Pocket Queens

F_Ivanovic

Hand	Equity	Wins	Ties
7c9c, AA, KK, AK	58.78%	174,483,195	1,290,744
QQ	41.22%	122,166,957	1,290,744

If it makes him feel any better :P I do the opposite when I play - I'll tilt de-reg tournaments if I make a bad play in 1. Probably not the worst tilting strategy come to think about it although the problem then is I'll be playing less tables than anticipated and end up not concentrating properly on the ones I'm still in!

Phantom66

Nice read Mrs B.

It would be good to see the ladies well represented in the HU FA Cup.

IrishRose and DarkAngel7 are in already - probably others too - you cant always be sure from player ids though.

What do you think about men adopting female names / avatars? 

Bromley023

In Response to Re: Pocket Queens:

Nice read Mrs B. It would be good to see the ladies well represented in the HU FA Cup. IrishRose and DarkAngel7 are in already - probably others too - you cant always be sure from player ids though. What do you think about men adopting female names / avatars? 
Posted by Phantom66

Interesting point.

To be honest, I don't really care either way what avatar/name an online player chooses to use. What I do care about is why.

Let's assume that a male player deliberatly chooses a female avatar because he subscribes to the stereotype Tikay alluded to earlier and thinks it will make him look "nittier". He believes that be doing so he can get away with playing an aggressive game unchallenged. The realiity? I don't really think this strategy is used any more. My experience has been that the gender bias has been pretty much eradicated from the European game and any man who thinks that such a strategy will work should probably look at the vulnerability in his own game!!  

Turning to your first point, forgive me but I confess to the HU FA Cup completely falling off my radar (blame UKPC!) Consider Team Bromley subscribed and in the draw.

Bromley023

"Los dioses de poquer me sonrien"

(c) Barcelona Tourist Board

It was the month that Season 12 of the ever-increasingly popular European Poker Tour (EPT) kicked off in the Catalan capital, Barcelona. Sure, it’s no UKPC, but the EPT is still considered to be the richest and most popular tour on the World circuit (meh, what do they know).

Barcelona is the only location to appear on the schedule in all 12 seasons of the EPT to date, and continues to be incredibly popular. Players get to bask in the late summer sun of the Med. Throw their hard-earned € on yachts, tapas, wine and the designer stores of Las Ramblas. And gaze in wonder at the spectacular sight of Sagrada Familia. Oh, and rise above the seas of Spain on a fly-board.

The players' love affair with Barcelona shows no sign of slowing down. Once again run alongside Season 6 of the phenomenal Estrellas Poker Tour, numbers were getting smashed at every turn. 3,292 players entered the Estrellas €1k Main Event. 152 players entered the €25k Single Day High Roller. 1,694 players entered the EPT €5,300 Main Event. And a staggering 477 entered the €10k High Roller. That’s some serious money.

Player Profile

(c) PokerStars

The best, for me, of the Spanish players is the lovely Ana Marquez. Winner of "Europe’s Leading Lady” at the 2013 European Poker Awards, she has racked up some impressive live results, the pinnacle of which was first place in the inaugural Hollywood Poker Open for a would-get-out-of-bed-for $320,189 (the very event that our own Simon Deadman took down just 12 months later). After 7 years of racking up some serious air miles, she seems to be taking a well-earned break from the poker world, and we didn’t see much of her (if at all) at EPT Barcelona, but hopefully she will be back soon. I know her best friend from us playing together on the EPT Ladies circuit and everyone who knows her speaks very highly of her. We need more of those players in our lives!

Results

€25k One-Day High Roller

By far the standout story of EPT Barcelona was the re-rise of Liv Boeree. Headline results have been a little low for the British PokerStars Team Pro, but she came back with a bang with a third place finish in this event, banking €391,00 in the process. Boeree has been dating Russian High-Roller specialist, Igor Kurganov, for some time now - that’s going to be one hell of a powerful household if this result is the start of her own HR journey!

EPT Ladies

The Ladies event was won by the incredibly popular WPT anchor, Lynn Gilmartin. Ladies - if you do not follow Gilmartin’s Instagram page then go do it now (*disclaimer* the writer can accept no responsibility for the copious amounts of life envy that will follow). Known much more for her incredible presenting than her playing, she seems to be taking to the felt a lot more recently and took down her first EPT trophy, before jumping into the Main Event. Go Lynn!

Main Event

There isn’t a lot of data our there that enables me to assess how many female entrants made the EPT Main Event, but it is believed that these events usually attract a higher ratio of female players than the “norm”. Kitty Kuo, Antonina Anapolska, Liliya Novikova and Natalie Hoff all ran deep and into the money, but no female at all on the FT.

Until next time.

MattBates

In Response to Re: Pocket Queens:

In Response to Re: Pocket Queens : Interesting point. To be honest, I don't really care either way what avatar/name an online player chooses to use. What I do care about is why. Let's assume that a male player deliberatly chooses a female avatar because he subscribes to the stereotype Tikay alluded to earlier and thinks it will make him look "nittier". He believes that be doing so he can get away with playing an aggressive game unchallenged. The realiity? I don't really think this strategy is used any more. My experience has been that the gender bias has been pretty much eradicated from the European game and any man who thinks that such a strategy will work should probably look at the vulnerability in his own game!!   Turning to your first point, forgive me but I confess to the HU FA Cup completely falling off my radar (blame UKPC!) Consider Team Bromley subscribed and in the draw.
Posted by Bromley023

Does anyone actually look at avatars?

Ice_Tiger

Excellent thread.

When I first started on SKY, I had a female avatar because I am useless with technology & pressed a few wrong buttons then didn't know how to change it.

I think this may have been useful 10-15 years ago but online those days are long gone. As you say Natalie, anyone that thinks a female avatar gives them an advantage needs to look at their own game. It did get me into some interesting conversations back in the day though. I got propositioned by several players that assumed I was female & often they gave me their money.

There are still quite a few men who treat women badly in the live arena. At my local casino, there are usually more than 10% female players in tournaments up to £50 but the growth in numbers appears to have stalled.

Both my kids learned poker at university and while my son still plays and plays live most weeks, my daughter gave up after just four live events, despite winning two. She said that she just didn't like it.

Tikay10

I'm fascinated by some of this.

Ice_Tiger wrote.....

"....Both my kids learned poker at university and while my son still plays and plays live most weeks, my daughter gave up after just four live events, despite winning two. She said that she just didn't like it."

For a young lady, a poker table must be a very daunting prospect, especially "Live".

I've played "Live" for a very long time, & generally speaking, I adore it. However, I can rarely remember a table which contained more than one lady. In most cases it is all men. So, for a young lady, it must be an awkward feeling.

Now consider this scenario.
 
You are invited to attend a Meeting, or a get together (non-poker), & to do so, 10 of you sit down at a round or oblong table, with the knowledge you will be sat there for, say, 5 or 6 hours.

Would you all introduce yourself to each other? Of course you would. Maybe just "hi", maybe a handshake, or even, at the very least, acknowledge everyone via eye-contact & body language.
 
But in poker, its very often the case that players don't make any effort to acknowledge each other when they first sit down. What school of manners, etiquette or social interaction do they subscribe to? What sort of person would not say "hi" in such circumstances?

This Wednesday, I have the rare opportunity to head up to DTD & and play a PLO Tourney. These are rare beasts, maybe 5 or 6 per year. It will cost me £330 to enter, a 5 hour round trip (assuming I don't make day 2) a few bob in diesel for the motor, & £10 or £20 to buy a few drinks for those I share the table with. Call it £400. Or I can sit at home, in my undies, with endless free cups of tea, & play Online. 

Seriously, the fear that I may get a table of people who cba to exchange the normal pleasantries of life might be enough to dissuade me from playing that PLO jobbie.
 
It's not always that way, of course. I shared a table with Natalie, the author of this Diary, & John Duthie at the February UKPC, & I doubt we could have had more fun in a month of Sundays. But, more often than not, it does not pan out like that.
 
So yes, there is one good reason why young ladies must find poker unappealing. Who wants to sit in silence with 9 strangers all day? 

Bromley023

In Response to Re: Pocket Queens:

It's not always that way, of course. I shared a table with Natalie, the author of this Diary, & John Duthie at the February UKPC, & I doubt we could have had more fun in a month of Sundays. Posted by Tikay10

Ah yes, I remember that table well. Was a good afternoon and the time flew by. I had a similar table at the UKPC 6-Max as it goes. Was full of guys who were happy to have a chat and who genuinely wanted to put faces to Sky Poker aliases.

I read an article on this very point by Ana Marquez when reading around for the EPT Barcelona update. Her view is that whilst she should be chatty and friendly at the tables (which indeed she is), she should always remember that her table mates are her competitors and such conversation should be limited and almost business-like. She accepts that, as a public figure, she should be friendly, approachable and professional when she is away from the tables (i.e. in corridors) but she questions whether there is a limit to how friendly a table should be. She agrees with Mr Kendall (albeit I am not sure they have had an actual debate) that there has to be a balance; who wants to sit in silence for 12 hours a day?

On the flip side of this, a table can be too friendly. I am talking of the local casino scene. They, to me, are much more daunting than the headline festival events, as all of the players know each other and play together every Friday night. Those tables are notorious for being unwelcoming and making you feel like an outsider.

I am perhaps too chatty at the table (and in other shock news, water's wet) and I am sure that I must annoy my table mates sometimes. I have a very low attention threshold and get bored easily. This results in me forcing people to talk to me. I like to think that if it works for lady Coren-Mitchell then it can work for me?!

B

Bromley023

Pokerfest Ladies Tournament - 2 September 2015

It was Ladies Day this week at Dusk Til Dawn, Nottingham, as our friends down the road hosted the inaugural Pokerfest Live.

And what a great occasion it was. The ladies took over the stage as they competed in a 2-day £330 tournament with a £15k guarantee. There were boxes of chocolates for everyone. And champagne if you wanted it. Spirits were high and the atmosphere was excitable. Well, most people were having a good time. I did hear some old grumpy pants get up off his chair at one point and ask us all to pipe down.

The £15k guarantee at the event meant that Rob and his team needed 50 runners to avoid overlay. That target was sadly missed, with just 27 entries as the clock slammed shut on the rebuy period (24 unique entries and 3 rebuys). Could we have realistically ever hit that guarantee? Perhaps not, but a couple of things struck me; (1) the buy-in and (2) the scheduling. There simply are not enough ladies out there who play and many of those who do are either not rolled to pay out £330 of their own cash or struggle to take time to of work to pay in the middle of the day, in the middle of the week. Let me be very clear here; I am a huge fan of the event and have nothing but positive things to say about its inclusion, but perhaps a lower buy-in of, say £120, run over the weekend would have attracted more runners?

Within the 24 entries in this event were some well-known names.  Lynne Beaumont, Eleanor Gudger, Renee Xie, Lauren Render and your writer, Natalie Bromley, all played. There were also some smaller stakes players, and three lucky ladies who had managed to win their seats after they were donated to a freeroll intended to publicise the event.

There were also some complete beginners. Like the lady who sat on my left for most of the day. Her story is a real mixed bag of emotions. After telling me how new she was to the game (this was only her second tournament), I asked her how she got into it.

She has been a netball player her entire life, loved the sport and played regularly. A couple of years ago, whist being treated for a appendicitis, her doctors discovered a tumour in her bowel. They had (remarkably) found it early enough to treat it, but the only way they could remove it all was to cut into the nervous system in her leg, leaving her perfectly mobile, but with no feeling down the front of her leg. It was a no-breainer and she opted for the operation.

The loss of the nervous system in her leg meant her giving up her beloved netball game and desperately searching for a new hobby. A friend suggested she try poker and so here she was, having been bitten by the poker bug right from the off. As she left us, she told me that she was a week away from hearing whether she is now in remission. I will be praying very hard this week for some good news; good things should happen to good people.

Results

For those who reached the final table, they were still not guaranteed a prize, with just five players reaching the money. Lauren Render was our unlucky bubble girl, but the congratulations were reserved for Vanessa Haney who scooped the trophy and the first prize of £5,250. 2015 has proved to be a profitable year for our champ, with her taking 2nd place and £3,000 in the August Deepstack, along with a long list of live cashes. Well done Vanessa.

Until next time.