Beyond Fairy Tale: The 2011 PCA Ladies Event, Part 2

"So, what do we call you?"

Here it was, the only thing I'd been dreading. Make no mistake, there was absolutely no downside to making Day 2, but I knew that if I made the final table I'd have to pull back the curtain on my identity, use my real name and allow myself to be photographed. For 5 1/2 years I had successfully confused the public, my readers, and many inside the poker industry itself with my relentless pursuit of anonymity. I wrote under at least three pen names. And in the age of Twitpics, YouTube and Facebook, I kept my picture off the internet. Initially, I chose that path because I was a Hollywood development executive writing a poker blog. When that part of my life ended and I started traveling internationally for poker, I decided it was just as well to keep it up, even if only for safety's sake. Were there other more deep-seated emotional reasons as well? Probably, but I'll save that for my shrink.

Mad Harper, one of PokerStars' media directors, was standing in front of me with a notepad. I've worked different events and drank in hotel bars with Mad in half a dozen countries and she knows the lengths I've gone to stay under the radar. I bit the bullet and told her that once I made the money, it was OK to let the cat out of the bag.

Once I made the money. Not if I made the money. In that moment, I was floored by my own confidence. Having the chip lead certainly helped.

My plan for the first couple of levels back was basically to not do anything stupid. After the overnight redraw I had position on a couple of short stacks and took advantage of it, stealing some blinds and making a couple of successful preflop three-bets. I had chipped up to nearly 150,000 and was in the big blind when the action folded around to Veronica Dabul on the button. With the blinds at 1,000/2,000, she had about 35,000 behind and opened for 5,000. I looked down at Ad-Qd and made it 15,000, half her remaining stack. Veronica tanked for about a minute before shoving and I quickly called to see her Kd-8d. An eight hit the flop, and Veronica doubled up, but she busted out a short time later in 11th place.

I made the nine-handed final table with somewhere in the neighborhood of 130-135k. I knew I had lost the chiplead, which was now held by Ricki Lake with more than 200,000. Blinds were at 1,200/2,400 and the woman directly to my left had less than ten big blinds. We were right on the money bubble, ninth place leaving with nothing while eighth would take home just over $3,700. Less than an orbit in, a huge hand unfolded between Lauren Kling, who also had about 130,000 and Ricki. Lauren opened from under-the-gun and the action folded around to Ricki, who called on the button. The flop was 9-6-3 with two spades. Lauren led out, Ricki raised, Lauren four-bet, and Ricki moved all-in, having Lauren covered. Lauren looked positively tortured, but she said "I have to call," pushing her large-denomination chips across the line.

Lauren tabled 6-9 for top two pair while Ricki sheepishly turned over 8c-8d. Although Ricki picked up a straight draw on the turn, Lauren's hand held and she rocketed into the chip lead with more than 360,000. Ricki was left with about 70k.

After the dust settled from that hand, a discussion broke out about doing a save for the bubble girl, each of the eight players in the money contributing $100. We hadn't voted yet when Little Kristen opened for 4,800 from early position and I looked down at pocket aces. I three-bet to 13,500, and it folded around to High Heels Poker Tour founder Lauren Failla in the big blind. She moved all-in, Little Kristen moved all-in behind her, and I called, having them both covered.

Me: As-Ah

Little Kristen: Ks-Kc

Lauren F.: Jh-Jd

I'm only a 2-1 favorite in this situation, but my hand held up, the board running out all small cards. Lauren F. had Little Kristen covered so she ended up with 8th place money, while the tough, tiny Canadian bubbled. She was so gracious in her exit and we almost immediately voted to do the save anyway. Not all of us had cash on us, so Vicky Coren put up the bucks and we'd all pay her back. Watch that ever happen in an open event.

"Hey Pauly, you got a hundo?" I shouted.

"Not anymore. I've just been to the sportsbook."

True story there. My beloved was sweating the Steelers-Ravens game on the big screen at the back of the tournament room as much as he was sweating me.

I could not get my hands to stop shaking. I was dropping my chips everywhere and knocking over stacks of them. It took me almost an entire orbit to get everything cleaned up and counted. Lauren Kling and I were roughly even at 350k apiece while the rest of the field had stacks ranging from 20k-90k. It was the first time I allowed myself to see at least five figures at the end of the tunnel for me.

We went down from seven to four rather quickly. Short-stacked Kathy Jamison went out in seventh after fearing for her tournament life on the bubble with nine big blinds. Ricki Lake took out Deb Qualley in sixth in a very strange hand where Ricki moved all-in on a 9-high flop holding K-J and Deb called with Q-T. Ricki departed in fifth place a short time later leaving an all-blonde final four-- myself, Lauren Kling, Vicky Coren, and Viktoria Lucenkova.

Blonde power

Four-handed play went on for quite a while. Lauren and I had about 75% of the chips in play between us while the two Victorias were both under 20 big blinds. Lauren ended up taking out Russian Vicky while I eliminated British Vicky with pocket nines against As-5s.

I had Lauren slightly outchipped going in to heads-up play. We took a quick break before getting started. I was already guaranteed more than $18,000 and as I looked in the ladies' room mirror, I told myself that whatever happened, I was already ecstatic about my result. Lauren is one of the most successful (and marketable) up-and-coming female pros on the circuit. She's shipped tourneys for six figures and has already made nearly $1 million in combined live and online earnings. It wouldn't be a tragedy to lose to Lauren, and I imagined that the title meant more to her than the cash.

Almost everything about heads-up play was a blur. Someone told me later that a pack of guys behind me were continually screaming at each other about prop bets regarding water slide races. (Pauly and Jen Shahade eventually determined that if you're going to bet, bet on the right-hand slide). I was so far in the zone that I didn't hear them at all. I was able to pull out to a significant chip lead after one monster hand where I value-towned a set and Lauren folded the river. My strategy at that point was just to chip away at her stack and avoid doubling her back up to something more workable. I could tell she was frustrated and card-dead and I was raising just about 100% of my buttons. Once Lauren was down to about 20 big blinds, she started re-shoving over those button raises, but the poker gods were shining on me and we didn't go through too much of that before I picked up Qs-Qd. With the blinds at 3,000/6,000 I raised on the button to my standard 13,000 and Lauren moved all-in. I snap-called and she tabled pocket eights. Everyone sweating swarmed to the edge of the rail and craned their necks as the board came out. I couldn't tell you what it was, all I know is that there was no eight and no straight cards. My hands flew to my face just as they did when I shipped the satellite win and I struggled not to burst into tears right then and there.

I immediately rounded the table and shook Lauren's hand, telling her how much I genuinely respect her game. It was when I finally found Pauly on the rail and melted into his arms as he whispered in my ear how proud he was of me that I finally lost it and let the tears flow. I looked around and saw the faces of so many friends. Otis. Jess Welman. Jen Shahade and her boyfriend Daniel. Many of the gang from the PokerStars Blog and some of my former colleagues from PokerNews. And Gloria Balding in an adorable red dress holding a microphone. Holy shit. I had to give an interview and take a winners photo! I did my best to stop my eye makeup from rolling down my face, thanked myself for packing a lip gloss in my purse, and posed with my pocket queens for my first-ever authorized photo on the internet.

Showcase told me he'd never seen me so happy as I was in my interview with Gloria. And in the short-term, he's probably right. Poker, both the game itself and the industry surrounding it, had beat me down over the last couple of years. The further I progressed as a writer and member of the media, the more income I lost over cutbacks, layoffs, and frankly, stupid petty bullshit. And the more income I lost, the less I could actually play poker, for fear of losing next month's rent or credit card payments.

It was only when I was shoved off the cliff and hanging for dear life by a fingernail that I found the internal fortitude to finally say "fuck you, I'm not going to let anyone make me feel this way anymore." I sat up and started coming back to life. It really is true that once you turn your head around, your poker game will turn around right along with it. I can already feel that this win is a huge springboard for me into a new era. I'm not only back from the brink of financial ruin, I'm infused with the confidence I probably always should have had.

There's no more living behind a nickname anymore. You know who I am. Now it's time to make good on my promises.

Oh and Bank of America? Fuck off.

*****

This story actually has a pretty hilarious epilogue. You see that trophy sitting next to me? Big-ass trophy, right? Well, a trio of online guys cooked up a prop bet that involved stealing it from the tournament room late on Day 1. They took it to the PokerStars party and then back to their room where they posed for pictures with it and posted them on 2+2. I'll just cut to the best part:

At around 4AM, after we got back from Aura and were hanging out in my room, security knocked on the door and simply said "I am here to collect the trophy you have in dis room."

So the head of Atlantis Security, Simien something, takes the trophy and is about to leave without saying another word, when he turns around and says "Why you take da ting that is not yars? This is a womun's trophy, are you a womun?" He goes on to lecture us for 2-3 minutes about why what we did was inappropriate, writes down my name on a notepad and leaves.

For the record, I thought it was kind of comedy gold. Juvenile of course, but undeniably funny. I'm just glad it was recovered. It's now on a truck somewhere in the greater Miami area, bound for the Bicycle Casino if you guys want to try and hijack it again. There was no way TSA wasn't going to classify that thing as a weapon.

Four blondes photo by Matt Waldron. Winners photo courtesy of PokerStarsBlog.com.

Beyond Fairy Tale: The 2011 PCA Ladies Event, Part 1

"This is beyond fairy tale... it's inconceivable!" - Norman Chad

This whole journey started with a strange feeling. I don't get them often, but if I've learned anything from history, it's that when I do, I need to listen to my better angels. I'm not religious, psychic, or otherwise gifted with ESP. I'm a bankroll nit and after getting sacked from my full-time writing job in October, I'm among the 20-or-so percent of Americans that are currently underemployed. Less than a week ago, I was wondering how I would make it three more months without finding a new source of income. To put it lightly, I probably had no business even playing satellites for the $1,100 buy-in Ladies Event at the 2011 PokerStars Carribbean Adventure. But sometimes I do find myself believing in destiny.

Off an $81 satellite investment, I found myself touching down at Nassau airport last Wednesday evening, my hand clutching Pauly's as our too-small-for-my-tastes aircraft shuddered to a stop. 36 hours later, I was sitting behind my 10,000-chip starting stack in a 96-player field that included pros Kathy Liebert, Vicky Coren, Veronica Dabul, Maria "maridu" Mayrinck, Lauren Kling, Olympic gold medalist Fatima Moreira De Melo, actress and talk show host Ricki Lake, and author/chess champion Jennifer Shahade, whom I'd finally met the night before after being a fan of her writing for some time. I was also so pleasantly surprised when I ran into Pauly's little step-sister Mo, aka @DiscoSisII. I had no idea she was going to be at the PCA, let alone play in this event and I was thrilled to finally meet her face-to-face.

At my starting table were two other women I'd never met but had wanted to for some time-- Maryann Morrison, the editor of Woman Poker Player, and Alexis Gilbard, who worked behind the camera on the first season of the PokerStars.net Big Game and now freelances for Fox Sports. Alexis is a fellow Angeleno, and as it turns out, we live ridiculously close to one another. She is also an aggressive, thinking player and sat two to my right for nearly all of Day 1. I had to make a big laydown to her on the turn in an early hand where my A-T flopped top pair on a pretty wet board. Between that hand, and a two pair over two pair hand I lost to Maryann, I was down to 50% of my starting stack by the end of the first two levels. It wasn't ideal, but I didn't let myself worry about it too much because the structure was excellent and I still had over 50 big blinds.

I got back to a little better than my starting stack after doubling through Alexis. She had been playing very aggressively, opening more than a third of her hands and since I'd made that earlier laydown, I was actually trying to stay out of her way. With about 24,000 behind, she opened from middle position, I three-bet with two black kings in the cutoff, and she made the call. The flop was J-9-baby, all spades, giving me an overpair and the second-nut flush draw. She checked, I c-bet about 60% pot and she moved all-in, having me well-covered as I started the hand with a little less than 6,000. I called pretty quickly and she showed As-9h for middle pair and the nut flush draw, putting us in a 51/49 flip going into the turn. I dodged her 13 outs twice and was back up to a far more comfortable 11,500.

Just as I was getting ready to relax a little, Lauren Kling was moved to my direct left. She's a lovely woman with a badass collection of Chanel purses, but there were maybe 93 other players in the field I'd have rather had in that seat. She's aggressive, aware, and has probably played hundreds of $1k tournaments in her career while I can count mine on one hand. Lauren had already chipped up to 45,000, which at that point was about triple the average stack. As much as I didn't want to get involved with her right away (and out of position to boot), well, I did.

With the blinds at 100/200/25, the action folded to me in the small blind. I opened for 525 with Jh-Th and Lauren called. The flop was K-Q-x with one heart. I c-bet 850 with my open-ender and she called. At that point I'm giving her credit for a queen at minimum. The turn, however, was another small heart, giving me a flush draw to go with my straight draw. I decided to check with the intention of calling anything other than a weird overbet and she bet 1,800 into the 3,000 pot. I called and bingo-bongo-bango the river was another heart. I was fairly certain that my flush was the best hand at that point but (a) would really really hate getting raised if I bet out and (b) would really really hate having her fold if I bet out. I thought there was a very good chance she'd bet again if I checked, so I did and she made it 3,700. I called and Lauren wasn't pleased at all to see my hand.

"I had you on the flop and the turn!" she said with a sigh.

I was up to 21,000 after that pot and hovered right around that amount seemingly forever. Card dead at an increasingly aggressive table, I pretty much tread water and got away with one three-bet against Alexis that got her to fold pre-flop. I was getting a little frustrated and bored, until a hand came up that nearly stopped my heart. We'd just come back from break and the blinds were up to 150/300/25 when I found my first pair of aces. I opened from middle position for 750 and Stacey Sullivan, a Foxwoods regular and one of the tougher players at the table, called from the big blind. The flop was Q-T-7 with two clubs. Stacey checked, I c-bet, and she came in with a check-raise. I put her on a top pair hand like A-Q or K-Q or a strong draw and there is certainly a good case for reraising right there given my equity against those hands, but I had a very tight image at that point and thought I might prematurely blast her out of the pot. I sold it a little before making the call. I instantly regretted my decision when another queen came on the turn. God I hated it. She led out for a bit more than half the pot and I called. The river, however, changed everything. It was another queen, making it much more unlikely she had one in her hand. Now, aside from the flush and straight draws that didn't get there, I had her on a very narrow range of pocket pairs that could potentially call a shove-- K-K, J-J, T-T, or even the other two aces. If she had quads, well God bless her. Stacey checked and I moved all-in for my last 6,700. When she didn't snap-call, I knew I was fine and focused on remaining as calm and still as possible while she thought through her decision. After close to five minutes in the tank, she folded.

Shortly after we tangled in that hand, Stacey asked me for my screen name. It turned out that she had read my blog shortly before departing for the PCA.

"Oh man, sorry about your cat," she said.

I hit the dinner break with 41 players remaining and a bit better than the average stack. Pauly and I went over to the PokerStars party and I downed some pork tenderloin, caesar salad, and tortellini with pesto sauce along with one Bahama Mama (a tasty pink rum concoction) to settle my nerves. My friend Ryan always tells people not to forget to eat during tournaments and I'd done just that. Aside from the 16 oz. Jamba Juice I'd started the morning with, I'd been operating on pure adrenaline.

My table broke shortly after we returned from dinner and my new seat found me two to the left of one of my favorite people on tour, Maria "maridu" Mayrinck. I still had to contend with Alexis as well, along with Megan Milburn, who recently made a runner-up finish in the Ladies' Event at EPT London. Megan was on my left and a tiny dark-haired slip of a girl named Kristen was on my right. All four were strong players. After a bad run where my stack dipped as low as 10,000, I chipped back up to 59,000 after knocking out a short stack with A-A vs. A-2 and eliminating Alexis with Q-Q. Then came the hand that changed everything.

Maridu was a bit frustrated after enduring a nasty beat where she got it all in with a set of eights and her opponent runner-runnered a flush. I also knew she had a 1:20 pm flight the next day that she really wanted to be on. With the action folded to her on the button, she made a standard opening raise and I looked down at Ah-Kh in the big blind. I three-bet and Maridu didn't waste much time before moving all-in. Our stacks looked pretty close. I eyeballed her chips and counted her down at 47,000. I had just short of 60,000 to start the hand. If I called and lost, I'd still have a reshove stack. If I called and won, I'd be the chip leader with 20 players remaining. If I folded, I'd be below average and seriously sweating the money bubble. She did want to catch that flight.

I called.

She turned over pocket kings.

I wanted to puke.

The flop was ten-high with one heart. The dealer burned and turned, flipping over the 5h, giving me a ray of hope with a flush draw. An ace or a heart on the river would win it for me. I closed my eyes as he burned again and picked up the river card. I couldn't watch. The screams cued me to open my eyes.

It was another heart. OMFG.

As the dealer counted down our stacks, I realized that I'd completely miscalculated Maridu's. She had 57,000, not 47,000 and had I called and lost I would have been left with two big blinds rather than 12. Suddenly I was the chip leader with about 120,000. Holy. Mother. Of. God.

I bagged up 102,700 at the end of the night, which was still good for the chip lead. 16 players were left, eight would be paid. I was just happy to be alive. Among the Day 1 survivors were Veronica Dabul, Vicky Coren, Ricki Lake, Megan, Little Kristen, Foxwoods Stacey, Lauren, and Mo (yay!). The rest of the evening was spent in the Coral Bar with Pauly, Otis, and a slew of poker media friends. The pride on their faces was already better than a min-cash. I allowed myself one more Bahama Mama before popping a Xanax and drifting off to sleep.

There was still work to be done.

(To be continued...)

It Wasn't a Dream

I'm still in shock and for someone who has worried about money every day of her adult life, it's a strange feeling to have a little extra in the bank. The trophy is pretty sweet too; it's the first and only one I've ever won!

As anyone who has been to PCA knows, the internet at Atlantis is super-slow/unreliable but I just wanted to give huge thanks to everyone who sweated my run, both virtually and physically. Your comments, tweets, and emails meant so much and lifted my spirits at every turn. I also want to send a special thanks to my friends in the poker media who were railing yesterday-- the win was that much sweeter with all of you there.

Once I'm back on U.S. soil, I'll post a full recap.