Tonight, WWdN West Coast Warmup #2 is happening at PokerStars, and I'll be honest with all of you: I like my chances.

Yesterday, I got heads-up in a $22 SNG, and had my kings cracked by 84d (!) when the flop came 6s-5s-9h, and he turned the 7h for a gutshot. On the very next hand, I had AKo. He raised, I called, planning to stop-n-go. When the flop came Ah Jh 9d, I sang a little song to myself, because I was certain to double up. He checked, I made a small bet, he raised and I pushed, confident I was ahead, and hoping he'd put me on a tilt-push and call. He called, showed Ac 8d, and I was about a 4:1 favorite. The turn was the 5d, improving me to about 9:1, and the river was the 8h, reducing me to 0:1. Ai-yah!

So what I'm saying is, I used up all my bad luck yesterday, and I'm dangerous tonight.

Event # 4 of the World Series of Poker Circuit tournament at Paris & Bally's finished up yesterday. This was a Ladies only event sponsored by the LIPS Tour.

It was a No Limit Hold’em event with 169 woman signed up to play. The buy-in was $200 + $30 and Jing Xia won the event.

Jing Xia beat out Nicole Schachrovsky in heads up play. Jing won $10,325 for first place. Nicole won $5,694 for second place. Kandi Kroon finished in third place and took home $3,129 for her efforts.

Readers of Woman Poker Player may be eligible to play in a freeroll tournament sponsored by the magazine. The event will take place at Titan Poker on November 25^th, and is open to any reader who signs up and participates in the Woman Poker Player Forums. 

        

The magazine made its debut in April of this year, and boasts having Barbara Enright on their team as Editor-In-Chief. Enright is the highest-placing woman in a World Series of Poker championship event, placing 5^th in 1995, and has been involved in the poker community for more than a quarter-century.

A few months ago, I wrote a post about a podcast dedicated to poker called Card Club on Lord Admiral Radio.

If you don't know, Lord Admiral is a weekly podcast from Canada. They discuss all topics related to poker. You should go check out their recent show and podcast.

This week's episode features an interview with Isabelle Mercier. The show's hosts are Cincinnati Sean and Brent Stacks. The Isabelle interview also features the Poker Prof from Las Vegas and Poker blog.

The 2005 World Series of Poker Circuit at Caesar’s Indiana hosted a LIPS Tour Event yesterday on October 29th.  It was a No Limit Hold’em event and the buy-in was $200 + $30.

The total prize pool was $61,745. There were 326 players signed up for this LIPS event. Veronica Heath won the event when she beat out Jodi Schill in heads up play.

I was reading an article today about ladies-only poker tournaments, and was surprised to find that the author was actually in favor of them. More often than not, I read about female professionals - most notably Annie Duke - talk about their opposition to it. 

              

Personally I think that poker is poker, and though there will always be some males that subscribe to what I would dub the ‘old boys club of gender-specific endeavors,’ I don’t see why there needs to be a separate game for just women. Granted, I have never had a truly horrible experience playing in a mixed game, and maybe that is why I feel that way. 

                                 

Just a reminder for everyone. Tonight, the World Poker Tour is airing a new episode. It’s Ladies Night 3. Courtney Friel will be getting some air time tonight. As reported, Jennifer Tilly wins the WPT title. This event was taped in September. Check your local listings for the start time.

Last year's defending Ladies champion, Isabelle Mercier will be playing in tonight‘s show.  First place prize in this event is the $25,000 seat into the WPT World Championship at the end of the season.

There is a good interview on PokerNews.com with Shirley Rosario. For those of you unfamiliar with who she is, Shirley has a long list of jobs - all involving the game of poker. She is a Los Angeles-based poker player and runs the popular website Poker-Babes.com. Shirley also co-hosts ‘Live at the Bike’ which is a weekly live web broadcast of a ring game from the Bicycle Casino in LA. 

               

For her day job, Shirley is a proposition player at the Bike Casino. This, in short, is a player paid to sit in on tables that are short-handed until they fill up. Prop players play with their own money, and keep their winnings / sustain their own losses, but are usually paid an hourly wage by the casino. Shirley gives a lot of information about this job on her website. 

                

Toby Leah Bochan, author of The Bad Ass Girl's Guide to Poker, has been doing book readings in different cities over the past week. She'll be in New York City on Tuesday, October 11th at the Columbia University Bookstore at 7pm. Visit the Columbia U. Bookstore website for more information.

Her recent book "The Bad Ass Girl's Guide to Poker" is a great gift idea for your female friends who are starting to get into poker. Toby's book includes complete rules, winning strategies, table manners, poker slang, flirting, bitching, and other ways to use being a girl to your advantage.

Michelle Rovella is the newest LIPS (Ladies International Poker Series) Tour champ. She won the event that was held at Sam’s Town in Las Vegas. Check & Raise Poker sponsored this event.

There were two tournaments held this weekend and Michelle won both of them. She learned to play poker by watching it on television and playing online. Too funny!

Lucy Rokach is known to the poker world as one of the best European women players. A former history teacher, she has been a professional poker player for more than fifteen years. 

         

In the 2004 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, Nevada, Lucy placed in 159^th, which was second highest of all the female entrants, outlasted only by Rose Richie. 

           

Lucy Rokach also writes articles about the game of poker, and is a regular contributor to Card Player Magazine. You can link to her articles here.

Erin Ness was raised in New Jersey, and attended Georgetown University. After graduating and getting a job at Maxim magazine as a photo assistant, Erin won a company poker tournament and the first place prize of a buy-in to the 2004 World Series of Poker. Poker was not new to the 26-year old Ness though, she has been playing since she was a child, and while in college played three games a week.

Erin placed in the money during the 2004 WSOP, and was the third highest female finisher when she busted out in 207^th place. Competing in the Poker Royale: Young Bloods tournament with Scott Fischman, Micheal Mizrachi, Erica Shoenberg, David Williams and Michael Sandberg, Erin placed in second, with David Williams capturing the title.

Professional poker player Kathy Liebert was born in Tennessee, but raised in Long Island, New York. Graduating with a degree in business and finance, Kathy worked as a Business Analyst for Dun & Bradstreet. Dissatisfied with her job, Kathy began playing the stock market and started playing poker on a trip to Las Vegas. 

       

Moving to Colorado, Kathy began playing poker weekly, eventually landing a job as a ‘prop’ player at the casino. She studied the game extensively and decided to try tournament poker. The first tournament she played was Omaha High/Low and she finished in second place. A week later she played her first Texas Hold’em tournament, and also placed second. This was just the beginning of a colorful career in the poker world. 

       

One of the most memorable wild women of the old west, Poker Alice moved to Colorado from England in the 1860s and eventually married a mining engineer who played cards at local gambling parlors. Alice accompanied her husband, learned the games and began playing for a living after her spouse died. She earned the name Poker Alice and quite a reputation to boot. 

    

By the end of the gold rush, Alice had made over $5,000 (an enormous amount for those days) and moved to New York to retire. In her lifetime, the wild woman shot two men, killing one, and eventually opened an establishment which was a combination of a card room and a brothel.

      

Despite her wild ways, Alice refused to play or deal cards on Sunday, and chose to teach Sunday school lessons to her fellow ladies.

Born in Toronto, Canada in 1975, Evelyn Ng worked as a poker and blackjack dealer before becoming a touring poker professional.  

Evelyn is an active participant in the World Poker Tour, and is featured in the new WPT video game. Known for her ability to perform ambidextrous chip tricks, Evelyn often passes the time during tournaments discussing them with other pros and practices her signature “butterfly” trick.