Holiday Bonus - Commerce, WPT Boot Camp - Bahamas, 5 Diamond - Bellagio
Holiday Bonus Tournament – Commerce
This was my first tournament since coming back from the islands. I had rather disappointing showings in both Turks and Aruba, so I was looking forward to playing again after taking a bit of a break.
This was a $2500 buy-in, which as we know isn’t a ton of money in the world of poker, but it was high time I got back to my auto-cashing ways.
It’s weird though. I hadn’t played a tournament in the states in a few months, and of all the places in the world, I had to pick The Commerce. Yes, it’s in Los Angeles, but I think there is more English being spoken at the casinos in Europe than there is at The Commerce.
I’m used to this though, as I’ve been playing in LA my whole life, but one thing has changed: people know who I am now. I have to say that I hate it. It’s really turned me off to live poker as of late. Sure, having fans is really great (yes, please keep reading my blog) but for some reason people think that because they’ve seen you on tv that they know you. Here is a list of things, even if they’ve seen me on TV, strangers are still not allowed to do:
• Ask me to borrow money
• Ask for my phone number
• Try to borrow cash
• Tell me I look fat on TV
• See if I’ll put you in a game
• Request a pair of my underwear
• Hit me up for a loan
Anyways.
I hovered around 20k for most of day one of this tournament. Eventually the blinds and antes got pretty high, and I doubled up the shortstack at my table. There’s this guy at another table playing like a complete maniac, and he’s totally crushing peoples’ souls. The guy can’t miss. I’m busy watching this guy’s antics and folding more cheese than a burrito chef. Before you know it – blam! I’m headed to day two. The only problem is…I’m dead last in chips.
Did I mention that I’ve live in LA my whole life? You would think because of this that I’d eventually learn two things: 1) Everything comes with cilantro. 2) Leaving my house two hours early isn’t enough time to travel the 22 miles to The Commerce.
There was some sort of nonsense happening on the 5 Freeway that day. Dead stopped traffic. In LA this could mean anything from a 55-car pileup to a bunch of interesting looking garbage on the shoulder. Regardless, I was the shortstack, and I would easily have blinded off within two rounds. Whether or not there was a breakdown on the freeway, there was certainly about to be one inside my car.
For once in my life it was lucky that I don’t know how to get anywhere in LA, and I was saved by my GPS. I got there and had only missed one hand. It was my big blind, unfortunately. But, believe it or not, I didn’t play a single hand until the next time the blinds came around. It was the lowest I had ever been in a tournament, but luckily I doubled up and managed to hang on until the money.
I stole here and there, and doubled up once or twice more as I got short, but I never really got my stack up very much. The crazy-ass from the day before was now at my table, and he was up to his old tricks. Luckily I was able to stay out of his way most of the day (he had aces 5 times). I did have one interesting hand, where I flopped a full house with 7-2 in the big blind, and quadrupled up, but I was so low, I still didn’t have anything to write home about.
I ended up finishing in 12th place, which was pretty ok by me. No, it’s not a win. But it was good to cash again. I have to give myself a little bit of credit, because I really didn’t get any cards this tournament. There weren’t any aces left after Mr. Maniac, I guess. By the way, Mr. Maniac’s real name is Maze Orillo, and he went on to win the tournament.
Other than cashing, the best part of this tournament was getting to play with my old friend, Roberto Durant on day two. I was in a pretty grumbly mood around all the negative energy of The Commerce. The people there are so angry. You’d think they’re playing for fingers and toes or something. Robert is a stellar player though, and a cash game specialist. Playing with him made things fun for me again, which is why it was so easy not to just ship it in with the first couple of hands I saw. Typically I’m pretty decent at working the short stack, but with someone like Robert at the table, it makes me want to stick around all that much more.
WPT Boot Camp - Bahamas
Next up…Bahamas!! Whoo!! Give it up for The Bahamas!! Right!? Who’s with me!? No? Me neither. I know. I’m a brat. I have to say that I like any country that has a “The” in front of it. Come on! How much better would things be if there were such places at “The Germany,” “The Japan,” and “The Iraq.” Anyways, I wasn’t too excited to go to The Bahamas. But, it was pretty much an offer I couldn’t refuse.
The guys who run the WPT Boot Camp invited me to come teach at their marquee event that goes on down there every year. Free trip. Free room. Free roll. The best part is: the winner of the free roll wins another free roll. Several, actually. That’s right. The winner of this freeroll wins their buy-ins for the ENTIRE NEXT WPT SEASON. If this is a camp, that makes this tournament the end-of-summer talent show, and that makes first prize for singing Bel Biv DeVoe’s “Poison” over a hundred thousand dollars - and the chance to win oh so much more.
The week started off with us pros having to address the entire camp. There were 20 of us. Here’s the premise “You’re backing someone in their first $10k event, and you only have five minutes to give them advice. Go.” I would have to say that this is a bit of nonsense. I’m not handing ten dimes over to someone who’s never played before (see my rules above). But, I went ahead and said what I thought “Play your game. Don’t be nervous. Don’t be afraid to gamble.” I imagine that some of these “campers” heads were spinning even before the end of day one, as some of the other advice they received was “Change your game. Play tight. Don’t be afraid to fold Kings prelfop.” I’m serious. Someone said that.
The rest of the week was fun enough. Most of the campers are just happy to be there. All you really do is deal out sit and go’s and tell them what to do. I feel a little guilty though, because poker is the most situational game ever. Nothing is right all the time. Nothing is wrong all the time. Unfortunately, for novices, people tend to teach in unconditional rules. It’s a little unfair, but I guess it’s the only way to start for people who are brand new to the game.
The free roll was pretty forgettable. Not a single pro made it to the final table. Some lucky camper is going to be putting his boot camp skills to work next year!
I didn’t play much while I was there, except for when Clonie had to go to the bathroom, I played her chips for her. Unfortunately for Kenna James she got dealt Aces, and while I would have liked to try to play them slow to get all of his money, I couldn’t do that with Clonie’s chips. Something about it seemed unethical. Unfortunately for Kenna, he couldn’t resist shipping them all in anyway. It was a nice feeling to have Clonie come back and have added a few bucks to her stack.
Doyle Brunson Five Diamond
I still don’t think I’ve recovered from this tournament yet. I look forward to this tournament all year. It’s a $15k event, as opposed to the usual $10k, so this means that you get more chips, and the prize pools are always huge. Over $2 million for first place seems like a good time to win my first major event. I was feeling really great about this tournament, I knew good things were going to happen here. It was my time.
I lasted four hours.
I managed to create the perfect storm of bad play and bad luck, and made it back to LA in time for the 11 o’clock news.
Here are some things that happened:
I flop middle set, and have top pair call me all the way down to make runner runner straight and I paid him off.
I move in with Queens when I’m short and get called by three people, and I’m eventually busted by the dude with pocket 3’s when he flops a set.
I can go on, but seriously. Here’s the formula:
I did something right, then I got a little unlucky, then I did something wrong. Lather, rinse, and repeat.
It’s 2008 now, and there is no time like the present. Here are my New Year’s resolutions that I gave to All-In Magazine…
1) Stop getting Kings shoved up my ass.
2) Breed and train a monkey to play poker in my place so railbirds will stop asking me for money.
3) Start using terms like 'nh' and 'gg' in real life. ROFL.
4) Find the horseshoe that fell out of Roland DeWolf's ass and stick it up my own.
5) Stop busting myself (especially with less than an hour to go before the end of the day).
6) Find out who at Activision is in charge of the CGI Kristy Gazes and put him in a sleeper hold.
7) Be the first woman to win an open WPT event.
8) Get my ex-husband Bill to change his name.
Alright. I’ve got to run. My plane to Australia leaves in a few days, and I’m trying to learn my lesson about LA traffic.
This was my first tournament since coming back from the islands. I had rather disappointing showings in both Turks and Aruba, so I was looking forward to playing again after taking a bit of a break.
This was a $2500 buy-in, which as we know isn’t a ton of money in the world of poker, but it was high time I got back to my auto-cashing ways.
It’s weird though. I hadn’t played a tournament in the states in a few months, and of all the places in the world, I had to pick The Commerce. Yes, it’s in Los Angeles, but I think there is more English being spoken at the casinos in Europe than there is at The Commerce.
I’m used to this though, as I’ve been playing in LA my whole life, but one thing has changed: people know who I am now. I have to say that I hate it. It’s really turned me off to live poker as of late. Sure, having fans is really great (yes, please keep reading my blog) but for some reason people think that because they’ve seen you on tv that they know you. Here is a list of things, even if they’ve seen me on TV, strangers are still not allowed to do:
• Ask me to borrow money
• Ask for my phone number
• Try to borrow cash
• Tell me I look fat on TV
• See if I’ll put you in a game
• Request a pair of my underwear
• Hit me up for a loan
Anyways.
I hovered around 20k for most of day one of this tournament. Eventually the blinds and antes got pretty high, and I doubled up the shortstack at my table. There’s this guy at another table playing like a complete maniac, and he’s totally crushing peoples’ souls. The guy can’t miss. I’m busy watching this guy’s antics and folding more cheese than a burrito chef. Before you know it – blam! I’m headed to day two. The only problem is…I’m dead last in chips.
Did I mention that I’ve live in LA my whole life? You would think because of this that I’d eventually learn two things: 1) Everything comes with cilantro. 2) Leaving my house two hours early isn’t enough time to travel the 22 miles to The Commerce.
There was some sort of nonsense happening on the 5 Freeway that day. Dead stopped traffic. In LA this could mean anything from a 55-car pileup to a bunch of interesting looking garbage on the shoulder. Regardless, I was the shortstack, and I would easily have blinded off within two rounds. Whether or not there was a breakdown on the freeway, there was certainly about to be one inside my car.
For once in my life it was lucky that I don’t know how to get anywhere in LA, and I was saved by my GPS. I got there and had only missed one hand. It was my big blind, unfortunately. But, believe it or not, I didn’t play a single hand until the next time the blinds came around. It was the lowest I had ever been in a tournament, but luckily I doubled up and managed to hang on until the money.
I stole here and there, and doubled up once or twice more as I got short, but I never really got my stack up very much. The crazy-ass from the day before was now at my table, and he was up to his old tricks. Luckily I was able to stay out of his way most of the day (he had aces 5 times). I did have one interesting hand, where I flopped a full house with 7-2 in the big blind, and quadrupled up, but I was so low, I still didn’t have anything to write home about.
I ended up finishing in 12th place, which was pretty ok by me. No, it’s not a win. But it was good to cash again. I have to give myself a little bit of credit, because I really didn’t get any cards this tournament. There weren’t any aces left after Mr. Maniac, I guess. By the way, Mr. Maniac’s real name is Maze Orillo, and he went on to win the tournament.
Other than cashing, the best part of this tournament was getting to play with my old friend, Roberto Durant on day two. I was in a pretty grumbly mood around all the negative energy of The Commerce. The people there are so angry. You’d think they’re playing for fingers and toes or something. Robert is a stellar player though, and a cash game specialist. Playing with him made things fun for me again, which is why it was so easy not to just ship it in with the first couple of hands I saw. Typically I’m pretty decent at working the short stack, but with someone like Robert at the table, it makes me want to stick around all that much more.
WPT Boot Camp - Bahamas
Next up…Bahamas!! Whoo!! Give it up for The Bahamas!! Right!? Who’s with me!? No? Me neither. I know. I’m a brat. I have to say that I like any country that has a “The” in front of it. Come on! How much better would things be if there were such places at “The Germany,” “The Japan,” and “The Iraq.” Anyways, I wasn’t too excited to go to The Bahamas. But, it was pretty much an offer I couldn’t refuse.
The guys who run the WPT Boot Camp invited me to come teach at their marquee event that goes on down there every year. Free trip. Free room. Free roll. The best part is: the winner of the free roll wins another free roll. Several, actually. That’s right. The winner of this freeroll wins their buy-ins for the ENTIRE NEXT WPT SEASON. If this is a camp, that makes this tournament the end-of-summer talent show, and that makes first prize for singing Bel Biv DeVoe’s “Poison” over a hundred thousand dollars - and the chance to win oh so much more.
The week started off with us pros having to address the entire camp. There were 20 of us. Here’s the premise “You’re backing someone in their first $10k event, and you only have five minutes to give them advice. Go.” I would have to say that this is a bit of nonsense. I’m not handing ten dimes over to someone who’s never played before (see my rules above). But, I went ahead and said what I thought “Play your game. Don’t be nervous. Don’t be afraid to gamble.” I imagine that some of these “campers” heads were spinning even before the end of day one, as some of the other advice they received was “Change your game. Play tight. Don’t be afraid to fold Kings prelfop.” I’m serious. Someone said that.
The rest of the week was fun enough. Most of the campers are just happy to be there. All you really do is deal out sit and go’s and tell them what to do. I feel a little guilty though, because poker is the most situational game ever. Nothing is right all the time. Nothing is wrong all the time. Unfortunately, for novices, people tend to teach in unconditional rules. It’s a little unfair, but I guess it’s the only way to start for people who are brand new to the game.
The free roll was pretty forgettable. Not a single pro made it to the final table. Some lucky camper is going to be putting his boot camp skills to work next year!
I didn’t play much while I was there, except for when Clonie had to go to the bathroom, I played her chips for her. Unfortunately for Kenna James she got dealt Aces, and while I would have liked to try to play them slow to get all of his money, I couldn’t do that with Clonie’s chips. Something about it seemed unethical. Unfortunately for Kenna, he couldn’t resist shipping them all in anyway. It was a nice feeling to have Clonie come back and have added a few bucks to her stack.
Doyle Brunson Five Diamond
I still don’t think I’ve recovered from this tournament yet. I look forward to this tournament all year. It’s a $15k event, as opposed to the usual $10k, so this means that you get more chips, and the prize pools are always huge. Over $2 million for first place seems like a good time to win my first major event. I was feeling really great about this tournament, I knew good things were going to happen here. It was my time.
I lasted four hours.
I managed to create the perfect storm of bad play and bad luck, and made it back to LA in time for the 11 o’clock news.
Here are some things that happened:
I flop middle set, and have top pair call me all the way down to make runner runner straight and I paid him off.
I move in with Queens when I’m short and get called by three people, and I’m eventually busted by the dude with pocket 3’s when he flops a set.
I can go on, but seriously. Here’s the formula:
I did something right, then I got a little unlucky, then I did something wrong. Lather, rinse, and repeat.
It’s 2008 now, and there is no time like the present. Here are my New Year’s resolutions that I gave to All-In Magazine…
1) Stop getting Kings shoved up my ass.
2) Breed and train a monkey to play poker in my place so railbirds will stop asking me for money.
3) Start using terms like 'nh' and 'gg' in real life. ROFL.
4) Find the horseshoe that fell out of Roland DeWolf's ass and stick it up my own.
5) Stop busting myself (especially with less than an hour to go before the end of the day).
6) Find out who at Activision is in charge of the CGI Kristy Gazes and put him in a sleeper hold.
7) Be the first woman to win an open WPT event.
8) Get my ex-husband Bill to change his name.
Alright. I’ve got to run. My plane to Australia leaves in a few days, and I’m trying to learn my lesson about LA traffic.
posted by Kristy Gazes at 4:56 PM
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