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The
Ladies Invitational tournament held at The Bicycle Casino was a little different this year.
The World Poker Tour invited five women: Clonie Gowen (returning champion of
Ladies Night 1),
Isabelle Mercier,
Wendeen Eolis, Sharon Goldman and Cyndy Violette.
The last seat went to the one woman who could win her way via a
No Limit Holdem
tournament held prior to the Invitational. This year, the winner was Lavinna Zhang
who beat out over 300 women including myself for her seat.
This
episode will not be considered one of the greatest of the WPT shows.
I was looking forward to seeing Cyndy kick some butt, but she never really
got anything going. I wanted to Clonie on the show for a little while
because she makes for interesting television, but she was the first person
eliminated. I wanted to see the other women just play great poker, but I
was not impressed by a lot of it.
Isabelle
seemed so serious throughout the tournament. It almost looked as
if she was giving the other women dirty looks. Every once in awhile, she
would crack a smile and you could catch a glimpse of some of her charm. I
am not suggesting that she smile throughout the tournament. Sometimes the
competitive nature of the game can make us look like serious creatures,
but it so much more appealing to the audience to see some of the lighter
side of personalities. I wish she would have shown more of that.
In fairness to her, I have to say that she played great poker. She was the
aggressor throughout the tournament and that led to her victory. She had
the ability to calculate pot odds and make correct calls. She was able to
get away from a couple of hands. She maximized the chips she won on a
couple of hands where she might not have got even one bet if she played it
another way. The fact that she got a lot more playable hands than the
other women didn't hurt either.
I decided to do the reports a little different this year. After doing so
many of them and then talking to some of the players after, I realized
that it is almost impossible to evaluate some of the hands. Players make
decisions based on all the hands played previously with their opponents.
The episodes that air for television have been edited, so it is impossible
to figure out many of the reasons why a player played a hand a particular
way. Although, I am not going to discuss many of the hands, I will discuss
when I think a player made a good play or bad play based on the
foundations of poker. This leads me to the following hand.
Isabelle,
Lavinna, and Sharon were the final three women at the table.
Lavinna folded on the button and Sharon raised the $60,000 big blind to
$200,000 with Q6. Isabelle thought for awhile and finally moved all-in
with A5. Sharon only had $200,000 left and was getting three to one on her
call. I remember thinking that it was going to be a difficult call to
make, but she had to do it. She was getting the right price against
anything except the best three hands, and she was in a desperate position
in any case. She folded the hand and was eliminated on the next hand we
saw when she took her A5 against Isabelle's AQ. I do not think there is
anything wrong with her raise in that spot, but I see two things wrong
with the way the hand was played. She should have called because of the
pot odds and her small stack, and her second mistake was if she was going
to commit half her stack on that hand, she should have moved all-in. She
would have made the decision more difficult for Isabelle. Sharon also
would then not have the opportunity to make a bad decision by folding.
I wanted to win my way onto this event, but if anybody deserved it, Lavinna
certainly did. That girl can play! I was impressed with every move
she made. She was not afraid to back down. She made remarkable moves in
certain situations. She called every pot when she was getting the right
pot odds. There was one hand that she called where many players wouldn't.
She raised with 95 suited and Sharon moved all-in. Lavinna asked the
dealer to pull the original bets in so she could see how much she needed
to call. Many players would not make the call in this situation even if
they were getting the correct odds because they would be embarrassed to
show their hand and their bluff. Not Lavinna. She called. I am not sure if
she has any interest in becoming a professional player, but if she makes
that move, she will be a force to be reckoned with.
The final results of the tournament showed that the aggressive players are
often victorious. Isabelle Mercier and Lavinna Zhang were the most aggressive
players at the table and they finished first and second respectively. Sharon
Goldman finished in third, Wendeen Eolis fourth, Cyndy Violette fifth, and
Cycalona "Clonie" Gowen was sixth place.
Ladies Invitational Three |