Day 1: At least I didn't do anything stupid

Well, I did it and I didn't die and I didn't throw up. I didn't even make any stupid rookie mistakes, other than once getting caught not paying attention to the betting while I was listening to a conversation behind me. So, in the end the things I was most afraid of didn't happen. But it still sucked.

The event was the 3pm $300 buy-in tournament, 280 players. About 2:15 I took a valium, and about an hour before that I'd had a beer. Neither one took the edge off, as just before we walked in I got my usual nervous tick of rubbing my hand back and forth across my hip. This has been my nervous gesture since college, anytime I had to do public speaking or something incredibly nerve-wracking. And there it was, in all its idiotic glory, and I couldn't stop doing it. But I took a deep breath, went into the room and found my seat.

We started with $1500 in chips, and I played fairly conservatively for the first hour but won 2 hands and got up to about $1800 at one point. I was throwing away hands like A-J when under the gun, which I normally wouldn't do but I was trying to avoid doing anything dumb. I did limp with a couple of low pairs, 5s and 6s, which was probably a mistake since inevitably I got raised off of them. At the first break, having won 2 hands that I actually really bet into and having lost a couple little hands I had to fold after getting raised, I was at $1600. And I was pretty comfortable.

Everything went to hell after the first break. I got down to about $900 after a couple of hands just didn't go my way, including one where I had A-8 and the A came on the flop, and I bet into it and was raised. Being stubborn, I called the raise and when a second ace didn't come and the other guy bet even harder, I became quite concerned he had either a set or a much better kicker. I folded and he told me he had the set, so it was the right move. But it was costly anyhow.

Then, after a few new players arrived at our table, I went on a run of good cards and took down about 3 small pots in a row to get my stack back to about $1200. I was on the upswing and looked down to see pocket Kings in early position. Blinds were $50-100 and about to go up, so I made a bet of $400, hoping to chase out everyone or all but one player because I was afraid to see an Ace on the flop. I got one caller. The flop was J-6-4 with two diamonds, and I bet another $500 because I didn't want to keep around anyone on a flush draw. He called. The turn was another diamond, so I checked and he checked. The river was another 4, I pushed my last $300 in and he called and turned over 3-4. Yes, some douchebag called my initial hefty bet with 3-4.

I was mad, and replayed the hand in my head all evening. I probably could have pushed initially but wouldn't have gotten a caller and part of me wanted to get all of my money in the hand with the second best starting hand in poker. I could have pushed after the flop, but since he called down $900 in bets I don't really think that he would be afraid of another $300. I could have pushed after the turn, but he probably would have called that as well. So the only way to avoid this outcome was to push early, and take down only the blinds. Even then, he might have called me. I realized after thinking about it that the only thing this guy saw from sitting down at our table was me betting big into hands early to take down the blinds. He probably presumed I was stealing and decided to put a stop to it. Not much I could do about that.

So, I'm a little discouraged but hopeful that my next experience will be better. I think I'm going to play in a single table satellite today and try to win a seat into the mega satellite either today or tomorrow. I'll definitely play in the Ladies' Tournament on Sunday as well. It's strange how incredibly collegial the women are here--even if they do all assume that I'm the wife of the person who I'm watching play and seem tickled to find out that we're just friends and that I actually play as well. A woman from Atlanta chatted me up hard last night while watching her husband play at the next table, and bless her she thought I looked about 26. That was the best moment of the whole day for me.

At some point this weekend I really want to see New Orleans as well, and eat a nice meal that's not in a casino. Hopefully we'll find time to do that. And I have another item to cross of my list of things I've never done, but I'm not going to talk about that just yet.