A Trip To The Ladies Night IV WPT Final Table
by Lucy Kim
What turned out to be an incredible, once-in-a-lifetime experience did not begin very smoothly for Kelli Griggs, the 2006 World Poker Tour (WPT) Ladies Night IV qualifier. Griggs, who had returned from the filming of Ladies Night two days prior to our meeting, was still on Cloud 9 when we met for lunch. As I listened intently, she regaled me with all sorts of amusing tales, as well as the more serious side of the WPT Ladies Night tournament.
The filming of the WPT Ladies Night IV was on Thursday, August 21, at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles. Unable to sleep the night before the filming, Griggs got out of bed at the crack of dawn and went to the hotel’s gym to work out. On the return-trip to her room, the elevator broke, leaving her stranded for quite a long time. “The whole day was a disaster,” Griggs recalled. “First, I get stuck in an elevator, then once the elevator is fixed, I jump in the shower only to discover that there’s no hot water at the hotel.”
At an appointment at the hair salon down the street, she was subjected to an ice cold hair wash (the salon, too, was sans hot water) followed by a hairstyling which resembled an unearthly creation. After paying an exorbitant amount for the horrible salon service, Griggs was grateful that her make-up artist, Heather Harris, flew down from Sacramento to not only help her with the make-up but also to “wing it” with her hair.
One good thing that happened was she had met Alexander B while working out at the hotel’s gym the day before. Alexander B is the owner of Alexander B Couture, the stylehouse for celebrity moguls such as Gnarls Barkley, Nellie and Keith Sweat. Discovering who Griggs was, Alexander B offered to “dress her up” for her TV appearance.
With little time left before she needed to report to the WPT organizers, the team of Alexander B, his crew and Griggs’ make-up artist all worked at a frenzied pace to get Griggs ready for her big moment. Perfectly coiffed and dressed, she headed to the Bicycle Casino.
Relieved that she had left a disastrous day behind her, Griggs stepped onto the WPT stage . . . and slipped–her arms flailing helplessly, legs buckling under her, her whole body losing control. Her mock surfer moves saved her from hitting the floor. “Everyone laughed, but I recovered gracefully,” Griggs joked. “When I first walked in there, I was overwhelmed. It was surreal: There were numerous cameras set up, and there was always a camera within two inches of you everywhere you went.”
The WPT Ladies Night event is a prestigious, annual invitational, where five of the six seats are offered by the WPT organization to the current top female poker professionals, including the winner of the previous year’s Ladies Night tournament. The sixth and final seat must be earned by an amateur poker player, who must battle hundreds of other WPT final table hopefuls and win the qualifying tournament.
To warm up before the Ladies Night IV filming, Griggs conducted pre-tournament interviews about her game, as well as her surviving from cancer (Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma). She also played a $40 NLHE cash game “with a bunch of guys,” doubled up, then left when it was “go time.”
When she first sat down at the WPT final table, she remembered that “I was totally at peace. I was in seat #5, and I could feel the support of my family and friends behind me.” Among those supporting her in the stands was London Gallagher, the 2005 WPT Ladies Night qualifier. Regarding previous conversations with her predecessor, Griggs smiled and told me, “London is super-nice. She advised me to not be intimidated by the cameras and to ‘just go for it,’ not to hold anything back.”
Although unable to physically show her support that night, another cheerleader was Annie Duke, with whom Griggs’ sponsor, UltimateBet.com, arranged a one-day meeting. This is what Griggs had to say about her poker idol:
“First of all, Annie Duke is a great mom. Her number one focus is her children, and I respect her more than anything. She invited me to her home, and she shared with me her thoughts on how to be successful in the business. Then she assessed my poker ability, skills and knowledge to gauge my level. Once she saw where I was at, skill-wise, she suggested a plan of attack and methods to be successful in the game.”
Griggs added, “Annie also told me that there’s no shame in going out on a bluff, which gave me the confidence to continue betting into Vanessa (Rousso), to prove that even though I am the designated ‘newbie,’ I wasn’t going to lay down my cards for anyone.”
Another person Griggs credits for her solid poker ability is Shahin “Sha” Shojaeyan, her poker coach whom Griggs labels as “an undiscovered talent.” Part of her training with Shojaeyan was to spend countless hours dealing cards face-up, then determining how to draw people into the pot, plus how to change her table image in order to avoid her opponents from getting a “read” on her.
The combination of Shojaeyan’s “precision poker” lessons and Griggs’ past experience as an amateur actress has helped Griggs tremendously at the tables. “When I first started playing, I would play a ‘character’ one day, like a Mike Matasow, and see how people at the table would respond. Next day, I’d put on sunglasses and be calmer. After figuring out which character fared better and why, I turned all those characters into one.”
These experiments have contributed to Griggs’ ability to play many different styles, as well as enable her to confidently change her game in an instant. What was the payoff for spending hours, days, weeks and months playing various character roles and toiling in numerous tournaments? The highly-coveted WPT Ladies Night final seat.
Griggs was confident from the get-go because, “All the women at the final table were unsure of me; they didn’t know me, except that I had knocked out 416 women to get there. So they knew I could play poker, but what kind of game was I planning to bring was the big question.” The previous year’s winner, Gallagher, who had beat out 564 women to qualify for her final seat, also helped Griggs get pumped up by mentioning, “Don’t be intimidated by the other players and the fact that they’ve all had success . . . just bring your game.”
When asked about the pivotal moment at the final table, Griggs responded, “When I bluffed Vanessa with a ‘jack-high.’ Vanessa, whom I feel is one of the best new female players, probably didn’t think I’d be ‘Gus Hansen’ enough to risk half of my chips on the first level.” Here’s how the hand played out:
Rousso raised to $15K from the cutoff, and Griggs re-raised to $30K from the big blind. Rousso called, and the flop came 9♣3♥2♥. Griggs bet $30K on the flop, and Rousso raised to $72K. Griggs called, and the turn came 6♦. Both players checked, and the river came K♦. Griggs bet $60K, and Rousso folded. Griggs turned up J♠10♣ for the jack-high before raking the pot.
Griggs enjoyed playing with Rousso because, “I completely admire and respect Vanessa’s game. She is an inspiration to women players everywhere.” Rousso recently made news by surviving a field of 317 top poker players to take down a win at this year’s WPT Borgata Poker Open NLHE event #9.
What about her favorite moment of the entire WPT experience? “Getting a read on JJ (Liu) and knowing that my ‘king-high’ was mostly good, and following my guts by calling her all-in with nothing,” Griggs remarked. So here’s what happened:
Griggs raised to $68K from the small blind, and Liu called from the big blind. When the flop came J♥3♦3♠, both players checked. The turn delivered 2♥ and Liu bet out $200K. Griggs then proceeded to push all-in for an additional $47K, prompting Liu to call. Griggs turned over her K♣7♠; Liu her 6♦5♣. The river came 9♣, giving Griggs the win.
Griggs managed to eliminate both Jennifer Tilly (last year’s Ladies Night champion and the 2005 WSOP Ladies NLHE winner) and Vanessa Rousso from the tournament to finish in second place. What an accomplishment for a young mother who has been playing Hold ‘Em for only two years. Griggs, many people know, is a 36-year-old cancer survivor. In support of Griggs and breast cancer research, UltimateBet.com made “a very large donation” to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation for Griggs’ second-place finish.
To watch Griggs and this exciting episode of WPT Ladies Night IV event, turn to the Travel Channel on Saturday, October 28, at 6:00 p.m. PST. That night, I will be at Griggs’ home getting a privileged play-by-play account of each and every hand. If Griggs decides to host a poker game after the Ladies Night tournament is finished airing, we guests will make sure that we use some of Griggs’ successful strategies to take down the pot every time she’s in a hand. Shuffle up and deal!
Read Interview with Kelli about the evening
Lucy Kim is an energetic former special events and marketing pro, who prefers smaller NLHE tournaments with a fast blind structure. She is an accomplished writer with numerous published international magazine and newsletter articles to her credit. In her spare time, she enjoys golfing and serving as a consultant to various nonprofit groups. She is a freelance writer and senior columnist for LadiesPokerAssociation.com. Nicknamed “Floppy” by her poker gal pals, Lucy resides in Northern California, where she continues to drag the occasional pot. Contact her at TheF_L_O_P@hotmail.com.
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