What would you think is a higher pressure situation? Your standard run-of-the-mill day at the poker table or a long 12-hour day as a disability nurse?
I daresay every player reading this would say disability nurse is much higher pressure.
However, disability nurse Anita Le and winner of the Crown Poker Room’s “I’m going to be the next Aussie Millions Champ” promotion thinks differently.
We asked Le if being a disability nurse was much more stressful than playing the Aussie Millions Main Event.
“No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,” Le quickly responded.
“That kind of work I have a lot of patience for,” Le added. “But this game is so tough. You have to apply a lot of strategies. It’s difficult!”
Before today Le recalls that the largest tournament she has ever played was a single $1,100 buy-in event two years ago and since then has pretty much exclusively played Crown Poker’s regular $200 weekly tournament.
From the $200 “Wednesday Wonder” to the $10,600 Aussie Millions Main Event.
For those unaware of who Le is or why we are writing about her, well that picture below just about sums it up.
What you see above is just one of the many giant portraits of Le spread throughout the Crown Poker Room. She took down a promotion, which my esteemed colleague Heath “TassieDevil” Chick wrote about yesterday. The short version of the story: Le auditioned to be one of the faces of the 2014 Aussie Millions and then took down a sit and go freeroll for a Main Event seat.
“I’m having a lot of fun,” Le told us during the fourth level of the day. “This is obviously the biggest tournament of my life and it’s tough cause I’ve never played in this kind of atmosphere before.”
Le might think it’s tough and she’s probably right, but we have watched her take down a couple of handy pots. Firstly we arrived to find Le cold four-betting to 1,525 from the hijack after a player had opened to 200 and another player had three-bet to 525. The three-betting player made the call and Le and her opponent checked the 8♥ Q♣ 10♦ flop. The 2â™ turn would see Le bet 1,500 and take down the pot.
We then watched Le take down another pot against the same player as the previous hand. There was already 5,000 in the pot when we arrived on the river of a J♣ 2â™ 3â™ 6â™ 7â™ board. Le’s opponent led for 2,600 and Le tank-called on the scary board.
“Good call,” the player said as he tabled 6♣ 5♣ for just a pair of sixes. Le turned over her 7♣ 7♦ , with the set good enough to scoop the pot.
Le might not be as experienced as players with the last name Ivey, Antonius, Negreanu or any of the other dozens of big name players in today’s field, but she hasn’t shown too much fear so far and quite frankly she just seems like she is having fun, which can never be a bad thing. Le is up to a little over 35,000 in chips and is starting to look more comfortable with every hand.
If the pressure of the poker table is getting too much for Le, she will be able to de-stress soon as the players are about to head on a 75-minute dinner break!
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