Last week I left off with my first impressions arriving at Borgata. Having seen only a quarter of the property, I was sold on how amazing it is - and we hadn't even begun to explore the spa!

Again I must say that if you haven't been to Atlantic City, you need to visit Borgata before you make any hasty judgments.

With only a few hours of sleep I was surprised at how refreshed I felt. The beds are quite comfortable and big enough for me and my boyfriend Heath Herring, who happens to be a heavyweight fighter in the UFC. We've found out the hard way that beds aren't really made for couples like us in mind.

My wakeup call was in the form of room service. This is a trick I've always used when I travel. Because I have a love affair with the snooze button, a wakeup call is usually hung up on and quickly forgotten about as I fall back asleep. With room service you have to physically open the door and get yourself out of bed.

Walking to the poker room filled with people I quickly realized this was not where the tournament is being held. I was impressed at how many people were playing live and how many tables there are in the poker room alone (83, to be exact).

Borgata beds: Big enough for a heavyweight UFC fighter, big enough for you.

I had to walk over to the event center where all the tournaments are held. A sea of poker tables and players filled the ballroom. The room was huge and wide open, filled with energy and light - all of which I love to soak up and use while I play. I strongly feel that a poker room that makes you feel comfortable and energized is vital to a successful tournament.

Finding the way to my table I sat down with 15k in chips in front of me. "Hell yeah," I thought to myself, "this is how I like to start off." Not to mention we had one-hour levels, so there was more than enough room to play.

Looking around the room I realized this was not going to be an easy tournament. You had top pros at every table as well as still relatively incognito online players.

Luckily I felt I had an edge - I had gotten to know a lot of these players through interviewing them during the WSOP. Instead of being intimidated by the field I realized something that was key in keeping myself focused and unrattled: I knew more about them than they knew about me.

J.C. Tran: Knocked out by Lacey's kings.

I won't go into a long list of the who's who playing the tournament, but I'll give y'all an example of people that were just at my tables alone. Ted Forrest, J.C. Tran, Marco Johnson, Shane Schleger and Matt Stout were all seated at one point at my first table, where I spent about three-quarters of the tournament.

I was able to build a healthy stack early in the first few levels by winning a big hand against Ted Forrest and knocking out J.C. when his queens ran into my kings pre-flop all-in. This was quite lucky for me since I went completely card-dead during the later stages of the tournament.

Instead of being frustrated by folding a majority of my hands I was able to stay calm by watching how these pros were playing. You can read all you want on tournament strategy and find out all the information on how to play in tournaments, but the best way to learn is by playing with the players you admire and look up to.

Chad Brown: Big enough to be a heavyweight UFC fighter himself.

I was able to watch certain plays and how each player handled him- or herself during the hand; that alone was worth more than any poker book you could buy.

I was moved to my second table with Marco, which had Chad Brown sitting at it. I was quite short-stacked and decided this would be my time to chip back up. I moved all-in repeatedly until I was called by the player to my left.

This time I had A-10 versus his pocket nines. I doubled up with a 10 on the river. Ouch. You could feel the guy next to me steaming and I gave Chad a look of "Holy crap! - I just sucked out."

The very next hand I picked up pocket aces and lo and behold got into a raising war with the tilted player. He ended up folding on the turn and I was back in business.

Here is where things could have been done differently. We were down to 32 players with 27 being paid out. A good friend and well-known pro sitting at the table next to me came up and told me to fold my way into the money. This being only the third $5k+ buy-in that I had ever played, I took his advice.

Most of the cards were easy to muck, but a few were good hands that I should have played. It took longer than usual for us to get to the money and by then I was severely short-stacked again. When the clock struck 4 a.m., we were told that we would continue play the next day.

Going into Day 2 I had 11 big blinds. I was so disappointed in the way I ended the night before that I felt I had already given up. Despite the great pep talk from my boyfriend, I walked into the tournament room dragging my feet.

Disappointed she gave up, but lesson learned.

I hated opening my bag of chips - they seemed so pathetic compared to everyone else's. And that sour attitude was the major factor behind my quick exit in 24th place. Instead of resetting and picking a good spot to double up I was overcome with the thought I had already lost.

This is exactly how not to play poker and something I will always regret in the way I handled myself. As they always say in poker all you need is a chip and a chair. Keep that in mind if you are ever in a short-stack situation, and never give up like I did.

I hope y'all enjoyed this part on Borgata. Next week I'll wrap up with the 2008 Winter Poker Open and all the fun I had this time around.

I'd like to thank everyone for all the comments I received last week and I'm really looking forward to getting to know all the readers here at PokerListings. Till next time,

Bonne Chance!
Lacey

www.LaceyPoker.com

Related Blogs:

• Thoughts on Borgata Part I

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