Borgata Open 07. Or, How Could I Play So Good...and So Bad?

First, the good part. That's me at one of the last four tables (out of 23 to start) at the Borgata Open's Last Chance Cash Tournament. I played well and didn't embarrass myself at all, busting out 34th with 27 spots paying (1st was $16,000).

So here's my question, and I WELCOME YOUR INPUT!! Do you ever find that, even though you know better, you do the dumbest things for which there is no good reason? This seems to be true mainly when playing poker....why do we do it??

Here are a few examples:

1) Cash game at the Tropicana (where I have never been able to win despite my winning record in Vegas and California, supposedly tougher places to play). It's a $2-$5 NL game and I'm holding AQ. I raise pre-flop to $15 and get 4 callers. The flop is QJx, and I make it $60 and get two callers (one loose, the other a very good player...I'm worried about him). The turn is a blank . I bet $100 and they both call . The river is an A (I have two pair, but now there's a straight on the board). I'd like to say I was thinking...they don't have K10 (by the way, they BOTH did). I called another $138 all in to see the straight.

What could I have done differently. Did I play it poorly, or did I just get unlucky? I think both players had the right odds to gamble (they had 11 outs since the K would also beat me and they knew that). I lost $400 on that hand. This hand was played when I came back from my lunch break and 1) the table had changed; 2) I was tired and 3) I had a friend with me. I shouldn't have played...that's the bottom line.

2) Multi-table tournament, 170 players, I have some chips. I flop two pair, K10, and slow play it with two to the flush on the flop and allow someone to catch the flush when 4 clubs appear.

3) I sit down in a very loose cash game with all hard to read bluffy guys and I have only an hour and play very weak and scared looking. That's just not long enough to get a read on a table and you can't play with confidence until you do.

Here are some questions for you:

-Do you think you can regain the table's respect after making a complete fool of yourself. The only thing I can think of is to try to use that to your advantage later.

-Do you ever make a play totally against what you know to be the right play? Why do you think we do that?

All in all, except for the one hand in the cash game, it was a good trip. My room in the NORTH TOWER at the Tropicana was excellent and I highly recommend that as a place to stay. The Hilton has a tournament with a great structure. And the scene at the Borgata was major and fun .

Poker on the Princess

For the second time, I took a Princess cruise out of Palm Beach (Riviera Beach more precisely). The "cruise" is just 5 hours , just long enough to get out far enough for real gambling. The first one I took was on a Saturday evening; this one was SunDAY. Both are pretty nice. They start with a great buffet. On Sunday, it was a brunch....and was terrific with everything from eggs to roast beef, and if you like pastries....you'll be very happy.

The poker room is off by itself and away from some very hectic casino action. This time they only had two tables, one stud and one $3/$5 no limit. Cards are in the air around 11 and the game ends at 3 and the table doesn't change much....the players you start with are pretty much the players you end up with.

My table was crazy! Everyone was in every pot and it was pretty hard to get rid of anyone, even if they had nothing. I thought they were some of the worst players I've seen. All in all, a good game if you had a monster hand, but hard to see many flops cheaply. I'm not used to playing 9 handed so it was interesting to adjust my game. Thre were many pots where I was the only person not playing, but when the odds were good, I came in too. A deuce/four turned out to be one of my biggst pots when I flopped two pair. Then a guy with an ace/four chased me all the way until my ace/J beat him.

I wish we had longer. People were willing to loose a lot of money, but they also got lucky and it takes time to come back from the hands where someone sucks out. At the end of the session, I was down about $120 which wasn't bad. There were guys (I was the only female) who lost well over $1,000...I'm only sorry it wasn't to me!

When the poker room shuts down, there's a nice deck to sit on and listen to old Credence and Eagles music while watching the ship come in. Basically, a very nice day. If you're in the area, I recommend it, not necessarily for the poker, but for the total experience.