E Tay’s Blog

Dissapointing.  That’s pretty much the best word to describe this series for me.  I arrived in LA about a week and half late.  I needed just a few days off after a pretty busy month in January.  My first event was a 1k NLH.  Well, I actually did pretty decent in this event.  Not anything crazy happened, just played my usual small ball way and floated around average the whole time.  It was down to 32 players and I believed they paid 27 spots.  I decided to raise with AQ under the gun and this guy who was giving me hell to my left flats me like he had done every single time I raised.  I had already raised and check folded to him 3 times.  The flop came out really dry and I decided to check raise him all in.  Umkay, well he had a set so it turned out to be a horrendous play and I bubbled again.  When I say again, I have done this many times.  I am the kind of player who isn’t very concerned about the bubble, I get pretty aggressive near and around the bubble and I don’t mind playing big pots.  Well this is something that I think I have to work on.  I definitely don’t need to check raise all my chips in drawing dead,  that’s just horrible.  When in reality, if I wasn’t all up in my feelings about this guy giving me hell, I could have check folded for the 4^th time.  There was a few events in between where I didn’t do anything.  I played another 1k NLH and this time I made day 2 with just below an average stack.  36 got paid and we went into day 2 with 20 players.  I played 3 hands on day 3 where I raised with KQ, got two callers from 2 people that I would want calling me out of position all day every day.   They both checked the flop, I bet and they folded.  A few hands later I raised with KJs and the guy in the big blind stuffed in his whole stack, which he did to me like 6 times the night before.  He is so scared to play a pot out of position that he could only find that play against me the entire time.  I folded, obv.  The very next hand I got 99 and the guy to my left stuffed in HIS whole stack, and this time I decided this was not a spot I could raise fold.  I was almost exactly sure he had AK.  I called, AK for a flip and King right in the door, which is the norm.  So that was good for 17^th which was good for like 3000. Lol at that.

Then we go onto the 10k HORSE.  An event that I was kind of feeling indifferent about.  I mean, HORSE is bar far my best game and I was really excited that they decided to make it a main event in this series.  On other hand, a 10k HORSE is not going to attract that much dead money.  I was pretty aware of the fact that most pros were going to be playing this event, and the field was going to be pretty stacked.  When I arrived at my table, I lol’d to myself when I saw (in order) Devo, Bill Edler, Shaun Deeb to my right, Amnon Fillipi, Craig Gray, David Chui, and Steve Sung.  SERIOUSLY?  Of course if you looked around the room of 90 players, every single table looked like this.  Well let’s see here…there  was a big hand in Omaha where I called one bet in the BB 6 ways.  I had just a WRETCHED hand, k9102 but the price was so right for me to get in there.  The flop cam KK5, it checked to the original raiser who bet, Devo called, Edler raised, small blind folded, and it came back around to me.  I could lay my hand down here, I am very capable of it, but I had draws to the nuts, and I was a bit confused on where everyone else was.  So I called 2 bets cold, not the greatest play but whatever.  We got another guy out, and Craig, who was the original raiser, just called.  Now the turn card, was a 6.  This changes nothing about my hand.  If I called on the flop I’m calling here most of the time, because my 6 outs are still live to scoop this monster.  So it checked to Elder who bet, I called, Craig raised, Devo calls, Edler 3 bets.  SIGH.  I call, Craig caps it, call, call, call.  The river is an 8.  DANG IT.  One time 9 for the scoopy snack.  This is where I lay the hand down.  I obv know my hand is no good unless I hit a 9 or 10.  So anyway it gets capped again and they turn their hands over.  Craig has AKK6 for the full house.  Devo somehow is in there with a dry A2 for half. Edler who was going animal on all streets had 55 for like 7^th best full house.  I lost way too many bets on that hand, and that is pretty much what limit poker is all about.  Saving bets.  Other than that huge hand, I never really got out of line, except for in holdem when I owned Deeb in like 2 hands. J  I just bricked off some HUGE draws in SHL and RAZZ of course, and couldn’t get my aces to hold up against Men Ngyuen’s 55 in stud.  I actually ended up making it into day 2 with a short stack, but couldn’t survive more than about 2 hours.  That was the biggest disappointment for me about whole series.  Although some of my friends made some noise at the series: Jeff Madsen who is on FIRE right now, 1st place in the $1500 NLH, and 3^rd place in the $10k HORSE.  John Racener 6^th in the $1k NLH and 9^th in the $10k heads up.  Maria Ho 43^rd in the $10k NLH.  Matt Brady 9^th in the $500 Shootout and 44^th in the $10k NLH.  GG to all you  fockers. J

I am now back in Vegas, getting ready to play the Wynn Classic.  I will be spending a few days chillin out and playing online.  Also the Bluff/Lock Poker Challenge is starting this Sunday, which I will talk about in my next blog. 

Ciao and Good Luck!

After Biloxi I went back to Vegas for a few days, and then got on a flight to play 3 events at the Borgata Winter Open.  I arrived Wednesday night and the next morning was the 2k NLH.  Not much really got going for me in this tournament.  I missed a hand where I had a straight flush draw and completely bricked on the river and tried to run a bluff, but the Action Bob had a full house, so pretty sure that wasn’t going to work.   I was short on chips lost with QQ against J9 off.  Sweet.  The next event was the 2k HOSE.  YES.  For some reason I just run so ungodly horrid in these live mixed events.  I’m not quite sure what it is, I take a little bit of blame for sometimes getting impatient, but the play was so bad in this event, there is no way I  shouldn’t have had every beautiful chip on the table.  I hung in there, bricking off some huge draws in Razz and SHL and that will do it.  

I got a day off before the main event.  So I chose to play online of course, because it was Sunday. There was a great group of people at Borgata including my girlfriends Lacey, Maria and Tiff. So we had some really good social time, meeting and getting to know a lot of the east coast players that we were unfamiliar with.  It’s interesting, it’s definitely different out there.  But we had a great time, and the B Bar became our stomping grounds. J

Monday kicked off the main event.  Wow, what an amazing structure this was. 50k starting chips meant you started with 1000 BB’s. LOL.  I had a pretty tough table draw.  My girl Lacey and I registered together so this meant we were at the same table, along with Shaun Deeb, Hasan Habib and Ted Forrest.  I told myself that I wouldn’t play too crazy, because I could see myself getting carried away starting with so many chips.  Well that plan didn’t work out too well, I found myself going to a lot flops.  I was down to 30k pretty quickly and finally our table broke and I got moved to a much better table.  The only player I recognized was Rick Fuller, a good friend of mine.  I decided to tighten it up a bit, and found myself to end day 1 with 75k in chips.  Not horrible, a little under average. 

Day 2 I had a new table again.  Pretty decent table.  I was in seat 1 and seat 2-5 were most definitely softer spots then seats 6-9, which was really good for me.  I was really happy with my play on day 2, never really getting out of line and just playing small – medium sized pots.  I ended day 2 with about 330k which was a little bit above average.  Even after day 2 we had not made the money yet, as the field started with over 1000 players, with about 150 going into day 3 and 99 would get paid.

Day 3 comes along with yet another new table.  Again a pretty good table.  No maniacs really.  I played a huge pot where I flatters an under the gun raise, guy to my left 3 bets it big, Tony Cavezza smoothies from the small and the original raiser folds.  I then think for a bit a shove my whole stack in.  There was about 300k in the pot and I shoved in 240k more.  They both went into the tank for quite some time through the break and both eventually folded.  That was a nice pot for me to take down without having to see a floppers.  That put me up to about 550k.  After that I couldn’t seem to win a hand.  I went super card dead and all the sudden I was on the short stack with about 80 players to go.  I hung in there for quite some time, until I open stuffed it in the hijack with 55 and ran into AK and JJ, and AK won it all.  I took 44^th place which was good for around $9500.  Meh.  You’re never gonna be satisfied in this spot, but I was pleased with my play looking back.

After this we spent another day at the Borgata, sweating a few people who were still left in the tournament.  Then I went to NYC to spend some quality girl time with Maria and Lace.  Definitely a needed and well deserved break before heading back West to gear up for the LAPC.

Sigh. Ok, let’s start with the Pot Limit Omaha Rebuy event.  I ended day one with 75k which was a little below average I would say.  I decided that I was going to play pretty tight and really only play good hands.  Well the first hand I played I had dry kings and got busted by a set of tens.  Lucky for me there was a flush on board and so the guy played it pretty slow and so I went down to about 40k.  After that I played a big pot with AA66 doubled suited and a very agro kid shoved it all in with 7589 on a 432 board.  I snapped called him, having 4 blockers and there was just no way he finds a set in here.  So that hand held up and I doubled back up.  I played a couple more pots and all the sudden I was over 300k.  I lost a big pot after that when we were down to two tables on the final table bubble, where I flopped the nuts but there were two clubs on the board, and another guy flopped the same nuts, but with a redraw.  So I went to the final table with 250k in chips which was good for 2^nd in chips.   The blinds got real huge and I played a big pot with Aces again against Brandon Jarrett who had to go with kjq10 and hit two pair.  All the sudden I am real short and I get AJ910 on a 9104 flop and get a guy to put it all in with 10-4.  I am pretty sure I am like an 80-85% FAVORITE in this situation but he had 104k7 and the turn was an 8 and river was a 6 for runner runner idiot straight.  BAH.  So I got knocked out 7^th for $9200

Now to the Main Event.  I was extremely excited for this event.  Day 1 I get to my table and the only two people I recognize is Kevin Saul and Chad Brown.  In like the first 5 hands I made a horrible call on the river against Kevin Saul where he had a flush and I had an over pair.  I contemplated for a long time, and the way the hand was played it was so 50/50 to me that I was beat there, and I really didn’t want to play big pots this early on.  So I started with 30k and I was down to 18k right off the bat.  This made me a bit nervous, because I should not be this short right away.  So like 10 hands like I pick up KK.  A guy raises under the gun, I flatters and everyone else decides to fold.  The flop rolls out JJ6.  He bets 900 I call.  Turn is K! BINGO.  He bets 2500 I just flatters again.  The river brings an 8 and now he bets 3500.  SWEET. So I think about it for a long time, and I come to the conclusion that he has fired all three streets and so I am going over-raise the pot, so I make it 11500 to go. Normally I wouldn’t raise so much, but I was pretty sure against this guy, this play would work.  He tanks it for about 3 minutes and finally pays  off.  SWEET.  Brings me back up to 35k.    I play a few more pots here and there and all of the sudden I am at 65k.  My goal was to end day one with 60k.  I figured that would be around average.  Now comes the big hand.  Tight guy raises from under the gun and he gets one caller on the button.  I am in the big blind with 64 of hearts.  Well, IM NOT FOLDING.  J.  So I call.  The flop comes 664. ZING.  I check, tight guy over bets  the pot like 6k.  Old guy on the button calls.  I call.  The turn is a 9.  Tight guy bets 12k this time.  HUGE bet.  Old guy thinks about for a long time, hesitates, then calls.  I have to put a raise in at some point, against two players that are playing it hard, for value.  So I raise to 26k, just over a min raise. Tight guy instantly folds his aces.  Old guy thinks about it AGAIN, hesitates and then calls.  River is a 6.  So now I have quads.    I think to myself, how much am I going to get out of this guy and while I’m thinking that, he out of turn shoves on me.  I’m like, “um, I call”.  LOL.    So after that I just played solid and ended day 1 with the chip lead.  Yes the chip lead. 

Day 2 I was feeling pretty good.  I got a really excellent table draw with one other person who had a huge stack.  I ran one huge bluff off of him and I all the sudden had massive and massive amounts of chips.  From there I played a little too aggressive maybe  and also lost a couple of KEY races.  I busted out around 50^th and they paid 27 spots.  I could have definitely handled my chip lead differently.  I got mixed responses from the way that I played, some saying too aggressive and some saying that’s how I got my chips in the first place.  I’m not quite sure.  I do know that it was a really good learning experience for me, there are definitely a lot of things I want to do differently next time.

For those of you who don’t know me, which is probably most everybody, my name is etay.  Weird name huh? Well ok, my full name is Esther Taylor, but it’s easier on everyone if we just go by etay.  Anyway, I will give you a short, non-boring history about myself and how I got into poker.  I started playing very leisurely about 4 years ago, when a good friend of mine Brandon Cantu, (you might know him, lol) introduced me to the game.  I have always been involved in some sort of competition since the time I was 5, mainly athletics, and have always loved any sort of game.  So naturally I was immediately intrigued by the game.  I started playing online, NL Holdem sit and go’s and small tournaments.  About 2 years ago I was introduced to H.O.R.S.E and I became dedicated to making this game my specialty.  There are not too many live HORSE tournaments on the circuit, but I think they are making a good effort to put more 1 and 2k’s and even a 10k here and there which is exciting. 

I play full time now, live and online, and I was introduced to PPI by some highly respected poker playing peers.  I am excited to work with them and look forward to the many great things that lie ahead.  I will be using this as my main blog going forward.  This blog is going to be pretty realistic, a lot of jokes and some strategy points, so please don’t take me too serious.

Ciao Ciao