Evelyn Ng Blog

Even though there is no apparent gender bias inherent to poker tournaments, there is no doubt that women-only events have a totally different feel than open events. I am always somewhat disappointed that many of these poker playing females do not participate in “regular” tournaments, but it was so wonderful that almost 1200 women came out too play this year’s Ladies Championship. Many of them were playing their first poker tournaments, and perhaps their experiences at the WSOP will be their gateway into open events in the future. For what it’s worth though, I think the term “Womens’ Event” is much more appropriate than “Ladies’ Event”, but I will still support them all in the same.

I hate to say it… but, these fields can be pretty soft. Aggression once might have not been considered a feminine quality, however it’s the women who embrace this power who succeed in life and obviously, in poker as well. Although the field is definitely more passive in these tournaments, even the novice players tend to be better at disguising themselves then their male counterparts and can be much trickier to properly strategize against.

This world series event started out purposefully slow. In the past I would often feel under pressure to get a lot of chips early in order to dominate the table, but I tried a different tactic this year. I did not want to risk losing my chips and tournament life this time, so I played pretty tight and chose my spots very carefully.

Even though it can be an effective tactic, It’s not my style to antagonize other players or to try to instill fear in them, but more so to gain their respect and show them that I am there to fight, but that doesn’t mean it has to get ugly. Also, I do genuinely root for women and I want to be encouraging if I can. Sometimes though, you end up killing them with kindness, and so it works out for me that way too. It makes me think of the question posed in ‘A Bronx Tale’… “Would you rather be feared or loved?”

However, poker is a war. When the money-bubble is approaching, it’s time for battle. I was ready to start taking advantage of the image I had cultivated, and knew that many of these women would not take any unnecessary risks, so I started raising. A lot. This worked out great because I got to steal with impunity and never had to show any of my cards. It also happened to be fantastic timing that once my opponents might have been figuring out what I was up to, I actually started picking up some monster hands!

I did get my pocket kings cracked at this point, but I got all of those chips back and then some within just a few hands. I had several high pocket pairs, and flopped quad 8′s one hand, and in about one level, I had gone from an average stack of 15-20k to a very comfortable 70k.

At the very end of day 2, I got my kings cracked once again. In a women’s event maybe queens are supposed to beat kings? But then 10′s too? I didn’t sweat it though, I had played well and was proud of the 55k I ended with. I was 15th in chips out of the 61 remaining players.

I felt great going into Day 2, however my new table was pretty dangerous. I had only played the last 10 minutes of Day1 with a couple of them, so all 9 seats were complete question marks to me as to their skill levels and styles of play, the only person I had ever had experience with was Olga Varkonyi, and although she plays maybe one or two tournaments a year, she plays very well, and she also had a massive stack. Three of the top 6 chip-stacks in the tournament were at my table.

I had about 55k The blinds and antes were 800-1600 with 200 antes, and found myself holding AQ of clubs on the button and it was folded around to me. I really liked this situation because it looked as if I could have been on a total steal, so perhaps the small or big blind might overvalue an ace-rag or maybe try to re-steal. My 4600 raise was flat-called by the BB, a petite Russian blond named Svetlana who had did not talk much and had maybe 60k in chips.

The flop came 10 10 2, and she called my bet of 6500. I became extremely aware that this could be a really bad situation. I hadn’t seen her play at all, and I didn’t know what she knew about me either. She had not witnessed my solid play the day earlier or the monster hands I had shown down at the end of the night. There was no flush draw either, so she held either one of the other two 10′s, maybe a small or medium pocket pair, there was a very slim chance that she had a deuce in her hand, but perhaps she was calling me with ace-high or worse (though it was unlikely) looking to bluff me out on the turn or river.

The turn was a deuce, and we both checked. I admit, I had no plan for the river and did not know what I would do if she bet into me. I did think it was better to check than to leave myself open for her to steal if she had an inferior hand.

The river was a queen. The pot is already 25k, and now Svetlana bet 12k into me when I’ve finally made a hand that can beat a pocket pair, if that’s what she held. I thought about it for a few seconds, but I think that hitting that queen enforced to me that I (incorrectly) “had” to call since I really didn’t know what to do after she had called me on the flop. Svetlana turned over K 10 of spades for a full house to win the 46k pot .

Looking back, it was a bad call and that I should have thought about it much more. I think the chances of an unknown player check-calling a bet on a paired flop with no draws just to make a future bluff is very unlikely. I also don’t think many people would try to value-bet a pocket pair for such a significant amount . It was a crucial error, that left me with only 28k.

A few hands later, Donna Delfin who was in about the same rough shape as I was raised under the gun, and I reraised her going all in with an AQo. She went into the tank for a minute or so but made the call with 77. I was happy to flop an ace, but it was short-lived when I was then drawing-dead when a 7 hit the turn. I had only 5500 left after that. Soon after, I took a stab at stealing the BB from my SB with K3 of clubs and I was busted out to Julia Rea who held AQ. Three times screwed with AQ!

I was pretty devastated to bust-out in this way, because I only had myself to blame. When I’ve taken bad beats I don’t get depressed afterwards, because there’s nothing you can do when the luck doesn’t go your way. When I make a mistake however, it’s good to not go easy on yourself so that you remember the lesson. Svetlana Gromenkova (with the help of my 12k) went on to win the event. Although I don’t begrudge her for winning the pot with the best hand, but I can’t help but think that I could have been in her place. AQ will forever be a reminder to not forget the mistake I made against her in this tournament.

I used to sometimes refer to AQ affectionately as “big chick” or “slick chick” as a joke, but ya know… sometime ace-queen is just a bitch.

Play with Evelyn Ng at her own table in the Bodog Poker [www.bodoglife.com] room and see if you have what it takes to go up against a Bodog pro.

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