weekend update

Man, was last weekend fun, or what?

I finally got over the flu on Thursday (thank goodness), and since I had plans to go down to Champaign for the Illini-Wisc game with Julie, this was a good thing. I made plans with my friend Bonnie to have her watch Wrigley - she's got an acre of land with two dogs, four horses and an electronic fence, so this was a Good Thing for Wrigley, too - especially since the weather was supposed to be very nice over the weekend and everyone would spend lots of time outside enjoying themselves. Since Julie lives about 40 minutes south of me, I was going to go to the boats on Friday, stay there at the boats at the poker room rate, and then meet J at her house so we could travel downstate, watch the game, and have dinner, etc etc and then I'd go ahead and make a weekend of it, and play on Saturday too since I had the room for the day anyway.

I got to the boats later than I usually do on Fridays since I dropped Wrigley off around 6, and chatted with B until 6:30 or so before heading down, instead of leaving around 4 pm to miss the traffic, and it's amusing, since everyone came up to me asking why I was 'late'. I know it's a small thing, but I seriously like being a regular. Unfortunately, the day was a tough losing session, which means I was working on 2-4 hours sleep when I got to Julie's the next morning. I hate losing, but I have to remember that it's all one big poker session, and I'm up when you consider that game.

Saturday was great. I got to J's about 9:15 am (uuugh) and we headed down to Champaign, got decent parking even though she couldn't find the parking permit (we think it got lost in a move somewhere), and watched a really well-fought game, which of course, we won. YAY! I would totally put my lack of sluttiness aside and do Deron Williams in a heartbeat, thankyouverymuch. We thought about eating somewhere in town, but decided against the traffic, and ended up eating dinner at Bakers' Square somewhere in the Kankakee area. I love me the pah, truly. Whenever I go to Bakers' Square (which is very rare), I have to get a slice of pie to go, since I so rarely have pie, and I adore the triple berry. So, I got some of that to go, for it would keep in the car (or even in the room if I wanted to do so).

Anyway, I was debating either going back to the room and sleeping for a bit before hitting the poker tables again, or just going straight there, as it was about 6:30, and once it gets later on the weekends, there gets to be a really long line for the games, and it's almost impossible to get a seat. I decided to call in and put my names on the list, and then go back to the room and see if I could fall asleep. I couldn't, so headed over to play me some poker.

I get there, and it's pretty packed already, but they just opened up a $10/$20 table, so I had a seat right away, even though I was waiting for the "little" no limit game, or even the "big" no limit game. As I walked to my seat for the 10/20 game, M (a really good "big" NL player) whispered in my ear and asked that if they asked me if I said I wanted to play the big game, to say yes, even if I decided not to sit down there so that they'd have enough players to open the game. I told him I was thinking about playing anyway, but of course I'd do that for him.

M then said "Hey, we were talking about you last night and a bunch of people said that they were glad that you didn't sit at the table becuase they didn't like taking your money. Not because you're a girl, because we love taking chicks' money, but because they all really like you." I laughed and asked if theyreally said that. He said they did, but that he said "But i told them I didn't feel that way, i told them I wanted ALL your chips!" I laughed, and took my seat, because while I know that Mark does want every chip at the table, he'd rather take them from everyone else first, and then go after mine.

I had just gotten my chips and was waiting for the big blind to come around so I could start playing, when they went ahead and opened up the "feeder" game for the big NL game (which means that our game moves over to the 'main game' when they lose players), and I picked up my chips and moved, intentionally picking the seat to the right of M, so I got to see what he did before I had to act, and when I sit next to M, I can get him to give me tips and lessons on how to play NL poker (which turned out to be incredibly valuable, and I'll get into it later). Sully, who was playing the big game, came over, looked at the lineup (it was 5-6 handed at the feeder game, with some pretty decent regulars) and said "you should go find a better game". I said I would - and that I was really waiting for a seat at the little game. To be honest, I was mostly sitting at the game so I could watch and listen and learn, and wasn't risking a lot of my chips unless I got premium hands.

Luckily, I got a LOT of premium hands, and by the time they called my seat for the little game, I was up $450 or so. I went ahead and took that seat, and let M move over to the big game (he was below me on the list), and proceeded to lose $200 at the little game. Coincidentally, after the first $55 lost, I asked to be put back on the list for the big game. Also luckily, as the line at the cage (where you buy/sell chips) went down, and I went to cash in/color up the chips from the big game (you can only have so many chips at the little game), a seat opened up at the big game, and the boys were saying "oh there isn't a list" and I said "yes there is! me!" and instead of coloring the chips up, put them right there at the WORST SEAT at the table. Right in the middle (I prefer the ends), and on the right side of A.D. - a really aggressive raise-on-anything player (think Gus Hansen). Again, my good fortune that a) A.D. is one of the people who likes me, so when I folded he'd let me look at his cards and get an idea of how he plays, and b) the seat to the left of both M and A.D. opened up in 20 minutes so I moved right over there into the BEST SEAT at the table. It was on the end, plus it was to the left of A.D and M, so I got to see what A.D. and M did first, and I was sitting right next to M, so if he folded I got to show him my cards, and he gave me lessons and notes on people's tells all night. One of his little lessons netted me a $2500 pot, because I knew my opponent was bluffing and was able to call his huge river raise, and another one of his lessons netted me smaller, but still decent sized pots all night.

I ended the night WAY up (I turned $900 into $4600) thanks to M and his really good teaching, and since the game broke and we all left at once (after the last fish left when I busted him - ME! ) , M and I walked out and he continued to give me lessons all the way to the car, and asked if he was going to see me next weekend. I told him probably Friday, but I have a party on Saturday and likely won't be there.

So, all in all, it was a good weekend, and I picked my dog up on Sunday and he had a super duper weekend with the boys, so it was all good.