Welcome to My Journal
 
 

I hope you enjoy sharing my experiences.

Live well. Laugh often. Love much.

- Roxci

 
December 2005
I spent the holidays with my family. It is nice to have a big family to balance the "poker life" with all its travel. I hope everyone has a happy, safe and productive new year.
 
November 2005
 
I drove up to Reno, NV with my Mom and my sister. They enjoy the Peppermill Casino. I played in the 2005 Fall Poker Tournament. It was a Limit event with a single re-buy. It was a great opportunity to keep my Limit skills sharp. I finsihed in 7th place. My pocket 10s failed to hold up when my opponent flopped a set of 7s.
 
I flew to Las Vegas on the 16th. I played in the 2005 WSOP Circuit - Paris Bally's. I was holding my own, but the cards were cold. The blinds were increasing but my chips were not. Late in the tournament, the player under the gun limped-in. Middle position also limped. I drew A-9 off suit and raised. Both players called. The flop came out 9-3-2. First player checked, the next player checked, and I checked as well. The turn came out "rag" helping no one. The first player checked, second player checked, I moved all in. First position called, second position folded. I turned over my A-9 but the first position turned over 9-3. He had entered a raised pot with 9-3 and was fortunatate enough to flop two pair.
 
I played in the 2005 Ultimate Poker Challenge on the 17th and finished in 7th place. I played in the Ultimate Poker Challenge again on the 20th. It was my birthday and I felt pretty good. I finished in 2nd place. I filmed an interview which will be featured during the airing of the UPC series next summer. While we were in Las Vegas, I took in a few shows. I saw the Scintas at the Rio. This is the second time I have seen them and they were just as good as the first. This is a great show featuring music and comedy. I also saw Barry Manilow at the Hilton. He was fantastic!
 
I came home the next day, sick as can be. I was down with the flu for three days. Although I am not yet 100%, at least I am feeling better now. Before I left for Las Vegas, I had given an interview to Bob Shallit, a business writer for the Sacramento Bee. I was featured in his article in the Business Section of the Bee on the 21st.
 
This will be a busy time of year for me. As year end approaches my consulting business is very busy. I am also preparing for the holidays with my family and am looking forward to other speaking engagements.
 
I will update my journal again, but for now, I hope you have a very happy holiday season!
 
October 2005
I took some time after Aruba to tend to my other business interests. I did play in the main event Fall Pot of Gold tournament at the Reno Hilton. I was "all-in" after the flop with middle pair, a flush draw and a straight draw. Fifteen "outs" gave me a better than 50% chance of drawing out, but my hand didn't improve.
 

I am looking forward to two big events in November. I will be going to Gilley's in Dallas, Tx for a meeting of a local chapter of the young president's organization. I went with the national group on a cruise to Alaska back in July. They are a very interesting group and I am looking forward to meeting the local Dallas members.

I will also be playing in the Ultimate Poker Challenge Series again this year at the Plaza Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Each of the final tables in this series, as well as the main event, will be televised.

 
Look for my article, "Life's Lessons Learned at the Poker Table" featured in the October/November issue of Woman Poker Player magazine. It is the second in a series originally published in the June/July issue of Woman Poker Player. This will be an on-going series.
 
September 2005
 

I flew to Harrah's Las Vegas to play in the WSOP Circuit Events. It was somewhat disappointing. The fields were very small. One of the unfortunate by-products of poker's popularity is that there are often several large events happening at the same time, so the fields are diluted.

To make matters worse, my room was facing the "Mardi Gras" side of the hotel where the outdoor bar and festivities occur. A loud party until 3 AM made it difficult to sleep. "But don't poker players sleep until noon?" you may ask. I might have been able to, but the hotel was also remodeling some rooms on my floor. The workers began at 8 AM. My complaints to the hotel fell upon unsympathetic ears. This was surprising since I am usually quite pleased with Harrahs service. They are usually very accomodating. They did offer to move me to a different room, but by that time I was tired, the fields at the WSOP Circuit events were small and I decided it was time to go home.

On the 20th I was back in Las Vegas at the Four Seasons. I presented my "Play to Win" series to the National Sales force of Star Magazine. These presentations are always great fun. They were anxious to try out their new found poker skills in the poker room that night. From what I saw, several of them probably did quite well.

 
I flew to Aruba on the 23rd for the Ultimatebet Poker Classic. Hurricane Rita complicated my travel plans. I was scheduled on a connecting filght through Houston just hours before the hurricane was expected to make landfall. There are a limited number of daily flights to Aruba and a short list of cities that have connecting flights. I was lucky to get on a connecting flight through Atlanta.
 
I was scheduled for the second flight (the tournament was split into three separate "flights") on day two so I had a few days to enjoy Aruba before my tournament began. I changed into my bathing suit and sarong and headed for the outdoor bar. I visited with SusieQue, Shawn Rice, PokerHo, Ric the Hitman, Knuckle Head, and others.

 
That night , Phil Helmuth had a get together in his penthouse suite for team UB and some invited guests. His wife, Kathy, was a doll. Phil must have purchased every bottle of Dom on the island. Phil is a great host and his suite had breathtaking views of the island.
 
The next day, 9/25, we had an "open forum" question and answer session with Team UB for the UB players and members of the UK press. It was an opportunity to get to know us a little better. This was followed by a "pro vs media" tournament. My pocket Queens were knocked out by pocket Aces. Oh well. Following the tournament, those of us on Team UB did a photo shoot . The pictures will be used for an article in Poker Player Magazine.

 
That night, UB hosted the Pre-tournament party for all those players that had won their tournament entries playing on Ultimatebet. The food was great and getting a chance to meet so many of the players that I meet "online" was lots of fun.
 
My first day in the tournament was also my last. I was in late position with pocket nines. The blinds were 100-200. I raised the pot to 800. Bruno Fitoussi (Aviation Club Paris) called my raise from the big blind. The flop came out 4, 8, 7. I bet 1500 and he called. I thought he could possibly have A-8. The turn revealed a 5. I bet 3000. He raised, putting me "all-in" with my remaining 2500. If he did have the A-8, then this would have been a reasonable bet with top pair on the board and an A kicker. I called. He turned over 3-6 off suit for the staright and I was out of the tournament. Although I was gracious in defeat, I left shaking my head at the two gambles he made, first calling an 800 raise from the big blind with only 3-6 offsuit and then again calling a 1500 bet on the flop with only an inside straight draw. The good news was that I now had the rest of the week to enjoy Aruba, and enjoy I did.
 
On the 28th I had an interview with Poker Player Magazine. It was for the UK edition. I also did an interview for the WPT that will be featured when the Aruba coverage airs next year.
 
I played in a $500 event on 9/30. I placed 5th. Phil Laak was also at the final table and I got to see Jennifer Tilly again. I had met her while filming the GSN Poker Royale series, Celebrities vs Poker Pros. She's such a lovely person.
 
Ultimately, Feddy Deeb won the main event. The after party was by the beach near the main pool at the hotel. There were 15-20 different "buffet stations" and tropical drinks were flowing. But even though the week was fun I was glad to be flying home the next day. I caught an early flight so customs was a breaze (last year customs took several hours).
 

 

 
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