Amateur Spotlight
Mari Lou Morelli
Over the last couple of months, many members have come up to me and asked if I knew Mari Lou Morelli. “She is on fire!,” Kelli Griggs told me in a recent conversation. So I emailed Mari to find out a bit about her accomplishments in the past year and a half. Wow! Kelli wasn’t kidding! In just over a year Mari Lou Morelli has won over $130K and is still going strong. Her performance and commitment is an inspiration to us all. This Lady is a true competitor and it is just a matter of time before she achieves her wildest dreams!
LPA: How long have you been playing?
MM: Only about a year and it’s an interesting story really. Last June a few of my friends and I went to Las Vegas for a getaway. I had really enjoyed watching poker of TV and on a whim bought into my first tournament at the Flamingo. It was just a $60 dollar buy in but I was very focused. To my surprise I won the event! Some of the guys I was playing asked if I was in town for the World Series and when I said no they encouraged me to go over and check it out. So we headed over to the Rio and after about ten seconds of just standing in the poker pavilion I was hooked, the energy was electric. I didn’t want to leave, in that moment I made it my goal to learn the game well enough to come back next year and compete in the ladies event.
LPA: How did you learn to play poker?
MM: When I returned home from my trip to Las Vegas, I had a few private lessons. I bought and began reading a ton of books and then attended both the beginning and the advanced WPT Boot camp courses. I think the training from the camps along with my consistent play has given me a good foundation to build from. I think I have just about every poker book ever written and I try to read just a little every day.
LPA: Tell us about your family, married? Children? Pets?
MM: I have been married to my husband Kenny for 22 years, no children. I grew up in Santa Barbara and have a total of three brothers – two older & one younger. This is going to sound crazy but from a very young age we’d bet our allowances! Every Friday when we got them the four of us would play a game called thirty-one. I had to learn to be tough, competitive and I also had to learn how to face the consequences of losing. We still love to play against each other but now our game is no-limit holdem. We play at family gatherings and have included my nieces and nephews, we are a very competitive family!
LPA: What do you do for a living?
MM: My husband and I are self-employed and have been in business over 15 years. Our company manufactures a line of marketing accessories to homebuilders & developers. Our business is very specialized niche market and we sell our products through out the United States.
LPA: Tell us a little bit about your poker accomplishments?
MM: Since I started playing I have been fortunate to make it to 12 final tables. Here is a list of my recent accomplishments.
7-08-06 Flamingo (1st) Mixed $1,000
9-24-06 Hawaiian Gardens (1st) Mixed $4,940
3-17-07 Hawaiian Gardens (1st) $17,860
3-25-07 Hawaiian Gardens (2nd) Ladies $2,900
4-07-07 Commerce Casino (1st) $7,663
4-21-07 Hawaiian Gardens (6th) Ladies $900.
5-03-07 Hawaiian Gardens (6th) $690.
5-06-07 Bicycle Club Ladies (8th) $215.
5-12-07 Oasis Open Mixed (8th) $720
5-18-07 Chumash Casino (1st) $540
6-03-07 Venetian Deep Stack (1st) $92,437
6-10-07 WSOP Ladies (76th) $2,575
6-24-07 Commerce Casino (2nd) $4,705
Total $137,145LPA: You won a deep stack tournament at the Venetian; can you elaborate a bit on that experience?
MM: I went to Las Vegas the week before the Ladies WSOP to scout-out the festivities. I had won $4700 playing satellites and my girlfriend Amber talked me into joining her in the Venetian Deep stack tournament. The first day was tough, 309 entered the event. The players were extremely aggressive & I had to make adjustments in my play, be patient and pick my spots carefully. After playing 11 hours it was 1:30am and I found myself the only girl of the 30 remaining. We were asked to return the following day but that night I could hardly sleep! I was so excited to make it that deep into the tournament. The second day I got lucky and doubled up in my third hand giving me flexibility to play more hands and I made the final table around midnight. Pumped full of adrenaline I knew I had to concentrate and stay focused. Slowly I became the chip leader and found myself heads-up winning the final hand with a flush on the river! This event took 21 hours of play. It felt so proud of my accomplishment. It was an experience I will never forget.
LPA: What was it like cashing in the WSOP Ladies Event?
MM: I must be honest and tell you that I was really disappointed when I went out in 76th place. It felt like everything in my life was leading me to that one event. I had worked for an entire year to get there and do well. My family & friends were on the rail supporting me and I just wanted to prove to them that I was the real deal. I wanted to make my mark this first year competing in such a prestigious event. I had a ton of chips and to be honest I made a couple bad decisions and lost it all over a few hands. I know if you play, you can relate. As with any tournament I will learn from this experience and store the mistakes for future recall when in the same types of situations.
LPA: Would you recommend any educational materials to any of our members?
LPA: Can you describe your “type of play”, aggressive, tight, loose, etc
MM: Most of the time I am tight aggressive but if I’m at a table with weaker players or players that I have a good read on I will change my game and practice my newly learned trapping skills. I try to play different style against different opponents. I’m still learning, still working on my game.
LPA: Can you give us some advice as to your strategy for playing in a tournament setting?
MM: The early rounds of the tournament I try to be very patient and play very few hands this gives me time to observe my opponents and their style of play. The middle rounds I start playing more hands especially with position because it’s important to build chips. I am willing to take risks to double up and get busted rather than end up in later rounds with a short stack. It’s very tough to win a tournament being a short stack and my goal is always to finish 1st.
LPA: What adjustments, if any, have you made in your game that you can attribute to increase cashes?
MM: Aggression. Playing mostly mixed events I would get bullied a lot by the other players, its very frustrating, and eventually you have to find your spot and make a stand. Choose your spot wisely and push back by making a large re-raise or moving over the top if you feel you have the best hand. Showing a bully that you’re willing to push back will remove you from being one of his targets.
LPA: How often do you play?
MM: 2-3 times a week
LPA: Where do you play most often?
MM: Hawaiian Gardens Casino
LPA: What game(s) do you play?
MM: Texas Holdem
LPA: Mostly Cash or Tournaments?
MM: Tournaments
LPA: What advice do you have for anyone just starting out?
MM: For me taking the WPT courses has helped me more than I could have gathered from all the books I purchased. The other is to play as often as you can, each tournament I learn something new, I try to figure out my mistakes as well as my accomplishments and write them into my poker journal after each event. I find this very helpful to review my notes before a tournament.
LPA: What was it like playing in your first live tournament?
MM: Very intimidating. I am absolutely sure that I was the weakest player at the table and I got knocked out fairly quickly too!
LPA: What do you think the future of Ladies Poker is?
MM: I’d like to see bigger events for women players and I’m excited that we will soon have a ranking system.
LPA: When you play mixed tournaments, not ladies events, what differences are
there in play?
MM: Women tend to be much more considerate to each other when playing together they often say, “I’m sorry” or “enjoyed meeting you” after they bust you out, as you know this is not typical at mixed tournaments.
LPA: Is there any poker player pro/women/amateur that you admire?
MM: I was inspired watching the Ladies Night IV heads up play between “JJ” Liu vs. Kelli Griggs. I admire both of these women and their fearless competitive styles.
LPA: Where do you see yourself in the world of poker in 5 years?
MM: I would be thrilled to be able to work my way up to a competitive level that I could travel out of the country, as Australia, to play a poker event.
LPA: Can you tell us why you became a member of the LPA?
MM: I am a regular visitor to the site. There is lots of helpful information and I especially enjoy reading about the interviews of the professional women players. It is also a terrific “one-stop source” for all upcoming ladies events.
LPA: Is there anything you would like to tell women poker players out there?
MM: Don’t be afraid try new things to find what best fits your style of play. Be assertive and have fun!
Men and Women Welcome
