| Teacher Whips Lips Field
A kindergarten teacher named Jana de la Cerra will have something to tell her pre-schoolers on Monday after winning the Lips Tour Ladies event during Winnin' o' the Green. It is her first-ever live tournament win.
The Lips Tour, launched in September, has now had 12 online and 20 land-based tournaments, with their grand championship to be held at Ocean's 11 on April 30.
This special event started at 12:15, with the final table taped using under-the-table cameras. Internet broadcasting is scheduled for Wednesday.
The nine finalists in this $150 no-limit hold'em event started with blinds of 200/400 with 75 antes, two minutes remaining. Lori Vanderbyl, whose occupation is special education, was all in for $500 on the first hand. Her pocket 4s were crushed when Jennifer Gianera, with K-10, flopped two pair.
Opening action was cautious, more like limit than no-limit. Perhaps the Lips players heard about of the famous World War II warning: 'Loose lips sink ships.' Finally, on hand eight, Loan Kim Ngo moved in with pocket 7s on a flop of 10-5-4. Chellie Campbell, a speaker/author, called with J-10, and then Susan Snyder moved in with 10-9. The turn brought a 9, and Snyder, a dentist, extracted the chips with two pair, leaving Ngo in eighth place.
Deborah Park, who is in human resources, survived for the first of several all-ins on hand 11 when her K-Q outran Gianera's A-9. Kellie Brown, an executive producer who came in second in event 7, then picked up a lot of chips from Gianera after she check-raised with a set of bullets.
After blinds went to 500/1000, the dentist was yanked. She moved in for 1,200 with Q-9 and lost to attorney Kristi Harn's A-2. There was a major chip movement on hand 31. De la Cerra opened for 4k with A-Q and called when Brown moved in for 8,400 more with pocket jacks. The board came K-6-2-10-A. De la Cerra now had about 20k, and Brown was down to about 1k. She lasted only a few more hands, finally moving in with pocket treys and getting beat by Park's pocket 7s.
Campbell, a prosecutor in the San Diego D.A.'s office, was second chip leader at one point, but took some hits and by hand 54, with blinds of 1k/2k, she was under 5k. She then moved in with Ah-8h and lost to Park's pocket kings. As that level wound down, Kristi Harn, an attorney, pushed in for 7,100 with pocket deuces. Gianera called with A-10, flopped an ace and then rivered a 10, and we were down to three players, with Gianera holding roughly half the chips in play. When blinds went to 2k/4k with 500 antes, the count was: Gianera, 31k; de la Cerra, 23.5k; and Park, 15.5k. A chip-count deal was made and the three played for 10 percent.
With such big blinds, play loosened. De la Cerra was especially aggressive, and soon took the lead. Finally, on hand 84, Park lost her final all-in. Her last few chips went in from the small blind with 3-2, and she lost to de la Cerra's paired 8. Heads-up, de la Cerra led Gianerra about 3-1. She kept picking up chips until Ginera was near the cloth. Right after blinds went to 3k/6k with 1k antes, Gianera had to go all in with Q-5. De La Cerra, with 6c-5c, flopped a 6, and this Lips was sealed. -Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
Jana de la Cerra has been a teacher with the L.A. Unified School District for 11 years and now teaches kindergarten in the San Fernando Valley. She learned poker as a kid in home games and began playing in casinos five years ago. She plays online a lot because getting to land-based casinos isn't very convenient for her. In limit games, she likes both no-limit and $10-$20 no-limit. She's had some tournament cash-ins online, but the biggest was only $1,800. Having now gotten a taste of B&M tournament play, she hopes to take part in more events. 'They're more exciting,' she said.
Tonight, she built up her chips by getting a lot of good hands in early action. Then, well into the final table, she noticed players were folding a lot.
That's when she began getting more aggressive, and that tactic proved the key to her win.
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