Jena Delk’s Blog

1. When and how did you get started playing poker?

I was having some significant health problems in late 2005 and was not able to get out much. I was basically on bed rest for about six months. So my husband bought a laptop to help me pass the long days. In early 2006 after I got bored with hacking around on the internet, I found my way to the free games on Full Tilt Poker. The rest is history, so to speak. As my health improved, my first outings were to play live poker.

2. What would you consider to be the defining moment in your poker career thus far? The defining moment in my poker career was when I finally learned the hand rankings. I remember being in a live tournament trying to decide if a full house beat a straight or not. It’s humbling to admit I played video poker for years without knowing what comprised a flush. Who knows how much money I gave away by not recognizing the need to save cards of the same suit? 3. With 4 children how do you effectively balance poker and life? Since all of our children have graduated high school and moved out of the house balancing life with the kids really isn’t much of an issue anymore.

6. If you were asked to give a room full of young poker hopefuls one piece of advice what would it be? Know yourself and act on that knowledge to protect your game and bankroll. Identify anything that adversely affects your game and take steps to minimize its effects. It is a great sign of maturity to know and act on physical, mental, and emotional limits. If you are feeling angry, don’t play. If you are sick, don’t play. Listen to yourself and take care of your body.

7. How did you feel the day you won the New Orleans Bayou Poker Challenge? There were 269 entrants in this WSOP ladies event called the “Cajun Queen Classic”. In addition to the prize money and circuit title; I got my first piece of poker jewelry! The day started happily as I chatted it up with my table mates.I really enjoy the social side of the ladies events.Many of the less seasoned ladies will tell you how and why they played a particular way, if you have been friendly and ask. I struggled the first half of the day with no good spots or significant luck to build a stack. I headed to dinner break feeling somewhat defeated and short on chips. My friend Jack gives me a pep talk of a lifetime over dinner.I returned from dinner refreshed with a sense of determination. I doubled up on my first hand after dinner when I flopped a set of eights against an aggressive lady, who overplayed her top pair, good kicker.From there I literally did not lose a hand I selected to play.I was catching cards like I never had before in my short poker career. Talk about being a LuckBox! I knocked players out so fast that I did not have time to get my chips stacked between hands. It was so surreal.

10. I like to leave this open to you, is there anything you would like to say to those reading today? I am developing a relationship with Poker Pros Network. While we are in the early stages of development, I feel comfortable inviting you to check out my poker room on The Poker Pros Network. Just click on this link and choose “RUN” and Install. This will load your connection to the Jena Delk players lobby and my private offerings and games. Come Play with Me! Private games and educational opportunities are being developed. Please visit my website at www.jenadelk.com to keep up to date on my current happenings

After getting knocked out of the WSOP $1,000 tournament, I sat down to play cash for about an hour.  There were no $2/5 seats available when I first arrived so I passed time at the $ 1/3 game.  When my name was up on the wait list, I was moved to an active $2/5 game with deep stacks.  I bought in for the table maximum of $500.   Two hands before the one I am going to tell you about, I mentioned to the table that I was waiting on a ride from my roommate and would be leaving after I received a text saying he was on the way.

An early position player opens for $15 which is reraised to $45 by MP+1 (middle position) to $45.  The cut off flats as do I from the button with the Ac Kc.  The original raiser folds.  The flop is 9 high with two spades.  On the flop, both of the other villains check, so I bet $85.  The MP+1 folds and the CO (cut-off) calls after asking how much I am playing.  The turn is a 10 of hearts.  CO checks again.  I bet $150 and the CO calls.  The river is a beautiful club.  Again the CO checks, so I go all in for $190.  The CO thinks for a bit and says, “I know you got aces, but I call”.  When I turn up the nut flush, this guy throws his cards nearly hitting the dealer,  “You don’t know how lucky you got, Miss!”  He grabs his remaining money and starts to walk away without playing the last bet.  The dealer calls for him to come back.  He steams as the dealer collects another $190 from this guy. I tip the dealer generously and smile.

On the flop I am actually ahead here.  My turn bet, gives me odds to stay in the hand.  So glad I got “lucky”.  As I am stacking my chips, my roommate texts me that he is on the way, I tell everyone that I am going to take one more hand. I fold a junk hand and cash out a nice $450 profit.

My day 2 of Event 54 wrapped up just after the bubble was broken.  I started the day with average chips at a comfortable table.  I never really had any hands for the first hour, so my image was really tight.  I got a pair of queens under the gun and opened the pot. The blinds were 500/1000/100. It was folded around to an active big blind who called.  Long story short, a king came on the flop.  The big blind led out with a $1k chip.  I called.  The turn brought another king, and the big blind led with another $1k and I called thinking with the second king on the board that it was unlikely he had a king.  The river is a brick and the blind bets $6k.  I spend a good deal of time evaluating the way the hand went down and what the big blind had been showing down.  I made the wrong decision and called.  The blind shows the king eight right away, so i mucked my hand without showing.

Now I am short stacked with about 8k remaining in my stack.  We are about a hundred away from the money, so I move into survival mode.  I am able to shove all in a few times that are not called.  I get AK with less than ten away from the money when I look down to see AK.  I shove my stack again and am called by jacks.  I am saved when a full house appears on the board for a chop.  The bubble breaks soon thereafter.  I went out 346/3.844 to earn $1,868.

Oh, by the way: Check out Short-Stacked Shamus’s blog Hard Boiled Poker fame who mentioned little ole me. Thanks Shamus!

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 am disappointed with the WSOP and how they have financially segregated the tournaments between the Pavilion and Amazon rooms. A lot of players come to the WSOP to check out the guys they have been watching on TV and railing online. When you arrive, they point you in to the first Pavilion room which is basically where the noobs are grinding donkaments. There are very few pros in that section.

I realize that they need all the space they can get but seems they are purposely only running higher buy in events in the Amazon room. I have a friend here who has been playing cash and $200-$1000 tourneys for over a week here. He said ‘Gee, I thought there would be more pros here in the Amazon room’. He is a smart guy, but he was unaware that he’d been playing in the Pavilion and that there was even a second room. It’s not that obvious to a newbie. I then talked to a few other guys who didn’t know there were other events going on in the Amazon hall. I just think it would be good to put a big event in the Pavilion from time to time too. The $10k HU event yesterday could of easily fit. To top it all off, there is a guard and thug standing by the entry to the Amazon hall as if to say ‘thou shalt not pass!’

How about they throw up a sign that says “Come see how sick Durr is! Rail Phil Ivey. See how many times Scotty will say BABY. Come visit the Amazon room behind the main poker Pavilion!’

Maybe the ‘pros’ have expressed interested in not having a lot of rail birds? Just curious. Last year it was wonderful to have everyone mixing it up with the pros in one location.

I was going to make a blog post about this but then I remembered that I have no blog

Thoughts?

-written by Geoffrey Preston Lay

There has been much debate about Ladies only events in poker. I understand there can be strong feelings for both sides of the debate. You hear many of the same arguments over and over.

Here’s one you may not have considered:

Ladies only events bring women into the casino. These gals enjoy playing poker. Before and after each event you see a substantial increase of women playing cash. Give them what they are looking for—a good time at the table. They will open their wallets for you. So quit complaining the ladies events are sexist, and enjoy the benefit$. Don’t spoil the fun by crashing the events.

Ladies events are positive EV for poker in general.  They bring BEGINNERS (aka fish) to the game.  These are the players you want to join you at the tables.  For some ladies, the ladies event is the only way they will venture into the casino to play poker, because it feels safe to them.  I am begging you guys to leave them alone.

Internet young guns, stop sulking in your hoodie and smile at that gal sitting next to you. She is probably intimidated and could use a friend. Help her to feel comfortable.  Let her know how things work in the game, if she seems unsure. Always acknowledge someone who speaks to you.  You spend way too many hours in your cocoon anyway. 

Men who have wives, who don’t understand all the hours at the tables, should bring their lady along for a weekend of spa, shopping, and poker. Have her bring along a couple of friends. She will be so busy have fun that there will be no time to nag you. Hopefully she will find the experience so much fun that she will pick up the game. Once she is playing regularly her daily nagging allowance will be sharply decreased. There is one drawback; she may become a better player than you!!

Tournament Directors: Please add a male only event to occur at the same time as the Ladies Events.

Early last week I have added fingernail tips to my hands. They are pretty but the nails takes much getting used to. No small movements like putting on earrings or a necklace. The first evening after I got them put on, I developed a case of hives. I developed hives from time to time for no apparent reason but that is a different story, so I get to really scratching my thigh. I scratch so much that my skin has welts on it. It becomes red and angry; I get an ide4a to put some lotion on the angry skin. As I rub in the lotion, little round blood spots develop. By morning the red blood spots had turned to bruises. These bruises are beginning to heal and have yellowing mixed with the purple,

To prepare for playing the Ladies Event at the WSOP this past Friday I got a two hour massage in my house. I love Vegas for this. You can get anything you want here. L Barbara is an amazingly skilled body work specialist that I met last year from an internet search for therapeutic massage in the city. I was happy to be able to get another appointment. This added thumb prints on my upper arms and various other locations.

So two nights ago, I get hives (again) this time it is the other thigh, cause still unknown, I do not allow myself to dig in as much with this round, but by this morning there was more bruising. Yesterday I played at the Venetian Deep Stack Series and had a neck massage table side. Rough life, Huh? I just noticed another thumb print.

I am playing the WSOP $1500 no limit Hold’em event #30. I am all registered. You will find me starting at Amazon Yellow Table 151, Seat 8 to start. Please disregard any bruising; I have a game to get onto.

I am sitting at my summer home in Las Vegas, still pouting that I am not playing over at the Rio.  I am sad to say, I did not get very far in the WSOP Ladies Event. I lasted into Level 4, which is pretty miraculous since I was short stacked and card dead the entire time.

I was seated at table 8, along with the always lovely, Vanessa Rousso and Tiffany Michelle.  I was fortunate to last longer than these two pros.  After they busted, their seats became a revolving door of ladies who would sit down and play a few hands, then bust.  As they busted, I continued to nurse a 1,100 stack.  I would move my small stack all in and the table would fold, so that I could earn enough to post my blinds.  This continued for nearly two hours.  Then when I finally got a real hand, I was called.  I had queens (the bitches, as I call them). My lady in the number four seat had Ace King, so it was an easy decision for her to call.  The ace came out on the flop, but I had already started packing my bag.  Busto!  Those bitches have knocked me out of 50% of my ladies events.  I probably should stop playing them!

You can check out the results at http://www.wsop.com/tournaments/results.asp?grid=764&tid=10843.

Copied from http://preventcancer.org/newsroom2c.aspx?id=4560#tourney

On May 4, a record 130 poker players from across the country brought their best poker faces to the nation’s capital to support cancer prevention. The Prevent Cancer Foundation raised $215,000 at its Sixth Annual Bad Beat on Cancer Texas Hold’em Poker Tournament. After an exciting evening of tournament play, Jeremy Coon took the grand prize donated by Harrah’s Entertainment—a $10,000 seat at the 2010 World Series of Poker Tournament.

The event was attended by top professional poker players Andy Bloch, Lee Childs, Annie Duke, Rafe Furst, Jena Delk and Howard Lederer, members of Congress and players from corporate and poker communities. Professional poker champion and Foundation board member Phil Gordon—renowned for his commentary on televised poker matches such as Celebrity Poker Showdown and the World Series of Poker—served as the master of ceremonies for the evening.

The tournament, sponsored by 1-800-Contacts®, Amgen, Astra Zeneca, General Dynamics, Harrah’s Entertainment Inc., Legacy, and the Poker Players Alliance, featured 10 players at each of the 13 tables vying to win a seat at the final table where they competed for fabulous prizes, each of which had been generously donated to the Foundation. Prior to the tournament, Gordon and the other professional poker stars in attendance held a poker clinic for first-time players and for those in need of a refresher course before the games began.

“Poker is an exciting way to bring people together to beat cancer. Most of our guests recognize the Prevent Cancer Foundation’s mission is important and they are more than happy to help fulfill it,” said Jan Bresch Mahrer, the Foundation’s executive vice president and chief operating officer.

Since its inception at the World Series of Poker in 2003, the Bad Beat on Cancer initiative has raised more than $3.2 million to support the Foundation’s mission.

Learn about the Prevent Cancer Foundation’s other signature events.

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.