seeing his win changed my life!
As I sat he said to me, "This here game is what we call Poker, 5 Card Draw to be exact. Have you ever played some Poker?" I looked up in to his eyes and said, "No sir". He asked me if I had ever played Yahtzee and I told him that I played it all the time. "This game is like Yahtzee, you got your pairs, 3 and 4 of a kind, Straight, and Full House, but in Poker you also have a Flush and that is all 5 cards have to be the same suit, and a Flush beats a straight but not a full house. You got it?" "Yes sir." He then went on to tell me how they played with money, putting in .05
for an ante and then .10 once they see their cards and .25 after they draw for different cards.
I watched them play for about half an hour when I asked if I could start to play also. My dad gave me a $5 advance on my allowance, all in quarters, dimes, and nickels. I played 5 Card Draw with them for 3 hours and ended up winning $45 and paid my dad the $5 back. At the end of the night my Uncle Chuck said to me, "I think you was a bluffin me child, you knew how to play Poker, you did real good for not playing before." I laughed as I said, "I played it like Yahtzee, I guess I was born to be a good Poker player since I whooped all of you." They all laughed as my Uncle motioned for me to go over to him, "Keep it up Missy, you can make some good money in Poker, not just in quarters and dimes either."
I never played another game of poker until after I saw Scotty Nguyen win his bracelet, seeing his win changed my life!
Saturday, June 5, 2010
The First Of Many
I came across this blogging site thanks to Giovanni Pellegrini aka @ei8htye8ht on Twitter.
I wanted to start a blog so I can post my views on Poker and different things I have learned through playing Poker the past 9 years and dealing the game for over 3 years. I have also read over 25 Poker books that have given me a vast knowledge of the game! Who else better to learn different aspects of the game from than the pros!
This will be the first of many blogs that I will post as I want to tell you about how Poker was introduced to my life and how it changed my life as I knew it.
I have such a passion for the game that I am selling my house to move to Las Vegas to chase my dream of being a professional Poker player! Once I make my mark in the Poker community I promise that I will give back to the city that I started playing Poker in and grew up in, Flint ~ MI. It has seen alot of hardships lately and I will do all I can to help people there.
I will post another blog later this evening telling the story of how I got started in Poker, I can't wait to tell it!
I wanted to start a blog so I can post my views on Poker and different things I have learned through playing Poker the past 9 years and dealing the game for over 3 years. I have also read over 25 Poker books that have given me a vast knowledge of the game! Who else better to learn different aspects of the game from than the pros!
This will be the first of many blogs that I will post as I want to tell you about how Poker was introduced to my life and how it changed my life as I knew it.
I have such a passion for the game that I am selling my house to move to Las Vegas to chase my dream of being a professional Poker player! Once I make my mark in the Poker community I promise that I will give back to the city that I started playing Poker in and grew up in, Flint ~ MI. It has seen alot of hardships lately and I will do all I can to help people there.
I will post another blog later this evening telling the story of how I got started in Poker, I can't wait to tell it!
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