California Dreaming

 

I have been going to the CA Ladies State Poker championships in Oceanside, CA since the first annual event, 12 years ago. After that first one, a weekend of fun, sun, special activities, wonderful breakfasts and dinners, and ladies only poker tournaments, I thought, they can never outdo this. You should never start on top as there is no place to go but down. I was so wrong. It seems that the "top brass" at Oceans 11 give themselves a challenge every year to outdo the last and they continually do so!

 

There was a time I was not pleased with the tournament structure - that was my only complaint. It was entirely too fast for my tournament taste, but that has now been corrected and it is as good as it gets.

 

There was a time no male would be caught dead entering a ladies event, I hate to report, but that is now a thing of the past. Because of recent discrimination lawsuits against several CA casinos, the casino executives must, by law, allow men to play in ladies tournaments. I fully expected one or two child/men, looking for attention, to sign up. Was I ever surprised when not a couple but five percent of the field were male! There were some nice ones and there were some jerks. The Internet kid player with sunglasses and a sideways ball cap was at my first table. He was rude, crude and obnoxious. "Why", I asked politely, "would you even want to play in a ladies event?" He claimed he was stuck in a $36-$60 game and came looking for a soft field. Later, a lady who is a regular player at Ocean's Eleven told me that jerk/boy also was a regular and she had never seen him play any games higher than $4-$8 limit. He disrupted our table, aimed him verbal abuse at me, and was eliminated within a few hours. What a shame that one jerk can make such a difference. I called floor twice and was eventually, thankfully moved to another table.

In both ladies tournaments, every time a man was knocked out of the tournament, the crowd went wild with applause, whistles, hoots, and hollers. Most were highly embarrassed. Many tried to make a quick escape by backdoors, employees exits, and the kitchen. A few took a bow to the ladies and all left the room red-faced. When the field was down to 75 ladies and one man, Lupe announced, "Dead man walking!" One lady who eliminated a guy crowed, "I emasculated another!" Which prompted another lady to ask, "Don't they emasculate themselves with they sit down in a ladies event?"

 

 

Lupe Soto said it best, "It's all about the numbers. In major events, five percent or less in the field are women. Here, approximately five percent of the field were men. Ladies don't win major tourneys very often and so far, a man has never won a ladies event."

 

Even with the men causing a burr under some saddles (example: a boy eliminated me), the fun outweighed the negative by far. There were terrific and friendly dealers, prizes, drawings, cash giveaways, many "girl stuff" vendors and an auction. With part or all of the proceeds going to Ocean's Eleven charity, Ivey Ranch.

 

The first night, Linda Johnson, Marsha Waggoner, and I had a fun-filled Q and A after a terrific dinner, followed by a talent show. I have to give a lot of credit to a group of Arizona ladies with a club called the "AZ Hotties". These hotties average age was 65+. Last year they did an adorable, hilarious, song and dance routine about a pussy cat, complete with cat costumes. They were back this year by popular demand. The second night was a terrific band with the theme "Surfing USA" who played the wonderful danceable music from the 60's and 70's. One of five friends I encouraged to go for their first Ocean's Eleven Ladies Weekend experience was Doralee Rae, aka, Lady Pink. She told us all in advance that she was very doubtful that she would dance as dancing with a bunch of women was not high on her list of wanna-do. When that music started, she could not sit still and was right in the middle of the women dancing, the congo line, and the line dancing. The terrific music helped a lot of the ladies burn off a lot of calories. Men were certainly invited. There were two that I saw.

 

I have mentioned the food several times. At no other tournament (except the WSOP in the old days) have poker players been so well treated. I won't give you the whole menu, just some highlights: beef tenderloin, shrimp scampi, gourmet pizza, chicken cordon blue, halibut tacos, fresh vegetables, and an assortment of desserts including the best sugar-free desserts I have ever tasted.

 

The first event on Friday was a fun-filled LIPS championship. The CA Ladies State Championship took place on Sat. with the final table on Sunday. I refuse to even think about how it would appear if a man/child had won and got to represent Ocean's Eleven as the Ladies Champion for a year. On Sunday, it was open-field, all men invited and welcome, a tag-team event, Omaha and limit hold'em. Linda Johnson gave an Omaha seminar prior to this event.

 

I invited five "newbies" to this poker spectacular weekend; Vera, Marsha, Doralee, Shirley and Tammy. Without a doubt, the vote was unanimous, we all will be returning next year. Doralee said, "Making the final table is always a priority, but I have felt like a winner all weekend. How often do you play in a casino for three days and know all the names of the lead people! I know Bob, Suzanne, Tina, Dan and Espi. I just wish I lived closer."  Shirley, who is in the business and has been for a long time said, "When you have your ducks in a row and are organized, you can draw a crowd, even in this economy!" To which Lady Pink added, "These days it's a better gamble to sit at that poker table than to play the stock market!"