I made it to the Borgata last Sunday to play the ladies event. It only got 80 runners (79 women and 1 man), which was a super low turnout. I guess between summer and WSOP there's an impact on the numbers in the Borgata series. I flatted KK early to a girl who'd been opening a few hands (in hindsight I don't like my flat and I shoulda raised being so deep) and flop came AAx. I called a small 1/2 pot bet on the flop and the same bet on the turn and then hit a beautiful K on the river. She check called and I chipped up a bit early. I lost a few pots, then raised JTdd in ep. The flop came Q87 with one diamond, I cbet and got called by a woman who defended her bb. Turn was a 9d. um, GIN! I bet again and she took her time before calling. River was a third diamond and I now had a J high flush. She donked out most of her stack, I put her all in, and she snapped showing 87dd. Sweet turn for me! :)

A few hands later I called a three bet with 88 and three better overshoved 2.5x pot on an 843 flop. I held v. her AA. She was not happy. Then a few hands after that I got three bet again and decided to shove AQo. She had about 30 bbs and AA. :( I played with her a lot throughout the day, and it was a horrible shove by me in hindsight, but I had been running over the table ever since gaining a mountain of chips, so I figured she was playing back at me. This actually happened very rarely throughout the tournament. Our table broke and I moved my stack to table 2 where I would sit for the rest of the afternoon until the final table.

Most of the women were fairly bad, and it was just a matter of figuring out who was passive, who over valued trash hands (I'm looking at you, ginger) and who was trying to fold to the final table. I sucked out like a champion a few times. I raised my fourth hand at the table, I think it was A8, just to test the waters, and a woman behind me shoved for about 20 bbs. I didn't think there was any chance I was ahead, so I folded. A few hands later a woman raised with about 17 bbs behind and I looked down at 88 in lp. I honestly hated all my options. Folding seemed really weak, calling was out of the question, so I did what I do best and shoved. She didn't take too long before calling with TT, but an 8 hit on the turn and it's been awhile since I saw someone that angry about getting sucked out on. A few hands later a weird player (as in, she took some very weird lines) limped, I 4xed QQ and got shoved for about 25bbs by the sb. I snapped and was up against KK (wtf!?) but obv rivered a Q. Running good is so fun.

I played a couple hands against an Asian woman who by far seemed like the best player at the table, but she got pretty unlucky v. me. I flopped trips on her once, then called her raise a few hands later w/ A6hh and we saw a flop three ways. She overshoved 2x pot on a 643hh board, and I called and beat her KQhh. The ginger was the other person in the pot and was so mad that I reshoved and pushed out her oesd, which would have won. I won a hand w/ KK > QQ and mostly slowed down as I was pretty card dead for a stretch. Saw one funny pot where weird girl raised, girl who beat my AQ earlier with AA (who it turns out is an actress on One Life to Live, the soap opera) called, and then a third woman shoved in her stack of ~ 15 bbs. Weird girl called, as did OLTL girl. They checked a T52 one club flop. A 5c came on the turn (check check), and 2c landed on the river. Now the first girl overshoves the pot for the rest of her stack. Only, there's no side pot, so I guess it's her version of a blocker bet? OLTL girl begrudgingly folds her 99, weird girl proudly flips over AJ, and the original shover scoops with A4cc.

Saw another good one where older woman who has a monster stack opens for 5x. She's been opening anywhere from 2.5x to 8x and my favorite hand was one where I raised her bb (maybe QT?) and she asks how much it is, then says "NO, make it XX" and 4x raises me. I obv folded and she was kind enough to show AA. Anyway, she is screaming strength, but this ginger chick who went runner runner with her K8dd earlier to crack a much better hand aip decides to ship in her 30 bb stack with QJ. Older woman basically snap calls w/ AQ and holds.

I did have one other ~ suckout when I raised QJo from co, and older woman in either sb or bb flats me with a stack she should never be flatting. I cbet a 98x flop (i has a gutter!) and when she shoves I can't fold. She shows AK and I binked a Q on the turn. Don't remember much else from table 2, but eventually we're down to 10 and we redraw for final table. Now the fun starts.

After some experiences deep in tournaments over the past few months, I came to the conclusion that I don't like paying the bubble boy/girl. In Chester we had one guy steadfastly refuse, saving me the trouble of being the bad guy. However, here at the ladies event at the Borgata, I became public enemy #1 for saying that I had a policy against paying the bubble. I had a huge stack and frankly it was in my best interest for the bubble to last as long as possible (which it certainly did, I think we went three levels at 10-handed). Anyway, one woman in particular at the table took it personally, and decided to bitch out at me for everything I did, including calling the floor over at one point because I was texting but put my phone down the second I realized cards were being dealt. No way she is that bitchy if I pay the bubble girl, but unfortunately the rest of the women all chipped in, so instead of bubble getting $0 (as I'd prefer it), she got $180. This woman directed ire at me several times throughout the final table, and ended a sentence or two referencing my refusal to participate in paying the bubble girl. To be honest, even though I certainly didn't care that much about the $20 and even thought about caving at the end once everyone else paid up, there was something a little fun about having everyone completely hate on me for a totally rational stance.

I don't remember many hands at the final table, because my memories are really overshadowed by the two hands that ended the tournament for me. I was playing some of the best poker I've played in my life, and pretty much running over the table. I had a girl behind me who really liked to flat everything, but for the most part was taking more chips off her than she took off me. I made a sick river call with bottom pair and won a nice pot v. her Q high, and all my bluffs and good hands were timed really well, and just really working. Then at four handed the calling station open ships 25 bbs from utg. I snapped with JJ in the bb, and would have taken a HUGE chip lead (she would have been out, and the other two players had 10 and 6 bbs) but an A hit the flop and I took a big hit. I was left with about 18 bbs and on the next hand it folded to me in the sb and I looked at A9. I thought about raising but with her calling so much and my precarious stack size, I decided shoving was best. She SNAP called me w/ QJ, flop came 98x, turn Q and game over for me. I went from CL to out in 2 hands, and it sucked.

To make matters worse our car died on the way home and we had to call AAA and wait for a tow at 1am. We finally got home close to 3am and the whole time all I could think was, why did that damn A have to hit!?

I was going to bitch in this blog post about how ridiculous applying for a mortgage is, but this seems long enough. The original title included "and buying a house" but my husband pointed out that one sentence does not make this blog post anything related to buying a house. Finger crossed, we close on Friday!!!!

Instead I'll end with a HUGE congrats to ChipsAhoya aka Eric Rodawig for shipping the 10k stud 8/b WSOP event last night for ~ 440k.