She has arrived
Posted by Viktoria | Filed under Baby stuff
Norah Jane Ilona Brown finally arrived on the 12th July after a complicated birth that ended with a C-section. She was 9 lb 9 oz, a pretty large baby.
So far I am surprised how well it is going and how much we can sleep and go out with her. I think this is the fundamental difference between having one baby or having twins. None of this would be possible with twins.
I didn’t plan to have her in our bed during the night, my plan was that she would sleep in the bassinet by our bed but that didn’t work out for two reasons: one – she wakes up usually within 15 mins if I put her down in the bassinet instead of sleeping with her; two – if I try to swaddle her, she wakes up, but if I don’t swaddle her, she wakes herself up because of her wild hand and leg movements, plus she is cold without a blanket and a loose blanket is not safe in the bassinet.
So for the first 5 nights after coming home from the hospital (2 days after birth) I slept with my rocker/recliner chair with her, because I could hardly get up from the bed to sit up to feed her – my incision just hurt too much. After several days and being fed up with sleeping in the rocking chair, when I was well enough to sleep on my side (which I couldn’t do with the fresh wound for days) I started to sleep with her in our bed and feed her in the side-lying position. So I am actually getting more sleep than I expected although I am still awake for a good portion of the night, but at least it is comfy and I can sleep while feeding and between feedings.
Our social life is much better than I expected too. We went to our first BBQ party when she was 5 days old – we had a lot of fun and she was asleep the whole time. We visited my in-laws 3-4 times already and went out to have dinner with them the other day. On Saturday we went to have lunch with friends – Norah was asleep the whole time, then visited her twin cousins – she spent most of the time asleep again and we went out for dinner with other friends. So it has been really easy so far and I think we are lucky that she doesn’t cry much and when she does, she usually has a good reason – 90% of the time she is hungry (after all she is a big baby) and most of the other times she is dirty.
I haven’t played any poker lately, but I plan to make my online come back when I play the heads-up against a lucky player who will be chosen on the Everest Poker Hungarian Cup final on 7th August. I hope to play some more poker online after that, maybe an hour or two every couple of days – that is the good side of cash games that I can sit down and stand up at any point. We’ll see, but that is the plan.
Here are some pictures of our precious baby:
No baby yet
Posted by Viktoria | Filed under Baby stuff
This is my due date, 1st July, but no sign of the baby yet. I hope she is not planning to wait much longer 
I can’t wait to meet her 
I don’t think it is surprising but I haven’t played any poker lately, I am too big and too uncomfortable to do anything. I just sleep, eat and swim in the pool – which is good for the baby and me. Plus, I cook sometimes. I have less and less energy to do that too. It is a blessing to have a pool in the back garden, however small it is, just to be able to cool down on the hot summer days.
I have been following the WSOP and the other Live The Dream team members’ performances. Congrats to Sigurd for winning a bracelet in the $2500 8-mix event! Amazing job!!!
As for the baby, I am glad we decided to have her here in Canada instead of Hungary. The preparation and the whole birth experience is quite good here (I hope to confirm this after…). We did tons of classes, like baby CPR, baby massage, lamaze, hospital tour, etc. So we feel quite prepared. Now we only need the baby herself ))
We also finalized the name, both our mothers’ names are going to be middle names. She will be called Norah Jane Ilona Brown. I like it
Baby closet
Posted by Viktoria | Filed under Baby stuff
For the last weeks I am more busy with stuff like this than with poker:
My husband says this little unborn baby has more clothes already than the two of us together. True LOL
So, for the last couple of days I haven’t been playing poker, I am just too big and too tired to sit down at the computer. Not sure I will play at all before the baby comes. I just can’t concentrate and I am very uncomfortable having such a big belly.
Anyway, no poker for a while. I’ll be back with either baby-stuff or maybe with poker, but then it will be later.
May summary
Posted by Viktoria | Filed under Baby stuff, Everest Poker, Online Poker
I have ambivalent feeling at this time – I still get the emails about the WSOP, parties, events, etc. and I feel a bit sad that I can’t be there. At the same time I have a very good reason not to be there and this reason is much more important than any poker tournament in the world. I am expecting my baby on the 1st July.
This is the reason why this might be my last post for a while, at least about poker . I am not sure if anyone would be interested in reading about diaper changes and breastfeeding in this blog Plus, as I hear, I will be to tired to write anyway.
So, about May. It was a strange month, partly very successful but also with failures. The biggest disappointment is the online tournament result, which was a big negative (-9k). However, I won over double that last month, so I will keep trying. The biggest reason for the negative result is that I played several WSOP satellites (on which you can get the cash credited or tournament dollars) and I haven’t cashed in any of them. These are much more expensive tournaments ($700) thank the other ones I played ($55-$350), so they influence the results greatly. If I just cashed one of them, that would have offset the whole negative balance.
Anyway, the good part of the month was my 2-7 game. First of all, the tournament result included my 2-7 win, which was close to 3k. On top of that, I won over $11k in 2-7 cash games which means that my month had a positive balance. I haven’t had a negative month in 2 years now. I played 16 sessions and won in 12 this month. I probably ran above EV, but I don’t mind at all ))) I played a little as high as $50/$100, but usually only up to $30/$60 where I am getting quite comfortable. I only play higher if the table is really good and there is no good game at lower limits.
The player, who helped me with some advice at the beginning of my 2-7 learning curve, is in 2nd place at the WSOP 2-7 tournament with 8 players left (Peter Gelencser). I hope he wins it
My 7 card stud game didn’t go well either. I played on $1/$2 stakes and had no success. It continuously seemed to happen that I bet all the way with the best hand and someone with a complete nonsense calls me down all the way and makes the best hand on the 7th street. But because this kept happening again and again, I start to suspect there is something wrong with my play, too. It can’t just all be bad luck. So I will drop to $0.50/$1 for a little bit to investigate what I am doing wrong. I will definitely not give up
My short handed NLHE didn’t go well either. My biggest problem is that I just don’t like short-handed play. However I will keep playing and practicing, learning from videos, etc. , because this game is much weaker on Everest Poker than full ring (at least at the stakes I like to play full ring – $2/$4 and up). I didn’t lose money on my cash games, but I hardly won anything which is disappointing.
So, this was probably my last month of playing serious poker for a while. I will still post if anything remarkable happens, but I can’t promise anything.
Won the weekly $215 buy-in 2-7
Posted by Viktoria | Filed under Baby stuff, Everest Poker, Online Poker
I really needed some success finally. I haven’t been doing well in the online tournaments lately and was just starting to get discouraged. I think I will not play as many tourneys as I did today because sometimes I felt there were too many tables going (10+).
There were 42 players in the 2-7 triple draw tournament and I got $2700 for the win, but that is ok. I just want to practice 2-7 tournaments to prepare for the WSOP next year. And as long as I don’t lose money while practicing, I am fine I also came around 100th out of 3600 in the 750k and cashed quite a few other tourneys today.
I am unable to cash on Everest Poker. I played 5 tournaments there today, no cash. Well, I guess it is only short term. But long term in tournaments is usually very-very long…
My life nowadays is much more about highchairs, strollers, rocking chairs and baby clothes. Got a ton of stuff yesterday. These tiny pink clothes are just sooooo cuuuuute She is gonna be a very well dressed baby
I am also getting more and more uncomfortable in the heat and with the extra weight. Well, I will just have to cope, there is nothing I can do.
2-7 and 7CS
Posted by Viktoria | Filed under Everest Poker, Online Poker
I have been playing online since I got back. I will play the 150k tourney on Everest today and several other tournaments. Hope to do well.
I played some 2-7 triple draw cash games on $30/$60 and $15/$30. I made $4000 last night which is pretty good. I had huge swings but finished nicely up. I was never much down. I am also trying to practice my 7-card-stud game. It’s been going well, made $21 in the $1/$2 game, but I only played very briefly while waiting for my 2-7 table. I hope to get good in 7CS too in the next year. I will gradually work my way up to the higher stakes, I don’t just want to jump into it. I made more playing 2-7 this year than playing NLHE cash games online
I am off to have some rest before starting the session today.
So that’s it live poker – for now
Posted by Viktoria | Filed under Everest Poker, Live Tournaments, Online Poker
I got knocked out of the Ladies Event in a weird hand. At the blinds of 200/400, I raised from the cut-off to 1100. The big blind took the 400 back and posted 2000. The dealer announced raise. I said it is not a raise, she just called and that was her intention too. The dealer said she put two chips in so it is a raise! Wait… she had to put two chips in to call! No, it is a raise to 2000.
I should have called the floor, but I didn’t. As the lady was quite loose with her calls and I thought she didn’t want to raise (I was probably wrong), I thought I could make her fold by re-raising. I was wrong, she had a monster and pushed all-in at which point I was getting 3:1 odds on my call, so as long as her range is not only QQ-AA (which it is not), I can’t fold. My Q7o didn’t draw out on her KK.
So this was disappointing but I think I finished a good season. (I think a tournament season should be from August to July, until the end of the WSOP) This was my first season when I played a lot of big tournaments thanks to my Everest Poker sponsorship and satellite tournaments before that.
I made 4 final tables (WPT, NAPT side event, Unibet Open and Budapest Poker Open Ladies Event) and won the NAPT side event. I hope some truly big results will follow next season which is very well possible if I keep playing so consistently and improve my game as much as I can. I also think the WSOP 13th place was a great success, I qualified for the $1500 event on Everest Poker from $100.
Now I will have close to two months for online poker and then no poker for quite some time. I started to work on my 7 card stud game again, I played an hour or two yesterday for small stakes ($0.50/$1) and made $30. I felt pretty good about my game so I will try $1/$2 for next. I have played on $2/$4 before, just a couple of times but I haven’t played in a while and I am just starting to learn this game so I wanted to take it easy.
I would like to be able to play the small 8-game tournaments on the WSOP by 2012. I think in 2011 I will play the 2-7 triple draw and 7 card stud, and possibly some more stud games like Razz or 8 or better. I hope it will be a big surprise when I show up in 2011 as a very mature 2-7 player who they have never seen before By that time I will have been playing for 2 years and hopefully get to some decent stakes online. I wouldn’t mind playing as high as $500/$1000 later if I can beat the game (and not necessarily by that time). Same for stud and other games, perhaps the 8-mix too.
So from July, no poker for months and months… only baby I am very excited about it, I can’t wait. I will be back in December playing some tournaments and then I guess the continuation depends on Everest Poker for the most part.
I am flying back to Toronto tomorrow.
EPT Grand Final and 2-7 TD
Posted by Viktoria | Filed under Baby stuff, Everest Poker, Live Tournaments
I am out of the Main Event, not far from the money – 199th, 128 paid. For the most part I played well, especially on my first table the first day. Then on the second table I made a huge mistake that influenced the whole tournament. I could have nearly doubled my 50k stack at blinds of 400/200 and then the whole story would be different.
I made a stupid lay-down which I still don’t understand. I went into the hand with a plan exactly to get into the situation in which I got and then through it away… arrrrrghhhhh… no idea why, I had no reason to do so except that I would have had to put another 100 big blinds in the pot. But that is what I wanted to begin with…
Anyway, I was really angry about that, but luckily it was the last hand before the dinner break so I had no time to tilt. I had a tough table on the second day. Some of my moves worked out well except a light cold 4bet, where the 3bettor went all-in so I had to fold. One more hand I could have played differently, but I think even if I did, the end result would have been the same or close to it because I couldn’t have avoided the last two hands.
Then I played my first 2-7 triple draw session on the $30/$60 tables, two-tabling and it went really well. I had a lot of good starting hands and I hit a decent amount of time, so I made over $2200. I guess now I can say I am a $30/$60 player in 2-7 TD. It is a milestone, I think this is where it starts to become serious money (at least for me). I don’t think I will play at this stake against the regulars, but this time there were several weaker players at the tables and that is why I decided to play. I will keep avoiding the tough tables for a while until I feel more confident at this stake.
Yesterday we had a touristy day with Everest Poker’s Jerome, a nice kid from the London office. It was funny walking around with my huge belly – I guess most of the people thought the 23-year-old kid was the father, LOL. We were laughing about this a lot ))
Today I will play the Ladies Event. I would like a nice finish for the season. Then no poker for 7 months… OMG – at least not live. I guess I will need to convert this to a baby-blog for a while It will only be about feeding and pooping and burping and no poker DD
Going well
Posted by Viktoria | Filed under Everest Poker, Online Poker
So I met these online tourney pros in San Remo and they inspired me to play more online tournaments. I think I will play more of them at the weekends before my baby is born (end of June) and then I can’t play for a while anyway.
I played two nights ago and it went pretty well. I played 8 tournaments and cashed in 3 of them, final tabled 2 of them. I came 5th in both, one was the Everest Poker $109 buy-in $10k guarantee with 98 players, the other one was a $163 buy-in with 960 players and a $144k prize pool. I got $800 for the first one and $9000 for the later, not bad for one night.
I didn’t manage to qualify on the satellites for the Monte Carlo Main Event, but I decided to play it anyway. I have the budget for it from my Everest Poker sponsorship and I feel very sharp, I think my game is pretty good now. I am doing well live and online lately, so why not give it a shot? I hope it is a good decision and I can show some good results on the tournament.
I am fed up
Posted by Viktoria | Filed under Live Tournaments
I played a satellite for the Monte Carlo Main Event last night and came 37th out of 171. Honestly, it is a miracle I got that far. The best hand I saw in 6 hours of play was 77. I doubled up with AJ vs 99, but I haven’t seen any reasonable other aces either (nothing better than A7o).
I just don’t think it is normal… 6 hours of play… No pairs, no AK-AQ-AT or anything remotely playable. I got my chips from a hobby player who pushed all-in against me with bottom pair and I had a relatively easy call with top pair.
The hand went like this: I had 20bb, found A5o on the small blind. I am not willing to raise-call with this, but I am absolutely happy to limp-reraise all-in with it. So I just call, the big blind checks. Flop comes AT7, all clubs. I don’t want to build a big pot, especially he is never folding a reasonable club here and I am pretty certain I have the best hand right now. I am willing to call 3 streets of betting.
The blind was 600, he bets 1k, I quickly call. Turn is the 2 of diamonds, check-check. River is the 4 of spades. I bet 1k just to get some value for my ace. I suppose I could have bet 2k and still get called by any pair. However he raised me all-in.
I had been playing with this guy for 4 hours by this time and my first reaction is to insta-call. However, I was really happy with my play that first I thought it through. Is there anything he could have hit with the 4? (Not really.) From what I saw from him, would he be trying to get value and raise smaller if he hit two pair? (Yes.) Does he think that big bets are the way to bluff? (Definitely.) So I call .
He shows K4 for bottom pair – funny play. Anyway, I was happy with the way I played, it is just not possible to make in such a fast structure if you never have a hand. Finally I pushed KTo from the cut-off for 12 BB and the dealer found QQ (same guy). He had several (3 or so) AAs during the tournament and tons of other good hands 
Whyyyyyyyy….. I hate to feel unlucky.
