Jena Delk’s Blog

I have begun preparation to play Day 2 in Event 54 at the WSOP. This is the last It take quite a bit of time and effort to get this body ready to the rigors of tournament play.  I slept until I woke up today for a total of 13 hours of sleep. I sure was exhausted after playing day 1a.

Yesterday was long for me. I got up at 4:15 am to leave the house at 4:45 Then rode for an hour to get to the Orlando airport. The next nearly 10 hours were spent dealing with planes and airports.

Arriving Las Vegas just after 11 am, my roomies picked me up and carried me to the Rio. I was packing two dozen Dunkin’ Donuts (roomies did an errand for me on the way to pick me up-thanks guys) These donuts were for my friends in Media Row.

So I’m standing in the long registration line with two boxes which start feeling very heavy. These donuts cause lots of stares and comments. Finally I am registered and head to media row to find @AlCantHang. He is no where to be found so I head to my seat and put the boxes under my chair.

I ask each media person passing by my table if they knew where he was. No luck so I leave early for the first break to find my friend. When he is still unfindable (is that a word?) I leave the donuts on Nolan Dalla’s perch with a note and my business card.

Back to the tournament; I triple up my 3,000 starting in the first two levels. I am flopping full houses and trips. I feel unstoppable. Then you know what happens, the cards go south and the drought lasts until 40 minutes before the end of play. It’s 400/800/75 and I have 3200. I shove a bunch and get lucky a few times.

Then the hand comes: pocket aces. The UTG player opens to 1050 and it’s folded to me on the button. I reraise to 3500. The small blind grabs a stack of 500 chips and reraises me. The UTG shoves for a bit more and I pause. The small blind has me covered. I shove and he calls. My aces hold and I am thrilled. The UTG player had pocket tens and the small blind had AKo.

When the day finished I bagged 23,275 for day 2. This is a nice average stack. Play resumes Saturday at 2:30pm.

I played the $550 noon event of the Venetian Deep Stack tournament series yesterday. I made a deep run but unable to pull out another cash.  I busted out of tournament when I shoved my KQ of diamonds into AK with  about 10 big blinds remaining.

I love this tournament structure. I have always felt tournaments have a rhythm to them with each structure having its own unique way. I am starting to catch the rhythm of this deep stack structure. Look out everyone, when I am playing my A- game in rhythm , I will own the table! Since I was able to satellite my way in to this event for $130. It was a very enjoyable day of poker.

The Friday nooner had 637 entrants with for $69k for the win. They are paying 63 spots.  Day 2 resumed at 4 pm today.

LAS VEGAS June 10th Location: Planet Hollywood Las Vegas HHPT Tournament Academy Learn from some of the best female pros in the industry. Barbara Enright, Susie Isaacs, Karina Jett, Lisa Adams, Marsha Waggoner, and Beth Gains. Tuition: $495 Includes: -Instruction -Lunch -Free entry into our sit-n-go extravaganza at 7pm at the Hard Rock.  Where 1 of every 10 ladies will get a seat to the ladies event at the RIO on the 11th ($125 value). -Raffle give-a-way of a $1000 Ladies Event -$5 donation will be made in your honor to www.PokerGives.org To make a reservation: tina@highheelspokertour.com or register online at: www.highheelspokertour.com

NEW TOPIC

Instructor Beth Gains uses these concepts as part of her everyday and poker life.  She has so graciously accepted the invitation to share these concepts with you, to help you improve your life and your poker.  We are excited to have her teach us ways we can improve what we think may be broken or underutilized in our game and using certain tools about life and ourselves to create a new “poker” you.

My housemate and I left the house last evening setting our sights on playing some cards.  We went to the MGM Grand first.  The room had two 2/5 NL tables with a short waiting list and 1/2 had open seating.  I sat down on a 1/2 table until my 2/5 seat was available.

This table liked to see flops and they wanted to see them as cheaply as possible.  I was given the opportunity to see a flop for “free” when  5 others limped in on my big blind.  I held the Jack four off suit.  I flopped a full house on a 4JJ board and dutifully checked.  I love flopping full houses–don’t you? It continued to check around until the button bumped it up to $20. I call as do 3 others.  The turn is a queen.  I check again.  It checks around to the button, who fires another bullet at the pot.   This time he bets 2/3 of the pot. I call as does the other remaining player. The river is a blank.  The other player checks and I take a stab at the pot, to which the button folds and the other player shoves the rest of his stack (an additional $45) Of course, I call and he proudly flops up 45. Nice hand, Sir!

My housemate likes to play limit and the game at the MGM was not the greatest, so we decided to move on.  We stop by the Wynn.  There are only 6 or 7 tables going with no list.  Next!

At the Mirage, we see games that meet both of our needs. I help get a 2/5 games started, which remained strong until I left at 3 am.  There was a nice mix of regulars and tourists.  It was an enjoyable game.  The room was well run and there was no complaints with the staff.  I look forward to playing at the Mirage again this summer.

I am working the evening shift today.  My housemates and I are going to check out the MGM Grand’s poker room.  I will be playing a bit of $2/5 no limit hold em.  To prepare, I got an overdue manicure and pedicure today.  A girl always feels more confident when she is all put together.  I am ready to win.  Look out Vegas!  Here I come!

This is my first trip to Vegas this year. I am excited to be playing many WSOP events, starting with the $1,000 event, which begins for me on Saturday, as there are two day ones. I am expecting a huge field on this holiday weekend.

Today I will be taking it easy by playing a short cash session at the Venetian Poker room.  This is probably my favorite poker room in Las Vegas.  The seats are amazingly comfortable in this beautiful room.  The room is well run and managed, so it is a pleasure to play there.  The room is always full of good and bad players–always nice to have a fish or two for my dining pleasure.  Additionally, you can get any beverage your heart desires from Fiji water to freshly made carrot juice, as well as BOTH Coke and Pepsi products.

I selected the Venetian for my cash play today because today is Event #1 of the Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza III. I want to be there as players get knocked out and might be tilting.  This event is an affordable $340, which had approximately 700 players last year.  With 12,000 chips and 40 minutes levels, this tournament offers great value.  The Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza III continues through July 15, with a variety of buy ins and tournament types.

Since coming home from Vegas my sleep cycle is all messed up. I sleep all day and am awake all night. My Mom used to say a baby was a ”bad baby” whenever their sleep cycle got turned around. I have always been a night owl and love sleeping in.  However, this is becoming I bit bothersome. I fell asleep at 9:30 am today and woke up at 5 pm. It is now 3 am and sleep eludes me again. I have become a “bad baby”.

How do I re-adjust my internal time clock?

My husband gets up at 6 am for work. It is not unusual for me to be wide awake as he struggles to get off to work. I feel guilty for lying around and being so unproductive. My health issues require minimal physical activity.

So, 

Why can’t I escape the voice of Mom?

                       …telling me how lazy I am? 

I must find a way to silence the voice.  Being “lazy” is by prescription.

Jena is chasing me in my dreams

In the past two years I was in Las Vegas for seven weeks to cover the whole WSOP for IntelliPoker.com and PokerStarsBlog.de. I had to write reports about the performances of the Germans and the Team PokerStars Pro players. So every day I had to take pictures of the players with my camera. If you take pictures of the players every day, you will recognize them after a while. I knew that Jena was playing the year before - how could I forget her smile - but I didn’t get to know her in person ;). During the WSOP 2008 we had some nice but small chats.  

This year I’ll be in Vegas for only two weeks (if I don’t qualify for the main event). So it isn’t surprising at all that I catch up every piece from Vegas and the WSOP that I could get. I follow the news, blogs, Facebook and Twitter. I saw Jena’s status reports at Facebook and I was happy to see, that she is also playing in a lot of events this year and not only the Ladies Event like some other female players do. So far so good.

 A few days ago I had a very strange dream, I dreamed that I was already in Vegas and drove in a car through the streets, searching for something I don’t remember. After  a while I saw a highway sign, and I couldn’t believe what I saw – it was a sign of the “Jena Delk Highway”. I caught myself thinking, “Wow, is she so famous that they named a highway after her?”. Then I woke up. It was so funny that I told it Jena at MSN Messenger, and I could imagine her laughing ;). I guess my dream has something to do with her status message at Facebook, but who knows, maybe it is a sign of something special – I wouldn’t be surprised, if they name a highway after the first woman who wins the main event. So go for it Jena, and don’t forget to sell me a share :D. And if it isn’t going to happen, there is still a job for the first female president of the United States of America. If so forget the share, I would only need a Greencard in that case :D. I’m really looking forward to see you in Vegas, meanwhile good luck at the tables.

The one event I had circled on my calendar was the Ladies Event that I’d hoped would finally be my coming out party. There were just over 1,000 ladies, which meant I’d have to wade through some tough tables. I felt confident going into the day’s play and it showed as I won the first three pots of the day. But, as the broken record went, I ended up with the short stack and had to make a move. Busto! 

(A special thanks to BJ Nemeth for the beautiful photograph he captured of me.  Did you all know that BJ is especially handsome?  See his amazing Photo Blog  at http://tweet.pkrrd.com/nation/photos/posts/wsop-day-12-women-take-over-the-amazon-room-while-negreanu-nears-a-bracelet )

The one shinning spot of the trip would have to be the cash games. People! I shouldn’t have to tell too many of you who frequent the series, but for those who don’t…the cash games are very lucrative! Many times I would get to a table and manage to come out in the black. Time after time, I would be playing close to the vest and it would pay off.