Wsop circuit at caesar's palace

[BAGELBEAR]

Last Wednesday was the start of the WSOP
circuit tournaments at Caesar's Palace, 2 weeks of varying
buy-ins, starting times, and stack sizes. I decided to enter
the 12 pm $230 buy-in. I don't know about you, but this was
the biggest buy-in of my poker career. It was the smallest of
the tournaments, 6,000 starting chips. This is the shorter of
the poker stories. 384 players, paid top 36. I was so card
dead the whole game, it was a wonder I lasted as long as I
did. I'm happy with the way I played, but I just couldn't get any
traction. I lasted a little over 4 hours, and knocked out about
140th. Not too shabby for my first foray into the WSOP.

Now comes last nite's game. I was a little hesitant in playing,
but since I have company coming Thursday, it was my last
chance to play since the other buy-ins were out of my comfort
zone. Tim encouraged me to play, he's my biggest fan. The
game was at 4 pm. Before I left, I told Tim not to wait up, I
would be very very late. You ever get a feeling and know it's
right? Anyway, I get there and registration closes at 2nd
break, 2 hours after starting. A total of 225 players, pays
top 27. 12,000 starting chips, 20 minute blinds, and they
call that turbo

The first hour I don't play very much, only saw 5 flops, 2
big blinds where nobody raised preflop, 2 I called, A-5
and A-7, but had to fold after the flop. Then the last hand
before 1st break, I see pocket 10's. I raise 800 preflop,
and get 1 caller. Flop is 7-6-K OH, NO, NOT A KING.
Well, I bet 1500, and he raises. I'm so frustrated, I know
it's the wrong thing to do, but the only I can win is to go
over top, I hear Lon and Norm say it all the time in their
WSOP commentary, so I say out loud, what the heck,
I'm all in. He gets a pained expression, and sits there
for at least 1 minute, cutting into my break, and turmoils
about whether to call. He says will you show? I say sure.
He finally folds, and I turn over my 10's. He bangs the
table, I had K-J, and goes on tilt. Good thing he had time
to cool off before play starts again. I'm like PHEW, maybe
this was my only free pass tonite. And I really was giggling
inside. Dodged that bullet. But sometimes you've got to
make those moves, and it wasn't a total bluff, I did have a
pocket pair.

We come back from break and I start getting a few hands
here and there, and I'm up to 28,000 in chips. Not too bad,
best tournament I've had so far in Vegas. I call the big blind
with 10-9 off, and there are 3 in the hand. Flop is 2-10-X. I
make a sizable raise, bb folds, and the other guy goes all in.
UGH, he's got pocket 2's, and flopped a set. To rub salt in
the wound, I get a 10 on the river, but gives him a boat. I'm
down to about 17,000, not out of it by any means. Then I'm
bb, and I get A-Q hearts. Aren't hearts just so pretty you have
to play them? UTG bets out 3200, and I was going to just call,
but short stack with maybe 12,000 goes all in. I go all in, and
preflop raiser turmoils for about a minute. Finally he folds.
Short stack says you got a pair? I say no. He says is it suited?
I say yes. I turn my cards over, and he shows A-K diamonds.
Uh-oh, diamonds may not be a girl's best friend. Flop is XXX
2 hearts, looking good, and a Queen on the turn, WEEEE, 9C
on the river. I take the pot, and the preflop raiser is all over the
place, I had pocket 9's, next time I'll call you and make you pay.
I turn to the player next to me and say is he trying to intimidate
me because it isn't working. I'm looking pretty good again.

After the 2nd break, our table finally breaks, and we're down to
6 tables, 55 players. My first hand I'm in the bb, and have to lay
it down to a preflop raise. In the sb, I see A-J off. Seat 1 raises
3200, seat 4 calls, I call. Got to see a flop. Flop is A-J-10, 2
hearts, 1 diamond. I go all in. Seat 1 turmoils, keeps looking
at seat 4, and finally folds. I'm seeing a pattern when I make a
big bet. Seat 4 calls, saying he flopped the nuts, and turns over
K-Q EEEEEEK!!!!. Can you guess what the turn brings? Okay
I'll tell you, THAT'S RIGHT, A JACK FOR THE BOAT!!!!!. I let
out a scream, I know the whole poker room heard it. I'm like I
can't breathe, does anyone have any oxygen, and almost the whole
table is laughing. ALMOST. I finally turn to seat 4 and say, I'm sorry
for screaming, but if I didn't you'd all be covered with brain matter
when my head exploded. The poker boss was right there and pipes
up, what is that all over my jacket? We were all laughing. And I
made friends with the poker boss. Got to make the contacts.
Wasn't too long before seat 4 goes out, he was totally on tilt. I'm
up to 70,000. Thank goodness we went on break a little after
that so I could calm down. The drama never ends.

Our table breaks, and we're down to 4 tables. I'm in seat 1, and
I see A-10 clubs. I make a 12,000 bet, and it's folded down to bb.
He thinks about it, looks at his cards a few times, and makes the
call. The flop is 7-5-4, no flush draw. I go all in, got to make the
continuation bet. He goes into turmoil mode, see what I mean?
He was taking forever, and I finally sat back in my chair and folded
my arms. I was looking straight at him and he kept looking at his
cards. I thought about calling a clock, but didn't want to give any
tells just in case my voice squeaked or I choked on my words.
He finally folded. I did not show. I heard him tell the player next to
him he had pocket 8's. He said he couldn't call because he didn't
know how I played. I was only there a few hands.

It's amazing, one guy kept raising 20,000 preflop, and everybody
was folding. With the blinds at 4000/8000, 500 antes, it's not
a bad scoop. Then I got moved and we were down to 3 tables.
Remember, paid top 27. I'm starting to get a real good feeling
about this, I'm going to make the money. Then we're down to
the bubble, and he's sitting next to me, and keeps saying did we
agree to pay the bubble? Nobody is saying anything. He only
has 1 1000 chip, the ante. He loses, and WE'RE IN THE MONEY.
I felt bad for him, and gave him $5. I was giddy, I made the cut.

27-19 paid 437, 18-16 paid 545, 15-13 paid 655, 12-10 paid 764
and up and up till the winner. We're now down to 2 tables, 18 players.
They start falling out 1 by 1. I'm bb, and I see the rockets, AhAc. Seat
6 raises 24000, folded to me, I go all in, and he calls. He turns over
J-J. I can't look. Flop is 2 hearts, turn a heart, and river a heart. I
didn't need it, but I won with a flush. And I'm up to 170,000. WOW.
Down to 15, so we're at the new pay level. I get KK, and seat 8
raises 32000. I go all in. Seat 2 ponders, and finally folds. Seat 8
turmoils, there it is again, and finally folds. I show my kings. He had
A-8 hearts, seat 2 tells me he had A-9 diamonds. Who knows what
would have happened, but how many times have you had KK just to
have an ace flop and knock all the wind out of you. I don't slow play
my big pocket pairs. Win a small pot, lose a big one. Then before
you know it, we're down to 10 WEEEEEE FINAL TABLE. I'm
beside myself, I need oxygen

So, I'm in seat 1 and go card dead. Not a good time for that, but
what can you do. I start with around 170,000, but blinds are 8000/
16000, 2000 antes, and 2 rounds and I'm down to just over 100,000.
There's one more drama before I tell you the rest of the story. I must
have been in the small blind. Seat 3 limps in, folded around to seat 8
who limps in, fold, I fold, bb checks. Flop is Q-8-5 diamonds. bb
checks, seat 3 bets 90,000. Seat 8 goes all in for 158,000. bb folds.
Seat 3 says give me a count, thinks about it and finally makes the
call. He's got seat 8 covered. Seat 3 turns over AA, seat 8 has A-5
diamonds. Flopped the flush, and takes the pot. Someone starts to
steam. See, win a small pot, lose a big one. That's what he gets for
slow playing AA.

Okay, now to the rest of the very, very long story. I get A-J off in the
bb. Seat 4 raises preflop, I don't even know how much. Folded
around to me, and I go all in. Best hand since we got to the final
table. I get called with K-Q off. Well, I know you can guess what
happened. A king on the flop. But was I upset? Okay, maybe just
a little. I think all the positive more than outweighed the disappointment
in going out 10th. I wished them all good luck, told them it was great
playing poker with them, and said SHOW ME THE MONEY. I really
couldn't stop grinning. My cheeks still hurt. I am so happy with how
I played and how deep I went in the tournament. I got $764 for my
10th place. I think maybe I can play this game. Thank God I broke
out of my slump 3 weeks ago. Not subtracting my buy-ins, between
online and live play, I've cashed for just around $1,300.

So, I'm off tonite to play in a $60 buy-in, back to my comfort zone,
to try and keep the streak going. This was a very long story, but
the tournament was long, too. I busted out after playing for 8 1/2
hours. And I was the last girl sitting. Did I say I was VERY VERY
HAPPY?

Thanks for reading and living through my poker tournament. The
drama continues. Thank goodness it was a good drama!!!!

Debby

[ram1962]

Great story and nice job. Congrats on making it into the money Debby! That had to feel awesome!

[kardmania]

Why is it that as I read this I feel as if I have seen this show somewhere before?

Congratulations.

One of the key elements of winning poker is knowing you can win and now you know.

I am sure that many more wins are in the horizon.

[alby_00]

Very nice. You picked a good time to break out of your slump. Keep up the good play and more final tables will be sure to follow.

[BurtWH]

Great job Debby! Nice way to supplement your retirement income.

[BobiJo]

Debby,
WOW - I read the whole story - and I am really impressed - you go girl!!!!!
I could picture you telling the story as if you were right here with me!
All of NDB should be proud of you - and Tim is definitely right to encourage you - you play very well!!! (Of course I like to think it is the great practice with the NDB competition that makes such a good player - but you also seem to have a natural instinct, so we cannot take all the credit.)
A big Mazel-Tov - and may the winning continue!!!

[JenniferNL]

WEEEEEEEEEEEE Awesome Job:

[bryan24]

Great story. Congrats on the nice cash Funny thing is we may have walked right past each other as I was in the room playing cash games during WSOP week at caesars ....

[lunarphase]

wtg nice to get a live score

[UIIIU]

that is awesome