Back in the USA!

After being excited about it ever since the end of the summer last year, I’m finally back in Vegas for the WSOP! Beforehand, I went to Florida to visit my family, which meant a 19 hour travel day to get there from Mexico (mainly because of a long wait on the border coming back into the US).

Once I finally got to Florida after my red-eye, I was elated to meet my Mom at the airport (and not just because we spent the day shopping). My Dad drove 3 each hours to stay in a hotel by me, even though I was only in Florida for a few days! It was so amazing to get to see my little sister Lee, and my older sister Lisa, her husband Garrett, and last but not least my niece Maddy (who is not yet 20 months old but already knows my name)! It was a short trip, but one of the best of my life!

Living in Mexico has made me appreciate simple things in the US, like being able to drink a fountain club soda in a glass with ice at a restaurant! Since I mainly eat Mexican food in Mexico, I have greater appreciation for getting to enjoy a juicy American burger or a massive cobb salad. The lavishness of being on the Strip and the dry heat of the summer makes me so happy to be here for a few weeks.

Being in Mexico can also be a bit isolating, so getting to meet up with so many friends is wonderful! It also reminds me that, despite poker’s bad reputation, there are so many warm and kind-hearted people in this industry, which is one of the best parts of being a poker player! One kind player actually gave me a Romeo y Julieta cigar and I’ve yet to see a single player get berated!

So far, I’ve played two events and bricked both, but am happy with how I’ve played. I’m careful to make many adjustments in comparison to the genderless world of online poker—where, despite my “hotjenny314” screename, most of my opponents probably think I’m male (spoiler alert: I’m not). Live, I tend to get nit-rolled a ton—even by regs, which may be a little annoying at the time, but it just serves to underline that I generally have way more fold equity live than online.

I’ve also been working on incorporating more of my online lines into my live play—such as the non-all-in all-in (where you have a short stack and min-raise/call instead of just shoving). In my last event I was coolered and left with 3 BBs. UTG +1, I min-raised, and the dealer foiled my cute plan by announcing I was all-in. When I corrected him, the entire table counted my remaining one blind, and wondered what was going on. I’ve never seen an entire table so focused one player’s stack before! As it turned out I actually had a very strong hand for the situation with AJo (though of course my plan was to MR my entire wide range). I got it in versus AT and AQ and whiffed, but at least I caused some controversy along the way!

Last night, Collin had a deep run in the $1k WSOP, and took 35th out of about 2,100. I stand by the argument that railing is more stressful than actually being the one playing! I was excited for him to have a deep run in only his second tournament of the summer, and hope it is the start of more deep runs in the WSOP this year!

Next up, I have the Venetian Ladies tournament and a tourney every day until next Monday—when Collin and I are taking a few days off in Napa to unwind before the Main! I hope everyone is having at least as much fun as I am so far this summer and best of luck at the tables!