Post BF update, WSOP, a different kind of 'Rounder?!'

It's been three months since online poker was essentially shut down in the United States, a day now known as "Black Friday" amongst the poker community. I apologize for my lack of blog entries during this time. I actually sat down and started writing numerous times but couldn't ever get very far in my entry before quitting. In all honesty, it was (is?) still too painful and I didn't want to come off as some dark, gloomy minded, "poor me" chick. Yet, I'd be doing a great disservice to truth if I ignored Black Friday or said it wasn't one of the most painful days of my life that will continue to impact me deeply. Three months later, and the ever changing emotions of anger, uncertainty, and disbelief are still there.

After Black Friday my husband and I spent a great deal of time trying to evaluate the best course of action for our family. We came to the conclusion that at this point in time we cannot justify moving for poker. Minnesota is where I always wanted to raise my family. Despite the fact that I hate the winter cold, it's a place I love. Our entire family lives within thirty miles of our home. My son has never known anything other than frequent visits with all of his grandparents and constant love and attention from his aunts and uncles. On top of that, my husband was recently hired for a full-time physical education teaching position at a school a few blocks from our house. Physical education jobs are few and far between so this is a pretty exciting opportunity for him and, for pretty much the first time ever, it will bring a routine, dependable paycheck to the Andersen household! Don't get me wrong, poker has provided wonderfully for my family, but the fact is, I never knew exactly how much money I was going to bring in month to month. Having a set amount of money we know will show up every two weeks is something we are looking forward to. If moving to Canada or some other foreign country could guarantee me a set paycheck that would with 100% certainty add to the financial security for my family, I'd consider it for at least a short time. With the ever changing poker landscape, I just don't feel like I have enough of a guarantee at this time to make the move. Also, I'm keeping my fingers crossed the US will get their act together and regulate poker sooner than later. I'd hate to go through the stresses of moving the family to have regulation go through and realize I'd have been better off just staying in Minnesota.

For now, the plan will be to stay in Minnesota and travel to play live. Unfortunately MN doesn't allow no-limit poker. There are casinos with poker but they play limit or very small spread games. Limit poker doesn't bode well to my style at all and the spread games aren't big enough to make a living. It's looking like I will be traveling to LA or Vegas for about one week out of every month. This isn't exactly ideal but quite frankly I'm not ready to get a nursing job and give up on poker yet, and without moving this seems to be my best option. The worst part of traveling is being away from the little guy, but I'm super blessed to have an amazingly supportive family and my husband is a very hands-on dad so I never have to worry about his well-being when I'm gone. Of course I miss him but we Skype frequently and the time always flies. Once again, I'm really keeping my fingers crossed legislation passes soon and this is only a temporary arrangement. To help pass the time between live poker trips and to keep bringing some money into the household I've started working part-time at a friend's bar. It's the first "real" job I've had since my first years in college. It's a very relaxed atmosphere and I'm friends with many of the girls who work there, so it's far from stressful and thus far I've enjoyed it. The downside is, I've had to miss a couple fun life events I'd normally have attended because I was working. Not going to lie, that pretty much sucked! It again reminded me of how blessed I was to have the flexibility of online poker. I realize I'm not going to get rich working at the bar, and being there long term doesn't really fit into my life goals, but thus far I've enjoyed it. In this economy, I think I'm pretty lucky to find any job. Having one that is fun, with a boss who is flexible and supportive of my poker career and the crazy travel schedule can only be attributed to life run-good. Btw, the bar is named "Rounders." How awesome is that?

I just returned home from Las Vegas where I played in a few WSOP events. Unfortunately I didn't have any tournament cashes but I feel like I'm playing great tournament poker and I'm on the verge of a major breakthrough. I bubbled both the Venetians and the WSOP Ladies events. Those were pretty disappointing as I was cruising along nicely in both of them. In the Venetian's I busted with [As][Kc] on a [Ks] Xs Xs board. The bb had defended with [Qs][7s] and flopped the flush. Chips got in on the flop and I bricked out. In the WSOP Ladies event I lost the classic QQ to AK race. When the cards were flipped over the girl next to me tried to encourage/comfort me by saying "Oh, I folded an Ace!" Another girl across the table piped in that she folded a "K." This of course meant the writing was on the wall and my QQ was screwed. As expected a K hit the flop and I was crippled and out shortly thereafter. I also played a $1500 NL event and the Main Event. There was really nothing notable about the $1500 event except that I was card dead and the fast structure made me flip for my tournament life a few levels in and I lost. I made day two of the main event and was feeling very good before I was coolered by the big stack at the table. I really wish I could have played more WSOP events but I could only be away from home for so long and I needed to account for some time to play cash games. I love tournaments and feel like I can be very successful at them but I'm just not able to put in much volume at this time. For now, cash will remain my bread and butter on most of my trips.

Despite the tournaments being pretty forgettable, Vegas was, as always, awesome! I was lucky enough to have my husband accompany me for the first half of the trip and my sister-in-law Kristi, and our friend Rachel come out for the second part. Kristi is getting married next month so this was sort of our mini-mild Vegas bachelorette celebration weekend. We ate good food, stayed out late, slept in, and had a blast. For a good laugh and to burn off at least a few of the calories we consumed, we opted to try a pole dancing class. I have a newfound respect for strippers! I consider myself pretty athletic and strong but I was the worst pole dancer ever! It's really incredibly difficult and I'm perplexed as to how these women do it AND manage to look good in the process. Next time you guys are at a strip joint remember to tip well because suspending yourself in the air, while hanging onto a pole and looking sexy, isn't an easy task!

Another highlight of the trip involved tagging along with the 'BOOM' crew to Daniel Negraneau's house for an interview. He's truly a charismatic guy and was just as nice and funny in person as he seems on television. It was really interesting to hear his perspective on some of the current happenings in the poker world and I now have one more reason to eagerly await the release of the film.

For the majority of the trip I was really busy with poker so I didn't get the chance to enjoy the Vegas nightlife. After I busted out of the main event I was pretty bummed and figured it was as good of time as any to have a drink. My poker media buddies Bill (Zimba), and Jay (Whojedi) along with Micros creator John Wray were happy to oblige and join in the fun. We met a bunch of other people in the Rio bar and had a blast. After the obligatory Pai Gow Poker session in the Gold Coast, I arrived back to my room around 5:30am. The crazy part is Jay and Bill had to work the next day. I have no idea how they functioned but I'm still, very impressed and honored they sacrificed precious sleep to cheer me up and have a good time. It seems every time I take a poker trip I meet some fun, interesting people who end up being lifelong friends. This trip certainly didn't disappoint and I'm already looking forward to next the reunion at the 2012 WSOP.

I promise I'll try and update this blog more frequently! Hopefully once I get into the new traveling routine I can post monthly updates for those who are interested. Also, my friend Bill did an interview with me while in Vegas that is posted here: http://www.gosugamers.net/poker/features/2758 It has much of the same information as this blog but also contains some information on how I got started in poker that some of you may find interesting. Check it out, and let me know what you think. I hope you all are running well in cards, and more importantly in life. Thanks for reading!!!!

Danielle 'Dmoongirl' Andersen

*Some pictures because I am much more likely to read a blog with pics

Jay 'Whojedi' Newnum took this shot of me grinding the Main Event.

The girls and I after our (failed) pole dancing lesson.

Taking the manditory shot in the giant shoe at the Cosmopolitan.