This week host Jon Friedberg is joined by Lauren Kling on The Showdown.
Lauren Kling got off to a good start in 2011 by finishing in second place in the ladies event at the PCA. She said, ”The weather was bad and it was an impulse decision to play it and I ended up getting second … it was a great start to the year … this was my third ladies event and first other than the World Series.”
When asked about how some female poker pros don’t like to play ladies events, Kling responded, “It’s definitely very different and if you are a good poker player you are just going to adjust. I think initially it was tough and I bled some chips. But I sat back and saw what was going on and adjusted.”
Friedberg then asks Kling about something he’s picked up on, asking Kling, “You seem to have, whereas some girls walk into a poker area to be seen, you seem to have as much hunger to be a great player as much as any male or female in the room.”
Kling responded, “Yeah, I take everything very seriously and I work very hard. During the week I try to play 5-6 days a week online and I think it’s extremely important to focus on your game … if people are looking for publicity it’ll come eventually.”
Kling does not have a sponsorship deal but stated that she would absolutely love to sign with a company. She said she hasn’t gotten the right offers yet but that she’s looking for the right situation to sign. She lives in Panorama Towers in Las Vegas and talks about playing a lot of online poker but also her ventures out to play some of the juicy cash games on The Strip. She talked about the unorthodox play of live cash game players who do untraditional moves like 5x raises pre-flop and 2x pot bets as cbets on the flop. She admitted there’s a learning curve when moving from online tournament play to live cash game play.
Kling plays a ton of tournaments online and said that on a given Sunday she’ll spend seven to eight thousand dollars on buy-ins. If she’s doing well she’ll be playing 12 to 15 tournaments playing the major Sunday events. She has a 30” monitor and a nice computer and while she is on the road she plays on a 17” MacBook. Kling said she does not use any analytical or HUD software.
The next major tournaments Kling will be participating in are the LAPC at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles and perhaps the Bay 101 in Northern California.
The Showdown, hosted by poker pro and WSOP bracelet winner Jon Friedberg, debuts exclusively at PokerNewsDaily.com every Tuesday.