World Blogging Championship of Online Poker on PokerStars! January 24, 2011
Posted by Administrator in : poker , 2 comments
I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! The WBCOOP is a free online Poker tournament open to all Bloggers, so register on WBCOOP to play.
Registration code: XXXXXX 918393
PCA Ladies Bahamas Gallery January 20, 2011
Posted by Jennifer in : poker,travel , add a comment
I just got back from Paradise Island in the Bahamas, where I played in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventures Ladies Event, held at the overpriced but spectacular Atlantis Resort. Ricki Lake (yes, that Ricki Lake!) busted me with AK>ATs in a standard spot about seven levels in. I did have some interesting hands earlier in the tournament, which I’ll share later.
As you can see from the photo from my hotel room balcony, the Atlantis was an easy place to enjoy. The waterslides and aquarium made me feel like a kid again and it was lovely to meet and drink with people I had previously only known from their online screen-names. I actually felt sad to leave at the end of the trip, which is rare for me–I’m usually excited to get back to Philly.
The photo gallery below includes shots from the tournament, the resort and Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas. Also look for my full recap later this month on PokerStarsWomen.com. Many congrats to Change 100 (Kristin Bihr) who took down the tournament for almost 30K and wrote a candid recap rich in details on her blog, Pot Committed.
What were the chances that the final four would be all blonde? I came up with about 50 to 1.
Daniel tapping the glass.
A statue of Columbus and Bahamian schoolchildren.
A cannon used as a horizontal trash can.
At this point the tournament was down to just four players, including Team Pokerstars Pro and writer Vicky Coren and the eventual winner, Kristin Bihr.
Talk show host & actress Ricki Lake and Poker Player/tax attorney Jamie Kerstetter
Maryann Morrison, the editor of Woman Poker Player Magazine and producer of Women’s Poker Hour
Lauren Kling, highstakes tournament player and PCA Ladies Event runner-up.
Carmelita Cothron (left), who won 100K on PokerStars’ Million Dollar Challenge and Stella Davila (right) a Women’s Poker League regular.
Kalik, a Bahamian beer drunk in spades by poker players last week.
A Happy Poker Halloween: I Win a Trip to the Bahamas! November 3, 2010
Posted by Jennifer in : poker , 7 comments
On the Saturday before Halloween, I hosted a costume poker game with competitors such as Antoine Dodson, a bird, a construction worker, and a lion. The doctor’s stethoscope reigned supreme; The doc won heads up against the queen of spades when he flopped quad aces.
The next day (actual Halloween), I was on to my usual roster of Sunday tournaments. I was not having a very good day and considered sitting out of my planned afternoon qualifier to the Ladies PCA (PokerStars Caribbean Adventure) Weekend. I did some paperwork, contemplated and decided to enter five minutes late. I chipped up quickly and made the final table. There were 26 players and just a single package up for grabs and eight $215 consolation rebates. Several dozen mostly lucky flops later (J9>>AJ stood out), I won the thing! I’m going to the Bahamas! The victory was particularly sweet because I suffered so many tough bubbles in my attempts to qualify for the Ladies event at EPT Monte Carlo, and because I had just written an article for PokerStars Women about satellite strategy.
Look for my follow-up on PokerStars Women with specific hand examples and tips.
Introducing PokerStars Women October 24, 2010
Posted by Jennifer in : feminism,poker,travel , 8 comments
I’m excited to announce that I am part a brand new team of writers for PokerStars Women! My first article covered Lauren Nakhoneinh Pottmeyer’s (pictured below) big win at the US Ladies Poker Championship. Lauren’s successful but risky road to immigration really put into perspective the vast difference between fortune in life and poker. To be clear, it’s more important to be lucky in the former 
My second piece for PokerStars Women will detail how to qualify for the Ladies PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Weekend (January 14-16) and provide basic satellite strategy tips. I’m really psyched to be part of this unique initiative to bring more women into poker via live events, the Women’s Poker League and an online community. Rebekah Mercer, who wrote a profile of me earlier this year in her Examiner column is the Senior Editor while my Women’s Poker Hour co-host Amy Zupko is also a contributing writer.
Speaking of Amy, listen to our latest Women’s Poker Hour shows (also available for free download on itunes!), with Team PokerStars Pros Maria “maridu” Mayrinck, Celina Lin and entrepreneur Ellen Leikind, author of PokerWoman.
Move Over Credit Card Roulette: Poker 1 on 1 with Vanessa October 8, 2010
Posted by Jennifer in : poker , add a comment
Although I don’t own an Ipad or iphone or Itouch yet (I’m anxiously awaiting Ipad 2.0 to show off my video art), I finally got my hands on a friend’s to play around with Poker 1 on 1 with Vanessa Rousso. I really enjoyed playing poker on the app, because unlike chess, I can still defeat artificial intelligence most of the time. Indeed, in our private lesson this summer in Vegas, the real Vanessa Rousso told me that she can beat Vanessa on the ipad most of the time. However, she and the programmers are constantly improving the artificial Vanessa, so that may change soon. My favorite thing about the application is that you can also play heads-up poker with your friends on it….a better way to determine who pays for dinner than CCR?
Going Deep in Guggenheim YouTube Play and WCOOP September 25, 2010
Posted by Jennifer in : art,chess,feminism,hooping,poker , 5 commentsI’m happy to report here that Hulachess has been shortlisted for the 1st Guggenheim YouTube Play biennial! 125 videos made the cut out of over 23,000 entries from 91 countries. Browse the shortlist at YouTube.com/Play and find hulachess either by my username (Superjenium) or in the “Non-Narrative” Category. Now an art and filmstar jury including Shirn Neshat and Takashi Murakami will whittle the field down to 20 videos to be installed at the Guggenheim Museum in New York (as well as the Bilbao, Venice and Berlin institutions) from October 21-24.
Because I play in so many Multi-table poker tournaments (MTTs) I have a good sense of the luck and skill required to go deep in a field with thousands of contestants. Funnily enough, the day prior to the shortlist announcement I made the money at a NL Hold Em World Championship of Online Poker event (WCOOP) on pokerstars. I grinded the Sunday away, sadly missing a South Philly street fair outside my house, with drinks, dancing, sausage sandwiches and lemonade and carnival games. But when the bubble burst, I was happy to be indoors on a gorgeous day. Out of almost 10,000 players I ended in 514th place for a decent cash. Still, the 280K first prize was many dreams and coinflips away.
If only the Guggenheim gallery morphed into a cardroom to determine the YouTube Play finalists! I could I face my artist, musician and game designer opponents in either six max Sit and Gos (the winner of each six person poker tournament would advance to the top 20), a regular Multi-Table satellite or even a Heads-up Knockout. To be honest, I don’t think the Guggenheim jury intends to decide it heads-up, since they only picked 125 videos, and the round one heads-up brackets would need 128 artists. Well… a few videos, such as hulachess, could be seeded into round two
See a few of my other favorites below. In other words, I hope these aren’t seated to my left.
Congrats also to co-creator Daniel Meirom, dancer & choreographer Gabrielle Revlock and Director of Photography Blake Eichenseer. For more press on the 1st Guggenheim YouTube Play Biennial, see mashable, flavorwire, the Huffington Post, and Alexandra Kosteniuk’s chessblog.com. Also thanks to Samara O’Shea for letting me and Daniel know about the contest, and for a nice post about hulachess on letterlover.net.
Looking for Revenge in Chess Poker July 7, 2010
Posted by Jennifer in : chess,poker , add a commentThe first ever chesspoker match began randomly in the miles-long hallway of the Rio, World Series of Poker 2010. After busting out of a single table satellite, I was desperately seeking a carb fix when a couple of chess turned poker players recognized me from my 2010 US Chess Championship commentary. After consoling me that my 72 offsuit shove was indeed, the right play, we turned to discussing the parameters of our imminent chess poker match.
My opponent Brandon Lee, was a former 1900 player who long ago gave up chess for poker. We decided on a six-game chess match at 5 to 2 odds. Each chess game was worth 50 poker chips—after the chess match, we’d move on Heads-Up No Limit poker. There was a base of 100 chips each, so even if one of us swept, there would still be a poker match.
My first game was a sweet victory in the King’s Indian Defense, ending something like this:
Things went downhill from there and we split the next four games. In the final game, I reached a lost winning rook endgame. Yes, you read that right! I was up a pawn but had about eight seconds to my opponent’s 30. Somehow, I managed to balance that to 2 to 8, and Brandon offered a draw. I took it
We moved on to heads-up poker. The blind structure was pretty deep at 1-2 with 15 minute levels, but I felt good about my chip lead—a starting stack of 275 to Brandon’s 225.
Things started off badly for me as I lost a bunch of small pots and I was down to 235 when we reached a critical hand. Brandon made it 7 on the button, I re-raised it to 22 and he 4-bet me to 83. He raised me off pots and showed bluffs a few times already, so I thought his range was much wider than it actually was. This is the danger of using too many “instincts” in poker. My gut said that he was trying to bully me, but logically, his range is pretty narrow. I five bet-him all in with QTs and he called with AJo. Everyone laughed at my play but at least I was a little over 40% to win the showdown and of course I made a flush on the river.
I now had him down to about 30 chips! Unfortunately, after folding a couple hands, he won a race with J2s vs. something like T9 and was back to 50 chips. A little later, we had this annoying hand:
I raised the button with T6s and he called. Flop came 467 rainbow. He checked, I bet out 12, he raised to 30 and I called. Turn was a 7 and he bet out 45. I thought for a while and folded—at the time completely unsure about my play. After the hand, I knew he had me beat because earlier he was showing bluffs whereas in this hand he sheepishly tossed his cards into the muck. Later he told me he had 35o for a sucker straight-more like a crusher straight heads up.
So eventually he regained a chip lead, the blinds blossomed and I got it all in with A3o vs. K5o. You can see the result of that race from my expression in the photo.
Overall, the format was very fun. So if you’re good at poker and chess, go ahead and challenge me. I’m hungry for a win.
Dr. Kamikaze and Cookie Cooks on Women’s Poker Hour July 4, 2010
Posted by Jennifer in : feminism,poker , 3 commentsWomen’s Poker Hour featured two fascinating guests on our last two shows.
First we interviewed Kami Chisholm aka “Dr.Kamikaze”, a gender studies professor and feminist film-maker turned poker pro. Although a HORSE specialist, Chisholm placed fifth in her first No Limit Hold Em 2010 World Series bid, the Ladies event. She was adamantly against men playing in the ladies event and even called out Shaun Deeb when he sat at her table. My co-host Amy Zupko and I asked her about being a woman in a male-dominated field, and whether people treated her differently and she responded matter of factly, “I am a butch lesbian, so my experience is different than a lot of women.” Dr. Kamikaze explained that she felt her image worked to her advantage in the Ladies Event, in that she was able to bond with the other ladies at the table, but also had a more intimidating, aggressive image. Kami also talked about the acceptance of gays and lesbians in poker, and the lack of sponsorships for openly gay players. I’m sure Dr.Chisholm was thrilled when she found out shortly after our chat that Vanessa Selbst signed with pokerstars!
We also interviewed player and promoter Zeljka Penzinger aka Cookie Cooks from Croatia. Cookie is a member of the Ladies Pokerica team and organizer of an upcoming poker tournament series in Croatia. Her favorite hand is queen nine suited, an inadvertent plug for 9queens. Unfortunately for me, Cookie has my header dominated. Speaking of which, I added a gallery by photographer extraordinaire Suzy Gorman to my photo page.
The next Women’s Poker Hour will feature Amanda Musumeci, the new bodog girl. Amanda was born and raised in Philly, and was featured in a recent Inquirer article. Amanda was insightful on bankroll management, game selection and the ladies event, so be sure to look for that show soon on womanpokerplayer.com.
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2010 Ladies World Series of Poker Redux June 20, 2010
Posted by Jennifer in : chess,feminism,poker,travel , add a commentI’m back from Las Vegas, where I played in the Ladies World Series of Poker and covered the National Open for Chess Life Online. I also made a quick stop in Saint Louis for meetings related to the 2010 US Women’s and US Junior’s Championship (July 9-19)and to give a group of Saint Louis women a sneak preview into “Play Like a Girl”, the 9queens/Mongoose Press collaboration that will be coming out later this year. It was all a blast, though predictably, I came back with a serious case of the Vegas/airplane flu.
I reported on the Ladies World Series of Poker on the second episode of Women’s Poker Hour and in an article on WomanPokerPlayer.com, which begins thus:
At the Ladies Event of the World Series of Poker, Vanessa Hellebuyck of France won her first bracelet and a prize of $192,000. Despite the uproarious applause of what seemed liked every French man or woman in Las Vegas, Vanessa’s win barely registered a peep compared to the media coverage of the dozen men who took their legal right to play in the “Ladies’ Event” seriously.
About ten minutes into the event, Seth Palansky made it clear that Harrah’s was not happy about the men who infiltrated the Event #22 of the World Series. A woman, who I later found out was Joy Miller representing Bluff Magazine, also announced soon after the tournament started that online poker legend Shaun Deeb was playing (in drag) because he lost a prop bet.
Women’s poker tournaments have a great atmosphere. Daniel Negreanu called it “electric!” We compliment each other’s clothes and handbags, offer each other gum and lip-balm, and spend the first three levels set-mining and waiting for aces. Except of course if Shaun Deeb is on our right in which case we three-bet him until his mascara, applied by none other than Liv Boeree, drips and he changes his mind, decides that drag is uncool and women’s poker tournaments are just wrong.
Some more salient points from my reportage:
1. I was eliminated from the Ladies WSOP shoving A3o from the Cutoff in an unenviable but inevitable spot. My opponent called with AQo and I was busto minutes before the dinner break.
2. I cashed in my private lesson with pokerstars pro Vanessa Rousso of Big Slick Bootcamp. Vanessa is really passionate about poker and teaching, and I will write a full article on my lesson with her. One tidbit: she is not a big fan of three-bet shoving, which was comforting cause there were a few such spots in the WSOP that I wisely chickened out on. Rousso is currently in the Elite Eight of the 10K Heads-Up competition, which started with 256 players. Good luck!!
3. Phil Ivey is better looking in person than on TV poker tables because a. he is much taller than you’d expect (often obscured by slumping over the poker table), and b. he dresses well (often obscured by full tilt gear).
4. Of the dozen men who crashed the Ladies WSOP, one used a tampon as a card-protector. While this may be a rude, I don’t think it merits a penalty. The same sort of male tournament director who gives a penalty to someone for that is the type of boyfriend who would think it’s “gross” to run out to the CVS and buy a pack of Tampax for his girlfriend. It’s a tampon, not an illicit device!
5. Two more stories coming on my aforementioned lesson with Rousso and a pokerchess match that I contested against a chessplayer turned poker pro.
Women’s Poker Hour and the $20 Headphones Rebuy June 5, 2010
Posted by Jennifer in : feminism,poker , 6 comments
I’m proud to co-host with Amy Zupko, Women’s Poker Hour, a radio show sponsored by womanpokerplayer.com. On our first show (check it out here) , we interviewed the lovely Danielle Benham from Australia, who recently signed with Felt Stars. Danielle is also a blogger and edits Women’s Poker News.
In the next edition of Woman’s Poker Hour, I’ll talk about my go around at the 2010 Ladies World Series of Poker (coming up in just a week!) and my lesson with professional poker player and entreprenuer Vanessa Rousso. One of Vanessa’s pet projects, Big Slick Bootcamps, donated a private Rousso lesson to a freeroll I won on womanpokerplayer.com.
A Tale of Two Headsets
About four years ago, I went to a RadioShack and bought the cheapest skype headset in the store. With that headset, I commented on chess.fm shows from the World Championships to the US Chess League. The sound was OK, but I’d often pop an advil or four during the broadcasts, cause the headphones smashed my ears together and gave me wicked headaches.
This April, I lost a 10:1 chip lead in a heads-up match which would qualify me directly to a tournament I really wanted to play in Monte Carlo. The value of first was around $4500 while second was just $600. Afterwards, I ripped a glossy art magazine and a New Yorker to shreds, but it wasn’t enough. I needed to destroy a heavier item. Keyboard and monitors were too dear to my blogger’s survival instinct and NO WAY was I hurting googie (my pet name for my google phone.) So the target of my rage was bound to be those headphones of many headaches. On the other side of the Atlantic, the villain, Atheanna from Oslo was probably popping champagne as I smashed plastic. It was the first time I ever broke something after losing in poker (or chess for that matter), and hopefully the last.
I’ve moved up in the World, so when the time came that I needed a headset, I went to Staples and picked the most expensive one in the store. Could I win back the love of my ears, which had endured so many years of helix abuse? “Yes,” said the soft fabric of the new headset, massaging my ears. Unfortunately, the new headphones distance the sound of my voice on the receiving end, reducing the pleasure of the listeners. Well for most listeners at least. People seem to either love or hate my voice. The majority like me, but detractors are vocal and graphic, like one ICC troll who said I reminded him of a strangled cat. It alarms me that anyone would know how that sounds–I’m clasping my hands around my neck now to try it: meogwghwgh.
So after a much anticipated week in the City of Sin, I’ll rebuy those earphones of frugal days. Then armed with a bottle of Motrin, I’ll call Amy, and the stories from Las Vegas will flow.
