Poker Mom

Poker blogging isn’t just left to us amateurs; many of the top name poker players have their own blogs.  While some are rather bland and boring, several are juicy and some even over-the-top.  Take a tour of a few of the net’s best pro poker blogs.Daniel Negreanu’s Blog

Naturally I’ll start with my favorite poker player.  Daniel Negreanu, the 30-something known as Kid Poker, has a syndicated blog that appears on several different sites.  The easiest way for me to keep up with the blog is through the Official Daniel Negreanu MySpace page.  His latest blog entry talks about his drinking escapades “So anyway, I dun been drinkin’. Four straight nights I had me some dranks but I’m all set now and ready to play.”  What I like about Negreanu’s blog is that you’re pretty sure Negreanu, himself, is doing the updates.  Just reading the quoted text sounds exactly like something he’d say.

Doyle Brunson’s Blog

The granddaddy of poker players, Doyle Brunson, maintains his own blog as well.  Most of his blog entries feature a “Doylism of the Day.”  Today’s Doylism is “Failure is caused more by lack of determination than lack of talent.”  Damned insightful if you ask me.  Here’s a quote from today’s entry “The worst day of the year is usually when you get knocked out of the Main Event.  This year for me it was a relief to get it over with.” 

Poker Brat Blog

Poker fans around the world know who I’m talking about – Phil Hellmuth, Jr – aka The Poker Brat.  Knowing the importance of a blog, Hellmuth has added one to his site.  His last entry was 7/6 and it detailed his General Patton-style entrance to the 2008 WSOP.  “There will be thousands of people there watching this spectacle while ESPN and the poker press record every second of it.  I LOVE it!!!  Meanwhile I am hoping one thing: that I make it to the end of day one.”

Do you have a favorite poker pro blog you’d like to share?  I know there are a bazillion out there but these three captivate me.  Post a comment and let me know who your favorite poker pro blogger is. 

-PokerMom

I was watching an online no-limit tourney the other day and watched a hand go down that reminded me why I try not to play rag hands.  I’m not perfect and sometimes I get bored and play ‘em but the majority of the time, the better hand before the flop will hold up.

So the limits are high, down to around 300 out of 2300 players.  Small blind has J4 off suit.  Before the action gets around to the small blind there is a raise, a re-raise and a call.  The small blind calls and the big blind folds.  The flop comes and sure enough there is a J and a 4 so the small blind (she is an acquaintance of mine) has two pair and bets and then two people call.

On the turn, the small blind bets, the pot is raised and called so the small blind goes all-in (only about 10% of her chips left).  Both other pots call.  I don’t remember what one person had but the other player had AJ.  The small blind is looking at a huge pot on the short stack of a big tourney.  Guess what comes on the river? 

Yes, you’ve got it – the small blind got Barry Greenstein’d – Ace on the River.

PokerStars has been running their 2008 WSOP promotion with freerolls nightly.  The first round is capped at 5,000 entrants and the top 50 places receive a ‘ticket’ to the weekly tournament.  I’ve been playing in them and have done moderately well, tonight was my best performance – I went out in 103rd place out of the 3,114 that were registered.

I mixed up my play a bit and wasn’t afraid to be when I wasn’t 100% sure I had the best hand (middle pair, good kicker, etc).  That strategy paid off several times.  As it got down to about 300 players left – the larger stacks got more aggressive and the smaller stacks tightened their play.  I was smack dab in the middle – floating just above the average stack.  I had to kind of roll with the punches and did pretty well all though my cards were just miserable.

Last hand, because there is always a last hand, I was dealt A9 of spades.  Due to all of the all-ins that had been happening I didn’t raise.  The person to my left called along with the small blind and the big blind checked.  The flop came Ad, 5d, 10h.  I bet double the big blind, the player to my left min-raised and the two blinds folded.  Due to the min raise, I decided to go all in (as calling would have left me with only ¼ of my original stack) and the player to my left called.  I figured I was up against a diamond flush draw or perhaps an A5 which left me with outs.  Oh no, I was up against A10…yeah, now the odds were really stacked against me.  I didn’t suck out and was out of the tourney.

I’ve mentioned previously that I am focusing solely on tourney play.  The Arizona State Ladies Poker Championship is scheduled for 9/13 and I want to be playing my best tournament game by the time September rolls around.  I don’t have the luxury of heading over to the casino on a whim (I am a PokerMOM, remember? Hehe) so online tourneys is where I’ll be.

I’m taking a break from the WSOP updates today to post a bit about my latest online tournament play.  I played a few multi-table tournaments yesterday and did quite well.  The first was a 45 player turbo sit and go, I placed ninth (top seven places paid).  The second was a 360 player turbo sit and go, top 36 places played.  I went out in eighth place.  Not too bad.

The first sit and go I had crap for cards and just had to play what the deck gave me.  I ended up playing more middle suited connectors than anything else.  If I got a face card, it was paired with an off suit rag.  So my dad consisted of 7/8C, 9/10H, etc.  I managed to work well with it, although I didn’t quite make the money.

The second tournament I got great hole cards.  I had pocket Jacks five times, pocket Aces twice, pocket Queens twice and several other pocket pairs.  I also saw lots of AK suited and no AQ of anything.  I hate AQ, hate it.  In my final hand I was on the second short stack sitting on $30k in chips with the blinds at $3k/$6k.  I was under the gun and was dealt pocket fours.  No brainer, all-in. 

The button raised all in and the blinds folded.  I felt good that the button did the raising hoping for two overs.  Nope, he had an over pair.  My race situation quickly turned into a big dog on my end.  The best hand pre-flop held up and I was out in eighth place making 9x my entry fee.

While Las Vegas is the gambling Mecca of the United States, there are poker rooms outside of Nevada that are worth mentioning.  One such poker room is located at Casino Arizona in Scottsdale, Arizona.  Featuring over 60 tables, the Casino Arizona poker room features Texas Hold’em, Stud, Omaha and other popular poker games. 

Casino Arizona holds regular tournaments as well as several other promotions for the cash games.  The bad beat jackpot at Casino Arizona is near and dear to my heart.  The last time I was there I ended up with four aces and the gentleman two seats over had aces full of tens.  That was a quick $1900 on my part plus $300 or so for my mom who was at the same $3/$6 table.

My mom and I often play poker together.  Last year we were playing in the wee hours of the morning when the bad beat jackpot had a $25,000 bonus.  My mom ended up with four aces and I had aces full of queens.  The whole table celebrated thinking that we’d hit the jackpot (which was sitting at $40,000) until the dealer calmly informed us that the three in my mom’s hand had to play in order to win.  Well unless there is a deuce on the board, a three won’t play.  The table thought it would have been great to see a mother/daughter win the bad beat jackpot but alas, we did not. 

If you’re ever visiting Arizona, the Casino Arizona poker room is the largest in the state and comes highly recommended from this PokerMom.

Welcome to the new Poker Mom blog hosted here at Today.com.  This blog will mostly focus on the latest in poker news and gossip but from time to time I plan on sharing some of my personal poker stories.  I love hearing about other’s poker stories and I hope you enjoy hearing mine.  Of course you’ll hear plenty of bad beat stories (what poker player doesn’t have many of those?) but I thought I’d start off my blog on a happy note.

On a recent trip to Las Vegas, I played a few hours at the poker room at the Wynn Hotel Las Vegas.  This was a weekend getaway for my husband and I and since he doesn’t play poker, I only had a few hours in the poker room.  I sat down at the first open table which happened to be a $4/$8 limit Hold ‘Em table.  The number one spot was open which is my least favorite spot at the table; a few hands in the number five seat left so I moved over.  I was in the big blind and was dealt pocket nines.  The pot was raised and re-raised prior to getting to the big blind so I decided to just call hoping to flop a set.

Sure enough, the card in the window was a nine.  I bet and the gentleman to my left called.  The other two in the pot folded.  The other two cards on the flop were a Queen and a Jack.  Time for the turn, out comes the case nine.  I know have quad nines.  My heart fluttered a bit while I considered my action.  I decided to check knowing that the gentleman behind me had been playing aggressive.  Sure enough, he bet out.  I pondered for a minute and then decided to call.

I was hoping that the straight card would come on the river and sure enough it did, out comes a ten.  I bet and as I had expected, my partner in the pot raised.  I nearly beat him into the pot when I declared that I was re-raising.  At this point he looked at me and asked “Are you raising me?” to which I gave him a wry smile.  I usually don’t react but he seemed absolutely taken aback by the fact that I re-raised him.  He stated that he called and I quickly turned over my pocket nines and separated them so that all could see.

At this point, the entire table roared with “ohhhs” and “ahhhs” and my aggressive friend flips over an A-8.  He told me he was worried that I had the K but did not put me on a full house, much less quads.  The dealer laughed and the lady in the number two seat commented on my luck to move spots and wind up with quads.

Hands like those are fun and definitely stick in my mind.  Do you have a similar story to share?  If so I’d love to hear it, post a comment below with details on one of your favorite “I’ve got the nuts!” hands.