Jena Delk’s Blog

LEVEL 6

OMg!  I just folded my queens when I timed out trying to type a 2.5X BB bet.  And why do I insist on simply calling from the blinds with speculative hands.  I need to be raising or folding here. I suck at this.

Wow! They just let me steal the blinds twice this round.  I called a standard raise that was called by one other player from the button.  I am trying to play more hands in position.  When the flop is checked around to me, I bet two thirds of the pot.  Everybody folds.   I am really good at this.  

Two hands later, I open for 3xBB and get three bet by the button. I fold because this bet represents 30% of the button’s stack.  I can only continue with this hand if I am willing to play for the buttons entire stack.  Since I have 9 10 off suit, I fold, intended to find a better spot later.  I suck at this.

The better spot comes three hands later.  I am able to get heads up with a good player. My bluff was successful because I created a believable story.  And the fact they missed on the wet board really help.  I am good at this.

We are nearing the end of level 10.  Here are my current vital stats:  11K chips; average 9k, 302 players remain; 90 earn some money.

LEVEL 12 150/300/25

I just overplayed the last two hands and my stack has eroded to 4K.  I suck at this. 

I shove with 10 J suited after a nit opens.  The nit calls with AK.  I flop a pair and the AK does not improve.  I double up and think I am good at this.

I fold the next two hands. The next hand I play is [Ac, 5c] from the big blind.  The button opens with a bet of  1,065 (obv. steal), so because I suck at this, I flat call.  The flop is  [9d, 5d,8s].  Excited to hit bottom pair, I shove my remaining $7K.  The button calls with [Qd, 6d].  The turn is [Qs].  The river [Jh]. 

I am prepared to shove my 282 remaining chips immediately if not sooner, because I am good at this.

I win the next two hands by luck and luck alone because I suck at this.

I finish in 215th place when my third hand is not able to hold up. 

The time is 3:42 am. Time for bed. 

I am playing the $17K guaranteed tournament on FTP.  The buy in for this tournament is $24+2 and drew 907 players, giving us a prize pool of $21.8K.  This tournament features 12 minute levels and 3,000 starting chips.  The play has been as expected –bad.  We have lost 132 during the first level of play.

On-line play is not my strong suit.  It is difficult to keep my mind from wondering.  So I am writing this blog while playing.  It is my hope that my writing here will help to keep me in touch with the action on the table.  Unfortunately I type way to slow to provide commentary on every hand, so this experiment seems to be a failure thus far. 

Dag open limped from utg+1. Mr. R rose to pot and it is folded around to Dag.  Dag ends up taking the pot on the river with a large bet.  No show down.  He is UTG now and open limps again.  Mr. R pot raises and I fold my 4 7 off-suit from the cutoff.  The blinds fold and they are heads up.  Each street is checked down.  Board shows 2 K J K 10.  Dag wins the 900 pot after calling a river bet from Mr. R with pocket eights.

Just folded my K6 suited.  The same two players are in this hand with .  A turn bet gets Hia to fold. 4 4 A A J on the board and a river bet gets Dag to release his hand.

Mr. R limped and I raised to 4 bb with KQ off-suit and Mr. R calls.  Mr. R leads out on the flop and I reraise. Mr. R folds.

Mr. limps again with 800 chips and gets reraised for his trny life by Dag.  Mr. folds! Dag shows AJ suited and looses to AK suited . Mr. R has played 23/24 hands.  He just doubled up with the 78 suited vs. QQ, staying in with a gut shot draw after the flop.

The next hand Mr. R is moved to a new table.  It’s folded around to me in the small blind, and I raise pot with A8.  The big blind insta-folds.

It’s amazing how long two minutes is when you have to pee….

At the first break I have 5390 in chips.  The average is 4748.  There are 573 players remaining.

I am at the Borgata to play their $1,500+150 deep stack tournament. This 3 day event features the best structure in the eastern United States. Blinds for day 1 are 50 min.  Day 2 is 60 with the final day featuring 75 min levels. 

Borgata’s guarantee of a minimum prize pool of $500k brought out 607 runners.  Nearly doubling their guaranteed prize pool. First place will bring a commanding $252K!!!

I had a good table draw with a nice mix of players.  We had them all: donkey, rock, flush chaser, over defenders, under defenders, chauvinist, weak, tough, bad and good players.  There was lots of action preflop with a high percentage of hands going all the way to the river.  These guys were relentless.  I was feeling very good about my steadily growing chip stack.  I was above average as we entered the sixth level (200/400 with 50 antes). 

I had not played many hands all tournament long.  My hand selection was tight.  I was only playing top 10% of hands.  The tournament cannot be won on day one, so I was taking it easy, not risking much. 

Then comes THE hand that ended my tournament.  I was dealt pocket jacks. Since there were a couple of limpers, I raised to 5x the big blind.  I got one caller and the two of us went to the flop.  The flop came with one over card, a queen.  For some reason I failed to base my continued actions in this hand upon the type of player my villain was…by the time we got to the river I pushed the remainder of my stack into the middle.  The villain tanks and asks how much…it is almost ten thousand more…villain tanks for a while and finally shrugs his shoulders and says, “What the heck” and calls.  Level one players cannot be moved of a pair.  My fault plain and simple.  I needed to remember who I was playing. 

The field was comprised of 38 players.  It was nice seeing from Ante Up magazine.  There were four or five females in the field.  The field seemed comprised of either beginners like me or more adept players.  I overheard someone say they drove in from Gainesville.  Tampa was represented by my friend, Chris Cosenza, Publisher, Ante Up magazine.  Oh by the way, be on the lookout for their magazine in your favorite poker room.  Ante up is considered THE resource for Florida poker. 

My friend Sue drove me tonight.  It was her first time to watch any poker tournament.  On the drive home, she was full of questions.  She wondered why a person got a penalty for talking on the phone but no one received a penalty for texting on the phone.  Good point, Sue!  I do wish the rules were equally enforced whatever they may be.

For some reason the cocktail waitress failed to make a last call to the tournament area. Heck, I didn’t see any server for the last two hours.  I was unable to get a cold bottle of water to help calm my recurrent hot flashes.  Hot flashes are not something you really understand until it happens to you. I thought cramps were bad—but this sucks more! 

This was a very enjoyable evening.  I took great pleasure in playing something besides NHL.  This was my first Live razz tournament.  This experience makes me realize it is time for me to learn the game of razz.  To facilitate this goal, I will be holding razz tournaments at my poker room beginning in mid-December.  Sign up now to play freerolls and play money as we complete testing of the site.  Here’s the link:  www.pokerprosnetwork.net/jenadelk.html.

What’s next?

I will be at Daytona Beach Kennel Club on Thursday, November 12^th, to play in the inaugural Daytona Beach International Poker Tournament, Championship Event (day1A).   This is the first multiday tournament ever being hosted at DBKC.  The poker room management has worked hard to fill the field by holding tons of sit-n-go’s and satellites.  There are already over 60 registered.  A good turnout is expected.  Here are the specks of the event:

Thur. Nov. 12 (Day 1A)

Fri. Nov. 13 (Day 1B)

Sun. Nov. 15 (Finals)

2pm Start time

$650 Buy-in

Starting chips 10,000

Starting blinds 25/50

45 Minute Blind Levels

I have some very exciting news. 

I am involved in the launch of a new website - I am associated with PPN.  Poker Pros Network, newest concept in online poker opens November 1, 2009.Players Group Ltd and Openlot Group have teamed up to bring the poker world a totally new concept in online poker. A new network for online players where friends and everyday players can sit with pros. Poker Pros Network is opening for free online play November 1, 2009 with the launch of  http://www.pokerprosnetwork.net.

Players Group Ltd. CEO Chuck Kidd says:” We are proud to team with Openlot to bring this unique Poker Pros Network to the online poker world. We have currently signed more than 30 top online, as well as brick and mortar pros to play at the PPN. And that list is growing every day. The allure of playing against the world’s best players online has already been proven.  At the PPN we make it easy to interact with the PPN PRO players of your choice on your schedule and at your budget limits.” 

Openlot Group CEO Bruno Michieli says, “Openlot is proud to provide state of the art technology offering remote gaming services, total player management and total infrastructure system to the PPN. Our goal is to deliver the highest quality total gaming solution management. Openlot is leading the way for third generation games offering solutions to the entire online gaming industry.”

Signups are now being taken at www.pokerprosnetwork.net/jenadelk.hml. And that one login will work for any PPN site in the future. One site, multiple pros, easy entry, free play, live play and tournaments, built by pros for the enjoyment of everyone.

Real cash play will commence December 1. 2009.

I am currently in route to Jacksonville to play with the Ladies at St John’s Greyhound Park.  I am riding with my friend Lauren Falla, founder of the High Heels Poker Tour.  The tournament kicks off Sunday at 1 pm.  The poker room is treating us ladies well.  There is going to be food, giveaways, and lots of giggling.  And the Ladies know how to have fun.

The structure for this tournament will feature 20 minute blinds with 10,000 units.  The buying is a very reasonable $125.  Lots of value here.

I visited the poker room for the first time yesterday.  I must say the room is beautiful.  The needs of the poker player are within easy reach: food, drink, smoking deck, and restrooms. What this room offers that so many in Florida don’t is free Wi-Fi and comfortable seating.  The room has a sushi bar!  There is a bank of leather seats facing a wall of flat screen plasma televisions.  Each seat has an earphone jack so you can select which TV you wish to hear. 

The room employs automatic card shufflers.  The staff is very friendly and helpful.  The dealers are capable.  Massages can be obtained tableside for $1/minute. 

Hello Everybody!

I am taking some time off from traveling sooooooooo much.  My granddaughter, Addyson, is two years old.  It’s time for this Grandma to help create traditions for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.  And, yes, she is the most beautiful toddler in the world.

My next planned poker trip will be in January.  I will be playing the WPT Southern Poker Championship at the Beau Rivage Casino.  The main event starts on January 24th with plenty of great preliminary events.  Get more information at this link: http://www.worldpokertour.com.

I spent last week asking a good many people if they would be playing the Borgata’s Main Event. I told anyone who would listen the vital statics of this tournament:

·         $3,500 total price

·         75 minute levels

·         Blinds start 25/25?????

·         30K starting stack

·         WPT televised event

·         Great structure

·         Two day ones

·         $2 million guaranteed

 

If they are still listening when I get to the end of my list, I remind them that the $3,500 is the lowest entry fee for a WPT main event. At this low price there will be more first time main event players pulling together the money to play.  I think the Borgata and WPT may owe me for all the free advertising.

 

I am on the plane to Atlantic City now. I will be playing ACT 1 and ACT 2 in hopes of winning my way into this awesome tournament. I am playing day 2b-Sunday. I am looking forward to seeing many of my fellow teammates at PPI. If you see me in the halls, please say Hello!  Follow my action via Twitter.

 

Come join the fun!!!

 

The Borgata Open is being held Sept 19-26 in the Exhibit Hall at the Borgata. Registration requires a My Borgata card, cash, and valid ID.  Registration open 24 hours.

Blind structure sheet        

Borgata Live Bloggers

 

Jena is currently seeking sponsorship opportunities.

I came back out after a long rest in my room. I came to say hi to Gerard and there was an open seat next to him. He says sit down and play. I say with what money. He just hands me over 5 bills.  Sweet!

The action at the table was amazing for the first hour. The occupants change up and some new faces appear. These new guys have the sweet aroma of marijuana. We carry on some small talk and I learn they have just driven on from Texas.  I surprised them when I mentioned it was obvious they packed bananas for their trip.  An older gentleman over hear the mention of bananas and asked if I knew what the concession stand was selling them for: Bananas $2.50 each. It is so funny to hear this guy go on and on about bananas, missing the actual meaning of our conversation.

It’s Tuesday and my third day of play at the Beau Rivage Gulf Coast Championship. I have not had any success to write about. I have played three events now and only once got past the dinner break.  It makes me wonder what’s wrong with my game.

I am playing 1/2 NLH right now with my last bit of cash. I have been severely under rolled since I played the WSOP main event. I know I really couldn’t afford to play the main event, but I did it anyway. The main event is THE event of the year.  It was my best chance to further my fledgling poker career. Then I failed to cash. And the footage of me playing on the feature table did not make it to the TV screen. I would have been paid for wearing Full Tilt Poker gear. Thank you FTP for the opportunity!!

I don’t recognize any of the players at my table. The first hand I selected to play is pocket sixes. I am in the cut off. Middle position 2 opens for $10. 

The high jack seat calls and I bump it up to $30. Both players call and I flop a set.  It’s checked around to me and I push the remainder of my $100 into the middle. The original opener calls with pocket jacks. I was able to fade the flush draw to double up. The grind is on. I need to earn enough to enter tomorrow’s tournament.

Not having an adequate bankroll can really affect your game.  I find myself leery of playing big pots. I have missed some payoffs because I couldn’t risk my entire stack.