PokerNations & TPT Charity Tournament

Hosted By Andy Bloch!

Date: Sunday, Sep 19, 2010
Time: 4pm EST (1600 server time, 1pm PST, 9pm GMT)
Site: Full Tilt Poker
Tournament ID: 172330870
Buy-In: $10+$10 ($10 to the prize pool, $10 to PokerGives)
Game Type: No Limit Texas Hold Em (1,500 starting chips)
Password: poker

September is National Poker Month and you can help show the world that the poker community is a positive force by playing in this event. You’ll be helping to contribute to four great charities while being able to compete with your favorite pros and become eligible for huge prizes!

Early Registration Bonus - CardRunners Membership (valued at $130)

You must pre-register for this tournament on Full Tilt Poker by September 1st, 2010 and play the event. You must post in our forum thread with your full tilt username by the same date in order to be eligible. One winner will be randomly chosen from all eligible early registrations.

Special Prizes - Awarded In Separate Drawings - Oct 4, 2010

The winner of our online event will be entered into a separate drawing along with the winners of other events held throughout National Poker Month at land-based casinos for the prizes below. Post your full tilt username by the end of Level 1 to be eligible:

(2) WPT Celebrity Invitational Seats - (value priceless)

Two winners will be selected to play in the World Poker Tour Celebrity Invitational Tournament. This is a $200,000 televised freeroll that you cannot buy into, you must be invited. You’ll rub shoulders with Hollywood celebrities and famous poker pros at the Commerce Casino in California.

WPT Boot Camp Seat - (valued at $1,895)

Take your game to the next level with in-person instruction from professional poker players who’ve racked up millions in winnings via cash games and tournaments and you could be the next poker millionaire!

CardPlayer Cruise Poker Trip - (valued at $1,200)

Enjoy a fabulous cruise to Mexico while playing your favorite poker cash and tournament games. You’ll meet pro players and fellow poker fans while enjoy life on and off the felt!

One Hour Private Poker Lesson - (valued at $300 each)

Mike Sexton and Linda Johnson have both graciously offered to provide a one-hour lesson via phone to two seperate winners.

Exclusive Prize To Our Winner - (valued at $100)

1 hour shadowing session. This entails an free online poker analysis and discussion (via skype or yahoo messenger). Prize can be gifted to a friend or family member. Provided by PokerInstructors.com

The following pros have expressed to us they will be playing

Andy Bloch, Linda Johnson, Jan Fisher, Susie Isaacs, Chip Jett, Karina Jett, Jena Delk

My soul searching is going to continue. I am seeking to understand myself so that I can undo the damaging effects of my character flaws.

I want to live the rest of my days knowing that I have done my best to live this life fully present in the moment. I will no longer live in the past to be haunted by my mistakes. I will not live in the future where ” what ifs” are not yet known. My life will be spent in today. I will live in today in such a way that I will have no regrets in my tomorrows.

Here goes:

My relationship with my husband it not where I want it to be. We are in a period of deep strain and hard work where both of us are trying to find out what we really want from our lives. Is there room for Michael in this new Jena? Does Michael like the gal I am becoming?

There are so many changes in our lives right now. My health has been improving. Our kids are grown and gone. The house is empty. My carpools, meetings, and homework supervision have ended. The day to day family life is finished; my “work” is done. Yet Michael must toil to continue to support us. Day after day he gets up in the morning to go to work. I find myself asking, “Where is his source of pleasure?” “Can I make him happy?” “Where do we go from here?”

Many men have asked me questions like, “What do you do back home?” or “What kind of work do you do?” They ask these questions at the poker table to gain information about me. They take my answers to speculate on what type of “game” I play, thus using my answers to formulate battle tactics. Knowing this, I like to give them unexpected answers in hopes they misinterpret and draw wrong conclusions. Often they become intrigued with my response and have many follow up questions. I try to use their distraction to my advantage by giving them a winning smile with my bluff.

For years I have proudly told them I am a “kept woman”. I love being a kept woman. Michael provides for my every need, want, and desire. Anything can be mine just for the asking. I am spoiled because my husband has devoted his life to my pleasure. As the men pressed me for more information, such as “Where is your husband now?” I would retort happily, “At work—somebody has to pay for all this”

However, I have come to realize I have enjoyed it too much. Gradually over time, I overstepped the bounds of proper and took too much. I abused my position, robbing him of resources that could be better invested in more meaningful pursuits. I came to expect him to meet my every whim while I disregarded his. Once I expected and even at times, demanded his gifts, they no longer were gifts; these expectations became burdens for Michael to provide. I kept taking and taking until he had no more to give. In my blatant egotism, I was oblivious to his pain. He gave freely out of love and devotion while I took with selfish abandon.

My destructive impulses have led me to devalue My Love in the process. The realization of this truth has caused me to question who I am. What are my values? Am I a person who can live with essentially using another human being? How can you live your whole life and not know who you are? These thoughts have provoked feelings sadness as I grief the loss of the person I thought I was.

This sadness has provoked me to take a deep look inside myself. I need to obtain a good understanding of the choices I have made and their consequences. I search to find the girl who was damaged, to heal her, and to bring her into my life where she does not have to be afraid anymore. This girl needs to grow up. And that is just she is doing.

Welcome to my journey….

Thanks, Lauren!!

Next event:

Saturday, August 21st @ 6pm
Buy-in = $150
Starting Chips = 20,000
Blinds = 30 minutes
NO DEALER ADD-ON

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to AUDITOR NURS [3h Jh]
CrazyCool018: calls 50
gabriel73: folds
Jaccuse: folds
nairy31: folds
kansur: calls 50
Mr. LuPo: folds
AUDITOR NURS: calls 50
SuprDave7777: calls 25
d4prox: checks
*** FLOP *** [Qh 6h 9h]
SuprDave7777: checks
d4prox: checks
CrazyCool018: checks
kansur: checks
AUDITOR NURS: bets 200
SuprDave7777: folds
d4prox: calls 200
CrazyCool018: folds
kansur: folds
*** TURN *** [Qh 6h 9h] [Th]
d4prox: checks
AUDITOR NURS: bets 600
d4prox: calls 600
*** RIVER *** [Qh 6h 9h Th] [Kh]
d4prox: bets 750
AUDITOR NURS: raises 1070 to 1820 and is all-in
d4prox: calls 1070
*** SHOW DOWN ***
AUDITOR NURS: shows [3h Jh] (a straight flush, Nine to King)
d4prox: shows [2h Ah] (a flush, Ace high)
AUDITOR NURS collected 5490 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 5490 | Rake 0
Board [Qh 6h 9h Th Kh]
Seat 1: SuprDave7777 (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 2: d4prox (big blind) showed [2h Ah] and lost with a flush, Ace high
Seat 3: CrazyCool018 folded on the Flop
Seat 4: gabriel73 folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 5: Jaccuse folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 6: nairy31 folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 7: kansur folded on the Flop
Seat 8: Mr. LuPo folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 9: AUDITOR NURS (button) showed [3h Jh] and won (5490) with a straight flush, Nine to King

Last night I played poker for four hours while Michael played golf. It was my first time out to play poker in Florida since the buy in limits were raised from a max buy in of $100.I went to Club 52 because of its proximity to Baytree, where Michael was golfing.  Club 52 is never my first choice for play in Florida, but it is my closest room, so it is sometimes selected out of convenience.

Club 52 fell out of favor for me in 2008.  The tournament director and/or management made a decision which would cause me not to return for more than a year.  Club 52 had advertised for several months that it would be holding a tournament which was guaranteeing a $10k entry into the 2008 WSOP Main Event.  I don’t recall the exact buy in amount for this tournament, but it was in the neighborhood of $150-200.  The day of the event came and the players were all seated and cards were put in the air.  The players were getting excited because there were not enough players to cover the guarantee amount, which meant Club 52 would have to kick in some of its own money to award the prize.

My table was on its second hand when the announcement was made that the tournament will be a re-buy  (Misnomer- actually it would be a re-entry) tournament. If you were knocked out, a player could return to the cage and purchase another entry to the event, thus paying the juice again.   Several players began to strongly object for various reason.  A lady at my table had traveled three hours to play this event with her husband and did not want to return home without playing.  Another gentleman did not play re buy events because those “wild young people” have no regard for money.  A multitude of people protested they did not bring extra cash with them or simply could not afford another buy in, thus putting them at a strong disadvantage to those with money in their pockets.  And a good many others do not like to play this type of event.

I complained and tried to convince the management to reverse their decision in the best interest of all the players.  My efforts were in vain.  In the end, I was refunded my entry fee as were a few others.

Many of you noticed I had lost weight since last year.  A girl really loves to hear a compliment.  Thank you so much for your encouraging words.  Even though I was not a large girl, I did take off more than 10% of my body weight.  This weight loss left me with a closet full of clothing in the wrong size.

Today was a very hot and muggy one, but we didn’t mind. Katie and Joel (eldest daughter and husband) plus Adam and Addyson (eldest and first granddaughter) were visiting for Katie’s birthday. Our favorite days are when the family gets together. All of our time has been spent poolside with the charcoal grill cranking out the food. (Thanks Grandpa!)

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.

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!

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.