The Pendleton Report - Part 1

 

I looked forward to escaping the heat of Las Vegas in July. Historically, this is the hottest week of the year with temperatures soaring to 114 degrees. Even in the middle of the night, if you step outside, it feels as if you have opened the door to a roaring furnace. It must have been in July that Mamie (can't remember her last name but she was the first person (male or female) to get a gaming license in Las Vegas) stepped off the train in LV and exclaimed, "I have just entered hell." Yea, this hell made her a very wealthy woman - read the entire story in my book Queens Can Beat Kings. You can order one at www.susieisaacs.com.

 

Back to Pendleton, we arrived to a delightful 82 degrees. The next day it was 92, followed by an unprecedented heat wave which now have us seeing 100 degrees plus humidity! The weather is running like my poker - bad. I won't bore you with the bad-beats. However, like the Dream Team, I can pick partners. Bonnie and I "partnered up" and she placed third in her favorite event, the HORSE tournament. She even had the thrill of making a royal flush in stud, at the final table.

 

 

I have two more events to go this weekend. I look forward not back and go into battle with a good attitude of an final table finish. It has to turn eventually, it always does. However, the way I figure it is; with Bonnie giving me a payday from her score, I can still proclaim that I have never left Pendleton a loser!

 

 

The Pendleton Report - Part 2

 

It was worth waiting on! I finally made a decent score last night - I placed fourth in the final event of the Wildhorse Summer Poker Rodeo out of a field of 250! There have been times in my life where I was greatly disappointed in a fourth place finish, even a third (1995 WSOP ladies event for example.) But in the case of last night, I was short stacked from 7th place at the final table and every step forward was not only more money, but it felt like a gift. It was only by other's bad luck and/or their bad play that keep moving me up in the standings. I also made a couple of exceptional suck-outs to get there. One I don't remember except I caught a magical ten to stay in action and another was at the final table shortly after the final nine arrived. I picked up pocket queens, the pot was raised from middle position from a sophisticated gentlemen with a terrible cigarette cough. I had played against him many times and felt my queens were good, however another fellow, who I had never played against re-raised all in. I decided to go with it and hope they both had ace-big or a pair less than queens. If I can't move in with the ladies, what am I waiting on, I asked myself. So in I move, coughing gentleman folds (no surprise) and the stranger almost beat me in the pot and jumps up as he turned over his pocket aces! The suspense was short-lived as the flop immediately brought a beautiful queen in the window! That kept me alive to jig and jag, pick my spots, hold on and sneak into fourth place!

 

Join me, mark your calendars, for the Fall Poker Round-Up, in Pendleton at the Wildhorse Casino, Nov. 4-15!