September 12, 2009 at 6:13 pm · Filed under Poker Strategy, Life
After the first two levels I ended up with 20,700 chips. We started the day with 20,000. During the first level I lost a couple of small pots, dropping down to 18,300 chips.
In the second level, I pretty much floated along, staying even for a while. Then the key hand for me was when it folded to me in the hijack with Ace-Ten. I raised it up to 400 pre-flop (blinds 75/150). The small blind, who is a good player, cold-called. The flop came K T x rainbow, no flush draw. He checked. I decided to check it with second pair, of Tens, using my position and disguising that I had made a pair. Unfortunately, a Queen came on the turn, so now I was pretty sure he had hit some part of the board. He checked though, so I checked behind. The river paired the Queen and he threw out a pot-sized bet. I thought this was a strange bet, considering there was a paired board. I also didn’t think he could have a straight with Ace-Jack. I doubted he had trips because he would have bet when the Queen came out on the turn. The thing was that I played the hand so weakly, what would make him think I would call a big bet? It came down to the fact that I thought it had to be a bluff to make a big bet. What other reason would he have to think that I would call? I did call and I was right. He had something like 64 off. Stone cold nothing. That built my stack back over 20,000. Just floating along after that.
I’ve got a pretty good table. The only problem on the horizon is that it is absolutely freezing in the room, so I’m on my way up to my room to get a sweatshirt!
Later,
Vanessa 
September 12, 2009 at 4:26 pm · Filed under Life
Hi all! I guess I left off last time as I was leaving Los Angeles and heading to France to do post-production on the first episode of my new French TV show, Stars of Poker, which will be airing on Canal+. That went very well.
Every time I go back to France my French is getting better and better. Having spent the last 16 years in the US, I lost a lot of my French vocabulary, so being able to work on a French TV show really gives me a great opportunity to get back to my roots in that way. I also found out that I recently appeared in Cosmopolitan magazine in France. They ran a picture and a little article about me.
After I left Paris, my friend Alisa and I headed over to Slovakia, actually Bratislava, [the capital of Slovakia] where the World Poker Tour was hosting their first tournament in that country. It was a 4,000 euro buy-in and I was super-excited about this event because not a lot of pros were traveling to it, so I felt that I had a significant advantage relative to the field.
The field was actually pretty small, having only 100 players. When I played on Day 1A there were only about forty-some players. Turns out that my premonitions were correct — it was one of the weakest fields that I had ever played in. I got all my money in as an 80% favorite and unfortunately the cards didn’t hold up for me. I was eliminated on a pretty sick beat. But that’s OK. I wasn’t going to let the fact that this was now my second main event in a row going out as an 80% favorite. Of course I’m referring to LA where I got all-in pre-flop with Aces versus Queens. He caught a gutshot straight draw on the flop and hit the gutshot on the turn to eliminate me on the bubble on day two. So this was my second main event in a row where I went out as a big favorite. I know in poker, everything evens out and in the long run, that means I’ll be holding up eight out of the next nine times I get it in as an 80% favorite.
I remained optimistic and hit the road again after spending a couple of days sight-seeing in Slovakia. Alisa and I headed for Barcelona, Spain, and the AB Skipper hotel. This was a super-sick hotel where Poker Stars had a lot of their qualifiers stay, so I decided stay there as well. I loved that hotel — the problem was that their gym was under renovation, so no gym for me. I kind of used that as my excuse to avoid going to the gym at all during that portion of the trip, which was pretty bad, considering how much I loved the food in France the week before and I probably needed to hit the gym.
Instead, Alisa and I did a lot of shopping in our free time. I ended up getting almost a whole new wardrobe! I love European clothes because I get the feeling that a lot of people won’t have the same stuff. All the pieces that I find in the small shops are usually unique and very eclectic and very much to my taste.
I kind of went a little nuts and took advantage of having one of my girlfriends traveling with me instead of Chad, who hates shopping. Did a ton of shopping — had to buy a whole new suitcase to hold all the extra stuff!
Aside from that, I did a photo shoot for GQ Spain so I’ll let you guys know when that’s set to come out.
After the photo shoot, I got ready to play the Barcelona main event, which is the largest buy-in on the European Poker Tour circuit, short of the grand finale in Monte Carlo. The EPT Championship in Monte Carlo is a 10,000 euro event and Barcelona is an 8,000 euro buy-in. That’s a pretty hefty price-tag – about $12,000 in the US.
I played very well in the first two levels. Couldn’t make much happen…I only had five pairs the whole tournament. Four of those pairs were Queens and none of them held up. That set the course for me toward my final hand, which was pocket Queens! I got it all-in against pocket nines as an 80% favorite for the third main event in a row and they didn’t hold up, again! I was eliminated near the end of day one. I used the free time to do some more shopping and sight-seeing with Alisa. We had a great time!
I then flew from Barcelona back to the US, to Gulfport and got a ride to Biloxi, where I’m staying at the Beau Rivage. Yesterday, September 11th, I had my first boot camp in Mississippi. For anyone who is interested, you can check out www.BigSlickBootCamp.com or call 1-877-33-SLICK. Just ask for Jim to get details about when and where the next boot camp will be. We had a great turnout and a couple of last minute sign-ups, which is always a good thing. I really enjoyed teaching so it was a very good day all around.
After the camp ended I had to do a small meet and greet and autograph session as part of my hosting duties for the Beau Rivage. Chad and I are the hosts of the Gulf Coast Poker Championship going on here now, which brings me to today. I’ll be playing the main event which is a $5,000 buy-in and starts at 2pm Mississippi time, 3pm Eastern and 12 noon Pacific time. I’ll be tweeting and blogging updates over the course of the day.
After this, my next stop will be Los Angeles for some meetings with my agent. From there I’ll be heading to London for the World Series of Poker Europe.
Until next time,
Vanessa J
September 4, 2009 at 4:49 pm · Filed under Life
So, after the World Series of Poker I was on a plane to Europe for part vacation/part business. The first stop was the inaugural Stars of Poker TV show, which both Chad and I are involved in. I am hosting the show, which will be airing on France’s TV network: Canal +, and Chad was playing in the first episode as a contestant.Unfortunately, he did not win the 100,000 Euro prize. It was winner takes all. But I had a great time hosting, and look forward to hosting the show again in the near future. The episode was filmed in Nimes (France) in the middle of a Gladiator arena (one of the sickest poker TV sets I have ever seen)! I am actually heading back to France again this week for post-production, which will take place in Paris.
After the shoot, we left for a cruise in the Mediterranean! I flew my whole family from South Florida to meet me Nice, France. We all hung out there for a few days and then we headed to the cruise, which departed from Athens, Greece. We visited the island of Corfu in Greece; Slovenia; a couple of stops in Croatia; and we ended the tour in Venice, Italy. It was good times all the way around with tons of food, probably too much! I was afraid to get on the scale after that week!
When the cruise ended, I decided to incorporate some business into the itinerary, since I happened to be in Venice right when the Italian Poker Tour main event was taking place. My cruise docked and that very day I was playing in Day 1 of the Venice IPT event! Out of the 400 people that entered, I placed 14th for a little over $11K, which was cool for a $2,500 buy-in.
After Venice I flew back to Vegas to catch up on some work. I had to prepare for my upcoming LA and around-the-world trip. After I hired a new assistant, I headed to LA to meet with my agent and different business people for exciting possible upcoming opportunities (that I will keep you guys posted on).
This weekend I played the $10k buy-in WPT event at the Bicycle Casino here in Los Angeles. I started off day 1 on Saturday and played well. I ended the day above average in chips coming into day 2. In level 2 of day 2, I had above average chips and found myself all-in with pocket Aces before the flop. It was against pocket Queens, which meant I was a 4:1 favorite to double up and be amongst the chip-leaders on day 2. Unfortunately for me, the pocket Queens made a straight after a flop and turn of king, jack, nine, ten. I didn’t improve on the river and that was it for me. ? The good news is I took the bad beat the best that I have in my career! I decided to focus on the good things that are going on in my life right now and began to look forward to my upcoming travels.
So I guess that brings me up to what I have next. My friend Alisa is meeting me in Paris next week. She comes and travels with me when she can (and Chad can’t) because I don’t like to travel alone. She and I will be heading to Slovakia for the WPT and then to Barcelona for the EPT event there. I leave Barcelona on the 10th, when I will be heading back to the USA. I land in Mississippi and will head to the Beau Rivage Casino in Biloxi where I will be hosting my 1-day clinic called the “ART OF POKER,” (an introduction to game theory and poker). If you guys want to register or if you are interested in more info, you can check it out at www.bigslickbootcamp.com or call 1-877-33slick.
I guess ‘till next time, Ciao!
Best, Vanessa
