Jena Delk’s Blog

I have been reluctant to write for my blog because I have been overwhelmed with personal struggles. I have not focused on poker to the degree that is necessary to produce good poker posts. So I have avoided and delayed, waiting for focus to return to poker. After a month of procrastination, I have determined to write something. I will share my thoughts in hopes you find benefit from reading about my struggles.

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….

Today I am looking forward to getting together with my friends of the High Heels Poker Tour at The Poker Room at Orange Park Kennel Club.  Lauren Failla, founder of HHPT, formed this company is to give women a place to improve their poker skills and provide recognition of their efforts.  of all ages the opportunity to expand their skills at the poker table.  The mission statement of HHPT is “Our Mission at the HHPT is to empower women who want to become champions in the growing world of poker. The HHPT wants to provide the best competitive environment where women can explore, develop, and continue growing and learning top strategies and their “A” game. Opportunities and Recognition are what the HHPT is all about.”

Thanks, Lauren!!

Next event:

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

PokerStars Game #48199314715: Tournament #325010003, $10+$1 USD Hold’em No Limit - Level III (25/50) - 2010/08/15 15:51:09 ET
Table ‘325010003 1728′ 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: SuprDave7777 (1245 in chips)
Seat 2: d4prox (3520 in chips)
Seat 3: CrazyCool018 (3500 in chips)
Seat 4: gabriel73 (3160 in chips)
Seat 5: Jaccuse (3905 in chips)
Seat 6: nairy31 (2925 in chips)
Seat 7: kansur (1910 in chips)
Seat 8: Mr. LuPo (2645 in chips)
Seat 9: AUDITOR NURS (2670 in chips)
SuprDave7777: posts small blind 25
d4prox: posts big blind 50

*** 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

Club 52 - poker room in Melbourne Greyhound Park in Melbourne, FL.

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.

Its midnight and I just took a walk with my husband.  I am trying to go for a walk three times a week. This is the second time I have gone since returning from Vegas, so we are a long way off to any sort of habit.  I have not had regular exercise in many years.

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!)

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

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.