Playing With The Boys
Mary O and I played with Pirate Rick's poker gang on Friday night. It was a No Limit Texas Hold 'Em tournament and most of the guys seemed to know each other pretty well. The buy-in was $50 with a rebuy option of $25.
Apparently, there's a history of girls always winning when they play with this group (attributed to beginner's luck) so some of the boys didn't seem all that excited to see us there. As a matter of fact, most of them gravitated to Pirate Rick's table and were staying away from the second table that included me and Mary until Toby showed up and announced that we were fun to play with. He should think it's fun to play with me - he took me out in the Mom O'Malley Tournament. Good thing I don't hold a grudge.
It's interesting playing with a group of guys. I'm sure I'm stereotyping a bit but, it seems like the older guys are much cooler with playing with women. They're more encouraging and don't get bent when you beat them. The younger guys seem to look at women with mixed emotions. They're happy to think we're dead money but worried that we're going to screw up their games by playing (being?) dumb.
I was just worried about not making an ass of myself and, fortunately, I started out with a string of crappy cards that kept me out of the action and made me look like a tight player. Mary was in more pots than I. She cracked Toby's pocket aces which was sweet! He was a good sport about it, too.
Then she ran into Wayne by calling his all in. He'd been bullying people a bit and seemed to be bluffing. She had Aces and Queens so she called him. He had a Full House and nearly cleared her out so she had to buy in to keep going. I can't blame her for the call. The board didn't look that scary and she had Aces.
That made Wayne the big stack and when it was the deadline to do the buy in, he passed. I wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do, myself. I had about 3,300 and buying in would have given me an additional 1,000. This guy, Brian, was in the same spot as I so we both sort of dared/talked each other into buying in. Everyone else just got a 1,000 chip but it felt inadequate to me so I played The Princess and got Pirate Rick to give me 100s and 25s so it felt like more.
I finally got a string of good cards so I started winning some hands. Then my big hand happened. I got dealt pocket 8s. A few of us stayed in and I flopped trips. Woo hoo! I was trying to stay so calm...I said, "All in" then just sat there. All but one of the guys was out of it and he decided to call me. I'm not sure if he thought I was bluffing or not. I can tell you that I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest. He was on a straight draw and, thank the poker gods, didn't make it. I knocked him out and became one of the big stacks.
I like being the big stack. (Feel free to insert stacked jokes here...it's funny because I'm so not.) It's even more fun when you start getting good cards to go along with it. I started betting bigger and got called a "bully".
Here's the thing...I was just doing what you're supposed to do when you have the chips. But, I really want to act like I don't quite know what I'm doing and that I just want everyone to like me. So, I protest and say things like, "I'm not a bully, I'm just getting good cards."
It's all a charade because I really just want to win and I don't want them to think I'm a threat. But, don't tell them that.
Mary got knocked out and Pirate Rick came over to our table. I chased a hand and gave him too many chips then did the same thing on the next hand. That's when I decided to go back to my tight game. In the past, I would have continued to chase but I'm getting more patient.
I got moved to the other table and the boys there may have thought I was fresh meat but then they saw how many chips I was bringing to the table (Mary had to help me carry them over - it was quite the show). I might have scared them, just a little.
Again, I played it quiet and only moved in when I had really good cards. Before I knew it, we were down to one table. It got really tense then. The top five got paid out and everyone wanted to last that long. It didn't take long to get to that point...and I was in the money!
Whew! It was time to relax a bit and go back to having fun. And, to get uber-competitive.
Unfortunately, Tom was dealing me more and more crap. I haven't seen that many sevens, threes and fives in, well, never. I think he even felt sorry for me. It kept me out of the testosterone laden battles, though.
Boys, boys, boys. They get so riled up and want to beat the crap out of each other. Oh, and call each other insulting names. I'm probably even more competitive than most of the guys in that room, but it's not about beating someone. It's about being the best. Does that even make sense?
Anyway, there was this one guy who's played in our club tournaments but I don't recall him being nearly as obnoxious as he was on Friday. First of all, he was wearing headphones, sunglasses and a baseball cap. For a home game? Dude, get over yourself! Then, he was loudly swearing like a sailor. Coming from someone who also swears like a sailor, I have to say he was totally inappropriate for mixed company...or any civilized company. He was trash talking anyone and everyone. When I moved to his table, he made it clear he didn't want me sitting next to him. OK, then...
Wouldn't you know it would come down to the two of us?
Pirate Rick said the difference between first and second was big ($200ish vs $600ish). I didn't care about the money. I wanted to knock him out so very, very badly, just to shut him up.
He had me out-chipped to start. I went all in and won which put me just a tad ahead of him. He then went all in before the flop and I had Q-J suited. I debated for a while. It's a good starting hand with 2 people and I thought he might be trying to buy the blinds (they were at $800 and $1700). So, I called.
He had Ace high which held up. I was out right after that.
Dang!
I was pretty happy with my finish, though. To come in second while playing with guys who've had a lot more experience than I have was pretty awesome. The $240 in winnings wasn't bad either. Oh, and I got to flirt with a cute boy, too. I guess you could call that a complete night in Kathy's world.
Apparently, there's a history of girls always winning when they play with this group (attributed to beginner's luck) so some of the boys didn't seem all that excited to see us there. As a matter of fact, most of them gravitated to Pirate Rick's table and were staying away from the second table that included me and Mary until Toby showed up and announced that we were fun to play with. He should think it's fun to play with me - he took me out in the Mom O'Malley Tournament. Good thing I don't hold a grudge.
It's interesting playing with a group of guys. I'm sure I'm stereotyping a bit but, it seems like the older guys are much cooler with playing with women. They're more encouraging and don't get bent when you beat them. The younger guys seem to look at women with mixed emotions. They're happy to think we're dead money but worried that we're going to screw up their games by playing (being?) dumb.
I was just worried about not making an ass of myself and, fortunately, I started out with a string of crappy cards that kept me out of the action and made me look like a tight player. Mary was in more pots than I. She cracked Toby's pocket aces which was sweet! He was a good sport about it, too.
Then she ran into Wayne by calling his all in. He'd been bullying people a bit and seemed to be bluffing. She had Aces and Queens so she called him. He had a Full House and nearly cleared her out so she had to buy in to keep going. I can't blame her for the call. The board didn't look that scary and she had Aces.
That made Wayne the big stack and when it was the deadline to do the buy in, he passed. I wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do, myself. I had about 3,300 and buying in would have given me an additional 1,000. This guy, Brian, was in the same spot as I so we both sort of dared/talked each other into buying in. Everyone else just got a 1,000 chip but it felt inadequate to me so I played The Princess and got Pirate Rick to give me 100s and 25s so it felt like more.
I finally got a string of good cards so I started winning some hands. Then my big hand happened. I got dealt pocket 8s. A few of us stayed in and I flopped trips. Woo hoo! I was trying to stay so calm...I said, "All in" then just sat there. All but one of the guys was out of it and he decided to call me. I'm not sure if he thought I was bluffing or not. I can tell you that I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest. He was on a straight draw and, thank the poker gods, didn't make it. I knocked him out and became one of the big stacks.
I like being the big stack. (Feel free to insert stacked jokes here...it's funny because I'm so not.) It's even more fun when you start getting good cards to go along with it. I started betting bigger and got called a "bully".
Here's the thing...I was just doing what you're supposed to do when you have the chips. But, I really want to act like I don't quite know what I'm doing and that I just want everyone to like me. So, I protest and say things like, "I'm not a bully, I'm just getting good cards."
It's all a charade because I really just want to win and I don't want them to think I'm a threat. But, don't tell them that.
Mary got knocked out and Pirate Rick came over to our table. I chased a hand and gave him too many chips then did the same thing on the next hand. That's when I decided to go back to my tight game. In the past, I would have continued to chase but I'm getting more patient.
I got moved to the other table and the boys there may have thought I was fresh meat but then they saw how many chips I was bringing to the table (Mary had to help me carry them over - it was quite the show). I might have scared them, just a little.
Again, I played it quiet and only moved in when I had really good cards. Before I knew it, we were down to one table. It got really tense then. The top five got paid out and everyone wanted to last that long. It didn't take long to get to that point...and I was in the money!
Whew! It was time to relax a bit and go back to having fun. And, to get uber-competitive.
Unfortunately, Tom was dealing me more and more crap. I haven't seen that many sevens, threes and fives in, well, never. I think he even felt sorry for me. It kept me out of the testosterone laden battles, though.
Boys, boys, boys. They get so riled up and want to beat the crap out of each other. Oh, and call each other insulting names. I'm probably even more competitive than most of the guys in that room, but it's not about beating someone. It's about being the best. Does that even make sense?
Anyway, there was this one guy who's played in our club tournaments but I don't recall him being nearly as obnoxious as he was on Friday. First of all, he was wearing headphones, sunglasses and a baseball cap. For a home game? Dude, get over yourself! Then, he was loudly swearing like a sailor. Coming from someone who also swears like a sailor, I have to say he was totally inappropriate for mixed company...or any civilized company. He was trash talking anyone and everyone. When I moved to his table, he made it clear he didn't want me sitting next to him. OK, then...
Wouldn't you know it would come down to the two of us?
Pirate Rick said the difference between first and second was big ($200ish vs $600ish). I didn't care about the money. I wanted to knock him out so very, very badly, just to shut him up.
He had me out-chipped to start. I went all in and won which put me just a tad ahead of him. He then went all in before the flop and I had Q-J suited. I debated for a while. It's a good starting hand with 2 people and I thought he might be trying to buy the blinds (they were at $800 and $1700). So, I called.
He had Ace high which held up. I was out right after that.
Dang!
I was pretty happy with my finish, though. To come in second while playing with guys who've had a lot more experience than I have was pretty awesome. The $240 in winnings wasn't bad either. Oh, and I got to flirt with a cute boy, too. I guess you could call that a complete night in Kathy's world.
