Esther Taylor Blog

Summer 2009 Photo album
WSOP interview with Lacey Jones

Um. Well my plan to blog/vblog through the WSOP failed. Primarily because I am lazy and nothing, as in NOTHING, exciting really happened. I guess I could go through most of the tournaments and talk about what happened to me in each one, but that is just annoying and boring, and to make it easier I will sum it up like this: I had one cash in the 08/S8 $2500 mixed event. An event where I really should have final tabled. Other than that the whole series was a complete bust, and a huge disappointment. Although I am pretty good about not getting too down or disappointed, after only playing tournaments for a year straight now, I have realized that this is part of the game. It takes so much hard work and tenacity to win in these things and most times it longer to see results. The most realistic fact is that any old Aardvark can win in these things. I still have complete faith in my ability as a poker player and a student of the game. I always feel like after the series starts the next “poker year” and so I look forward to what this year has in store for me. I’m pretty sure I am doing Legends of Poker next and after that I haven’t really looked at a live schedule all that much, but will definitely be playing a lot of WCOOP on STARS and possibly some overseas stuff.
Although I did nothing of importance in the WSOP, many of my friends did which made me happy of course. Brandon Cantu won his 2nd bracelet in the PLO8 and came 2nd in a huge $1500 NL field, he should have won that one too. Matt G won his second bracelet in the 10k PLO. Maria Ho came so close to a final table in the 10k Limit tournament. Allie Prescott final tabled the 10k mixed event and the $1500 SHL. Shannon Shorr final tabled one of the HORSE events. JohnnyBax final tabled the 5k PLO. Stevie Levi FT NLH. Chewy went HU in the 5k NLH. I’m prolly forgetting people, I’m sorry. GG to Matt Brady, Dave Fox, Stevie Levi, Kevin Saul, Joe Sebok and Chewy for a good run in the Main Event. Even though he is scary I am rooting for Phil Ivey to ship this thing in November. What a sicko, I mean it’s just so gross.
I will say though we had a lot of good times this summer. Everything from sweating Final Tables to dinners to poker parties to bingo to bbq’s the summer was definitely a good time and I’m kind of sad its over and everybody kinda parted their own ways. The good thing is there is always next year. And for whoever thought there was going to be a drought in the series this year because of the economy….LOL at that.
GL to everyone, I’ll see a lot of you in LA for legends and I will do a better job of keeping up on my bloggy.
Well we finally arrived in NOLA and we were a few hours early so we actually got to take a little nap. I went down right at 12 and registered, got to my table and o boy o boy, what an amazing little table I discovered. I knew NO ONE of course, and more importantly they were all over the age of 50. Although seat 9 was still wide open and I had nightmares that Shaun Deeb would show up in that seat and make my life hell. So the first level went great. From there I really felt like I was going to have a great tournament. Then all the sudden I hear, “O look who it is!” and I turn around to see Matt Brady preparing to sit in seat 9. SIGH? Does he really have to come to my gem of a table and just ruin everything? Well he ended up owning the table and I ended up spazzing out of course, so I was out again before dinner break. My plan was to leave when I busted, but I never thought in a million years that Shaun would outlast me and when I walked over to his table he had all the chips. So I guess I was staying. It was actually fun to hang around and sweat a bit, Joy came down that day and Allie Prescott and Mike Binger where in town as well. Shaun ended up busting 14th and Brady was right after 13th which kinda actually sucked real bad, because both of them should have made that final table and both of them ran into some unlucky spots.


Shaun Deeb Interview
Matt Brady Interview

Well we all decided to stay in NOLA another day, I mean why the heck not, we were already there all together, so might as well have a nice, non-poker day in the city. The night everyone busted we decided to go this fun little spot called Pat O’ Briens. For some reason Binger thought he could go from the ground to the top of 60 foot roof in 20 secs. Binger is a great climber and athletic, and so I actually though there was a small chance that he might be able to do, but Allie, Ohhhhhh Allie Bear, the entrepreneur he is thought better of it. So they came up with an extremely high number to prop bet that he had to be seated in his chair, run, climb up and touch the chimney of the roof within 20 secs. Well, he didn’t even get off the ground for 12 seconds and so he pretty much had no chance and that was that. Allie just made most of America’s average annual salary in 42 seconds. LOL. This is all caught on video tape, and don’t you worry, once I get my hands on it, it WILL be posted on this blog. The next day we went to the best Cheeseburger place in the world for lunch called Port of Call and then later that night we went to a nice dinner and then went out again. I ended up missing my flight to LA for the 5k and got stuck in NOLA another 2 days by myself. HAHAHA. It wasn’t so bad though.

The past few days I have been relaxing, playing online and preparing for this thing they are calling the WSOP. What a great and amazing year it’s going to be. Lots of people are going to win this year and I am really excited. I was asked if my schedule was posted, and I didn’t even really think about it, but I will post it below. If you are playing in the same event message me over a text/twitter.
WSOP O8 $1500 5/29
WSOP NLH $1000 5/30
WSOP PLO $1500 6/1
WSOP NLH $1500 6/2
WSOP MIXED MAIN $10k 6/4
WSOP NLH Ladies $1000 6/7
WSOP HORSE $3000 6/9
WSOP O8/SHL $2500 6/11
WSOP NLH $1500 6/13
WSOP HORSE $1500 6/14
WSOP NLH $1500 6/16
WSOP Mixed $2500 6/21
WSOP Razz $2500 6/22
WSOP PLO8 $1500 6/25
WSOP SHL $1500 6/28
WSOP NLH MAIN $10k 7/3

Speaking of Twitter. Ummm what the heck. What a craze. I think it’s going to be a great tool during the WSOP, instead of texting everyone and their mom your updates you can simply twitter. On a side not, for those of you twittering more than five twitters in a row…COME ON. They should put you on an hour time out like the Full Tilt chat box when you type too many things in a row they ban you for an hour for spamming. I’ght enough about that. I will see y’all at the RIO! GLGLGLGLGLGLGL

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Allie brought a PURSE!!!

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I don’t play 1k Super Tuesday every week on Stars, although if I am playing online, you will see me in there. Two weeks ago, I busted out 22nd, in the money for nothing, but a decent showing I suppose. This last Tuesday I managed to get 2nd place for $51,000, which is my highest NL score up to date. Ok, so I have played tons of online tournaments, but I play much different than I do live. Live tournaments, I go more off situational feel and tells, and clearly online those aspects are taken away. So online, I play much tighter. I’m in the process of being educated on becoming a better and more profitable online player though. I believe in my ability to learn quickly, therefore I really think I can get this down after some legitimate coaching. Not that he doesn’t get enough credit, or his head isn’t big enough, but I must give credit to my number 1 online coach, Shaun Deeb. We haven’t done that much schooling, but from what he has taught me, and clearly shown by example, he is extremely talented and knowledgeable and I am learning a lot from him right now. Ok, back to the 1k….
Ok there were 339 players, and I’m not kidding when I say from 339 down to 36 (itm) I had NO chips. As in I remember being at 100/200 with an ante and having 1400 chips. I grinded my ACE off until about 25 players left, I finally got a decent stack. I took a hold of the chip lead with 15 left and I was feeling pretty good. It was weird I actually had hands hold up. Got down to the final table and I went in 2nd in chips. The final table wasn’t that tough. Universe, Ryan Fisler, PSCYHO Caio Pimenta were prolly the toughest players to play against. I got cold decked with 1010 against JJ, got lucky with AJ suited against AJo. Let’s see what else…o yeah Pimenta lost a big pot, and I knew he was going to tiltspaz the very next hand when I raised AQ on the button and he shoved in 30+ bb’s, I snapped and he had the good ol’ K4 of spades and of course they reward him. HUGE POT. Played a huge pot again with him BvB where I had QJ against 99 and didn’t improve. So anyway, psycho ended up winning it after we went HU. There was one hand which could have been a turning point. I raised QJ, he 3 bet I called, flop came a10q, he checked, I checked behind, turn was a 5, he checked again, I bet 2/3 pot he called, river was 8 and it went check check, and he turned over 88. OKAY. I guess he was just destined to win this one. Whatever I was pretty happy with the result and had an amazing rail. They were cracking me up the whole final table. So thank you Bax, Sheets, Shaun Deeb, Allen “chainsaw” Kessler, Charder, Junglen, Brady, Michelle the Dealer, Michelle V and anyone else I forgot, for the support, you know how much it means to me.
So the very next day FTOPS started and the first event was $200 6 max with 4500 entrants. Well, I almost final tabled this one too. Busted out 36th, played a hugantuous pot with AK in the cut against the button who had KK. Gross. Would have been so so so sick. Plenty more FTOPS events tho, and I usually do pretty well in them. Shout out to Brent Hanks for final tabling the $500 shootout and almost doing the same in the $200 Cubed. So good luck to everyone playing them and see some of you in New Orleans for the Circuit event or Commerce for the 2k, 5k.

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Poker is hard. Not the actual game itself. The game itself, and especially as a career, might be the easiest thing ever. I mean you sit down all day and you play a GAME. Sigh. How sick is that? But every other aspect of poker is tough, in my opinion. Mentally, physically, emotionally. I’ve realized like any job, it’s extremely important to keep a balance. I miss my friends and family at home and my life outside poker. It may sound like I am complaining, but more just expressing my need to remember where I came from, and to not get wrapped up in everything that the community of poker brings upon us. It can change who we are, and I don’t EVER want that to happen, you can quote me on that right now. This is my poker blog obviously, but if you have been reading so far, I am pretty open. Ok let’s get back to poker….
Ok, so April started off with me being COMPLETELY exhausted from Rincon’s event. The very next day Shaun Deeb and I drove from San Diego to Vegas at like 7 am to make the first event of Bellagio. Well that wasn’t very worth it, as Shaun busted before I even had a chance to find my table, LOL. I, on the other hand, managed to bust in level 2, which is actually very unlike me. I had a perfect read on this guy where I limped in with 67 of hearts, flopped top pair on heart, 2 spades, and I led, called the flop, and when the offsuit 4 hit the turn I moved it in and he had 34 of spades which means he had a 4 high flush draw, but he turned two pair. SIGH. So I was onto play mostly every SCOOP event. Didn’t make much noise in SCOOP, I had 4 cashes overall and prolly played 10 events. I went real, real deep in the Razz and 5 card PL draw, which….well I don’t know what to say about that. I get the game, but don’t have much experience with it. Like I say all the time tho, if you are good at cards, you should be able to pick up a game in snap, and be pretty well versed in the strategic side quickly. Two other small cashes, did NOT make SCOOP as successful as hoped for.
I played a few more Belly and Caesars events, and no bueno. I’m not sure why I had such a terrible month, but I don’t like it. Running bad definitely did not help, but that’s no excuse. I also played Venetian Deep Stack ME which was 2500 buy in. Ok, let’s talk about this for a second. I managed to build a great stack, and then my table broke and I got moved to a table with Mike “goleafsgoeh” Leah and Doug Lee. I’m always happy to see Mike and don’t mind playing at his table, he is a great guy and a very talented player. On the OTHER hand….DOUG Freakin LEE……NO. I’ve played with him once before and I remember thinking how awful his attitude was and how HORRENDOUSLY out of line he acted at the table, but hey everyone has their off days, so I kind of was just like whatever. But now again, I have him at my table, and he calls Mike’s 4 bet with K9 and Mike had AK obviously, and he hits 2 pair on Mike, and instead of stacking his chips quietly, he begins to belittle and berate Mike. As if MIKE played his hand bad. I was honestly in SHOCK as this is a well known pro, and he is acting like a 4 year old. I felt like saying something then, but Mike was handling himself, so whatever. Then comes the hand where I have KK on a 10102 board, and he has JJ and turns a J for all the chips, and he proceeds to belittle ME and tell me how I played my hand wrong. This was just UNBELIEVABLE to me. At that point is when I become a raging word that rhythms with witch, and just unleash the ETAY on him. I pretty much told him that when all he can do is get it in BAD every time and get there, he needs to shut the hell up and take the chips. I’m pretty sure I said more than that, but you get the point. I know that Bonomo just put up a blog about Men Nguyen and his out of line behavior, and I applaud him. These so called “pros” need to be held accountable for the way they treat others, and for the name they give to the poker community, it makes me SICK. (deep breath) Ok we got that out of the way. Anyway, tournament wise, I ended up getting really short after that, and busted right before the end of day 1.
Caesars Circuit Main Event. Pretty much had ZERO chance. I lost with 2 sets in level 1 and 2, somehow managed to still have chips, got real short and bustod. Pretty standard when it’s just not your tournament. I had an extremely tough table, which included Evan McNiff 3 betting me every hand on my left, Kathy Leibert to my right, Eric Lindgren to my left and Johnny Chan across, some young Russian kid who ended up making the final table, and another semi decent guy to Chan’s left, and then maybe 1 or 2 softer spots. SIGH. O well. Great job Bonomo for winning it, and Matty G for a great FT finish as well! Still got New Orleans before the WSOP, and I have some unfinished business, so pretty much planning on ripping that tournament apart.

Caesars Circuit event interview with Joy Miller

My adorable buddy, Matt \"Lagoo\'s\" Caesars Circuit Interview with Joy Miller

The WPT Championship final table featured two great friends of mine, Shannon Shorr and Christian Harder. Both extrememly good players and well deserving of a championship FT. Deeb, Junglen, Chewy, MLagoo, Maria Ho, Joy Miller, Lacey Jones and myself all sat in Charders section, but were defintiley cheering for both. It was a great time. It’s always nice when you can support your friends in something like this because them winning makes you so happy, almost as happy as if you were in their shoes. Shannon went out 5th and Charder went out 4th on a real cooler spot. Incredible showings and super proud of both of them.

The Dirty Thirty: Yup. My girl Lacey Jones turned 30 this month and last week we celebrated it. It was awesome we had a great dinner at Lavo and then went upstairs to the club for the night. It was great, she had an amazing group of support show up, a lot of poker players and just good friends. For 30 the girl is rockin it. You’ll see her for sure at the WSOP doing lots of interviews and playing some events. The ladies are going to have a good ‘09 series for a FACT.

Not too much going in May. Going to relax a bit, play online most days, and I will be at New Orleans circuit event and then try and make the 1k HORSE, 2k and 5k and Commerce, we shall see. Other than that I am going to mentally prepare for the WSOP. I am going in FOCUSED, DETERMINED and ready to rip some faces off.

Peace & GL!!

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Exit Interview with Joy Miller

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Rincon Interview with Joy Miller

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Had a good run in Rincon. I actually told a few people I had a good feeling about this tournament because it was my first circuit event and my first time being at Rincon. I just have this superstition about me having a little run good the FIRST time I play a certain event. I said the same thing about WPT Biloxi, and I had the chip lead after day 1 and then I blew it. I think I messed with my superstitions a little bit that time. Well anyway, let’s start with the 1k.
156 players. My first table was actually pretty tough. It was the late registration table, so of course all the young degens were at it. Pretty solid table, had this kid Scratch who ended up making the final table with me in the main. The kid plays great. So the first couple levels were a bit slow, and our table broke. I got moved to a little bit better table. Eric (Rizen) Lynch was the only player I recognized and he was playing with a shorter stack. There was another girl, who I actually have to give props to too, her name was Kim and she was from Japan, and she was super solid as well. Well anyway, I did what I was suppose to, played solid, and my reads on people right now are incredible. Not really too many interesting pots, played my usual style of pot control and value. Had a pretty big hand where a “usual” limper limped, Rizen raised, 1 smoothie, 1 smoothie from the small, I wake up with KK, I three bet, limper folds, Rizen folds, smoothie 1 folds, and SUPRISINGLY the small blind calls. The flop came A53 rainbow. Check I check behind of course. I am going to check ALL pairs behind here on this board, even if I had AK, AQ I’m still checking behind. The turn was a K! Guy bets 1/4th the pot, now it’s the K of clubs bringing a flush draw which I’m not TOO concerned about. I raise anyway, a small raise for value to leave the buy 5k behind in a pot of 15k. The river is 10 of clubs. Not the greatest card in the world, but he checks again, and so I put in the 5k and he calls with AQ. Pretty big turning point in the tournament for me, it gave me a decent chip lead over my table. We got down to the bubble and by now I have a little below avg stack and I raised the first hand on the bubble with 1010. A guy moves it all in, and now I tank. Ok, first of all, you don’t know how many times I bubble these 1k’s because I just DON’T care about the money at that point, and I am willing to play huge pots. This guy has made too many plays like this with extremely marginal hands, 4 times I saw him show down AJ like it was the nuts. I just absolutely KNEW I had the best hand. Sometimes I think too quickly though and act too quickly and make mistakes. I decided to take my time here, talk to the guy a little bit, yell at him a little…blah blah blah… There was something about his calmness in this hand where I go to shove my stack in and at the last second, even though it HURT so bad I folded the hand. He flipped up AA. PHEW. That fold saved me, and eventually we were done for the night, playing the final table the next day.
Final table was not too tough. There was I pretty good player, called himself Ha-bee-bee and there was also Kim from Japan. I grinded a below avg/avg stack all the way day to 4 people, and I got in a huge all in with Habibi for the chip lead. I had AJs and he had KJ. The flop came 883, I couldn’t imagine a better flop, but I still found a way to lose. SIGH. 4th place for just under 13k. S’ok though, I even said that I guess the run good was saved for the Main Event…..
Day 1 I was a little bit late, but had already bought in few days before. I get to my table and I see Paul Smith, Mickey Mouse Mills and Devo. Not the best table I could think of seeing as the field was only 106 players and there were so many unknowns. Interestingly enough, Paul and Devo both busted in the first couple levels. I had a real insane start of the day. I chipped up pretty quick to 26k. Mickey was playing kind of a short stack early, when he limped in , I had 88 I raised, he called. The flop came 854 all clubs. He checked, I bet ½ pot, he raised I moved him all, he called with JJc. The turn was the Kc and the river doesn’t fill, and Mickey gets up to leave. He doesn’t even realize he has the flush. I’m like, “you’re gonna win this one”. That was a 18k pot, and pretty important at the time. So I was down to about 13k. Chipped back up to 35k, back down to 15k back up to 33k. All in like the first 4 levels. From there I pretty much played average stack till we got down to about 4 tables. I raised on the button with 69s, this crazy asian calls from the small and the big blind calls. The flop comes k95 one spade. Checks to me, I check. The turn is the 3 of spades, Crazy Asian bets 1/3 pot, I call. River is an off 8, he checks and for some ungodly reason I thought I rivered two pair, and so did a massive over shove for value. This takes 3 minutes to finally call….during that time I realized the mistake I made. When he called I was like sigh, nice call…but he wouldn’t flip his hand. At that point I realized I just got the thinnest value, he flipped up a3. THAT WAS HUGE. Right after that hand I got moved again. I had Shaun Deeb to my right, and another a couple other decent players. Shaun and I were chatting, messing around and we were being dealt one more hand. I had made a joke about his opening ranges, and of course he raises the hand right before break. I get KK, I three bet. Guy in the small blind, who is actually a very good player, cold 4 bets, Deeb tanks and folds AK, and five bet shove and get called by 1010. That pot gave me chip lead with 26 left and I held that lead until the end of day 1 with 16 left.
Day 2 we went pretty fast from 16 down to a final table of 10. I spewed off 100k in chips doubling up one short stack and having to raise fold a few times. I went to the final table with an average stack again. I played pretty patiently, knowing where my spots were and picking up important pots here and there. I busted on Cosmo out with 88 against AQ which is just SUCH a sick hold for me. I’m not a favorite in races like that.  That was an important pot. Here is the big hand. Pilgrim was short and shoving his stack in every chance he could. Tryba opens from early, Pilgrim shoves and 4 bet shove with KK. Tryba lays JJ down face up and Pilgrim flips up A4. Flop comes J104, turn was clean and river A. SIGH. That was such a huge beat to take there. After that Pilgrim was unstoppable, busting players and winning every hand. I was so tilted after that I had to get up walk around, Deeb was there sweatin me and he calmed me down a bit. I had to maintain composure and really focus, because now I had to work twice as hard. We finally got down to 3 handed and I was the short stack. I played a big hand with Charles where I raised with 89 suited, he called. Flop came 887. Check, check. Turn was J. He bet I raised he called. Then he checked dark. The river was a 7, and so I moved all in. Another over shove, but definitely getting value here. He called and showed 710. That double up was HUGE, and at that point I was felt like I could really win this thing. Finally we got to heads up and Pilgrim had about 4 to 1 in chips and we made a deal to chop everything evenly. People are not going to agree with this, I don’t even know if I agree with it, but that’s what was done. So I took 2nd place and took home $118,000. I’m disappointed I didn’t get the win, but I really feel like there is many more opportunities for me. I really really REALLY want to express how much it meant to me, all the support I got throughout the final table. I don’t know if people realize how mental this game is, but having tons of support and friends behind me, it makes THAT MUCH of a difference. I realized that in this tournament more than ever, there were times where I could of blew up, and had constant encouragement, it was just amazing.
Ok well that’s that. Just realized how boring this blog may seem. LOL. Anyway, I will be playing SCOOP for the 10 days, and I will also be playing Bellagio, Venetian Deep Stack, and Caesars Circuit events. April is such a busy month in Vegas, but I am EXCITED for it all. I am taking most of the month of May off, except for going to New Orleans to play the Circuit main there, that’s it. Then World Series of Poker….Here I come.
Peace & Good Luck!

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