Katie Über Alles

Degenerate Dating Drama

2009-11-09T12:12:49-05:00

Wanted. Someone who gets (or at least can put up with) the life of a poker grinder, but doesn't have a gambling problem.

In the past week two separate people have asked me when I'm going to start dating, and it's devolved into a conversation about my life and relationships.

Post-divorce and post....whatever-the-hell-that-was, I've done a lot of thinking about this. It's some thinking I probably should have done two years ago...or more like ten years ago. I've realized a few pitfalls I've fallen into in the past and I'm determined not to fall in again. It's been good.

Most people are really shocked to discover I'm actually a shy person around people I don't know that well. I suffer from really bad social anxiety in new situations.

Needless to say, I've never been one to date a ton. I got married when I was 22 (divorced at 29). A friend has been trying to get me to do the online dating thing, but I don't know how ready I am to jump into something like that. Scary.

On top of this, a new problem has recently arisen. The life of the single, female, degenerate. Most guys I meet are poker players. Hell, most people I meet these days are poker players. I'm not *trying* to date a poker player...(comes with its own issues). But...I don't know that I have other venues for meeting people. I'm pretty busy between poker (i.e. work) and school. I'm on a crazy schedule where I sleep most of the daylight hours away. Meeting people while playing poker is like...hanging out with coworkers. :p

Alternatively, most non-poker playing guys I know think it's AWESOME when they first meet me that I play poker to help with the bills. They want to hear all about the WSOP events I've played in. This fascination usually lasts only until they figure out that the life of a poker player is not like the bling blang blaow video, or whatever their idea is of professional poker playing. Seriously, I think they all think it's me just hanging out rolling in money and having fun. Like I'm Phil Ivey or something. Anyone who's done low/mid stakes grinding knows that's not it AT ALL.

So after about a week or so, the FASCINATION with my lifestyle wears off and they get really fed up wondering why I'm always in AC (it's like going to the office, definitely not a 24 hour party), why I am never free on weekends (best time to make money), why I'm always asleep during the day... They get jealous of what they THINK my lifestyle is. Not to mention the complete and total difference in the way we view money (Yes, it's OK to get $300 in with 21 outs, but that doesn't mean I want to spend an extra $.50 on gas! It's DIFFERENT.) I don't know if I'm ever going to be able to find someone who understands this lifestyle that isn't a poker player, let alone someone who can put up with it. And poker isn't something I'm giving up anytime soon, though I would love to start dating again.

It's lonely out here for a girl poker player.

So yeah... Wanted. Someone who gets the life of a poker grinder, but doesn't have a gambling problem. Someone who gets that I will be in AC working a lot of the time. Someone who understands why I go on tilt from time to time. Someone who gets the difference between getting it all in with an OESFD and lighting money on fire on material shit. On the other hand, someone who wants to watch movies, cuddle on the couch, and rock out to music with me, too. I promise I can talk about things other than poker (I'm actually quite well-rounded)...but it's always gonna be a big part of my life.

I just saw this hand go down

2009-11-07T05:45:43-05:00

At pink O8. AAA6 calls all kinds of bets on flop and turn. O...M...G.

Looking for new music?

2009-10-17T15:54:15-04:00

I've been a music addict for as long as I can remember. I'm always on the lookout for new music, and I recently discovered a blog that archives all free itunes downloads. It's been awesome...I'm downloading a free bunch of songs every week and not forgetting about it before they expire thanks to my feed reader. Yay for free music!

Also, my friend Pete and his band "The Dusty's" rock. Go download their EP. You won't be sorry.

A Downswinging Degenerate's Guide to AC

2009-10-16T10:57:45-04:00

It's funny how some of us bitch and moan about spending an extra $2 on coffee but will gladly shove $$$ in on a draw or bluff. I discovered a great new "deal" in AC this past trip, so I figured I would compile a bunch of the deals I know about to share with my lucky readers. To quote: Dawn Summers, " How are you not paying me for this!" ;)

1) McCormick and Schmick's right next to the Harrah's poker room has a 10pm-12am happy hour. I love M+S, but I don't usually eat gourmet meals in AC. I think I can count the number of times I have on one hand... As far as I know, they just started doing this, but they have some great CHEAP food deals if you are a degenerate and do not eat dinner until 10pm anyways. How's about a $4 giant, fresh-made hamburger? This has to be one of the best deals in AC.

2) Free breakfast at Harrah's poker room. The first time I was in the poker room at 5am and saw them wheel in a tray filled with danishes and bagels with cream cheese I thought I must be crazy. What kind of casino gives away free stuff? Sure enough, it's a free breakfast for their players. It goes fast, but....free!!!

3) Red Door Spa at Harrah's. I love Red Door Spas. I discovered a hairdresser that I really like at the one at Harrah's (Sam). They also have one of the nicest spa areas of any fancy spa I've ever been to (including Canyon Ranch at the Venetian). Why is a spa listed under saving money at a casino? Cause you can use your comps there 1:1. You heard it here first. I've been doing it for about a year.

4) Obv...free rooms at Harrah's midweek are the nuts. People at the Borgata were so excited about $79 midweek poker rates...well, who needs that when you can get free rooms at Harrah's in their brand new Waterfront Tower, complete with flat screen tv, GIANT shower, and really comfy beds. Get a player's card and start getting offers. Seriously... I am platinum (soon to be Diamond) now, but I got offers when I was Gold too.

5) Breakfast at the deli! This is not so much a deal as something new I discovered... The Harrah's deli now does breakfast! Eggs, bacon, sausage, etc. It's not on their menu board but it is on the order yourself machines.

No, Harrah's did not pay me to write this post. I wish they had, but no...I'm just a fan. Considering they own the majority of casino properties in AC, getting a player's card is a no brainer. Do it.

Catching up on poker

2009-10-13T10:59:42-04:00

I've been tracking my play with the iPhone app "poker journal" since March. (Yes, there's an app for that). I first read about it on 2+2, and it's been one of the most valuable pieces of info I've found on that forum. Last year I tried tracking my play through a google docs spreadsheet which quickly became garbage in/ garbage out because who wants to log all the particular details of a really rough session when you first get home? Having tracking on my phone allows me to set everything up when I first sit at the table and keeps me honest. I recently acquired enough data to dump it into excel and do some analysis. What did I find? I'm a far more profitable Omaha player (both limit and pot limit) than NLHE. I'm a winning NLHE player, to be sure, but I make much more consistent money (and more money per average session) at Omaha. Too bad it's frequently hard to find good live Omaha games. The good news is with one exception at the beginning of my tracking, I've been in the black all year. Too bad all of that money has gone to bills.

Next up: recap of past 24 hrs in AC. If you follow me on Twitter, you can skip this section. ;) Sat down at pink O8 at the Borgata. It was a very juicy table. Nonetheless, I quickly found myself down $100 due to flopping second nuts full house and having my low counterfeited on the river. In a three way pot, I gets Nunavut. However, I clawed my way back and netted +150 that session, putting me at +100 for the day after I dropped $50 really quickly at NLHE.

Most of the fish busted from the pink game after that, so I left to go check in at Harrahs. I wish I could just move in to one of their waterfront tower rooms. Went downstairs to play some NLHE...I was SUPER card dead for 2-3 hrs. Then had "one player to a hand" violated when I had quads against top full which cost me $150. Still, I perservered. I pulled off a great all-in river bluff around hour 3 against the guy who told me two hours earlier that girls never bluff. Did not show it because I just don't think showing the bluff is a +ev move for my style of play. Around hour 4.5, I FINALLY doubled up with AA>JJ on 8 high flop. Soon after I was outta there to get some sleep.

Also of note: borgata changed their cards to some fugly Gemacos last week. The shade of red is very dark (cause of the infamous "I have a flush...oh wait I don't" incident at the Tropicana in 2006, the cards are stiff, and the face cards are ridiculously ugly. But they supposedly work better in the autoshufflers.

Harrahs also changed their cards last week but they are the "nicer" Gemacos. Very flexible and no ugly face cards. However, they are no longer superindex. (and then the peasants rejoiced!) I hate superindex cards for Holdem.

Woke up feeling good. Gonna take a long shower, get some food, and hit the tables again hoping for some more winning sessions.