Day 4: You say bitch like it's a bad thing

Despite barely sleeping the night before last, I awoke at 9am and got to the casino well in advance of the 10am start of the ladies' tournament. The line at Starbucks was out the door, so clearly I was not the only one hurting from the early start. I sat down at a friendly table of women and prayed that the Frappuccino I was gulping down would invigorate my play like the gigantic coffee I'd brought Griftdrift the day before had seemed to spring him into action.

The dealers largely treated the women's tournament like an amusing novelty, but the players all had a very good time. All women's tables are much more talkative than the usual tournament tables, and at several points I could see the dealers smirking as women talked about what their children wanted for Christmas or complained about their husbands and boyfriends who had been playing in other events. Many of the women I played against I had seen lurking around the rails of the room as we watched the field narrow and rooted for other players, and at least one at my table had played in the sit and go with me the day before.

One woman at our table was intensely aggressive with her play and built an early chip lead by playing many many hands, causing others to remark that there was simply no way she could possibly hit that many flops.

Kings have been my downfall during this trip, and I said early on that if I got them I would not play them hard because I feel like they are snakebit. Shortly after my bluff play, I looked down and saw K-K. I was actually disappointed because I knew they were going to lose me money even though I knew I could not fold them. So, rather than raising with them, I simply called a minraise from the hyper aggressive woman. An ace came on the flop and she bet out big, and I folded them. She informed me after my fold that she had A-K suited, so even if I had pushed with them she would have called and I would have been out. My fear of the cursed K-K actually saved my ass. But, my stack was now down to a little more than half of what we started with, and I needed help fast.

I managed to top my stack back up to just over starting amount with a stone cold bluff. I almost never bluff, in fact I would rather sing onstage in public than bluff in a live poker game, but I was desperate. After getting cards so bad in the first hour that I wanted to scream, I looked down at A-J suited and bet about 5 times the big blind. I got 3 callers, which scared the bejesus out of me, but I was on the button so I knew I'd have the advantage of position. The flop was 7-7-4, and everyone checked around to me. I pushed my small remaining stack into the pot, and prayed for folds. The last woman looked at me, knew I probably didn't have the 7 or the 4, but knew she didn't either, so she folded. My heart about lept out of my throat, but I nearly doubled my stack with that one play.

After the first break, Griftdrift showed up and saw that I was hanging in there. That made me feel loads better, and soon after he arrived I had my best play of the entire trip. I got Ah-8h in the small blind and simply called. Four other players also called, including Ms. hyper aggressive. The flop was Kh-Qh-Jh and I had flopped the nut flush. Knowing the only way I could make money on that flop was to slow play, I checked it down all the way to the river, which was a second king. I was a little worried about a full house, but figured that if anyone had either a set or two pair before the river they would likely have tried to bet me out by now. I checked, and hyper aggressive bet big. The other players folded, and I pushed all in. She called and flipped over Kc-10h, and I had doubled up to about $3000. It was awesome.

The enjoyment was short-lived, however, as players started being knocked out left and right and the blinds and antes began eating our stacks. We got down to halfway, about 90 players left, and three new players were moved to our table. Once was a cute little blonde thing with big fake boobs who was apparently famous for something, because people kept coming over to talk to her and she'd ask if they had recognized her. She was very short stacked but kept doubling up through improbable luck. Joining her were a quiet woman with a short stack, and an outgoing woman with a serious smoker's voice and a medium stack.

Shortly after they arrived, I looked down to see A-K suited. A woman at the other end of the table made a big bet, and I called. Smoker lady moved all-in, and the other woman called. I looked down to see that I'd only have about $600 in chips if I folded. I knew I was probably beat, but had to take the gamble. I called, and felt good when I saw that smoker lady had Q-Q. Then I saw that the other woman also had A-K, which meant we would at best split but were probably both screwed because we had each other's outs. As expected, the queens held up and we were both out. I was bummed, but happy I made it halfway.

After that, I played one more single table that isn't even worth mentioning and we watched the final table of the ladies' tournament, where Ms. Hyper Aggressive placed second. Then we went and found our friends and went to get a nice dinner at Bourbon House in the Quarter. If you haven't been, it is definitely worth the trip. Best oysters I've had in a LONG time. We went back to the casino briefly afterwards so that one friend could try ring poker games instead of tournament, while James and I watched at the bar and played video poker. He won $90, and I won $160 with quad Aces! That was nice. It was a lovely little topper to the trip.

In the end, I'm glad I went and I will probably do this again at some point. It's all a learning experience, and I have learned a lot. Perhaps the most important skill is the ability to shake it off when the cards don't go your way. I think I have that one down now.