Poker news from http://news.galvestondailynews.com/
CLEAR LAKE — When Gyla Whitlow talks about high stakes, she isn’t referring to her Johnson Space Center job as an event coordinator. Whitlow competed in the World Series of Poker ladies event during the weekend.
And, of the more than 1,000 women in the tournament, Whitlow finished 41st, taking home more than $4,000 in prize money.
“I’ve watched poker on TV for the last 12 years,” Whitlow said. “A few years ago, I decided that I could do that and took up tournament poker.”
The game requires a $1,000 entry fee, known in the gambling world as a buy-in.
“It’s no-limit Hold ’Em,” Whitlow said. “I started playing for pennies and matchsticks.”
But she said that her total investment in the sport has added up to less than her friends spend on less exciting activities.
Whitlow, 49, said that after turning 45 she felt that it was better to leave active sports such as softball and volleyball to younger women.
“I’ve been competitive all my life,” she said. “I love winning.”
She said poker playing was a better fit for her present stage of life.
The timing of the current shuttle mission, STS-121, fits Whitlow’s schedule.
She said few meetings are planned during a shuttle flight, so the mission gave her a week off to try her luck in search of the gold bracelet that will be given to America’s top woman poker player.
The World Series of Poker is actually a series of annual tournaments in Las Vegas. Winners of the various tournaments win cash and a championship bracelet.
The series culminates with the Main Event, which is a $10,000 buy in, no-limit Texas Hold ’Em tournament. The grand prize is more than $11 million.
Like the astronauts, Whitlow trains for her mission.
“I do have a game face,” she said, demonstrating an unreadable poker countenance. “I practice in front of the mirror.”
To prepare, she has read more than two-dozen books on the game.
She has plenty of time to contemplate her game during her one-hour commute to her Jersey Village home.
NASA is known for intense calculations, including fuel, orbits and weather, but Whitlow is focused on a different set of probabilities.
“You can’t really count cards in poker,” she said. “You have to calculate the odds.”
Her weekly duties of scheduling the Teague Auditorium and working with visitors to NASA might pale a bit when contrasted with the televised glamour of Vegas’ gilded casinos, but she plans to be back in time for the astronauts’ return to Houston — and to reserve space for their news conference.
Her best tournament hand was quad aces — with her very next hand turning into quad jacks.
“I got seventh place at the World Poker Open,” she said.
It’s been said of NASA, “Failure isn’t an option.” Whitlow’s game plan seems to reflect that.
“As for those other women (playing in the tournament), I’ll take every one of their chips,” she said. |
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